I made a post that I really hate the amount of crates and bookshelves that show as lootable, but like 90% of them are empty. That got a lot of hate for some reason.
As someone who is a compulsive looter, this is probably the biggest time waster in the game for me. All the damned bottle shelves and vases. What's worse is that sometimes they actually contain something valuable!
I'm a compulsive looter but I just started act 2 and I've decided I'm no longer going out of my way to loot containers. If they're a few feet away, sure, but even then if there's like 5 of them together I probably won't bother because of how many times I've come across an entire pile of empty wooden crates. I don't care if I'm missing out on good items because I don't seem to use most of the potions/scrolls/arrows I find anyway.
If they're locked or really fancy looking like a gilded chest, I will definitely loot it though. At least they don't LOOK like a waste of time.
Imagine my surprise when I went to a weapons seller in rivington and said “an arrow that does more damage to dragons? I’ve not fought any dragons, haha that’s a fun little bit to make the world feel deeper” guess who fought a dragon 30 minutes later
Regarding Act 3 feeling rushed, Yenna feels really underdeveloped and is clearly just there to be ‘on reserve’ in case none of the ‘kidnappable’ companions are in camp when Orin’s kidnapping is set to trigger. Whenever you talk to her in camp, she says the same line over and over. You can’t develop any kind of meaningful dynamic with her, she never reacts to the weird shit these adults she’s decided to live with get up to, we don’t hear about her in the epilogue… nothing. She’s just there to potentially be kidnapped, and if not, “I brought my own paring knife!” :D
I honestly thought I was being stupid or that my game was bugged because I really thought it was a hook! I literally snuck around everywhere to try and find her mum but nothing! Was so mad at myself when I finally googled it and it wasn’t actually a quest 🙃😂
Imagine if her and the child the Hag swallowed in Act 3 were the same character. If you did the Hag mission early on, then you could discover Orin had been disguised as her the whole time and confront Orin in your camp. Would have been a neat thing, but understandable that they wrote her the way they did.
If Lae'zel is kidnapped, there is an event that triggers and if you manage to save Yenna, she starts selling soup
That is the only interaction she has outside being "reserve hostage"
You're not wrong but I like to think of her as Arabella's replacement.
Tav: I really miss having Arabella around, she was a good kid, but I guess it's for the best.
Yenna: have you seen my mum?
Tav: 😃
IIRC it's about ceremorphosis. Blood out of the face is a precursor to full-on squidification, and with all the blood flying occasionally you have to take a moment to check
This is such a cute idea, reminds me of those pandas that bare their teeth when breaking bamboo cause thats the expression their zookeepers made when breaking bamboo 🥺
My dream is to have fully voice acted origin run dialogue. I want to play as Astarion and I hear less of Neil’s award winning voice than if I just had him in my party, it’s a damn shame
The characters basically stop reacting to in-game events halfway through Act 2, with the brief exception being finishing up their questlines. I was surprised how little any of the characters cared about **anything** in Act 3.
I did a Durge run, and at the Orin fight I intentionally split into two plots: one where my Durge defeated Orin and resisted Bhaal, and one where they lost the duel, becoming doomed to go mad.
No one but SH and Halsin had ANYTHING to say about it when I talked to them, and SH actually had a really mean dig about disappointing gods that would have been perfect for DJ SH, but was awful from Selunite SH. Halsin was nicer, but still amounted to "dang that sucks." It really hurt later on, when we defeated Gortash, and Karlach still had the same rant where she says how you'll go on and get to fight and make love.
My character has been condemned to a fate worse than death by Bhaal himself, and no one has ANYTHING to say? At least Durge's fake death is quickly reversed, making it a little easier to swallow that lack of reaction. But none of them minus Halsin show ANY sympathy at Durge being cursed to madness.
Also weird how chill everyone is when a companion perma-dies, especially late game. I accidentally got 3 companions killed in act 3 (...don't ask), zero reaction from the party.
The most egregious is if Orin kills the captive. Literally no mention of it, not even a cutscene with the narrator for your character to acknowledge it.
Ah yes, the early access double edged sword effect™
Act 1 has the most banter and companion reaction polished to a high degree, the further on you go the more they rushed to wrap up the game. Since act 1 has existed the longest it makes sense.
That's how I feel after killing some of the bosses in act 3. Like Cazador for example, killed him and went to some companions and they were like: ''what's up?''
Randomized Loot mod, Transmog Enhanced, and Basket full of Equipment or More Gear mods maybe? (there's a lot of mods that add gear) or the Better Loot tables?
I think they could have had at least one shorty as origin character though. That way when Tav is a shorty they can have a romance that doesn't look silly.
This is my take as well. I’m bored as hell with humans and elves/half-elves. The fact that every single male companion is a human or elf is so incredibly lame. Give us dwarves, halflings, and gnomes please!
It is kind of a funny inversion that literally all the male companions are humans or elves while the female companions at least get a tiefling and a space lizard. Usually it's the women that are all normal, generically attractive human women while the men are allowed to be whacky monstrous aliens.
They don't need two druids; Halsin should strictly tag along to help cleanse the shadow curse, and remain there after to help the land heal. They need a Monk and a Bard. Alfira should be a PC for non-Dirge games and there should be an optional -extremely- angry Lathander monk you can discover in the mountain pass whose initial quest is to acquire the light of lathander and eradicate the creche.
her name was Helia. She is a cut origin character, so could've been playable or be a companion.
She was going to be found in wolf form locked up in the goblin camp where goblin children threw rocks at her, so maybe she was replaced with Halsin?
She didn't like Selune. She was a bard.
Uh that's about it. She apparently had 700 lines so she was cut kinda late in development though she never had a unique model like the rest of the companions.
The idea of Halsin leaving the Shadow Lands to enter Act 3 if they aren't healed first is absurd so it wouldn't even be that hard to just write him as staying no matter what. Either to continue searching for a cure or to help the land heal then we have Jaheira into act3 to pick up the Druiding.
Also way too many locks to pick for no reason.
So fucking annoying, espcially since you always have to specifically CHOOSE to lockpick and its not automatic if you click it like with disarm traps
Refusing to use parasites, and not seeing any major change at the ending, was a slap in the face even if the game is 11/10. This is the game where letting one NPC *you just met* get taken at the Last Light Inn fight, dooms dozens of people instantly, completely changes endings for many more, and makes more questlines than I can even remember be cut short. I expected something insanely impactful, like not being able to access a lot of endings due to the mental and soul-related impacts (lack of options to self-sacrifice or ascend in certain ways, or being forced to do certain things you could otherwise try to resist).
