After playing through Act 2, I think I'd advise starting the game as one of the origin characters, specifically Shadowheart or Lae'zel, rather than creating your own.
For one thing, you get to have 4 written characters in play at once rather than 3+generic protag
But also, it feels like the game is supposed to be their story. Eg. Shadowheart begins holding the MacGuffin, and a lot of the game locations & NPCs are directly related to her personal quest. Lae'zel has a pretty obvious character arc tied up in the main plot too. The world-shaking revelations don't land the same way for Tav or the other companions, who are just along for the ride.
Oh, man. I just started Act 2 and I want to kill the githyanki. I really, really want to kill the githyanki and I'd have given it the good old college try the first time I saw them, were it not for that pesky dragon.
This is highly unusual for me, since I'm generally "oh no, that would be too mean/cruel/violent" when it comes to "smush kill or talky talky?" choices in encounters, but fudge this lot, they need to die yesterday, the stuck-up prats who think they can just swan around murderating anyone they see because they are so superior to non-githyanki.
Gosh, I was not expecting this! Now, gotta get back to plotting how I can wipe them all out at once...
I just did, and I'm slowly and carefully slaughtering my way through them with no regrets.
Possibly I may go "shouldn't have done that" later if there's an important quest I need them for, but honestly - the more I explore the monastery and find the records of the githyanki landing, attacking and murderating everyone, the fewer qualms I have about "they gotta die, all of 'em".
I just beat the game. Depending on when you acquired some of your companions you might be locked into a class-path that isn't intuitive.
I respec'd Karlath and Shadowheart, eventually running the following party
Main Character: Gale: Evocation Wizard
Shadowheart: Life Cleric
Astarion: Assassin Rogue
Karlach: Berserker Barbarian
It's not complicated, but it gets the job done and lets you experience the game for the first time so that you can have fun making weird party compositions for your next run after you feel like you've got a strong handle on the game and know what to expect. Karlach is an HP tank that eventually becomes a khorne-tier murder berseker, Astarion does regular sneak attack damage, Shadowheart eventually becomes an high AC heal tank, and Gale give you the CC & sheer damage you need. Fireball solves everything.
Fought every battle normally and had a great time. With one exception. The True Soul Nere fight. Save scum. plant barrels. do whatever you have to do. That fight was an absolute nightmare and you can get screwed on spell slots due to its time restricted constraint.
Ah, line up explosive barrels everywhere to take out the opponents you haven't a prayer of even standing up against - an oldie but a goodie! And courtesy of /r/drama, I was made aware of this glorious playthrough, with the appropriately cinematic ending 😁
When you fought Nere, did you have the aid of the duergar that wanted him dead? I found that to be a huge help - especially in that it seemed the duergar I was still fighting preferred to try to kill my new "allies" instead of my party.
A few people have said things to the effect of the game turns into a bit of a buggy mess in act 3, with the illusions of choice falling away and the devs' politics becoming more intrusive? Can you confirm/deny, without any spoilers? I'm not sure if I should hold off on playing more of the game until major patches arrive.
Act 3 is absolutely the weakest act (although it also had my favorite Boss). I did not encounter any bugs but there are so many parts of the narrative being kept track of that Act 3 is where something would show up. I've heard of bugs showing up regarding Oathbreaking Paladins in Act 3, but i never had one.
If you've already sunk your teeth into the game into Act 2 then it's worth it to see it through to the end.
My biggest complaint with Act 3 isn't the devs politics but rather that there are so many plot threads that need tying up that the Act doesn't have a strong "Do X then Y then Z" narrative structure. Instead it feels much more like going down the checklist of plot points that need to be wrapped up. A bit of a "wait remind me who this is?" issue.
The best part of Act 3 is that you really get to feel like your party has come into it's own. Everyone is levelled up. End game equipment starts coming into play. You feel like everything you've been building towards has really come into it's own and you can bask in the fruits of your labors.
But the game really simply isn't balanced at that level 12 and the solution of 'add more enemies' tends to make some combats a slog.
It's a Larian CRPG so the illusion of choice is precisely that. Most conversations are more about the tone/flavour of how you respond than an actual diverging choice. But there are still real choices in how you want to approach the ending and i'm satisfied with the path I took for (in my eyes) a maximum Good ending.
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After playing through Act 2, I think I'd advise starting the game as one of the origin characters, specifically Shadowheart or Lae'zel, rather than creating your own.
