Baldur's Gate 3 launched earlier this month to player and critical acclaim. However, as players have begun to reach act 3, many are discovering that it's...a touch less polished than the first two acts.
I was fortunate enough to not run into any of the quest-breaking bugs. Had no issues doing what I wanted to do. What I did run into a lot was buggy scripting where dialogues assumed I had information I didn’t, so I wouldn’t know what my companions were talking about some of the time.
The bigger problem in my eyes is spells/items/class abilities/feats not working correctly and being outright non-functional in some cases. That’s going to be an enduring problem for replays, and it’s not encouraging to me that very little has been done on this since release.
I do think this game wouldn’t have scored as well as it did if so many publications didn’t rush to press with half a playthrough. In this particular case, I think the game–bugs and all–is still a strong GotY contender, but I really hope there’s a conversation being had in the professional games criticism sphere about how this practice could cause a scandal in the future.
As it is, I’m genuinely surprised the reviewers aren’t coming under fire more than they have for this. I come from an era where publishing a review without completing a game would have been unconscionable.
A couple minor broken ability examples: Mage Hand requires a short rest to recharge, which is fundamentally wrong for a cantrip, and Feather Fall is a bonus action instead of a reaction, making it useless for its primary purpose. These aren’t game-breaking, of course, but annoyances like this add up, and it never feels good to have chosen an ability that turns out not to work as it should.
One of the more problematic issues is stupid pathing logic, especially around known hazards: Party members absolutely love to spot traps, announce them, and then walk right into them. Sometimes it results in someone getting a minor injury. Other times it nearly wipes out the whole party.
mage hand requiring a short rest to resummon might be because you are using the gith racial?
Nope. Wizard and bard cantrips.
Since you mention it, though, I think the Gith’s psionic Mage Hand is a cantrip in 5e. Did it require a rest in some past edition?
Feather fall now is a ritual spell so you can cast it before combat and it will last all of combat. It’s just different from the tabletop game.
I’ll have to try that; thanks. It would still be an annoying extra step and wouldn’t cover surprise situations as the spell is intended, but would at least be more useful than it seemed.
In any case, it’s not just those two examples. The point is that a surprising number of little things like these are broken, either by departing from D&D rules in ways that don’t make sense or by just plain failing to do what their in-game descriptions say.
I have found one example of departing from 5e rules in a way that does make sense, though, so it’s not all bad.
I wouldn’t label things they changed compared to 5e rules as necessarily broken, unless the way they say it’s implemented doesn’t actually match what’s happening.
I picked half elf as race initially because I was used to the +2 +1 +1 spread they get, which isn’t the case in the game, or hypnotic pattern, which only lasts 2 turns instead of 10. Is the game broken? No, it’s just me assuming stuff will be 1 to 1 to the 5e rules. And it goes both ways, took me a bit to realize they don’t follow the spellcasting rules to a t, and you can cast leveled spells with both your action and your bonus action.
For the items, etc. the ones I can remember offhand are:
Boots of Stormy Clamour (applies Reverberation with conditions) - never seen it proc with any of the conditions I’ve tried. Meanwhile, Diadem of Arcane Synergy will (likely incorrectly) proc on damn near anything, even self-buffs.
Jhannyl’s Gloves (auto-cures Poison/Paralyze/Blindness) - hasn’t worked for me once. The +1 to saving throws is active though.
Goad (disadvantage on attacks, from Battle Master subclass) - either doesn’t work or is very inconsistent.
Uncanny Dodge (Rogue) - I think everyone that’s played a Rogue knows this one. It’s got a weird passive effect implementation that auto-disables a lot.
Chromatic Orb - having occasional issues getting Storm Sorcerer’s Heart of the Storm to proc with this. Still pinning this one down, if anyone else has run into it?
Lucky (feat) - doesn’t reroll incoming crits.
Polearm Master (feat) - I have no idea where the bonus action is. Either I’m blind or it’s just missing.
There’s also stuff on the plus side, like Titanstring Bow double dipping with Lightning Charges or, famously, Haste and Haste-like effects (Elixir of Bloodlust) granting second attacks on each additional action for lv. 5+ martial classes. It’s possible Larian just balanced it this way, but I don’t think so. It’s crazy broken.
all possible actions should show up on the K panel, I have dragged the “non-lethal toggle”, the eldritch blast push toggle and all of those the the actual bar to be able to juggle them.
These two don’t show up there unfortunately under normal circumstances. The first Horde Breaker attack shows up there, the follow-up doesn’t until the first has already been executed. The feat one doesn’t even have a similar indicator there. It’s kind of a weird implementation.
The High Harper quest start is bugged if you talk to the shopkeeper with Jaheira instead of your MC. You get the key but cannot get into the basement without making the shop staff hostile. If you go around through the balcony the bottom floor is empty.
Wyll’s dad thinks his son sold his soul to save him even though he chose to free himself from the contract.
Gale thinks I agreed to give Raphael the crown even though I unambiguously turned him down.
Gortash thinks I agreed to help him in his pre-battle speech with Karlach even though I did not.
Gortash has loot on him that is cut content “Ilithid Jar with Parasite”.
Targetting with AOE spells will sometimes just not attempt to hit enemies that are clearly in the circle and highlighted.
Chest of the mundane broke at start of Act three (fixed in first patch)
Returning weapons wont return if thrown while entering combat.