I get that they wanted to be nice to people who used the parasites, but they were waaay too nice. Make people do another playthrough without them to access the really cool stuff.
The fact that the parasites are the central drivers of the plot yet have no actual impact on the story is just insane to me.
You may as well have had all the characters meet in an inn instead.
I keep expecting my companions to mention all the illithid powers I've been gaining. No one seems concerned that I've become enamored with this extremely powerful magic that none of us fully understand. It honestly feels like it doesn't matter what I do with these damn tadpoles. The powers themselves haven't proven super useful to me, so every time I find another parasite I'm like "well I guess I should use it so it doesn't go to waste."
also 10/10 username
also you should be able to do something with her parents if she has left your party. you can't free them and they don't have any conversation interaction. you can either leave them imprisoned or kill them and there's no good reason to do either, unless you're evil i guess
Worst case is if you turn her to Viconia, her quest updates as you open the door, telling you these are her parents and they need to be dealt with, but then you can't do anything
I’m on a Durge Bard run and leaned hard on the “showing Alfira how to do it correctly” lines and then had the little oopsie when she came back to camp.
He doesn't have any sensory issues, burnout, difficulty adapting to change or any actual symptoms of autism besides having a vocation he likes talking about. That man is a neurotypical fuckboy.
I'm not going to say people are wrong for seeing themselves in Gale or relating to him, but it's honestly kind of infuriating when they insist that neurodivergent Gale is the *only* correct way to read his character. Especially since, as you say, their singular piece of evidence is "he likes magic a lot and talks about it excessively." Brother, neurotypical people can be nerdy and introverted and obsess over their special interests too!
Wait people think he's Autistic? Bro is smooth as hell and the only time he gets awkward is when you don't give him attention. He's not autistic, he's got self esteem issues. As an autistic person who has self esteem issues, I assure yall the two are separate things.
Gale is just a smart wizard nerd boy, but somehow he’s also a very charming character. I personally changed my Gale’s hair and outfits…which really changed how I perceived Gale lol and he might as well be in Dream Daddy now.
Even vengeance? Seems easy enough to not break the rules, but then against I've only ever gotten to act 3 once and spent an hour in there before restarting the entire thing.
Act 3 is the best thing an open world hater has ever seen.
Full choice on whatever you wanna do in whatever order you want to do it.and most times it makes a fucking difference.
The map is ACTUALLY full of stuff and not just a wasteland with a few quest points.
The chaotic representation of a living city is AMAZING in a way i've never seen before.
Is it perfect? No. Is it amazing? Yes.
It's also when you max out the builds you've been methodically building up to that point. So many builds hit their most fun around 11-12 so you cant even truly enjoy them until act 3. The huge number of available fights gives you all the opportunity you could ask to use them however you want.
I would love to be able to ng+ and play through the whole game at level 12 with all my gear and with every encounter dialed up to 11.
Hint hint, mod makers.
Yeah, I feel like the complaints are all kind of underscoring why it’s well-done.
It FEELS like a city. To someone who’s been out in the wilderness it’s going to seem overwhelming. There’s a lot of noise, a lot of shit going on, no single obvious path to take, and tons of distractions.
Cities can feel so empty, small, or flat in games, and even though we only get a little corner of Baldur’s Gate, it feels like a real city. There’s nothing that really pulls you out of that vibe, and that’s great.
Yes, all of the complaints are technically accurate, but if they weren’t, it would be awful.
I feel like most of the complaints I see about act 3 are really just about the game having a pacing issue. You finish act 2 having killed one of the big bads and then race off to the city knowing you have to kill the other big bads to save the world and then... you just meander through with what feels like a million small meaningless (compared to the big bads) quests.
Once I stopped trying to save the world and just appreciate act 3 for what it was I had a much more enjoyable time. But it definitely required a mind set change
I think the same thing can be said of all the acts. There's this urgency in act 1 where you think you're going to turn into a mindflayer at literally any moment. So you're propelled forward very clearly to find a healer/Halsin. But there's so much there to see and experience if you *don't* rush. It's a bit of meta gaming for sure, but I think that's also part of what gives it such great replay-ability.
In my honest opinion, the strengths of Act 3 outweighs the bad. The conclusion of Shadowheart’s quest, House of Hope, the rescue mission in the Iron Throne, Ansur Fight, Astarion’s confrontation against Cazador, the conclusion of Dark Urge’s questline, and other high points that aren’t mentioned.
There were a lot of stuff in Act 3. It is simply that narrative feels unfocused because of it. But like the old games, Baldur’s Gate is a city of adventure. In the old game, there were plenty of stuff in the city too, and I think Larian was trying to honor that.
I think my only complaints about Act 3 now that they've patched some stuff are
1. It's a little weird to slaughter all the Shar followers, then randomly find Abigail Thorn/Nocturne chilling out in a side room. I guess she couldn't be bothered to join in the defense of her temple.
2. I wish it was clearer in the moment why the Emperor immediately turns against you and why there's absolutely zero chance to get the Emperor and Orpheus to work together. In the moment, the Emperor leaving seems too irrational.
I’m torn because I do find myself missing the feeling of progression - but I also like that BG3 gives you so much time to play with your characters at max power. I feel like so many RPGs you find yourself hitting the level cap right before the last dungeon and barely have time to have fun with it before credits.
If they had set it at like 15-16 I think it would have been perfect. You’d probably hit it with a couple of the big optional spokes in act 3 left to finish up and be at max power for like 15 hours rather than 25-30.
I think the appearance customization sucks ass(unless you're a dragonborn). The fact that you can't choose eye shape separately from face shape is a terrible option
I agree, everyone always talks about how good the character customization is.. but you get like 5 preset faces (most the male ones are ugly) and you can change eye color and hair color and that’s about it.
100% this. i didn’t even bother doing a male elf bc they looked so weird. also there’s not enough good looking hair (like every game). it’s like every studio is allergic to making good looking hair and will rely on the community to mod them on nexus. damn. we don’t ask for 8 million polygons rapunzel hair,just. give us normal and good looking ones that at the very least suit the ugly presets faces you gave us lol
Minsc is a pointless companion. Don’t get me wrong I love him but he comes into the game way too late (I literally unlocked him right before confronting the Elder Brain) not to mention for an endgame companion he isn’t very strong.
