BG3: Starting Act 2
Aug. 19th, 2023 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrPartway through this post I thought to check, and my total playtime is 35.8 hours, while this specific save is at 28.75 hours. I haven't replayed any really large sections of the game, but I guess all the little replayed parts add up. (EDIT: Lol, and then I spent roughly a million years on one fight)
Act 2 is definitely harder than Act 1, in the end I gave up and installed cheats. Specifically, Wemod, which took me a little while to figure out: you start running the game, then press the windows button or whatever to change tasks, turn on Wemod, and then go back to the game. Then you press whatever hotkey activates the cheat you want.
I like "unlimited actions" since it just affects the specific fight I'm in. Though I quickly realised you should only toggle it on for YOUR turn, or the enemies get unlimited actions too, which was Less Helpful.
Masterpost
Can't remember if I mentioned but Halsin has been going on CONSTANTLY about how deadly the Shadow Curse in the Shadow Lands is, I spent some time unsuccessfully trying to fix the broken protective lantern and now am just wandering around this barren grey landscape feeling nervy.
Unlike the Underdark it's not full of monsters and exploding plants but is instead quiet and empty, there's ash in the air and all the trees are dead. I was thus pretty wary when I stumbled across an old man near the entrance saying he was looking for Gale, but Tav's trusting nature won out and turns out he is genuinely an old friend.
An old friend with a message from Gale's ex, the goddess Mystra, that Gale can earn her forgiveness for accidentally swallowing a magic black hole by finding the source of the Absolute's power and EXPLODING HIMSELF AS A MAGIC BOMB.
The friend is sadly accepting of the necessity, Gale is wryly accepting and sees it as penance, and everyone else in camp is VERY ANGRY ON HIS BEHALF. Even the evil leaning characters, it's really sweet!
Lae'zel is all "His goddess sucks, our goddess actually CARES about her people >:(". I was wondering if Shadowheart would say something similar given that her goddess...doesn't, but instead she just says "It seems a waste :(". Even Astarion says "What a waste of a good cult! Also a waste of a good Gale, I suppose", which is pretty sweet by his standards.
And of course Tav is DETERMINED to save him. I was sorta shipping Gale and Mystra getting back together but NOT ANY MORE.
Shadowheart notices she's not as affected by the Shadow Curse and is all "Is this...proof Shar loves me? It must be!" in this sad little girl voice. I am saving BOTH of these people from their shitty goddesses. Lae'zel too if I ever get past that battle >.>
I don't think I have the stomach to play a character who fully leans into the cult leader potential of having a brainworm but doing so with Astarion cheering you on would definitely be something.
Oh also, I forgot to say before, but one uncomfortable aspect of the Evil Dwarf Slavers was that they all have dark blue skin. Which I'm sure is an existing worldbuilding choice the game makers are working around, and the enslaved gnomes are a mix of blue-ish shades while the drow was relatively pale, but the optics still aren't great. Not sure how the only black companion, Wyll, being transformed into a horned monster fits in with the tropes around that sort of thing, since he still mainly looks like a black human, just with horns.
Just as I was wondering if the Shadow Curse was going to have any gameplay effect or just be a plot thing, we stumbled across a group of harpers, one of whom was dragged into the shadows by a misty black creature and came back Wrong. A battle versus him and other shadow creatures ensued, partway through which my party started freaking out unless they were near light. Nnng.
Afterwards the surviving harpers gave directions to a nearby refuge and I walked there directly, making sure everyone was holding torches.
This marks the point where I finally got sick of the base music and put on the radio. Which is actually a big compliment to the effective but unobtrusive soundtrack, I usually get sick of repeating game music very quickly, I just need a bit of energising today to keep my brain awake.
haha I updated a few bits of this post with the menu screen open, the combo of portentous Fantasy Music and the punk song on the radio was certainly interesting.
OX UPDATE: STRANGE OX SPOTTED IN THE BARN. I failed a perception check on it and it told me I was unworthy :( The other ox was happy about the new friend though. I will uncover the Ox Secrets, just watch me! I also met a snooty cat called His Highness who was VERY OFFENDED at the idea of joining my camp, and told me the camp cleric is a liar: she promised milk and NO MILK HAS APPEARED.
The same barn has the tiefling blacksmith from the druid camp, now working with the harpers, and happy to both work on fixing Karlach's heart and make cool armour from special metal I apparently picked up on my journey.
