Not "Fun"

[PostalGamerDude]

Look it is not bad, and the game has an alluring quality to it, I do want to keep playing, but please, hear me out.

I get that the game is based on the Table Top game, but Combat is not fun at all. Rolling Dice during a table top experience can be exhilarating, there can be skill, tricks or luck to it, and it is always fun to play with others. But in the game, the dice rolls in combat are done behind the scenes by a computer, this is not the same and further, the combat is just slow, clunky and boring.

Now, if camera angles were better, if perhaps we were given some cinematic combat scenes, or again, just better camera angles, it might make the fights a bit more exciting and visceral. As it stands, for one thing, aiming can be a pain at times, and the whole thing just feels boring. Not due to the style, but due to poor controls, poor camera angles and a lack of satisfying combat scenes that would feel rewarding.

Worse off, even on the easiest setting, you will have to reload save after save, and perform trial and error to solve many a quest, this really takes you out of the role playing experience. It is bad enough that combat can be clunky and boring at times, it can be downright frustrating at others.

If I am supposed to have freedom of choice, why can I not slay foes with ease to grant me that story experience? Why must I do things in a certain order to ensure success, if the game is supposed to be based on player choice?

It is not a bad game, but it is not the glowing experience people claim. Slow game play is one thing, I really could forgive the slow, boring, clunky combat, if it was also not exceedingly frustrating as well.

I do like the world. the story telling and the art design, the music is also really outstanding, but come on folks, this game just is not very fun.

I should be able to go on an adventure, chart my course and stick to it, not have to save before every major choice and then reload cause that one gets you killed. I would much rather deal with the story consequences, not have unfair combat beat me down over and over, til I get lucky, or find "the right sequence of choices for optimal success". Where is the choice in that, where is the adventure, where is the role-playing?

Are these not valid points? Can people actually say the combat is good?

I love the exploration, I love the conversations, I even love the dice rolling during conversations, but combat feels so underwhelming, it is not the style, but the execution.

I would understand my frustration if I was playing on a hard setting, but for cripes sake, on the easiest setting, combat is a frustrating nightmare, maybe it get's better after the goblin camp, but it took two hours just saving and reloading to rescue my Druid bro.

Even still, combat is very clunky, and there could have been a lot of ways to make it "fun", cinematic kills, or attack animations would make it a lot more exciting, making movement and aiming feel less clunky would be good, making it easy on the easiest setting would be good.

Mostly though, I dislike that I can not experience free choice, that getting into epic fights, such as clearing out the goblin camp, are just painful, tedious, and your often better off skipping combat until you must.

There is a charm to the game that keeps me playing, but it really is not much fun...

I cannot see all the praise, the game is good, not great and in need of a lot of work on the most basic mechanic of combat.

Save reload, oops I can't do that, dang I died for no reason no matter the strategy, oh this is the order you have to do it, lest you die and die and die, unless you get lucky...

That does not feel like an epic adventure, that feels like tedious busywork, held together by brilliant story telling, an epic world and some real charm.

It is more than the sum of it's parts for those reasons, but, that does not make it game of the year, that does not even make it the best game this year. Atomic Heart was so much better, yes not the same genre, but it was fun, artistic and all the mechanics were polished.

I want to love this game, but we gotta admit, there are glaring flaws with it.

I was sold on player choice, but that is really untrue, as combat is really not a good option, and yet some quests force it. Rescuing the Druid should have been enthralling, but it was just trial and error, yes once you rescue him, you lay waste pretty well, but then comes the worst part.

He leaves you before you leave the camp, so you are forced to fast travel, because you cannot take on the camp. What should have been a thrilling escape, turned into, nope can't do that, gotta reload and fast travel.

I came for the story, for the adventure, to be able to play and shape my quest, my way, that is what everyone raved, oh so many choices, but the ones that matter for heroic action moments, are not even possible.

I get it is the start, I get I am not a high level yet, but the whole rescue is a major part of the story, from how I am playing it, turning that into trial and error, just really left a sour taste in my mouth.

I am not tearing it down, or trying to say it is bad, but these are valid points and really, it needs addressing and fixing.

I am playing on PS5 which is why it shows no gametime on steam.

[Sountrex]

Can we get a TL:DR?

[nuther]

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

Look it is not bad, and the game has an alluring quality to it, I do want to keep playing, but please, hear me out.

I get that the game is based on the Table Top game, but Combat is not fun at all. Rolling Dice during a table top experience can be exhilarating, there can be skill, tricks or luck to it, and it is always fun to play with others. But in the game, the dice rolls in combat are done behind the scenes by a computer, this is not the same and further, the combat is just slow, clunky and boring.

