Baldurs gate 3 RELEASED IN SECRET!

[snoopy369]

Anyone know a good two player sword and sorcery type game? Does NWN work okay for two players? My GF and I would love to play a game like this or something similar two player (co-op), but not a shooter.

[Kuciwalker]

Not an RPG or anything like it, but Lego Star Wars is a fantastic coop game, especially for playing with a casual gamer.

[snoopy369]

Hmm, I actually got that for the PS2 but we haven't played it yet (we're more of PC gamers, we're giving the PS2 a shot but as expected end up not using it much). Thanks though, i'll bring it up again

[Standup]

Played The Witcher for an afternoon and so far it's been a very frustrating game. It's only the prologue but feels very much like M+M Dark Messiah - very linear, too many cut scenes and lots of wandering around until you find the right action or do them in the right order. The manual doesn't help much either.

As is said It's only the prologue/tutorial so I shouldn't judge it on this basis but a few things standout.

Combat. You have different combat styles which affect different enemies. This in itself is fine and used by many games i.e piercing object don't work well against skeletons. The Witcher, however, takes it a step further in that if you don;t use the right style then nothing happens. So far I've had to guess which enemies are affected by 'strong' and if nothing happens then switch styles. I think the game should at least let you attack but for less damage.

The first big boss combat was frustrating in that there was only one way to win and until you work it out you're not going anywhere. I'm not a big fan of games that railroad you down one route.

Then lots of running around trying to create potions but of course you have to speak to everyone in the correct order. With hindsight I it all seems obvious but I still wasted a lot of time.

The inventory, skills and hero screens are really cluttered although again as I get familiar that may improve.

and the camera is really frustrating. The graphics are very pretty but most of the objects are decorative. I guess I was hoping for something like Morrowind or Gothic with a bit more interactivity but once you've looted the obvious chest that's about it.

Plus points...well it's only the prologue. Voice acting is good and the plot so far is ok.

[Standup]

arghh! the cut scenes...will they never end?

To me a cut scene is to move the story along occasionally or as a reward for starting a new chapter or finishing a big event but here they're just getting in the way. It doesn't help that the dialogue is via a cut screen as well. It slows it down but also makes it easier to identify whether or not that person is relevant. Taking the dialogue out of it the experience so far has been quite disjointed especially as you can come out of a lengthy cut scene and straight into combat. Or even from one cut scene straight into another (although I guess technically that;s one scene! )

A few other things spoil the immersiveness. You can't jump over anything or even off 6 inch high walkways. So in areas like the village at the start you have to follow the paths all the way round the house rather than step up/off a few inches. Not in itself a big issue but it just adds to the feeling of being limited in options. The game it reminds me off most in structure is Fable although less twee.

I may sound as if I'm not enjoying it but I actually am. It's not, however, the game i was expecting reading previews and interviews. I guess I was hoping for something freeranging like Morrowind but with an actual RPG element like Fallout or Arcanum.

It's not, which is why it reminds me more of Fable where you go to an enclosed area, do all the quests, fight the big boss and then move on collecting your upgrades along the way.Repeat.

Oh and it doesn't seem to like Vista much. Several crashes which seem to be related to the way Vista handles memory or virtual memory.

[Apocalypse]

There is some type of patch for Vista apparently.

I'm to the first inn, so I haven't played all that much. Anyone who is far into the game have suggestions for places to put talent points in?

[Standup]

Installed the Microsoft hotfix although it didn't seem to help. The boards suggest disabling virtual memory which doesn't seem a great fix - a bit like Stalker suggesting disabling the second Core on dual core to stop the spawning problem.

I've been hording my talents as combat hasn't been that tough so far and I wasn't sure which way to go. So far I've added one to each of the characteristics and level one in all the Steel Swords. Haven't bothered with Silver yet as don't have one.

Haven't upgraded the Sign yet (aard) but mainly because I'm not dextrous enough in combat to make use of it. In the heat of the moment I keep forgetting about the pause

I've also been avoiding using whetstones and such like. I'm afraid I'm a horder.

One question though is how do you allocate the second and third potion hotkeys (7+8). I only have one slot in my inventory - does it justtake the next potion in line from the general inventory?

[snoopy369]

Definitely allocate some to the Aard; that is incredibly effective when you have too many enemies in front of you - just stun one, kill it in one blow, then move on ...

Also putting points to group swordsmanship is useful again in situations with many guys around you ...

[Standup]

Made a concerted attempt to make more use of the Aard and it was pretty useful during the Ghoul fight. Apart from fighting in the dark (haven't seen any torches anywhere) the steel sword doesn't seem to do much damage to them.

I'm still not convinced and everytime I see a good feature I then find somehting else to cancel it out. I really like the way that all the NPCs take shelter when it rains and talk about the weather. A small thing but makes the world all the better for it. A shame that I can happily loot people's houses with them sat there watching me.

I've also not seen anything that suggests replayability. While there are lots of skills to choose they're all pretty similar. I thought I was trying something different by putting points in herb ID but then someone offered me a book which seems to do that anyway.

I think I'm getting close to the end of chapter one and it feels that however I replayed it I would head into Chapter 2 with the same or very similar armour, weapons and inventory.

Still hopefully things will open up in chapter 2.

[Apocalypse]

Well, it seems similar to Planescape in terms of how important weapons/armor are.

I just go to chapter 2. I am level 11 and I have 4 bronze talents unspent. I am just not sure which enhancements to put them in for each fighting skill.

[Standup]

Still on chapter 2 and the detective storyline makes a nice change. I still feel like i'm on rails but it's less noticeable in the city. The dialogue trees seem very easy to break or sometimes it just fills in the gaps with things i didn't know I knew.

I've scratched a few people off the list and I'm now wandering the swamp to pass time while waiting for a night time appointment at the hospital. Collecting wolves and man eating plants. A cross dressing lumberjack who collects flowers - i think someone has been watching too many old comedy programmes!

I'm playing on Easy and so far there doesn't seem to be a shortage of talents to spend on skills.

But...Grandma...whoever thought that would be funny? Lets have a selection of random cut scenes most of which throw you out of the building on a game with huge loading times! Load house/leave/load city and repeat 5 times.

[mactbone]

You keep talking about the game being on rails and you've said that there doesn't seem to be any replayability - I've heard from others that the choices you make in quests really affect what happens in the future and that the consequences aren't always easy to spot. Would you disagree with those people?

Saying that the game's on rails I understand where you're coming from but if the game does have consequences that are meaningful it makes a certain amount of sense to plan your path so that you make a decision before you see the consequence. I think Fallout did the best job of letting you wander around with real consequences but if I had to choose between wandering anywhere at anytime and making meaningful choices I would want the choices.

[Quillan]

Some games give you the illusion of choice. I don't know how this works it, but I've heard that the choices provide only cosmetic consequences. I'm still waiting on a game where the choices you make change the game entirely, rather than giving you a different set of dialog or even a different set of conditions within the same story. Is this it?

[DrSpike]

Choice is overrated anyway.

[Apocalypse]

I wouldn't say it is on rails at all. Doing things differently, or even putting priorities differently and doing things in a different order can change things in ways other than cosmetically.