The rescued gnomes in the steel foundry keep getting mad at me for being there and starting the “you’re not allowed to be here” dialog when they spot me, despite being marked as allied with a green circle.
After the Steel Foundry conclusion Wulbren won’t acknowledge the fact that he’s no longer leader, and his model spawns on top of and clips through the leader of the other faction.
Various enemies will randomly take extremely long turns and do nothing.
Allied AI will walk through allied ground effects after combat and become hostile.
Dame Aylen flew to the bottom of the tower during the fight with Loroakkan and didn’t trigger her scene when the fight was over.
The conversation with Isobel after Loroakkan fight took place in the tower despite being initiated in the camp.
That’s a short list off the top of my head but there’s been plenty more.
The main example cited in the article comes from recruiting Minthara instead of killing her. It looks like Act 3 didn’t really take that option into account.
Other problems include questlines that can’t be completed.
I was fortunate enough to not run into any of the quest-breaking bugs. Had no issues doing what I wanted to do. What I did run into a lot was buggy scripting where dialogues assumed I had information I didn’t, so I wouldn’t know what my companions were talking about some of the time.
The bigger problem in my eyes is spells/items/class abilities/feats not working correctly and being outright non-functional in some cases. That’s going to be an enduring problem for replays, and it’s not encouraging to me that very little has been done on this since release.
I do think this game wouldn’t have scored as well as it did if so many publications didn’t rush to press with half a playthrough. In this particular case, I think the game–bugs and all–is still a strong GotY contender, but I really hope there’s a conversation being had in the professional games criticism sphere about how this practice could cause a scandal in the future.
As it is, I’m genuinely surprised the reviewers aren’t coming under fire more than they have for this. I come from an era where publishing a review without completing a game would have been unconscionable.
Do you have an example? Haven’t noticed that yet in 110h of playing.
A couple minor broken ability examples: Mage Hand requires a short rest to recharge, which is fundamentally wrong for a cantrip, and Feather Fall is a bonus action instead of a reaction, making it useless for its primary purpose. These aren’t game-breaking, of course, but annoyances like this add up, and it never feels good to have chosen an ability that turns out not to work as it should.
One of the more problematic issues is stupid pathing logic, especially around known hazards: Party members absolutely love to spot traps, announce them, and then walk right into them. Sometimes it results in someone getting a minor injury. Other times it nearly wipes out the whole party.
I suggest saving often.
mage hand requiring a short rest to resummon might be because you are using the gith racial?
Feather fall now is a ritual spell so you can cast it before combat and it will last all of combat. It’s just different from the tabletop game.
I have mage hand on Astarion and it’s still once per short rest.
Feather fall has caused me problems (and at least one TPK) I have had it drop off with no combat log line.
Nope. Wizard and bard cantrips.
Since you mention it, though, I think the Gith’s psionic Mage Hand is a cantrip in 5e. Did it require a rest in some past edition?
I’ll have to try that; thanks. It would still be an annoying extra step and wouldn’t cover surprise situations as the spell is intended, but would at least be more useful than it seemed.
In any case, it’s not just those two examples. The point is that a surprising number of little things like these are broken, either by departing from D&D rules in ways that don’t make sense or by just plain failing to do what their in-game descriptions say.
I have found one example of departing from 5e rules in a way that does make sense, though, so it’s not all bad.
I wouldn’t label things they changed compared to 5e rules as necessarily broken, unless the way they say it’s implemented doesn’t actually match what’s happening.
I picked half elf as race initially because I was used to the +2 +1 +1 spread they get, which isn’t the case in the game, or hypnotic pattern, which only lasts 2 turns instead of 10. Is the game broken? No, it’s just me assuming stuff will be 1 to 1 to the 5e rules. And it goes both ways, took me a bit to realize they don’t follow the spellcasting rules to a t, and you can cast leveled spells with both your action and your bonus action.
The key words were in ways that don’t make sense. If you read my whole comment, you’ll see we agree that not all the departures are inappropriate.
For the items, etc. the ones I can remember offhand are:
There’s also stuff on the plus side, like Titanstring Bow double dipping with Lightning Charges or, famously, Haste and Haste-like effects (Elixir of Bloodlust) granting second attacks on each additional action for lv. 5+ martial classes. It’s possible Larian just balanced it this way, but I don’t think so. It’s crazy broken.
The pole arm button is on the far right of the bottom bar gui thing, to the right of items.
Okay, I’m seeing it now. It’s sort of like Ranger’s Horde Breaker. It only appears after an attack and it disappears after the turn.
all possible actions should show up on the K panel, I have dragged the “non-lethal toggle”, the eldritch blast push toggle and all of those the the actual bar to be able to juggle them.
These two don’t show up there unfortunately under normal circumstances. The first Horde Breaker attack shows up there, the follow-up doesn’t until the first has already been executed. The feat one doesn’t even have a similar indicator there. It’s kind of a weird implementation.
Here’s a few:
spoiler
That’s a short list off the top of my head but there’s been plenty more.
Damn it, I am sorry, I meant to quote this specific part :D Yeah some of the stuff you mentioned also happened to me.
The main example cited in the article comes from recruiting Minthara instead of killing her. It looks like Act 3 didn’t really take that option into account.
Other problems include questlines that can’t be completed.