How Baldur's Gate 3 Tricks the Player

different kind of video, thanks for watching!
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[@XPtoLevel3]

Use code FIREBALL50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month at bit.ly/48e8wSp

[@overdrive7349]

This was a great analysis video. Just found out the new rulebooks are going to come in September. What are your plans for it?

[@gabrielrippel5675]

i gotta say the meals you showcased looked more edible than the last time i saw you with a factor sponsor

[@Purple_Lilith]

Starts doing the math. Eh, I think I stay with the stores in walking distance.

[@snowvix8902]

@@Purple_Lilith for me, the money is worth not having to invest extra time into cooking on my work days.

[@andyv8624]

Alternatively, I died very quickly in Fallout New Vegas because literally everyone told me not to go north.

[@crulius.pontanian]

Yep... and I was like oh look at those small bugs, alright vermin rifle do your thing. *0.9 seconds later* My character is dead and I have no clue what happened.

[@crayondevourer2267]

"You feel a little woozy"

[@glassphoenix9095]

sounds like someone wasn't the meanest, roughest, toughest sonuvabitch in the mojave

[@Flufferpup]

This also has merit I feel. It's not a hard progression blocker, you can figure out a way around it with determination or a stealth boy. But if you do end up dying, you learn that the wasteland is a harsh place and that simply returning later is a valid option.

[@adfdasdfadfadsfareae]

​@@Flufferpupit's perfect. no invisible wall blocking you, no impossible challenge, just a really irritating deterrent to make you say "fine, I'll go around and do it the 'proper' way"

[@GerbyMcGerbs]

I nearly missed going that way because the message for the Underdark and the mountain pass are the same. Implying that I can not come back.

[@Tuskbumper]

YES this happened to me too lol

[@inmanis2924]

yup, same. i thought it was the way to the entire next Act and didn’t want to miss stuff. turns out i missed lots by not taking the pass LMAO. very badly worded and designed there

[@FirekingBarong]

Thats the neat part, would it have made the playthrough worse? If you would miss build specific items, maaaaybe, but missing something in BG3 often means you didnt even know it existed beforehand. There is a reason why we say Dumb but happy, what you dont know cant make you break your head over it ^^ This also gives you the chance to experience multiple playthroughs who are never the same, wich for such a huge game as BG3 is something very,very positiv ^^

[@inmanis2924]

@gedox6523 … yes, yes it does make your playthrough actively worse. you miss an entire section of content, including storyline that is KEY to lae’zel’s backstory and motivations. missing it ACTIVELY detracts from your understanding and experience of the game.

[@FirekingBarong]

@@inmanis2924 I disagree, since you wouldnt even know that without Laezel in your party. You wouldnt know you missed it entirely, and without knowledge there is nothing to worry about. Did i knew you can de-stone the guy in the hags room without him dying instantly on my first playthrough? No. Was i mad i missed the dialogue? No, since i didnt even know he could survive.. ^^ Edit: My first group didnt ascend Astarion since he was at camp 24/7 and i ignored him, missing his story made nothing worse, it made my 2nd and 3rd and 4th playthrough better even, since you can experience an entirely different story now.

[@nickeel8401]

For a good chunk of act 1 I didn't long rest at all cus all the characters were stressing the urgency of finding a healer in 3-5 days. So i bum rushed everything

[@quiestinliteris]

Yeah, I also had an issue with missing content because they kept telling me not to long rest. When I downloaded the Camp Event Alert mod, I was FLOORED by how much I hadn't seen. That damn notification was popping up like every half hour of gameplay in Act 1. Turned out my first three playthroughs I had missed roughly 70% of camp events. @_@

[@courier6960]

Yeah for me it was because Kagha says that they’ll complete the ritual to block out the teiflings by tomorrow, when it turns out there is no time sensitivity on this quest. It’s just another weird relationship this game has with time, and as such it makes it way more awkward, random, and annoying when something random DOES have time sensitive aspects.

[@quiestinliteris]

@@courier6960 Basically it simply won't happen unless you either specifically work to make it happen or ignore most of Act 1 completely and enter Act 2 without killing all the goblin leaders, investigating Kagha, freeing Halsin so he'll give her the third degree, stealing the idol... Basically just ignore the goblins and the Grove, and when you travel back out of Act 2, the Grove will be sealed. Also if you murder all the tieflings for Kagha, but I think most people on an evil run are more likely to attack everyone in the Grove with Minthara. Either way, I'm pretty sure it only triggers once you enter Act 2, not during an Act 1 long rest, but I'll have to test that.

[@benja1378]

Same, but it's honestly amazing for your next playthroughs ❤ I literally got to kinda play the game again for the first (actual second) time as I didn't even find the whole area with Karlach or the Mountain pass before :))

[@64bitrobot]

I also missed a ton of camp event content, not because I felt like I was in a time sensitivity, but just because I was trying my best to push my adventuring day as hard as possible. I wanted to do as much as I could between long rests as a challenge to myself. Unfortunate that I probably missed out on a *lot* because of that. It's probably better to just rest like a wizard; blow all your slots in one fight, long rest, and continue.

[@jacka7275]

When the dream companion said “do not go to the githyanki” my first thoughthought was: why are you biased? Compelling narrative!

