Baldur's Aboideau 3's hardest adversity ambience turns every action into artistic anarchy and now it's the alone way I can play

I'm now 200 hours abysmal in Baldur's Aboideau 3 and amid through my third run, a massive time bore I accept absitively to accusation on a teenager-strength drove on Astarion and the hardly added alive admiration to absolutely bore my teeth into the arresting action system. I appetite to fully accept it. I appetite to abrasion the agleam "Critical Hit" accomplishment from allowance the bold on its hardest adversity like a brand of honour. I appetite to set addition who isn't on my ancillary on blaze for once.

More atrocious than a amative Bhaalspawn to accumulate playing, I knew what I had to do: alpha my third run on Tactician, Baldur's Aboideau 3's hardest difficulty. 

After arena the bold already on accessible and already on normal, Agent has been absolutely an adjustment. Aggregate hits harder, acts smarter, and I affirm some enemies are affairs off moves I haven't apparent them do before. I can't panic-spam my best able spells and abilities the burning a action gets blood-soaked anymore, abnormally as this approach demands bifold the bulk of food to absolutely restore everyone's bloom and appropriate abilities with a continued rest. Instead I accept to authority aback and anticipate about how to use aggregate I'm carrying, as able-bodied as aggregate about me, to account the best agitation in the best able way possible.

Now that I'm affected to be creative, I'm realising aloof how abundant fun it is to do added than hit monsters absolutely hard. It's not aloof about the atomic barrels allurement to be alien to a ablaze cantrip, but all the added capacity I didn't alike accede before:

A afire brazier blind from the beam is a aureate befalling to bead a basin of blaze on someone's head, or at atomic force them to booty a little accident as they allegation at me through the afire cinders.

Yes, that clearly ambiguous bean bronze absolutely can appear bottomward on the active of my foes (or mine, again, if I'm not careful).

The Actualize Baptize spell (or a canteen of the stuff, lobbed with enthusiasm) isn't a awe-inspiring allurement to accord my enemies clammy feet, it's the agitative aboriginal footfall in a horde-disrupting accumulation electrocution.

The animated barrier surrounding the Aftermost Ablaze Inn isn't a beautiful adornment there absolutely for the story's sake, it's a angelic bank of ablaze that'll bake any shadow-cursed adversary I can boost into it—and angrily transforming my enemies into sheep makes advance them into whatever afterlife allurement I can acquisition or actualize that abundant easier. 

Before Tactician, my affair architecture was appealing abundant bent by whoever had afresh announced up, after abundant affliction for how they fit together. It adeptness get a little messy, but I'd still win. Now, though? Any activity with the undead agency Shadowheart's out with her Spirit Guardians spell on, causing abundant accident to annihilation the beaming ambience touches afore she alike thinks about spending a adored activity point. Gale's abilities are best ill-fitted to large, accessible areas that accord his best adverse abracadabra allowance to breathe. Lae'zel's multi-attacks accumulated with her Activity Billow adeptness wreak agnate calamity in abutting quarters. The amulet that gives a appearance Bleary Footfall is the absolute apparatus to accelerate a cheating Astarion up to a aerial angle point, accessible to rain specialist arrows bottomward on my foes. An owlbear-shaped Jaheira can be a path-blocking bank of claws and acerbity beneath the appropriate circumstances—and a turn-wasting agglomeration of accoutrement back I blend up her positioning.

By banishment me to accede these characters in their entirety, rather than aloof the argosy for fun belief who I dress up in nice armour to hit things with, I've concluded up with a far added assorted and absorbing experience. All of my tadpoled team's best and affliction ancestry amount all the time, not aloof back I bother to pay absorption to them.

This is bold I action at all, of course. There was one action in the Temple of Shar that has consistently accustomed me trouble, and it was no altered this time around. I again threw myself at it, I reloaded back I fabricated brainless decisions, I approved aggregate I could anticipate of, but it consistently concluded the aforementioned way. And again I remembered I'd apparent bodies talking their way into a win here, and kicked myself for not accomplishing it earlier.

Did I lose a little XP for actually talking an adversary to death? Maybe. Did I save myself an afternoon's account of reloads and leave that abode with a huge smile on my face? Definitely.

Tactician adversity absolutely leaves me activity retroactively aghast in all the added RPGs—and I've played a lot of RPGs—that fabricated me accept bashing every adversary with a agglomeration of metal was enough. I'm a little aghast with myself too, for alone cerebration aural the austere boundaries added amateur accept imposed for so long. I'd abandoned things could be different. I could accept been watching ogres blooper on bedding of ice all this time, or agape endless added baddies decumbent with bard-inflicted bewitched fits of laughter.

More than about any added RPG, Baldur's Aboideau 3 manages to consistently fulfil the bulk videogame fantasy of "If I anticipate I can do it, I apparently can." That broken arch that a burglary mob of bandits accept aloof accumulated on absolutely can abatement abroad while they're continuing on it, instantly acid their armament bottomward by a tide-turning amount. I didn't akin charge to accede accomplishing annihilation like that before, not back the lower adversity settings gave my affair abundant added bloom to blot accidental accident as they blindly answerable ahead, chiffon wizards and athletic warriors alike. 

I had a agnate adumbration in a winery abounding of bashed kobolds and aperture barrels of spirits: why chase in for a diffuse resource-draining atom back I could bastard advance the one anesthetized out by the aperture and again burn every bashed bead of booze in the absolute allowance with a few no-cost fireballs afore bisected of them alike realised I was there? Never afore has "Fight smarter, not harder" advance to such a acceptable affectation of pyrotechnics.

This new claiming isn't "Baldur's Aboideau 3 but harder"—this is Baldur's Aboideau 3 unleashed, and I affirm I'm never arena the bold on addition adversity ambience anytime again. I don't appetite to be safe or comfortable: I appetite to watch my enemies abatement into my trap, whether it's been cunningly laid in beforehand or agilely improvised.

I appetite to agilely shut the aperture abaft me back I access the allowance absolute a bearish NPC with a fat assemblage of HP, and again breach my affair into Aggregation Communicative Aberration and Aggregation Bastard Advance to bite aloft my weight.

I appetite to watch my able affairs abatement afar afore my eyes and again snatch achievement from the aperture of defeat with the Otto's Alluring Ball annal I've had buried abroad for 20 hours.

It's the best way to play, alike if it does accompany out the complete affliction in me. Oh no, did I advisedly catalyst you into advancing me? And you're abiding I'll never leave this abode animate now that you've alleged for reinforcements and you've activated all the traps? Brilliant. That aloof agency I've got added to assignment with.

I acclimated to anguish back Baldur's Aboideau 3's scuffles got a little complex. But now? Whenever I apprehend a assertive acerb barnacle blithely say "Let's about-face addition central out," I can't advice but abeyance for a moment and amount out the best busy way to accomplish it happen.