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Good Day

First of all I'd like to state that this post may contain spoilers so read at your own risk.



I am sure you have read many threads on this so far because when you take a game with the name of Baldur's Gate it comes with a certain expectation. First of all I am sorely disappointed that I had spent 59 dollars on this game thinking I was getting a dungeons and dragons based game on 5e, I didn't even care if it was an alpha release I was excited to play even with any bugs and lack of a full game though I was extremely shocked that it was as big of a file as it was.

I typically do not write these posts and I usually stay away from forums. BUT. I feel this needs to be said.


I don't have the time I used to, to spend hours with my friends playing dungeons and dragons table top games. We even tried 1 night a month and that just didn't work because our schedules just never aligned or significant others just are too needy. I tried playing with different groups here and there but it was just never the same either. Which is why I enjoy playing video games like Divinity, Skyrim, and Pillars of Eternity to name a few. I played all of the Baldur's Gate games, Planescape, Vampire Masquerade, Neverwinter was absolutely amazing, and Neverwinter 2 which was ok I guess, I think you get the point. And this is my main way to enjoy these kinds of games and I have become accustomed to it, so my excitement when I saw this game was like being a kid again. And even though my wife is super mad at me for spending 59 dollars on a video game I thought it would be worth her anger and I can't even express my disappointment to her because she will just be even more angry and just make it harder to get more games in the future.

I was really expecting something much different...

So first off the intro story is really great and I understand this is an Alpha and the character creation is very nice, I went with a shield dwarf.

As I am playing, here is what I noticed very quickly. There are too many combat elements from DOS that just do not fit in the dungeons and dragons. It feels too much like DOS and not enough like DnD. Please I am begging you to change this. Make this what we were told. A Baldur's Gate game based on 5e in a nice new beautiful graphics engine. Start over.

once I got away from the intellect devourers and in to the map and went down into the ruined church. The very first battle I am fighting against a lot of ranged mobs armed with magical arrows. Throwing at my feet puddles of acid and fire. They will weave in and out of doorways where the only way i can reach them is to either stand in the fire or run through to them. Not saying this is hard tactically, it is just superficially hard at the level, because you should not be fighting monsters armed with what they are armed with so early in the game. It should ramp up more slowly also the ground elements like the fire and acid stay on the ground for far too long. And every battle has been set up like this. An over abundant use of ranged weaponry with magic like attacks and magic attacks and 1 or 2 melee units.

Secondly I went and fought the goblins in the village. Thinking I could run alongside the building where they couldn't see me. and was quickly set on defensive when I ended up fighting magic users and archers with fire and acid arrows that put AOE fire and acid affects at my feet. Even when they missed with their fire weapons I would still catch on fire and take damage. Get shot through windows the goblins couldn't even stand tall enough to fire through and they were even firing through the roof to the ground when they shouldn't have been able to see me. Against I get trapped very quickly because the ground becomes acid and fire all around.

Next is down the well in the goblin village where I was set upon by ettercaps and phase spiders... ... At level 3... ... What makes it worst is that the phase spiders and most of the other monster do not have the same abilities or actions from the Monsters Manual and what you expect from these kinds of monsters. Phase spiders do not have ranged acid attacks and they don't teleport nor are they super intelligent like they were acting in this game. Teleporting from spiderweb to spiderweb raining down acid spit. Not DnD. The can phase to another plane of existence and then reappear but not teleport back and forth spitting acid at you.

Plus each of these creatures alone are hard enough for a level 2 group of 4.. on their own and there were several of them.

I quit the game after this because honestly it was not tactically hard.. It wasn't challenging. It was just superficially hard by giving monsters abilities and things that they aren't even supposed to have. and when you have a game like Baldur's Gate you expect it to be dungeons and dragons based.

All the rules... all the monster abilities.. everything is already written for you and tested and balanced for years. All you had to do was plug it in to your beautiful graphics engine and AI to create a wonderful forgotten realms 5e video game with Baldur's Gate as the first story.

There is still a lot of time to save this and it has potential but you have to take this back to DnD and move further away from DOS.

