Baldur's Gate 3 (Zero Punctuation)

[@theescapist]

This week's episode of Zero Punctuation is brought to you by Humble Bundle. www.dpbolvw.net/click-100402551-15598945

[@Renkencen]

Thank godyou put the ad at the start and not right before the credit start like last week!

[@Dac_vak]

I know you guys gotta make your money, but for some reason, attaching sponsored content to ZP really changes the tone of the reviews for me. Ads just don’t feel right alongside Yahtzee reviews. I don’t have a solution, and I empathize with the difficult balancing act of maintaining journalistic integrity alongside getting paid enough to continue to produce content. I wish I had some magic non-intrusive suggestion on how to do both. But I just wanted to give honest feedback. I still love ZP and the Escapist, but the recent changes (like removing the early videos on the website and attaching more and longer 3rd-party ads to videos) have significantly decreased my excitement for new ZP vids. I’m probably in the minority of thinking this way, but if I’m willing to share my thoughts like this, there are probably other people who share similar opinions but are too lazy to try and give constructive feedback. I hope you’re able to find a good balance.

[@draconisfiresworn4240]

I much prefer this ad placement then last weeks, i think it works better!

[@lowrider993]

Wow, this maybe Yahtzee's nicest review yet.

[@samadams8533]

Hey Nick, I know you got yelled at last week for the Ad placement, and you probably don’t get enough positive reinforcement. But the Ad this week was integrated a lot better into the video, so like good job and stuff, we appreciate your hard work!

[@armedwombat6816]

Side note: There is a command to turn your entire party into stealth mode: shift + c

[@lamentz27]

Also 'G' to quickly ungroup so they don't bumble into the minefield you're trying to disarm one square inch at a time.

[@undertone8367]

Or just click the button below the portaits

[@vanhoras3082]

How nice to learn that after turning them to stealth individually for 150 hours. Sure would have been helpful of the game to bloody tell me at some point.

[@AnthonyAdrianAcker]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh lol

[@AmbiambiSinistrous]

Is there an equivalent command for controller? 🥺

[@Sonn289]

If you're not familiar with Yahtzee's review style, he liked it.

[@tirohtar]

Likes it? This was as close to a 10/10 review score as Yahtzee ever allows himself to get xD His full review of Undertale was, and I quote, "Undertale is a good game."

[@Carsa-is6vb]

I love the fact that us fans have to paraphrase Yhatzee's reviews. It's refreshing in an industry where an almost decent game usually gets a 7.5/10 or an 8/10, when in real life when I was a student anybody in the class getting an 8/10 meant they took an almost perfect exams with a couple minor errors.

[@xThronex]

@@tirohtar closest to 10/10 would be Portal from his Orange Box review, which I think was back before he joined the escapist

[@Mario_bland]

Thanks for the british-english translation. I was going to run it through google.

[@danielgrezda3339]

@@Carsa-is6vb Oh dear god, an 8/10 in my Albanian school meant they got half of them right!

[@wakeangel2001]

You weren't save scumming, you were just roleplaying a chrono mage

[@Zergonapal]

I feel there is a difference between save scumming and prudence. Like sure you shouldn't stress about a perfect run and roll with the little mistakes but if some random thing bollocks your plan and gets your favourite NPC killed that you havn't boned yet then maybe it's ok to reload.

[@doihavetobeg]

You could always roleplay that the save/load mechanic is a tadpole power.

[@dookieshoes3585]

Once I realized you could quicksave during dialogue I decided the devs wanted you to save scum

[@yoshihayata1611]

chrono wild magic barbarian

[@wesleythomas7125]

Like how Xcom Command has freaky time-magic that keeps everyone (at least) alive at tge end of battle.

[@alantyndall85]

Another option for the Goblin murder problem is to recruit a surprisingly intelligent Ogre by promising he can eat the corpses of the dead. Then, once you've killed half the map and want to do the other half, promise them 1000g to kill the other half. Let them all die and pay nothing. I love this game.

[@Haunting_Hyena]

I was planning on holding the horn until the final fight just to summon some level five ogres that will just get destroyed, but the horn only works in act one from what I've seen people say.

[@rileymcphee9429]

Yeah, I used the ogres on the Gnoll, spider matriarch, and the gith fights. I just killed him after that since he only had 1hp and looted a VERY NICE head piece.

[@Venjamin]

@@rileymcphee9429 You can use the horn multiple times?! I've been saving it! The gith fight is my plan.

[@armoredchimp]

@@Haunting_Hyena Oh damn, I'm in act 2 and never used it. Guess I'll see what it does in the next playthrough then

[@rileymcphee9429]

@@Venjamin yes, he asks for the money after the first fight and there's options to persuade him to pay him for the next use. You can do this again but he'll try to demand the money immediately just for showing up 🤣 smart ogre i guess

[@rebellyanmagic6409]

"Get in the fucking party bus, Teddy Ruxpin" made me inhale my tea, cheers

[@Metal_Maoist]

So, Baldur's Gate 3 has just enough support for non-combat options to make you forget about the fact that, at its core, it's still primarily a combat sim? Damn, it really does capture the essence of D&D doesn't it

[@JacquesduPlessis11]

To be honest with you - most of the situations Yahtzee described here combat could be avoided. I usually talk my way out of most combat situations, and if you are willing to stealth you can avoid a lot of it. There are a couple of unavoidable encounters, but they are much more rare than people would think. It has to do with the way the game is set up - if you make a decision which leads to combat at an initial point X then it is much more likely to result in further combat scenarios down the line. If you avoid combat at initial point X, it tends to open up more non-combat options down the line.

[@greensmurf221]

You can make certain bosses kill themselves.

[@Sir1188]

The house of healing was definitely a memorable moment lol

[@DoctorMandible]

Preach! I'd love to see a page count of rules dedicated to combat vs all other rules. I bet it would be 98% combat.

[@SciFiSpeedster]

@@DoctorMandible You made me wonder the same, so I checked the PHB. If anyone else is curious: the chapter explicitly about combat rules is 11 pages, the chapter explicitly about non-combat interactions is about 7 pages, and the entire rest of the book (316 numbered pages) is rules or references that could apply in or out of combat. So depending on how we define the actual question, 98% is pretty close.

[@theslimcreeper3779]

Props for him, for not mentioning the willy customization even once in the entire review. Not even as joke. That's a character arc right there.

[@pokemonmanic3595]

Yahtzee in his 20s: Friendless, single, misanthropic cynic Yahtzee in his 40s: DnD playing, married father, willing to give shit he used to not like a chance

[@SalandVin99956]

Character development

[@kingslushie1018]

Growth :)

[@theaffablestranger3672]

He is a banana, you must remember

[@w415800]

I don't think that last thing is true, he gets paid to review, I don't think he plays Bland Sandboxes, online shooters or Spunkgurgleweewee in his spare time.

