Have to agree - BG3 is one of the best, and I’ve been playing CRPGs since Ultima III.
How can you play the game as a cat? That’s wild.
I’m starting an honour run (monk ftw) after I’m done with Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. I’d be curious to hear what you (or anyone else here) thinks of that game. I’m not familiar with the Warhammer universe, but I’m really digging the game so far.
I’m looking forward to reading the article on Magic design. If you haven’t come across it, my favorite article on video games is by Alice Maz, exploring the economy of multiplayer Minecraft:
One of the best system for dealing with consumables (and crafting them!), I believe, is found in Witcher 3. You gather reagents once (this can be simple for simple potion, but sometimes you have to search really hard), and get a potion that can be resued forever, after a reasonable cooldown. It works, because combats in Witcher 3 are pretty short, so this basically makes such consumables "X times per encounter" items where X is usually a pretty low number (actually, I think only healing potions can really be reused during one combat).
The thing about a lot of consumables is that they get a lot better with certain builds (to the point where you find yourself whipping through them), but you have to know to set up your character like that. Spell scrolls are incredibly powerful with the Sorcerer, for instance, because you can use your Metamagic abilities to power them up and use those abilities on spells you shouldn't be able to get (Twinned Dethrone, anyone?). But, you probably won't know about that unless you really mess around or get deep into the theorycrafting part of the game - and at least on the non-modded difficulty levels, you don't _need_ to use those tricks either.
I think part of what makes the consumable items difficult to way, consume, is how finite resources are in Larian games. Yes, you can buy items to restock, but you can only ever earn so much money, find so many items out in the wild. Eventually you'll (theoretically) run out. This is why players generally don't find themselves hoarding Potions or Hi-Potions in Final Fantasy games -- money is an infinitely renewable resource and those items can be bought at every shop.
Instead we all hoard Ethers, which aren't sold anywhere, even in games where they are sold somewhere, because we remember them not being sold anywhere.
So while I agree that cool magic items that are infinitely renewable are great... I think part of that might be the juxtaposition? Would having an item that can cast infinite fireballs feel less valuable if we didn't also have single-use Scrolls of Fireball, too?
....
On the subject of abilities, I am currently playing through Rise of the Ronin, which is a really fun game... but man, the RPG elements are... profoundly annoying. It starts out with your base stats at 75, and you gain 1 each time you level up (I think? It's not altogether clear), which basically just means an imperceptible 1% improvement. I honestly have no idea whether those stats actually affect anything. Meanwhile you're here dismissing abilities that give you a 5% buff or debuff, whereas I'm playing a game where those percentages are closer to 0.2% on average. I suppose choosing between an item that gives me a +0.2% increase to item drop rate and an item that grants a +1.5% increase drop rate is *technically* a "meaningful gameplay choice," but it really feels insulting when minute-to-minute I can't tell the difference between either item while actually playing -- or even when I have neither equipped. The difference is so insignificant as to be imperceptible. A 5% increase? That sounds like a lovely dream to me right now.
.....
Anyway, yeah, BG3 is a fantastic game. Not sure how I feel about the elevation wonkiness, though. I don't think I've ever played a game that *really* managed to make tactical combat work well in three dimensions, let alone across a lot of different elevation. It always makes me think of those "3D Chess" games they'd play in Star Trek (original flavor). Every time I see 'em all I can think is, "Wow, that game looks like it'd be really annoying to play."
Looking forward to the Avernum 4 remake ;)
Me too! If that’s a real thing. I loved Escape from the Pit
Have to agree - BG3 is one of the best, and I’ve been playing CRPGs since Ultima III.
How can you play the game as a cat? That’s wild.
I’m starting an honour run (monk ftw) after I’m done with Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. I’d be curious to hear what you (or anyone else here) thinks of that game. I’m not familiar with the Warhammer universe, but I’m really digging the game so far.
I’m looking forward to reading the article on Magic design. If you haven’t come across it, my favorite article on video games is by Alice Maz, exploring the economy of multiplayer Minecraft:
https://www.alicemaz.com/writing/minecraft.html. Enjoy.
I now feel completely justified in hoarding every single potion, scroll, and wand in Spiderweb games.
One of the best system for dealing with consumables (and crafting them!), I believe, is found in Witcher 3. You gather reagents once (this can be simple for simple potion, but sometimes you have to search really hard), and get a potion that can be resued forever, after a reasonable cooldown. It works, because combats in Witcher 3 are pretty short, so this basically makes such consumables "X times per encounter" items where X is usually a pretty low number (actually, I think only healing potions can really be reused during one combat).
But QWs approach is fine, too.
Can't imagine picking any option besides shadowheart.
Cute half elf vs weird looking frog and red woman that curses like a middle schooler.
Not even a contest.
The thing about a lot of consumables is that they get a lot better with certain builds (to the point where you find yourself whipping through them), but you have to know to set up your character like that. Spell scrolls are incredibly powerful with the Sorcerer, for instance, because you can use your Metamagic abilities to power them up and use those abilities on spells you shouldn't be able to get (Twinned Dethrone, anyone?). But, you probably won't know about that unless you really mess around or get deep into the theorycrafting part of the game - and at least on the non-modded difficulty levels, you don't _need_ to use those tricks either.
I think part of what makes the consumable items difficult to way, consume, is how finite resources are in Larian games. Yes, you can buy items to restock, but you can only ever earn so much money, find so many items out in the wild. Eventually you'll (theoretically) run out. This is why players generally don't find themselves hoarding Potions or Hi-Potions in Final Fantasy games -- money is an infinitely renewable resource and those items can be bought at every shop.
Instead we all hoard Ethers, which aren't sold anywhere, even in games where they are sold somewhere, because we remember them not being sold anywhere.
So while I agree that cool magic items that are infinitely renewable are great... I think part of that might be the juxtaposition? Would having an item that can cast infinite fireballs feel less valuable if we didn't also have single-use Scrolls of Fireball, too?
....
On the subject of abilities, I am currently playing through Rise of the Ronin, which is a really fun game... but man, the RPG elements are... profoundly annoying. It starts out with your base stats at 75, and you gain 1 each time you level up (I think? It's not altogether clear), which basically just means an imperceptible 1% improvement. I honestly have no idea whether those stats actually affect anything. Meanwhile you're here dismissing abilities that give you a 5% buff or debuff, whereas I'm playing a game where those percentages are closer to 0.2% on average. I suppose choosing between an item that gives me a +0.2% increase to item drop rate and an item that grants a +1.5% increase drop rate is *technically* a "meaningful gameplay choice," but it really feels insulting when minute-to-minute I can't tell the difference between either item while actually playing -- or even when I have neither equipped. The difference is so insignificant as to be imperceptible. A 5% increase? That sounds like a lovely dream to me right now.
.....
Anyway, yeah, BG3 is a fantastic game. Not sure how I feel about the elevation wonkiness, though. I don't think I've ever played a game that *really* managed to make tactical combat work well in three dimensions, let alone across a lot of different elevation. It always makes me think of those "3D Chess" games they'd play in Star Trek (original flavor). Every time I see 'em all I can think is, "Wow, that game looks like it'd be really annoying to play."
Great article! FYI, the link to the BG3 item types goes to the Magic article.