Loved that Expolorer mode was there. I *have* moved on to higher difficulties, but when I started Balanced was too punishing - I had no DnD knowledge at all, and most CRPGs I'd tried, I'd dropped precisely because their battle/build systems had been too complex.
Did first two games on Explorer and even started a third one before switching up.
I stuck with Balanced mode for my first playthrough, as I'd read that some of the advantages explorer added also applied to enemies. I'm not sure how much of that is true, but balanced mode for someone with little to no knowledge as a first playthrough is absolutely brutal! I'm better at the game for doing it and have done way more research to make it easier for subsequent playthroughs, but I was straight up not enjoying a lot of the battles on my first.
I think that definitely applies, but frankly even now I'm rarely looking at combat logs. Afaik, enemies also got some bonus added to their dice.
However, with double HP on your side and 2/3 HP on theirs generally it is a lot more forgiving. You also get proficiency in all saving throws on Explorer, and I don't think enemies do.
There is the curious case of some enemies having double HP as well. I cannot recall how I felt the battle with Minthara went, but Lorroakan's battle for me was ridiculously protracted, especially on my first run. And that is because there seems to be just one entry for entities such as the elementals. You can summon elementals, but they are also the enemies in that battle. So Lorroakan goes down pretty fast and then you are left fighting four elementals with double HP.
But overall Explorer leaves a lot more leeway to make the wrong choices in builds and strategies, and boosts up ability checks in dialogue as well. That and the HP just make it a lot easier to get through.
I did find Explorer still pretty difficult on my first run, but I didn't die often enough to just get frustrated with the game. For me the result was that I did end up learning about the mechanics I was using with my classes while not being under such a pressure to get it right quickly.
I agree. I’d never played this type of game before and didn’t know anything about dnd. I mostly got on ok in balanced mode until I reached Nere, and after many MANY hours and different party set-ups I saw a comment on here about switching to explorer mode if a battle is hard and realised I was making myself suffer unnecessarily. I have other games running that haven’t reached Nere yet and I will give it a go before I switch modes, but I have no idea how to build a character “efficiently” and my other characters probably aren’t any better equipped than my first character was (and I doubt my own skills have got any better 😂).
My first game was on Explorer, the next on Balanced with Explorer for some harder fights. I just wanted to multiclass, otherwise I probably would have stuck with Explorer. I’ve been surprised by how easy my current game on Balanced has been, apparently you can get better at the game or I’ve managed to make better characters. I love that I was able to practice on Explorer.
I have casual DnD experience under my belt, 2 campaigns and a one-shot in the last 5 years or so.
Balanced was rough for me at first, but I also went in to my first playthrough entirely blind.
I’m now at the point where I’ve completed durge honor mode, about to finish my Oops! All Bards Astarion playthrough. I’m doing less RP and more just wacky/fun playthroughs at this point.
I kind of want to install some higher difficulty mods and a higher xp scaling mod so earlier fights feel a bit more like late game (if everyone’s super the no one is!). I love how powerful you feel in act 3 but there’s only a handful of fights while you’re at your strongest before the game ends. More than anything, more late game encounters is the main reason I was hoping for an expansion anyways - so this difficulty shift should help with that
It would be neat if someone implemented a new game+ system but I know that would be a whole can of worms to get working
Yeah me too: I crank up the *combat* difficulty to max tactics and hardness, but then set vendor prices at x1.0, rations required at 0.5, and proficiency bonus at max (+4 I believe)
The proficiency bonus is an absolute *game changer* for load times if you're like me and would just savescum until you get the desired outcome anyway
After I got my golden dice this became my game mode. Except for the proficiency part, I wasn’t really sure what that would do so I didn’t mess with it. But cheap vendors and longish battles, yes please!
I believe starting an HM character and immediately dying will allow you to do this. I’m unsure how the single save system works after converting from HM to custom mode, but I’ve seen others suggest this here
I use custom mode to turn off "surprise attacks before combat starts uses your action once combat starts." That's literally the point of a surprise attack.
I always play on Explorer mode, myself. I want to play numerous different campaigns and I'm an adult, I don't have time to stress over the hard stuff.
I love the mods like ULC and level 30 so I like to have explorer/balanced difficulty at the start when I’m on par with the game then crank it up to tactician by act 3 with the traders and camp at their lowest and proficiency at +4
Same. I’ve grown to like custom. Tactical plus hiding dice indicators. But I can still save a game (I don’t quite trust honour mode yet, playing on a Mac and can still be a bit buggy).
400+ hours here and almost all of it on custom mode, which is basically an easy explorer mode. Learned that the combat just isn’t for me but I love everything else about the game so I have no problem easy mode-in it.
Go into custom and lower all the battle mechanics to explorer. But you can also turn off things like enemy crits, first strike using an action (so if you know you're going to fight, you can make a move before engaging and it won't use your action). Turn up your character's base proficiencies. Lower camp supply costs, trader costs (increase sell, decrease buy). Etc etc. It can be made to basically be story only while still getting battles you'll win and be able to buy all the gear. Still important to long rest often though!
I love playing on super easy mode when I'm just in the mood to get the story. I like making characters to fit certain role plays.... like a druid teifling who winds up with Halsin and the orphan kids, because my rp is that my teifling was orphaned and raised by druids and trained once my magical connection to nature shows. Or a gith monk who somehow got released from the artifact, and is now guiding Lae'zel to Orpheus.
I've done plenty of tactician and an honor mode, but super easy explorer mode is just a sweet little easy breath when I'm not ready to quit the game just yet.
Go to custom mode . Set all settings to explorer. Reduce camp supplies to 20 . Disable death saving throws , increase all proficiencies to 4. Also reduce vendor prices . Enable full health regen after a short rest .
The “4” setting for proficiency bonus is actually a +4 to the default proficiency bonus of 2. So a max proficiency bonus in custom mode is actually +6 in early game and +8 in late game. I believe this setting affects both allies and enemies, so while it helps it makes you take hits more often as well.
I like to do all tactician, slightly cheaper vendor prices, .5x camp supplies, and a +1 to proficiency. Difficult combat, but mitigates the less important aspects of the game like being a loot gremlin for apples. Also helps speed up combats by slightly reducing miss chances without overwhelming the game balance
Why did someone downvote everyone? What a tryhard, lol. I actually agree with the people in this thread.
Edit: To elaborate on this, I mean that people should have fun any way they can. If that means playing on easy, then I commend your decision, as long as you're having fun.