[@argentbast]

Well, the misanthropic cynicism still holds……

[@Zettabyte7]

I think the freedom of choice in BG3 really becomes apparent once you've also watched someone else play it. Comparing two different playthroughs can be like night and day. Really been enjoying it so far.

[@seokkyunhong8812]

Or try the dark urge and realize how much density there is in the text

[@paulenan9636]

Baldurs Gate 3 at its best is the game where you accidentally stumble upon a hidden place while already dealing with a dozen quests, and after exploring it for an hour you notice how it is actually pretty important to at least one of those aforementioned quests. Then you start congratulating yourself for accidentally running into it only to learn later when talking with other players that there were at least 3 different ways to enter the place, one of them was "be a drow and talk to this one side character you discarded as irrelevant"

[@scw55]

I do enjoy that aspect of Larian's RPGs where you encounter rabbit holes, and they keep going. You eventually leave that place, and think to yourself; "huh, that was wild".@@paulenan9636

[@Thundawich]

I don't really see it as having much freedom at all. Maybe its because I got devblocked from advancing due to being a low level, but the game just feels super railroady to me.

[@Laerei]

@@Thundawich Well, that's because it has a story that it's trying to tell. Complete freedom would imply it lacks a story. You still have a lot of freedom how you perform that story.

[@Windowsprodukt]

I spent the entirety of the first act intimidating people while running around in my underpants. 10/10

[@maliticus7474]

A couple of buds and I are currently running a 4 player party of dragonborn. We realized early on that you can toggle your camp wear out in the world, so we're all walking around as shirtless and shoeless dragonborn who still get service. It makes all the cutscenes hilarious, especially since dragonborn half the time don't fit in the scene's camera angle.

[@FrankBocker]

Same here, minus the underpants. Sky-clad is best clad.

[@garion046]

Ah yes, standard barbarian D&D gameplay

[@ILikeTheThingsIDo]

Typical barbarian life.

[@ImVeryOriginal]

Ah yes, the bath salts stratagem

[@jacobsedlack1173]

Eloquence Bard really is Yahtzee's style given how fast and verbose he is.

[@seelcudoom1]

especially one who does nothing but spam viscious mockery

[@benl2140]

Too bad you can't play one in BG3.

[@corwyncorey3703]

@@benl2140 Considering I Barded a boss to death multiple times, with words... yeah, they may not be Eloquence bards... but any bard can, really. (Side Note: That barkeep was REALLY gross... Karlach was right.)

[@geroni211]

I see him as more a College of Whispers myself

[@miloshp7399]

Vicious mockery is what we are here for, honestly.

[@dh8203]

So, you didn't find the button that puts your whole party into stealth mode yet? I'd tell you where it is, but it's doing such a good job at hiding, and that's what stealth is all about.

[@moosepotato4116]

"I wonder what that button is that I've never once pressed for the entire game. Oh well! Guess I'll never know!"

[@lemao2222]

I get your point but that doesn’t solve the fundamental problem: the entire party moves around together at all times. Take Divinity: Original Sin 2 for example. They made it so the party won’t follow the selected character in stealth mode, unless they enter it too. That’s smarter since most of the time you want to move your stealthy character individually. If you want to do that in Baldur’s Gate 3, you have to separate that character from the group. And then manually put them back in once it’s time to move the entire party again. Even BG1 and BG2 was more intuitive in that regard, IMO.

[@pedrobettt]

@@lemao2222 you can press G to group or ungroup the entire party.

[@powerhousejp]

​@pedrobettt and you missed the point: if I'm stealthing one character, the game should recognize I want that one character ungrouped from the rest. Yes, it's a minor nit to pick, but this isn't a novel concept or system; as stated, Larian has already done that system in the Divinity series.

[@lemao2222]

@@pedrobettt I believe the word I’ve used was “smarter”. It’s not difficult to do it, but it’s a necessary extra step to something that was simpler in other entries.

[@DavidMFBowie]

I do think it is a super flexible game. In the scenario yahtzee was describing where you have to kill the 3 leaders. 2 of them, you can convince them to go to a private room where you can fight them without alerting the rest of horde (you have to kill the alerting eyes first). The third one is harder because he's on his throne being cheered by like 7 other goblins. For him, I cast crown of madness, he went berserk and absolutely murdered all of his party members. Then I swooped in with my party and finished him off. I love this game

[@sirbobulous]

That's fantastic. For the throne dude I went with the more typical 'climb in the rafters and drop the flaming cauldron lights on them' approach.

[@user-il9ze9py8c]

Or you can JOIN THEM

[@TheNinjaman41]

you can even legit join the goblins theres a companion that you can get if you side with the goblins really sad to see he got so many things wrong idk this game just is so much better than so so many others really expected a better quality review when other sites/reviewers went actually pretty genuine

[@AnonSeacat]

I used my bard song to lure the hobgoblin and his retinue to the edge of a spider pit. Then I switched to turn-based mode, ran around them, and used Thunderwave to knock most of them into said pit. Music is powerful.

[@trimeta]

If you talked to the ogres a few villages back, you can summon them to assist with fighting the third leader. One minor problem: being AI-controlled ogres, they're not exactly focused on said leader specifically, and pull the entire rest of the goblin encampment into the fight. But they serve as great meat shields, so it's six of one, half-dozen of the other.

[@derekstein6193]

"I shove people off by day and get people off by night." Sounds like a motto you would see on Yahtzee's family coat of arms.

[@antman1672]

The game did have a lot of times where you can talk bosses into killing themselves, which is always a positive.

[@anthonydicrecchio6547]

Malus Thorm was especially memorable. My Bard talked him into letting himself be offed and just stood there horrified while it happened.

[@DirtyFrigginHarry]

@@anthonydicrecchio6547 Same. In the words of Ricky "That whole family is fucked"

[@fieryrebirth]

@@anthonydicrecchio6547 The shadow-cursed lands(Act 2)is RIFE with bosses that you can convince to kill themselves, not just the Thorms. It's friggin' amazing. The hybrid spider-human boss is by far the best one and all you do is turn him undead and find him in the town square wandering around with a chunk of health missing - who I proceeded to snipe without getting into an encounter. Fuckin' A+.

[@yahia5476]

Most of act 2 bosses, lmao

[@courier6960]

Any time I see the act 2 bosses I just think of the dark urge doing the lowtiergod meme to them

[@Gorbz]

I think the whole "roll with it" is for non fatal encounters, when you fail a check or step on the 14th trap in a row. For combat encounters you can run away, but only if you are not shorter than your opponent as they will just keep dashing up to you and get reaction attacks when you try to flee. If only there was some sort of morale check or something to give monsters a chance to flee and save themselves if a combat encounter was going badly, rather than fight to the death in the hope of getting that lucky last hit off.

