Baldur's Gate III Announced - ...and it's coming to Google Stadia and PC

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Given the reddit tier dialogue everyone seems to be accusing her of - I haven't had a chance to really play the game, computer is bad and I'll be damned if I play a CRPG on a console - then I wonder if she isn't just one big joke. I mean, I've read stories of redditors that bitch and moaned about not being able to play as X with Y, which is why 5E now allows you to basically be any race and choose whatever stats you excel in. Wizards is catering to those people and I wonder if Karlach isn't just a mockery of them.

I say this because Larian is very weird. I can't really get a bead on them.
The founder of Larian at least, has a lot of the neckbeard, grognard oldschool type of tabletop gamer vibes, complete with eccentric humour that seemingly seeped into all of Larian's offering. (See their ongoing running joke with cheese.)

I don't think Karlach is a joke, however. At least not intentionally. It's clear Karlach is tailored to the nu-D&D crowd of reddit-tier jokes, wholesome chungus personality, and tragic backstory that's right up Tumblr's alley. (By contrast, both Shadowheart and Jaheira are clearly written more in the vein of old-school CRPG style companions.)
 
It's clear Karlach is tailored to the nu-D&D crowd of reddit-tier jokes, wholesome chungus personality, and tragic backstory that's right up Tumblr's alley. (By contrast, both Shadowheart and Jaheira are clearly written more in the vein of old-school CRPG style companions.)
Only saving grace is she isn't constantly trying to be an insufferable "stronk whamen" bitch all the time which is pleasant. I didn't find myself hating the character, but at the same time I didn't really care for her either. Only times I thought different was when she was seething about Gortash. Kind of like I was talking about Astarion, it's in those moment where she drops the wholesomeness and gets serious. If you play Origin Karlach, the game even hints she had romantic inclinations towards Gortash.

Come to think of it, the make or break moment for me was right after you fix her for the first time. She approaches you at night and immediately says she wants to bang. Like...why? You do something nice for a person and they say, "Hey, I want to reward you with some meaningless sex." No, thank you. Granted, if you reject her she apologizes for being too forward, but even then it just comes across as a little too desperate. In fact, I would even say it's out of character.

Out of character because she's readily putting her trust in a stranger she just met. Despite your saving her, the fact is Karlach has a history of people she has trusted who seemed to have her best interests in mind before betraying her. The way I see it, she would have reason to play things safe and be a bit more wary and not immediately want to jump your bones after a single gesture of help and support.
 
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Come to think of it, the make or break moment for me was right after you fix her for the first time. She approaches you at night and immediately says she wants to bang. Like...why?
To be perfectly fair this is not just a Karlach issue. At the victory part in Act 1 I had four characters out of a party of five asking to fuck me. Apparently Illithid mind slugs also make you hornier than a ten-peckered owl.

For Karlach I guess the argument could be made that the infernal engine meant that she was starved for physical contact, I don't know if I'd categorize her proposition as "rewarding you with some meaningless sex" so much as wanting to get her own rocks off after going so long without.
 
Only saving grace is she isn't constantly trying to be an insufferable "stronk whamen" bitch all the time which is pleasant. I didn't find myself hating the character, but at the same time I didn't really care for her either. Only times I thought different was when she was seething about Gortash. Kind of like I was talking about Astarion, it's in those moment where she drops the wholesomeness and gets serious. If you play Origin Karlach, the game even hints she had romantic inclinations towards Gortash.

Come to think of it, the make or break moment for me was right after you fix her for the first time. She approaches you at night and immediately says she wants to bang. Like...why? You do something nice for a person and they say, "Hey, I want to reward you with some meaningless sex." No, thank you. Granted, if you reject her she apologizes for being too forward, but even then it just comes across as a little too desperate. In fact, I would even say it's out of character.

Out of character because she's readily putting her trust in a stranger she just met. Despite your saving her, the fact is Karlach has a history of people she has trusted who seemed to have her best interests in mind before betraying her. The way I see it, she would have reason to play things safe and be a bit more wary and not immediately want to jump your bones after a single gesture of help and support.
Nah, that part I get. She hasn't been able to touch anybody without giving them burns for a large portion of her life and her other immediate sex options are egotistical wizard that won't shut up about himself, guy that was trying to kill her, and gay vampire. Although that scene was really fucking funny with a gnome bard.
 
