#this doesn't count for dnd npc characters tho

[eorzeanflowers]

8. Do you create the OC first and then the backstory? Or do you have a backstory lined up and then create an OC that will fit this?

OC first 90% of the time. Not that the other method isn't great, I just find myself with interesting personalities and identities that need homes. If there is any backstory it is very meager. I like to build the backstory as I use them as a vessel for interaction. Things change and I'd rather not retcon if I don't have to, ya know? :D

If there is a backstory first its cause they are a background character elsewhere and I wanted to bring them more attention. Usually not a background character for one of my own, but someone else.

[honshew]

thoughts on bg3

overall, i had a lot of fun and would recommend to anyone interested! very ambitious game, and i'm amazed it exists tbh. there are so many really, really great aspects of it. however, i'm also glad to be done with it, bc i started to have less and less fun with it at the last part. which is an unfortunate place to have the worst part of the game. i really wish it wrapped up in a more satisfying way, because i became really attached to the characters and the incredibly detailed world. a shame it had to be rushed toward the end of development. it's incredible, though could have been more still.

i'm spending some time trying to figure out what i liked about the game, so this may or may not be updated as thoughts come to me. there will be spoilers all the way thru the end of the game so here's your spoiler warning

i think while people unfamiliar with dnd can play and still have a good time, it probably will feel overwhelming and there will likely be things you won't understand unless someone explains it to you. i can't even really call the tutorial a bad one as much as it's barely there. but i do know plenty of people with zero dnd experience still having fun and simply enjoying learning on the go!

on the other hand, being someone who plays dnd, once you figure out the interface it's a pretty smooth experience. there are some things that are a little different to accommodate how the game works (e.g. second-story work reduces your fall dmg rather than increasing your climbing speed, since the game doesn't really count climbing as distance), but those are pretty quick to learn. seems to me that the devs thought people who didn't play dnd wouldn't be all that intersted in bg3, but a ci'd be curious to see how many bg3 players will look for a dnd group to join from here.

act 1 was solid and was paced well. i really liked how many characters ended up showing up later in the game, as opposed to characters you save once and never see again. i think what was most fun was getting to know what i could get away with LOL not just an exploration of the world, but an exploration of the game itself. i have video of me talking to auntie ethel while my friends set up and set off a circle of flame barrels, so i got a front row seat of her being blown to smithereens.

act 2, also solid. i really enjoy quests that involve impacting a place in a really tangible way, like in okami, so the shadow-cursed lands were pretty cool. unfortunately, the game doesn't really show you this happening except a liiiiittle bit at the end, so it doesn't feel as good as it could. still, i liked exploring the area a lot. all of the mini-bosses of the area were unsettling, but we got past literally all of them via high charisma rolls. actually aside from the exploring, a lot of the fun was seeing how we could cheese boss fights, which carried into act 3

act 3 felt way more all over the place and buggy, which significantly lowered my enjoyment. ofc a game this massive will have issues, but i'm still sad that the last part of the game where everything crescendos is where i enjoyed the game the least. small things not working the way they're supposed to (e.g. certain npcs not running or climbing up a ladder when they are fleeing I'M TALKING TO YOU ZUMBO PUMBO AND FEATHERWEIGHT FALSON, astarion falling sleep to a spell even tho he's an elf during his end-of-quest fight). what sucks about things being so frustrating too was that the main quests had really great setups or concepts, but the execution was messy. still, we had a lot of fun messing with bosses. cazador couldn't do anything bc he was forced to dance while we killed him, orin was disintegrated, gortash turned to stone. kinda wild having a bard with 100% spell hit rate....!

i do wish we got to explore baldur's gate more. i totally get that would be a huge undertaking tho. i had a thought that maybe act 3 should've been its own game, but then i guess you couldn't call it baldur's gate 3 if you never get to baldur's gate. i didn't play the previous bg games, but i liked how they wove in the story from the previous installments and ttrpg modules without leaving newcomers to the series out of the loop too much.

i liked shadowheart's, astarion's, and wyll's quests a lot. the ansur part of wyll's was really cool. i adore trials to test character as a setup, especially ones administrated by some major figure. but also? fuck balduran for what he did to ansur and later to me. he's the city's hero, but he only really looks out for himself. which is cool for me as a viewer, not cool for the character i play as LOL

i have more thoughts but i will type them up here later maybe this has gotten long enoguh

[ramblerogue]

16, 22, 28, 32, 48 and 50!!