[@quiestinliteris]

They are canonically authoritarian, militaristic, imperialist lawful evil, so the assumption was fair. However, Lae'zel had already bucked tradition by being willing to work with a non-gith Tav at all, even to get out of an impossible situation, so I was working with the mindset of "Clearly not all of them are like that, but I only know that because of my extremely rare experience, so maybe the Dream Visitor will come around as they see more of me and Lae'zel working together." And then there was the reveal, and I was like "...oh. Guess that explains that."

[@drizzmatec]

​@@quiestinliterisSee knowing what I know about Githyanki lore from older editions I immediately trusted Lae'zel when it came to mind flayers because if there is a anyone in this ragtag band of misfits (and Asterions dead corpse because he keeps mysteriously falling onto my weapons after pulling a knife on me) who may have access to a possible cure to transforming into a illithid it's probably the lady whose entire species and culture has devoted itself to wiping out the mind flayers.

[@demnwarrior7]

​@@drizzmatec knowing that their entire culture is built around the killing of ilithids lead me to believe the cure they offer is in fact just them deciding to kill you, which circles back to me not trusting lae'zel.

[@KasumiRINA]

Nah, my first thought was that githyanki, an always evil faction of mass murdering imperialists that attack everyone on sight, will try to kill me - and they did. Everyone saying that going through Underdark would be easier is right. There isn't even a hard forced fight like the Inquisitor there.

[@KasumiRINA]

​@@quiestinliteris but githyanki in creche absolutely confirm that they are exactly how Dak'kon explained them: a group of gith who decided to roleplay as astral Hitler. There's ONE, literally just a single guy there who isn't a murder hobo as even githyanki kids get off on torturing animals. He clues on another faction within them and Voss (carefully protected by the game when he was working undercover) is leading it. But emperor was absoluty right, they WILL try to kill you if you show them the prism. What he doesn't tell you is that the protection in it is from Orpheus, until later.

[@grudgebearer1404]

Nah, when i got to the mountain pass and saw the dragon i said "fuck it" and took the underdark. Reverse psychology isn't as effective with me

[@peachypet808]

That technically is also a wanted outcome. It all shapes your first playthrough and by extension the next

[@clothar23]

​@@peachypet808 Yeah OP sorely needs to realise these sort of things work no matter your choices.

[@jakob3044]

@@clothar23 Yes, they *sorely* need to realize that. That is quite vital. A really important step to a more fulfilling existence, for sure.

[@comyuse9103]

theres 'reverse psychology' and then there is 'putting a solid wall in the way.' dragon fights are a no no.

[@Doubleranged1]

@@peachypet808 but the game didnt steer you there. You can't ask head or tails and if someone picks something say: Haha! It was my intention for you to pick that! I disagree with Jacob in this video. Reverse psychology is not what made this game great. it is the opportunity to exercise your own creative freedom. The tag of reverse psychology is irrelevant.

[@kharnthebetrayer8251]

Something I love, is that you see a lot of examples of NPC's lying to you, or simply being wrong. A lot of people can fall into a trap of just believing everything NPC's say because 'well its the DM saying it so it must be true' But Larian made sure you find examples of NPC's being wrong, or giving bad advise. Right off the bat on the Nautiloid. Lae'Zel telling you to ignore Shadowheart. But you KNOW she's a companion. She's on the box. You MUST be able to recruit her. So it sets the bar early that NPC's wont always be telling you the truth, or even the best thing to do. So when you encounter things like the Dream Visitor, you aren't immediately trusting everything they say. When people tell you to go somewhere, you don't immediately assume that's a lead to interesting loot NPC's can and DO lie to you repeatedly throughout the game. Encouraging you to think things through on your own. Hell even the Narrator lies to you when you fail checks. So you can't even trust everything she says

[@quiestinliteris]

Lol, every human-people campaign I've ever participated in has established thoroughly that anyone who can appear in your dreams without your permission is Potentially Very Bad News, so the Dream Visitor already had their work cut out with me. I do wish, though, that my very first playthrough hadn't been with a very specific bug I've never seen anyone else mention - I couldn't turn off the option to show the DC for checks. I would much rather not always KNOW whether I succeeded or failed, especially things like insight or history. Of course, the narrator being like "You have no idea" would make it obvious, but I'd love for there to be occasions when you just wildly misread a situation or remember something completely wrong about an organization or artifact. Like IRL. If I fail an IRL insight check on my extremely hungry friend, I'm more likely to be like "Oh, damn, she's really pissed and it's probably my fault" rather than just being unaware there's even a problem. I wish the narrator lied to us MORE.

[@tinycatfriend]

@@quiestinliteris this wasn't an option until custom mode in patch 5, which was last november-ish. what a missed opportunity though, yeah

[@quiestinliteris]

@@tinycatfriend I first downloaded the game sometime mid-December, so it SHOULD have been something that worked if it was introduced in a patch. XP It did not work yet. I haven't actually tried to turn it off since; guess I was just cranky. I'm about to start Karlach origin run, though, so I should give it another shot.

[@brytheguy4515]

granted, the game still says when you fail a check. So technically you can have a meta-take that since you failed you're probably not getting important info. Similar to when you walk into a room and get 4 popups for failed perception checks, and you're like "hmm, I wonder if there's traps in here..."

