Baldur's Gate III is discounted 20% OFF on Steam until 2/17. BG III can be played single or co-op

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Just grabbed it

Cool, may have to resurrect our BG3 "let's play" thread. I'm still working through several characters and amazed at the variation in dialogue that's not only character driven, but also little changes Larian has been pushing through with their updates. Fun stuff

I thought I'd see how it is on my Steam Deck.

It runs surprisingly well, with no stuttering so far. The only thing I'm really having trouble with is the camera angles and with the Steam Deck controls that can get pretty complicated. Fortunately that long exploratory bit at the start gives me time to work out the controls. I still haven't figured out how to switch party members or how to open my inventory, but i's early days yet.

Since I'm completely bored with Fallout 76 and Stalker 2 doesn't run on the deck, I may play this instead. I didn't finish it last time, having got stuck and rage-quit and then started something else, and rather than pick up where I left off a new game seems appropriate.

Anyway, I've picked up Astarion, Gale, Laezael and Shadowheart so I'll tackle that Chapel now.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised how well it runs on my game machine, which is actually a fair bit outdated now (GTX 1070). There is some stuttering when it first loads in at the start and when "fast traveling", but other than that it looks good on moderate settings.

My Drow Ranger is in Act 2, a Gith Sorcerer nearing that point and a Tiefling Warlock, and Elven Rogue near the middle of Act 1. I've also been intermittently running starting characters to check out the changes that comes through in the updates. Interesting how Larian has changed the dialogue over the last few. They aren't huge changes, but it's enough to modify the context of the conversation or allow it to go in a slightly different direction in some cases.

I'm also running without that Karmic Dice setting checked. Didn't even realize that was a feature until I began reading the big game guide. It feels more random to me now, like actual dice rolls. With the Karmic Dice setting I felt like I could just about predict my rolls based on the previous ones. Granted, you can have more bad rolls without it, but you run an equal chance of have a run of stellar dice rolls too.

My Rogue is running in place of Astarion, since I decided to introduce him to a pointed stick early on in that run

I'm playing a Bard again, only this time I chose the fighter version of subclass.

So you introduced Astarion to Mr. Pointy, huh? I honestly never considered that but of course it is a thing, offered early in the game.

I just rescued Miranda and honestly wish I'd let Ethel take her. One thing that was problematic; I had to take a reward from Ethel at random since there was no description of any of them. No matter. Last time I killed her; this time I let her go.

I've worked out most of the controls and they are fairly simple now that I have the hang of it. It's nice to play a game on my couch with the fire going.

It might be a Steam Deck thing if Ethel's rewards don't show a description, though the basic description, even though it gives you a nice ability boost it pretty gross . I usually don't go back to her place for an actual confrontation until a little later in the game because she's a good potion supplier

Now that I've been hopping between characters I'm not sure if the dialogue changes I've come across are due to the updates or just influenced by my race and class selections. I'm thinking it's a bit of both. One thing with not running the karmic dice is that I really need to keep myself from reloading saves when I have consistently lousy results due to dice rolls. Have had a couple battles where my characters were rolling misses probably 80% of the time, that got a bit frustrating. Other than that still fun.

I noticed that if you climb the ledge behind Astarion's tent the usual camp music suddenly gets vocals that seem to be about him or what he is. I keep checking around the other party members tents to see if it changes, but so far it only happens in that spot. Curious.

Apparently I picked up the Wisdom reward, so I'll toss it to Shadowheart.

In this game I'm using Karlach as a Berserker, adding Tavern Brawler as her first feat. It's great. Last time I hadn't really studied the builds and as a regular fighter she was surprisingly lame. This time she's hilarious and really tough. I'm collecting junk for her to throw. It's like having a mobile Junk Jet that talks.

Yeah, it seems like Larian built in a number of situational dialogue options based on who's in the party and your race/class. Also, even though alignment isn't really a visual character attribute it seems like the game tracks your decision making and adjusts the party members attitudes and responses over more than just approval. While there is that visual approval rating in the character sheet, I get the feeling it's a little deeper than that in the background.

I like Karlach, she's got that no-nonsense attitude and quick wit, sort of similar to Lae'zel though not as harsh. Definitely someone I'd have a few beers with 🤣

Karlach is much more on the "good" side than, say, Lae'zel. If your character keeps making "good" decisions, you'll find that Astarion and Lae'zel will consistently have the lowest approval ratings among your party, because those two like "bad" things more often. You'll get high approval from them only in an "evil playthrough." You can't have it both ways, because things that get approval from someone will often get disapproval from another.

I always liked that about the BG games. Anomen and Viconia, for example, in BG 2. Oil and water. One or the other. At one point I had the Happy Party mod, and everyone got along, but it just didn't feel right. Those two were meant to end up trying to kill each other.

So far I prefer Karlach in combat, but they're both useful.

In case anyone is interested, the upcoming Patch #8 among other fixes and features will include 12 new character subclasses!

From Larian's official YT channel they give a high level view of 4 of the upcoming classes here:

Guide To New Subclasses In Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 (Part 1)

Also, from Dungeons & Dragons YT channel, D&D Game Director Jeremey Crawfrod and Todd Kenreck talk about the origins of the Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 Subclasses:

Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 Subclass Origins on D&D

If you'd like a graphical deep dive preview of the patch and associated classes check out this guide on the Baldur's Gate II Wiki:

Guide: Patch 8


This patch is basically a DLC that Larian is giving to us for free, which is pretty cool. 👍

I've been putting off the Waukeen's Rest segment, and I'm having trouble getting through it now that I'm tackling it. The two timed events in this game really spoil it for me. I'm just playing along, having fun exploring and taking out bad guys and following the story, and then game throws a timed puzzle at me. It spoils my immersion in the game, and to me it seems out of character for a BG game, as if all of a sudden I'm playing Tomb Raider. The last time I stopped playing the game for good was the place where I had to rescue a bunch of people in Act 3 and couldn't stomach it after fifteen or so tries. I did get through the Waukeen's Rest segment last time but for some reason this time I'm having a lot of trouble. I might try it on my computer; the small screen on the Steam Deck probably makes it more difficult.

I decided to put a level or two of Fighter into a few of my party members this time around. Last time I played single-class, and I found some of the characters, like Shadowheart, pretty underwhelming.

Yeah, never been a fan of timed events. Also, not a fan of the turn-based function kicking on automatically. If possible, I shut it down and go the usual route. The only event that freaked me out was the first time I hit the Last Light Inn and "that" happened. After the deed was done I had to get up and walk away for a bit. I ended up figuring out how to have the more positive outcome in the next run, but holy **** the undesirable outcome there is pretty freakin' extreme.

I usually respec Shadowheart as a War Cleric and switch her abilities up a bit at the start. Seems to help her performance somewhat.


Just hit The High Road a little early and had a TPK trying to help Karlach. Time to reload.

I'll just have a look at some walkthrough videos for the timed events.

I might try respeccing Shadowheart. It would be good to have a fighter/cleric type in the party. My Bard already has healing spells if needed, so I don't need a pure healer. And while my Bard is a fairly respectable lockpicker, I almost always travel with Astarion, so I need at least two party members capable of doing damage.