Now, if camera angles were better, if perhaps we were given some cinematic combat scenes, or again, just better camera angles, it might make the fights a bit more exciting and visceral. As it stands, for one thing, aiming can be a pain at times, and the whole thing just feels boring. Not due to the style, but due to poor controls, poor camera angles and a lack of satisfying combat scenes that would feel rewarding.

Worse off, even on the easiest setting, you will have to reload save after save, and perform trial and error to solve many a quest, this really takes you out of the role playing experience. It is bad enough that combat can be clunky and boring at times, it can be downright frustrating at others.

If I am supposed to have freedom of choice, why can I not slay foes with ease to grant me that story experience? Why must I do things in a certain order to ensure success, if the game is supposed to be based on player choice?

It is not a bad game, but it is not the glowing experience people claim. Slow game play is one thing, I really could forgive the slow, boring, clunky combat, if it was also not exceedingly frustrating as well.

I do like the world. the story telling and the art design, the music is also really outstanding, but come on folks, this game just is not very fun.

I should be able to go on an adventure, chart my course and stick to it, not have to save before every major choice and then reload cause that one gets you killed. I would much rather deal with the story consequences, not have unfair combat beat me down over and over, til I get lucky, or find "the right sequence of choices for optimal success". Where is the choice in that, where is the adventure, where is the role-playing?

Are these not valid points? Can people actually say the combat is good?

I love the exploration, I love the conversations, I even love the dice rolling during conversations, but combat feels so underwhelming, it is not the style, but the execution.

I would understand my frustration if I was playing on a hard setting, but for cripes sake, on the easiest setting, combat is a frustrating nightmare, maybe it get's better after the goblin camp, but it took two hours just saving and reloading to rescue my Druid bro.

Even still, combat is very clunky, and there could have been a lot of ways to make it "fun", cinematic kills, or attack animations would make it a lot more exciting, making movement and aiming feel less clunky would be good, making it easy on the easiest setting would be good.

Mostly though, I dislike that I can not experience free choice, that getting into epic fights, such as clearing out the goblin camp, are just painful, tedious, and your often better off skipping combat until you must.

There is a charm to the game that keeps me playing, but it really is not much fun...

I cannot see all the praise, the game is good, not great and in need of a lot of work on the most basic mechanic of combat.

Save reload, oops I can't do that, dang I died for no reason no matter the strategy, oh this is the order you have to do it, lest you die and die and die, unless you get lucky...

That does not feel like an epic adventure, that feels like tedious busywork, held together by brilliant story telling, an epic world and some real charm.

It is more than the sum of it's parts for those reasons, but, that does not make it game of the year, that does not even make it the best game this year. Atomic Heart was so much better, yes not the same genre, but it was fun, artistic and all the mechanics were polished.

I want to love this game, but we gotta admit, there are glaring flaws with it.

I was sold on player choice, but that is really untrue, as combat is really not a good option, and yet some quests force it. Rescuing the Druid should have been enthralling, but it was just trial and error, yes once you rescue him, you lay waste pretty well, but then comes the worst part.

He leaves you before you leave the camp, so you are forced to fast travel, because you cannot take on the camp. What should have been a thrilling escape, turned into, nope can't do that, gotta reload and fast travel.

I came for the story, for the adventure, to be able to play and shape my quest, my way, that is what everyone raved, oh so many choices, but the ones that matter for heroic action moments, are not even possible.

I get it is the start, I get I am not a high level yet, but the whole rescue is a major part of the story, from how I am playing it, turning that into trial and error, just really left a sour taste in my mouth.

I am not tearing it down, or trying to say it is bad, but these are valid points and really, it needs addressing and fixing.

I am playing on PS5 which is why it shows no gametime on steam.

I agree with your point about the camera.

[Sountrex]

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

I just love how people cannot be bothered to read anymore. If you don't read, don't comment, that is pretty simple. All you are doing is proving people like you are scum.

Well see the thing is I CAN read all of this, but with the amount of people posting random ♥♥♥♥ to farm jester emotes I cannot be arsed anymore, all I read was 'player choice' and you complaining about player choices that actually matter for the game.

All I am asking for is a TLDR for a super long post which most likely is you whining about trivial things, while I appreciate the time you took writing all of that, it is simply too long to read and I cannot be bothered to read all of it as I would much rather do other things. When I write long posts or long reviews I always add a TL:DR because I know sometimes people do not want to read a lot of things, its common courtesy per-say.

[Sountrex]

Also, calling someone scum just for the fact that I do not want to read a novella about some random complaints in the game says more about you than it does for me.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

I just love how people cannot be bothered to read anymore. If you don't read, don't comment, that is pretty simple. All you are doing is proving people like you are scum.

I'm pretty sure it's a copypasta.

[Cellar_Cat]

I'm a new player playing on an intermediate difficulty, basically tactician but without the stat changes to me/enemies. So high aggro, more mechanics... etc. Not really sure what all those do but they sounded more interesting so I turned them on.

