Boulder's Gate 3 (there maybe Droobs ahead)

Just did a maybe side quest that was interesting. I do like the narrator and how it leans heavy into d&d, the visuals and music are decent as well. There's only one party member I don't want to kill at the moment so I guess I'll just treat them like shit.

I need to start looking through the menu screens etc as I think the tutorial stuff is dog shit. Like my first level up I had to pick a sub class and even that basic process wasn't explained at all.

Damn, I think I just .

I’m not going to reload this time though. I need to start living with my decisions!

I really don’t know which way to go in act 3. Seems like so many choices that could have a significant impact on the ending.

I knocked a massve phase spider down a big hole and followed it for the loot. I've now got that "should I really be down here yet?" feeling. I've not even found Halsin yet.

Keep exploring or leg it back?

so BG3 from GOG which is 150gb big does not want to update as i dont have 132gb free on my 500gb nvme drive.

just lol!

What do you mean by freestyle on the spot?

I'm only around 10 hours into this and we have a party of three but I've not had to reload any combat encounters bar the fight with the Owlbear who kicked our ass. We've had a fair few too. We're not doing anything fancy, just following turn based combat tips and general RPG tips:

- Don't attack anyone two levels higher than you, it's suicide
- Spread out / get into position before attacking
- Use the environment if you can
- Try a stealthy approach if possible

Missed a fair few attacks and a few fights have gone to the wire but it feels nicely balanced so far.

Just create an overwatch ambush.

Took me probably 5 hours of fucking around and experimenting to complete that fight. When I finally got a plan together and executed it it was like taking out Bin Laden. Choke points are your friend.

But honestly it sounds like you're expecting the game to be something it's not. A lot of fights can be won quickly and dont require much thought beyond how to best use your party, but the big ones require a lot of trial and error, or at least they have for me.

I almost quit the game at the Goblin Camp, as it seemed too much, but it was a skill-check and once I passed it the game clicked hard and I'm over 100hrs in at this point.

*shudder* thankfully no.

Stopping that idiot from running into the fire.

It's more the controls.

I sorted one via the bridge, which should have been one attempt. It took at least 5 just because of the controls as she kept crossing before I'd got through the shit wheels to then do what I needed to do..

Is there an option to pause the game every time I open a wheel?

The the priestess was okay and went fine.

It was then the main leader. As I said I shut all the doors and took out all the war drums so no reinforcements etc. so when I left the goblin camp should have been in its old state but everything attacks you. Which is bs from how much prep and re loading it did. Turns out after it would have been easier to get to the druid after as there was one ladder short cut I hadn't seen. But I didn't see that until later. But again there was this one goblin I wanted to push in a pit but in real time I wants me to navigate the wheels in real time and then click a goblin that is patrolling!! If I froze time it would solve the issue.

Enter turn-based mode. Think it an option in the menu wheel.

Can't see it. I'm in turn based for combat. I mean the sneaking stealth stuff. I wanted to sneak behind a patrolling guard and push him in a pit. Pretty hard whilst it's walking past then you need to hold the wheel button, move a tab across then select push then highlight the moving enemy. 

Anyway I think I'll stop re loading soon and just have a messy campaign. 

So many annoying triggers though for every scenario. Met an owl bird by being a cat and entering a small gap. We had a chat and she agreed not to fight me. Then all I did was jump to another ledge nowhere near it and it turned hostile, which made me lose my cat form which meant I was trapped solo in this cave. So, sigh, another reload. 

I wish it auto saved more as well. So many times I've accidentally triggered something when I was trying to click on something else so I need a reload but I've forgotten to quick save for twenty minutes. Zzzz

As I say I'm just going to go messy. Probably just put it on easy and enjoy the story and never reload when I accidentally get in yet another situation where I have to slaughter a whole base because I clicked on something by mistake. 

Wild stab in the dark here, but it might be the one that says "Turn-Based Mode" when selected.

The main reason I paid very slightly more for the steam version is that apparently it doesn't redownload the entire game when there's a patch. On my crappy 40Mb connection that's a pretty big deal.

Haven’t had much time to play lately but I was back on this last night. I think I’ve largely completed the Last Light Inn area at the start of Act 2.

Some really enjoyable dialogue there and a nice battle with some invading winged dude and some hellspawn. Interestingly, I’m not sure I was supposed to win that fight as easily as I did, as I was looking up the next step of another quest (to wake up a chap who seems to be in a trance…) and it appeared to suggest a lot of people there should have died… and that a certain NPC cleric been abducted?

All safe and well in my game! It does make me love the fact there’s obviously a totally different and equally viable outcome to that section and battle.

On combat, it is definitely the hardest bit to learn. It took me a while, but I found my rhythm with my core team of my Warlock, Shadowheart (healing & protective buffs); Karlach (melee / offensive buffs) and Gale (magic attacks, some area control with AOE spells.

I’ve perhaps made a mistake in deciding I’d swap out Gale and Karlach to give Lae’zel and Wyll a run… but I guess I can swap them back soon enough. We’ll see…

But yes, I’d absolutely second the comment that positioning is really important. Fighting the goblin leaders (for example) is much easier if you get your casters / ranged fighters up high in the rafters of that place and use your melee fighters (with buffs) to play both tank and DPS roles.

Also, while I don’t think you need to grind, spending some time doing side quests around the starting area is no bad thing to earn some XP and level up. I suspect if you just try to run through the main story, you’ll more quickly find the content out levelling your party.