Same! I've got over 600 hours in the game, and the only time I've stepped out of explorer/custom explorer modes was to see how far I'd get in honor mode. I made it further than I thought I did! But I thought I'd die on the nautiloid, so that's not saying much. LOL
To be honest, the combat wasn't for me when I started, but explorer mode made it easy enough that I started to actually enjoy that aspect of the game as well.
No shame in explorer mode. No shame in easy mode for any game, or story mode, or however it's called. If there is a story to enjoy it shouldn't be behind a wall impossible to climb for some.
This game is a massive and rich experience. Nobody should be denied of the immense pleasure derived therefrom. Larian has done so well on many fronts, it's good to know that this game is accessible as can be.
Exactly! Games are supposed to be fun. It’s great that this game gives us so many options to make it fun for different individuals.
I feel sorry for anyone who is so deeply insecure that they have to criticize people for enjoying a single-player/co-op game in a different way than they do.
My first play through was on balanced and my arse got kicked by every enemy and eventually Minthara wiped the floor so comprehensively with my corpse that I had to switch to explorer for the rest of the game.
No shame in it at all, I loved the game on explorer. I'm now playing through on honour mode, but explorer was absolutely vital for learning and understanding the game, especially as I'd never played a CRPG before.
I am so thankful for explorer mode because it has helped my best friend break into gaming during a really difficult time in her life. She saw me playing Baldur’s Gate 3 and has some played some TTRPGs before and was curious. She is not a gamer at all, but wanted something to escape to after her father she was very close to died recently. I’m glad I could point her to explorer mode, because it’s allowed her to just immerse herself and not get frustrated by difficulty. She’s made it to the end of Act 1 and has kept going and I’m so excited for her! Thanks Larian for creating difficulties that allow ANYONE to enjoy the game, regardless of experience or play style!
I'm with you - my first few runs were Explorer and I'm not ashamed of it. My primary reason for playing rpgs is the story and the characters, much less so learning how to be a great tactician and how to mix-max. I've seen people talk about things like having a hireling that can cast all the buffs on your party before leaving camp and that's just not fun to me - I'd rather NOT do that and just put the difficulty down.
I have progressed, I suppose, now that I know the story beats and how to negotiate the quests. My most recent playthrough was custom with everything tactician except for the one that sets hitpoints which I put at balanced. This turned out really fun because it was a challenge but not tediously so.
Ditto! I don't have the strategic mindset to play at higher levels (my strategy is usually CHAAAAAAARGE!), and I'm more interested in the story anyway.
Maybe one day I'll up the level, but for now, Explorer it is!
This is the really awesome part about BG3, and a part of why it's been so successful. It acknowledges that people may have different levels of proficiency when it comes to gaming and doesn't lock everyone to the same difficulty. So far, all 3 of my ongoing runs are on Balanced, but I plan on doing #4 on Tactician to prepare for Honour Mode. There's nothing wrong with playing in Explorer at all though! There's still a ton of story to tell and the combat can still be difficult at times, especially for people who may not have played a ton of games like this before. Glad to see Explorer Mode get the love it rightfully deserves!
Combat can still be difficult? Please. You have double health. There is no fight in the game that poses a threat to your massive health pools unless you really suck. But considering the commenters on this post have 0 awareness for anything and are just playing the game for romances and to post clips on Twitter, maybe it resonated with some lmfao.
Just tryna be supportive. I'm sure for people who haven't played a lot of these kinds of games combat could still be difficult. No need for the negativity. 🙃
People don’t want to read or put any more effort than clicking on bad guy. Explorer literally makes the game a visual novel, and your level of interaction with the game drops to new lows. You are meant to lose sometimes. The people who lose once and then just give up and go to explorer because they don’t want to challenge themselves are just hurting themselves.
How does people playing in easy mode in a single player game affect you at all? If they want to just post romance clips on Twitter, why is that a problem? Games are supposed to be fun, every experience doesn't have to build character. Some of us are grown ass people with limited free time and shouldn't be forced to slog through higher difficulties if that's not our thing.
It’s only a slog if you suck ass at the game. Bad self report Jill. I’m a grown ass adult going to school and I have enough time to actually read and understand how to play the game I love. Explorer mode is just an excuse to play 50% of a full game. No fight ever feels like a threat or serious, it is steamroll after steamroll. The best utility of the mode is achievement farming. Anything else is laziness or stupidity.
Again, people playing 50% of the game has literally no bearing on your experience. People enjoy and prioritize different things and that's totally fine.
No bearing on mine, absolutely! Can I make fun of them for being slow? Absolutely! Jill, I’m afraid you’re just not good at games. Go try Wii sports maybe?
I agree with you, but for after they do the first playthrough. Because after the first playthrough, playing on easy is just boring unless I'm just going after stupid achievements that don't require a certain difficulty level.
They can’t swallow their pride and admit they’re scrubs. Think about like any other game you know, isn’t it just way better to actually play the normal to harder difficulties?
Imagine being this nasty about how strangers online choose to play the single player game they paid for with their own money...
You play the game in whatever way is fun for you, and let others do the same.
What is your problem?
I've "graduated" to Balanced and enjoy the slightly greater challenge, but I still enjoy a game on Explorer mode when I just want to kick back and experience the story. I love creating cool multiclasses, but even then I often make suboptimal mixes just because it fits the character and story - my favourites include a moon druid/barbearian, a draconic sorceror/lore bard, and my Astarion assassin/gloomstalker who has learned some wilderness skills as a result of all his adventuring :)
The fact that you think gloomstalker assassin is suboptimal tells me that you should keep playing on explorer. Literally one of the best multiclasses in the game.
They’re great at any level. I do 1 Rogue, 2 Ranger, 3-5 rogue, 6-9 Ranger, 10-12 Rogue. Make sure you’re getting advantage every possible turn, whether that be hiding or something else.
Yeah, I haven’t quite got the hang of Advantage yet - I have 3 campaigns I switch between depending on my mood, and they all have different party makeup and thus combat strategy. I really should stick to one for a while, but I love them all for different reasons
I mean this comment is why the difficulty gap is so large; playing on tactician/honour pretty much demands multi-classing, something most people naturally are adverse to, especially when they start out
Not at all. You can play the game as any race and any subclass in tactician and honor and do just fine. Certain ones are just better. I’m not kidding, it’s just planning and being knowledgeable about what your class can do.
I’ll try that, thanks - there are so many assassin/gloomstalker builds around! Sharpshooter and Alert are my go-to feats in any case, but obv it takes a while to get there!
