for some reason I had no idea it was just Act 1 being released, I might hold off til the whole thing's out. Tempting tho, Original Sin 2 was fun (til one of my party members plowed ahead in the story without the rest of us and we kinda stopped playing after that =( )

playing as that green warrior lady

Spoiler	+
Shadowheart was the very first character I stumbled upon after the crash, and she told me to stand back cuz she didn't trust me. I called her bluff and stepped forward which immediately forced me into combat in which I felled her in one hit good start!

what was the character customization about exactly? Was a bit confused, I assumed the first screen was just about selecting backstory and that'd be applied to the character I created. Did I just create an NPC? I made a book accurate Daario Naharis and was excited to play as him ;(

well guess it's better I found out now (:

apparently what I created was a 'guardian' but that's about all I know. Regardless prob gonna do a full reset, was only a couple hours in at least

yeah this game slaps, it took me a little bit to get into it but I'm addicted now. They really did a perfect job recreating the feel of D&D beyond just the ruleset, it's crazy the amount of creative solutions they let you come up with in every single encounter

push kills never cease to be satisfying lol

YAW

I just hit Act 2 and I wanna hold off a bit cuz I've heard similar things about Act 3, problem is I'm too addicted to put it down :( Hopefully the patch(es) drop before I get there

I've already been hitting minor bugs in Act 2 after having basically none for the first 35+ hours, not shocking I guess since only Act 1 is in early access

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

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

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'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 😢

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

Spoiler

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Yeah it seems there was a ton of companions I missed out on just from not knowing they could be one lol. Definitely would gear a second playthrough towards linking up with them although I think it'll be a long while before I pick this up again, too burnt out atm. Maybe by that time they'll have bolstered up the epilogues! But yeah, Minthara I didn't (and couldn't) even speak to and just thought she was another boss; Jaheira I didn't try super hard to keep alive but she got decimated in the Towers battle so I barely spoke to her; Minsc I totally forgot you could knock people out instead of kill them but the thought didn't occur to me to keep this guy around anyway Agreed about Act 2 feeling much more climactic. I do think Orin was the only good villain out of the big three, but the rest of the Thorms (and just how Ketheric is built up before you met him) and the oppressive atmosphere of the Shadowlands was great

Wyll starts out pretty boring but I really enjoyed his storyline towards the end of Act 1 (I assume you know what I'm talking about). He has some great quests in Act 3 too

Wyll spoilers

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the setpiece in the underwater prison was one of my favorite quests of the game, that was so cool. I assume most people are there to save the Gondians but I mostly cared about getting Papa Wyll out of there. For RP reasons I sent Wyll alone to where he was being held while the rest of us worried about other prisoners of interest (I also wanted to free the friendly illithid but damn he's hard to get to), it was a p cool moment seeing the Ravengards band together and battle down that hallway together (well moreso Wyll clearing the way for his weakened daddy)