Divinity is a great game and there is no doubt that it is a lot of fun. But people want 5e and they want dungeons and dragons from this. I am super sad. because I feel if the game stays the way it is and does not come around to be more like dungeons and dragons. I will probably not play it any more than what I have already.


and I apologize if I am bashing your hard work and time spent in to creating something really good but it is not dungeons and dragons and that is what I see a lot of people saying. you have an extremely talented team of people and you all can do amazing things I could never do. But you have a certain expectation with a game named Baldur's Gate and if you miss it. People will not forget.

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I'm sorry you're not enjoying the combat. Indeed the combat is closer to DOS then DnD 5e. Have you seen Solasta? This small company (17 ppl) made a game bas eon DnD 5E RULEs and from PHB and they follow it 1:1, and it's amazing for combat. Everything that DnD 5e player are use to. Solasta is the first RPG game that i have played that is so faithful to DnD 5E that idk why Larian as big as they are did not follow the PHB. Like you said, Larian Studio have plenty of time to change their trajectory toward more DnD rather then DOS. (And I love DOS2 I have 1200 hrs played)

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Yes, fake difficulty scaling because of the awful D:OS System integration. When you approach it just like a D:OS game and not D&D it becomes the most trivial thing in existence. Breaking one thing after another. The superficial layer of D&D is just there to make everything take longer mechanically speaking.

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I love what they did with the game. But I agree to a point the "Acid and Fire" do stay on the ground too long. Not sure if that is more of a glitch than anything else. Pots in the game are a "Bonus Action" not an "Action." I actually like this, and I think people who play table top would be OK with this change as well. I think that leaving pots as an "Action" would have made the game unplayable for PC Gamers, and they made a good compromise there. I don't think the monsters being smart is a problem. Tucker's Kobolds comes to mind. Simple monsters can be a difficult encounter in their lair.

I like the concept of having a bunch of oil and/or gun powder and putting it close to a boss and boom. Perhaps those things should be more interactive and the mobs could be smart enough to not let me do that. But I always wanted to do stuff like that in our table top campaigns. But the DM would never allow it. If you spent all your time and resources implementing those types of strategies, then you should be rewarded. I don't like the idea of "Linear Campaigns." I like Sand Boxes. I don't like the idea of: you are an Archer, "you shoot a bow." you are a Fighter, "you swing a sword." you are a Wizard, "you cast spells." I remember wanting to apply poison to my weapons. The DM said I couldn't because it was a "Heroic Campaign," and I was like but I am a freaking "Drow." I like the freedom the mechanics provide.

Crossbows are a free action to reload (unlike an "Action" in Dnd), but they do have the loading property. I am guessing once we get extra attack at level 5, you won't be able to fire 2 shots unless you have the Crossbow Expert Feat. This seams reasonable as PC Gamers would think it was too lame otherwise. I think it has the proper balance. "Fire Bolt" is what 1d10 in Dnd 5e and "Ray of Frost" is 1d8 as well as slows down movement. The way they did it is 1d6 for each. "Fire Bolt" can set the burning status 1d4 for 2 or 3 turns. (Should be 1 turn for Knights in shinning armor, who would get lightning effect for 2 or 3 turns but not catch fire.) "Ray of Frost" lowers movement speed and they have to "Save" or fall prone and roll to "Save" if they walk through the "Ice." This all make perfect sense. In a way it's even more realistic than Dnd.

I think that having the "Ice" or "Fire" stay on the ground for 1 turn would be better though. Unless, there was water then the ice stays for 3 turns, and if their was oil then the fire stays for 3 turns. Also, if there was water on the ground the floor doesn't catch fire etc. Just tone down some of the DOS 2 Mechanics a bit. But I would leave them in because that is what Dnd was missing.

The "Acid" status effect, I think lowers your armor class as well. I remember seeing a pop up in the game. One way that Table Top Dnd is more realistic than Larian's version, which in my opinion is very realistic, is this: If Acid lowered the AC of your "Leather", "Chainmail" or "Half-Plate." And "Fire" burned your "Robes." It would remain that way until you found a Tanner, Blacksmith, or Seamstress respectively.

Finally, perhaps the "Magical Arrows" were available for Enemies as well as Player Characters a little too early on, and "Poison Weapons" etc. Perhaps cut back on the availability until Act 2. Or at least the end of Act 1 as Drow and Underdark encounters would be well known for using those sorts of things. This may not be common in campaigns but the Dungeon Masters Guide certainly allows for it. I think I got a hold of some Wyvern poison by like LV3 or something. My DM would have never allowed that, or at the very least made me fight the Wyvern in order to obtain it.

