#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3

[motheatenscarf]

I'm a notoriously slow RPG player and have had kind of a busy day besides, but I have made it as far as the Grove and doing most of the side quests there, and man, they've changed a LOT from early access!

I like Gale a LOT more this time around, they really toned down his superiority complex, he seems more excited to explain things because he's special interest infodumping, rather than like, lecturing you because you're stupid and you need someone to explain these very simple things to you.

I also like that they shortened up the Nautoloid section in the tutorial, they messed up the ship a lot more and cut out the thralls running the cannons. Really added to the stakes that you had to RUN to the bridge.

The camp clothes are adorable and apparently because I was an Early Access player, I got the digital deluxe version for free! So I got lots of fun DOS2 themed clothes and gear and whatnot. Look how cute Rose looks in it!

Things I'm less sure on are Wyll's recast and retooled story. I think it's very compelling to make his goal a conflicting one with one of the other origin characters/companions, but it makes him less personally endearing for him not to care as much about the tieflings in the Grove. The new VA is great, he does sound like nobility this time around, less cocky and self aggrandizing, but I also liked how forced and put-on his bluster felt. You really got the impression before that nobody bought his hype, least of all himself as the man selling it. Idk. I guess I have to put that version of Wyll out of my mind because he seems like a VERY different character now.

I googled why the VA was recast, wondering if he'd gotten canceled for something or other, but apparently they completely reworked Wyll because he just "wasn't connecting with players." Which... is disappointing for a number of reasons.

I'm not very far in, but I'm already wishing they'd just stuck to their guns because we all

KNOW

WHY

players were having a "hard time" """"connecting"""" to Wyll over any of the other characters, and it had nothing to do with his story or his VA. He worked fine as a character, he was internally consistent with plenty of plot hooks into the main narrative with an overarching mystery that would be solved by progressing his story. I'm sure this new version will work too, and he's far from the only character they've retooled personality-wise.

Shadowheart was kinda snide and hostile at first, now she's almost playful if still secretive. Gale was arrogant and condescending, now he's eccentric and excitable. Even Astarian who started out much more overtly salacious and cruel has been toned down to just, general hedonism and selfishness. Lae'zel has always been Lae'zel tho lol.

So like. Idk, I want to take it in good faith that Wyll's actual story has been the most noticeably retooled since his was the most complete narrative we got out of Act 1 from early access, but also, I can't NOT be suspicious when I've seen it happen so many times where devs will "rework" a black character who isn't "connecting" with fans.

#Caitlin Plays BG3 #Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 spoilers

[motheatenscarf]

Okay, the tags to blacklist are the usual;

Caitlin Plays BG3

Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3

BG3 spoilers

I've got a minimum of 3 playthroughs planned for this game, I'm not sure right now if I'm just gonna devour all of them one right after the other or if I'm gonna space them out, but I'm gonna be starting with my tiefling bard, Rose!

#Caitlin Plays BG3 #Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #Rose Thorne #the character creator got even better my only wish was that it had bigger flouncier hair but i get that that's gonna make like #any gear impossible so this is fine she's having a flat hair day

[motheatenscarf]

I know BG3 is out and it's new and I want to play it and have wanted to play it for almost 3 years now, but god, I am still in such FFXIV mode.

My D&D group is even meeting back up again soon, and like. I gotta stat up my guy! I gotta write out a quick backstory and character sheet for him! I have it all in my head, but my DM isn't a telepath, I gotta put this shit to paper, but every time I have a creative thought in my brain anymore it's all ffxiv related.

I still need to do Pandaemonium raids and a bunch of other blue quests and unlocks and there's so many side quests and FATEs and roulettes and I want to make an alt for G'raha and do a new game + for Talia and I've finally made enough gil that I can buy a HOUSE, and...!!!

there's too much to do

but I also want to play like at least 3 different runs of BG3, I want my bard, I want my ranger, and I want to try out this new custom origin on the Dark Urge, and, AAAH!

there's too many games, there's not enough time, my cup runneth over, i've gone from terminal anhedonia to a cornucopia of good RPGs like, OVERNIGHT

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #Caitlin Plays FF14 #Caitlin Plays D&D

[motheatenscarf]

I've gone on the record here and elsewhere that I don't especially want any more companions than the ones we already have in BG3, and have especially mentioned that I don't really care about Minsc. I'm kind of annoyed by association because everyone makes reference to his hamster in every Bioware game and like, yes, we get it, people like this character. Even if I had played the first 2 BG games (which I haven't, enormous casts of characters intimidate me, there's a reason I love ff6 but am NEVER replaying it), I'm a fan of letting characters rest and not needlessly shoe-horning in fan favorites just to drum up attention for a game.