[@elenalizabeth]

@@brytheguy4515 lmao that room at Withers temple where you go in with your team and you just hear 1000 dice rolls for the 20 or so traps in there. Like ummm… I’m beginning to think maybe this is a room we shouldn’t explore 😂😂

[@andiesmiley]

What I appreciate is that, as a player who sees a "Do not enter" sign and goes "okay, best not to enter" (and almost missed Gale completely because of it), Larian accounts for us by adding a good narrative reason to do the creche instead of it just being this big lure for players who want to see how powerful they are or see what's so big and scary. Lae'zel isn't beloved to your companions, but they counter the emotional issue by making what she's suggesting a very reasonable and informed solution to your problem - so instead of it just being "The game's telling me not to go, so there's no real reason for my character to want to go except to see what's over there, which will probably kill us if we try" it's a much more compelling "There seem to be a lot of reasons not to go, but Lae'zel has been more informed on this issue than anyone else we've met, and she's had a consistent plan that hasn't changed right from the very beginning" and you have to decide if you trust her more than the Dream Visitor and why. There's very few of those choices that aren't double-led in some way - the circus gets players who want the reverse psychology with the ghoul, and then everyone else by making your companions excited to see the fun. One of the only things I couldn't justify at all was my lvl 1 character with 0 skill in magic approaching a malfunctioning waypoint that looked like it would blow up any second!!

[@sephikong8323]

The thing with the waypoint is something that is changed from EA that I don't understand why. In early access, the cutscene with Gale triggered if you got close to the waypoint, not if you interacted with it, which meant that it was way less likely that you would miss him. I was actually a bit befuddled on release day when I approached where he was and the cutscene didn't automatically trigger

[@CaseyShontz]

Yeah I totally missed him on my first playthrough and near the end of act 2 I was like “shouldn’t I have found gale by now?” so I had to look it up, and the malfunctioning waypoint was still there 😂

[@KasumiRINA]

I just see that her personal quest points there AND game's main quest (heal thyself and remove the tadpole) also does. Originally, you have two leads: druid and gith. There's also goblin priestess and other guys like Volo (later, Omeluum), who offer to remove tadpole but at the start, you're directed to grove and creche, I was surprised it took that long to get to the machine that (doesn't) remove it.

[@Necro_fury]

Ah yeah, was basically my first time playing a crpg/dnd and it told me the portal crackling with dangerous energy or something and i just said nop. Till i looked up how to get gale

[@valkyrie-randgris]

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one who, when faced with a "dangerous portal" in a brand new game, who's cruelty potential and cheap tricks level I don't yet know, opted NOT to fuck around with it before I even had the buttons memorized. (Now, the forgetting about it the instant it was out of my line of sight until Act 2 when I realized it was strange that I hadn't yet met this "Gale" guy I'd heard people mention? THAT was on me. >.>)

[@MLucaj]

For me, whenever I hear, or read, "Don't go this way!", I think, "I bet they're hiding all the sweet loot back there those bastards, well not on my playthrough you don't!" Never underestimate the drive to get the shinies.

[@MsCrickBG3]

Oh my first playthrough, I went in blind as a D&D player who doesn't play many video games. I was low key panicked the entire game, missed several companions, and didn't even see half of Act 1 because every NPC told me I was going to perish at any moment. I learned those were dirty lies. Now, 1200 hours later, I'm still able to find things I haven't seen yet. It's the best :D

[@emeraldjaco7357]

totally true but also there is nothing more cathartic than having all the NPCs saying "you cant do this" and then seeing them realize you can in fact do it. having a boss be all intimidating and confident only to realize you payed withers to respec your entire party into monks so you can hit him with 50 collective unarmed strikes before his turn is peak story telling.

[@quiestinliteris]

10/10, would pay extra for addition of "Oh... shit." facedrop animations inserted mid-combat if you're beating an encounter in less than the average number of rounds.

[@DustinDustin00]

"Your dream companion is telling you..." -- for a second there, I thought you were referring to Gale.

[@thefrank2364]

For me, it also baits me into exploring and interacting by inserting the dumbest dialogues "Sad-is-tic? What's a tic got to be sad about?"

[@_red_crewmate]

"If I wanted a tail, I would rather kill a cat." - "You would kill a cat?"

[@josephracette5448]

I love larian, even in Divinity Original Sin 2 the whole game is spent being told what to do by authority figures and literally gods, then you realize none of them have your best interest in mind so you just start swinging whether you're told to or not

[@MizuMing]

5:50 To be clear on the Boar, it is a separate Boar than the one from where you find and interact with Astarion for the first time. He sneaks off to hunt it on like- night 2. "But" how do you know its a different Boar I hear someone ask. Simple, you can kill and loot the original Boar. 🤷 The second Boar can also appear in different locations from one playthrough to the next, but always within a set distance from the Blighted Village, not near Astarion's Pod.

[@kharnthebetrayer8251]

With any other developer, you could think 'well they just might not have triggered the boar to not spawn if you kill it since they didn't think people would kill it for no reason' But Larian thinks of that. If you kill specific NPC's, they wont show up later. Even in Divinity 2, if you manage to kill The Hammer's pets. Then they wont be on the ship later at the end of act 1 Which is a ridiculous detail, because nobody playing normally will be able to do that. You HAVE to pull out insane cheese strats to accomplish it (like using fast travel points to get infinite turns). But they still thought of it, and made sure that they don't spawn on the ship, because you already killed them.