[@x3Karma]

well for rogues, you could get out of any combat pretty easily if you used your Dash Action and the Bonus Action for another Dash, gets you out of the combat range to escape into camp. for the rest though, i guess you'll just have to slow them ( Ray of Frost, Grease ) while you keep running away. it managed to get me out of fighting an entire NPC army because they caught me stealing something, they had a condition called Temporary Hostile.

[@Rurike]

I think theres merit to both playstyles. Letting yourself reload gives you flexibility to try crazy things or explore dialogue a bit deeper, but im also currently watching a playthrough of someone refusing to reload unless they party wipe and the results have been hectic and hilarious

[@MisterDevel]

No shit.

[@PwnageXD]

Super useful tips the game didn't tell me right away - Shift C for your entire party to sneak :D - ` to highlight all creatures near by including your party, non hostile nps and enemies - alt for highlighting items on the ground

[@Jayblaze1193]

The Silence spell is pretty handy for alarms as well as spells. Also two of the goblin fights can be stealthed pretty well with the right planning/dialog options.

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

Yeah you can talk Gut into taking you into a back room alone and kill her there lol. i assume the other two have similarly clever solutions available

[@halocray]

I found out that if you roll a nat 20 in some checks you'll do something different which I did not expect

[@EvilNinja113]

I have also noticed this, more so in Act 1, but I can say it isn't for all checks. I can't remember some but in my Act 1 save scumming tests there are multiple instances where rolling a nat20 vs just passing the check results in different narrator dialogue/reactions. The change wasn't significant enough to alter the outcome of passing the check, at least I haven't found any examples of it, but I can 100% confirm sometimes it triggers different dialogue than just passing

[@halocray]

@EvilNinja113 One I found was the strength check on helping bust down the door on the burning building. If you roll a nat 20, your character just kicks down the entire door and looks smug as the guards run in. Pretty funny.

[@TehCakeIzALie1]

@@halocray In the same building, a nat 20 lets you lift the (entire pile of) burning rubble off the trapped guy and toss it away in a single, comically smooth motion.

[@shinyary2]

@@halocray I believe this also happens with no check at all if you do it with a Barbarian (at least, that was my experience). Edit: My bad, I think I was thinking of a different door.

[@KudleFish]

A nat 1 gives critical failure. It totally ignores all of your modifiers and insta fails you…. Definitely not as fun as a nat 20.

[@lonesg1011]

Finally, the one reviewer I respect talks about the game im excited about

[@lonesg1011]

And i was not disappointed

[@TheNinjaman41]

really? I was he got some things straight up wrong, theres a button to make your entire party go into stealth at the same time, you CAN SIDE with the goblins not forced to kill them at all, Only fights you can't avoid are like the main boss fights at the end of the acts. You can avoid almost everything. idk felt like he didn't even scratch the surface @@lonesg1011

[@StormBringare]

I would recommend ACG here on KZbin as well. He makes pretty solid reviews.

[@JoeSkeen]

This guy ain't really a reviewer. His videos are fun but I don't think being overly cynical about everything is great.

[@probablypragmatic6893]

​@JoeSkeen how is being very critical disqualify someone from being a reviewer?

[@chasesmay7237]

I’m sure BG3 isn’t for everyone…but it’s definitely for me. I love taking my time, looking at all the ways around a corner before I hit something. It’s such a ‘flexible’ game, I mean it may not have easy ways around certain events and fights…but there are so, so many ways to do everything else (not to mention fighting, itself) The story is awesome, the character development is fantastic, the mystery is interesting, and the gameplay feels tailor-made for me. Like i said, it might not be for everyone but it’s the best game I’ve played in a long, long time

[@esper5323]

I agree. I’ve had a bit more stagnation than most as I tend to struggle with slow turn-based stuff, and a few drawn-out combat encounters early into the game kind of scared me a little bit. I’m sure that wall would be too steep for lots of people. Though personally I’m very happy to say the sheer density of everything and the exploration value rather overshadowed those feelings. I do question why it’s marketed as Baldur’s Gate 3 when it has almost literally no similarity to the first two games, though.

[@ravenmage1859]

"It was vaginas!" being so enthusiastically exclaimed has to be in contention for best ending line to a review ever.

[@slenderminion2229]

What really caught my eye with Baldur's Gate 3 was not the heaps of praise it is receiving, but the fact that it was made by Larian Studios, the developers behind the long-running Divinity series. Been a fan of theirs for quite a while now and I'm really glad that their years of experience with the RPG genre is paying off with three big hits in a row.

[@svenbtb]

Yeah, especially given how long they've wanted to make a D&D game, it's really cool to see that when they finally got the chance they knocked it out of the park

[@Flyon86]

I'm glad someone picked up the high effort/budget crpg torch after EA killed bioware.

[@obviousprime7869]

The only thing holding back a better experience was using the divinity engine. They simply couldnt do a ton of stuff that DnD would normally allow, like actual flight. Or that every single spell that creates a "surface" effect has its DC set to always 12 or 13, instead of the casters spell save DC due to an engine limitation. Completely ruined my warlock build because evards black tentacles and hunger of hadar became completely useless

[@undertone8367]

The druid situation did have an alternative solution. You could have sided with the goblins, which is why the druid said don't recruit him unless you're sure because it'll turn everyone hostile.

[@shadogiant]

Siding with the goblins feels like such a non-option. They're crazy, wrong, and murderous torturous and slavers.

[@laurelkeeper]

Some people like to indulge evil fantasies.

[@undertone8367]

@@shadogiant it also costs you a lot of content. You lose 3 companions and all the tieflings, and all you get in exchange is one companion who doesn't even join your party until the next act and has minimal interactions. Being evil in act 2 costs you even more and you don't get anything in return.

[@vidar5762]

You can also get them into seperate areas where they don't call in backup. I was able to take each out without alerting anyone. I did forget about that though and teleport into the heart of the camp when I wasn't ready though lol

[@Dionaerys]

You can also tell the goblins where the grove is, then defeat their attack. For whatever reason, that's good enough for Halsin and you don't need to bother killing the other two goblin leaders.

[@MrMucera]

You can actually seperate the 3 bosses and get each one with just a few adds. They also often place conveniently place themselves under a giant chandelier or next to a chasm :)

[@robbiedarling7323]

The only thing to remember with chasms is that if you push them off then their loot goes with them :(

[@Spamhard]

You can also just not kill the 3 bosses. I didn't, and Halsin still joined me. He seemed satisfied so long as you sort out the grove.

