Anyone else playing this? It’s still early, but I’m already pretty sure this will not only be my game of the year but also one of my favorite games of all time. Larian impressed me a lot with Divinity: Original Sin, but this is just a masterpiece so far. Also, it has cross save, so you can play on PC and then move up to five saves over to PS5 via the cloud when that version comes out (although you have to buy both versions to do that).
So starting a solo honor mode run last night was not a good idea. I died so early, so fast. Before 90 minutes I think. They really ramped up the difficulty in honor mode. Its going to be fine with a fully party. Probably not much more difficult than tactician. But solo is not a good time early on.
Double hand bow rogue gets going pretty quickly. You can get the archery gloves and poison ring asap as well as hand bows +1. That build was pretty viable to solo tactician act 1 and lots of 2 - if those stealth changes and PWT aren’t heavily impacted by the patch. It mostly exploits bad stealth AI and surprise attacks.
> Double hand bow rogue gets going pretty quickly. You can get the archery gloves and
> poison ring asap as well as hand bows +1. That build was pretty viable to solo tactician
> act 1 and lots of 2 - if those stealth changes and PWT aren’t heavily impacted
> by the patch. It mostly exploits bad stealth AI and surprise attacks.
I mean, I died at the gate of the grove. I didn't get far. It only took one crossbow bolt on the opening round and it was all over. It hit for full damage. Dead. Party wiped.
That sounds quite a bit harder than tactician. That fight seemed pretty easy with all of the distracting NPCs. I don’t think I’ll try that anytime soon but I’d probably try to cheese exp to level 3 to get the thief actions. Doesn’t sound like SS would be much help since chance to hit would be abysmal.
Yeah, it was just unlucky really. The odds of the crossbow goblin deciding to target me, and getting a perfect roll (critical) on the opening shot are probably not going to happen very often. And having a full party would have negated that, as one death wouldn't have wiped the full party. Unless it was still Tav who took the shot. I think that still wipes in honor mode. Maybe not.
Those bastards on the hill in the middle are where I prioritize in that fight. The rest usually don’t focus me. I think I’m going to play through DoS 1 and 2 and may attempt an honor mode at some point.
Yeah, this game makes me want to replay DoS2. But it actually makes me want to play Dragon Age: Origins even more. I feel like I need to stop playing this and play something else. Yet I keep playing it. So many other games I haven't played yet, that I want to play. But every time I turn on the PS5 I just end up launching this.
I really wish that Solasta: Crown of the Magister released on playstation. Not sure why its only on xbox. Its such a good dnd game. Its more like tabletop. No pre-made characters. You make your entire party if not co-oping. It has full 5E rules, so you go up to level 20 and get access to insane level 8 and 9 spells. It also has something like 9 full campaigns now. And you can use your character/party through each one.
I also really want to like the Pathfinder games. But those get ruined in act 2 of both games for me because of their heavy sim management that gets dumped on top of them. The first game you have to manage an entire kingdom. And in the second you have to manage an entire army. Its just not my thing. And its like playing two different games at the same time. A dnd rpg adventure (which is really good) with these weird sim management things tack on top (which is not so good).
Also Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2 are amazing games. The second one is more like this with turn based. The first is classic real time with pause. The second lets you choose which one you want. I so want them to make the third game for that series. I really love the story and lore in that one.
I’ve heard that pathfinder is like chess and too complex. I’ve also heard Tyranny is great but haven’t tried it. I’ve dabbled in the others. Didn’t love DaO and after the first it’s not the same game. Maybe I’ll just revisit the classic stuff BG old school, NW, Icewind, Torment. I really need to do something mindless this month. Oh well.
> Yeah, this game makes me want to replay DoS2. But it actually makes me want to play
> Dragon Age: Origins even more. I feel like I need to stop playing this and play something
> else. Yet I keep playing it. So many other games I haven't played yet, that I want
> to play. But every time I turn on the PS5 I just end up launching this.
>
OMG this. So much this. I'm 300 hours in and it's still all I can think about. At work today all I could think about was needing to respec Shadowheart and jumping back in to see how things feel after patch 5 because Wyrm's Crossing was super rough pre patch and also what the new epilogue is like. I didn't even think I'd replay it so soon after my first playthrough but here I am in act 3 of my second playthrough and I am already looking forward to doing a solo run on tactician when I am done. But I have all these games just sitting here that I need to get around to.
And I've also been thinking about DA: Origins a lot while playing this. It's my favorite western RPG of all time, but BG3 is giving it a run for its money. I replayed it last year, but I want to replay it again. I even found myself looking up info on DA4 earlier this week, but the more I read the more I wonder if it'll ever even come out.
I'm currently playing Pillars of Eternity. Haven't gotten far. Just beat Tyranny. Wasn't a huge fan of that one. Hoping to maybe get Baldurs Gate 3 at some point. Hoping it goes on sale at some point...
