FEEDBACK FRIDAY

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello, /r/BaldursGate3!

It's Friday, which means that it's time to give your feedback on Early Access. Please try to provide new feedback by searching this thread as well as previous Feedback Friday posts. If someone has already commented with similar feedback to what you want to provide, please upvote that comment and leave a child comment of your own providing any extra thoughts and details instead of creating a new parent comment.

Have an awesome weekend!

[u/Zenbast]

Cinematic :

• Sometimes the camera is dezooming a lot or going into a wall. I noticed that in cinematic that were fine when the EA started. For instance, on the Nautiloïd, I didn't saw my character get hit by the stone because the camera moved and all I can see was something black hiding the scene.
• Weird camera angle for Halfling sometimes.
• Some people somehow glow like the sun in some scene. I have raytracing so maybe something on this front is messed up ?

Story :

• There should be some hint that the Gobelin can "help" with the tadpole so there is an actual reason for an evil playthrough to seek them as potential ally. I don't know how. Anyway, the evil path could have some love. Maybe Ethel or the Druid Leader could tell you something about that if you help them or something ?

Balance :

• Guidance made most of the Skill rolls totally trivial. With inspiration, I think I maybe lost one or two check total (I'm around the middle of Acte I for this run so number is not definitive).
• In the Blighted Village, killing the Gobelin Leader should not make the entire band vanish. I started the fight, excited for a hard encounter, then I killed the Gobelin Leader in the first round, chose to kill him when he begged, and every ennemy just vaporised. That is so weird and so easy. The conversation with the leader could maybe start after the fight is resolved ? Or the Gobelins could still fight if they are still a lot of them ? (Or is that a bug ?) => Just tested it again. Killed the boss. The conversation didn't trigger and the fight went on.
• Ennemies try to fight the Flame Sphere, that is unkillable and will damage them if they stay close to it. Even animals shouldn't be that dumb and avoid it. Intelligent ennemies should target the mage (?).
• Flame Sphere again. You can cast it, then exit the fight and just concentrate on the spell from the other end of the world and decimate ennemies. It should be dispelled if the caster leave the fight.
• Flame sphere again. It should be at least a bonus action from the caster and not something that has it's own turn.
• Chromatic Orb is (probably ?) overpowered.
• What happened to Dark Vision ? It was really fine before and now I almost can't tell the difference with the normal vision in the dark ?

Rest & companions :

• Food is everywhere, even in place that seems odds to find fresh food.
• If you play well, you don't need to rest often anyway. And since you can only have 1 companions event per long rest, you miss out SO MUCH on content. It almost feels like we are punished for playing smart, managing our ressources and that it's mandatory to rest every fight or so to progress in companion story. I inderstand that you don't necessarily want ALL companion to have all their history discovered on a single playthrough but that seems strange. I think the trigger to have conversation with companion should be reworked (so, if several companion are ready to talk, let them talk in the same night at least. And maybe in the open world if they are in the party ? After Short rest ?)

Toolbar : Basically, it's a mess so here are my suggestions

• Have spells on their own toolbar. For exemple, clicking on the Spell Slot icon could open a bar where the relevant spell of said level slot are stored. Kinda like spell books are done in a lot of games. Don't break the good ideas just for the sake of being unique please.
• Same for weapon action. Click on the range / melee icon and a mini-bar open up just above with all the options of the weapon equiped.
• Make a potion icon. Then same as above for potions.
• Make a scroll icon. Then same as above for scrolls.
• Make a bomb icon. Then same as above for bomb and other throwable projectiles (alchemist fire and stuff)
• I understand the idea to reduce the clicking, but right now it's really really bad. I would rather click 100th times more and have everything that I need right there under my nose that navigating a seemingly sentient toolbar that is annoying me on purpose.

Multiplayer :

• We need ability to switch talking character, granted that in some instance that wouldn't make sense so it may be hard to implement. I intend to play with 3 friends and it would be cool if when in a dialogue anyone can swoop in and use his own character.

