The Baldur's Gate license is back with a third episode on PC. Larian Studios is at the helm of this project, a studio known for the quality of its role-playing games and in particular the “Divinity” series. Currently in early access on Steam/GOG, the dev teams are allowing players to walk through the very first act of Baldur's Gate 3. Obviously, given the change in studio and direction, this new Baldur's Gate is quite different from its predecessors, can even confuse the fans of the first hour. If you have never played previous games developed by Larian Studios then you have a lot to learn about the new game mechanics of Baldur's Gate 3 which are very similar to what Larian did with Divinity. To help you start your adventure in the heart of the Forgotten Realms of Baldur's Gate 3, we have prepared a series of tips and tricks that you can discover below. Remember that Baldur's Gate 3 is in early access and that all game mechanics can evolve during development.
Tip 1 – Make visible everything you can loot / pick up nearby:
There are a lot of things you can pick up or loot in the world of Baldur's Gate 3. If you want to make sure you don't miss anything on your way, you better know how you can highlight things in the game … Simply hold down the “Alt” key when you explore a place to make visible all the bodies to loot nearby, the objects you can pick up or steal from chests, barrels and other elements of the scenery.
Tip 2 – Activate tooltips to learn some basic game mechanics:
Information bubbles sometimes appear at the top right, under the mini-map. Remember to open them, you might learn some useful tips on the game mechanics of Bladur's Gate 3. Even at the beginning of your adventure, you might wonder how you can jump from one platform to another. If you're paying attention, you'll see below your mini-map a quick explanation of how you can perform the "jump" action in-game.
Tip 3 – Take a good look at your surroundings in combat:
The luck factor is of great importance in the fights of Baldur's Gate 3 taking up certain rules of Dungeons and Dragons. Still, if you're paying attention, you'll see that Battlegrounds can give you a few perks that will boost your damage output. A high position relative to your opponents will increase the damage you deal. You can use the jump action even in combat, which will allow you to avoid an attack of opportunity from your opponent that you should have suffered by simply moving. Consider using the action of soaking your weapon in nearby elements to get additional weapon effects, like fire for example. Destroy the stalactites suspended from the ceiling or any element that seems suspicious to you in your environment, which will have the effect of inflicting direct damage on an entire group of enemies if they are within the radius of action.
Tip 4 – Hiding and Stealing Items:
In Baldur's Gate 3 you can rob any dweller/trader even someone very important to the storyline. With pickpocketing, you can sneak up on someone and try to pickpocket them. But for that, you have to use the "hide" action in the skill bar at the bottom of the screen. Without this action, you won't see that you have the ability to rob the locals/trader or even attempt to steal anything in your surroundings. When exploring a village, you will sometimes see that you can rummage through cabinets/chests and such that appear red. To retrieve their contents, you must go into "hide" mode and do it when no one is watching you. The field of vision of other characters appears in red. Little tip, if you sell an object to a merchant, for example, you can try to take it back by stealing it. Of course, once you've managed to steal an item, it would be good not to hang around too long if you don't want to pay the consequences of such an act.
☆ Note – you can learn more about the pickpocketing techniques of Baldur's Gate 3 in a dedicated article on this subject which you can read on this page: Baldur's Gate 3 Guide How Pickpocketing Works / How To Steal Objects.
Tip 5 – If you fail to convince your interlocutor, try it with someone else:
Baldur's Gate 3 has a large number of dialogues and it will happen at times "almost all the time in fact" that you have to convince your interlocutor for such or such reasons. In case of success you will certainly unlock a thorny situation whereas in case of failure the dialogue could completely block your relationship with a character... Remember however that you have three traveling companions with you... If the dialogue is closed with the he character of yours doesn't mean that you can't attempt to parley with another member of your party. Switch the members of your group and therefore try another roll of the dice to see if you will be luckier this time!
Tip 6 – Totally abuse manual backup:
The game regularly performs automatic saves of your game... But you can also save yourself at any time and without any limitation. With this idea in mind, you will quickly understand that you can manipulate the game by regularly saving your progress. Before a dialogue with an uncertain outcome, before robbing a merchant, before a fight... Be imaginative and use the save as often as possible. If something goes wrong, simply reload and start again! Some will consider this as cheating, rather see it as a possibility to repair your mistakes without having to start the adventure from the beginning.
Tip 7 – Use the rest system to heal your team and improve your bond with your group:
We don't know if it's a developer error, but it's possible to use the game's rest system without limitation to regain health points or to reload spell slots... Take a look at the mini-map At the top right of your screen, you will see two options, "Take a short rest" and "Go to sleep"... The first option will heal your team while the second will allow you to refill your spell slots to use your magical powers again in addition to allowing you to deepen your relationships with other members of your group. You can even create some funny situations with this option... Indeed, if you are thrown in jail, you can use the "go to sleep" option to get out of jail and find yourself around a campfire with your teammates... For that the next day you will again be thrown into the dungeon.
Tip 8 – Learn new spells from scrolls:
Scrolls of magic, invigoration and others are of limited use... However, did you know that you have the possibility of teaching certain classes, such as magicians and magicians, to learn spells contained in these scrolls for a small sum of 'gold ? When you have a scroll in your inventory, all you have to do is right-click on the scroll you are interested in opening your inventory to see if you can make it learn permanently. If you cannot do it, it will be written that the class is incompatible with this action. If you can do it, but your class is not advanced enough, it will say "level is too low".