[@Wizards-Pupil]

Can't believe Escapist messed up so bad they lost Yahtzee. Can't wait to watch whatever new content he puts out.

[@anyroad5455]

It’s a very flexible game. My friends and I are playing on our own and we’re sharing how we personally worked things out. For example, if you’re a Drow the goblins just sort of let you in without any sort of antagonism - this means you don’t have to do the worg poop thing or really get questioned at all. The goblins just assume you’re related to the drow that’s commanding them.

[@korenn9381]

if you free the goblin prisoner from the grove she makes sure you get in without hassle as well, even without a grove. And if you let yourself get branded by the hag.... it opens a whole set of options and gear later on in the game.

[@MrDavidCollins]

I just slaughtered the whole temple and kicked their leader off a cliff

[@bwcmakro]

You can also just... Go around them. There's a side passage you can jump through, and once you're inside, everyone assumes you're supposed to be there.

[@Wach5]

disguising yourself as drow works too

[@AegixDrakan]

I feel validated that I did the same approach as Yatz during the goblin camp. XD I had to do SO many long rests along the path of extreme violence. The other BG3 player at work, meanwhile, found ways to stealthily kill them all and was shocked I went with the direct route.

[@minchang9769]

Long rest all the time. Search every crate and barrel for camp supplies. And save before and the middle of a particularly hard encounter.

[@CrizzyEyes]

the 5 minute workday is a very stupid D&D cliche and one I try to avoid as much as possible.

[@godsplayingfield]

@@lipayy9852 would agree, if only SO MUCH COMPANION CONTENT WASNT LOCKED TO LONG RESTING!!!! it's actually rather annoying. a friend of mine never got the "just hate fuck already" scene between SH and Lae due to barely ever long resting among other things. love the game but thats... annoying.

[@Isosyth]

I just stole all the gunpowder and blew them all up...

[@throbbingdad5193]

@@godsplayingfield tbf it was more of an issue in early access, now you can really space out your long rests and still go through all the long rest interactions

[@PrometheusD12]

In regards to the encounter he talked about where you have to kill three goblin leaders, my experience with that is that taking the druid with you is very different from leaving him behind. Taking him with you pretty much puts you into a near non stop combat encounter (especially if you don't prevent the enemy from calling reinforcements) while leaving him behind lets you still wander around and potentially fight the goblin leaders and a small group separately. It can still end in a non stop fight, but you can prevent that if the druid isn't with you.

[@onemisterfranko]

I"m in the middle of that but got distracted and am currently in the underdark. Some say the goblins and druid are still waiting wondering what happened to me....

[@TheBrianJ]

I LOVE how the ad roll is done this episode! The ZP-style animation, all done before the episode begins proper so it doesn't interrupt anything, it's perfect!

[@Hysteria98]

What are you, a shill?

[@TheBrianJ]

@@Hysteria98 ...what?

[@mcjenzington]

Yeah I'm with you. As someone who hates ads with all my heart, I hated this ad far less than most. If you gotta do it, this is the way to do it. Also: That is the voice of Jack Packard.

[@omegaexists]

​@@Hysteria98we need to give the escapist editors positive reinforcement with the ads considering all the shit we gave them in previous episodes lol

[@risingdawn5259]

The Druid rescue went completely different for me! I think because I'd already planned to double cross the Dark Elf chick

[@se7enist]

I'd already sneakily polymorphed her into a past tense along with the goblin leaders before I even found the druid. Apparently, you can also walk into the spider pit and convince them not to eat you and just sort of leave the door open and gesture vaguely at goblins and find some popcorn.

[@RawkL0bster]

Not going to lie, I wish that dark elf could step on me.

[@SirBenjiful]

@@RawkL0bsterIf you play your cards right you can get her into your party later in the game and romance her - but you've got to be pretty evil to get in her good graces.

[@TheManKnownAsAi]

I did manage to successfully Order 66 the whole goblin leadership and rescue the hostages, but that took a lot of save-scumming. It also later occurred to me that I could have done a bunch of stuff to make things easier like poisoning the grog or dragging convenient explosive barrels around. Closest I got to that was parking Asterion in the rafters above the hobgoblin leader and throwing grease bottles at the top and bottom of every ladder leading up there before sniping everyone in the room to death.

[@JackgarPrime]

Another fun thing you can do: Talk to the spiders in the pit and convince them to help you kill goblins by finding a way to open the gate they're behind.

[@TheManKnownAsAi]

@@JackgarPrime Hah. I didn't persuade them to aid me, but I did use Asterion's mage hand to release the spiders

[@Arch_the_Protogen]

3:08 here's something that might help with that: Hold shift and then press C to have the whole party go into stealth. More free hints; Hold controle and then click to do a main weapons attack. Also hold Alt to see name tags on intractable items/objects.

[@Frosty-oj6hw]

Having played a lot of BG3 there is definitely a lot of flexibility in how you complete main quests, but a lot of it is gated through dice rolls, stacking modifiers on the right characters and making full use of all the game mechanics can make them sufficiently likely to roll positive, but ultimately the game always has some luck element, and things going wrong is just part of the fun. Part of the problem is that some of the fights are hard unless you know the full array of mechanics, and that's what BG3 does badly, I had to sit and watch a 20m tutorial on how spell slots work, before I properly understood them, and how stealth works. It's a game that is rewarding to play through more than once, especially in coop with 3 friends, because then you do genuinely get to see different outcomes of the same events, it also rewards side questing a lot because the creatures don't auto scale their difficulty like they do in so many other games, so thorough side questing and really carefully searching the world will help you level your characters and it becomes easier to win impromptu fights.

[@lp6702sv]

ad roll at the beginning is way better than putting it at the end

[@woodforbrains9383]

The Boggles remind me, clearly, of Stephanie Sterling, and also of the one time i saw Yatz and Sterling share a stage at the Escapist Festival in Durham, NC, in like 2011. What a magical panel that was. A Panel to End All Panels.

[@WynneL]

To whomever it may concern, including Yahtzee: Shift + C lets you stealth everyone at once. Doing it again unstealths you again. The G key lets you ungroup all party members so you can sneak somewhere with whomever you have selected currently. Hitting G again regroups you again. Also, rather than frontally assaulting the goblin camp, you can instead let them assault the defensible grove. Or y'know, just join them. There ARE choices, you just have to go get 'em.

[@bskibinski]

This ad works the best out of all the stuff you tried. And good review, it's a great game, has some bugs, but as he said, it's just well built and thought out.

[@ethsailliamswa]

Big fan of this game. Lots of replayability in it for me with all the classes and subclasses to try. I just cleared the goblin bosses so I pretty sure im about to be heading into act 2. The RP and story elements have been very immersive for me.