Also, Baldur's Gate 2 was real-time pause and not turn based at all. I think they have been more Dnd, then any other title except maybe Solasta. I don't know as I have never played Solasta. I have cousins that love RPGs but would hate true 100% turn based. I don't think that minor modification for implementation on a digital medium breaks the game. Just they should keep them minor. Also, having more uncommon items from the "Dungeon Masters Guide" available would be nice. I like the idea of introducing new items as well. I don't think it breaks the game. But I think we can all agree that "Boots of Flying" an uncommon item that should cost around 500 gold pieces in game as well as being somewhat available. They are kind of broken. Larian could break the RPG by simply supplying things straight out the DMG.

Also, the DMG says that the DM has the final say so in the game. Larian is the DM, btw. Another-words, they can on day number one throw out all the rules and make everyone play Pokemon. And it is still Dnd according to the rules. I would never sit at a DM's table that did that. Just saying!

Some other suggestions that I have are in instances like when I saved the Goblin Sazza. I actually knocked out the Tiefling that was trying to shoot her, and her brother that turned hostile. I think we should be able to drag their bodies into her cage, and lock them up. You could do that in table top. Also, sometimes I would knock out other enemies. You should be able to pull out their teeth or fingernails if you are doing an Evil play through, and torture them. You can "Speak with the Dead," but maybe they don't want to talk because you killed them. There should be certain information obtained by "Speak with the Dead," other info obtained by "Detect Thoughts," and yet another info obtained from Torture. You can do this in Table Top.

I could go on and on and on. I always try to assassinate people. If I just kill and ask questions later. I don't have to Save Scum. (Sometimes I play the good guy, sometimes I murder hobo, I like to change it up.) I hate how dialogue interrupts my assassinations, and it fails to do them damage. That should be fixed. Because I have saved up that much "Oil and Powder Explosives." My rogue is in position to finish them off after the explosion. However, perhaps my ability to assassinate should be affected by the number of guards in a city. Although, the number of guards should be finite, so that after I assassinate all the guards everyone else becomes fair game. My thinking is that I shouldn't have to fight this boss later on. I don't care that they are essential to the story line. That is not a true Sandbox. That is Dnd with a Linear Story line, which is the main reason that I quit playing Table Top. If a DM can't make any given campaign into a Sandbox, then that just shows a lack of creativity on their part. Larian Studies has the man power. Let's give them a chance.


Last edited by Jeramee; 21/10/20 08:33 AM.
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This may sound unfriendly, but as a first comment I would say it’s better if people leave out their life stories out of these posts. I like reading other peoples views here on this forum but for some reason people are writing short novels about their background and personal life to give their arguments extra weight. It makes it hard to distill the main messages of substance in my view.

I agree that the surface, special items, items thrown etc are a bit overdone now. Would be nice if they can dial this down a bit. That being said, I feel overall that the game is super faithful to the DND rules, almost to a fault I would say.

The rules from the pen and paper setting can and should not be directly translated into a computer game, they are simply not made for that purpose so slight adjustments in my view are fine. I also believe Larian should give their own spin on this setting and these mechanics.

Then on the difficult enemies, it sounds like you ended up in the hardest area of the game early on. I personally like that you are punished if you end up in a higher level area. You can always teleport out if you’re stuck.

Overall I do not disagree with your points per se but it basically boils down to balance issues. Toning down use of items and special surfaces in combat and managing difficulty of encounters. Seems to be exactly the purpose of the EA to work on this.

Then finally your comment “start over” doesn’t seem very productive. They seem to be very far into production so starting over does not seem like a good plan.

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I just learned about the game last night. I do plan on checking it out. smile But again I am extremely hopeful for this.


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Originally Posted by Jeramee
I love what they did with the game. But I agree to a point the "Acid and Fire" do stay on the ground too long. Not sure if that is more of a glitch than anything else. Pots in the game are a "Bonus Action" not an "Action." I actually like this, and I think people who play table top would be OK with this change as well. I think that leaving pots as an "Action" would have made the game unplayable for PC Gamers, and they made a good compromise there. I don't think the monsters being smart is a problem. Tucker's Kobolds comes to mind. Simple monsters can be a difficult encounter in their lair.