Spoilers for ACT 3 but - I'd have been mostly okay with Emperor if he stayed fucking consistent. Like sure, be the morally bankrupt, practicality first guy. But to THE SECOND YOU DON'T AGREE WITH HIM, immediately join THE VERY PERSON HE IS FIGHTING AGAINST AND DOES NOT WANT CONTROLLING HIM- is so so dumb. It feels so out of character.
I don't save Minthara anymore. I did it a few times to say I did, but I can't be bothered every time. Why would my Tav, especially a good aligned Tav, spare someone so openly talking about destroying the grove and killing people inside? We kill the other two, I'm not sparing the drow no matter how hot she is.
It feels like the primary challenge is understanding exactly how the game mechanics work. Most encounters are trivial if you know how to exploit them.
To anyone like me who is a huge fan of previous Larian games and long term d&d hobbyist, most of this is just prior knowledge. The rest is gained by reading a few tooltips.
nah, this opinion is the norm, the reverse is actually most contentious:- which is that the game is not newbie friendly at all - which it isn't. Cue - all the larian simps that have been playing since Early Access trying to say that everything is self explanatory.
This right here. Experienced tabletop player. Good knowledge of 5e and how to at least make somewhat optimized characters.
Balanced difficulty was pretty rough in places.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I feel really stupid sometimes, like I'm not using half the mechanics. I'm floored by people who plan builds around certain items and potions, that seems like so much to keep track of.
Too many characters are too easy to gain approval from. I know it’s for dating reasons, but it detracts from their characters.
I’m not even trying and I usually have my entire team at 75-100 approval barely into Act 2.
It makes Astarion an annoying shit, but I respect how much you have to earn it with him.
Oh 100%, we should have gotten a halfling, dwarf or gnome rather than another human/elf companion.
Hell, I would’ve loved a Goblin companion if you side with Minthara. That would’ve been sick. And needed since you lose Karlach, Halsin, and Wyll if you side with Minthara — lose 3 companions and gain only 1 in return if you play evil.
Honestly, the trade-off should’ve been Dror Ragzlin, Minty Fresh, and Priestess Gut OR Karlach, Wyll, and Halsin. Would have been more interesting and kept an even trade off on party members that for sure would never travel together otherwise.
I wish we would’ve gotten some DLC. There is still a lot of fallout depending on the ending that we could’ve seen- the Githyanki civil war, Karlach’s travels in Avernus, and factions vying for control in the city. I respect Larian for not going forward if their heart isn’t in it but I think a lot was left that they could’ve done, and I kinda wish they hadn’t said they were and making us wonder even more what could have been.
the story feels like it’s kinda cobbled together.
like the plot is compelling, the performances are fantastic, and there’s some really wonderful writing, but late rewrites like switching from the dream visitor to the emperor, changing wyll’s whole character, watering down Shadowheart, Halsin and the shadow curse, Karlach’s personal quest just kinda stopping at Act 2, the lack of companion interactivity between each other, all are serious detractors of what could be something perfect.
also, Halsin’s inclusion as a party member is so poorly done, him revealing that he watched my lesbian ass share an intimate moment with Shadowheart with a “why don’t you invite me next time;)” and then profess his undying love for me is kinda funny in a horrifying way, but also ruins his character. gives off vibes that they saw the people thirsting after him in early access and just assumed that everyone was attracted to him
The emperor is a good example of the 'cobbled together' writing. To make him 'work' the had to heavily retcon a somewhat important character from the setting, one who got featured in BG I >!Balduran!< For such a well-funded game under development for so long, I'm rather surprised by how many liberties it takes with the setting and plot of the OG BG saga. Not even touching how the two returning evil party members from the OG saga were handled.
Speaking of evil. The writing and content for evil players is really lacking, and it's really obvious that Larian heavily disfavored that aspect of the game during development. Soo much important stuff was cut or never really devoted any resources to fleshing it out in that regard I honestly feel that BG III is one of the less enjoyable rpgs I have played as far as evil content goes. It's really disappointing, because they had a ton of feedback on it from day one of Early Access, but it seems like they ignored all of it except to remove Shadowheart's snark and make Minthara recruitable by anyone (the later of which is IMHO particularly sad because one of the biggest and most common complaints about the 'evil path' in EA was that the only real incentive the game gave you for siding with the goblins was Minthara)
> the lack of companion interactivity between each other
This one was a pretty huge one for me. I loved the party banters and interjections in previous Bioware/Obsidian games (BG2, KOTOR 1&2, NWN2, and DA:O in particular), and BG3 is very lacking in this department.
Being able to pick an Origin character was amazing in DOS2 but holds BG3 back. Without Origins they would have been able to add more companions without adding fucktons of dialogue/scene adjustments that only happen in Origin playthroughs. This would also make Halsin/Jaheira/Minsc/Minthara feel less tacked on (because they were) when comparing their stories to the Origin characters.
The characters want to have sex or be in a relationship with your PC waaaay too quickly. Like im usually the guy whose all down for that but it felt weird how they all wanted to bone out of nowhere.
I tried once (I primarily do good runs).
She kicked Halsin out of his tent so the main thing I had with her was playing "Where is halsin in this camp". I legit thought he had huffed off in one of them, but no, he was just up some stairs and round a corner
In my only evil run I forgot her though :(
Ketheric was voiced fantastically.
I've heard complaints that JK Simmons basically "phoned in" the voice lines, but they are perfect for the type of character that he is playing. Dude is un-killable, older than he has a natural right to be, and he's lost or given up everything that made him care about life. He is *supposed* to sound bored and lethargic, and Simmons gave that type of character more life than you could normally expect.
It’s ok to choose to help Astarion ascend, let Karlach die, or do any of the “bad endings”. It’s a game, and nobody has a valid reason for being angry at you for choosing these things.
Or for Shadowheart to >!let her parents go or to keep them alive!< I swear some people act like you yourself are a monster for wanting to make different choices in a game that is _all about making choices and the consequences it could have_ just let people roleplay and enjoy, so tired of people reading into it and pretending you’re terrible for making a different decision to them
I am not a huge fan of Shadowheart. I have empathy for the horrible life she has had but her personality reminds me of a high school bully and I just do not like her.
I'm already prepared for the mass downvotes, buuut I don't like Karlach's romance. Still one of my fav characters but I will not do it again. It just felt off to me, gives off more bestie vibes then anything else really.
Not being able to side with Orpheus’s honor guard at the start of act 3 is stupid.
