iron throne is not very fun . . .

[vincent_vfx]

not sure what this kind of gameplay (everything is timed etc) has to do with the rest of the game. if they wanted to make it some kind of side mini-game great. but making it part of the major story seems like i will have to do it, be forced to do it. be forced to play a kind of game i do not enjoy.

this is nothing like anything in the rest of the game, kind of sucks.

[Grumpy]

There are multiples timed event in combats in the game. You don't have to do the iron throne if you don't want to. But if you do, of couse there will be a a little twist to up the difficulty.

[Landomart]

Iron Throne was extremely enjoyable for me. Felt like I was in an action movie with it coming down to the last turn to save everyone.

[Razorblade]

Oh no, combat variety and a unique set-piece *shudders*. Tbh, the game could've used more creative encounters like this. DnD isn't all about fighting, yet that's largely all you ever get to use your abilities for in BG3, minus a few great encounters like the Iron Throne.

if you're really having that hard of a time, however, just turn down the difficulty; it will give you enough time to trivialize the encounter (not that the 4 turns you get on Tactician isn't more than enough to save every hostage).

Moreover, the encounter is completely skippable. Destroying the Steel Watch before fighting Gortash is not mandatory, nor is fighting Gortash at all, nor is going to the Iron Throne to destroy the Steel Watch, nor is saving all of the prisoners if you do go to the Iron Throne (or any of them, for that matter).

How much more optional could the encounter be, in your opinion?

[Dani]

You don't have to do it.
You're not forced to do it.

Even if you do it, you can escape right away and not save anyone and that'll be the end of that. It's all part of the decision making you've been doing so far.

The fact that you think it's mandatory means you have no idea about the different routes you can take to complete different quests.

[Rhinestone Antifa]

Skill issue

[Swayze]

Its part of the main story but its not at all mandatory, but if you do it you get a nice reward and it reveals a really interesting part of the story but you are totally fine beating the game without doing it.

Also I think so far in the game many players are focused on their playstyle so much they sometimes forget that the game offers multiple solutions to solve things. First time in the Iron throne I tried to beat it with brute force which did not work out well for me. After a while and some failings I tried it with invisibility spell, haste, dimensions doors etc and with changing my tactic I managed to save enough Gondiers to get them to revolt, save Ravengard and that friendly Mindflayer.

[Grumpy]

Originally posted by Landomart:

Iron Throne was extremely enjoyable for me. Felt like I was in an action movie with it coming down to the last turn to save everyone.

It did felt like a movie for me :

my character and the duke were the last ones and close to the escape but couldn't move. My Shar managed to get down to toss me a potion and use a spell to teleport the duke at the LAST TURN. I was almost sweating from the stress.

[Nearlydead]

Trying to save all the prisoners is a bit too tight unless all your characters have teleport/fly and the NPCs don't decide to randomly run away from the exit for no reason.

The person that said that 4 turns are "more than enough" has 0 clue what they are talking about btw.

Kind of a lame encounter imo but I guess since I don't have to do it the quality of it apparently doesn't matter.

[Zygfryd]

The respawning enemies were a bit much. I managed to save everyone except the two people in the room the enemies respawn in, not sure of their significance. On Tactician you get 5 turns to do it.

[Forblaze]

I was also really frustrated trying to get a perfect result from the Iron Throne. This was the strategy that ended up working for me.

everyone on your team needs misty step and haste. Use scrolls for anyone that cant cast them. The person that goes to ravenguard needs 2 dimension door casts and the person that goes west needs 1. The action ecomony from haste especially is really really important. Misty step is important to let you spend your bonus action to move.

The turn you free Ravenguard, cast dimension door twice (using the extra haste action) in a row to get him back to the ship on the same turn. A caster with an AoE spell (cone of cold is best) can clean up the spiders afterwards so they dont kill the other prisoners.

For the people on the west side of the prison, the doors need opened by the end of turn 2. Even then, one person will fall behind and need Dimension Doored.

Nobody dies as long as they're up the first ladder by the end of the countdown. They don't need to be in the actual ship

[Razorblade]

Originally posted by Nearlydead:

Trying to save all the prisoners is a bit too tight unless all your characters have teleport/fly and the NPCs don't decide to randomly run away from the exit for no reason.

The person that said that 4 turns are "more than enough" has 0 clue what they are talking about btw.

Skill issue. You have had every opportunity to make your characters sufficiently mobile for the task.

The game practically drowns you in Misty Step, Dimension Door, Haste, Expeditious Retreat, and other mobility items, scrolls, potions, Illithid Powers, etc. How a player could not have access to at least a consumable mobility enhancing item per party member by the end-game is beyond me. Hell, you can literally have your strongest character chuck the other party members / Gondians for a mobility boost if you're in a pinch.

Yes, the NPCs' pathfinding occasionally bugs out and might ruin an attempt if you're concerned with saving them all, and I could see how an unexpecting player could fail their first attempt. However, saving every prisoner is completely doable in the timeframe given by Tactician mode, and is easily doable with the increased turn timer on lower difficulties.

[Ruffio]

I used mc fighter, Karlach, Astarion and Shadow. It's just about time management really. Just make sure you can top off the health of the duke when you free him.

[AssassinZX]

It was actually kinda fun. If you equip the right movement boosting boots, buy a bunch of dimension door scrolls, and summon some elementals to help deal with the enemies, its quite fine.

I had (just) enough time to even loot the optional treasure chests. tactician mode.

[Loquacious Lasagna]

Pro tip: you can cluster your party very tightly around a speed potion on the floor, smash it, and give the whole party haste before doing the prison. Scrolls of dimension door are also very useful. It is tight, but it's really more of a puzzle than anything. Figuring out how to optimize your movement than anything else.

[Nearlydead]

Originally posted by Razorblade:

Originally posted by Nearlydead:

Trying to save all the prisoners is a bit too tight unless all your characters have teleport/fly and the NPCs don't decide to randomly run away from the exit for no reason.

The person that said that 4 turns are "more than enough" has 0 clue what they are talking about btw.

Skill issue. You have had every opportunity to make your characters sufficiently mobile for the task.

The game practically drowns you in Misty Step, Dimension Door, Haste, Expeditious Retreat, and other mobility items, scrolls, potions, Illithid Powers, etc. How a player could not have access to at least a consumable mobility enhancing item per party member by the end-game is beyond me. Hell, you can literally have your strongest character chuck the other party members / Gondians for a mobility boost if you're in a pinch.

Yes, the NPCs' pathfinding occasionally bugs out and might ruin an attempt if you're concerned with saving them all, and I could see how an unexpecting player could fail their first attempt. However, saving every prisoner is completely doable in the timeframe given by Tactician mode.

Not a skill issue. A design issue. I just don't like to be forced to play in a very specific way to save those prisoners. It should be doable in the specified timeframe without misty stepping and haste on every single character. The rest of the game doesn't require powergaming, this shouldn't either. The difficulty should reflect the gamemode, and this encounter doesn't.
I guess If I can oneshot every encounter with a broken multiclass build, that also means that larian should design the difficulty around that? Because Tactician mode means I have to minmax everything in a game that should allow choices?
"Impossible unless you do X and Y" is just terrible design, no matter how much copium you huff.
"pathing occasionally bugs" It always amazes me how you keyboard warriors like to downplay the flaws of this game. This happens very often in that encounter.

Also lmao imagine thinking that anything in this game takes any skill. Brain issue.