You're right but if memory serves me right, drinking potions, handing things to other players, grabbing things out of your backpack were all moved to Bonus Actions and is how it works in the rules already.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
I like the concept of having a bunch of oil and/or gun powder and putting it close to a boss and boom. Perhaps those things should be more interactive and the mobs could be smart enough to not let me do that. But I always wanted to do stuff like that in our table top campaigns. But the DM would never allow it. If you spent all your time and resources implementing those types of strategies, then you should be rewarded. I don't like the idea of "Linear Campaigns." I like Sand Boxes. I don't like the idea of: you are an Archer, "you shoot a bow." you are a Fighter, "you swing a sword." you are a Wizard, "you cast spells." I remember wanting to apply poison to my weapons. The DM said I couldn't because it was a "Heroic Campaign," and I was like but I am a freaking "Drow." I like the freedom the mechanics provide.


I agree 100%, being able to have more control over your surroundings, this is not a bad thing. But being able to place a few barrels near a hard boss and use a level 0 spell (fire cantrip or something) to blow it up to do massive damage and killing the boss is cheesing it. There needs to be a balance on this and you're not walking around finding pools of poison to dip your sword in all the time. There shouldn't be barrels of oil and gun powder all over the place. And the monsters will attack those first. It just makes it feel superficial hard to make up for a lack of something but I cannot place a finger on it. I like being able to interact with the environment.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
Crossbows are a free action to reload (unlike an "Action" in Dnd), but they do have the loading property. I am guessing once we get extra attack at level 5, you won't be able to fire 2 shots unless you have the Crossbow Expert Feat. This seams reasonable as PC Gamers would think it was too lame otherwise. I think it has the proper balance. "Fire Bolt" is what 1d10 in Dnd 5e and "Ray of Frost" is 1d8 as well as slows down movement. The way they did it is 1d6 for each. "Fire Bolt" can set the burning status 1d4 for 2 or 3 turns. (Should be 1 turn for Knights in shinning armor, who would get lightning effect for 2 or 3 turns but not catch fire.) "Ray of Frost" lowers movement speed and they have to "Save" or fall prone and roll to "Save" if they walk through the "Ice." This all make perfect sense. In a way it's even more realistic than Dnd.


Ranged attacks rule in this game. And when everyone even monsters that are supposed to be "easy" I use that term loosely, are firing arrows of acid and fire and creating environmental affects at your feet. Its bad enough that they chase my caster across the map with their bows even though a big burly dwarf with a two handed axe is closing in on them to 1 shot them. I'm actually thinking of starting over and seeing how a ranger works out as I feel it would make the game 100% easier. I could be wrong.


Originally Posted by Jeramee
I think that having the "Ice" or "Fire" stay on the ground for 1 turn would be better though. Unless, there was water then the ice stays for 3 turns, and if their was oil then the fire stays for 3 turns. Also, if there was water on the ground the floor doesn't catch fire etc. Just tone down some of the DOS 2 Mechanics a bit. But I would leave them in because that is what Dnd was missing.

The "Acid" status effect, I think lowers your armor class as well. I remember seeing a pop up in the game. One way that Table Top Dnd is more realistic than Larian's version, which in my opinion is very realistic, is this: If Acid lowered the AC of your "Leather", "Chainmail" or "Half-Plate." And "Fire" burned your "Robes." It would remain that way until you found a Tanner, Blacksmith, or Seamstress respectively.


I think having it on the ground is not bad. But here's the thing. I had some poison gas or acid or something in the environment on the ground. I stepped away to let it disappear. I cooked dinner and baked two pumpkin pies and it never went away. so I had to just reload when I came back to my game an hour later. This is no joke. I literally went and put two pumpkin pies in the oven and cooked dinner and it never went away.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
Finally, perhaps the "Magical Arrows" were available for Enemies as well as Player Characters a little too early on, and "Poison Weapons" etc. Perhaps cut back on the availability until Act 2. Or at least the end of Act 1 as Drow and Underdark encounters would be well known for using those sorts of things. This may not be common in campaigns but the Dungeon Masters Guide certainly allows for it. I think I got a hold of some Wyvern poison by like LV3 or something. My DM would have never allowed that, or at the very least made me fight the Wyvern in order to obtain it.