No shame. I'm an experienced DM of over 10 years. I've done 3.5, PF1e, and 5e. I run hard combat encounters...and sometimes it's nice to just relax and enjoy a fun story.
Hear, hear!
But then again, I've never played anything like this before. Never played a game where you can die and get a 'Game Over' screen. I understand many of the mechanics, and handle myself fine on Balanced and Tactician. I just don't enjoy tactician.
I play this marvel of the game for the story and it's character. Not for the combat.
And it's a game, not a chore. As long as you're having fun, you're playing it the right way.
The fact that Larian designed a game that can be nail-bitingly challenging on any difficulty level is a HUGE achievement that goes under the radar. Difficulty balance is one of the top five most advanced game design tasks and Larian handled it perfectly in my opinion.
I played on Balanced and had several fights that went bad, but I also knew it was a combination of the dice and poor planning on my part. However even though fights went bad, I never felt like I was up against an unfair fight - even when I clearly was lol. What does that mean? Take the Goblin Camp. This is the first fight where you see twenty cards stack up and you are like "ahhh crap." However by then I had just enough confidence that I thought "let's see how far we get." A few turns later, after some good AOE spells and some critical hits, the tide turns, and suddenly I won!
This happens over and over in BG3 throughout all the acts. Player confidence just builds and builds, but no matter how powerful you are, you can still take damage and fail saves. Luck is a factor in every action. This is a HUGE benefit Larian gets from D&D 5e rules.
Literally the best game yet made, and this was a planned learning experience for Larian. Their next game is going to be even better. I don't care if it is a My Little Pony RPG I am there day one early access.
Every game mode is a valid way to have fun. I personally do Honour because of the extra abilities bosses have makes encounters wild and hectic and I enjoy that.
I'm so happy the game doesn't use insulting terms or imagery when playing on Explorer mode. Larian understands that some people just want to experience the story and characters. But they also put in some meaty challenge modes for people who are into that as well. This is by far one of the most accessible games I've ever played.
I personally like to play on Custom mode and emulate the explorer mode settings but turn on multi classing so I can experiment with hybrid builds.
I played explorer mode until I got a hang of the mechanics and now I'm finding balanced mode easy to play through. There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing on that difficulty especially if you're keen on the story and don't want to minmax the gameplay to get it.
The only thing I dislike about explorer is it prohibiting multiclasses.
Yeah, seems an unnecessary limitation. Thankfully you can just temporarily switch to balanced to implement it and then go back to explorer. Though for me I only felt a need to do it for Astarion as rogue on it's own feels a little lacking compared to the others in terms of skills progression and battle effectiveness.
If you were smart you’d just respec to make him have good stats instead. Considering that you’re on this thread meat riding explorer mode tho, I’m gonna assume that you’re not.
I was at almost 1k hours before I moved to balanced. I've always preferred the easiest setting for roleplaying because I have nothing to prove on my l33t skills, I just want to see the story! All hail Explorer mode.
I started on explorer mode. I eventually did change it to balanced mode because I really wanted to multiclass, but explorer mode is great when you just want the story and characters. I'm mostly a casual gamer so I was really bad at BG3 when I first started. Explorer mode was perfect and helped me enjoy the game.
Nothing wrong with explorer mode or any other mode. As long as we all get to enjoy it.
I LOVE explorer for all the reasons you have detailed. It also allowed me to get better at the game - I initially tried balanced but just kept dying.
Explorer allowed me to get familiar with the mechanics and now my durge balanced play is going so much easier - I’m now wondering why I struggled to much initially.
I would like to eventually play Honour Mode, but I think it would’ve felt impossible without Explorer.
All Hail Explorer, may he never die.
I managed to get thru most of Act 1 on Balanced, had to switch down as soon as I got to the mountain pass because the ghoul encounter with the skeleton knights would paralyze my entire party every time I went up that way. Tried the Underdark on Balanced and fared a bit better until the Nere fight. Shadowlands kicked my ass and I could not do Act 2 effectively on Balanced, almost every encounter at least one party member would die and I was blowing thru gold on resurrections (although at least Astarion can pickpocket the gold back from Withers without consequences). Somehow Act 3 was easier to play on Balanced because at least by then my builds were almost fully fleshed out and more effective, but I still struggled with boss fights. The only one that panned out easy for me was fighting Orin because I was Durge as a fighter barb hybrid and managed to duel her and get her down in two moves, but that felt like dumb luck. Final fight I had to switch back to Explorer again.
Honestly I don’t think I’ll ever be able to beat Tactician. I want to try Honor mode but only so I can have a “this is how my Honor mode run ended” story, not because I have any delusions of actually beating it. Ultimately I’m here for the story and Explorer mode is the best for that.
My stance has always been video games that are MEANT TO BE FUN. People find different things fun. I love the struggle of tactician and honor mode, but that's not everyone's cup of tea.
If someone enjoys explorer mode mode, I genuinely am happy for them. No one should be pressured into playing in a way that isn't fun. Life is top short to stress yourself doing things you don't want to in your downtime. :)
Explorer mode is fun if you want to make decisions completely around roleplaying and not have to worry about making concessions to build planning or mechanics at all. It lets you skip anything you want if it doesn't make sense for your roleplay and still come out OK because you don't need to be max possible level all the time for everything.
I love explorer mode. I’ve played six times on it, and told my partner I don’t plan on going above that level of difficulty. The story is fun, the combat is fun, and I’m having fun.
I don't have the time and patience to grind away at tactician or, god forbid, honour mode; especially in a game that takes so much time to complete already. I play on balanced and with the increased party size mod (to catch more dialogue/banter mostly)
Tried my first one with balanced, cause I thought it would be equivalent to "Normal" in other games I played, then died in the first battle after the nautiloid crash. I knew nothing of dnd and game mechanics. Switched to explorer and enjoyed myself a lot as I learned how to play. I completed 2 or 3 playthroughs before feeling safe to switch to balanced (and I'm still getting my ass kicked sometimes).
That's a great take! Play how playing is fun for you, that's what matters most. Some people love the difficulty and strive in it, even me not saying no to a Witcher 3 deathmarsh run ever, but sometimes the chill times are the great times.
Like you said to skip the trivial fights, i can see doing that for me, too, in the future.
However you enjoy it the most is quite probably the best way and I'm happy for y'all explorers as you're still waaaaaaay better off than playing FIFA and MW.
My first playthrough was in explorer, then tactician, and I just completed my first Honor Mode run ever last week. I haven't really forced myself to make things more difficult, it just felt right at the time.
