No real spoilers
Butch:
Oh my God what a game! My character is so perfect! Let's see, I met the wizard guy and his hot sorceress daughter, went to the temple place there, learned about mind flayers, fought that first bunch of gnolls, flirted more with the sorceress, LOVED the voice acting that gnoll chieftain had and
Oh who am I kidding? I went to hockey. I didn't play. I wanted to play. Let me have my delusions.
Feminina:
I knew this was all a delusion, because if you actually played it would be more like "I spent 4 hours making my character, the end."
Loothound:
Had me going for a minute there, Butch. "Wizard guy, hot sorceress daughter, gnolls? There's a temple place, all right, but is there a completely different start for this game somewhere?" I'm apparently not awake enough to have reached Feminina's very accurate assessment on my own.
I was wrong about the sidekick/companion thing. The character I thought might be the one I made isn't, so they're someone I haven't met yet. Not sure how that's going to work out.
Feminina:
Yeah, I'm not sure how Guardians feature in the game, being one hour into it, but that lady is definitely not mine.
Butch:
WAAAAAA I WANT TO PLAY!!!!!
I am purposely getting all my shit done today so tomorrow, when wife is at work and kids are at work and camp I can binge.
Loothound:
There you go, clear the decks for a play day! Hide away some nice foods for the occasion, mix up a pitcher of margaritas, and party on!
Butch:
Now THERE'S an idea!
Got to get something in. I leave at 630 AM Friday. Sigh.
I'll try to fire it up today at some point, but man today is busy.
Life would be so much easier if there was no such thing as groceries or laundry.
But Femmy, what did you go with character wise?
Feminina:
Pretty much the weirdest thing I could think of: half-orc bard. Because we've waited too long to be cautious. SEIZE THE WEIRD.
It's going to be great, and I'm gonna love it.
Loothound:
Don't leave anything out—a half-orc bard that plays the violin. It's magical.
Feminina:
It's the best. Though I'm calling it a fiddle, which is less formal.
I do kind of hate my clothes, which are stupid, but hopefully I can find something else to change into soon.
My character concept is "I'm not strong, which orcs like, or pretty, which humans like, but damn if I can't entertain people."
Loothound:
Yeah, your current outfit is very…motley. There's lots of other clothes that you can find and wear. Fun fact, each character comes with their own custom undergarments. Some of them are quite…intriguing.
Butch:
A half orc bard. Of course. Female?
I started! Delia, the human street urchin thief is off on her adventure. Took forever making her, as one does (you're right, not as robust as Cyberpunk, but it'll do), played up to getting the brain three times (as I do) to try to get the hang of controls.
Now I have a talking brain friend. I will likely immediately regret having a talking brain friend.
This got gory quick, didn't it? Creepy. I want to say fuck the laundry, the kids can walk home, time to play.
Hell of a cinematic. As I associate Baldur's Gate with what we just played, this is something else.
Feminina:
It is extremely cinematic! Those dragons attacking the ship…very nice, intense moments. And the ship is this gorgeous, hideously creepy monstrosity.
Stop spoiling! I don't have a brain friend! You have gotten ahead of me.
Loothound:
Yeah, the game is absolutely gorgeous. Just had my first Camp rest, and the first hints of some of the old roses 'n' chocolates action. The characters are amazingly well written and acted.
Butch:
What? I'm in the second room! I just went through one sphincter…uh…door. Ew.
Also, are your "narrators" the same voice as your character? I can't tell if it is or if I just picked a voice (deeper female British) that was similar.
I haven't met another character yet, besides the brain, but I think I'm gonna like that lizard woman whatever in the first cinematic.
But the detail. That roaring dragon in the opening cinematic that had drool and goo in its mouth? Most games would not have bothered.
Loothound:
The githyanki woman. Yeah, she's interesting. I…think the narrator is the same. You don't really hear your character talking in the game much. So, maybe it's like your internal monologue voice or something.
Feminina:
Wait, I went through that door…I missed a brain friend? Curses!