Like, I love Varric, he's maybe my favorite character in DA2 (they're all great, it's hard to pick), and I know he's a lot of other peoples' too! Which is why they brought him into Inquisition, even if you could feel his frustration for the entire first act because why the hell was he here? What was there for him even to do? And I'm worried he'll have even LESS to do in Dreadwolf, so I'm kinda conflicted.

And then when BG3 announce Paladins, they announce that Matt Mercer is gonna be voicing Minsc. ...

Well played, Sven.

Well played.

#FINE i will recruit minsc and take him places you have through like 4 degrees of separation #given everyone who owns the game a very roundabout way of playing D&D with matt mercer #you fuckers #you evil conniving motherfuckers #Caitlin Plays BG3 #Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3

[motheatenscarf]

That’s it, that’s the game. [x]

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers #i love them all but i REALLY love my shifty fuckin elf squad #Shadowheart #Astarion #BG3 #Aashi Singh #since this apparently needs to be said bcs ppl keep showin their ass in the notifications i'm getting #this is from a place of LOVE for the BOTH of them #shadowheart and her shady fuckin backstory are valid and i love and support her and WILL make her love my ranger #astarion is THE WORST and i LOVE HIM and will drag him kicking and screaming up to neutral good along with my ranger #after i prove my loyalty by cutting off cazador's face while he's still alive and then stapling it to my trophy wall #(look she's gotta work her way up to netural good too okay?)

[motheatenscarf]

I know Larian said they fixed it but Shadowheart’s kinkshaming is too powerful to be stopped, I don’t know how she knows, maybe the brainworm, just gives her a ping while she’s still at the party and she just has to go

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers #Astarion #Shadowheart

[motheatenscarf]

Is he the worst? Yes. 

Is he valid? Ehh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 #Astarion #Aashi 'Simultaneously Exhausted And Endeared By Astarion' Singh #Aashi Singh #my last shitpost went well so here have another

[motheatenscarf]

So, item 1. the Under Construction Mind Flayer is still there and I still love it, still hope it stays there forever, it’s perfect, because

Item 2. If this is any indication to go by, I really don’t want to see whatever the Mind Flayer is keeping me from seeing because I’ve already suffered psychic damage from this;

Let’s dissect this for a minute.

Exhibit A., Pussy out is not an acceptable fashion choice when you are sleeping bare ass naked on the forest floor! Why the fuck do you not have a blanket, or a bedroll, or... ANYTHING? 

Aashi, you are a RANGER, you know better than this and by now you also know  that Astarion is a useless city fop who cannot be relied upon to think of these things in advance. It is your only job in the party to ensure that everyone understands how wilderness safety works and you have failed step one and will be lucky not to become THE MEME.

Exhibit B., locked behind the tiddy ban, but you’ll just have to take my word for it, but pink nipples? Really? On HER complexion? Come on, Larian, you were so good about hair texture and skin color until this point.

and lastly, Exhibit C.) I haven’t changed my graphics settings since installing the game but maybe it’s just set to a very high brightness because Astarion standing there like this,

and not wanting to talk about the scars feels an awful lot like,

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers #Astarion #i know i'm like a week late #but all i've seen so far is people passing around gifsets with apparently dimmed down images of his scars #no one and nothing prepared me for the centipedes or the pink or the BRIGHTNESS #and it's my solemn duty as your local ace clown to make jokes about bad sex scenes

[motheatenscarf]

Uh. Whoops?

So me being chronically addicted to melee dps is both the cause of and solution to all of my BG3 problems.

You know the goblins at the Windmill? Well, I had Wyll with me this time, and he picked a fight with the goblin he needed to interrogate, but first made sure to say to leave the little bastard alive.

And I.... you know, I TRIED to do that, but Astarion was up first and he’s, frankly, busted, so I accidentally killed the fucker in one turn.

Except that meant the giant impossible mob wasn’t going to surrender so now it was a no holds barred fight to the death against 2 enemy clerics, a shit ton of archers with the high ground, and TWO wargs. 

And it was damn near a tpk. 

But then it wasn’t because Astarion’s busted build got me into this mess and goddamn if it wasn’t gonna get me out of it. God fucking bless Arcane Trickster. Two haste potions and one sleep spell later and my ranger and Astarion just shanked like 5 motherfuckers to death in 2 rounds.