[@MizuMing]

@@kharnthebetrayer8251 I wouldn't say it was for no reason. It was to grab extra camp supplies. 😅

[@nickrubin7312]

I like the rarest scene when you don't longrest for a while and Astarion just reveals he is a vampire spawn during exploration, and not in camp at night sneaking on you

[@MizuMing]

@@nickrubin7312 Haven't had it yet. Sleep regularly to trigger other scenes. 😅

[@FirekingBarong]

I never, in 600 hours, even saw that boar. Either i missed a trigger point somewhere or when you are in the 3rd or more playthrough you tend to ignore/skip stuff or even entire environments ^^

[@transient_moonlight]

Ok, but who the hell actually thinks that an NPC telling you to not go somewhere is the same as the game telling you to not go there? If the devs designed the area, they obviously want you to go there sooner or later

[@quiestinliteris]

Yeah, sitting here as an author, as a former kid-way-too-into-choose-your-own-adventure-novels... Creating anything is work. Unlike IRL, nothing in a fictional work exists independent of the creator's intention that the audience experience it. If it exists, it exists SOLELY because you're supposed to go check it out at some point, even if that point is that you made a poor decision and died tragically - that is still part of the story that was written, and that is one potential ending.

[@Gshadin]

Tbh i thought the mountainpass wasnt a real area you could go to until i saw it on youtube

[@transient_moonlight]

@@Gshadin then you definitely didn't think "oh, the game doesn't want me to go there, so I shall defy its expectations snd go there"

[@KaitouKaiju]

Plenty of games to do exactly that to keep you from going somewhere before you're supposed to. For example, cyberpunk 2077 has characters tell you that Watson is on lockdown to keep you there during the prologue

[@hugofontes5708]

I've heard similar complains directed at dark souls. "NPC said XYZ but actually ABC, game misleading game bad". As if it was a carnival ride instead of a interactive and dynamic narrative/environment for you to play with. Also, some people assume when things like that happen it's a gotcha moment just placed there for them to die and they choose not to go to not water time. Personally, I normally do go check but if it really is just an insurmountable gotcha then I may start to think about what the devs had in mind for better or worse

[@inducedopamine]

Fallout 4 has a much more direct version of "CHOOSE ONE. What did you pick? I don't care, you're doing this now"

[@torenchao]

1:23 to skip the ad

[@marekw7562]

"hey Tav, don't go there. Adventure may wait there" Nah bro I'm already going

[@NicaNicu31]

9:37 Some people talk to the Ogre outside the Shattered Sanctum and interpret his dialogue a denial of entry and never try to enter the Sanctum through the main door... A friend of mine did literally this. I couldn't stop laughing when he told me.

[@nickrubin7312]

Finally (in Nere's creepy voice)! Someone is talking how cool are map and quest design in the game. It is like an amusement park, which was already the idea in DOS, but everywhere it is the illusion of age/height/whatever else restrictions that you're not actually restricted to bypass at all. And then hearing everyone saying "I'm not supposed to be here, hehehee, I'm breaking it, hehehee"

[@mertyldrm7299]

This reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman buys a failing amusement park just to deny everyone entry and all of a sudden everyone wants in.

[@TexMeta]

I prefer "How Baldurs Gate 3 is a rich world full of engagement rather than a vast, empty, walking simulator hellscape just so the company can add "open world" to the game description." Because every game needs to be that for some damn reason, since so many players demand that without understanding what they're asking for.

[@hentaimage95]

Bg3 is on the opposite side of an empty open world, its an emprty corridor. But since all the content is packed into a corridor it seems to you like the game is full of stuff. Another one got tricked by larian.

[@plasmabasher]

Emperor: "Don't go to the Githyanki creche, they're dangerous! Do not negotiate with them!" Me, immediately beelining to the Blood of Lathander: "I know."

[@KasumiRINA]

Emperor: they will try to kill you. Vlaakith and Inquisitor: try to kill you. Players: Haha stupid lying game I am so smart.

[@Corundrom]

3:46 time to get a new friend i guess

[@cosmicprison9819]

10:49 Larian’s criminally underrated 3rd-person RPG, Divinity II: Developer’s Cut, already did this (“you didn’t want me to go here yet, did you?”): You can sneak into the Orobas Fjords before unlocking the Dragon Tower. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that on my first playthrough, because the path in the river is blocked by grass - but had I just followed the regular road, I could have gone there, to face a bunch of goblins well beyond my own level, but beatable if you stay in ranged combat (bow and arrow plus magic).

[@Sunspear25]

The spells did it for me. The effects were so powerful and impressive. even at lower level spells and cantrips come off as these amazing abilities. The interactions with the environment also tickled the create part of my brain.

[@mrh8142]

The way the camera works in BG3 also has the handy effect of not making me motion sick. I don't play many first person games because I feel ill after like 30 mins but I can play BG3 for hours on end

[@BogdanLarchenko]

I always clear the underdark up to the elevator, then clear the mountain pass and creche, then go back to underdark and go into act two from there. Been doing it like that since first blind playthrough just because i really enjoyed exploring everything before proceeding with the plot

[@Ky-Nas]

Y'know it's kinda funny- Oblivion does this too, kinda sparingly in terms of dialogue or what have you but it gives you the tools to completely circumvent a lot of its level design so like- "Oh I hate the Nether Tunnels, I'm not doing that" so you put on your _boots of water walking_ and simply _walk across the lava moat._ Super fun, I love this sorta game design. ^v^

[@soupstoreclothing]

something i wish was a part of this game is the fact you can pick up really discreet, important informational documents and books, but they're not marked as quest items so you can sell them. you can sell invasion plans to the opposite faction with literally no consequence. i really wish the game mechanics would reflect in the dialogue more sometimes. i know there's limitations, as expected, but i can imagine nearly every player loots as much as they reasonably can and sells whenever they have the opportunity. the fact you can sell such valuable information to any old motherfucker ought to carry more weight than it does imo.