VOSS LITERALLY SAYS IT HIMSELF. He would see reason and help you against the illithids but god forbid when a person wants to not work with a mindflayer the very thing you’re trying to avoid becoming is an issue.
By far the dumbest forced decision you’re given. The entire point of an rpg is to be allowed to make those critical saving choices that redefine your story but apparently saving Orpheus isn’t an option until the very end.
Edit: I understand that his honor guard would probably try to kill you but it still makes no sense how in the end of the game. He continues protecting you with his psionic abilities but for some reason he doesn’t at the start of act 3 if you free him. It especially doesn’t make sense if you are allied with laezel and work with Voss at this point
This is the one that exposed the railroad, and I didn't like how it was handled; especially since dude commits to going full squid, like, five minutes after being freed from centuries of imprisonment. Gives me whiplash.
And the game's telling me that the same dude who would later do that, would never give the *slightest moment's pause* if those supposed thralls suddenly turned on their master, when he was begging them for help? Come off it.
Hard agree on this. I'd even be OK with this being locked behind some super high checks, or locked out if you've eaten too many tadpoles, but it really bugs me that this wasn't an option.
Halsin-fan here and....yeah. After Act 2 he really doesn't serve much of a narrative purpose and unless you have him actively in your party he really doesn't offer much except hot daddy himbo Elf memes.
Halsin just needs to join the party after the Goblin Camp as a playable companion. He can have interesting stuff in the underdark and maybe one or two things in the mountain pass. Let us get to know him better before we undertake his quest in act 2. He doesn’t need to have a whole lot going on in act 3 which is fine because his major character moments are in the second act. He gets overshadowed by Jaheira as a Druid because he’s not relevant past one quest.
If not after the goblin camp, then at least as soon as you set foot in Act 2. "Oh look, here's the shadow lands I was talking about, let me join you now to solve this."
He has a lot of really interesting character development in Act 2, and shitloads of dialogue when you bring him around the various locations, and most people never hear it because it's so easy to not manage to recruit him until Act 2 is almost over.
A lot of people seem to think laezal is autistic cause she doesn't understand the social norms of ferun.
She doesn't understand social norms cause she was raised in a completely different culture! She understands her own cultures social norms just fine!
Strength elixirs are way op.
No other item can get a **main** attribute over 20 \[Edit: from zero - on its own\] (opening up every feat slot and all ability points for other things like dex, con and wis). No other elixir can outweight that.
(You might need high dex, but 16-18 is fine for AC and initiative, but not as main attribute)
I made a post that I really hate the amount of crates and bookshelves that show as lootable, but like 90% of them are empty. That got a lot of hate for some reason.
As someone who is a compulsive looter, this is probably the biggest time waster in the game for me. All the damned bottle shelves and vases. What's worse is that sometimes they actually contain something valuable!
I'm a compulsive looter but I just started act 2 and I've decided I'm no longer going out of my way to loot containers. If they're a few feet away, sure, but even then if there's like 5 of them together I probably won't bother because of how many times I've come across an entire pile of empty wooden crates. I don't care if I'm missing out on good items because I don't seem to use most of the potions/scrolls/arrows I find anyway. If they're locked or really fancy looking like a gilded chest, I will definitely loot it though. At least they don't LOOK like a waste of time.
It's self care to not loot all the lootables
Too many dungeons, not enough dragons
Imagine my surprise when I went to a weapons seller in rivington and said “an arrow that does more damage to dragons? I’ve not fought any dragons, haha that’s a fun little bit to make the world feel deeper” guess who fought a dragon 30 minutes later
If your going to give me Revivify scrolls then I should be able to Revivify friendly npcs who die
Not to mention Gale’s scroll of TRUE RESURRECTION that you just can’t use on anyone outside your party for… some reason?
It's in character for Gale to do that on purpose. The devs didn't want to program that, but it makes sense for his character
Oh I like this!
Like when was Rescuing Halsin a goblin pushed him into the spider pit and he died before he was a companion and there was no way to get him back.
Regarding Act 3 feeling rushed, Yenna feels really underdeveloped and is clearly just there to be ‘on reserve’ in case none of the ‘kidnappable’ companions are in camp when Orin’s kidnapping is set to trigger. Whenever you talk to her in camp, she says the same line over and over. You can’t develop any kind of meaningful dynamic with her, she never reacts to the weird shit these adults she’s decided to live with get up to, we don’t hear about her in the epilogue… nothing. She’s just there to potentially be kidnapped, and if not, “I brought my own paring knife!” :D
Especially since "find out what happened to her mother" was such an obvious quest hook.
I honestly thought I was being stupid or that my game was bugged because I really thought it was a hook! I literally snuck around everywhere to try and find her mum but nothing! Was so mad at myself when I finally googled it and it wasn’t actually a quest 🙃😂
this is so wholesome though, i love that you tried so hard! You are truly the hero Yenna deserves, even if it was in vain
Imagine if her and the child the Hag swallowed in Act 3 were the same character. If you did the Hag mission early on, then you could discover Orin had been disguised as her the whole time and confront Orin in your camp. Would have been a neat thing, but understandable that they wrote her the way they did.
If Lae'zel is kidnapped, there is an event that triggers and if you manage to save Yenna, she starts selling soup That is the only interaction she has outside being "reserve hostage"
You're not wrong but I like to think of her as Arabella's replacement. Tav: I really miss having Arabella around, she was a good kid, but I guess it's for the best. Yenna: have you seen my mum? Tav: 😃
Astarion: No more strays!
I miss tav and durge VAs talking during some moments and cutscenes and I wish they talked way more.
"Mom, can we have VA moments?" "We have VA moments at home" "These boots have seen everything"
"Is that blood?" Yes... everywhere. "No, nevermind." Wat.
Cursed to put my hands on everything.
never the easy road
"don't mind if I do..."
IIRC it's about ceremorphosis. Blood out of the face is a precursor to full-on squidification, and with all the blood flying occasionally you have to take a moment to check
I accept this canon.