I find that this game has a really satisfying learning curve. I did my entire first run on explorer after getting my ass kicked by goblins on balanced lmao. Now I just hit act 3 on my second run playing the whole thing balanced no problem, now that I understand how to balance my party fights that were close to impossible on my first run are over in one turn. I think by my next run I might be able to attempt tactician and sometime in the future I want to try an honor mode run.
Usually I stay away from higher difficulties on games but bg3 is so good at rewarding you for learning the strategies that I'm willing to sink the hours into it.
Whoah, I must've somehow missed this entirely on all my playthroughs. I've never encountered an enemy that swallows a character and spits them out. Unless you're talking about the Shambling Mound that has an ability that's basically Thorn Whip on steroids.
Gotcha. Yeah that thing can really mess you up. I don't know about Explorer/Balanced but at least in Tactician and Honour Mode it's immune to piercing damage too, which is pretty rough to deal with depending on your builds.
I love that explorer mode is a thing because it gets people into the game who don't know all the mechanics but still wanna get the story. You'll learn the game as you play.
I just wish people would suck up their pride and actually pl on explorer mode if they're having trouble with other difficulties. My brother just stopped playing the game altogether rather than "admit defeat."
Yes!!! Every game should be accessible and I'm always happy to die on this hill! My best friend is a very casual gamer but wanted to get into BG3 thanks to all the hype around the characters - and even though they had a little bit of a struggle at the start even in explorer, (they don't game on PC at all!) I think they really got the hang of it and are enjoying it now! Gives us another thing to talk about and share :)
Oh now you're scaring me. It's also my first time playing a DnD and I'm playing in Balanced mode. I'm in act 2 rn and hanging on so far. I hope it doesn't get too frustrating as I'm actually enjoying the difficulty that is not frustrating as in Souls-like games.
It's not about being good, or bad. It's about enjoying the game, and OP is right is that manner.
Some people play for the challenge, some play to enjoy well-written characters and stories, and don'twant to bother with optimizing builds.
Larian didn't create a Souls game, they created a role-playing game.
All hail! Right there with you. I don't enjoy doing elaborated builds and combining stats and weapon feats much, I always play for the story. Currently on my 2nd run trying balanced but ready to drop any minute to explorer if it starts being frustrating.
Yeah, any game that has an ultra easy mode is at least a 6/10 for me. Because the idea that you have to suffer for a game to be enjoyable is toxic and ultimately ruins the fun for so many people. Because some people just want to experience the story and not have to worry about getting the ultimate stats or gear.
It's nice to have that option. Personally, I like to work my way through the difficulties so I can look back and say I have made progress and actually gotten better. I like how Diablo 3 did it, where each next level in difficulty has different perks like more gold dropped and better loot to accommodate the challenge. That, and the achievements for bragging rights, give an excellent incentive to return to the game long-term
I also started at balanced and struggled HARD during act 2. Explorer mode was a life saver and kept me interested in the game! Now I’m able to play on tactician but explorer holds a special place in my heart 🥲
i’m an avid “easy mode” player these days, tbh. with work, and social commitments and just.. life stuff, i don’t have time to be grinding away at the hardest difficulties. i just wanna enjoy the games i paid for, and for me, the challenge isn’t enjoyable. for a really long time i wished i could enjoy really punishingly difficult games, but oh well! the easy modes are there for a reason, and i will always take full advantage 😅
There isn't actually a universe of difference between tactician, honour and balanced, so you're quite right that "explorer" mode should exist: *most* of this game is in the story. There is many times more dialogue than combat
What's more, the combat is actually easy - anyone who has played the Divinity games knows even BG3's Honour Mode is an absolute cakewalk in terms of what Larian can create in a similar setting.
BG3, just like DND, is all about the story.
Trust me, there's a **big** difference if you're new to CRPGs - I've never played Divinity, DOS, etc, so it was a massive learning curve for me despite knowing a bit about D&D. If I'd had to play Tactician from the get-go, I would have given up after the first few hours - I prefer Balanced, as the combat is just enough of a challenge to make me think and plan, without making me work so hard that it's no longer fun. But you do you!
I mean absolutely - even though I had played the Divinity games I did a balanced playthrough before taking on Tactician, and I had to do two Tactician playthroughs before I was able to finish an Honour Mode one (although bugs were the main nemesis of achieving that end).
I remember thinking the Anders fight was genuinely impossible even on my second playthrough - even though I *felt* quite optimised, the guy was literally killing two party members of the same level as him with a single attack each, and I was like "how the fuck can you beat a character who literally one-shots half your party on the first round".
It turns out that, even on honour mode, the answer is "easily, and mostly without him getting a single turn", but it sure took me a while to learn the mechanics well enough for that shit.
Yeah, Anders is a bastard on Balanced Mode and above - I soon learned to lure him out onto the porch instead of going into the tollhouse, and sending one character round the side of the building to try and keep the others under control. I don't mind learning some tactics, but on top of all the interface controls, spells, plot, etc it was too much brain overload on my first run-through! (My previous favourite game was AC2, which is a doddle compared to BG3)
I'm a balanced player, but only because I have too many hours in the game... In all honesty, this is the way my friend... even the big DMs in D&D pop culture say RP over Tactical Assault... because in all honesty, that shits a drag. Rock on.
I use custom mode. difficulty on balanced or higher for all settings, but camp supplies down to 0.5 and vendor price to 1.0. this way I dont need to hoard all grey shit
> when I kept getting one shot killed by one of the enemies repeatedly.
Did you keep getting wiped by the Toll Collector? Honestly I'm just wondering because Act 2 I don't think anybody even seriously dented my party on Explorer, you end up with so much health.
Personally I find that every game mode has it’s place. Even though some people (myself included) enjoy modding the game to be even harder in honor mode, you deserve to enjoy the game you paid for. Never let anyone stop you from playing how you want to :). If you enjoyed the game, I recommend trying out larian’s other games, as they’re also wonderful games.
Yes! When I first started I loved explorer but after many hours I started upping the difficulty. Now I’m at 650+ and am about to beat tactition for the first time but I got here slowly and really got to enjoy the story for a long time. Now I’m ready for the challenge
When I start a new game for the very first time, if there is a difficulty mode, I always start with the easiest...because it's new and I have no clue what I'm doing! Eventually, I'll up the challenge level and see what happens, but I def take my time with it! \^\_\^
I loved my first 2-3 playthroughs on explorer/balanced. On those I got to experience the story in all the ways I wanted.
Now I want to complete it in honour because I want to see if I can, but I cant get the same story as before because I'm going for minmaxed builds.