[@meemdic8682]

this backfired in a sci-fi savage worlds campaign i am playing with, funnily enough. The GM really wanted us to go visit an important PC's wedding, to which we had to transport her from an isolated system after all getting collectively shipwrecked there. But the people who were waiting for said PC and were arranging their ceremony didn't let us onto the starliner, since we were supposed to just transport her and get paid, in their view. And while i definitely suggested that we should probably care about this, it might be important, there might be more context, etc (and my character is inherently obligated to be nosing into other people's business), i was outvoted 2 to 1 to just leave it be, as the others have shown no interest and i didn't want to split the party even more than it was already. So that's how we missed a lot of important exposition and didn't end up meeting a number of npcs.

[@Jules_Diplopia]

I hadn't actually thought about it, but you are right. The game is so often telling you NOT to go here or there. Brilliant.

[@Emmelmpau]

*final boss flashbacks intensifies*

[@animuswonder]

it truly encapsulates the dungeons and dragons experience where as a DM you have to be ready for all the options you present, *and some.* the most powerful motivation is spite. “i’m going to go here *because* you said not to. what are you gonna do?”

[@ДмитрийИванников-ж6о]

I love how companions say: hey, I need to rest. You slept 5 minutes ago, you were in 2 fights, where you just watched on how I oneshoted 3 rats. How did you survive without me?

[@goodgulfgas]

the point about the ceiling is the same about not being able to swim. After a while you get used to it and it's a non-issue.

[@ditrixgenesis781]

It's a funny dichotomy. In the video game, we recognize when the NPCs or game itself is lying. Then in the ttrpg, barely anyone thinks the NPCs would ever lie, they're always telling you true information

[@m_moehring]

BG3 is the chill GM who gives the party a stern look as they debate visiting Unnamed Halfling Village, but actually has NPC sheets, maps, and loot tables prepared in case the party decides to visit Unnamed Halfling Village anyway.

[@peachb33ch67]

This reminds me of a post I saw complaining that the game tells them to go to the creche so early, so they went and got rolled... cause they did no side content (and were therefore pretty under levelled) and I could do nothing but pity their lack of curiosity. :< the game is really at its best when you're distracted by everyone's ordeal- though I acknowledge some tasks lose the feeling of urgency when I can just run away and deal with several other people first (outside of some limited quests that are time/rest gated)

[@TheDuchessFox]

Larian is also great because it rewards you for "breaking the rules" and asking more questions of your environment instead of punishing you for leaving a predetermined path

[@KateKirby]

Thank you! I've been baffled as to why everyone loves this game, and I, someone who loves D&D, absolutely hated it and bounced off of it hard. My brain doesn't work like this. I see a locked door and unless I have a specific motivation, I'm not going to go through it. Someone locked that for a reason! The game psychology was constantly making me feel bad and abused. And it was confusing as fuck why everyone else was addicted to it when I gave up after 10 hours. Now I get it. I have the wrong childhood trauma to play this game. That's okay! I'm gonna now stop thinking about it and just play tabletop D&D and be happy for the rest of my life.

[@quiestinliteris]

Extremely valid. ❤ For what it's worth, I played my first run as basically me - clinically anxious autistic grad student going through this whole adventure basically like 😬. I'm not someone who picks a lock just because it's locked unless I have a reason to think I have an ethical obligation to do so. Also hamstringed all my casters by trying to use nonlethal damage as much as possible, refused to steal anything from its rightful owners, and tried not to get involved in any conflict until I'd heard all sides. I probably missed out on a lot of items that way, definitely missed out on some quests that way, but it was completely possible to get through the game without breaking social rules for the sake of it. None of which is to say at all that you should give it another chance or anything, just that other people's play styles don't have to be yours. And I'll always prefer tabletop, too. BG3 just filled a bit of a gap for me when three different campaigns fell through and died without notice and I desperately needed that special-interest fix. Personally, I'm mostly hoping that the modding support expected for September will allow the creation of virtual tabletops that can be used in real-people campaigns.

[@caydenmaletsky3453]

And another great design is if the player doesn't cross the red line the other option is also really fun, so your not punished either way.

[@Lurklen]

I *hated* not being able to look up. Drove me crazy when trying to navigate some places, and like when there was a cool scene with a certain famous creature above me, and I literally had no idea wtf was happening. Half the places have ceilings, even though you can't freaking see them. And several places are rooms with holes in the cieling or balconies above them, or have levels and to get up there, I have to *see* up there, but I can't *look* up there unless I'm *already up there!* (I know you can use the Tactical over head cam, but it's still kinda jank, and if I could just tilt up sometimes it would have been helpful in a half a dozen places in act 1 alone.)

[@_kiyazz]

On my first playthrough I completely missed recruiting laezel so I never went to the crèche, simply walked into act 2 from the undertake and never looked back

[@thewolfstu]

Honestly, a great idea for DMs cause players will always do what you don't expect them so shift your expectations to expect them to do something else and prepare for that. B) sorta. depends on the group. lol

[@SilverAnicore]

Funny how differently some people read Laezel. She was literally the only character who I trusted at the beginning because SHE actually knew what a mindflayer parasite was. Her urge to find the creche made total sense to me, and it actually confused me that the game itself actively discouraged me from going there, level-wise. Oh well, just goes to show that there are a million different ways to engage with BG3 and that's awesome.