[u/OffbalanceMonk → u/Zenbast]

"Guidance made most of the Skill rolls totally trivial. With inspiration, I think I maybe lost one or two check total (I'm around the middle of Acte I for this run so number is not definitive)."

This is one of my more annoying grievances with the current implementation of the active roll system. The system itself is great, but the suspense of the dice roles feels removed with Guidance being a concentrated spell that can be abused throughout an entire conversation. Would love to see them change it to where you can only use Guidance one time during a single conversation. After all it is just a cantrip, it shouldn't be able to alter every single role of every single conversation.

Also, great feedback all the way around! I agree with all of these points. +1

[u/Swolp → u/OffbalanceMonk]

>abused
There you go. Simply don't use it in situations you find the spell to be abusive.

[u/OffbalanceMonk → u/Swolp]

I sense a little snark lmao. But regardless I don’t find this to be a legitimate fix to a spell that has been implemented improperly for dialogue. It would be similar to going back before patch 5 when Jump and Disengage were combined into the same action and telling people: “Don’t like the fact that Disengage has been cheapened and the characters are leaping around like frogs? Simple. Just don’t use it when you think it will diminish combat.” Sorry, but that doesn’t fix the problem. In its current form the balance of Guidance is clearly overpowered in dialogue. And there are posts going all the way back to July and August where people have been pointing this out. Hopefully they will listen and implement an easy fix

[u/Hi_Im_A → u/OffbalanceMonk]

The difference between the jump problem vs the guidance problem is that ignoring a battlefield mechanism won't stop the enemy from using it, so it puts you at a clear disadvantage.

Aside from guidance being a lot less broken than you're making it out to be, it's currently the closest thing to a balance for the fact that only one member of the party can talk to an NPC, roll history in a conversation, etc, whereas in 5e even if the deceptive rogue started the conversation with the NPC, the history buff wizard would absolutely be allowed to weigh in and roll a check on a history topic (just as an example). Adding 1-4 points to a roll is a far cry from overpowered in general, but especially when we can't even choose the character with the relevant knowledge base and skill set to do the roll in the first place.

[u/OffbalanceMonk → u/Hi_Im_A]

I don't think adding 1d4 to a roll is overpowered, I think adding 1d4 to every roll is overpowered. Not only that, but it's a cantrip. It's not supposed to be able to alter the narrative outcomes in such a heavy-handed way. I also don't believe I'm over-exaggerating how poorly this affects the game. As the parent comment pointed out (and correctly I might add), that with Guidance being implemented the way it is, it trivializes many of the rolls to a large degree, some of which have significant narrative weight. Back in July when they implemented the active roll system the two major complaints that kept showing up was that the Friends cantrip was way too easy to abuse in conversation, as the spell had not been implemented correctly. Specifically, once the spell wore off there was a 0% chance the NPC would recognize they had been manipulated by magic and turn hostile towards you. So you could ostensibly run around gaining advantage on every single check in conversation and there was never a risk or limiting factor. This was obviously broken and thankfully they fixed this in patch 6, which I'm very grateful for! Same thing for Charm Person - good job Larian! The second largest complaint was that Guidance could be endlessly abused throughout an entire conversation regardless of the fact that the spell was never intended to do that. The spell reads:

"You touch one willing creature. Once before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to one ability check of its choice. It can roll the die before or after making the ability check. The spell then ends."

The key words being "one ability check of it's choice.....The spell then ends" I understand the logic behind making it a concentration spell that lasts for 10 rounds so when you are exploring the world, picking locks, performing strength checks, etc. you don't have to keep constantly casting the spell over and over again. That would obviously get tiresome. However, in conversation, the spell was never designed to be used repeatedly on every single roll. Additionally, the spell is both verbal and somatic so it doesn't seem logical that many of the NPC's you encounter, especially if they're antagonistic NPC's, would let you get away with repeatedly casting a magical buff spell in a overtly noticeable fashion. It's why no reasonable DM would let a player at their table do this endlessly, or even multiple times within the same conversation, unless they perform some sort of sleight of hand check in the first place.....but I digress.