For one thing, you get to have 4 written characters in play at once rather than 3+generic protag
But also, it feels like the game is supposed to be their story. Eg. Shadowheart beginsholding the MacGuffin , and a lot of the game locations & NPCs are directly related to her personal quest. Lae'zel has a pretty obvious character arc tied up in the main plot too. The world-shaking revelations don't land the same way for Tav or the other companions, who are just along for the ride.
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Oh, man. I just started Act 2 and I want to kill the githyanki. I really, really want to kill the githyanki and I'd have given it the good old college try the first time I saw them, were it not for that pesky dragon.
This is highly unusual for me, since I'm generally "oh no, that would be too mean/cruel/violent" when it comes to "smush kill or talky talky?" choices in encounters, but fudge this lot, they need to die yesterday, the stuck-up prats who think they can just swan around murderating anyone they see because they are so superior to non-githyanki.
Gosh, I was not expecting this! Now, gotta get back to plotting how I can wipe them all out at once...
I just did, and I'm slowly and carefully slaughtering my way through them with no regrets.
Possibly I may go "shouldn't have done that" later if there's an important quest I need them for, but honestly - the more I explore the monastery and find the records of the githyanki landing, attacking and murderating everyone, the fewer qualms I have about "they gotta die, all of 'em".
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I hope so, otherwise It's Clobberin' Time!
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I just beat the game. Depending on when you acquired some of your companions you might be locked into a class-path that isn't intuitive.
I respec'd Karlath and Shadowheart, eventually running the following party Main Character: Gale: Evocation Wizard Shadowheart: Life Cleric Astarion: Assassin Rogue Karlach: Berserker Barbarian
It's not complicated, but it gets the job done and lets you experience the game for the first time so that you can have fun making weird party compositions for your next run after you feel like you've got a strong handle on the game and know what to expect. Karlach is an HP tank that eventually becomes a khorne-tier murder berseker, Astarion does regular sneak attack damage, Shadowheart eventually becomes an high AC heal tank, and Gale give you the CC & sheer damage you need. Fireball solves everything.
Fought every battle normally and had a great time. With one exception. The True Soul Nere fight. Save scum. plant barrels. do whatever you have to do. That fight was an absolute nightmare and you can get screwed on spell slots due to its time restricted constraint.
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Ah, line up explosive barrels everywhere to take out the opponents you haven't a prayer of even standing up against - an oldie but a goodie! And courtesy of /r/drama, I was made aware of this glorious playthrough, with the appropriately cinematic ending 😁
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Well, if by this stage of fantasy, you don't know to never underestimate the halflings, there's no hope for you except a quick death 😀
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When you fought Nere, did you have the aid of the duergar that wanted him dead? I found that to be a huge help - especially in that it seemed the duergar I was still fighting preferred to try to kill my new "allies" instead of my party.
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A few people have said things to the effect of the game turns into a bit of a buggy mess in act 3, with the illusions of choice falling away and the devs' politics becoming more intrusive? Can you confirm/deny, without any spoilers? I'm not sure if I should hold off on playing more of the game until major patches arrive.
Act 3 is absolutely the weakest act (although it also had my favorite Boss). I did not encounter any bugs but there are so many parts of the narrative being kept track of that Act 3 is where something would show up. I've heard of bugs showing up regarding Oathbreaking Paladins in Act 3, but i never had one.
If you've already sunk your teeth into the game into Act 2 then it's worth it to see it through to the end.
My biggest complaint with Act 3 isn't the devs politics but rather that there are so many plot threads that need tying up that the Act doesn't have a strong "Do X then Y then Z" narrative structure. Instead it feels much more like going down the checklist of plot points that need to be wrapped up. A bit of a "wait remind me who this is?" issue.
The best part of Act 3 is that you really get to feel like your party has come into it's own. Everyone is levelled up. End game equipment starts coming into play. You feel like everything you've been building towards has really come into it's own and you can bask in the fruits of your labors. But the game really simply isn't balanced at that level 12 and the solution of 'add more enemies' tends to make some combats a slog.
It's a Larian CRPG so the illusion of choice is precisely that. Most conversations are more about the tone/flavour of how you respond than an actual diverging choice. But there are still real choices in how you want to approach the ending and i'm satisfied with the path I took for (in my eyes) a maximum Good ending.
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Alright. I'll keep playing. :)
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