[@xandermichael836]

Lol, act 1 i went to the mountain pass and then the underdark. I just wanted loot and levels, no psychological plays that work against me here. Also, Bae'zel is the best. she's a sweetheart on the inside.

[@TheonlyNuclearFox]

Something i notice when people talk about Baldur's Gate is, some dont realize its a video game representation of a tabletop rpg, and not being able to see the whole map vecause in D&D, theres this thing called fog of war where if your character isnt in the area and cant see it, you the player cant see it. The only person that knows whats at the far end of the map is the DM. So the "i wanna see everything" or have fps camera is calling for it to not be D&D as a video game. (I haven't gotten far in the video just 3 minutes in as of this comment)

[@MyUsernameIsGoofy]

8 intelligence character's thought process (Me): Character tells you do go somewhere - Ok, I need to go there. Character tells me not to go somewhere - Ok, if they don't want me to go there, there must be danger. And if there's danger, there's loot. Let's go there!

[@Vyctor__]

This is more dependent on personality type. In my first time playing the game, I: - did not meet Gale because the narrator said the warped portal looked dangerous - did not go to the mountain pass because only Lae'zel wanted to go there - did not use any tadpoles because everyone except Astarion said it was a terrible idea - did not go to the burning inn because the game seemed to be telling me it was overly dangerous - did not explore the underdark tower because the turrets were a pretty clear "stay out" message - did not mistrust the Emperor at all - did not go to Raphael's house at all Pretty much every time the game told me "don't do that", my answer was "okay I won't". The first time I played The Stanley Parable I literally just did what the narrator said I would because I just wanted to know what would happen. I wanted to know what the story was that the game seemed to be wanting to tell me. Why would I mistrust it by default? Being mistrustful of the narrator isn't really outsmarting the game, like you said you're literally doing what the devs want you do to. It's just a different expression of curiosity. I was curious what the game wanted to show me. You were curious what the game was "trying to hide". In my second time playing I did do all of these things, because of course we all get curious about what would have happened and the internet is full of spoilers. This contrarianism is especially fun because there are interactions where you should absolutely listen to the game ("PLEASE stop insulting my queen" -a certain githyanki moments before disaster) and in a lot of cases the NPCs give genuinely good advice.

[@icasticasticast]

with coop, i think that's true, it also depends on what kind of player everyone is, and how much they know the game so far. with my friend, he would always be concerned about minmax, he knew where everything is, and he'd just get there, speedrun everything, hoard all the loot and all of a sudden he is asking me to come help in this fight in god knows where, after rushing through act 1, i was just done with coop, and went to play on my own, taking 150 hours-ish. and I'm glad i did. 2nd time we played it was way more fun. This game is not for experiencing the first time with friends, you end up missing out on dialogue and decisions. Or I could be wrong and it's literally because I have autism and he's got ADHD, so I can't keep up with him trying to observe every detail, and he gets bored easily.

[@AirLancer]

Nah, 1st playthroughs should definitely be done solo. Multiplayer is fun and all, but more for the emergent situations that happen when things go wrong, which'll happen far more often with multiple people doing their own thing.

[@ChachiMcSwaqq]

I think I’d agree with this for the average player; for the completionists among us, being aware that there is an area and then not going to it feels like missing out on content. The only way the game could keep me out of the mountain pass would be to say “all of the enemies here are level 12. Come back later.”

[@panaceleo]

i personally like the controller way of playing/movement and camera the best for bg3, its not the unneeded intricate setup that doesnt work for a game like this like you displayed in the video, but something about being able to switch between "click and go here" and just using your left stick to walk while using the right to turn the camera feels really good. not to mention the ability to hold down a button to truly get everything lootable/interactable in a small area + the click right stick to highlight like on keyboard/mouse vs just having the second option without

[@gesochisku118]

So that's why so many reddit threads about people entering the Shadowfell before going to Moonrise Towers, despite everyone telling you to got to Moonrise and the warning alert before the pool

[@janelantestaverde2018]

I'm really thankful for insights like these. I'm still trying to figure out how I went from being excited about the game in act 1 to not caring about the story nor the characters and ultimately not finishing the game halfway through act 3. Despite the fact that I've been playing DnD for years and having fun with it. There are a few reasons I uncovered, and having watched this video, I believe another reason might be that I simply do things in the game because I'm a completionist to a certain degree. And being told not to do most of the things that you come across while you just want to scratch them off your to-do list is tedious. I believe my approach to the game wasn't the best for the kind of game it is. Makes me somewhat sad that I didn't end up enjoying it, but it is what it is.

[@animatinglion6068]

Me exploring every last corner of the underdark because i wholeheartidly believed act 1 would *just close* as soon as i went mountain pass.....

[@Juniper_Rose]

larian understands the D&D player mind. DM: Don't do this thing. Players: hey let's do the thing. DM, who prepared the thing for several hours over multiple weeks, fighting back tears because she wanted you to do this for 3 sessions: Ugh, you guys are killing me alright let's go that way.

[@TheWorldBelowDnD]

My hatred for the dream companion unironically drove so much of my personal choices during my first playthrough...