Butch:
Yeah. The "You notice that blah blah blah" and all that if you do a check.
Is that voice a British woman for you?
Did you go up? There was a thing you could use and you could go up.
Headphones, man. I heard something going "Help us! Save us!" I wasn't leaving until I found that shit.
Feminina:
I read that the entire game is narrated by Amelia Tyler, so I think we'd have that voice regardless, and we just all happen to have female character voices…who all happen to have British accents because all fantasy characters do.
Loothound:
I'm pretty sure I covered the entire map on board the illithid ship. I'm gonna wait until you're both off before I mention anything, though.
Feminina:
I mean, I'm only one step further, so I should probably reload and make a brain friend.
Or not! It could be a disaster.
Although I saw a brain with legs running around later on, is that the one? An intellect devourer, according to the label text.
It didn't say anything to me, though. Maybe it was mad that I didn't make friends with it earlier.
Butch:
You had to do….something….to get this particular brain friend. So far, it's the only other being I've seen that isn't dead.
It could be a disaster! You never know where you stand with walking, telepathic brains.
I just googled and it turns out the narrator is not your voice. I just picked such. I kind of like it, though. Makes it immersive like the narrator is my thoughts.
Loothound:
Feminina, are you off the illithid ship yet? I don't know that you have to go too far out of your way over the brain friend. It doesn't seem like that big a deal.
The map design on this is really good. The ways that different areas can interconnect is pretty cool, so more exploring definitely has payoffs.
Feminina:
I am not, no. I'm still trying to…free someone.
Butch:
So much exploring….
I do wish they were clearer about what you can do with stuff when you "search" like that. I did that, found some tablets I could read, saw this jar, thought I was examining the jar but I attacked it instead which is not what I wanted to do.
Oh well.
Feminina:
Yes, that confused me as well. I need to figure out what means "take" and what means "examine" and what means "attack"…it's early yet. Some lack of clarity is expected.
Butch:
I somehow hid and then couldn't unhide. It was weird.
I also can't figure out what's in my inventory. I seem to have a sword. Nice of the mind flayer to imprison me with a sword.
Loothound:
I also got stuck in hide mode, which was strange. To see the inventory, you have to go to the character sheets (R2 and top)
Butch:
Oh my. There's a lot of buttons, aren't there?
Feminina:
So many buttons.
It wouldn't be Baldur's Gate without multiple wheels and lots of buttons
Loothound:
Yep. Cycling through the action wheels is going to take some time to get used to.
Butch:
Well, all Baldurs gate games have been pc games first and foremost. Probably easier with a keyboard.
As an aside, something I forgot to mention. We have talked on the character creator. One thing I don't think I've ever seen before is a slider to age your character. You could have played this as a rather elderly person.
That's kind of interesting. Usually, no matter how many ways you can customize your look, you're playing young.
Loothound:
Is there? I didn't notice that. I've seen some games where some of the kit faces are older looking options, and you're usually able to get some of it with hair color and such.
You know what I would love to see again, is when you actually have sliders for different physical characteristics. Height, beefiness, facial structure all on sliders. This, of course, invited genuine hours of tweaking.
Hmm, maybe it's better off this way…
Nah.
Butch:
Give me sliders!
Yeah, it was called "maturity" and it aged your character (or not).
Kinda cool.
Still would've liked sliders. Delia doesn't look QUITE like Morrigan.
Loothound:
Jeez, do you have a type. There's a girl that works at my favorite coffee shop, and I have a feeling that if you lived near here you'd be getting 4 coffees a day. She's got that look, and lots of tattoos.
Butch:
So…coffee tomorrow?
Hey, My V wasn't a Morrigan clone. She was a Lelianna clone.
Loothound:
Ah, Lelianna. Now that I can better understand.
Any time. They also make these cool eastern European pastries. If you feel like hitting up Encore at some point, we can grab a coffee first.
Butch:
Oh, and don't forget your free stuff! Remember that email we got with the code waaaaay back when it shipped? Free stuff!
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