(apologies for the weird gap, dogs were barking, had to investigate why and paused recording, barely remembered in time to restart it when I finally got back)

#i! love!! rogues!!! #Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #Caitlin Plays BG3 #BG3 Spoilers #gonna go ahead and also throw this in my #Astarion #tag which i know means it will also pop up in the main tag for which i apologize #i know y'all're there for the thirstposting which is valid #but i am a filthy degenerate ace gamer who is chronically addicted to melee dps and this is the sexiest goddamn thing to me #i never get to play rogues in D&D this is the only wan i can get it out of my system ;^; #and frankly no rogue i make in bg3 will be as fun to play as astarion is bcs they won't have the bite ability #goddamn +1 to all attacks and saves and checks AND leaves enemies bleeding #ANNNND it resets on a short rest? of which we now get TWO?! #which means he can benefit from this THREE TIMES A DAY?!!? #and with broodmother's revenge he can also get FREE poison damage and still somehow get sneak attack bonus even after he bites a motherfucke #imagine if he had a higher charisma and if swashbuckler was available as a subclass #he'd be unstoppable #nothing could kill him #the fucker could TANK #larian!!! larian open the other origins! stop having them be closed! i have IDEAS and i wanna STAB

[motheatenscarf]

I can’t wait for BG3 to open up multiclassing so I can just have Wyll take levels in bard. It’s so obvious he should be a bard. He has the charm and the ego and is just as clueless what to do with an actual sword despite wanting to be known a “The Blade of Frontiers.”

Even with a +1 rapier, the highest percentage chance I can get for him to hit with it is 65% from the front, 80% if he’s doing a backstab with Faerie Fire or Guiding Bolt. And that’s not BAD, but considering that actual martial classes like Astarion and Lae’zel can get 100% certainty to hit with those same circumstances, it’s obviously not ideal.

I love Wyll so so much, and he’s so much more useful now that I know he needs a fucking torch to see anywhere (the darkvision invocation doesn’t work and I run around on a half-elf with Shadowheart and Astarion as my other party members, I just assumed he was bad and didn’t notice it didn’t work until like, the fucking Underdark), but scrolls are expensive and he can’t benefit from the range of Eldritch Blast  because the torch’s light doesn’t go out that far and pbbbbbbbbbbbt.

There are lots of good items for healers in this game and they feel like they’re being wasted on Shadowheart because I’m addicted to Guiding Bolt and Inflict Wounds.

Wyll would make SUCH a good healing bard. Let me make him a bard, Larian. Let him be a good soft music boy with a well-earned ego and spells to heal the party and also because bards still have access to the Shatter spell which is All He Needs tbh.

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers #larian i'm better at 5e builds than u just let me into the bones of the game and unleash the full potential of astarion and wyll #would also like if divination was available as a subclass but only if u put in the luck feat because my god does gale need it #gale make any fucking death save ever challenge #or ideally make your fucking dex saves in the first place and STOP GETTING HIT

[motheatenscarf]

I still can’t believe the game just goes “Hey, remember when you fucked Astarion, the vampire who is incapable of keeping it on the dl that he’s a vampire? Funny that, you have a sudden hunger for blood.... ANYWAY, thanks for playing, that’s the end of early access, see you in a year when we release more of the game! :D”

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers

[motheatenscarf]

Watching more videos of shit I missed from BG3 and apparently the reason the game has you design your character’s own wet dream is because if you use the Illithid powers enough, you start changing into a mindflayer??

And it uses the form of your character’s deepest desire to try and tempt them into using the power MORE and to go forth and dominate the minds of others and conquer them. 

Which actually explains the theme of your companions all having horrifyingly toxic relationships, since I’m guessing that since you can play a campaign AS your companions, their dreams will reflect that. I’d put money on Wyll seeing Mizora, and Gale seeing Mystra, but the others I’m less certain of. If it doesn’t have to necessarily be sexual, I can see Shadowheart seeing Shar and earning her goddess’ approval, and Lae’zel similarly winning Vlakith’s favor and gaining the warrior’s honor she feels she deserves from her queen. Knowing Astarion it could literally be any hot person dtf and he’d probably fall for it, but if it’s gonna stay on theme then it’ll probably be Cazador which would be profoundly fucked up if true.

And like... I’m glad I had the presence of forethought to figure that out, since everyone kept calling the tadpole “dormant “and I figured using it would probably wake it up? And that would be bad. Also didn’t like the idea of Aashi coming to rely on a thing she had every intention of getting rid of asap, so she used her tadpole powers exactly ONCE in the goblin camp to push back against the hobgoblin leader from reading her thoughts or controlling her. She actually got to lead the interrogation of the dead mindflayer because of that, and was able to keep her presence hidden, so I guess if there was only one I could pick, I’m glad that was the one. 

I’m guessing it takes more than one, since she never had any dreams and never showed any symptoms of turning into an illithid. So, uh... GOOD JOB, AASHI! That high wisdom score coming in handy with being worldly enough to know not to touch that shit even once. Well, okay, fine, EXACTLY once.

A Hakim playthrough on the other hand, with his Wisdom of 9, will be full of him abusing that shit and I kinda want to see what happens now and if the game is like, LEGIT gonna turn you into a mindflayer for fucking around and finding out. 🙃

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers

[motheatenscarf]

I found my last companion and he is

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

WELCOME ABOARD, WYLL, you’re the first person I’m genuinely glad to see here, you’re good with kids and have a moral compass worth giving a shit about and your bravado is endearing, and you design is fuckin sick, you are extremely handsome, please accompany me everywhere forever.

