Candyfloss & Dreams

Tag: D&D

  • Balders Gate 3 – The Dark Urge Playthrough

    Balders Gate 3 – The Dark Urge Playthrough

    Committing myself to evil atrocities in my second full playthrough as The Dark Urge origin character was pretty fun and something I really recommend for a second playthrough. I also used it as a chance to do things I had missed out on in my first playthrough of Balders Gate 3 where I did mostly play a good character. Now I’m considering could I actually try and play in a harder difficulty and see just what else I’ve missed because honestly I’m pretty sure there is a lot. This will contain plot spoilers for Balders Gate 3 and some choices I made for companion quests.

    My Dark Urge Character

    The Dark Urge is a really interesting way to play Balders Gate 3 as it adds such an interesting origin story. I wanted to commit to an evil playthrough to see some different choices not only for my own character but how much I could corrupt my companions too. Having already played through Balders Gate 3 and completing the game, as well as reading the PSN trophy list I did know where that was going to go but the ride along the way was very fun and had some unexpected surprises. I really liked that the character still had a choice to try and repress their evil nature but I completely basked in the blood of my enemies, and friends in some cases. Ending the game in the name of Bhaal, the god of murder and seeing my character sitting there in Orin’s clothes on a throne watching the world end was pretty glorious.

    I mean, she looks pretty evil. Both playthroughs I’ve completed now have been playing a magic caster, first as a warlock and this time I was a sorcerer. The wild magic surges certainly added to the chaos from time to time which was sometimes to my benefit but not always. I am pretty sure I put all 12 levels into sorcerer as well but I’m pretty interested in trying a multiclass build to see how that works out. I did this playthrough as a Lolth-Sworn Drow as I thought it would give me an edge with intimidation checks and helped me pass through some encounters without combat.

    Corrupting Companions to do Evil Things

    My party for most of the playthrough was Astarion as a Rogue Assassin, Shadowheart as a Life Domain Cleric and Lae’zel as a Battlemaster Fighter. I did switch in Minthara for a lot of Act 2 because she seemed pretty at home in the Shadowcursed lands and felt for story reasons she was a great choice. However, in my first playthrough of BG3 I accidentally shot and killed Lae’zel early on and missed all of the Githyanki plot so I wanted to do that this time around. Will left the party after the raid on the emerald grove and Karlach attacked me on sight for my atrocities. Gale was there. I did use him a little bit but as I was playing a magic character I didn’t have much need for him but I did see more of his companion quest this time around which I kind of failed to do previously. This playthrough I had Astarion commit to becoming an Ascended vampire and Shadowheart become a Dark Justiciar. It was pretty brutal but actually made some combat encounters a lot easier than on a good playthrough. I’d like to say some of that is because I learned a lot in my first playthrough of BG3 and kind of know what I’m doing now but it also helps that I wasn’t completely and utterly outnumbered. I did do one redeeming thing though and that is to pet the dog.

    How Would I Play Again?

    Balders Gate 3 has a lot of replayability value because you can’t see everything in one playthrough and because there are some interactions you can get locked out off based on if you’re good or evil. Or you end up making mistakes, and there are plenty of options to make mistakes, and so can’t see certain things through to the end. There is so much content available in Balders Gate 3 that makes playing a second or third playthrough desirable with more challenging difficulties, different classes to try and play and character companion quests to enjoy. Not to mention the opportunity to play as an Origin character and see how things are different in comparison to how they are as a companion.

    I think if I were to play again I would probably go for a ‘good’ character approach again and try completing some of the quests I’ve still not managed to solve. I would like to try and complete the game on tactician difficulty although it’s a little intimidating but now I kind of know what I’m doing, what I can get away with and how to make things more challenging or easier on myself I feel I would be able to do most of a playthrough in this mode. There are some legendary weapons, gear and items I’d like to try and get. I think if I were to play again I’d try playing a physical class more than a magic one. I did start a ranger character playthrough but I feel like I’ve made too many mistakes on that one or missed way too much to be able to make the most of the playthrough. I’ve tried to learn more about D&D in general too which has helped me understand some of the rules a bit better like advantage, concentration spells and just how much you should/can do between each long rest as well as how character stats work.

  • 125 Hours of Balders Gate 3

    125 Hours of Balders Gate 3

    Spoilers below for the RPG video game by Larian Studios Balders Gate 3 based on Dungeons & Dragons.

    Balders Gate 3 is an incredibly good game and worth putting in the long hours to get to the end of the story. I finished a complete play through last night which was the second campaign I started after kind of messing things up on my first campaign and deciding to start again. I have since gone back to my original campaign knowing more, being able to play better and to see if I can still make it through to the end despite some poor bad choices I made at the start. Because ultimately, this is what the game is about – it’s about choices and seeing through their consequences.