Nah, that part I get. She hasn't been able to touch anybody without giving them burns for a large portion of her life and her other immediate sex options are egotistical wizard that won't shut up about himself, guy that was trying to kill her, and gay vampire. Although that scene was really fucking funny with a gnome bard.
Ultimately it factors into the tragedy of her state. I get that, but the frankness of her request to bang makes light of that. There's plenty of ways to alleviate stress without resorting to physical contact with another person. So, the best way to go about illustrating her tragedy would be for her to approach it with more forethought and respect rather than, "Oi, gov'na! Fancy a fuck ole' chap?"
 
Ultimately it factors into the tragedy of her state. I get that, but the frankness of her request to bang makes light of that. There's plenty of ways to alleviate stress without resorting to physical contact with another person. So, the best way to go about illustrating her tragedy would be for her to approach it with more forethought and respect rather than, "Oi, gov'na! Fancy a fuck ole' chap?"
Probably could have played up the angle of "a candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long" where she's just eager to experience as much as she can before the engine finally gives.
 
I still haven't fucked Shart and I'm in act 3. Also met the tranny and if you put one, then being a freakshow in a circus is at least justified. In general I'm surprised how it's not really that sexual of a game. Granted, I don't read the books/letters or talk with every NPC. I kinda wonder how a bad playthrough goes considering outside of Shart, none of the characters really changed that much.
 
Ultimately it factors into the tragedy of her state. I get that, but the frankness of her request to bang makes light of that. There's plenty of ways to alleviate stress without resorting to physical contact with another person. So, the best way to go about illustrating her tragedy would be for her to approach it with more forethought and respect rather than, "Oi, gov'na! Fancy a fuck ole' chap?"
Karlach is kind of immature, though. And I get the sense her fuck-yeah persona is an overcompensation.
 
I still haven't fucked Shart and I'm in act 3. Also met the tranny and if you put one, then being a freakshow in a circus is at least justified. In general I'm surprised how it's not really that sexual of a game. Granted, I don't read the books/letters or talk with every NPC. I kinda wonder how a bad playthrough goes considering outside of Shart, none of the characters really changed that much.
I don't even think that was a tranny, that was just some gay wizard in drag. If a wizard wants to troon out he could just make that happen with magic. I like to think that guy was making fun of troon wizards in his own special way.
 
To be perfectly fair this is not just a Karlach issue. At the victory part in Act 1 I had four characters out of a party of five asking to fuck me. Apparently Illithid mind slugs also make you hornier than a ten-peckered owl.

For Karlach I guess the argument could be made that the infernal engine meant that she was starved for physical contact, I don't know if I'd categorize her proposition as "rewarding you with some meaningless sex" so much as wanting to get her own rocks off after going so long without.
It was definitely frustrating that Larian wouldn't give me options to just say "I don't swing that way" to every male companion when I was simply nice to them and wanted to enjoy their story.
"Yeah I want to hear about why the hell you sold your soul to a devil Wyll, come join the party. No that doesn't mean I want to fuck you dude calm tf down"
I told Halsin to not be a stick in the mud and enjoy the party for a bit, we'd all love his company, and he took that as a proposition for the rest of the game and would not shut up about it. I've had overly-attached girlfriends who got the hint quicker.
 
Yeah, a I am not gay or I am not straight button for romances may have been better.

Just wish Karlach had more old timey cursing. Yell more about bollocks. She reminds me of the Space Wolf Sven, who did just that. "Ice bear's bloody bollocks I am starving."
 
Who do I need to speak to in order to find Shart's temple in act 3? Got to the castle but from what she said it sounds like the person who advances her plotline is in the entrance to the city
 
I don't even think that was a tranny, that was just some gay wizard in drag. If a wizard wants to troon out he could just make that happen with magic. I like to think that guy was making fun of troon wizards in his own special way.
Yeah Lucretious is clearly just a very old-school bitchy drag queen who hates children and just wants these goddamn useless faggot skeletons to hit their choreo. Thought it was dumb that the No Alphabets mod turned her into a woman, totally not the point.

Kinda sad we couldn’t see the outcome of her project with the murdered clown.
 
Yeah Lucretious is clearly just a very old-school bitchy drag queen who hates children and just wants these goddamn useless faggot skeletons to hit their choreo. Thought it was dumb that the No Alphabets mod turned her into a woman, totally not the point.