[@Xenolithial]

I got _TEN_ copies of _The curse of the vampyre_ in Withers' temple. Astarion wasn't fooling anyone in my party and Larian apparently didn't want him to

[@DJBlackNGold]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who envies how good Gale's hair is.

[@AceDan-gc9po]

The one thing with the perspective is roof fights particularly in the goblin village if your in the building finding the places to shoot up from is nigh impossible

[@TuberTugger]

When game tell you to do and you do, railroaded. When game tell you not to do and you do, agency. Even though in both cases, you're doing what the DM/game devs want. This is the core of DnD and tabletop RPGs as a concept. And Larian really nailed it.

[@mesaprime4368]

I have come to call this phenomenon "The Cookie Jar Effect". If you tell someone not to take the cookies out the cookie jar. You have told them there is a cookie jar, theres cookies in the jar, and not to take them, but you didnt tell them why. Human curiosity will kick in and ask why. And if you wont tell me, ill find out on my own

[@Bzuhl]

It also implement nicely the Player/character paradox (Character want all of this BS to be over as soon as possible with the least effort, player want challenges to overcome and mistery to solve). In the beginning EVERYTHING is just about getting healed, then they hook you up on all of the further plots organically.

[@braxinIV]

Gotta slightly disagree with the camera angles. Pretty confident Larian DID balance the game with both the top-down and third person cameras in mind because I’m about 200 hours in and the only time I go top-down is during combat. All my exploration is done in third person and I’ve yet to miss anything major. If anything, I can actually SEE more in third person because I can change the angle in which I’m looking at things. Caught a bunch of secret entrances hiding behind crates that I would never have seen with top-down. Also being a matter of immersion and appreciating the details of the game up close.

[@quiestinliteris]

Gotta slightly disagree with you, because while the native camera angles have usually been sufficient for me, there is like a 5° window where you can figure out how to get into the Baldur's Mouth Gazette without using any of the heavily guarded doors, and I only found it with a tutorial after missing it in five different playthroughs. Also apparently there are at LEAST five places you can meet Tara on the rooftops, and I haven't been able to figure out how to reach more than 20% of the rooftops in Act 3. LET ME SEE THE DAMN ROOVES.

[@FrostiniusV]

Oddly enough, this is how I used to figure put where to go in games when I was smaller, when older games were more "figure it out" than direction. Surely my objectives aren't over there past those enemies/obstacles right?

[@bayushiteishiru6291]

Hell yes. When playing Numenera I found a holographic head projector. It nodded approvingly when pointed in one direction, or had a panicked expression when shown the other way. Our party made it a priority to always go where the head was losing it the most. :)

[@slimaaconroy]

This was well written, would like to see more video essays instead of comedy skits maybe? I think being a DM gives you some interesting ways to analyse game design

[@crimsonflame533]

i think the only other game i've played that does this is jedi fallen order, at the start you have a choice of going to either dathomir or somewhere else that you need to for the story and the game heavily advises to stay away from dathomir. i feel like many players including myself ignored this and went to dathomir first and where rewarded by getting the dual saber early

[@brytheguy4515]

Ever notice how so many open world games treat the quest log more like a "to do" list? That's what this reminds me of

[@shannon3315]

At the start of the game, Shadowheart is all “don’t talk to me, don’t ask me questions, I am mysterious and I want to keep it that way and I do not wish to be friends with you.” She’s the only character that you can ask “hey, do you like me? Check yes or no” just so she can annihilate you like the goth teenager she is and tell you she’s not really that INTO having friends, actually, but I GUESS we’re stuck together, UGH. And if you don’t make friends with her, and you’re also trying to do a Good play through, you may not be able to convince her to do something in Act 2 that will have huge repercussions.

[@jackzed2020]

In a way BG3 is doing the opposite of Elden Ring in terms of presenting quests and story. Where BG takes your hand and says "this. There. This is important for you and will progress you", Elden ring is like "yeah, that ol skag there needs a killin'. She's living lext right, 200 miles straight, over the mountain, turn right twice, down the dwell, hidden passage, walk through two cities s of enemies and bam, ya are somewhere near" And I feel both are great. It's so rewarding managing to remember directions in a time of constant GPS and maps

[@NotHighEnough1]

I feel like there were a lot of veiled jabs at Skyrim here lmaooo.

[@shantyman161]

Never thought of that. Also, i trust the game telling me to avoid stuff as i expect level issues or some stuff and really do not have the patience for backtracking or replays. But now that i know, i find this very amusing.

[@MrMatthias]

I went up the mountain path because A. The Underdark had that not-Beholder thingy, B. I couldnt figure out how to get to the other side from the underdark, and C. The underdark was scawwy

[@vincentrusso4097]

Wow the control the player with The Jamrock Shuffle. Love that

[@captainflapjax7240]

I didnt think about "outsmarting" the game tbh, I just HAVE to 100% find and explore everything. I jump and fly everywhere I can just to make sure every speck of map is unblacked.

