In mine the Duke died because I killed a spider that was next to him and it exploded. Oops. I probably left that part of the story out when I told Wyll what happened back at camp.
His armor did live on to fight the good fight with La’zel.
My wife and I have playing regularly but I’m usually only good for an hour at a time. Based on what others are saying about the volume of Act 3 content, I’m assuming we’re near the start of it. I have very little familiarity with tabletop RPGs and computer games based on them and found the breadth of mechanics and character choices overwhelming, even with stock/story characters. I get lost easily, especially with an adjustable camera. And I’m usually playing after a long day of work that has been more mentally draining of late. So it’s been frustrating for my wife to play with me:
W: “We should talk to [that guy] before we leave”
R: “Who?”
“You were literally just talking to him”
“No I was talking to [other guy]”
“Right. Just before that”
“The guy who [does the thing]?”
“Right”
“Oh. Didn’t know his name”
“It’s written right there . . . whatever; we should talk to him.”
“Ok”
…
“I can’t find him.”
“Wyll. Is. Standing. Right. Next. To. Him.”
“Oh right.”
Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’ve been playing with Wyll and mostly Lae’zel. She with Dark Urge (resisting the urges) and a rotating cast, mostly Shart until she became unavailable for reasons. I’m not enjoying Wyll much. With only two spell slots, it’s pretty much just eldritch blast after blast. We’d played Divinity right before this and I enjoyed coming up with clever combos. It’s hard to do that with just one action per turn. That said, I enjoy BG being leas combat heavy.
I suspect I need to be more willing to just blow my load early and sleep more frequently. We’re playing on an easy enough level that camp food isn’t a limited resource. And I’m definitely not taking enough advantage of consumables.
Don’t forget that you get the spell slots back on a short rest. There’s also a few magical items that give you a free spell slot (though you’ll be limited to spells of that level or less unlike the open warlock slots).
Ultimately though, you’re right that warlock is 90% about being an Eldritch Blast cannon. A lot of people don’t find it very exciting (myself included) which is why the class is often used as a multi class dip in 5e.
The main problem with Wyll is that he doesn’t do anything that some other party member can’t do better. I only use him for plot stuff. If I know I’m not going to be having conversations that his presence will add something to, I leave him in camp.
One thing we didn’t notice until recently was that since it’s so cheap to buy new characters, it’s easy to play around mid-game with new classes without starting an entirely new game. E.g., I paused to walk the dog, and my wife built a bard that was ready to go when I got back. We didn’t have great gear for her, but it was fun to try out some new, higher level abilities for a few fights.
Largely true. If you juice up his Blasts, he can do some significant damage but it’s a one trick pony and you probably have plenty of DPS classes already. If I plan on rolling with him, I usually respec him to sorcerer.
Late Act 3 story
I did a warlock on my Dark Urge run and my duel with Orin was hilarious. Round one, I dropped the Illithid ability that let you interchange actions and bonus actions, drank a Haste potion and summoned an earth elemental next to Orin. She attacked it, largely ineffectually, and it slammed her prone. Next round was three waves of juiced up Eldritch Blasts using Alfira’s robe and multi-crits with her being prone and Orin was dead.
I just got an Xbox X for Christmas. I was assuming that the game performance would be about the same on that and my PS5 and, therefore, I should buy it for Xbox since I have more space on its drive. (I guess my 2014 iMac running Windows 10 is technically an option, but it struggles heavily with, e.g., Outer Wilds). Does anyone know if that’s the case, preferably through first-hand experience? (I haven’t played any version.)
This youtube video shows the PS5 to be slightly better, but looks like the differences are pretty minor. Video is under four minutes total.
Thanks! I should’ve mentioned that my TV is 1080p and my eyesight isn’t really good enough to appreciate 4k. 
Unless I get a big Sony gift certificate for my upcoming birthday, I’ll get the Xbox version. (I also prefer the asymmetric analog stick layout.)
I have to confess, I looked up how to save Vanra because I couldn’t let her die. No way I would have done it right otherwise
My main problem with that quest is that the hag survivors group can aggro on you for very little reason which is confusing and makes it difficult.
I basically Googled every puzzle after a cursory attempt to do it on my own (which admittedly did sometimes succeed) because I am old and ain’t nobody got time for that.
Heroic Defeat
After a pretty fun romp through the overland base Act I map and clearing everything out, I went into the Mountain pass and figured I’d do the Creche first before hitting the Underdark. The Inquisitor guy annihilated me. We skipped around him at first and complete the Blood of Lathander, prepped everyone around him with Speed potions (in turn-based so they wouldn’t count down) then I talked to him and started the fight. Total joke. He summons two juiced up Spiritual Weapons per round plus Legendary saves, his Mind Links and the usual Heroic bonuses to AC/HP/etc.
I even tried recovering my save file and trying four more times and never got close. Tried the Ogre horn but they can’t be summoned there.
So I called it defeat and a good reason to play something else. After five runs and 500+ hours, I can safely shelve BG3 until a major patch update, some friends want to Co-Op or I just get an itch again.
$0.12/hour of entertainment (and good entertainment). Such great value.
I am nowhere near as far in the game as that but I already think it was the best spent gaming dollar I made all year (aside from freebies which I don’t think count for this…it’d be dividing by zero).
I’ve been away from my PC for a bit and so haven’t played in a while. That’s the act 1 fight I’m most concerned about. I think when I get back into it I’ll give Minthara the grove info, do the grymforge, then try the creche last.
The fights that I had a particularly hard time:
The Gnolls in Act I (ended up talking my way out of it by approaching from a different direction).
The Hobgoblin leader of the Goblins (Ogre threw him off a cliff so I missed out on a worm).
Nere (F this guy. Only won because I called in the Ogre reinforcements one last time).
Casador the Vampire (threw him off the side literally days before a patch made that longer possible. Have no idea how I would have won without that trick)
The clerics in the house of whatever in Act III.
A few others took a few tries but these literally took me days of trying to get past.
Yenna is seriously glitched for me. Looking online it seems like she should have been kidnapped and rescued. Instead Lae’zel was kidnapped. Yenna has been just standing there talking about her pairing knife over and over. I think she’s supposed to be able to give you food but it’s just pairing knife all day long.
Yenna
The default is for Lae’zel or Halsin to be kidnapped. Yenna is the failsafe option in case those two are in your party or not in your overall team (they’re only kidnapped from camp). Which is why Yenna is forced on you even if you tell her to shove off – the game needs someone who can be kidnapped.
Yenna’s dialogue is indeed sort of janky. I don’t think she starts selling food until the kidnapping thing is resolved.
Things have been resolved for awhile. She is still repeating the same dialogue and no food.
We still haven’t beaten it. I’m not in the mood most evenings so it’s mostly been weekend days when I don’t have other stuff going on. But I think we’re getting close, with not much left to do (that I’m aware of) besides one remaining Chosen and then the big bad. We’ve been max level for a few quests now and been able to get through the big fights without too much trouble.
I know very little about BG1 and 2, but I know enough to appreciate the extra party member we got in Act 3, his traveling companion, and the associated voice lines.
Go for the eyes!
Although we haven’t gone for them much. I find there are a lot of abilities I’d like to use but rarely do.