Agreed cut back on this type of things until they player has time to obtain equal items.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
Also, Baldur's Gate 2 was real-time pause and not turn based at all. I think they have been more Dnd, then any other title except maybe Solasta. I don't know as I have never played Solasta. I have cousins that love RPGs but would hate true 100% turn based. I don't think that minor modification for implementation on a digital medium breaks the game. Just they should keep them minor. Also, having more uncommon items from the "Dungeon Masters Guide" available would be nice. I like the idea of introducing new items as well. I don't think it breaks the game. But I think we can all agree that "Boots of Flying" an uncommon item that should cost around 500 gold pieces in game as well as being somewhat available. They are kind of broken. Larian could break the RPG by simply supplying things straight out the DMG.


I actually feel that turn base is closer to DnD than real-time. I think the turn based is how it should be. The Real-Time makes it feel more fluid but doesn't feel like DnD, everyone gets their turn, I shouldn't have my Wizard mowed down before he can cast 1 spell because I didn't pause the game to set up all of their actions. I understand that there are character AI but when has that ever felt right? lol And magic items are supposed to be rare, especially in the beginning because it tips the balance too early but is needed to fight a dragon. They need to find the right balance.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
Also, the DMG says that the DM has the final say so in the game. Larian is the DM, btw. Another-words, they can on day number one throw out all the rules and make everyone play Pokemon. And it is still Dnd according to the rules. I would never sit at a DM's table that did that. Just saying!


They do but as a player I can determine if I want to play or not. If its not enjoyable you will have no players to DM.

Originally Posted by Jeramee
Some other suggestions that I have are in instances like when I saved the Goblin Sazza. I actually knocked out the Tiefling that was trying to shoot her, and her brother that turned hostile. I think we should be able to drag their bodies into her cage, and lock them up. You could do that in table top. Also, sometimes I would knock out other enemies. You should be able to pull out their teeth or fingernails if you are doing an Evil play through, and torture them. You can "Speak with the Dead," but maybe they don't want to talk because you killed them. There should be certain information obtained by "Speak with the Dead," other info obtained by "Detect Thoughts," and yet another info obtained from Torture. You can do this in Table Top.

I could go on and on and on. I always try to assassinate people. If I just kill and ask questions later. I don't have to Save Scum. (Sometimes I play the good guy, sometimes I murder hobo, I like to change it up.) I hate how dialogue interrupts my assassinations, and it fails to do them damage. That should be fixed. Because I have saved up that much "Oil and Powder Explosives." My rogue is in position to finish them off after the explosion. However, perhaps my ability to assassinate should be affected by the number of guards in a city. Although, the number of guards should be finite, so that after I assassinate all the guards everyone else becomes fair game. My thinking is that I shouldn't have to fight this boss later on. I don't care that they are essential to the story line. That is not a true Sandbox. That is Dnd with a Linear Story line, which is the main reason that I quit playing Table Top. If a DM can't make any given campaign into a Sandbox, then that just shows a lack of creativity on their part. Larian Studies has the man power. Let's give them a chance.


Right and Larian needs to add this depth to the game and they can do it with their style while keep faith to the 5e DnD ruleset. Its a superficial difficulty by adding elements that just don't really belong.



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Originally Posted by JonathanBrussels
This may sound unfriendly, but as a first comment I would say it’s better if people leave out their life stories out of these posts. I like reading other peoples views here on this forum but for some reason people are writing short novels about their background and personal life to give their arguments extra weight. It makes it hard to distill the main messages of substance in my view.


right well you have your opinion and could have skipped that part.

Originally Posted by JonathanBrussels

I agree that the surface, special items, items thrown etc are a bit overdone now. Would be nice if they can dial this down a bit. That being said, I feel overall that the game is super faithful to the DND rules, almost to a fault I would say.

Right but any DM knows that you don't throw the full force of the game at the players so early on or they will all die and not have a very enjoyable experience.

Originally Posted by JonathanBrussels

The rules from the pen and paper setting can and should not be directly translated into a computer game, they are simply not made for that purpose so slight adjustments in my view are fine. I also believe Larian should give their own spin on this setting and these mechanics.