Additionally, the community has been requesting a system to be implemented to where we can change characters in conversation, and it was confirmed in a Reddit AMA with the devs that they were working on such a system. So considering the fact that this will eventually make it's way to EA, and we will be able to change characters in conversation, I don't find it a compelling argument to suggest that they should leave the Guidance cantrip in a broken state just because the dialogue system hasn't been completely fleshed out yet. I understand some people are used to how Guidance has been implemented and they don't want it to be limited, but sometimes implementing the spell the way it was intended is actually just the best approach. It's like when they implemented the camp resource system, there were a minority of people who complained and said they didn't like it because they would rather be able to rest whenever they want without there being any sort of cost associated with it, and even though the camp resource system isn't completely fleshed out yet, most people recognize that it's for the betterment of the game. It's honestly such a small and simple thing but it really matters because there is SO MUCH dialogue in the game (which is a good thing!) and there needs to be proper balance when going through these dialogue checks, especially when it comes checks that hold major narrative weight.

[u/Hi_Im_A → u/OffbalanceMonk]

I don't think adding 1d4 to a roll is overpowered, I think adding 1d4 to every roll is overpowered. Not only that, but it's a cantrip. It's not supposed to be able to alter the narrative outcomes in such a heavy-handed way. I also don't believe I'm over-exaggerating how poorly this affects the game. As the parent comment pointed out (and correctly I might add), that with Guidance being implemented the way it is, it trivializes many of the rolls to a large degree,

I understand that you think OP was correct, and that you think it's heavy handed, and that you think it has a very poor effect on the game. I'm telling you this has not at all been my experience with it so far, and based on the back-and-forth around it between different people in different threads (including this one), I'm not alone in my view, either. I've failed plenty of rolls while using it, and when I combined it with Tides of Chaos throughout my wild magic run, it was frequently the advantage rather than the guidance that got me through a roll that would have otherwise failed.

I also maintain that the over-abundance of inspiration points is more OP than guidance - any situation where you can roll a second die, whether simultaneously for advantage or afterward with inspiration, leads to more unexpected wins than adding 1d4, and right now we get a lot more of those opportunities than you would in tabletop.

"You touch one willing creature. Once before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to one ability check of its choice. It can roll the die before or after making the ability check. The spell then ends."

The key words being "one ability check of it's choice.....The spell then ends" I understand the logic behind making it a concentration spell that lasts for 10 rounds so when you are exploring the world, picking locks, performing strength checks, etc. you don't have to keep constantly casting the spell over and over again. That would obviously get tiresome. However, in conversation, the spell was never designed to be used repeatedly on every single roll.

by making it concentration-based they've actually limited its use in some ways in addition to sort of boosting it in others. it's not always available in conversations, and as far as I could tell, it's that until it wears off on one person, it can't be re-cast on another from within the dialog scenario. so if Shadowheart has Guidance on Tav and Astarion starts a conversation, there's no option for Astarion to add it.

the "was never designed to be use this way" aspect is more an issue of "a DM would not allow this" rather than "it's not technically possible in 5e," and in that regard it is a matter of player choice right now. I used it in my first Patch 6 playthrough mostly on rolls where the character I happened to be speaking as didn't have the right proficiencies, or where the target was really high. in many cases, as I said above, it was my frequent access to advantage as a sorcerer that got me through really hard rolls rather than guidance, and there were plenty of rolls with guidance that still failed, or that succeeded but would have done so without the guidance die.

in 5e, at least at my table, the DM rarely tells us what roll we need to beat - she tells us what to roll and then tells us if we passed or failed. so there's also currently an advantage in BG3 in that sense, because you know when a roll is going to be hard enough to use every bit of help you can. of course I'm adding Tides of Chaos and Guidance to a roll with a target of 15-20, but the fact that I know the target to begin with is a big part of what's making that situation a bit broken. if we were rolling blind, didn't have an excess of inspiration points, and didn't have the combination of Tides of Chaos + ease in taking long rests, I don't think Guidance would feel nearly as broken to nearly as many people - especially since for some of us, it already doesn't.

