I don't know how to play this game

[Wildchants]

I'd love to learn how to play this style of game, and love it like most of you do, but I just don't understand the mechanics at all. I'm lost, and I barely made it to the first town without dying.

[Kameh]

What exactly are you having issues with? And I'm assuming by town you mean the druid place?

[Wildchants]

Originally posted by Kameh:

What exactly are you having issues with? And I'm assuming by town you mean the druid place?

The first place you get too that you can buy items, or sell, it's like a little village. I just am not used to the strategy part of it, I've never experienced this type of game before at all, so it's just confusing on what I'm supposed to use, or when, or how.

[obeliskbo]

Same. This is the first time i've played this kind of game and the very first thing i've played on pc. It's a matter of trial and error. I chose the explorer difficulty level just so i wouldn't get discouraged. Just keep trying, explore and gain experience, as you level up your characters it gets easier.

[hermit0wl]

Originally posted by Wildchants:

Originally posted by Kameh:

What exactly are you having issues with? And I'm assuming by town you mean the druid place?

The first place you get too that you can buy items, or sell, it's like a little village. I just am not used to the strategy part of it, I've never experienced this type of game before at all, so it's just confusing on what I'm supposed to use, or when, or how.

If people start explaining strategy, there's a good chance you'll end up more confused than before :)
The game takes some patience to figure out. The combat is turn-based, so take your time to read what all of your abilities do and consider your options. Try things out to see what works best for you. Outside of combat, explore as much as you can.
If you're not playing on "Explorer" difficulty, you may want to switch to it until you have a better grip on how everything works.

[Brian_the_Brute]

crash course:

At the start of combat there is an initiative dice roll for everyone (hidden from view in this game) the best roll starts first, and the rest of the characters/enemies combat goes in sequence based on the roll.

You can move a certain amount of feet each turn.

Each turn you get an action and a bonus action. Later on you might get more actions per round available if you are a fighter, war cleric, etc... but at the start it is likely just 1. With the action, you can attack with the sword icon (melee) or the bow icon (ranged) or cast spell for your action. With the bonus action you can additionally do something quick like jump or drink a potion in that same round.

Weapons that hit your opponent do variable damage based on a dice roll plus any listed modifiers. Melee weapons do additional damage based on your strength attribute as well.

You dexterity effects your % chance to hit something, or dodge something

Your Intelligence effects spell casting and # of spells known

Your wisdom effects the number of cleric spells and dice roll needed to save from certain spells used against you.

Your constitution effects your total hit points which determines how much damage you can take before going down/ dying

Your charisma effects modifiers to make speaking skills easier, like persuasion or intimidation, or your barter cost with vendors.

Armor and shields increase your armor class, the higher the number, the harder you are to hit.

In BG3 you can hover the mouse over enemies and inspect them (T) and it will show you the enemies information, what they are resistant to, and what their vulnerabilities are.

[alanc9]

I'm going to guess that the part you're having trouble with is what people call the action economy.

In every round of combat every character gets some Movement, an Action, a Bonus Action, and a Reaction. All of these do different things. The Action is the most important one, since that covers your main attack, offensive spells, and so forth. Bonus Actions include drinking potions, hiding, jumping, shoving people, casting some healing spells, and other miscellaneous stuff. Movement is obvious. And Reactions happen when someone else is acting; the most common one is the Attack of Opportunity, where you get a free attack on anybody who moves out of melee attack range.

The most basic thing to keep in mind is to use your Movement and Bonus Actions to make your Attack actions more efficient. To use an example which comes up a lot, if you can use a Bonus Action to shove an enemy off a cliff, you've just saved an attack to use on someone else.

[Wildchants]

Thanks for all of your replies! I will take note of all of them and delete my save, and start fresh and hope for the best!

[alanc9]

One more thing: the game is actually fairly forgiving. You don't need to play perfectly, or even all that well, to get through.

I've been watching a couple of new-to-genre players on YouTube. They're hardly more experienced than you, and after 29 sessions they're still making what I would call basic errors, like casting Hunter's Mark after attacking instead of before attacking. Hasn't stopped them.

https://www.youtube.com/@mavandsnacks

[cirugo]

Another thing to keep in mind is that some encounters are best dealt with by dialogue options instead of combat if your rolls are sufficient. Don't be afraid to save and reload often if an encounter goes south.

[hornsounder97]

Make sure you also go into the reactions tab at the top of the character sheet for each character. Make sure the game always asks you to use your reaction. There are plenty of instances where not asking will screw your plans or make it so your wizard can't cast shield on himself or whatever. At higher levels having your reaction ready for counter spells is super handy.

[seeker1]

You will get lots of advice here. Most of it good.

But I always recommend newbs go to bg3.wiki. It lays out a lot of the terminology for various mechanics, abilities, you can see what things that pop up on your screen mean.

You could look over some of the source material for 5E D & D, but yes, Larian has modified those rules, and the bottom line is the wiki makes it all meaningful in the context of this game specifically, which is what you really need.

Depending on your wont, it even offers advice on quests and encounters and all that jazz; you don't have to look at that; it's also there if you want to indulge, particularly at points where it feels like you are stuck.

[Mr Fred]

Wow so there are actual people for whom even dnd 5e isnt streamlined enough... thats pretty damn low.

[Popsicles]

Read the free rules pdf. Pay attention to the combat chapter;

https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf

[Popsicles]

Originally posted by Mr Fred:

Wow so there are actual people for whom even dnd 5e isnt streamlined enough... thats pretty damn low.

Another 3.5 tough guy. Your pony tail pulled back a little too tight today?

[FunkyMonkey]

Originally posted by Mr Fred:

So the oversimplified GOTY specifically aimed at the masses and the lowest common denominator is now niche? make up your mind already...

Niche as a genre? Yes, absolutely. While BG3 is widely praised and has a lot of players, these games are nowhere near mainstream. And they won't be, as long as there are gate-keepers like you around.

You rather see your genre of games stay in your small circle and stagnate rather than welcome new players and that way keep the genre alive.

And I would like to say here, I'm a huge fan of this genre. Turn-based cRPGs are my favorite type of games. I've played a lot of them and hope to see new ones. They won't be made if there isn't a demand for them, simple as that. And that requires new players.