[@MeDrusK]

I tend to not enjoy open games as much, since i know they're finite. As in, when playing d&d with your friends, you actually can go anywhere and do anything, so you have to decide on what actions and paths to take. But, in a videogame, you can't actually go anywhere and do anything, there's a finite amount of stuff that's been done. So if i see a path, i want to go there. It's not about choice or objective anymore. It's just because i know it exists, so i want to see it. There's stuff there, why wouldn't i go ? This isn't a very fun mindset. Instead of "I was going somewhere and then on the way this cool unexpected event happened", it's "I will walk everywhere and trigger all the events, because i expect them to exist." Cool video, first half hadn't me convinced but the second half with the arguments for the game driving motivation through an effect of "reverse psychology" is a pretty interesting observation.

[@dinosdaniel3508]

BG2 is the first RPG in a long time that didn't make me want to explore around and just rush for the cure.

[@Itsmfsean]

oh my god that’s exactly why I did it😭 9:15 I specifically said “game telling me what to do? Nah dawg that ain’t gonna work for me, idc how under leveled I am ONWARD TO THE DRAGONNNNNNN”

[@Jeremycook_]

"Letting" other people do cool, fun things is cool and fun.

[@mjohnson5791]

We need the narf narf playthough back!! Give the people what they want Jacob! Lol.

[@daevasndragons]

Great example of how open to interpretation bg3 is, first time I've seen anyone stan Wyll over Laezel

[@Lady_Vengeance]

Great video. I have tried to articulate this concept to friends when describing why they should play this game and what makes it special, but not half as intelligently as you have here.

[@designerwookiee]

Huh. Ya kinda do have the player experience split by two types of players, those of us who were strung along by this stream of reverse psychology, and everyone else. It'd be interesting to look at a side-by-side of how different each act can be when taking this into account. A hypothetical routing for Player A vs Player B. Especially since choices in earlier acts have knock-on effects for later acts.

[@artificiallightk]

BG3 taught me that reverse psychology does not work on me. Game tells me "don't go there" and i turn around. For my first playthrough it didn't feel like an issue to just not approach the dangerous things because there was so much content elsewhere ! Anyways when i finished my first playthrough i finally allowed myself to check the fandom and immediately went : who the FUCK is Gale ?? I missed SO MANY THINGS. Going through a 2nd game is a delight, i get to see so many new things !

[@WouldUKindly47]

The moment I knew for a fact the game was lying to me was when upon first meeting The Emperor. Narrator upon succeeding an insight check: “oh yeah you can totally trust this guy 100% no strings attached.” Me: “yeah the guy who’s been lying to me, withholding information until it benefits him and purposely taking a form I’d find most appealing and trustworthy is TOTALLY trustworthy…”

[@human-animalchimeraprohibi2143]

Factor need a hungry man package. Bruh you know you need more food than that😂

[@Xiuhtec]

As a huge contrarian I'm probably really going to love this game when I get around to it.

[@senrith_]

The same thing happens in DOOM Eternal. Every single villain says "You cannot do XYZ" and then Doom Guy proceeds to do just that. "You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars" "If Sentinel holy blood is spilled on these grounds, you will lose all sovereignty here..." "Who are you, a human, once a mortal, to defy our traditions?" Each statement sounds like a challenge to the players and they feel like a bad ass when they do the impossible or break the rules. "have you nothing to say to your creator ...before you strike him down?" Doom Guy: "No."

[@AirLancer]

A lot of people would've had to unlearn the lessons of playing your typical video game where decisions don't matter and regardless of what you do, things are only going to turn out in one of very few ways (if there are multiple options at all) anyway.

[@FeeshUnofficial]

Holy shit BG3 turns players into my grandpa He also feels the need to enter any area he's not allowed to

[@JohnCena-fd5yw]

idk man I disagree, one of the weakest parts of BG3 for me was the discovery. it felt like you *had* to search every tiny corner of the map or else I would miss something important, and then half those quests didnt matter in the end or i had already half-completed somehow. i also missed the entirety of moonrise towers pre-nightsong because everyone said it was the enemy base and i shouldnt go there unless i was ready to fight them. Then once i would have a quest, i hated when it wouldnt tell me what it wanted me to do. because the game wants you to explore and think creatively, but its also a finite, closed loop system because its a video game, so you do actually have to do it the way the game wants you to, it just won't tell you, which is frustrating. tl;dr exploring felt like a chore, a have-to rather than a want-to. finally getting clear directions was much more fun once the quest was in my journal and told me what to do next, so that i could get back to the actual game part of the game

[@Myrathosghost]

I will say I find it strange you missed pre nightsong mooonrise....because you are actually told to go TO Moonrise...like if you get to the Inn and talk to Jahira and then talk to her again inside the Inn she literally tells you "Hey go to the Towers and see what Kethric is up too and then come back here to report since they will think you're a true soul" ..so Im gonna assume you didn't talk to Jahira a second time??

[@DinoRaptor88]

Does anyone know what happened to chat plays baldurs gate 3? I loved watching the streams but missed the last few from a few months ago… did he say he was gonna stop doing them?

[@Hon3yWa5p]

Alternatively, Lae'zel is my mommy who I want uppies from, so I always go to the creche and have never gone to the underdark.

[@AirLancer]

...You can just...go to both.

[@Boshea241]

Getting into the carnival is best when you are Fey Warlock. Your patron just goes full Karen.

[@canis2020]

Thank you for making something that has thought and effort behind it. You make good points and I don't want you to waste your talent on stupid reaction or drama videos.

[@kholtonthebarbarian2590]

“Do not pursue Lu Bu.”

[@ruki4929]

Honestly I followed her advice - it was only until my brother talked about what he did in there where I went 'oh shit I gotta get in there'