YEESSS THANK YOU SO MUCH FRENCHY!!!! UR TOO KIND TO SEND IN QUESTIONS!! :3c

16. has the most scars?

Okay, I had to go back and double check this one cause I realized I have an affinity for giving characters scars hSKHGSKGH:S (whoops! I love combat/left-overs of combat as a narrative tool!) BUT... I believe the OC who has the most scars is Arizona! She's a wandering cowboy in an apocalyptic wasteland, so she's accumulated many scars over the years! Lots of minuscule and extreme origins alike, I imagine, as it's just a rough life and she runs into trouble whether she likes it or not. (Knife fights with bandits, bites from coyotes, nicks from barb wire, burns from dropping the campfire coffee). Arizona also knows that she is big and can take a hit, so it's second nature for her to be a shield from danger if she's traveling with others. (Tho special shoutout to Aubrey who has Died, and come back because of her Undying Pact. She has the potential to get hurt A LOT but she won't keep scars because she regenerates to a crazy degree.)

22. would be the best to get a beer with?

Tiller!! It's her instinct to just be best friends with everybody, so she'd be very welcoming and nice to grab a beer with. She'd listen to you whine about your day, or gossip, or ask your life story, or ramble on about hers, or try to make you laugh! (I also wanna give an honorable mention to Nox, if you wanna grab a beer and THEN get into shenanigans. Nox needs a specific vibe to get along with a stranger but if the vibes are good, they're GOOD!! However, she can't get this superlative cause she would NOT pay for drinks lmao)

28. is the most competitive?

For silly things? Nox. For more serious things? Mayday. Nox would want to do stupid dares at parties, and gets upset if she doesn't win at Mafia. Mayday gets angry if she's not Good At Stuff, and so she tries really hard all the time HHGSKGSDG. It gets under her skin if she loses a fight, or if someone knows more about a subject she thought she was the most proficient in.

32. is the most likely to be a twitch streamer?

I wanna say Tiller because she's so personable, and she talks to herself anyway so I think a twitch chat would be a good outlet for her. She'd play a lot of narrative based games and agonize over making the right choice cause she'd want all the characters to be happy lmao! I can also see her dragging her friends on stream to guest star, even if "guest starring" is them walking around in the background of her camera. If we're counting NPCs, I'm also gonna say Russell. They would hyperfixate and stay up super late doing 100% completion-runs of games. They would also abuse glitches all the time, but only the funny ones.

48. do you consider the most sterotypical/classic example of their class?

Hmmm!! That'd have to be Nox! It's probably the curse of "Baby's First DnD Character", but she's your Very Typical Rogue. And sue me! I still really like rogues!! I made a campaign where like all the NPCs are rogues lmfao! But anyway yeah, she's got it all: chaotic neutral, edgy backstory, bastard with a heart of gold, loves sneaking and stealing anything not nailed down. Oh well! It's was fun for me!! I think the only atypical thing about her is that she's a dragonborn, so you have this very tall and shiny lizard that supposedly has great stealth lol!

50. is or was your favorite to play in combat?

OGGHHHH I'm so torn on this... I think I'm gonna go with Tiller! (I know I also picked her for the fav roleplay, WHATEVER I LIKE HER A LOT!!) But druids are so flexible!!! I feel like I keep finding new stuff to do! Like I usually do have support spells and things prepped because I don't want my party to DIE... but I also love the capability of just doing batshit things in the middle of combat. And the fact that you can change around your prepped spells is sooooo nice, and makes druids feel like a wildcard. Like they can play support or do major damage!! (I can't wait until Tiller isn't nerfed anymore so I can go all out!) Also, special shoutout to my sci-fi paladin, Eva! One time I one-hit killed a boss because I crit on some attack that had like 2 smites stacked on it KGLSHDGLSDG so THAT was really fun as well!!