I mean, the game is amazing, has amazing dialogues, atmosphere and all that, but damn… the combat is surely a downer. Feels like theres no “real” tactic to the game other than just keep on (mindlessly) trying until the battle is won. And yes, I’ve done all quests, sidequests, with a “non-meme” party on the balanced difficulty and I’m -still- having lots of “please don’t use (x) skill or else my whole run is done for” moments.
You’re playing it wrong.
BG3 is a role playing game. You gotta play it like real life. In real life, if things don’t go your way, you drink strong alcohol. I highly recommend tequila or whisky.
Charisma too low? Tequila. Dexterity too low? Whisky. Enemy with 1HP dodges 3 attacks in a row? Tequila.
The game is easy as pie.
Ah, the Disco Elysium style of rpg
I think we should just deal with the consequences. Make a plan, go for it, and deal with whatever happens. The only time you reload is when you die. Or when something REALLY bad happens.
Save scumming kinda spoils the fun and removes a lot of the tension.
And if poornrolls meant I had to murder La’Zael at the start of the game so be it. She was obviously meant to die like all those poor innocent deep gnomes.
/shurg Can’t say I’ve found it this way, but I’m pretty used both to DnD mechanics generally, and Larian’s approach to encounter design in specific. (I’ve so far had exactly one combat game over, because I was dumb and let Ragzlin get into the rafters and chuck javelins at me for like 20 damage a pop.)
Positioning matters, your environment is something to be used to your advantage, abilities that boost your accuracy are very powerful, and different enemies have different strengths and weaknesses. /shurg Hard to give much specific advice, because different encounters and party compositions demand different tactics and threat assessment.
I’m not a huge fan of D&D 5E, and I think the Divinity combat mechanics foundation lent itself better to both this kind of game and to Larians encounter design (which is natural since they invented the Divinity mechanics).
In general I felt like I had more and better tools in D:OS2, with more interactions and synergies and in general more fun in combat.
Still, I like everything else better in BG3, and it’s not like the combat is awful. And it might improve on higher levels.
Are you immediately running into battles or are you taking the time to examine the environment and enemies before initiating battles? Obviously it’s not always possible, but I usually spend a few minutes to plan some things before starting a fight.
I look at the environment to see if there are any items I can use to my advantage (barrels, chasms, etc.) or any optimal places to position my people (e.g., up high and out of sight for my rogue).
I also examine the enemies before hand to look at their strengths and weaknesses, and I change out my prepared spells accordingly.
In a game with dice rolls, it’s inevitable that some things will come down to luck. But I do think there’s still a lot of “tactical” planning to be had both during the battles but even before the fight starts as well.
This guy just did a whole combat video. I learn some great info here.
Beginners guide to combatThat certainly hasn’t been my experience, though perhaps my rolls have been more fortuitous. I’ve been finding the combat challenging, but not overly unforgiving. I do sometimes have to try an engagement more than once to try out different strategies, but most of the time I don’t have to do that. I do have a fair amount of experience with this type of game though, and that makes a big difference.
I catch myself getting frustrated with bad luck more in BG3 than I did in D: OS2. Hit chances seem lower and many abilities are once per rest (and I’m trying to minimise long rests for immersion), so a miss ends up feeling more punishing.
I’m also playing as an Assassin, so basically centered around a high impact surprise round from stealth, and I swear I’m missing more 80%+ sneak attacks than I’m hitting. I guess frustration is part and parcel on a build that gambles everything on one big attack, though.
I wanted to try playing “pure” first, but maybe I need to turn on Karmic Dice. Missing a 94% chance to hit Sneak Attack twice in a row did not feel good. I guess I am too unlucky to just trust the dice.
As someone who is notoriously the worst roller at the table, having your well-built character flub a crucial move they’ve carefully planned feels SO very authentic.
Also spells and cantrips that grant advantage or add dice to the attack roll have felt more impactful in the game than they have at the table.
It’s good to meet a fellow lowroller.
I think AC is higher across the board in BG3. Bless is great, but concentration is a bigger issue here than PNP I feel like - lots of ranged attackers and grenades. I also am forced to take on many encounters without spell slots since I’m trying to lean into the roleplay and so only Long Rest when I’m absolutely forced to.
I just started using Karlach as a Wolf Heart Barbarian recently and that has been great for easy advantage. I might need to respec some NPCs to short-rest classes, too, if I keep getting frustrated. Maybe intended behaviour (on this supposedly time sensitive quest) is to Long Rest every other encounter, and I’m just being stubborn for finding that immersion breaking.
I think it’s meant to vary by encounter, sometimes I’ll do 4-5 encounters before needing to rest, using only a couple spell slots/LR abilities each time, sometimes I get absolutely savaged and need to rest after only one or two. /shurg It does get easier as you level, and long rest casters in particular get more resources. Worth noting too, the time-sensitivity of the quest becomes… much less so, shortly. :P Still urgent, but not “you have one week, then you die, and the Absolute probably takes over the world” urgent.
I suspect the game is balanced around the idea you’ll probably do 2-4 encounters per long rest though, purely given the ratio of short to long rests.
I haven’t found it that way. I’m generally D&D has a lot of “save or suck” abilities. Generally this applies to spells where either you make your saving throw and nothing happens, or you fail and something catastrophic happens. It feels very swingy - one turn you’re ahead, the next turn your barbarian is paralyzed and your wizard is blinded.
It also applies to attacks and other abilities, though. Try to stack buffs that give you bonuses to attack roles and saves. Bardic inspiration, guidance, enlarge/reduce, etc. help to minimize the suck for you and maximize the suck for them.
Good luck!
I’m on Act II in balanced difficulty and haven’t suffered a total party wipe yet. I also don’t use any of the cheese bombs, arrows or poisons but I have no issue with those being an option in the game.
If you’re not using Bless or gaining advantage in combat you’ll have a harder time.
