Baldur's Gate III - Spoiler Edition (please read updated OP)

Thank you, both - very much looking forward to when this emerges from early access, then.

Noooooooooooooooo!

While I was doing some other things, I left the game running in the bkgd. However, the damage bug I mentioned in my previous post was still active. So when I got back to my game...

I genuinely forgot there was a MP side...

Fortunately, restarting the game sorted it out. I'm still wondering what kind of bug could have caused it in the first place... Early Access!

Made some decent progress over the last couple of days.

Made friends with the Zhents after rescuing them from the gnolls. They have a good vendor in their hideout. I'll rob them later when I get bored.

Later, I managed to talk our way out of the Gith fight (thankfully)...



Briefly went back to the Druid Grove to do some looing there. I noticed that in bird form, I was able to pick up the key and other items from the small bird's nest without it being considered "stealing". It is a bit annoying though that you suddenly find yourself encumbered because some animal forms are weaker strength-wise.



And being familiar with the encounters now I have to remind myself to take long rests to move the story progression along. But this competes with my wanting to be as efficient with my "uptime" as possible.



Next up was Ethel. I made sure to clear out all the hostiles in the swamp and her lair first before tackling her. Made sure I had all the right spells, yadda-yadda-yadda. But as it turns out, I over-prepared!

I stealthed everyone into position, lowered the cage, then let her have it. Lae'zel and Astarion brought the pain, then the Druid with the last little love-tap to make her submit. Didn't even need Gale. She was down before even having a chance to act.

See Swen, that's how it's done.



Then onto the Blighted Village. I carried a couple of exploding Gith tanks along with a number of firewine barrels just for this occasion.

You know why.

I also wanted to mention that Flaming Sphere is pretty fun if you can find a good hiding spot, then just roll the ball around killing your enemies. The sphere can't be harmed, and most don't even know to respond to it.

So I tried saving the gnome. Apparently some dialogue should be triggered when you come close, but every time I tried I entered battle immediatly. And that's a big ass group, I didn't want that.

So I looked for an other way. Found a spot where you can get behind the mill, without being spotted too if you wait until the doglooking thingy turns away. This took me waaaay more tries than I would like to admit, but ultimately I got everyone behind the mill. Excellent, let's press the button to stop the mill from spinning.

*characters move*
*cutscene for Shadowheart triggers
*high persuasion check, twice

I spent about half an hour reloading until I passed all the checks

So, finally, it was time for battle. My plan was to lure them one by one, using forced turn based mode at opportune times. Worked like a charm for the first one, but then I messed up and entered battle with the whole group.

Anyway, long story short: all this was entirely unnecassary. If you just kill the boss, the whole group surrenders. And the boss is like... right there when you run up to the group the 'normal' way.

I had good fun the whole 2 hours this lasted though

I just had that fight yesterday as well.

I did misremember the encounter though because I thought it started with a cutscene with the goblin boss. But no, it jumped right into combat the moment I approached. And while it took a moment, I did remember that all you needed to do was beat the boss down. Which was good because I didn't have anyone in position for that fight.

I think it start with a cutscene if you have Wyll in the party, as he wants to talk to the goblin leader.

I think you can guess how this story is going to unfold...



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