[@fr3ddyfr3sh]

Correction: in contrast to Mortimer, weasels are a heck of fighters. They kill rabbits, which are 2-4 times their size. They are super fast, have insane dexterity, and at least the same amount of determination. They hunt and and bite their prey until it dies of exhaustion, blood loss or system breakdown.

[@Momoka7]

3:08 I had that experience too. The thing is on K&M you are supposed to press Shift + "c" for the whole party to go stealth.

[@KristianKumpula]

I didn't know that there was a shortcut for it. I've always clicked the icon that puts the party into stealth mode.

[@zephloe]

​@@KristianKumpulathere's shortcuts for many things, they're all left over from past larian games. Lime there's a shortcut to add an item to wares.

[@ErikratKhandnalie]

@@KristianKumpula the tooltip for that icon tells you the shortcut

[@korenn9381]

And learn to use the "G" key a lot. it stops the moronic party members from following you and parking themselves in the middle of fires, tentacles or flowing magma -_-

[@Momoka7]

@@KristianKumpula From the icon I knew "c" is a shortcut. I was surprised on controller down is stealth for the whole team.

[@MirunaNero]

To respond to the bit about emergent gameplay and the goblin leader example - It is actually possible to go about it in multiple ways. Using things like minor illusion, the throw/shove, stealth, deception, items, map layouts, and various dialogue influences, you can actually tackle this in many ways. Some people will use barrels to create massive bombs that kill everyone in one hit. You can use various options to gain access to the camp as well. Touching on the specific bit with Halsin, if you manage to gain access to the camp and don't let anyone escape during that fight you will still be incognito. You can isolate the Drow Leader and the gobbo shes arguing with if you stealth kill the scrying eye and patrolling gobbo (you can toss them into the chasm for an instant kill and not start combat as long as nobody sees). You can then kill the Leader and the other gobbo without alerting the rest of the camp. Gut can be isolated if you ask about the tadpole and take a specific but obvious dialogue option, and if you kill her while shes isolated you will remain incognito. You can use the second floor rafters to take out smaller groups of hobbos one by one as well from stealth, especially if you have a rogue with a bow or something. But you're free to use other tactics like the chasms, and minor illusion to draw out gobbos and get them isolated. It mostly just takes some creative application of the tools given to you, and you'll start seeing those opportunities the more you keep them in mind.

[@jovialwyvern2954]

0:52 for those horrified by the mundane boring start of the video, thank me later

[@SollowP]

You actually CAN totally kill the goblin leaders stealthily. At least 2 of them from my own experience. The drow leader and the goblin leader goes down without much of a fight.

[@justinmillard8196]

An entire party based on being useless in combat and bangability. I can see that having consequences during combat portions.

[@Archangel591]

The flexibility with saving the druid, is to not save him and just walk up to the goblin leaders and say. "Yo, I'm with you. Let's burn that grove to the ground." And you can do that, lmao. He'll actually escape on his own.

[@Dr-CthulhuOfRlyeh]

Larian needs to tweet this video and proclaim "Even Yahtzee liked it!" the people not familiar with his videos would be like "He did?"

[@knightslegion1731]

Man it has been a long time since I watched a Zero Punctuation review. They had no KZbin presence when I first discovered him. Glad to see Yahtzee is still kicking.

[@kiljadaen]

3:50 Hey Barrelmancy is legitimate strategy and I just want to share with my new gobo friends!

[@DizzyTipsy]

“I also got a lot of mileage out of shoving people off cliffs” -Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw

[@Cool_Calm_Cam]

Ad read first was perfect, no notes. Its the most eloquent way you can do it without Yahtzee stopping to do a passive-aggressive ad read mid-video.

[@Dw7freak]

Dude, the enemy Shoving is excessive. Sometimes, they'll Shove just to Shove, but one time, a random goblin Shoved one of my party members a good 20ft into a bottomless chasm of insta-death and I just had to doubletake, because that felt kinda cheesy. So what I did was reload my save to right before that combat and Shove that stupid goblin down the bottomless chasm and see how they liked that.

[@eqrmn3934]

Thats part of the fun and challenge AI is not stupid So you need to position members away from cliffs

[@RDK325]

I think taking halsan with you does actually affect stealth. I remember I didn't took him and sneakingly just hold person onto the drow lady and killed her instantly, if I took the bear with me I won't have to do that. But I guess it all depends on how much you know of a game

[@marais9243]

Seems like Yahtzee will be pretty happy with Act 2 given how much he wants to talk bosses to death. The freedom is definitely still there.

[@-0-getliffe476]

if you're creative then you can totaly kill all 3 Goblim Bosses without raising the alarm or agro on you. Play that bit like Hitman, if you want to stealth it. BG3 is indeed fantasticly versitile, yet so many mechanics are indeed poorly explained, if explained at all.

[@TheNinjaman41]

you can also side with them and get a companion from there you can do so so many things in this game

[@wisesquirrel4986]

Dror telepathically broadcasts his aggression to all goblins on the map. You must have used a very specific spell on him in order to kill him without any other goblin finding out. Stealth, my, behind. Goblins in BG3 are omniscient. Stealth anywhere else I'd agree with you.

[@-0-getliffe476]

Dror dosn't like heavy things being droped on his head, and somtimes explosions just happen behind closed doors. @@wisesquirrel4986

[@MyNameIsBucket]

Ah, yes, the old edging strategy. Those goblins keep coming and coming, and I keep tossing them off with a big smile.

[@idanbhk3875]

not what you'll find if you google "edging strategy", I think

[@BeepSmile]

@@idanbhk3875 if the results you get when googling "edging strategy" don't involve goblins, I have to query what you're typically searching for/doing with your life.

[@bezretmet]

Holy f that was a positive ZP fram yatz. but then again this game is like catnip for dnd players

[@windblownleaf6450]

I'd agree with the micromanaging thing. D&D has you playing one character, where D&D type games have you playing... a lot more, up to six for some cRPGs. It makes an already complicated thing a lot more complicated.

[@onemisterfranko]

I'm about 30 hours in and I'm enjoying it. Yes I've reloaded saves because when I mess up we all die, might be my playstyle. I try to talk my way through stuff to get as much information as possible and then fight but yes things can go bad lol I'm running a cleric that likes to fight but still like having a few other bruisers in the group other than myself. :)

[@cmoody17]

"I don't entirely buy this popular perception that Baldur's Gate 3 is a super flexible game where every problem has multiple solutions, but I'm sure I barely scratched the surface of it in my usual limited 1 week of playtime." It's a shame that Yahtzee faced the internet cycle of frantic review timeframes to ride the ever shortening wave of hype for maximum views. I think Yahtzee should consider revisiting this game later once he's had some time to properly play it and experiment. Because while the video was well-made, many points in it came off as a bit rushed or underinformed. Even making assumptions based on "most games require me to do X, so I l'll roll with the assumption this one does too." A major part of understanding this game and feeling it click, for me, was talking to other people and hearing how they approached the same problems in wildly different ways. And both of us saying, "I thought the game expected me to do it the way I did, that's crazy you can even do that." He's not wrong about everything, but based on this review, I think a game like this requires more time to really digest.