I came across one of the little con artist tiefling kids from the druid camp, not sure I mentioned them before. They're adorable little scamps, even if they keep trying to steal from me, and were very appreciative of me saving a few kids' lives. He's selling things like "a ring of being very invisible" (no effects) and "fishing rod of alertness, wielder cannot be surprised, unless something unexpected happens". He also gets really excited at meeting Karlach, who takes his failed attempts to scam her with good cheer. Apparently these kids were in Avernus and saw the Blood War? Poor things.
Oh no half the tieflings got captured by followers of the Absolute D: I hope I do a better job of saving them than I did the gnomes...
Tiefling: The cultists killed Asharak when he tried to calm the children ;_;
Me, finger hovering over "which one was Asharak again?": Oh no!
Afaict more would be dead if I hadn't successfully persuaded a wizard tiefling to stay and protect them right near the start of the game. But now he's at the bar demanding the child bartenders help him drown his sorrows, because his siblings are amongst the captured group.
Looks like the Absolute's forces are being lead by an undead Shar-worshipping Dark Justiciar, who was killed during a war a century ago on this spot, harpers and druids vs Shar worshippers. There's been lots of signs of dead Shar worshippers and abandoned Shar temples on the journey here, if the Absolute is related to Shar this is going to be Awkward.
Everyone implies the Shadow Curse was created by Shar, I think I missed that explanation whenever it happened.
I went to talk to the next main quest person, Isobel. She's a cleric of Shar's enemy, the moon goddess Selene, and is the one keeping this refuge safe from the Shadow Curse. Shadowheart was very uncomfortable with getting a Selune blessing to protect from the Shadow Curse but I don't see Shar giving us one. And then the conversation triggered a battle before I'd rested after the last one /o\
So I rested my party and two very important things happened:
1) Wyll's patron showed up demanding he save some devil, and with some save scumming I got her to agree to breaking his contract if he succeeds. He and Karlach both had their doubts about this actually happening based on their experiences with devils.
2) SCRATCH THE DOG ARRIVED :D :D I gave him pats :D The game wouldn't let me actually talk to him though, just give pats. Well, I'm sure he knows he's welcome.
AHHHH SO
I decided to explore the camp some more before trying the battle again. I talked to a bunch of endearing characters and got some inspiration by being nice to them.
One I started the battle, I wasn't doing too badly, but then the chief bad guy kidnapped Isobel and flew away... and EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE REFUGE TURNED INTO AN EVIL TREE TRYING TO KILL ME D: D:
GAME STOP MAKING ME KILL CHILDREN
NOPE
NOPE
I looked up the guide I'd been reading and it just said "this battle isn't very hard"????? And then STOPPED???
SO MAYBE I'LL GO DO SOME OTHER SIDEQUESTS FOR A BIT. TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH AUNTIE ETHEL OR SOMETHING.
But there must be some way to stop Isabel being kidnapped this is just too dark.
*googles*
Ok I found a guide to saving her looks like there's a lot of luck involved but also I just gotta concentrate on keeping up Isobel's hit points and killing the head bad guy. Even if you don’t like “save-scumming,” you might dislike the outcome of this fight even more if it goes bad. YEP. THAT'S ME.
Also I might be slightly underleveled, my characters are level 5 and I noticed the NPCs here being level 6. And the other guide mentioned how to finish the sidequest with the mindflayer scientist, which sounds enjoyably low stakes.
*does some side quests*
*follows that article's advice*
*fails to save Isabel OVER AND OVER AGAIN*
WELP
TIME TO DOWNLOAD SOME CHEATS
I settled on one which gives unlimited actions, that way I can toggle it on for especially difficult fights and not make the rest of the game easier. Because I like losing sometimes, when it's interesting. But this was a bit too ~interesting for me.
Once she's saved, Isobel talks about how Shar and Selune are sisters ever at war, but Shar is very clearly the evil one and as a Selune cleric Isobel naturally is going to fix this evil that Shar has brought upon the world. Shadowheart didn't say anything but I imagine she feels a mite awkward.
I have now played for 40 hours, but only progressed the plot by 2 hours, which implies I spent TWO AND A HALF HOURS on that damn fight, though there was probably some other stuff I redid in there.
And then I started exploring the area beyond the refuge and was ambushed by a whole bunch of monsters and died so I think I am DONE for the evening.