Kinda sad we couldn’t see the outcome of her project with the murdered clown.

Plus, a bearded lady is often somethin you would find at an old timey carnival. The Chooblet tranny is way more offputting and out of place.
 
Kinda sad we couldn’t see the outcome of her project with the murdered clown.
I watched a clip of Astarion with the clown makeup on saying "I'm going to fucking kill you" before I got to Act 3, so I assumed that whole bit with the volunteer came after Dribbles was resurrected. It was kinda disappointing that we didn't get to see the results.
 
Finished Astarion and Shart's quests. Got to the steelworks and read a guide since I thought it was related to fixing Karlach, but apperantly it's unrelated, and she doesn't have an endgame quest. There's pretty funny salt about it online, like "how dare my quirky character have a sad ending" by the same people who like to say they like how dark the game is.
Astarion was a nice battle but I didn't find a way to interact with it that wasn't absolutely retarded, even if I started the battle with him backstabbing the vampire lord. I chose to free the other vampires but kill the spawn, which seems to be the most "moral" option.
Shart battle was absolutely insane, and I absolutely munchkin'd the shit of it by casting fire wall and Hadar on the corridor leading to the room and letting the enemies barbecue themselves on the way. Bizarrely enough the mother superior was knocked out but speaking to her didn't make a new scene but started the original scenes with bad flags, so I just killed her while she was KO'd to avoid data corruption. The entire quest was absolutely retarded plowise since I expected it would lead to some book with Shart's parents names on them and have her look for them in the epilogue, not them literally be chained up there by themselves for absolutely no reason and then obligatory moral choice that isn't really a choice since the parents themselves are okay with dying.
If I'm going to criticise the third act plotlines Wyll is also pretty ridiculous choice that seems to be there just for conflict.

In general I'm getting burnout of the third act. Getting to the level cap really removes a lot of the incentive of exploration and it feels more like doing a shopping list of quests than exploring.
 
After having but a short chat with his corpse, I feel the game would improve 1000% with more Franc Peartree content.

Space Bards on the Youtube made a lil' rap video that sums up the feelings of many players regarding a certain Deep Gnome in under 2 minutes.
 
Combat in this game is chronically unfun.
It's painfully slow, and your characters, no matter how competently built, are so unreliable it's not even worth it.
Itemization, stacking buffs on your party and debuffs on the enemy, and procuring advantages through the environment is meaningless, either way you'll get fucked by your characters inability to roll anything above a 5, and the enemies immunity to rolling anything below a ten.
Using a spell or ability that has the target make a saving throw?
Might as well waste your action throwing a fish at them, it's not going to work 90% of the time.
Trying to break an enemy's concentration?
Only reliable way is to kill them, and even then, they'll successfully save from the attack that killed them, just to stick it in your face.
Did you miraculously manage to hit a 13 AC goblin with your 21 STR + prof. barbarian with a +1 weapon after two failed attempts?
Enjoy the 2 on the d12 damage roll.
The only way to not suck at combat reliably is to become a barrelmancer or just spam AoE spells and long rest after every two encounters.

Everything else in this game is excellent or fine, but I dread everytime I see a combat encounter is inevitable, because I know I'll just get fucked by RNG for ten minutes straight.
 
Combat in this game is chronically unfun.
It's painfully slow, and your characters, no matter how competently built, are so unreliable it's not even worth it.
Itemization, stacking buffs on your party and debuffs on the enemy, and procuring advantages through the environment is meaningless, either way you'll get fucked by your characters inability to roll anything above a 5, and the enemies immunity to rolling anything below a ten.
Using a spell or ability that has the target make a saving throw?
Might as well waste your action throwing a fish at them, it's not going to work 90% of the time.
Trying to break an enemy's concentration?
Only reliable way is to kill them, and even then, they'll successfully save from the attack that killed them, just to stick it in your face.
Did you miraculously manage to hit a 13 AC goblin with your 21 STR + prof. barbarian with a +1 weapon after two failed attempts?
Enjoy the 2 on the d12 damage roll.
The only way to not suck at combat reliably is to become a barrelmancer or just spam AoE spells and long rest after every two encounters.

Everything else in this game is excellent or fine, but I dread everytime I see a combat encounter is inevitable, because I know I'll just get fucked by RNG for ten minutes straight.

I get what you are coming from, but what about reducing the difficulty? Even my boomer ass can do easy without trouble.
 
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