[@arlopullman4926]

Is it too late to tell him there's a group stealth button? (That the game refuses to fucking tell you about, along with about a hundred other useful things like ending concentration, dipping your weapon in ground surfaces to buff it and oh, you know, the fucking abilities your class will get at any level higher than the one you just got.)

[@undertone8367]

Not being able to plan your character out in advance was pretty annoying, but respec is only 100 gold so it's not a huge deal.

[@wisesquirrel4986]

So which is the group "end turn" button. Has no one wished such a hotkey existed? Having to end turn 4 times every time only 1 of your characters move in turn-based mode is a chore.

[@ELSTERLING]

For the record there are a surprising number of ways to stealth-kill the goblin camp leaders. You can lure Gut in to a side-room and shank her unseen, drop a statue on her, drop Minthara down a pit by sabotaging a bridge, shove her in to a chasm, and that's not to mention stealthing explosives everywhere or summoning an terrifying ogre party you struck a deal with to do it for you.

[@xczechr]

Circle of Daggers is practically a win button for most encounters.

[@drewcipher896]

Or instant game over if you exit TB mode and your entire party immediately sprints towards it.

[@u-mos8820]

@@drewcipher896 that sounds like a funny story. I just wanted to also say I've had that spell do 80+ damage in a lvl 3 encounter cause the range on it seems bigger than it is and I think it messes with the AI cause they ran through it waaay too many times. And some ppl say bards don't have good offensive options 🙄

[@oldsaddad7274]

@@drewcipher896 you can cancel the spell from the person who cast it, on m+kb there's an spell icon with an x underneath their hotbar portrait

[@TehCakeIzALie1]

My first time using it was against the harpies in Act 1. I placed it down between my party and the harpies, thinking it would either dissuade them (giving Astarion time to pick some of them off with ranged sneak attacks) or deal guaranteed damage if they approached. The tiefling child immediately ran into it on the next turn, killing him instantly. It was hilarious.

[@u-mos8820]

@@TehCakeIzALie1 sry, I just had a chuckle at ur expense. As soon as you started with "against the harpies" I knew where that was going. I'm guessing that if that cloud persisted though, the harpies would have charged through it heedless of its' damage. Not as tactical as it initially appears, I've found just placing it to hit as many as possible X away from the team + luck = lotta damage.

[@billtalent1]

One thing about the game I noticed, is that a lot of the 'complexity' is really just 'freedom'. The player has the freedom to utilize quirky playstyles and explore, but at the end of the day the game is fundamentally just dialogue and combat. With enough charisma and enough fireballs you can accomplish everything in the game even on the hardest difficulty, due to getting over 100 camp supplies on average per encounter. Try playing the game with 4 sorcerers, cast haste before you enter combat, and see how many problems you can solve with 12 fireballs per turn. (Or you can cast 60 magic missiles per turn in case of fire immunity.)

[@PokeBattlerJaze]

Sooooo, DnD?

[@JilaX]

I mean, the situation Yahtzee describes is very much his own fault. If he'd actually tried to do something about the Goblin leaders, he'd realise he could get the Priestess to go somewhere entirely isolated by passing persuasion checks, and to trick the Drow general into attacking the Grove on her own with a small band if you dupe her into thinking you'll open the gates. It does have a whole lot of outside the box solutions, but you do actually have to try.

[@Chernobog34]

This is another of those giga-sized games that can't really be experienced to its fullest with the limited time reviewers like Yahtzee have. He admits that in the review. Hopefully he keeps playing in his free time, because I'm sure he'd appreciate the insane level of "I'm doing this my way, fuck you" the game has.

[@tortoiseoflegends4466]

Only the priestess doesn't result in a big fight. The Drow is still a relatively big fight, just in a forest instead, and the third leader will literally aggro the entire Goblin camp when he dies, even if you do it stealthily by collapsing scaffolding and dropping him down a pit.

[@deejaytee]

Except that those things aren't obvious when you first talk to the druid, so it's presented to you at the time as only two options. I get that there are multiple solutions but they're not always clear and it'd be kind of weird to just wander up and find every option before making a choice... that would be the very opposite of immersion.

[@AegixDrakan]

I made the mistake of thinking "WELP, I did violence to get the Bear out, and one of the goblin kiddos called the guards, I guess I'm stuck with just the violent option now! Lets GO, bear man!" and only realized that Temporary Hostility was an exploitable thing AFTER I killed the guards at the entrance, which forced the ENTIRE place into permanent hostility. XD It was a horrifyingly grueling conflict to get out... And even MORE grueling to get back IN later! (Then again, it IS in character. I'm playing a Dark Urge sorcerer who is heroically trying to resist it... And so was relieved to have angst-free violence to do.) Meanwhile, one of my co-workers was shocked that I didn't do the sneaky sneak option like he did, since I'm the kind of guy who loves stealth games and he isn't. XD

[@jamesohearn2364]

@@tortoiseoflegends4466Nah, the drow priestess is relatively easy - she’s off with two or three dudes and if you’re fast enough you can take them out and lock her down quick - so it really is only the big dude that requires a straight up fight.

[@JonathanLundkvist]

If the "micromanage your party" scares you, there is excellent mods that gives AI control of your party and they are generally pretty good in a fight too.

[@EmeralBookwise]

The ever consistent problem with games that let players solve encounters with both non-combat or combat based solutions is that inevitably most of them always include some mandatory combat encounters that can't be solved any other way, and which the player will be grossly unprepared for if they've been min-maxing non-combat abilities.

[@oldsaddad7274]

If you have a void bulb and any aoe spell you're always ready for combat

[@cattysplat]

It's kind of why the game gives you very strong party members that cover the necessary bases. Tank, healer, AOE + CC magic. You only take the rogue if you love the character and want evil sneaky fun.

[@TehCakeIzALie1]

*Deus Ex: Human Revolution flashbacks*

[@Spamhard]

And yet imo, BG3 (and obviously DnD) has pretty successfully balanced stats and spells to be just as effective in and out of battle. A bard's main spell strength comes from charisma, which also serves them well outside of battle, and many spells can be used in interactions and in fights. I personally play a mostly fight free run when I can, but I've never personally encountered any issues with the fights being too tough even when specced more for conversation and interactions. Plus the fact you have and control all your party members means you only really need your main character specced for how you want to play, and the rest of the team cover your ass elsewhere. You don't even NEED to min max for non combat or combat. My main is pretty average, with -1 to str and -1 char, but he still has a fun time doing persusion and the like.