I disagree because this is Baldur's Gate. They did this already in Divinity and it worked very well but again that was not a Dungeons and Dragons game. They should be more faithful to DnD here and give their style within the creativeness not the ruleset.

And I also do not agree with the rules not being able to be translated into a computer game. Its been done many times successfully. yes there may have been times where the programming language couldn't handle the logic but really this should not be a problem because of the advances of programming languages, computer hardware so on and so forth. I mean the game was 80 GB.

Originally Posted by JonathanBrussels

Then on the difficult enemies, it sounds like you ended up in the hardest area of the game early on. I personally like that you are punished if you end up in a higher level area. You can always teleport out if you’re stuck.



Originally Posted by JonathanBrussels

This is true but again I don't think that it is the case here. The first "dungeon" the ruined church is too high level? I understand going to areas too high level but I don't think this is the case. It feels superficially hard due to the mechanics. And its not that I cannot kill the monsters in these areas. It just doesn't not feel right.

Overall I do not disagree with your points per se but it basically boils down to balance issues. Toning down use of items and special surfaces in combat and managing difficulty of encounters. Seems to be exactly the purpose of the EA to work on this.

Then finally your comment “start over” doesn’t seem very productive. They seem to be very far into production so starting over does not seem like a good plan.


The Start Over comment is my frustration coming through because I feel that the only way to fix this is to revamp the entire combat itself and move it entirely away from Divinity and more in line with what you would expect from Dungeons and Dragons. Use their creativeness that I loved about Divinity but keep it closer in line to the 5e ruleset that people are going to expect from Forgotten Realms and Baldur's Gate. And yes it needs some balancing and I understand their analytics tool is working on it and in future patches it could be fine tuned better. It could just be the AI and ML trying to learn.

I am still hopeful

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just wanted to say that i mostly agree with OP and that this opinion also seems to be quite popular and often discussed.

btw handing things to other people and grabing things out of your backpack are usually not bonus actions but free actions (interacting with an object).
and by the rules drnking a potion isn't even the "use an object" action but the "activating a magic item" action. (even though i'd disagree)

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Originally Posted by Serax

I think having it on the ground is not bad. But here's the thing. I had some poison gas or acid or something in the environment on the ground. I stepped away to let it disappear. I cooked dinner and baked two pumpkin pies and it never went away. so I had to just reload when I came back to my game an hour later. This is no joke. I literally went and put two pumpkin pies in the oven and cooked dinner and it never went away.



Some of that is just glitches. Take a short rest and a long rest and the fire is still there. Reload and take a short rest and it is gone. Sometimes it goes away immediately after a fight, "like I say program glitches." Except the poison from the Hag, I couldn't really get her to spawn when I went to save the girl unless I loaded an explosive barrel at her spawn point. Then she spawned but never fought back. The girl got stuck in loop and the quest never completed.

I killed her in the Tea House in 1 round using explosives and totally cheesing it. Not because I felt the need to cheese it, but because I wanted to finish the quest. After I killed her and I went to her lair. I noticed the poisonous clouds were not there at all. My point is that some of this is planned, and some of it is just EA glitches. I think the fire and acid being on the ground too long is an example. Also, I think that if you start a quest and then go do something else because maybe mobs are too tough, and then you come back. The game gets stuck in a loop. My guess is that those little bits of code are setup in an "If then else kind of statement" or a "Case statement." If they were coded into "Functions or Classes", then it would fix a lot of that.(If that code is already objects, it could be the logic that calls those functions is screwy.) A lot of errors happen when the game assumes the players will follow a Linear progression. I remember a total party wipe at LV3 when I ran into the Lv5 Githyanki. If I was smart, I would have turned back.

However, lets say I start a quest line by doing so. That kind of thing happens from time to time and the game must assume that players will bounce around a lot when they run into enemies like that and not complete quest. I think that is why these sorts of Games have an Act I, Act II, and Act III. Otherwise, the code would be God Offal complicated. This allows them to make it more concise. I don't mind them making the multiple acts and making things somewhat Linear in the progression. Just make it Sandbox to the 1000X in the individual acts. I don't mind dealing with the glitches until it is working 100% either.