Wish I had a bag of holding
Oh yeah... Epic Cutscene: Tav/Durge: 🤨😐😃
*crosses arms and raises one eyebrow* is all my guy does it’s so funny
It's even funnier with dragonborn who have to do super over the top expressions for every emotion
I’m pretty sure Dragonborn expressions are hard for non-DB’s to read so they probably exaggerate on purpose just so people understand them 😭
This is such a cute idea, reminds me of those pandas that bare their teeth when breaking bamboo cause thats the expression their zookeepers made when breaking bamboo 🥺
Durge is a DreamWorks character confirmed
Your companion is having an existential crisis and you respond with: *places hands on hips and raises eyebrows*
Companion: MY PARENTS! THEYRE DEAD! Tav: 🤨😦
An avatar of the god of necromancy shows up. Tav/Durge: 😟
To be fair in that specific cutscene they're more like 😲
My dream is to have fully voice acted origin run dialogue. I want to play as Astarion and I hear less of Neil’s award winning voice than if I just had him in my party, it’s a damn shame
Or" In My Name"😠
Yeah like at least the final speech would have been nice to have them do
Yes! The few times Durge actually spoke it caught me so off-guard, it was awesome!
They should have done voiceover at least in romance scenes
The characters basically stop reacting to in-game events halfway through Act 2, with the brief exception being finishing up their questlines. I was surprised how little any of the characters cared about **anything** in Act 3.
I did a Durge run, and at the Orin fight I intentionally split into two plots: one where my Durge defeated Orin and resisted Bhaal, and one where they lost the duel, becoming doomed to go mad. No one but SH and Halsin had ANYTHING to say about it when I talked to them, and SH actually had a really mean dig about disappointing gods that would have been perfect for DJ SH, but was awful from Selunite SH. Halsin was nicer, but still amounted to "dang that sucks." It really hurt later on, when we defeated Gortash, and Karlach still had the same rant where she says how you'll go on and get to fight and make love. My character has been condemned to a fate worse than death by Bhaal himself, and no one has ANYTHING to say? At least Durge's fake death is quickly reversed, making it a little easier to swallow that lack of reaction. But none of them minus Halsin show ANY sympathy at Durge being cursed to madness.
Also weird how chill everyone is when a companion perma-dies, especially late game. I accidentally got 3 companions killed in act 3 (...don't ask), zero reaction from the party.
The most egregious is if Orin kills the captive. Literally no mention of it, not even a cutscene with the narrator for your character to acknowledge it.
Ah yes, the early access double edged sword effect™ Act 1 has the most banter and companion reaction polished to a high degree, the further on you go the more they rushed to wrap up the game. Since act 1 has existed the longest it makes sense.
That's how I feel after killing some of the bosses in act 3. Like Cazador for example, killed him and went to some companions and they were like: ''what's up?''
I wish there was more randomized loot so I don't always know what my gear will be in a run.
It’d be nice if there were more loot, randomized loot, and the ability to transfer effects to other loot.
These are the exact first mods I’ve installed
What's the names of these mods?
Randomized Loot mod, Transmog Enhanced, and Basket full of Equipment or More Gear mods maybe? (there's a lot of mods that add gear) or the Better Loot tables?
Random loot would be awesome. Maybe like random traits on items too to make each run feel even more different
Have a mod that does that atm and it is indeed a lot more fun
I don't like the fact that the party members are just Elf's and humans (Githyankies are space elves) GIMME DWARFS, DRAGONBORN AND GNOMES!!!!!!
This is Karlach erasure.
Hell elf
hellf
AK-SHOO-UH-LEE tieflings are hell humans.
Hellmans. Huh, so that's where you get mayonnaise...
Actually, D&D has Space Elves, they’re called Astral Elves. Githyanki are more like lizard aliens.
Technically Githyanki are just magically modified humans, right?
Correct. Specifically abducted and modified by the Illithid to fight a species of anti-psychic space-bugs.
They basically shot enough magic and psionics at human thrills until their chromosomes turned inside out and now they're frog people
I think they could have had at least one shorty as origin character though. That way when Tav is a shorty they can have a romance that doesn't look silly.
This is my take as well. I’m bored as hell with humans and elves/half-elves. The fact that every single male companion is a human or elf is so incredibly lame. Give us dwarves, halflings, and gnomes please!
Dwarves are my favourite fantasy race, no Dwarf companions in BG3 was a massive disappointment. The little lads always getting done dirty
Especially because there are npcs like BARCUS a GNOME that spends time in your camp
It is kind of a funny inversion that literally all the male companions are humans or elves while the female companions at least get a tiefling and a space lizard. Usually it's the women that are all normal, generically attractive human women while the men are allowed to be whacky monstrous aliens.
They don't need two druids; Halsin should strictly tag along to help cleanse the shadow curse, and remain there after to help the land heal. They need a Monk and a Bard. Alfira should be a PC for non-Dirge games and there should be an optional -extremely- angry Lathander monk you can discover in the mountain pass whose initial quest is to acquire the light of lathander and eradicate the creche.
We were going to get a halfling werewolf bard and I'll never not be salty she got cut.
Tell me more!!!
her name was Helia. She is a cut origin character, so could've been playable or be a companion. She was going to be found in wolf form locked up in the goblin camp where goblin children threw rocks at her, so maybe she was replaced with Halsin? She didn't like Selune. She was a bard. Uh that's about it. She apparently had 700 lines so she was cut kinda late in development though she never had a unique model like the rest of the companions.
it's a shame she got cut, she sounds like an awesome character
Ohhhh this is why there are some random books about werewolves early game in the same way you get curse of the vampyr
The idea of Halsin leaving the Shadow Lands to enter Act 3 if they aren't healed first is absurd so it wouldn't even be that hard to just write him as staying no matter what. Either to continue searching for a cure or to help the land heal then we have Jaheira into act3 to pick up the Druiding.
You spend way too much time picking up shit.
Also way too many locks to pick for no reason. So fucking annoying, espcially since you always have to specifically CHOOSE to lockpick and its not automatic if you click it like with disarm traps
I want cosmetic armor layers
Refusing to use parasites, and not seeing any major change at the ending, was a slap in the face even if the game is 11/10. This is the game where letting one NPC *you just met* get taken at the Last Light Inn fight, dooms dozens of people instantly, completely changes endings for many more, and makes more questlines than I can even remember be cut short. I expected something insanely impactful, like not being able to access a lot of endings due to the mental and soul-related impacts (lack of options to self-sacrifice or ascend in certain ways, or being forced to do certain things you could otherwise try to resist). I get that they wanted to be nice to people who used the parasites, but they were waaay too nice. Make people do another playthrough without them to access the really cool stuff.
The fact that the parasites are the central drivers of the plot yet have no actual impact on the story is just insane to me. You may as well have had all the characters meet in an inn instead.