[@Simian-bz7zo]

It hasn't been as much of a problem in BG3 as in other games, but then again I am playing as a warlock. Mad high charisma score for trying to talk my way through every encounter where that is possible, eldritch + agonizing + repelling blast for whenever I roll a nat 1 or combat is forced on me.

[@Chocomint_Queen]

I took a little emotional damage at the implication that mind flayers and nautiloids aren't part of "traditional D&D-land". They've been there since before most of us were born, this weird idea that scifi and fantasy have to stay separate is an extremely modern invention.

[@ArilliusDM]

Sounds like Yahtzee reeeeaaally rushed his way through this one because there were a lot more options to play closer to how he wanted.

[@trimeta]

It took me like 90 hours to get out of Act I, I can't entirely fault Yahtzee for not seeing the full breadth of the game.

[@SkyeRequiem001]

he was only able to play for a week, I'm about 60 hours in and like half way through act 2

[@OneTrueNobody]

3:14 - Oh, there is actually a little "group hide" button on both the keyboard and the clicky-click-click UI that will tell everyone to go into stealth mode all at once. I mean, if you really want to do stealth, it's still more effective to micromanage it all person-by-person in turn-based mode, but the option's there if you want it.

[@Whitewing89]

I could never find that bloody option. I know the key bind is alt S or something. Between that, a few other things i couldn't seem to figure out or worked differently than i expected and thinking the hardest differently would be fine, only to end up getting stuck & murdered constantly, i ended up not liking the game. The game need a manual badly. I couldn't imagine trying to figure the game out without already knowing the basics of D&D 5e. I'm sure there is a way to delay in the turn order but if there is I couldn't find it. Oh and finding out that entering turn based mode and getting into a fight doesn't bring everyone else into the combat if they aren't all in the same place was awful.

[@3k_rkuib320]

You don't actually have to go on each individual character to put your whole party in stealth, just press shift+c!

[@chenwingsee]

Anyone know how to do this on controller? Cause it's annoying to have to switch the interface to keyboard every time i want us all to hide as a family

[@AndrewBeaver]

@@chenwingsee Just hold down on the d-pad!

[@moosepotato4116]

​@@chenwingseehold down on the dpad

[@K-o-R]

I don't know if it's intentional but the shape of Mortimer's beard gives him a permanent :3 face. _GET IN IN THE FUCKING PARTY BUS, TEDDY RUXPIN._

[@S.R.Yejan28]

Loved that tou got to review the game, mate. Was looking forward to your opinions. Although I will jump in the bandwagon of people clarifying: you can 100% kill the globlin leaders in a variety of ways, including stealth.

[@lazydroidproductions1087]

I think his point was that he didn’t want to have to kill them, he wanted to just sneak and/or high-tail it out now that he had the prisoner

[@undertone8367]

​​@@lazydroidproductions1087the prisoner is the leader of a druid grove which the goblins are about to invade and slaughter everyone, so it makes sense that he wouldn't leave until that threat had been dealt with. You don't have to rescue him though. You can deal with the goblins your own way or even help them destroy the grove.

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

Among my friends, we have between 35 and 200 hours into the game. None of us have had the exact same experience. We all have completely different parties and have all shown each other at least one hidden detail even in the first few hours of play. It's very replayable, which is awesome. Next playthrough, I'm going to be an arse

[@seevee9271]

I haven't finished this video yet, but I did want to point out that if you press Shift+C all your party members will enter stealth. I'm pretty sure the game does not explain this which is kind of annoying and would have saved me a lot of trouble.

[@Theguyoverthere603]

Oh i figured it out from one of the tool tips that pop up while you stealth. The thing is, most people don't read tool tips lol

[@Kevin-cf9nl]

There's also the "stealth all party members" button next to the "split/join party" button.

[@takecourage92]

I'm in Act 3 and i just learned this. TBH though I have no patience for stealth. Rather than play Metal Gear Acid, I think I'll just continue to set everything on fire on sight.

[@otakucouture]

It does actually say that, it gives you a lil pop up, thing is that the pop ups for information aren't super intrusive so they're easy to miss

[@luke_fabis]

Protip: Learn the hotkeys. C puts you into stealth. Shift+C puts the whole party into stealth. Or just ungroup your stealthy party member to do all the stealthy stuff, and then group them back into the party proper.

[@DavidC-fk2wg]

This is the nearest I've seen to a glowing review on ZP. PS5 version pre-ordered!

[@philomorph7]

You can "stealth kill" one of the Goblin bosses if you get them alone in a room, and sort of do another one by getting them to stand on a rickety bridge, but the third isn't going down without a really loud, large fight. Thank god for that handy spider pit right over there :) This path will at least save you having to fight literally every goblin in the base.

[@Isvoor]

There's a button for group stealth mode.

[@Moley1Moleo]

For at least 2 of the goblin leaders you can talk to them in a way that makes getting them killed much easier. Once you can lead away to a private area. The other can be convinced to leave the goblin camp (and you might help them or double-cross them).

[@elstormo]

And one of them can be pushed off the rafters over and over.

[@Moley1Moleo]

@@elstormo - Dror Ragzlin, Dror Razglin, strong enough to climb ladders. Dror Razlin Dror Razlin, one push and he splatters.

[@elstormo]

@@Moley1Moleo A new age is dawning, with Dror Ragzlin a-crushed

[@mechaulfr9600]

Annnnnd last video i am watching from the escapist. Y'all done screwed the pooch.

[@integ3r]

On the one hand I want to see all the dialogue that happens when all of my party walks into the obviously prepared arena ambush with enemies neatly placed around the room surrounding me... on the other it's completely realistic to just send the party representative while the rest of the party themselves enter advantageous positions incase negotiations break down while the squishy bard negotiator downs an invisibility potion to escape the obviously bad position he's on. But it's much simpler to just walk in the ambush, see the cutscene and reload the game after.

[@jzpowell2108]

Yahtz always finds a way to make me cackle like a madman… he just has a way with words

[@Mugthraka]

In Act 2 there is 3 bosses you can Litteraly ask to Kill themselfs if your Deception/Persuasion is High enough

[@draconyster]

As I get older and follow news more I really start to cringe at people making jokes about abusing imprisoned people in the basement (around 1:25) mostly because there seems to be a lot real-world horrible stories like this. The anology could have been to pretty much anything else and the joke would remain the same tbh.