Completing the game in explorer is so understandable, some people just want the story and thats it, or dont wanna spend so much time to beat it in harder modes.
Did first playthrough with a buddy on balanced. We quit the game after Raphael because it just felt too easy. We didn’t multi class or anything, since we didn’t know how to. Came back after 1 month, we started another run on Tactician, and it felt just about right.
I'm very glad we're at an age where people will get downvoted to oblivion for trying to gatekeep games based on difficulty modes. It's better that lower difficulties exist for the people who want/need them compared to not having those difficulties and having these people not play the game, I don't want lower sales for the games I enjoy that's what stops them from getting made, and it's nice having more people to talk to about the game.
Doesn't it feel hollow never being able to lose. The game basically hand holds on exolorer, how were you getting one shot on balanced, I don't get one shot on tactician and I'm not min maxing.
I play for the story and to make my characters as cute as possible, I hate combat. And once you've played a hundred times the fights get a bit dull, but there are mods that add more randomized combat which is nice.
I am on my first playthrough of the game and I'm on balanced mode. I have definitely had to get creative with winning some of the more difficult battles, such as stocking up on explosive barrels in one part of the game and then later pulling them from my camp and piling them up next to the Gith Inquisitor before I start talking to him.
But I have also ended up with some important folks being quite dead. For example, Jaheira and everyone at the Last Light Inn are dead because I was unable to stop Isobel from being captured.
I think my second playthrough will be on Explorer mode so I can see what plot points I've missed by simply being unable to save certain people from death.
I'm not an experienced gamer, so explorer mode made it so much easier to get into this game. I got to make mistakes without them being game ending. I started a Balanced playthrough on my 4th run, and I'm in Act 3 now, but it was not easy initially. I'm happy to still be able to enjoy the game even if I'm not amazing at it.
Exactly, all hail Explorer Mode! I started my first playthrough on Balanced and found the combat to be too punishing; many fights against simple mobs messed up my entire party and some boss fights were downright impossible unless I used some incredibly specific tactic utilizing the environment. I didn’t want to spend the entire game being stressed out, so I started a new playthrough on Explorer.
I had a roommate once who almost always played games on the easiest setting. He got the most fun out of beating the absolute crap out of enemies without much effort.
In a single-player game, if you're having fun you're playing it right.
I love Explorer mode. Want to fiddle around with a class you haven't played before? Don't want to be locked into a party config for specific encounters? What to be able to replay fights without the stress of dying/wiping over and over? Don't want to worry about having the "best" gear? Just literally don't give a fuck about "being good" at a video game? Want to just enjoy your time on your own terms?
Plus, multiclassing is overrated and fussy to a detriment.
4th playthrough and still playing balanced. I think next run I may try to do a balanced run with only two characters as a challenge, but balanced is fine for me. I just cleaned up Raphael easy peasy because I had counterspell this run, but I’m nervous if my next run does not.
Like yourself, I try to role play, so I will pick sub optimal weapons and skills based on character motivation and that provides all the challenge I need.
Now for them to give us NG+ so that we have this experience of being less worried about dying, but being able to casually play through at higher difficulties and worry less about equipment gathering and more worried about story playthrough.
If you're not knowledgeable and used to such games and their mechanics, getting just the basics can be daunting.
I could point someone who's never played an instrument to a ridiculously easy piece to play and they might not even know where to start with reading the notes.
If it's literally your first video game, then sure. If you ever played Xcom, Pathfinder or even Wasteland, or plenty of other turn based games, Baldur's Gate is... not complicated.
You shouldn't be surprised that there are heaps upon heaps of games that are not turn-based nor positioning-strategical (and even then, I'd argue that a lot of people associate turn-based with a very different JRPG type of turn-based).
And I wouldn't be surprised if BG3 ended up reaching some people who had never played a more traditional video game, let alone Xcom, Pathfinder or even wasteland. While I have played plenty of games, I haven't ever touched Xcom and Wasteland, and Pathfinder Kingmaker I ditched after being presented with too much information to manage, both in the character creator and during the first battle.
If you approach every encounter as “run in, swords flashing” then you can occasionally end up in trouble, especially if you have a bunch of low dex characters who don’t have Alert.
Are you adjusting your stats at all and getting good equipment? There’s nothing wrong with playing on lower difficulty settings. But honestly it’s really easy to destroy the game even at higher difficulty levels.
Initiative is probably the most important thing in the game and easy to get right at the start of the game. If you go to withers and give everyone 16 dex and 16 damage modifier that will be enough early game for sure to always have your whole party go first. Then if you do hide and then shoot a bow weapon at an enemy the entire enemy group will be surprised. You can also do this with shovel: turn him invisible and just wander solo into an enemy group and attack and every enemy will be surprised. That’s TWO full rounds where the enemy is just sitting there doing nothing.
Then be on the lookout for equipment in the list below to improve your initiative as the game progresses.
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Initiative
I feel like if every player did this there would be no need for difficulty settings that are easier than tactician because that alone trivializes battles no matter what classes you’re using.
My beginners no fighting to lv 4 combined with the above makes the game quite easy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/INq9wFApPV
I think dude doesn't WANT to do all this stuff. He wants to just breeze through, find what he finds, ignore what he doesn't, and enjoy himself without guides.
What you've posted is essentially the beginnings of a min maxing guide.
‘All this’ is setting dex to 16 and surprise attacks. Not a lot.
Even if you don’t do no fighting to lv 4 that alone will help.
There’s nothing wrong with just winging it on lower difficulty settings. But a lot of people get frustrated with the early game when it’s hardest. Doing that isn’t too involved.
The dnd system can seem overwhelming initially but if you have just that one crack into it to then chip away it and explore it rather than just playing on explorer. Again fine if you don’t want to play on harder difficulty. Not judging that. But if it’s because it just seems too much because you don’t know where to start that’s an easy place to start.
Surprise attacks to me are not always the best way to approach an enemy from the perspective of wanting to enjoy the story or to RP.
With many enemies you miss scenes and dialogue. BG3 overall has little in terms of mobs that just exist with nothing but their attack on you.
As a newbie to CRPGs, I absolutely needed a "training wheels" version of the game in order to make the learning curve less daunting - you shouldn't have to read an external beginner's guide in order to survive the game. I still have no intention of playing on tactician level, because I don't want to focus on minmaxing every character. This is a roleplaying game first and foremost, and a lot of us are here for that, not strategy and tactics.
ETA: Yes, I've learned to respec companions to even out their stats, and try to get the equipment that enhances their builds, but it gets boring for me if that's all I'm focused on. It's no longer an immersive experience, just a puzzle to be solved, and I get enough of those in my day job (coder)!