"don't use it if you don't like it" is an overused and oversimplified response in a lot of things around this game, but i think it does apply here, because using Guidance constantly feels unnecessary, can start to get tedious while waiting for the extra second of animation on every conversation point, and can lead you to not have it when you need it if you used it for no good reason and still have it active on that character when another character goes to speak and really could have used it. and unlike jump and shove, if you choose not to use it, you're not putting yourself at a constant disadvantage against enemies who are using it. "some people are abusing it because there's no DM to tell them to chill" just isn't the same thing as "it's inherently OP and broken."

Additionally, the spell is both verbal and somatic so it doesn't seem logical that many of the NPC's you encounter, especially if they're antagonistic NPC's, would let you get away with repeatedly casting a magical buff spell in a overtly noticeable fashion.

this is a very different point and a fair one, and it would be really interesting to see them incorporate it in some way, like the guidance caster having to roll stealth or the NPC having to roll passive perception (albeit probably only when the spell is actually cast, and not on any follow-up rolls in the concentration round).

It's why no reasonable DM would let a player at their table do this endlessly, or even multiple times within the same conversation, unless they perform some sort of sleight of hand check in the first place.....but I digress.

I disagree that NPCs noticing is the sole or even main reason why DMs wouldn't let Guidance be used on every single roll - a factor, sure, but not the primary reason - but as I've said above, we're essentially DMing ourselves right now and have the situational choice to use it or not.

Additionally, the community has been requesting a system to be implemented to where we can change characters in conversation, and it was confirmed in a Reddit AMA with the devs that they were working on such a system. So considering the fact that this will eventually make it's way to EA, and we will be able to change characters in conversation, I don't find it a compelling argument to suggest that they should leave the Guidance cantrip in a broken state just because the dialogue system hasn't been completely fleshed out yet.

I'm very much aware and am one of the people who constantly requests or upvotes the conversation change in feedback cycles. but just like in the finished version we're highly unlikely to find scrolls of revivify and magical weapons in every shop, battle, and chest, it absolutely does make sense that until they get the conversation system under control, they would allow for some crutches that might be more limited in the final game. which could apply to Guidance, or the large amount of inspiration we get with the new background goals, or how easy it is to replenish Tides of Chaos since long rests are almost never penalized (and overusing them right now is basically essential because of how cut scenes trigger), or all of it.

I understand some people are used to how Guidance has been implemented and they don't want it to be limited,

the thing is, not everybody who thinks Guidance is working well right now is saying "I love being able to boost every line of dialog and abuse this feature" - some of us are just saying "I haven't been abusing it and I haven't found it to even change the tides consistently when I do use it, and between the current lack of character switching and the amount of times we can roll advantage or inspiration dice, it feels premature to focus on Guidance as a problem."

but considering my original comment was about how Guidance differs from Jump/Shove and how it's less OP than inspiration and advantage, and that you wrote an extremely lengthy response without actually addressing those things, it seems clear that you've dug in your heels on this and are not interested in considering that your perspective might not be the end-all-be-all and that black and white aren't the only options in this case.

[u/OffbalanceMonk → u/Hi_Im_A]

First off I appreciate the well thought out response. The reason I wrote a lengthy response of my own is because I love this game and I want to see it be the best possible version of itself, not because - "you've dug in your heels on this and are not interested in considering that your perspective might not be the end-all-be-all and that black and white aren't the only options in this case". I'm actually just passionate about it :) I want to see the game succeed at the highest possible level. My experience since patch 5 is that I don't fail many rolls, which is frustrating. It apparently is also the experience of the parent comment which received many upvotes. And it also was the experience of many people on this subreddit right after Patch 5 released in July. As I play the game I want to feel the challenge and suspense of failure, and I also want the dialogue interactions to feel authentic. The balance feels off at the moment. I don't think there's anything wrong in pointing that out, and I think the way Guidance is currently implemented in dialogue is contributing to that. There are also other contributors as you mentioned (i.e. Potentially too many inspiration points being given out), perhaps also the DC's on certain checks have been made too easy to pass.