One of the sidequests I did before was starting to recruit Halsin, I hadn't realised that was an option! The next part of that quest involves going further into the Shadow lands, definitely a task for tomorrow.
Act 2 is definitely harder than Act 1, in the end I gave up and installed cheats. Specifically, Wemod, which took me a little while to figure out: you start running the game, then press the windows button or whatever to change tasks, turn on Wemod, and then go back to the game. Then you press whatever hotkey activates the cheat you want.
I like "unlimited actions" since it just affects the specific fight I'm in. Though I quickly realised you should only toggle it on for YOUR turn, or the enemies get unlimited actions too, which was Less Helpful.
Masterpost
Can't remember if I mentioned but Halsin has been going on CONSTANTLY about how deadly the Shadow Curse in the Shadow Lands is, I spent some time unsuccessfully trying to fix the broken protective lantern and now am just wandering around this barren grey landscape feeling nervy.
Unlike the Underdark it's not full of monsters and exploding plants but is instead quiet and empty, there's ash in the air and all the trees are dead. I was thus pretty wary when I stumbled across an old man near the entrance saying he was looking for Gale, but Tav's trusting nature won out and turns out he is genuinely an old friend.
An old friend with a message from Gale's ex, the goddess Mystra, that Gale can earn her forgiveness for accidentally swallowing a magic black hole by finding the source of the Absolute's power and EXPLODING HIMSELF AS A MAGIC BOMB.
The friend is sadly accepting of the necessity, Gale is wryly accepting and sees it as penance, and everyone else in camp is VERY ANGRY ON HIS BEHALF. Even the evil leaning characters, it's really sweet!
Lae'zel is all "His goddess sucks, our goddess actually CARES about her people >:(". I was wondering if Shadowheart would say something similar given that her goddess...doesn't, but instead she just says "It seems a waste :(". Even Astarion says "What a waste of a good cult! Also a waste of a good Gale, I suppose", which is pretty sweet by his standards.
And of course Tav is DETERMINED to save him. I was sorta shipping Gale and Mystra getting back together but NOT ANY MORE.
Shadowheart notices she's not as affected by the Shadow Curse and is all "Is this...proof Shar loves me? It must be!" in this sad little girl voice. I am saving BOTH of these people from their shitty goddesses. Lae'zel too if I ever get past that battle >.>
I don't think I have the stomach to play a character who fully leans into the cult leader potential of having a brainworm but doing so with Astarion cheering you on would definitely be something.
Oh also, I forgot to say before, but one uncomfortable aspect of the Evil Dwarf Slavers was that they all have dark blue skin. Which I'm sure is an existing worldbuilding choice the game makers are working around, and the enslaved gnomes are a mix of blue-ish shades while the drow was relatively pale, but the optics still aren't great. Not sure how the only black companion, Wyll, being transformed into a horned monster fits in with the tropes around that sort of thing, since he still mainly looks like a black human, just with horns.
Just as I was wondering if the Shadow Curse was going to have any gameplay effect or just be a plot thing, we stumbled across a group of harpers, one of whom was dragged into the shadows by a misty black creature and came back Wrong. A battle versus him and other shadow creatures ensued, partway through which my party started freaking out unless they were near light. Nnng.
Afterwards the surviving harpers gave directions to a nearby refuge and I walked there directly, making sure everyone was holding torches.
This marks the point where I finally got sick of the base music and put on the radio. Which is actually a big compliment to the effective but unobtrusive soundtrack, I usually get sick of repeating game music very quickly, I just need a bit of energising today to keep my brain awake.
haha I updated a few bits of this post with the menu screen open, the combo of portentous Fantasy Music and the punk song on the radio was certainly interesting.
OX UPDATE: STRANGE OX SPOTTED IN THE BARN. I failed a perception check on it and it told me I was unworthy :( The other ox was happy about the new friend though. I will uncover the Ox Secrets, just watch me! I also met a snooty cat called His Highness who was VERY OFFENDED at the idea of joining my camp, and told me the camp cleric is a liar: she promised milk and NO MILK HAS APPEARED.
The same barn has the tiefling blacksmith from the druid camp, now working with the harpers, and happy to both work on fixing Karlach's heart and make cool armour from special metal I apparently picked up on my journey.