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 spoilers

[motheatenscarf]

So I met some cultists on the road who apparently worship mindflayers, or people infected with mindlayer parasites, and they found out Aashi had a parasite and were desperate to earn her approval. So, I told them to go fight an owlbear hoping they’d just die and be somebody else’s problem.

But then I found the owlbear cave, and they were there, saying “With a True Soul on our side we’ll surely win!” as they raced ahead and then I felt bad. Not for them, for the owlbear. So I stealthed behind them and took em out before they engaged the big friend, but I figured while I was stealthed, I could poke around the cave and take a look at shit. 

And I found A BABY.

He’s the cutest goddamn thing, I love him, I want one, but his mom was definitely going to put up a fight and told me to FUCK RIGHT OFF. But, y’know. Stealth expert, and I saw there were dead bodies I wanted to loot, so I kept poking around and then I found an OWLBEAR EGG.

Anyway, long story short, uh, I somehow managed to pass every stealth check and the mom didn’t notice as Aashi ran out of the cave clutching a live owlbear egg to her chest, probably cackling and screaming “I STOLE THE BABY!” a-la the brownies from Willow.

So the mama’s probably gonna like, idk, follow us back to camp and gore us in our sleep looking for her missing egg, but I want to see if I can hatch it and raise it as my own because look at that sweet fluffy baby face, it’s full of love and murder and can you imagine the flex on the other rangers when I roll up with an OWLBEAR at my command???

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers #Aashi Singh #loser rangers only have bears and wolves aashi's gonna have a goddamn owlbear #and she's not even a beast-tamer!

[motheatenscarf]

Anyway, I’ve been thinking lately about how I would have tweaked Aashi’s backstory if I’d had even an extra week to work on it before Goblin Squad started and I guess now that BG3 is canon this is my excuse to work on that.... as a... coping mechanism for grieving her...

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #Caitlin Plays D&D #Goblin Squad D&D #Aashi Singh

[motheatenscarf]

Now that I’ve reached the actual end-end of Early Access, I’m going to review BG3 by the only metric that matters; 

Comparing the shenanigans I got into here with the shenanigans I got into with the same character in my actual D&D game!

So here we go. Things that happened in BG3 that also happened to Goblin Squad in our homebrew campaign;

the characters all begin the story on a ship which crashes and strands them on an unfamiliar beach, forcing them to work together to survive

they meet a band of people who are also stranded and are hiding from a horde of goblins

these people are led by a tiefling who wants the gang’s help in getting everyone home

Aashi murders a fellow hunter in a swamp to protect a vampire she’s casually acquainted with

Aashi gave up her bread and butter for the sake of a party member because of her stupid sense of loyalty

I came up with a plan to sneak onto the roof of a barn and ambush an enemy only for the plan to go horribly wrong and nearly get everyone killed

the party played nice and lied to goblins to get into the heart of their stronghold only to corner the leader and have the (at that moment) strongest party member deal with him by going YEET

the party wound up being 3/4 some kind of elf at all times

the rogue was the first one to Actually Full On Die and not just go unconscious

Aashi killed the leader of a bunch of filth dwelling amphibians and convinced them that she keeps what she kills, thus becoming their leader, before robbing them blind and abdicating to leave them in leaderless chaos

a Singh woman gets drunk at a victory celebration and fucks an elf and winds up living with the consequences of it for the rest of her life.

It was a fun game and I like it a lot so far. Here’s hoping we get to see chapter 2 onward soon-ish, hopefully before Goblin Squad goes on hiatus again because this really scratched the itch that only comes from the chaos of D&D in a way few other single-player RPGs do, not even the Dragon Age games.

I love Dragon Age, I love my characters in Dragon Age, don’t get me wrong, but I played as Aashi for my recent Origins replay and it was kinda boring? It felt like an Aashi who was tweaked and adapted for someone else’s game, whereas this felt like someone had picked up my level 1 feral bounty hunter by the scruff of her neck and flung her into this world and she was reacting and failing accordingly. 

Hard to rate it when so much of the game is still buggy and unfinished, but the combat was REALLY fun, the characters are all very likable and entertaining, and the story is engaging with what seems like a lot of replay value. If you like D&D you’re gonna love this game, if you like RPGs you’re gonna love this game, it’s very loveable with a lot of personality.

I would change only one thing;

Please for the love of god, make Astarion take damage from eating garlic, sometimes I just need to hurt him from the awful things he says, but I don’t want to KILL HIM, I just wanna Pavlov him out of the Neutral Evil selfish dickhole zone, and so far there are no newspapers to swat him with, so this will have to suffice

#Caitlin Plays Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 Spoilers