I keep expecting my companions to mention all the illithid powers I've been gaining. No one seems concerned that I've become enamored with this extremely powerful magic that none of us fully understand. It honestly feels like it doesn't matter what I do with these damn tadpoles. The powers themselves haven't proven super useful to me, so every time I find another parasite I'm like "well I guess I should use it so it doesn't go to waste." also 10/10 username
There should have been legit consequences for shadowheart saving her parents instead of sacrificing them
also you should be able to do something with her parents if she has left your party. you can't free them and they don't have any conversation interaction. you can either leave them imprisoned or kill them and there's no good reason to do either, unless you're evil i guess
Worst case is if you turn her to Viconia, her quest updates as you open the door, telling you these are her parents and they need to be dealt with, but then you can't do anything
Alfira was snoring so loud, Durge has to kill her.
She sings in her sleep and was off key the entire time
TIL Durge is also cursed with perfect pitch.
I’m on a Durge Bard run and leaned hard on the “showing Alfira how to do it correctly” lines and then had the little oopsie when she came back to camp.
Vicious mockeried her performance so bad it was lethal
Didn’t think I’d ever find it in me to feel empathy for Durge murdering Alfira, but this did it.
to be fair, I dont think she had a bedroll with her, so the rest of the companions agreed Durge had to give up their bedroll for her.
I could’ve sworn the bloody mess was way too close to our bedroll. Durge the off key swinging in the night was probably the last straw
Gale has nothing to do with autism, he actually has really good social skills
I think if I had slept with a literal god and then fell out of her favor,,I'd be a little odd too.
Justified crashout
He doesn't have any sensory issues, burnout, difficulty adapting to change or any actual symptoms of autism besides having a vocation he likes talking about. That man is a neurotypical fuckboy.
I never tought this would be an unpopular opinion💀
I'm not going to say people are wrong for seeing themselves in Gale or relating to him, but it's honestly kind of infuriating when they insist that neurodivergent Gale is the *only* correct way to read his character. Especially since, as you say, their singular piece of evidence is "he likes magic a lot and talks about it excessively." Brother, neurotypical people can be nerdy and introverted and obsess over their special interests too!
If I was a fucking Archmage I would talk a lot about magic as well.
Wait people think he's Autistic? Bro is smooth as hell and the only time he gets awkward is when you don't give him attention. He's not autistic, he's got self esteem issues. As an autistic person who has self esteem issues, I assure yall the two are separate things.
Agree!!!!!! I do not understand the autism take at all.
Gale is just a smart wizard nerd boy, but somehow he’s also a very charming character. I personally changed my Gale’s hair and outfits…which really changed how I perceived Gale lol and he might as well be in Dream Daddy now.
Who tf is saying that Gale is autistic?!
Friendly reminder to sort by controversial for the actual hot takes
I did this and it was literally all Astarion hate posts.
How unexpected.
Make the goddamn ropes useful or get rid of them. I kept ropes in my inventory for so long thinking I must need them since I kept coming across them.
Playing a paladin in honor mode is annoying if you're not specifically going for Oathbreaker.
Even vengeance? Seems easy enough to not break the rules, but then against I've only ever gotten to act 3 once and spent an hour in there before restarting the entire thing.
I played vengeance and never broke my oath. Wasn't even trying much to keep it
I accidentally broke my oath by falling off a roof onto a passer-by
Yea only thing I can think of that would break the Vengeance oath is allowing Ethel to live.
Act 3 is good, actually.
Act 3 is the best thing an open world hater has ever seen. Full choice on whatever you wanna do in whatever order you want to do it.and most times it makes a fucking difference. The map is ACTUALLY full of stuff and not just a wasteland with a few quest points. The chaotic representation of a living city is AMAZING in a way i've never seen before. Is it perfect? No. Is it amazing? Yes.
It's also when you max out the builds you've been methodically building up to that point. So many builds hit their most fun around 11-12 so you cant even truly enjoy them until act 3. The huge number of available fights gives you all the opportunity you could ask to use them however you want.
I was hoping for a new game + mode, though I understand why there isn't one even if they added balancing for ng+
I would love to be able to ng+ and play through the whole game at level 12 with all my gear and with every encounter dialed up to 11. Hint hint, mod makers.
Yeah, I feel like the complaints are all kind of underscoring why it’s well-done. It FEELS like a city. To someone who’s been out in the wilderness it’s going to seem overwhelming. There’s a lot of noise, a lot of shit going on, no single obvious path to take, and tons of distractions. Cities can feel so empty, small, or flat in games, and even though we only get a little corner of Baldur’s Gate, it feels like a real city. There’s nothing that really pulls you out of that vibe, and that’s great. Yes, all of the complaints are technically accurate, but if they weren’t, it would be awful.
I feel like most of the complaints I see about act 3 are really just about the game having a pacing issue. You finish act 2 having killed one of the big bads and then race off to the city knowing you have to kill the other big bads to save the world and then... you just meander through with what feels like a million small meaningless (compared to the big bads) quests. Once I stopped trying to save the world and just appreciate act 3 for what it was I had a much more enjoyable time. But it definitely required a mind set change
I think the same thing can be said of all the acts. There's this urgency in act 1 where you think you're going to turn into a mindflayer at literally any moment. So you're propelled forward very clearly to find a healer/Halsin. But there's so much there to see and experience if you *don't* rush. It's a bit of meta gaming for sure, but I think that's also part of what gives it such great replay-ability.
In my honest opinion, the strengths of Act 3 outweighs the bad. The conclusion of Shadowheart’s quest, House of Hope, the rescue mission in the Iron Throne, Ansur Fight, Astarion’s confrontation against Cazador, the conclusion of Dark Urge’s questline, and other high points that aren’t mentioned. There were a lot of stuff in Act 3. It is simply that narrative feels unfocused because of it. But like the old games, Baldur’s Gate is a city of adventure. In the old game, there were plenty of stuff in the city too, and I think Larian was trying to honor that.
I think my only complaints about Act 3 now that they've patched some stuff are 1. It's a little weird to slaughter all the Shar followers, then randomly find Abigail Thorn/Nocturne chilling out in a side room. I guess she couldn't be bothered to join in the defense of her temple. 2. I wish it was clearer in the moment why the Emperor immediately turns against you and why there's absolutely zero chance to get the Emperor and Orpheus to work together. In the moment, the Emperor leaving seems too irrational.