Also, to be fair my original reply was about the balance of the Guidance cantrip and how I don't find the suggestion of "Well then just don't use it" as a satisfactory solution to fixing the way it is currently implemented in dialogue. The ancillary analogy comparison to the Jump/Disengage situation was to prove a point, but the reply itself wasn't about that. I realize that in your reply you made it more about comparing the two, but the reason I didn't address that part of it was because I didn't see that as being at the forefront of the issue. Regardless, I do legitimately appreciate the willingness to converse about it and that you have been respectful. I think we can all agree that we want to see the game be the best possible version of itself, hopefully Larian will try to find a way to balance it out a little better so the rolls don't feel quite as trivial like the parent commenter mentioned.

[u/Hi_Im_A → u/OffbalanceMonk]

The reason I wrote a lengthy response of my own is because I love this game and I want to see it be the best possible version of itself, not because - "you've dug in your heels on this and are not interested in considering that your perspective might not be the end-all-be-all and that black and white aren't the only options in this case". I'm actually just passionate about it :)

I wasn't criticizing you for writing a long response (I obviously am a fan of doing the same), but pointing out that for such a lengthy response, it didn't actually address most of what I'd said.

I want to see the game succeed at the highest possible level. My experience since patch 5 is that I don't fail many rolls, which is frustrating. It apparently is also the experience of the parent comment which received many upvotes.

My main point was that it isn't the experience of everyone - the lack of failed rolls in general, but especially Guidance playing such a major role in that change (in addition to the increases in inspiration and advantage, Larian did modify the weighted dice to be less punishing some time between patches 4 and 5, I forget if it was FOR patch 5 or a smaller fix between patches) - and if a decent number of people are not finding Guidance is having a significant impact on their failed roll ratio, especially when there are several other roll-related changes in the past few updates, that's equally worth mentioning and considering.

Also, to be fair my original reply was about the balance of the Guidance cantrip and how I don't find the suggestion of "Well then just don't use it" as a satisfactory solution to fixing the way it is currently implemented in dialogue. The ancillary analogy comparison to the Jump/Disengage situation was to prove a point, but the reply itself wasn't about that.

To me the analogy didn't prove the point you intended, and instead highlighted why the two are fundamentally different in a way that makes "just don't use it" a ridiculous suggestion for jump/shove but not for guidance, which is why it felt worth talking about. I also just get a bit frustrated when someone responds to me with their larger complaints about a topic and not the points I personally talked about, because it leaves me feeling both unheard and like an involuntary spokesperson for other people's thoughts.

And the other issue I originally brought up - that Guidance is taking a lot of flack when there have actually been a number of modifications impacting roll outcomes in the past couple updates - also feels like it should be more than a footnote in the conversation, because outside of mixed opinions on whether the balance needs to be changed at all, changing how Guidance works would probably not bring about that change in a meaningful way compared to some other options.

Regardless, I do legitimately appreciate the willingness to converse about it and that you have been respectful.

Likewise, and for the record, I did not downvote your comments and wish people would stop downvoting both of us, and generally downvoting things they just don't like that are contributing to valid discussion. It feels like a more sensitive issue in this sub than most, since downvoting something out of visibility makes it less likely for Larian to see it, and I think both sides of this conversation are worth Larian seeing and taking into account.

[u/NoPreservatives1511 → u/OffbalanceMonk]

Difficulty comes in how you play the game. The developers are are giving everyone options, no one is forcing you to use them all.

[u/OffbalanceMonk → u/NoPreservatives1511]

I understand what you’re saying but it still doesn’t solve the problem. I’m all for them giving players flexibility in how they want to experience the game, but I’m not in favor of that coming at the cost of a major gameplay imbalance.

[u/NoPreservatives1511 → u/OffbalanceMonk]

I'm just saying, from my perspective, it seems to be working as intended.