I came across one of the little con artist tiefling kids from the druid camp, not sure I mentioned them before. They're adorable little scamps, even if they keep trying to steal from me, and were very appreciative of me saving a few kids' lives. He's selling things like "a ring of being very invisible" (no effects) and "fishing rod of alertness, wielder cannot be surprised, unless something unexpected happens". He also gets really excited at meeting Karlach, who takes his failed attempts to scam her with good cheer. Apparently these kids were in Avernus and saw the Blood War? Poor things.
Oh no half the tieflings got captured by followers of the Absolute D: I hope I do a better job of saving them than I did the gnomes...
Tiefling: The cultists killed Asharak when he tried to calm the children ;_;
Me, finger hovering over "which one was Asharak again?": Oh no!
Afaict more would be dead if I hadn't successfully persuaded a wizard tiefling to stay and protect them right near the start of the game. But now he's at the bar demanding the child bartenders help him drown his sorrows, because his siblings are amongst the captured group.
Looks like the Absolute's forces are being lead by an undead Shar-worshipping Dark Justiciar, who was killed during a war a century ago on this spot, harpers and druids vs Shar worshippers. There's been lots of signs of dead Shar worshippers and abandoned Shar temples on the journey here, if the Absolute is related to Shar this is going to be Awkward.
Everyone implies the Shadow Curse was created by Shar, I think I missed that explanation whenever it happened.
I went to talk to the next main quest person, Isobel. She's a cleric of Shar's enemy, the moon goddess Selene, and is the one keeping this refuge safe from the Shadow Curse. Shadowheart was very uncomfortable with getting a Selune blessing to protect from the Shadow Curse but I don't see Shar giving us one. And then the conversation triggered a battle before I'd rested after the last one /o\
So I rested my party and two very important things happened:
1) Wyll's patron showed up demanding he save some devil, and with some save scumming I got her to agree to breaking his contract if he succeeds. He and Karlach both had their doubts about this actually happening based on their experiences with devils.
2) SCRATCH THE DOG ARRIVED :D :D I gave him pats :D The game wouldn't let me actually talk to him though, just give pats. Well, I'm sure he knows he's welcome.
AHHHH SO
I decided to explore the camp some more before trying the battle again. I talked to a bunch of endearing characters and got some inspiration by being nice to them.
One I started the battle, I wasn't doing too badly, but then the chief bad guy kidnapped Isobel and flew away... and EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE REFUGE TURNED INTO AN EVIL TREE TRYING TO KILL ME D: D:
GAME STOP MAKING ME KILL CHILDREN
NOPE
NOPE
I looked up the guide I'd been reading and it just said "this battle isn't very hard"????? And then STOPPED???
SO MAYBE I'LL GO DO SOME OTHER SIDEQUESTS FOR A BIT. TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH AUNTIE ETHEL OR SOMETHING.
But there must be some way to stop Isabel being kidnapped this is just too dark.
*googles*
Ok I found a guide to saving her looks like there's a lot of luck involved but also I just gotta concentrate on keeping up Isobel's hit points and killing the head bad guy. Even if you don’t like “save-scumming,” you might dislike the outcome of this fight even more if it goes bad. YEP. THAT'S ME.
Also I might be slightly underleveled, my characters are level 5 and I noticed the NPCs here being level 6. And the other guide mentioned how to finish the sidequest with the mindflayer scientist, which sounds enjoyably low stakes.
*does some side quests*
*follows that article's advice*
*fails to save Isabel OVER AND OVER AGAIN*
WELP
TIME TO DOWNLOAD SOME CHEATS
I settled on one which gives unlimited actions, that way I can toggle it on for especially difficult fights and not make the rest of the game easier. Because I like losing sometimes, when it's interesting. But this was a bit too ~interesting for me.
Once she's saved, Isobel talks about how Shar and Selune are sisters ever at war, but Shar is very clearly the evil one and as a Selune cleric Isobel naturally is going to fix this evil that Shar has brought upon the world. Shadowheart didn't say anything but I imagine she feels a mite awkward.
I have now played for 40 hours, but only progressed the plot by 2 hours, which implies I spent TWO AND A HALF HOURS on that damn fight, though there was probably some other stuff I redid in there.
And then I started exploring the area beyond the refuge and was ambushed by a whole bunch of monsters and died so I think I am DONE for the evening.
One of the sidequests I did before was starting to recruit Halsin, I hadn't realised that was an option! The next part of that quest involves going further into the Shadow lands, definitely a task for tomorrow.