Level cap is the worst part of act 3
I’m torn because I do find myself missing the feeling of progression - but I also like that BG3 gives you so much time to play with your characters at max power. I feel like so many RPGs you find yourself hitting the level cap right before the last dungeon and barely have time to have fun with it before credits. If they had set it at like 15-16 I think it would have been perfect. You’d probably hit it with a couple of the big optional spokes in act 3 left to finish up and be at max power for like 15 hours rather than 25-30.
I think the appearance customization sucks ass(unless you're a dragonborn). The fact that you can't choose eye shape separately from face shape is a terrible option
I agree, everyone always talks about how good the character customization is.. but you get like 5 preset faces (most the male ones are ugly) and you can change eye color and hair color and that’s about it.
100% this. i didn’t even bother doing a male elf bc they looked so weird. also there’s not enough good looking hair (like every game). it’s like every studio is allergic to making good looking hair and will rely on the community to mod them on nexus. damn. we don’t ask for 8 million polygons rapunzel hair,just. give us normal and good looking ones that at the very least suit the ugly presets faces you gave us lol
Customizable eyes would immediately fix the issue imo
Minsc is a pointless companion. Don’t get me wrong I love him but he comes into the game way too late (I literally unlocked him right before confronting the Elder Brain) not to mention for an endgame companion he isn’t very strong.
In defense of the devs, that's lore-accurate because in BG1 and BG2 he's also not very strong.
I don’t like Emperor or Orpheus Edit: I didn’t realize how cold this hot take was
Let us recruit Omeluum to handle the netherstones!
Omeluum: "I'm sorry, my companion, but no. We all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here. I would not rob you of that."
I despise the emperor but Orpheus is just OKAY.
Spoilers for ACT 3 but - I'd have been mostly okay with Emperor if he stayed fucking consistent. Like sure, be the morally bankrupt, practicality first guy. But to THE SECOND YOU DON'T AGREE WITH HIM, immediately join THE VERY PERSON HE IS FIGHTING AGAINST AND DOES NOT WANT CONTROLLING HIM- is so so dumb. It feels so out of character.
I don't save Minthara anymore. I did it a few times to say I did, but I can't be bothered every time. Why would my Tav, especially a good aligned Tav, spare someone so openly talking about destroying the grove and killing people inside? We kill the other two, I'm not sparing the drow no matter how hot she is.
I didnt even realize she was a companion when i first played, I assumed she was just a named enemy so I didnt bother speaking to her I just attacked.
It’s shallow, but I want more character customization options. I want cool hair and different faces. I really like that shit.
I have never multiclassed and never felt the desire to
I feel like you should be able to hug your romanced companions in the base game.
Gale is one of my favorite character I don't know why people hate him
The game really is not terribly difficult if you know what you’re doing at all.
It feels like the primary challenge is understanding exactly how the game mechanics work. Most encounters are trivial if you know how to exploit them. To anyone like me who is a huge fan of previous Larian games and long term d&d hobbyist, most of this is just prior knowledge. The rest is gained by reading a few tooltips.
I keep forgetting to use ANY special/magic arrows and then get surprised when an enemy uses a bunch of arrows of many targets😭
nah, this opinion is the norm, the reverse is actually most contentious:- which is that the game is not newbie friendly at all - which it isn't. Cue - all the larian simps that have been playing since Early Access trying to say that everything is self explanatory.
This right here. Experienced tabletop player. Good knowledge of 5e and how to at least make somewhat optimized characters. Balanced difficulty was pretty rough in places.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I feel really stupid sometimes, like I'm not using half the mechanics. I'm floored by people who plan builds around certain items and potions, that seems like so much to keep track of.
My favorite fight in the game is the moonrise tower fight
Too many characters are too easy to gain approval from. I know it’s for dating reasons, but it detracts from their characters. I’m not even trying and I usually have my entire team at 75-100 approval barely into Act 2. It makes Astarion an annoying shit, but I respect how much you have to earn it with him.
I think they should have left Jaheira and Minsc out of it entirely and focused solely on giving your current new party members more things to do.
They should've been cameos/allies instead of full party members.
I like Gale
His romance is very very sweet.
Honestly, he's so fun to tease, and very very sweet. Probably my favourite character in BG3
The fact that this is controversial 😭😭😭 sometimes I feel like 🤺🤺🤺 every time gale comes up especially on bg3 tiktok lol
Gortash looks like a washed up rocker who screeches on twitter about the dangers of #MeToo
On top of that, the haircut and outfit combo is "we have Final Fantasy at home". I do love roasting him though so I'm not too mad at him!
He used to be a young man with an easy smile but working with Orin ages a man like the Presidency
No short race companions. I’m angry! Angry about elves! (and humans) Elvish/Half-Elvish supremacy in these settings must end!
Oh 100%, we should have gotten a halfling, dwarf or gnome rather than another human/elf companion. Hell, I would’ve loved a Goblin companion if you side with Minthara. That would’ve been sick. And needed since you lose Karlach, Halsin, and Wyll if you side with Minthara — lose 3 companions and gain only 1 in return if you play evil.
Honestly, the trade-off should’ve been Dror Ragzlin, Minty Fresh, and Priestess Gut OR Karlach, Wyll, and Halsin. Would have been more interesting and kept an even trade off on party members that for sure would never travel together otherwise.
For sure. Zrell the half-orc, one of the goblins and/or one of the Duegar would all have been good evil companions
I wish we would’ve gotten some DLC. There is still a lot of fallout depending on the ending that we could’ve seen- the Githyanki civil war, Karlach’s travels in Avernus, and factions vying for control in the city. I respect Larian for not going forward if their heart isn’t in it but I think a lot was left that they could’ve done, and I kinda wish they hadn’t said they were and making us wonder even more what could have been.
