#Darna plays BG3

[lehdenlaulu]

Well played with the easter eggs, game. 🤣

[lehdenlaulu]

My heart. 😳🥹🥺😭

[lehdenlaulu]

Ooh, they've changed things so that Gale will volunteer his story when his condition becomes worryingly unstable. He appears to be at least mostly honest, too.

I wonder if the magical projection still happens if he dies, haven't had a chance to find out.

(Also, from some new party banter... he's worried about getting a word to his mother?? Aw.)

[lehdenlaulu]

I can't sleep so I'll just add another random detail I liked:

If you decide to kill Sovereign Glut over his quaint little backstabbing plans, Gale says, and I wish I remembered the exact quote, something along the lines of: "That's what you get when you let your ambition rule your actions. Good riddance."

And the way he says it is very... vitriolic and sincere. Like... maybe with a side flavour of self-loathing.

Such a neat detail.

[lehdenlaulu]

Okay, seems like you still need to spam long rests, pretty much. Not because you're not getting cutscenes and story development, but because you're getting them inorganically/too fast if you don't long rest enough. There's still a certain order to them, but if you don't long rest enough, the game just... sort of fast-forwards to the next 'stage', especially if your approval with a companion has risen meanwhile.

I guess it's better now in some ways, but the mechanic is still kinda... broken. And especially now that we're out of EA, I feel like the approval can rise way too fast during the very early stages already. Not even during the first act, I mean, but the first few in-game days. And the main culprit is still Gale -- if your character is a decent person, that is. Our kooky wizard lad just full-on adores you in less than a week (and is ready to share secrets he's only shared with his cat 🤭), and the feeling is apparently mutual. I mean, it's very sweet, but again, if you don't long rest enough, the development just doesn't feel organic.

I mean, maybe it's by design, maybe there's some inevitable scripted drama looming on the horizon or something, but it's not just him: your hapless Tav just seems to pull bitches left and right, and the fast-forwarding happens with the others as well.

I mean, I expected this, more or less, since this appears to be the same base mechanic that was already in DOS2 and that was famously kinda... broken despite multiple attempts to fix it. Ah well, the game is straight out of oven, some imperfections are to be expected. But this was on the top of my wishlist of fixes alongside resizable UI (the inventory window is so fucking tiny one needs a magnifying glass ffs). Maybe one day.

[lehdenlaulu]

Oh my god, Gale has evolved into a superdork. 😂

I love him.

[lehdenlaulu]

More BG3 Playthrough Thoughts:

I gotta say, Sarevok bloody Anchev, Son of Bhaal, the main villain of BG1, being basically a random mid-level boss in BG3 is pretty funny. It paid to have both Minsc and Jaheira with me, though.

That said, I think I'm doing things in weird order again. Hmm.

But! Gale is now addressing me as 'my love' and I'm 🥺.

And I love the fact that Minsc and Jaheira still have some of their original barks, if slightly altered.

Is it just me or are the actual Main Boss Battles™ weirdly easy especially in comparison to some of the side quest stuff? I mean, getting there is usually more difficult than the battle itself, and the whole Bhaalist gauntlet wasn't an exception.

But yeah, location-wise at least I feel like I should have saved Orin last out of the three. And I guess it would also have been traditional. But first of all, I don't like leaving Lae'zel there and having one party member out of the rotation. And I suppose I've always considered Bane the biggest bad of the bunch. Ah well, I have a feeling the final showdown will be at Bhaal's temple anyway.

Now for the last companion quests. That is, most of them. 😅

[lehdenlaulu]

Withers is slut-shaming me and I haven't even gotten to the kissing part yet. 😔

[lehdenlaulu]

Ugh, I'm really trying to give Astarion a chance, but I seriously doubt I'm ever going to raise his approval higher than 'fair' because whenever he approves of something I say or do, he disapproves of three other things.

And, sorry to say, I don't like him nearly enough to go OOC to please him.

[lehdenlaulu]

Gale you dork. You couldn't be less smooth and more endearing if you tried. But that's why I love you. 💜

[lehdenlaulu]

Okay, new Wyll has tentatively won me over.

[lehdenlaulu]

Now that I'm finally here...

Minsc has little shrines for Mazzy, Keldorn, Aerie and Jan! 🥹🥺😭

[lehdenlaulu]

Oh hey, I actually really like it that they slowed down Gale's romance. It makes sense.

And he compares you to Tara! 🥹 His best, dearest, most loyal (if perhaps only) friend! I can't wait to meet her. 💜

When you go to bed after talking to everyone (and didn't hit on everyone etc. of course) the game also assumes you've chosen Gale. I'm sure there are later options to change your mind should you want to, but I like it.

(Also, Astarion was like 'ugh, I don't want to fuck you' which was hilarious.)

Looks like Halsin also won't become a party member right away, huh.

[lehdenlaulu]

Yet Another BG3 Session Recap

Oh Gale, that divine calculus had you fall in love with a decidedly unambitious ranger who would rather not have a god for a lover when an error-prone if fundamentally decent wizard is quite enough, so you'll just have to settle for doing the right thing at every turn with her at your side. 🤭

I'm very relieved about the way things seem to have turned out as of now, with an endgame for him that is neither atoms nor a divine usurper. Not counting my blessings quite yet, though.

I'm not sure if I'm glad or a little disappointed that Lorroakan didn't turn out to be actually Edwin, though, red-robed and red-haired though he was. I mean, Edwin pretending to be someone else wouldn't have been in character, anyway. But it would have been very satisfying to see Minsc punch his lights out in an actual cutscene, on the other hand. I need to find out what's up with Aylin, though.

In any case, I'm glad Rolan is free of the prick now and the master of the tower. And if he ever needs some extra lessons, I'm sure Gale would be glad to be of assistance.

I must say, it definitely feels weird to just be doing other quests when Duke Ravengard and Lae'zel both require saving, so I probably should get to those next. The murderer has been stopped and Volo's been rescued once again, after all.

[lehdenlaulu]

Poor Jaheira. 😭

In related news, I love Minsc and Jaheira so much and want to keep them in my party at all times, which is a bit of a problem when you only have three companion slots (I know there's a mod but I have no patience for that).

Also, Matt Mercer is doing a wonderful job as Minsc, as is Tracy Wiles as Jaheira.

[lehdenlaulu]

Yeah, judging by the way my CPU reacts to Reithwin, which isn't even populated, it would probably fucking fry once I get to Baldur's Gate itself. So I put in the order for the new cooler + case fans and cross my fingers for that being the end of my troubles.

It'll take a few days, but I guess that gives me time to replay the parts I originally did in a weird order and maybe the first proper patch will even drop meanwhile.