[@robertpalmer8080]

I enjoy that there's several parts of the game that you can talk your way out of and some of them even lead to the deaths of those you're persuading/deceiving, however there are a few sections where no matter what you choose, you *have* to fight. I don't go around talking to literally everyone, my character looks for the important folk and let them think I'm on their side while he decides which side hes actually on, so when theres some npc tucked in a corner that i missed who would have been on my side if I'd spoken to them earlier, its kinda frustrating. Doubly so when i feel i should still be given a chance to turn them to my side via persuasion after the fact especially when they're only fighting to get paid. Like yo, I'm made of gold! *LET ME PAY YOU*

[@technobabb4233]

clicked the nanosecond i saw the bell

[@tarrker]

The Benny Hill moment Yahtzee describes in the middle of this video involving minotaurs, is a staple of all D&D. Even the table top game. Nice to see a game that can honor tradition like that. Even if it's completely coincidental. LoL :)

[@finnlyall3388]

You could kill all the goblins at a feast by poisoning said feast

[@TheSeghy]

Bruuh, that is so genius. This is my first time ever playing a turn based game and Dungeons and Dragons stuff. So learning all the stuff that you can do is amazing. I truly enjoy the game and simply cannot put it away.

[@corwyncorey3703]

all the ones *outside* ... and as far as inside, kill them a few at a time, and destroy those alarm drums sneakily... let the spiders out to play... get bosses alone as much as possible.. fight from the rafters.. THROW those barrels from said rafters...

[@TheSeghy]

@@corwyncorey3703 I got past that already. But I had an interesting encounter with the priestess. I attacked her and she didn't scream for help somehow. And then for whatever reason I reloaded that a few minutes later and couldn't replicate the situation.

[@corwyncorey3703]

@@TheSeghy long as you get her alone you CAN... but silencing her is the safest way to ensure she doesnt scream bloody murder. Well she DOES... but no one hears. Silence can even be used to get inside the place sneakily, without even ever talking to a goblin... except with an arrow. Or a bomb...

[@richardhockey8442]

You mean you didn't side with the maniac Drow Minthara and her legion of comedy goblins and slaughter the inhabitants of the druids grove, pissing off nearly all your party members to the point where at least one of them leaves the party never to return?

[@abbygaleforcewind]

5:24 I'm not one to jump to defending games too much, but in those scenarios you described you COULD HAVE talked your way around it, you just didn't figure out how.

[@QbertTehKiller]

To put the whole party in sneak mode hold shift and hit C. Same for some other actions. To make whole party do anything you do shift + key

[@kieran10202]

I think the combat failure problem boils down to you not knowing how your character fights as well as they should in the story. The one where you finally win is the canon version of events, where you're finally synced up. its sad theres no lose scenarios that are interesting narritively. You dont end up in prison, or forced to fight in a pit for goblin amusement, or have the tadpole in your brain take you over and kill them all but then wear down your defences a bit more.

[@Venjamin]

Surprisingly, there _are_ prison scenarios for losses! I ran into that issue. Lol

[@shiromakoto]

Yeah I ended up in Goblin prison

[@kieran10202]

Well clearly I kick too much arse to know about that.

[@korenn9381]

An annoying thing that was also a problem in the old BG games, is that you want your CHA character to start all the conversations. However if that's a caster and the conversation leads to combat, now your squishy caster is at the front and you just hope the tank is somewhere even remotely close by.

[@snowmanthe-jimmy2731]

You can actually end the game at the end of act 2, killing all the main villains and the game stops there... That ending is really not a good one, but the fact that they thought you could do that and planned for it with voice acted ending cinematic ready is incredible.

[@svanirreads4448]

Ironically, my bard HAS in multiple occasions avoided or straight ENDED conflicts just with their tongue, no combat needed.

[@lax9586]

This is one of the few times I agree with Yahtzee 100 percent with his assessment of a game. Even the more tedious parts bring me back for more. I have been having a blast with the game and the goblins found this out the hard way.

[@alldayagain]

I think the ghost of Two Human still haunts me, where I am compelled to reflexively heave whenever I hear 'Bauldr'

[@RonJomero]

I'm old enough to recognize a Boglin when I see one. Nicely done.

[@Jake_2903]

Side note, you can kill 2 of the 3 enemy bosses stealthily pretty easy, the third one not so much but for him you could go pick up the bear

[@smurphsFTW]

The gameplay for BG3 is so unusual to me. Ive never seen a games difficultly be so varied depending on the person. My gf seemed to hit the sweet spot where combat encounters would really test her and she would have to improvise in really cool ways. Since i played DOS2 and the EA Im finding the game insanely easy, i bulldoze every fight rarely getting my tanks hit and generally not using tactics outside of bonk, offensive spell, and occasional heal, unlike the plethora of debuffs my gf uses. Other games are easy for everyone, or hard for (nearly) everyone at the same difficulty, this one fluctuates a lot due to the nature of the DnD system. While i find the combat a bit boring as a result its great to see so many people getting into it, and having those magic gameplay moments where you just HAVE to tell someone about what crazy shit you did to win.

[@opts1112]

There is an absolutely insane amount of very strong crowd control spells across all characters, i think a lot of people get hung up on the damage spells while not realizing CC is king, skipping enemy turns is the best way to play (Hunger of Hadar OP)

[@AHDBification]

I was having a hell of a time getting out of the goblin fort after killing the leaders. Then I discovered that if you send the rogue off alone, he can stealth kill every single goblin without getting caught! It's really about finding what works for you!

[@AegixDrakan]

I'm finding the game REAL challenging, mostly on account of having ended up on the Extreme Violence path of the Goblin Camp. XD I'm getting a lot of mileage out of the Sleep spell and Bless.

[@TheFallingFlamingo]

Sounds like your not very far into the game or you're playing on an easier difficulty, my dude. The game is based on *dice rolls.* All that bulldozing your way into every fight in any mode other than the easiest will net you is a lot of save reloading. That's just statistics.

[@smurphsFTW]

@@TheFallingFlamingo To keep it spoiler free, I'm just out of the Devil's fee building in Act 3, after what I think is considered one of the hardest fights in the game, balanced difficulty, level 10. Laezel with 20AC heavy armour, hasted, greatsword of tyr, with gauntlets that give extra damage when concentrated, she has an operating AC of 24. My bard has medium armour proficiency due to being a dwarf, so their AC now is about 21 with equipment. I usually have shadow heart and Karlach on the squad with 14 Dex medium armour too. I'm not a smart person, I didn't seek out the equipment I have outside of just playing the game, since level 3 I haven't had a squad wipe outside a trap next to an unfortunately placed cliff. It's cuz I'm familiar with the system from DOS2, it's interesting that the game shows such a wide range of difficulty experiences being all on the same one. I'll go tactician next time but this isn't me complaining about the combat, I really like it.