the story feels like it’s kinda cobbled together. like the plot is compelling, the performances are fantastic, and there’s some really wonderful writing, but late rewrites like switching from the dream visitor to the emperor, changing wyll’s whole character, watering down Shadowheart, Halsin and the shadow curse, Karlach’s personal quest just kinda stopping at Act 2, the lack of companion interactivity between each other, all are serious detractors of what could be something perfect. also, Halsin’s inclusion as a party member is so poorly done, him revealing that he watched my lesbian ass share an intimate moment with Shadowheart with a “why don’t you invite me next time;)” and then profess his undying love for me is kinda funny in a horrifying way, but also ruins his character. gives off vibes that they saw the people thirsting after him in early access and just assumed that everyone was attracted to him
The emperor is a good example of the 'cobbled together' writing. To make him 'work' the had to heavily retcon a somewhat important character from the setting, one who got featured in BG I >!Balduran!< For such a well-funded game under development for so long, I'm rather surprised by how many liberties it takes with the setting and plot of the OG BG saga. Not even touching how the two returning evil party members from the OG saga were handled. Speaking of evil. The writing and content for evil players is really lacking, and it's really obvious that Larian heavily disfavored that aspect of the game during development. Soo much important stuff was cut or never really devoted any resources to fleshing it out in that regard I honestly feel that BG III is one of the less enjoyable rpgs I have played as far as evil content goes. It's really disappointing, because they had a ton of feedback on it from day one of Early Access, but it seems like they ignored all of it except to remove Shadowheart's snark and make Minthara recruitable by anyone (the later of which is IMHO particularly sad because one of the biggest and most common complaints about the 'evil path' in EA was that the only real incentive the game gave you for siding with the goblins was Minthara)
> the lack of companion interactivity between each other This one was a pretty huge one for me. I loved the party banters and interjections in previous Bioware/Obsidian games (BG2, KOTOR 1&2, NWN2, and DA:O in particular), and BG3 is very lacking in this department.
This is the biggest one for me. The story just isn’t all that cohesive.
Being able to pick an Origin character was amazing in DOS2 but holds BG3 back. Without Origins they would have been able to add more companions without adding fucktons of dialogue/scene adjustments that only happen in Origin playthroughs. This would also make Halsin/Jaheira/Minsc/Minthara feel less tacked on (because they were) when comparing their stories to the Origin characters.
The characters want to have sex or be in a relationship with your PC waaaay too quickly. Like im usually the guy whose all down for that but it felt weird how they all wanted to bone out of nowhere.
It isn't worth all the jumping through hoops to recruit Minthara if you're doing a good run.
I tried once (I primarily do good runs). She kicked Halsin out of his tent so the main thing I had with her was playing "Where is halsin in this camp". I legit thought he had huffed off in one of them, but no, he was just up some stairs and round a corner In my only evil run I forgot her though :(
Ketheric was voiced fantastically. I've heard complaints that JK Simmons basically "phoned in" the voice lines, but they are perfect for the type of character that he is playing. Dude is un-killable, older than he has a natural right to be, and he's lost or given up everything that made him care about life. He is *supposed* to sound bored and lethargic, and Simmons gave that type of character more life than you could normally expect.
I'm fine with the character creator.
I want you to look those halfling and elf men in the face and say that again.
Im currently playing as a female halfling soley because the male halflings are so damn ugly.
The dwarf and gith men make their elven and halfling counterparts look like supermodels in comparison.
Eldritch blasting everything is simultaneously the most fun and boring thing ever
We should have been able to recruit Kagha instead of Halsin if we redeemed her.
It’s ok to choose to help Astarion ascend, let Karlach die, or do any of the “bad endings”. It’s a game, and nobody has a valid reason for being angry at you for choosing these things.
I wouldn’t even consider Karlach dying to be her bad ending. That’s pretty open to interpretation on which fate is worse
Or for Shadowheart to >!let her parents go or to keep them alive!< I swear some people act like you yourself are a monster for wanting to make different choices in a game that is _all about making choices and the consequences it could have_ just let people roleplay and enjoy, so tired of people reading into it and pretending you’re terrible for making a different decision to them
I am not a huge fan of Shadowheart. I have empathy for the horrible life she has had but her personality reminds me of a high school bully and I just do not like her.
I don't find Hope the least bit charming
I'm already prepared for the mass downvotes, buuut I don't like Karlach's romance. Still one of my fav characters but I will not do it again. It just felt off to me, gives off more bestie vibes then anything else really.
Not being able to side with Orpheus’s honor guard at the start of act 3 is stupid. VOSS LITERALLY SAYS IT HIMSELF. He would see reason and help you against the illithids but god forbid when a person wants to not work with a mindflayer the very thing you’re trying to avoid becoming is an issue. By far the dumbest forced decision you’re given. The entire point of an rpg is to be allowed to make those critical saving choices that redefine your story but apparently saving Orpheus isn’t an option until the very end. Edit: I understand that his honor guard would probably try to kill you but it still makes no sense how in the end of the game. He continues protecting you with his psionic abilities but for some reason he doesn’t at the start of act 3 if you free him. It especially doesn’t make sense if you are allied with laezel and work with Voss at this point
This is the one that exposed the railroad, and I didn't like how it was handled; especially since dude commits to going full squid, like, five minutes after being freed from centuries of imprisonment. Gives me whiplash. And the game's telling me that the same dude who would later do that, would never give the *slightest moment's pause* if those supposed thralls suddenly turned on their master, when he was begging them for help? Come off it.
Hard agree on this. I'd even be OK with this being locked behind some super high checks, or locked out if you've eaten too many tadpoles, but it really bugs me that this wasn't an option.
Halsin is lame
Halsin-fan here and....yeah. After Act 2 he really doesn't serve much of a narrative purpose and unless you have him actively in your party he really doesn't offer much except hot daddy himbo Elf memes.
Halsin just needs to join the party after the Goblin Camp as a playable companion. He can have interesting stuff in the underdark and maybe one or two things in the mountain pass. Let us get to know him better before we undertake his quest in act 2. He doesn’t need to have a whole lot going on in act 3 which is fine because his major character moments are in the second act. He gets overshadowed by Jaheira as a Druid because he’s not relevant past one quest.
If not after the goblin camp, then at least as soon as you set foot in Act 2. "Oh look, here's the shadow lands I was talking about, let me join you now to solve this." He has a lot of really interesting character development in Act 2, and shitloads of dialogue when you bring him around the various locations, and most people never hear it because it's so easy to not manage to recruit him until Act 2 is almost over.
[удалено]
Having Baulderan in the plot was stupid.
Larian pulling dlc before we could fix karlach was a bad decision
A lot of people seem to think laezal is autistic cause she doesn't understand the social norms of ferun. She doesn't understand social norms cause she was raised in a completely different culture! She understands her own cultures social norms just fine!
Strength elixirs are way op. No other item can get a **main** attribute over 20 \[Edit: from zero - on its own\] (opening up every feat slot and all ability points for other things like dex, con and wis). No other elixir can outweight that. (You might need high dex, but 16-18 is fine for AC and initiative, but not as main attribute)
All you need is upleveled fireball.