    Tiefling female from Balders Gate 3 in the Spidersilk armour

    For my complete playthrough my campaign was mostly that of a good character, or that of the hero. I tried to save as many people as I could which largely benefitted me towards the end. In Act Three the main scenario is to gather your allies and I had a lot of allies to talk to or finish quests with which ultimately lead to a huge number of support in the final battles. I was locked out of some quests because I killed Lae’zel at the point you can free her after the Nautiloid ship crashes. My character was a Mephistopheles Tiefling Warlock which made Kagha changed her ways, saved most of the other Tieflings, killed all the Goblin leaders, stole a Githyanki egg from their creche, lifted the Shadowcurse from the land, saved the Nightsong and so on. All those kind of ‘good’ character choices. I romanced a few characters with permission from my romantic lead choice and finished a lot of the companion quests. I ended the game with Karlach as my love.

    Original character and Karlach from Balders Gate 3 sharing an intimate conversation during camp night

    Balders Gate 3 was a really fun game but there’s so much to do it felt really overwhelming at times. A lot of quests are kind of stopped by certain perception checks and so on or, in my first campaign, seeing that I was limiting myself by making non-committal choices. That actually ended up with a lot of mistakes being made and not really doing very well in general whilst playing however I’ve learned a lot and I don’t think my first campaign is completely beyond hope now I know more of what is to come. I also know that now I’ve made all the ‘good’ choices I feel I can be a bit more direct with my own dialogue options as my first character I created was a Lolth-Sworn Drow, or a dark elf, Ranger and now I have seen more gameplay I am convinced I can fix it and still see the game through to completion however I have a lot of fun options ahead of me.

    the start of a Dark Urge play as a dark elf, or lolth-sworn drow wild magic sorcerer will be fun
    I have started a Dark Urge playthrough once I realized you could still change your character’s customization and job but it just gave you a dark, bloodthirsty backstory. It’s recommended as either a completely dark, evil character or as a redemption arc character.

    I really loved the vibrancy of Balders Gate 3 from the colourful appearance choices during character creation to the world map in all three acts. Although Act 2 is more on the dark and gloomy side it was still darkly enchanting. Each act sets up the scene really well and further dramatizes the choices the character needs to make. I actually can’t wait to go back through the game and make some of the darker choices to see how things play out that way not to mention being really interested in all of the other jobs and the ability to multi-class sounds kind of fun. I want to finish the original campaign I started but I am very drawn to the Dark Urge origin character especially knowing that you can, if you wish, choose to become an Unholy Assassin which I kind of really want to do to see how things play out that way.

    a cat from Moonrise Towers in Balders Gate 3
    There are a lot of animals to pet or speak with if you have the ‘Speak with Animals’ spell or potion activated. As a ranger I felt communicating with animals would add to the roleplay experience.

    As a warlock character that eventually…transformed…I felt pretty powerful during my final confrontations and had a lot of powerful spells at my disposal. Some of those big kill everything spells are excellent and really turn the tides in your favour when fighting a huge number of enemies which I found pretty fun. They made what seemed like it was going to be a very challenging, difficult fight into something much more manageable. That’s something I feel I can take into further campaigns or playthroughs.

    The combat in Balders Gate 3 did take me a very long time to get used to and I found it challenging but once I understood things a bit more I felt like I could play better and took more advantage of my environment. Having speed potions, haste spells, misty step, dimension door and equipment like boots of speed or permanent stat buffs like longstrider made a huge difference and something I really took advantage of. At first I saw those kind of things as limiting your actions from hitting and killing things but actually sometimes you really need the movement. And when you get further along in the playthrough and have access to multi-hit actions combat and movement in a turn become possible. Buying potions and using them tactically, particularly the ones that stay on you until your next long rest are very handy to have. Some of these you can make yourself if you forage around for alchemy supplies which saves you some gold but resources are limited. Looting bodies for potions is another great way to give you an advantage. Stealth can also be really beneficial, although I am not someone that usually plays in stealth mode as I’m not very good at being stealthy. The game is largely strategy based and a player that takes their time with things is going to find it particularly enjoyable.

    Balders Gate 3 partial ilithid character
    Just before closing in on the final battle of Act 3

    The story is really compelling and some of the companion quests I did manage to complete did make me shed a few tears in the end. The narration throughout the story is great and immersive and reflects upon choices you’ve made. The romance options are a lot of fun and much more adult than I was expecting but then I suppose in a game where you can choose your genitalia why not have it on show at points during the game. I also found out that by pressing Triangle you could toggle your armour display on or off. You’d still be wearing it but you’d be walking around in your camp clothes instead, or, at one point I was just walking around in the city in new underwear I’d purchased for my character. I’ve always enjoyed RPG’s and Balders Gate 3 is quite unlike any other RPG I’ve played with such a unique combat system and having to pass charisma or deception checks during dialogue options or things don’t quite go your way. Adding advantage to your rolls throughout by certain gear, spells, potions or race choice really adds to that roleplaying factor and made it a lot of fun to play.

    Balders Gate 3 is incredibly fun and really rewarding RPG. I can’t wait to see the rest of the options I missed out and thing the replayability of the game makes it well worth starting various campaigns. I am really excited about the prospect of completeing a dark urge playthrough. After all, there are still trophies to be gained…