I'd like to see your thoughts after you finish act 1. Act 1 is very well designed and is some of the best gaming I've ever had, but the game undergoes a major balance shift the moment you step into act 2 on multiple levels. The way the overall balance shifts immediately after act 1 ends is why some of us are concerned about the long term encounter design of BG3. You probably won't know what we mean until you experience it for yourself. Though to be fair, the real culprits behind DOS2's polarizing endgame won't be a problem in BG3.

DOS2 is also fully balanced around the idea that you're going into every fight with all your resources. Pre-buffing before a fight is possible too, though not very important. Honestly, I've always found the debates around the frequency of resting in BG3 to be rather inconsequential, everyone will rest however many times they want as long as there's no penalty for it. The only real problem with it is how many cutscenes are locked behind resting, which shifts the argument from a difference in playing style to outright missing out on content.

Oh, if you want maximum manipulation, I advise giving everyone 2 points in Aeroteurge in order to give everyone the ability to cast Teleport. That coupled with one other similar spell (which lets you swap the placement of two characters, which can include corpses on the field) available from Act 2 onwards basically lets your entire party move most enemies wherever the hell you want. It's super worth it, and since both spells are pure utility rather than damaging, they work well with any build. Though this might make the game too easy depending on how well you are able to capitalize on this - it's the sort of thing you'd use in Tactician difficulty to make fights much more favorable for yourself. You probably won't be able to give that spell to everyone in Act 1 without some major metagame knowledge though, due to a combination of the spellbook cost along with what happens to the first Aeroteurge vendor in most cases. There is a second vendor but you may forget to check back every time she restocks the book.

Last edited by Saito Hikari; 29/07/22 10:11 AM.