I came into possession of this and love the flavor of the Grim Irony effect. I haven't used it yet but I really hope it makes a squeaky honking noise when it crits.

This game was so good. I finished it earlier this morning and even though I spent a disgusting amount of time exploring it I am already planning for my evil character playthrough to mop up leftover achievements. I've never played and clicked with a CRPG like this before and this will be a game that sticks with me for a long time as an example of one that opened up and made appealing an entire genre for me.

The performance did tank in Act 3 (god the load times) but my laptop wasn't running it perfectly in Act 1 and 2 either. I did not run into any major bugs. Only a minor one that caused a few quests to be permanently present in my journal. I did something without really thinking that locked me out of an area so I couldn't progress a few quests but they never entered a "completed" fail state and just stayed in my journal telling me to go do things I could no longer actually do.

Edit: Oh yeah, there was one thing that happened that I thought was a major game breaking bug that was going to see me stuck unable to proceed but... it was just player idiocy. Apparently during a boss fight I had toggled non-lethal damage on at some point. So when I beat the fight I hadn't actually killed the boss or gotten their loot. So when I finally ran out of ideas and returned to double check its corpse for an item needed to progress it was conscious and alive with 1 HP.

I actually have had a few bugs in Act 2 where I've had to reload a previous save to progress, but I've just been quicksaving more often so it hasn't been TOO bad

Act 2 spoilers

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Dungeon beneath Thorm Mausoleum + got Shadowheart to let Nightsong go without any persuasion checks somehow?? Maybe cuz my relationship with her was so strong? But anyway yeah, I started off this playthrough playing a (book) Euron type evil character but I'm always so bad at sticking with those archetypes, I just end up feeling bad lol. So even though all through the Gauntlet I was nodding in approval with everything, when Nightsong was laying out what would become of Shadowheart if she made this final step I just couldn't let it happen. I'll just say that's character development! Both boss fights in this dungeon were so tough (I think I was a bit underleveled, I'm still at Level 6), the Yurgir and the Balthazar one. But even though each took me several reloads to finally beat, man is it is so satisfying when you do finally figure it all out and have your strategy come together The Yurgir fight especially was giving me trouble due to his perma-invisibility and vry beefy minions, but the strat that ended up working was starting the fight outside the entrance and making them all funnel out where I could wittle them down with AOE. For some reason he threw out a lot less bombs in this fight too, to the point where he really was a non-issue til I had dealt with all his minions. Then when it was just him I basically had to play a guessing game and try to reveal wherever his invisible ass was hiding, but once I finally did I just poured all my resources into Karlach as usual and let her finish the job (helped that he slipped in a grease puddle at one point too which was hilarious). I think I finished that fight at like 5HP and the rest of the party downed. Quite the nailbiter!

probably the coolest section in the game so far, both gameplay and story-wise

Started my Dark Urge playthrough as a Rock Gnome Bard and it's difficult for me to commit to evil.

Act 1 Stuff but EVIL

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So far I've killed Gale and let Arabella die to the snake. The latter was particularly difficult to do because they give you several chances to change your mind and then don't even give your Dark Urge character inspiration for it. I guess because they didn't do it with their own hands lol. I've also been picking off Tieflings and any other Grove NPCs that are secluded, or can have the doors to their chambers closed. So when I march back with a goblin army it will be even more of a pushover. Act 1 Dark Urge exclusive scene spoiler + The Alfira murder was goddamn brutal. The way it just lingered on her mutilated corpse while your character stands over it. While I don't really enjoy the idea of my character actually being an out of control murderer, I do love the aspect of comically lying to everyone around you about how the latest corpse happened. "Oh a boar came into camp last night and gored her but didn't wake you all up" got a good laugh out of me, especially with Lae'zel towering over my PC. Astarion, Shadowheart and Lae'zel (later replaced with Minthara) are going to be my team if they will all stick with me. I'm going to kill or disgust everyone else into leaving. Astarion seems to be down for whatever, Lae'zel disapproves of the weirdest stuff, and Shadowheart I'm going to force into Shar worship this time so she can be my gnome's ultimate emo GF.

just hit Act 3 and I've already met Oyster Boy and heard tale of Ninefingers

Almost back to Act 2 in my Dark Urge playthrough. Just the Creche stuff in the Mountain Pass left. Exploration is going faster since I know where things are, but I'm still having to dig in every corner looking for XP because the Tactician battles are pushing me a little more due to them hitting harder.

Some of the early Act 1 Tactician fights before you have even a hint of power behind you may as well be the Balthazar battle from much later on. Like nothing major changes, same battles and enemies, but they definitely utilize tactics and other stuff the Balanced mode enemies ignored in favor of marching into woodchippers.

I do feel myself getting kind of burnt out (FINALLY) but I only have six more achievements to go.

man Act 3 is pretty wild. So many alliances to make/break, and of course my character is accepting a large amount of them which CERTAINLY won't come back to bite him

