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.
/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.
Hmm I don’t agree… I felt like that before I completely understood how combat works but now I actually wish there were more “random” encounters because I’m really enjoying combat: when you manage to master the combat system and the tactics involved the game really shines. What I suggest is this: if you fail a fight don’t just do whatever you did the first time: approach it from a different perspective, analyze the battlefield and your strengths/weaknesses, and those of your enemy. Also, being rested and having all the tools of your characters at your disposal is extremely important for the more challenging encounters. Also, advantage is very important for a lot of classes: my avatar is a rogue and this made me appreciate how important the concept of advantage is: without it a rogue can’t use sneak attacks and this taught me how to exploit the concept is. This is also why I love characters like Karlach (barbarian) and that attack that gives you advantage.
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
That 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.
I haven’t experienced that on balanced difficulty; what party members are you using?
Some general considerations:
—Some optional fights are very challenging when first encountered, you can skip them and come back later.
—The Sword Coast is absolutely swimming in consumables. Drink those potions, read those scrolls, and shoot those magic arrows; your enemies certainly will.
—Someone should probably always be concentrating on Bless. If you aren’t a cleric, I hope you like Shadowheart!
—The story wants you to rush, but don’t trust it; take a long rest between large fights, even if it seems silly. You need those spell slots.
—Focus on taking small enemies out of the fight before concentrating on the large ones.
—Enemy archers (and mages that use attack roll spells) can’t shoot you very well if your melee characters are threatening them.
—Bringing more than one “squishy” party member (like Gale) makes the game a lot harder. Make sure anyone who can learn Shield knows (and prepares!) it.
