Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

Ending of the game is one of it's weakest points IMO.

ShakyJake said:

Right, I was thinking Death or Tempest would definitely be in there. Not that I totally trust what either model spat out, but might be interesting because I've never ran a light or knowledge cleric. Will give it a go.

Click to expand...

Tempest with Sorcerer combo can be really exceptional, but it takes some time to get rolling, basically coming together when you can cast Call Lightning. Strangely, I found that a Lightning based Moon Druid (with a single level of Storm Sorcery) to be better in terms of versatility, even though you can't frontload damage occasionally like the Tempest Cleric/Sorc combo. With one level of Sorcery, you get Shield and Magic Missile (for fights where Force is a must) and options to either supplement healing/buffs or to shapeshift for some phantom hp/dps periodically. Stack enough Spell DC items and you can hang with the big boys without being to invest into multiple stats like the cleric/x versions kind of need to. The Cantrip feat and Elemental Adept feats are a must, but with a speed potion/haste going (the haste bow is great for this) you can double drop Call Lightning each round for very respectable damage over an AE. Not something I would take to the tougher fights in Honor Mode, were I so inclined, but it works astoundingly well in Tactician and is more or less how I run Jahera in the game when I have her.

Light Clerics are dominant in certain portions of the game, notably Act 2, but Death and Tempest rule the roost pretty much. War is serviceable as a buff bot off tanker, and like Death can be run monoclass (though seriously a one level dip in the new Warlock is a no brainer for both). But when I run a dedicated buffer I much prefer a Bardlock or pairing Bard with a couple levels of maybe Cleric just for key buffs, usually with the Act three Lightning Spear and a good shield (my default Shadowfart setup) since the Bard is much better in both a fight and at support buffs than a basic Cleric. And in all of these scenarios you will likely need to squeeze in a Wizard/Sorcerer to get dispell magic into the mix, unless you are going absolutely crazy with the Tadpoles. This is also important if your main is not terribly good as a face man, as a Bard/Cleric can spam a bunch of varied buffs (or just plain bardsong) to get you over the hump. Also the Bard Tag is used in a ton of Dialogs that let you bypass some of the harder tests.

TJT said:

Ending of the game is one of it's weakest points IMO.

Click to expand...

The last patch somewhat corrected this, but yeah like many RPGs they started running out of time and money so a lot of things got left unfinished. Its pretty clear that large chunks of story got cut short to meet the release deadline. Karlach and the Gondian shit all have huge gaps in their story, plus Gortash clearly was meant to be more involved in things. There was supposed to be an entire Avernus thing too with more Raphael stuff, that they got as far as getting the voice acting done but ultimately had to drop.

Agree totally and most of the characters do get decent ending options, particularly if you play them as origin characters. The final patch added some depth to the evil endings that was not there, as well. Gale, Laezel, and Dark Urge in particular all had multiple well fleshed out endings, especially compared to the other characters, even at release. Shadowheart's ending is meh mostly because you spend the first two thirds of the game doing a ton of shit that revolves around her specifically. Wyll is the shittiest character by a long shot, so no shock his ending is balls. And Astarion sort of suffers from the bulk of the Cazedor backstory being trimmed back to "go kill boss in dungeon" from what they originally had in mind, though his good ending is somewhat ok. The non-origin endins are generic by necessity, mostly dependant on who you were banging, but once again you get much more from the game if you were shacking up with Minthara, Gale, or Lazael.

Phazael said:

The last patch somewhat corrected this, but yeah like many RPGs they started running out of time and money so a lot of things got left unfinished. Its pretty clear that large chunks of story got cut short to meet the release deadline. Karlach and the Gondian shit all have huge gaps in their story, plus Gortash clearly was meant to be more involved in things. There was supposed to be an entire Avernus thing too with more Raphael stuff, that they got as far as getting the voice acting done but ultimately had to drop.

Click to expand...

Going to Avernus with Karlach is one of the best endings though. I hated pretty much everything about having someone become a Mindflayer. The Dead Three were cool villains by themselves but their motives were relatively retarded. When compared to BG1 and BG2 they fall really flat. Sarevok knew of the Bhaalspawn design more than the others and aspired to usurp it. He just failed at it. Jon Irenicus was the best villain as he wasn't even really antagonistic to you. Killing you or doing anything to you was nothing personal, just a means to an end for his personal vendetta against the elves.

The Netherbrain was just doing general mindflayer stuff (unsurprisingly). Orin is just completely batshit insane and loving it. Gortash just wanted power for power's sake I guess and Katheric was motly along for the ride since Myrkal resurrected Isobel.

TJT said:

Going to Avernus with Karlach is one of the best endings though. I hated pretty much everything about having someone become a Mindflayer. The Dead Three were cool villains by themselves but their motives were relatively retarded. When compared to BG1 and BG2 they fall really flat. Sarevok knew of the Bhaalspawn design more than the others and aspired to usurp it. He just failed at it. Jon Irenicus was the best villain as he wasn't even really antagonistic to you. Killing you or doing anything to you was nothing personal, just a means to an end for his personal vendetta against the elves.

The Netherbrain was just doing general mindflayer stuff (unsurprisingly). Orin is just completely batshit insane and loving it. Gortash just wanted power for power's sake I guess and Katheric was motly along for the ride since Myrkal resurrected Isobel.

Click to expand...

Avernus was supposed to be an entire explorable region of the game with additional quests involving Raphael and Mizora. The VA was actually completed on it, but it got cut from development. As for the "someone has to be a Mindflayer" thing, eh You can always Have Orpheus or Karlach take one for the team or side with the Emperor. Its not as forced as the Emporer suddenly flipping sides out of the blue at the end.

Phazael said:

Avernus was supposed to be an entire explorable region of the game with additional quests involving Raphael and Mizora. The VA was actually completed on it, but it got cut from development. As for the "someone has to be a Mindflayer" thing, eh You can always Have Orpheus or Karlach take one for the team or side with the Emperor. Its not as forced as the Emporer suddenly flipping sides out of the blue at the end.

Click to expand...

You still have to side with a Mindflayer and the whole game goes on warming you up to them so it makes some sense. With the Mindflayer in the Underdark and the Emperor.

I have nothing against making a Mindflayer "friendly" but its still convoluted as they are like the Apex evil. I always liked the DND theory of the Adversary. Where a mindflayer is created that maintains the memories and personality of its host. But gains all of their powers and knowledge. It seems like they were trying to go that route with The Emperor somewhat.

TJT said:

Ending of the game is one of it's weakest points IMO.

Click to expand...

They almost always are, unfortunately