Camp romances

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so I had Mizora proposition me which my neutral evil warlock was happy to accept (also will be angling for Orin later if that's even an option lol), however when I went to sleep that night I had a visit from the Emperor who...also propositioned me! I said why not to keep him close (I do plan on betraying him when I can) and ofc my entire party caught a glimpse of me with his mindflayer form. I feel like there was a bug after cuz no one even brought it up at all, although I can't blame them if they were too mortified to mention it the NEXT long rest though Mizora made good on her promise and Shadowheart was surprisingly cool with it. Subverted my expectations that's 4sure. She was just like "hey I get it just give me a heads up next time you think you're gonna get it on with a devilspawn thx"

other Act 3 stuff

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my party has been wittled down, but fortunately I still have my core of Shadowheart/Karlach/Wyll. Gale got kidnapped and Astarion up and left after I convinced him out of ascension. I didn't feel much about either cuz I've barely spent time with them (I did finally have Astarion join my party just for the Cazador quest, but that's pretty much it) but I'll be p heartbroken if any of the core three end up leaving. ESPECIALLY Shadowheart or Karlach, I'm not ready for it so far I've agreed to alliances with: - Gortash (lie) - Orin (true, although she wants to duel me so it seems it'll be shortlived) - Emperor (lie) - Raphael (signed a pact that I intend to break after freeing the Gith prince) ultimately my end goal is to take the crown for myself, but I haven't ruled out a last minute reversal if Shadowheart ends up being heavily against it

sidenote: the voice acting has been mostly great, but weirdly the most flat performances so far have been Ketheric/Gortash who are the only 'name' actors in the game (JK Simmons and Jason Isaacs)

I saved up the summonable NPC items I found for the final battle this time. Now that I'm here again I'm sad to report you can't blow the horn and summon the three ogres from Act 1 or Balthazar's brother from Act 2 to help you.

Your character doesn't even acknowledge the bell being used to try to summon the brother but says "no sense in bursting my lungs to blow this horn, the ogres are too far away to hear us" when trying to summon them.

I've been tooting Lump's horn every few battles in the vague hope that I could see my boy plod into battle once more. That's a shame 😢

@Boc

When you get to the final battle, the villain speaks to you and addresses your present party with epithets. I didn't remember this from my first game and don't have the saves anymore to go back to. And on this save I literally only have my core group and all other companions I killed or let die so I can't redo it with a new team to see them all. Please post what you get. I know you said you use Wyll, I'm sure he's got a good one.

The epithets I received	+
Shadowheart - The Daughter of Darkness (maybe different if she doesn't side with Shar?) Astarion - The Ratcatcher Who Became a Lord (maybe different if he doesn't ascend?) Minthara - The Avenging Exile Dark Urge - Murder Incarnate (maybe different if you resist/refuse the Urge through playthrough?)

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The final battle was very, very hard for me on Tactician. I was relentlessly save scumming and still worked my way into a position that I just had to abandon and completely restart the gauntlet after hours of play. Even going back fully prepared (took every single scroll and potion from my camp chest with me) I struggled a bit. I was very surprised seeing as how I completely melted through it on Balanced.

Anyway, I've now 100% completed Baldur's Gate 3 and I believe it's my favorite game of all time. I've literally never beaten a game and then immediately started a new playthrough that I went on to see through to the end for another 100+ hour romp.

I'm going to have to explore the CRPG genre further now, to see if it's this game specifically I'm super high on or if it's just the style of the genre I'm infatuated with now that I more comfortably understand how they play.

that Raphael boss music tho

almooost done with this (127 hours later). Just have 2 or 3 big quests to wrap up I think

Spoiler

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The wyrm awakening which I'm not 100% if I'll do but probably will Freeing Orpheus which I assume happens near the end? I acquired the hammer forever ago and have just been waiting and waiting for my chance to betray the Emperor Then taking on the brain ofc (well, more likely taking it over). My supporting cast is looking pretty stacked rn, most recent recruit was Yurgir who I was able to woo to my side with a persuasion check despite me sending him to hell in the first place. Game respects game! Gotta say he seemed a whole lot weaker in that fight against Raphael than he was when I had to face him tho

what a game. What a JOURNEY! Final time clocked in at 136 hours which is certainly the longest campaign I've ever played. I have some quibbles with the ending but overall this game was phenomenal

Spoiler

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ok to get the negatives out of the way: Act 3 definitely lost some of the narrative momentum that Act 1 & 2 had (which were both just about perfectly paced) and dragged a bit. Also, for a game that's so jampacked with cutscenes for tons of branching scenarios it's weird that they skimped so much on the very ending. My canon ending was dominating the brain which ended VERY abruptly, like I picked the option, then immediately got whisked away to my evil throne and the credits rolled. I went back just to see what the 'good' ending was like and there's definitely more to it but still felt p abrupt. For as much as people complain about LOTR's multiple endings, I feel like that was necessary here. It was a long, long journey! No need to rush the closure anyway, as for the final battle. I left Wyll (freshly minted Grand Duke) behind at the last minute, swapping him out for Gale instead who I thought would be important for helping me dominate the brain...but I guess not! I swapped literally all his equipment over to Gale so it was a pretty funny image seeing the Grand Duke immediately stripped of his dignity after his ascension, left behind at camp in nothing but his tightie whities Orpheus was the one who I chose to become illithid. Karlach would've been a pretty pragmatic choice as well but I couldn't see her like that man my allies (who I summoned all of during the brain fight...most were pretty much just fodder though) - Yurgir (again, almost useless compared to his boss fight) - Isobel (heal came in clutch) - Nightsong (I forgot that she can't be killed, poor thing kept drawing the dragon's fire and dying over and over. She should be used to it at least!) - Ulma's Huntwardens (IMMEDIATELY wiped out after being summoned, pitiful performance) - Niney's assassins (actually did pretty well! Maybe even the most useful summon outside of Isobel?? Not saying much tho. One of them was the sole summon standing at the end in fact) RE: epithets -- I don't remember getting any so I'm not sure what triggers that?

still have Here Comes the Claws in my head btw. What a banger of a villain theme

I wanna play :((