So far my impression is that the game punishes unfamiliarity above all else. When you're not sure how things work, or where encounters are and what's in them, it will flatten you at a moment's notice. The space between an encounter you should take now and one that will outright kill you is (physically) very short, and you don't always get much if any warning.

Once you learn mechanics and encounters though, you take the fights you know you can win, fight them the way you know you can win them, and they're suddenly pretty easy. There doesn't appear to be any real element of randomness to it (I mean, rolls yes, but the nature of encounters no). No unknowns to account for after you've seen it before.

So, the challenge is (apparently—I haven't finished it yet) all up-front. It's a bit disappointing to be honest because I think once I've played through once or twice I'll probably find it too boring to repeat, given that the encounters where I've wiped and repeated already didn't change. Now I know how to beat them and when I should try, where is the challenge gonna come from?

[Cellar_Cat]

And yes the camera is a menace.

[AokiYakumo]

Originally posted by Sountrex:

Also, calling someone scum just for the fact that I do not want to read a novella about some random complaints in the game says more about you than it does for me.

Okay, my blind arse fully missed that OP and the user I just replied to are the same user, THAT makes it worse.

For OP.

Oh mah dayum.

EDIT: Apparently if you put the words "ass" and "fully" together in the same string, they both get censored out, like wut?

[Carlos Spicywiener]

If combat is clunky and boring for you, then this game is not for you. Yes, first play through, I would reload as much as you want but after you are done, play again without reloading every time things don't work your way. Not once. That's the way its meant to be played. You are not supposed to have positive outcomes at every turn. In fact, usually it should be about 50/50. Half the fun is making bad decisions but still making it through to the end. That is DnD at its essence, if you ask me

[Sountrex]

Originally posted by AokiYakumo:

Originally posted by Sountrex:

Also, calling someone scum just for the fact that I do not want to read a novella about some random complaints in the game says more about you than it does for me.

Okay, my blind arse fully missed that OP and the user I just replied to are the same user, THAT makes it worse.

For OP.

Oh mah dayum.

EDIT: Apparently if you put the words "ass" and "fully" together in the same string, they both get censored out, like wut?

I dunno I just think his reaction to my reply says everything there is to say, I still won't read any of the word spaghetti the dude wrote, if he cannot add a TL:DR about his complaints then I won't bother anyways.

Since I see a few people here agree about the camera, I do also admit that the camera can be improved as there are cases where for me the camera just gets randomly stuck somewhere or glitches out, though that is very few and far between.

I think Baldur's gate just like any game out there will always have people who like and do not like it.

If he doesn't like the game It's fine by me, couldn't care less. I personally like the game, sure it ain't perfect but then again what game really is?

I think it was just funny how his reply to my "Can I get a TLDR" comment was basically calling me scum lmao

[Bassdeff]

What can I say other than play something else?

[nod for kiss]

combat is the second best part of the game, if its not for you, then dont play it?

[Kamuizin]

Big post here eh?

Dices on combat - rolling dices as in check skills on combat would be boring as hell. If you click bottom right side there’s a lateral button with messages and results of combat, hover the mouse over and you see the rolls.

Camera and controla - agree, they’re bad, but nor gamebreaking. I hate the fact i can’t look up, even if only to admire the environment. And outsode of combat, a command once given can’t be stopped. So if you tried to jump to a place and didn’t notice the game marked a path over lava for it, you’re screwed.

Save scumming is your option, not the way to olay the game. I wont judge cos i do the same, but you can’t comolain about immersion killing if you’re cheating the immersion.

Combat is hard - i thought the same as you at the begin, problem was: my way of thinking. This is Divinity 4.0 engine. Forget a bit of D&D and think more divinity. A proper push over the cliff, ranged fight from high terrain, stealth place explosive things near the enemy, throwing a chair in the enemy. At early leves these things do a hell of a difference, later, if you get the way to play, combat will not feel hard anymore.

Constant saving - every single game with a bit of rpg style requires this, even mass effect did. This complain is nosense.

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

There is a charm to the game that keeps me playing, but it really is not much fun...

While i don’t feel exactly like that, with my meager 90h played, the feeling is that BG3 EA ended too premature. There’s a LOT of things to fix and others to implement (specially on evil paths) and i don’t know if Larian will make any major changes now, after full release.

[jack_of_tears]

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

I just love how people cannot be bothered to read anymore. If you don't read, don't comment, that is pretty simple. All you are doing is proving people like you are scum.

If you want people to read your comments, don't make them three pages long.

The combat is fun, maybe not for you but for fans of crpgs it is. This just isn't your genre.

[Aldain]

Originally posted by PostalGamerDude:

I just love how people cannot be bothered to read anymore. If you don't read, don't comment, that is pretty simple. All you are doing is proving people like you are scum.

There's value in being concise when communicating.