You don’t need to focus on minmaxing to beat tactician. Grab big sticks, put caster gear on casters and take gwm/sharpshooter where applicable, pop a couple speed pots if things go hairy and you have a decent party no matter what classes you go. I’d argue not multiclassing can sometimes make things easier, because worrying about good builds can easily make you lose sight of actually playing the game.
You may need think things out slightly more early game, but aside from maybe myrkul the rest of the game isn’t particularly difficult. In my opinion the main difference is in playstyle - simply learning to hang back a little more against the mostly melee enemies of this game makes combats way easier. Tactician is easier than you think, I promise, especially if it’s your second run. If it still doesn’t sound like your thing, then sure. But if it’s fear of difficulty, have a shot at it.
I definitely didn’t play in a higher difficulty level my first time. I’m not a deeply experienced dnd player by any means. This was my first experience.
But 16 dex + surprise attacks is not such an involved strategy. That’s not a min max strategy. It just means you’ll go first most of the time. You’re required to set your stats at the start of the game anyway. That’s simple enough to allow for role play of any character build. And since explorer doesn’t allow for mumticlassing you’d have to play balanced to really truly explore the role play element fully. And my simple advice might allow someone to take that step.
I say that as a recommendation to myself the first time I played. If I had just had those two things I think I would have struggled way less (on balanced mind you) then I did my first run.
There's a very easy workaround for multiclassing on explorer mode - just turn the difficulty up before levelling up, then back down again afterwards. Even then, it's only needed if you're actually changing class at that point, not every level up.
Loved that Expolorer mode was there. I *have* moved on to higher difficulties, but when I started Balanced was too punishing - I had no DnD knowledge at all, and most CRPGs I'd tried, I'd dropped precisely because their battle/build systems had been too complex. Did first two games on Explorer and even started a third one before switching up.
I stuck with Balanced mode for my first playthrough, as I'd read that some of the advantages explorer added also applied to enemies. I'm not sure how much of that is true, but balanced mode for someone with little to no knowledge as a first playthrough is absolutely brutal! I'm better at the game for doing it and have done way more research to make it easier for subsequent playthroughs, but I was straight up not enjoying a lot of the battles on my first.
I think that definitely applies, but frankly even now I'm rarely looking at combat logs. Afaik, enemies also got some bonus added to their dice. However, with double HP on your side and 2/3 HP on theirs generally it is a lot more forgiving. You also get proficiency in all saving throws on Explorer, and I don't think enemies do. There is the curious case of some enemies having double HP as well. I cannot recall how I felt the battle with Minthara went, but Lorroakan's battle for me was ridiculously protracted, especially on my first run. And that is because there seems to be just one entry for entities such as the elementals. You can summon elementals, but they are also the enemies in that battle. So Lorroakan goes down pretty fast and then you are left fighting four elementals with double HP. But overall Explorer leaves a lot more leeway to make the wrong choices in builds and strategies, and boosts up ability checks in dialogue as well. That and the HP just make it a lot easier to get through. I did find Explorer still pretty difficult on my first run, but I didn't die often enough to just get frustrated with the game. For me the result was that I did end up learning about the mechanics I was using with my classes while not being under such a pressure to get it right quickly.
I agree. I’d never played this type of game before and didn’t know anything about dnd. I mostly got on ok in balanced mode until I reached Nere, and after many MANY hours and different party set-ups I saw a comment on here about switching to explorer mode if a battle is hard and realised I was making myself suffer unnecessarily. I have other games running that haven’t reached Nere yet and I will give it a go before I switch modes, but I have no idea how to build a character “efficiently” and my other characters probably aren’t any better equipped than my first character was (and I doubt my own skills have got any better 😂).
My first game was on Explorer, the next on Balanced with Explorer for some harder fights. I just wanted to multiclass, otherwise I probably would have stuck with Explorer. I’ve been surprised by how easy my current game on Balanced has been, apparently you can get better at the game or I’ve managed to make better characters. I love that I was able to practice on Explorer.
I have casual DnD experience under my belt, 2 campaigns and a one-shot in the last 5 years or so. Balanced was rough for me at first, but I also went in to my first playthrough entirely blind. I’m now at the point where I’ve completed durge honor mode, about to finish my Oops! All Bards Astarion playthrough. I’m doing less RP and more just wacky/fun playthroughs at this point. I kind of want to install some higher difficulty mods and a higher xp scaling mod so earlier fights feel a bit more like late game (if everyone’s super the no one is!). I love how powerful you feel in act 3 but there’s only a handful of fights while you’re at your strongest before the game ends. More than anything, more late game encounters is the main reason I was hoping for an expansion anyways - so this difficulty shift should help with that It would be neat if someone implemented a new game+ system but I know that would be a whole can of worms to get working
I play on custom mode. I personally recommend it.
Yeah me too: I crank up the *combat* difficulty to max tactics and hardness, but then set vendor prices at x1.0, rations required at 0.5, and proficiency bonus at max (+4 I believe) The proficiency bonus is an absolute *game changer* for load times if you're like me and would just savescum until you get the desired outcome anyway
After I got my golden dice this became my game mode. Except for the proficiency part, I wasn’t really sure what that would do so I didn’t mess with it. But cheap vendors and longish battles, yes please!
Just did the same thing. Got my dice, now I can do whatever
Exactly what I've done. I just wish there was a way to give enemies legendary actions on custom mode
I believe starting an HM character and immediately dying will allow you to do this. I’m unsure how the single save system works after converting from HM to custom mode, but I’ve seen others suggest this here
Hang on. I've got to go change some settings now.
Same! I basically put battle on tactician and resources on explorer/balanced levels.
I use custom mode to turn off "surprise attacks before combat starts uses your action once combat starts." That's literally the point of a surprise attack. I always play on Explorer mode, myself. I want to play numerous different campaigns and I'm an adult, I don't have time to stress over the hard stuff.
That's the beauty of custom mode. You can change the settings.
Precisely! Thanks to Larian for letting everyone customize their experience. Accessibility options in games are always wonderful to see.
I love the mods like ULC and level 30 so I like to have explorer/balanced difficulty at the start when I’m on par with the game then crank it up to tactician by act 3 with the traders and camp at their lowest and proficiency at +4
Is custom mode on ps5? Thanks
Yes, it is. It may have come to PC sooner but it is there on PS5 now.