I have a good idea of the amount of effort that goes into all of this. Also, the Cinematics are amazing. Everyone around you appears in the cut scenes, and their gear actually appears on their person during these cut scenes. I don't think this kind of thing has ever been done to this degree. Also, Larian is funny because I remember when I found the Shadow of Menzoberranzan, and went back to those same LV 5 Githyanki. I tried to pick-pocket the Dragon. The game said, "You realize what a Silly Idea this was." Larian, you have to Love these guys.

Last edited by Jeramee; 21/10/20 09:53 PM.
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+1 billion to the OP, I feel the exact same way. More fidelity to the 5E ruleset, and this could be amazing.

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Originally Posted by Jeramee
Originally Posted by Serax

I think having it on the ground is not bad. But here's the thing. I had some poison gas or acid or something in the environment on the ground. I stepped away to let it disappear. I cooked dinner and baked two pumpkin pies and it never went away. so I had to just reload when I came back to my game an hour later. This is no joke. I literally went and put two pumpkin pies in the oven and cooked dinner and it never went away.



Some of that is just glitches. Take a short rest and a long rest and the fire is still there. Reload and take a short rest and it is gone. Sometimes it goes away immediately after a fight, "like I say program glitches." Except the poison from the Hag, I couldn't really get her to spawn when I went to save the girl unless I loaded an explosive barrel at her spawn point. Then she spawned but never fought back. The girl got stuck in loop and the quest never completed.

I killed her in the Tea House in 1 round using explosives and totally cheesing it. Not because I felt the need to cheese it, but because I wanted to finish the quest. After I killed her and I went to her lair. I noticed the poisonous clouds were not there at all. My point is that some of this is planned, and some of it is just EA glitches. I think the fire and acid being on the ground too long is an example. Also, I think that if you start a quest and then go do something else because maybe mobs are too tough, and then you come back. The game gets stuck in a loop. My guess is that those little bits of code are setup in an "If then else kind of statement" or a "Case statement." If they were coded into "Functions or Classes", then it would fix a lot of that.(If that code is already objects, it could be the logic that calls those functions is screwy.) A lot of errors happen when the game assumes the players will follow a Linear progression. I remember a total party wipe at LV3 when I ran into the Lv5 Githyanki. If I was smart, I would have turned back.

However, lets say I start a quest line by doing so. That kind of thing happens from time to time and the game must assume that players will bounce around a lot when they run into enemies like that and not complete quest. I think that is why these sorts of Games have an Act I, Act II, and Act III. Otherwise, the code would be God Offal complicated. This allows them to make it more concise. I don't mind them making the multiple acts and making things somewhat Linear in the progression. Just make it Sandbox to the 1000X in the individual acts. I don't mind dealing with the glitches until it is working 100% either.

I have a good idea of the amount of effort that goes into all of this. Also, the Cinematics are amazing. Everyone around you appears in the cut scenes, and their gear actually appears on their person during these cut scenes. I don't think this kind of thing has ever been done to this degree. Also, Larian is funny because I remember when I found the Shadow of Menzoberranzan, and went back to those same LV 5 Githyanki. I tried to pick-pocket the Dragon. The game said, "You realize what a Silly Idea this was." Larian, you have to Love these guys.



Me either I don't mind the glitches. I should understand that this is most likely glitches.

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Serax Offline OP
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Originally Posted by nizanegusa
just wanted to say that i mostly agree with OP and that this opinion also seems to be quite popular and often discussed.

btw handing things to other people and grabing things out of your backpack are usually not bonus actions but free actions (interacting with an object).
and by the rules drnking a potion isn't even the "use an object" action but the "activating a magic item" action. (even though i'd disagree)


Ahh that's right they're free actions. I don't mind them being bonus actions in the game.

I think these are the small changes that DM's make that don't change the fundamentals of the game. So one DM could say. Potions are bonus actions because they don't agree that it takes time to open and drink and shouldn't be considered a free action. but I feel the combat here is too far away from 5e.

And yes a DM can give every monster you fight consumables. BUT again at its core the monster in DnD are challenging enough with out the extra magic. And they have CD's to their abilities and there are reasons they come stock with non magical type of attacks and as you progress and increase your CR in DnD the monsters make up for this with innate and magical abilities. /shrug

I mean I had a goblin summon a giant spider with 32 hps.




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