300 hours in and I'm still coming across new stuff all the time. This game, man!
Also Warlock/Sorcerer ends up being a really fun pure caster build. Ended up going Warlock 2/Sorcerer 9/Wizard 1. Dipping into Wizard feels like an absolute must for any spellcaster because of those two unique level 5 scrolls you can get and learn early in act 3. They really are the icing on the cake for me. They are so powerful! There are ways in-game to boost Intelligence which makes it easy to max out both Charisma and Intelligence if you really want to. Thanks for suggesting one level of Wizard @Archer because I hadn't even considered it. You end up being able to prepare 3 Wizard spells so I have those two spells and Glyph of Warding prepared and it's just so much variety. I do wonder if there's a better option than Glyph though, but I'm still early in act 3 so I'll mess around with that. It's definitely one of my fav spells in the game.
I initially tried going Warlock 5/Sorcerer 6/Wizard 1 because Hunger of Hadar is such an amazing area control spell, but it wasn't worth going 5 levels of Warlock just for one spell when there are others that do a similar job. Two levels of Warlock feels like a good spot for Eldritch Blast (w/ Hex, Agonizing and Repelling blasts) which is just such an insanely powerful cantrip. Love Sorcerer for Twin and Quicken obviously and a really good variety of powerful spells. I'm sure if I did a bit of research I'd find a way to really optimize this build because I do wonder what I could do to take it to another level. But it's pretty damn good for a blind build. Oh and stick those Dexterity gloves on to boost AC and initiative and you feel unstoppable!
The wizard level is nice even from a novelty standpoint. There are a few scenarios that require a couple of spells to advance and one of them is a pretty rare scroll. I just respeccd quickly to do it.
@Heavyd814life There are actually three unique level 5 scrolls in that location.
Dethrone - 10d6 + 20 (30~80) necrotic damage to a single enemy. Artistry of War - 2d6 + 6 (8~18) per bolt/ghost up to six targets/per. Bestial Communion - Summons Deva who can cast a vengeful smite and revive fallen allies.
In act 1 there is also the unique Summon Quasit scroll for the Shovel familiar. Shovel is the name of the quasit.
@Heavyd814life Also thinking about how to make it better. Going level 2 of wizard and getting evocation specialization, so your AoE spells don't harm allies might be worth something. So 2 lock, 8 sorc and 2 wiz. That way if you have a fighter in the mix of 4 enemies, you can still drop a fireball or ice storm on them and it does nothing to your party memeber.
> @Heavyd814life Also thinking about how to make it better. Going level 2 of wizard
> and getting evocation specialization, so your AoE spells don't harm allies might
> be worth something. So 2 lock, 8 sorc and 2 wiz. That way if you have a fighter in
> the mix of 4 enemies, you can still drop a fireball or ice storm on them and it does
> nothing to your party memeber.
Dude I think this is it! I thought I needed nine levels of Sorcerer to get an extra Level 5 spell slot, but taking a second level of Wizard gives me that slot anyway. I lose out on 1 hit point and 1 sorcerer point and that's literally it. Unless I'm missing something. Also taking the second level of Wizard lets me prepare 4 spells which is fantastic and I'm going Evocation for sure so I can just Fireball, Ice Storm and Lightning Bolt wherever the hell I want!
And thanks for the heads-up on that third hidden scroll. No way I would have found it on my own. Plus I just tested it and looks like once you learn that scroll and add it to your prepared spells list...
You can summon it, unprepare the spell and prepare something else, and the summon still stays with you until you long rest. Only downside is you lose a level 5 spell slot right away, but I have a necklace that lets me restore any spell slot so I just used that.
I'm not sure how to make this better, but I'm sure there's a way lol. The only real downside to multiclassing with 2 Warlock and 2 Wizard is losing out on Level 6 spells and a 3rd feat. I think that's all. And I can totally live with that.
Losing out on level 6 spell slot isn't that bad really. Level 6 spells are very powerful, yes. But you only get the one slot, ever. And it can not be restored in any way but a long rest. So you only get the one spell per day with level 6. Might as well just cast more level 3 and 5 with either SP or arcane restoration.
And as Feeb said losing out on the third feat for a pure spell caster is fine too. You should have taken your main spell stat to 20 already via one of the two feats (starting with 17, using hag deal to get a +1 and one feat to push to 20). And use the other for something like better armor (for higher AC), alert (to act faster with higher initiative) or war caster so you don't lose concentration on spells (if you use concentration cc spells like dark, hold person, etc). Even taking both feats to get to 20 and then using the left over to add to dex or constitution is fine as well.