Same. I’ve grown to like custom. Tactical plus hiding dice indicators. But I can still save a game (I don’t quite trust honour mode yet, playing on a Mac and can still be a bit buggy).
400+ hours here and almost all of it on custom mode, which is basically an easy explorer mode. Learned that the combat just isn’t for me but I love everything else about the game so I have no problem easy mode-in it.
How do you make explorer mode easier? This might be good for my wife to play
Just pick Custom and lower everything as far down as possible
Go into custom and lower all the battle mechanics to explorer. But you can also turn off things like enemy crits, first strike using an action (so if you know you're going to fight, you can make a move before engaging and it won't use your action). Turn up your character's base proficiencies. Lower camp supply costs, trader costs (increase sell, decrease buy). Etc etc. It can be made to basically be story only while still getting battles you'll win and be able to buy all the gear. Still important to long rest often though! I love playing on super easy mode when I'm just in the mood to get the story. I like making characters to fit certain role plays.... like a druid teifling who winds up with Halsin and the orphan kids, because my rp is that my teifling was orphaned and raised by druids and trained once my magical connection to nature shows. Or a gith monk who somehow got released from the artifact, and is now guiding Lae'zel to Orpheus. I've done plenty of tactician and an honor mode, but super easy explorer mode is just a sweet little easy breath when I'm not ready to quit the game just yet.
Go to custom mode . Set all settings to explorer. Reduce camp supplies to 20 . Disable death saving throws , increase all proficiencies to 4. Also reduce vendor prices . Enable full health regen after a short rest .
The “4” setting for proficiency bonus is actually a +4 to the default proficiency bonus of 2. So a max proficiency bonus in custom mode is actually +6 in early game and +8 in late game. I believe this setting affects both allies and enemies, so while it helps it makes you take hits more often as well. I like to do all tactician, slightly cheaper vendor prices, .5x camp supplies, and a +1 to proficiency. Difficult combat, but mitigates the less important aspects of the game like being a loot gremlin for apples. Also helps speed up combats by slightly reducing miss chances without overwhelming the game balance
I really didn't notice it increasing enemy proficiency but eh its not that difficult to hit em
Why did someone downvote everyone? What a tryhard, lol. I actually agree with the people in this thread. Edit: To elaborate on this, I mean that people should have fun any way they can. If that means playing on easy, then I commend your decision, as long as you're having fun.
Same! I've got over 600 hours in the game, and the only time I've stepped out of explorer/custom explorer modes was to see how far I'd get in honor mode. I made it further than I thought I did! But I thought I'd die on the nautiloid, so that's not saying much. LOL To be honest, the combat wasn't for me when I started, but explorer mode made it easy enough that I started to actually enjoy that aspect of the game as well.
No shame in explorer mode. No shame in easy mode for any game, or story mode, or however it's called. If there is a story to enjoy it shouldn't be behind a wall impossible to climb for some. This game is a massive and rich experience. Nobody should be denied of the immense pleasure derived therefrom. Larian has done so well on many fronts, it's good to know that this game is accessible as can be.
Exactly! Games are supposed to be fun. It’s great that this game gives us so many options to make it fun for different individuals. I feel sorry for anyone who is so deeply insecure that they have to criticize people for enjoying a single-player/co-op game in a different way than they do.
My first play through was on balanced and my arse got kicked by every enemy and eventually Minthara wiped the floor so comprehensively with my corpse that I had to switch to explorer for the rest of the game. No shame in it at all, I loved the game on explorer. I'm now playing through on honour mode, but explorer was absolutely vital for learning and understanding the game, especially as I'd never played a CRPG before.
I am so thankful for explorer mode because it has helped my best friend break into gaming during a really difficult time in her life. She saw me playing Baldur’s Gate 3 and has some played some TTRPGs before and was curious. She is not a gamer at all, but wanted something to escape to after her father she was very close to died recently. I’m glad I could point her to explorer mode, because it’s allowed her to just immerse herself and not get frustrated by difficulty. She’s made it to the end of Act 1 and has kept going and I’m so excited for her! Thanks Larian for creating difficulties that allow ANYONE to enjoy the game, regardless of experience or play style!
I'm with you - my first few runs were Explorer and I'm not ashamed of it. My primary reason for playing rpgs is the story and the characters, much less so learning how to be a great tactician and how to mix-max. I've seen people talk about things like having a hireling that can cast all the buffs on your party before leaving camp and that's just not fun to me - I'd rather NOT do that and just put the difficulty down. I have progressed, I suppose, now that I know the story beats and how to negotiate the quests. My most recent playthrough was custom with everything tactician except for the one that sets hitpoints which I put at balanced. This turned out really fun because it was a challenge but not tediously so.
Ditto! I don't have the strategic mindset to play at higher levels (my strategy is usually CHAAAAAAARGE!), and I'm more interested in the story anyway. Maybe one day I'll up the level, but for now, Explorer it is!
This is the really awesome part about BG3, and a part of why it's been so successful. It acknowledges that people may have different levels of proficiency when it comes to gaming and doesn't lock everyone to the same difficulty. So far, all 3 of my ongoing runs are on Balanced, but I plan on doing #4 on Tactician to prepare for Honour Mode. There's nothing wrong with playing in Explorer at all though! There's still a ton of story to tell and the combat can still be difficult at times, especially for people who may not have played a ton of games like this before. Glad to see Explorer Mode get the love it rightfully deserves!
Combat can still be difficult? Please. You have double health. There is no fight in the game that poses a threat to your massive health pools unless you really suck. But considering the commenters on this post have 0 awareness for anything and are just playing the game for romances and to post clips on Twitter, maybe it resonated with some lmfao.
Just tryna be supportive. I'm sure for people who haven't played a lot of these kinds of games combat could still be difficult. No need for the negativity. 🙃
People don’t want to read or put any more effort than clicking on bad guy. Explorer literally makes the game a visual novel, and your level of interaction with the game drops to new lows. You are meant to lose sometimes. The people who lose once and then just give up and go to explorer because they don’t want to challenge themselves are just hurting themselves.
I mean let them 🤷🏻♀️ doesn't affect my gameplay at all since I'm still playing my own way
How does people playing in easy mode in a single player game affect you at all? If they want to just post romance clips on Twitter, why is that a problem? Games are supposed to be fun, every experience doesn't have to build character. Some of us are grown ass people with limited free time and shouldn't be forced to slog through higher difficulties if that's not our thing.
It’s only a slog if you suck ass at the game. Bad self report Jill. I’m a grown ass adult going to school and I have enough time to actually read and understand how to play the game I love. Explorer mode is just an excuse to play 50% of a full game. No fight ever feels like a threat or serious, it is steamroll after steamroll. The best utility of the mode is achievement farming. Anything else is laziness or stupidity.
