Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Sharing positivity and congratulations

Well, how to start this?
Simple... Great job!
With this, I mean the idea of the storyline is very nice and really helps immerse yourself in the world you guys are creating, how your prior need is to find a cure but at the same time you realize that the world has other ongoing problems, like the druid grove with the goblins and the internal struggle represented when two communities come together (Tieflings and Druids), but how among these communities there is still people capable of being compassionate towards the other community, and how some instead see them only as troublebringer. Of course the story will progress further in time and everything will evolve and will be bound to change, but so far I really enjoyed it.
The world design is very nice, starting off from the creepy nautilod, to progressing through the silvan grove, and ending up in the underdark, very well done, all the areas feel unique and give different vibes to the player, world design is very important to give the story credibility and help the player take more seriously the environment the game is set in.
Combat system, well I start off by saying that I've never played a crpg before, so I might not be the best critique to listen to, when it comes about giving advices and tips, but I really enjoyed how the turn based combat felt fresh to me, compared to the endless action live rpgs I've played recently and in the past, it also gave me the feeling that every little decision made a difference on the outcome of the battles, especially the tough ones.
I've heard some people complaining about the bonus actions etc... But I think it is fine, the devs might decide to tweak something though, if you think that most of the time, the enemies outnumber you, and they start with a better position on the battlefield than you do, unless you take it slow and position all your characters precisely before battle starts, and even then you don't always have the chance to do it, I think having one advantage on the AI is fine, plus I've got shoved down a cliff a couple of times from the AI so it is not something strictly given only to the player, but of course a human will use it more efficiently than the AI does, but that relates to any game on the market.

Ok, now is time to list some of the things I think could use more improvement over others.
First and obviously the cutscenes, some pre set of faces, really exaggerate some of the emotions that are being tried to get shown, and it really make the player look funny as if he was overdoing himself on purpose.
Maybe the other companions could react more often to the things that happen around or create more dialogues between them while exploring this could create a deeper immersion and give an idea of what they think of each other and explore their ideas.
Make every weapon feel unique, I haven't quite understand why should I even consider using a shortbow compared to a long one, or a crossbow, even though the proficiency could be one reason between crossbows and standard bows, there should be some advantage in using a shortbow against a long one, and viceversa.
I only played the ranger class so far so is the only one I'm going to address at the moment, especially beastmaster, I think the animation of summoning the beast could be more nature magic oriented, and give it a druidic feeling to it, but that is a subjective preference.
Now I have to say, that the different animals the players are allowed to summon are fine, in the quantity and the species, but I think some work could be done to make each one of them feel more unique and more useful in certain situations, for example wolves are known in other rpgs especially mmos, to be able to cast fear on their enemies, since the status frightened is already in game is would be nice if the wolf companion might have a skill that could frighten the enemies around him, in moderate are of course not too op, but something that can make feel it's weight on the battlefield, or maybe enchance it's damage when he is in stealth mode, making it close to an assassin or a dmg support companion.
The bear I think could use some tweaks as well, maybe a skill that does dmg to the enemy and a small chance to leave him paralyzed for a turn, with the chance increasing if the enemy missed the previous attack.
Not too sure about the raven, spider (super good by the way) and boar because I haven't use them much, but I'm pretty sure something could be done with them too, maybe the boar could have a buff bonus to the party inside an area, like a battle grunt that increseas dmg or chance of hitting, or something like that, in few words would be nice to be able to have more choice of what to do with my beast companions, because obviously the hunter ranger has definitely a better dmg, for now, things might change though with the introduction of more levels and of course if the abilities given are very strong maybe make them recharge every short rest or long.

Well, thanks for reading I hope you guys will keep delivering us some great content and be proud of the product you are working on, have a great day.

Hello Sewata

About weapons : what Larian did add to weapons is a special attack for each (Cleave, Pin Down, etc.) which is missing in 5e. It is a nice touch that 5e/WotC I think should consider, in order to give some weapons a little something.

In fact, the issues with weapons comes from 5e, namely a) shaky balance between weapons due to sticking to the tradition of past editions, and b) some weapons are subpar or you wonder why any player would use it.

In the case of the shortbow, you use it only if your class is restricted to Simple Weapons, and you use the longbow if your class has access to Martial Weapons.
Exception : some races, mostly elves, have downright access to the longbow.

You are therefore correct that there truly is no reason to use the shortbow if you can use the longbow.
Your suggestion is GOOD though : the shortbow could have a special attack in BG3 that is different to the one offered by the longbow.

Hey Baraz!

I didn't think about it that way, thank you very much for explaining me that mechanic of the game under a different point of view, I see what you mean.

So far very excited with the introduction that are going to follow during the year, hopefully we will have a great game followed by a great community!

I'm glad this isn't another Skyrim type game honestly. The fact that everyone or most everyone seems to have their own agenda, and beliefs about certain things is a breath of fresh air. yeah things need adjusting, tweaking, ironing out, but the story and npc's so far are far more realistic then most games. Even if others can't see it, I like that the game makes me look for often subtle things that are the cause of my actions. I like that I have to think, which side, or what should I do, should I try persuasion, intimidation? should I knock this npc out, or just kill them. how is this going to affect the views of my companions.

now all that said, some polishing still needs done. and may change my opinion, but so far I like alot of the game.