I don't there is a way to make it better. You could do something like dump warlock, which would cause you to lose out on the best cantrip in the game, and going 4 levels of wizard. Which gives you a third feat. Two natural arcane recovery points to restore spell slots. But since you only have two you can only restore one level 2 slot, or two level 1 slots. And you get a level 6 slot. I don't think any of that is worth losing EB. EB out damages any other cantrip from the moment you get it to the end of the game. And there is gear to make it rival level 3 spells in act 3. And you can cast it infinity. Plus warlock spell slots return on short rest. Which is nice because they can be used to cast any level of spell up to level 5.
There is also the potential to add in some Bard levels. As that uses Charisma as well. But most bard stuff is buffing and crowd control for magic. So it won't increase your damage. But it would increase your other party members damage. So not really what you are looking for.
Messing around last night with different builds. I realized one of the wizard sub classes has bonuses for alchemy. And lets you make extra potions when making them. I had 12 ashes of hyena ears. Which would normally make 12 potions of speed. I respeced into that sub class and was able to make 20. You have to pass a passive medicine check of 15 when you make a potion, so you can fail some and only make the one. But still 8 more valuable potions. However, this sub class is worthless beyond that is not worth using. But when it comes times to make potions of speed or bloodlust elixirs you can respec into it, then respec out. Because even though it wasn't mentioned in the patch notes, it wasn't just cloud giant that got their rarity increased.
Have any of you done an origin character playthrough besides a durge? As in picking and playing as Asstorian, Shart, Gale, lae'zel, Karlach or Wyll. I just realized I've never even considered this. And I just saw some stats Larian released, and apparently a huge chunck of players (447k) have completed the game as Gale. Which seems like an odd pick to me. Also paladin being the most picked class is mind boggling to me. It such a bad class. It only gets super strong around level 8. Before that is garbage. And least surprising is 51% of people romance shart.
Always custom. Even on the durge playthrough I changed him up. I stalked the drow lady. Only one I got that far with- except for karlach which was an achievement. I generally dislike melee classes aside from monk. Not surprised it’s pally though because if you search on best classes they all say fighter, cleric, pally- all the boring crap. lol.
Supposedly redemption durge is the best and official way to play from what Larian has said. I can't bring myself to play an origin character since I've gone through all of their storylines. I wonder if it differs any? Sometimes I'll switch my main character to someone to see what dialogue is different and sometimes you'll get surprises such as with Astarion (act 1)
> I almost just died to the owlbear in honor mode. Was not expecting the change for
> that fight. And it almost got me.
I'm curious what changed.
I still need to go back and investigate the cave at some point. There's a lot of places you need to be able to squeeze into, and I never have a way to do that that early on.
>> I almost just died to the owlbear in honor mode. Was not expecting the change
> for
>> that fight. And it almost got me.
>
> I'm curious what changed.
>
> I still need to go back and investigate the cave at some point. There's a lot of
> places you need to be able to squeeze into, and I never have a way to do that that
> early on.
>
>
In honor mode only, if you don't want to be surprised when playing in that mode yourself...
There is a second adult owlbear. The mother calls in the father. Even if you surprise her, in her first turn she calls him in. I wont spoil how he enters the fight however, because its hilarious. And they both have 120 HP! Which is a lot to deal with early on in the game in honor mode. Plus they hit super hard and can fudge your party up if you are not prepared or above level 3.
As for small spaces and the pipes, those are just alternative ways in an area. None of them lead to unique places. So you've probably already seen them all.
> Supposedly redemption durge is the best and official way to play from what Larian
> has said. I can't bring myself to play an origin character since I've gone through
> all of their storylines. I wonder if it differs any? Sometimes I'll switch my main
> character to someone to see what dialogue is different and sometimes you'll get surprises
> such as with Astarion (act 1)
> ...
>
>
The thing is, you don't even have to play as them to get their unique dialogues. You can talk to anyone as anyone. Even after you've talked to them with Tav. And you then talk to them with everyone else and still get their unique interactions. Its super weird.
They also released a hotfix during the awards. They are gonna work themselves dead and hurt in the long run. Hope not though. Can't wait to see what else they do.
> They also released a hotfix during the awards. They are gonna work themselves dead
> and hurt in the long run. Hope not though. Can't wait to see what else they do.
>
>
That hotfix fixed the only gold exploit that worked on console. Bastards. It was keeping me in gold while playing in honor mode. Now I have to go back to being a hoarder to sell everything for pennies to buy things.
EDIT: for those that didn't know, you could sell an empty bag to a vendor. Then open the barter menu. Put the bag in the barter section. Open it. multi select (probably drag and drop on pc with a mouse) and put anything in the vendors inventory into the bag. Then buy the bag for 1 gold. And get everything or just what you wanted from them for a single gold because it was in the 1 gold value bag after the value was calculated. It was such a nice exploit. I'll miss it so much in this (no) honor mode run.
Robbing volo of his camping mats was all I needed. I don’t think I bought anything but a few late game gears and camping mats. I do tend to loot all the 1 billion alcoholic beverages in the game though.
