I mean, the game is amazing, has amazing dialogues, atmosphere and all that, but damn… the combat is surely a downer. Feels like theres no “real” tactic to the game other than just keep on (mindlessly) trying until the battle is won. And yes, I’ve done all quests, sidequests, with a “non-meme” party on the balanced difficulty and I’m -still- having lots of “please don’t use (x) skill or else my whole run is done for” moments.
get gud scrub.
That’s why I don’t like Larian games. It’s the same bullshit shtick that they used for both Divinity games. There’s no nuance to the battles, it’s just fighting against a vindictive DM that knows all of your weaknesses…and exploits the absolute fuck out of them. I hated it so much in Divinity OS2 that I couldn’t even finish the game. It was painful having to slog through some of if the fights to the point that I just began dreading them.
Honestly mate? Chuck the difficulty down if you’re struggling. It’s a single player game, there’s no reason to slog through on a higher difficulty than what you find fun.
That said, if you’re just bashing your head against a wall, it’s likely you’re making some pretty big errors in the combat. The game is designed to be challenging, but not strictly cruel. Always ensure you’re taking time to reposition your party and take advantage of your environment. Astarion and his sneak attacks from the shadows carried my party through some really challenging fights, not to mention the massive benefits that chokepoints bring.
To put it another way, if everywhere you go smells of shit, you might wanna check your boot.
I’m not struggling. We never even really got stuck anywhere. I just hated the mechanics of the game. The enemy AI didn’t play contextually to the situation and took advantage of things that it shouldn’t known about.
Also the fact that every enemy in the game had access to magic grenades and magic arrows didn’t help…it just didn’t make sense in some cases. It almost felt cheesy - if every single enemy has access to the same grenades and arrows, the fights no longer feel unique. It just becomes Level 2.2 in this weird magic chess game. Same enemies, just slightly harder…etc, etc, ad nauseum.
Lastly, the other thing that bugs me…is there is pretty much no difference between any of their strategy games. It’s the same BS system that’s been rebranded and reflavored for the next story. We beat Divinity OS1, and I was really hoping for a better AI and better fight dynamics when they released OS2…boy was I let down when I discovered that it was exactly the same in pretty much every way that mattered.
Don’t they have an story mode for people that don’t like the strategy part of the strategy RPG?
If I just want a story, I’ll go read a book. The strategy portion of this strategy RPG is just rough and it’s all due to the AI. The game has ita moments, but the AI plays exactly like a vindictive DM that is willing to exploit every one of your weaknesses. I want a challenge, but I want it to be contextually accurate, not this weird chess-like sidepiece.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good strategy RPG. Loved the first Baldurs Gate games. Love Tactics Ogre games, played the original XCOM games, loved the Front Mission Franchise. The enemies made logical moves in that game, which is fine.
Larian Games play more like someone whose playing chess. The actions of the individual units don’t matter to that individual, but to the whole. It’s like all of the immersion is broken by every fight because enemy units will do illogical things for that enemy character. Oh, your healing my disguised, undead character on your first turn? Oh yeah, that’s logical. No one in this village knew my guy was undead, but because we get into a fight, you just immediately know?
The enemy AI knows all of your weaknesses and exploits them. This isn’t about difficulty of the game, it’s about the bullshit mechanics of the game. Larian Studios gets lauded for making an amazing strategy RPG, and I agree that the RPG part is great…I just don’t think that the Strategy portion of the equation is all that it’s cracked out to be.
You’re playing it wrong.
BG3 is a role playing game. You gotta play it like real life. In real life, if things don’t go your way, you drink strong alcohol. I highly recommend tequila or whisky.
Charisma too low? Tequila. Dexterity too low? Whisky. Enemy with 1HP dodges 3 attacks in a row? Tequila.
The game is easy as pie.
I haven’t experienced that on balanced difficulty; what party members are you using?
Some general considerations:
—Some optional fights are very challenging when first encountered, you can skip them and come back later.
—The Sword Coast is absolutely swimming in consumables. Drink those potions, read those scrolls, and shoot those magic arrows; your enemies certainly will.
—Someone should probably always be concentrating on Bless. If you aren’t a cleric, I hope you like Shadowheart!
—The story wants you to rush, but don’t trust it; take a long rest between large fights, even if it seems silly. You need those spell slots.
—Focus on taking small enemies out of the fight before concentrating on the large ones.
—Enemy archers (and mages that use attack roll spells) can’t shoot you very well if your melee characters are threatening them.
—Bringing more than one “squishy” party member (like Gale) makes the game a lot harder. Make sure anyone who can learn Shield knows (and prepares!) it.
I think we should just deal with the consequences. Make a plan, go for it, and deal with whatever happens. The only time you reload is when you die. Or when something REALLY bad happens.
Save scumming kinda spoils the fun and removes a lot of the tension.
And if poor rolls meant I had to murder La’Zael at the start of the game so be it. She was obviously meant to die like all those poor innocent deep gnomes.
I reloaded there because I was expecting more dialog options along the line that didn’t result in my Paladin breaking his oath. Oh and non-lethal damage seemingly still broke my oath?!
I can’t think of any other moments Ive had to reload due to braindead conversation options but I have been frustrated a few times.