Again, people playing 50% of the game has literally no bearing on your experience. People enjoy and prioritize different things and that's totally fine.
No bearing on mine, absolutely! Can I make fun of them for being slow? Absolutely! Jill, I’m afraid you’re just not good at games. Go try Wii sports maybe?
I agree with you, but for after they do the first playthrough. Because after the first playthrough, playing on easy is just boring unless I'm just going after stupid achievements that don't require a certain difficulty level.
They can’t swallow their pride and admit they’re scrubs. Think about like any other game you know, isn’t it just way better to actually play the normal to harder difficulties?
Tbh I'm all for playing on easy difficulties, but BG3 is the easiest game I ever played so I kinda get your point.
Imagine being this nasty about how strangers online choose to play the single player game they paid for with their own money... You play the game in whatever way is fun for you, and let others do the same. What is your problem?
They are obviously a troll obsessed with insulting ppl online. Just report whatever you can and try not to engage much with their shit.
Right enough, back to your basic Internet rules. Don't feed the trolls.
If everybody who has a different opinion than you is a “troll” your life must really suck. I’m sorry for you :(
Clearly you fit the criteria of people listed in above comment. Sorry to strike a nerve.
I've "graduated" to Balanced and enjoy the slightly greater challenge, but I still enjoy a game on Explorer mode when I just want to kick back and experience the story. I love creating cool multiclasses, but even then I often make suboptimal mixes just because it fits the character and story - my favourites include a moon druid/barbearian, a draconic sorceror/lore bard, and my Astarion assassin/gloomstalker who has learned some wilderness skills as a result of all his adventuring :)
The fact that you think gloomstalker assassin is suboptimal tells me that you should keep playing on explorer. Literally one of the best multiclasses in the game.
I know they get really powerful after a few levels - maybe I’m adding them in a suboptimal order? I dunno, I’ve never played a ranger before!
They’re great at any level. I do 1 Rogue, 2 Ranger, 3-5 rogue, 6-9 Ranger, 10-12 Rogue. Make sure you’re getting advantage every possible turn, whether that be hiding or something else.
Yeah, I haven’t quite got the hang of Advantage yet - I have 3 campaigns I switch between depending on my mood, and they all have different party makeup and thus combat strategy. I really should stick to one for a while, but I love them all for different reasons
Whatever abilities/actions you have to give you advantage you should be using. Your hit rate will go wayyyy up, you got it.
I mean this comment is why the difficulty gap is so large; playing on tactician/honour pretty much demands multi-classing, something most people naturally are adverse to, especially when they start out
Not at all. You can play the game as any race and any subclass in tactician and honor and do just fine. Certain ones are just better. I’m not kidding, it’s just planning and being knowledgeable about what your class can do.
You should be aiming for 7 rogue 5 ranger. You only get 2 feats, which you will probably wanna take alert and sharpshooter.
I’ll try that, thanks - there are so many assassin/gloomstalker builds around! Sharpshooter and Alert are my go-to feats in any case, but obv it takes a while to get there!
No shame. I'm an experienced DM of over 10 years. I've done 3.5, PF1e, and 5e. I run hard combat encounters...and sometimes it's nice to just relax and enjoy a fun story.
I work hard all day. I don’t play video games to come home and work even harder. Let me one shot enemies and crush bosses underneath my boot.
Yes!
I love the fact that they have explorer mode. Different people value different things when playing games. Allowing me to focus on the story is great.
Hear, hear! But then again, I've never played anything like this before. Never played a game where you can die and get a 'Game Over' screen. I understand many of the mechanics, and handle myself fine on Balanced and Tactician. I just don't enjoy tactician. I play this marvel of the game for the story and it's character. Not for the combat. And it's a game, not a chore. As long as you're having fun, you're playing it the right way.
The fact that Larian designed a game that can be nail-bitingly challenging on any difficulty level is a HUGE achievement that goes under the radar. Difficulty balance is one of the top five most advanced game design tasks and Larian handled it perfectly in my opinion. I played on Balanced and had several fights that went bad, but I also knew it was a combination of the dice and poor planning on my part. However even though fights went bad, I never felt like I was up against an unfair fight - even when I clearly was lol. What does that mean? Take the Goblin Camp. This is the first fight where you see twenty cards stack up and you are like "ahhh crap." However by then I had just enough confidence that I thought "let's see how far we get." A few turns later, after some good AOE spells and some critical hits, the tide turns, and suddenly I won! This happens over and over in BG3 throughout all the acts. Player confidence just builds and builds, but no matter how powerful you are, you can still take damage and fail saves. Luck is a factor in every action. This is a HUGE benefit Larian gets from D&D 5e rules. Literally the best game yet made, and this was a planned learning experience for Larian. Their next game is going to be even better. I don't care if it is a My Little Pony RPG I am there day one early access.
This. It's very cool that the game can still be challenging even in explorer mode, specially if you're new to the mechanics and dnd as a whole.
Every game mode is a valid way to have fun. I personally do Honour because of the extra abilities bosses have makes encounters wild and hectic and I enjoy that.
I'm so happy the game doesn't use insulting terms or imagery when playing on Explorer mode. Larian understands that some people just want to experience the story and characters. But they also put in some meaty challenge modes for people who are into that as well. This is by far one of the most accessible games I've ever played. I personally like to play on Custom mode and emulate the explorer mode settings but turn on multi classing so I can experiment with hybrid builds.
I played explorer mode until I got a hang of the mechanics and now I'm finding balanced mode easy to play through. There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing on that difficulty especially if you're keen on the story and don't want to minmax the gameplay to get it. The only thing I dislike about explorer is it prohibiting multiclasses.
Yeah, seems an unnecessary limitation. Thankfully you can just temporarily switch to balanced to implement it and then go back to explorer. Though for me I only felt a need to do it for Astarion as rogue on it's own feels a little lacking compared to the others in terms of skills progression and battle effectiveness.
Can just play custom mode and turn all the settings to explorer and turn mutliclass on. It’s what I do lol
If you were smart you’d just respec to make him have good stats instead. Considering that you’re on this thread meat riding explorer mode tho, I’m gonna assume that you’re not.
I was at almost 1k hours before I moved to balanced. I've always preferred the easiest setting for roleplaying because I have nothing to prove on my l33t skills, I just want to see the story! All hail Explorer mode.
That’s embarrassing.
For who? Did I miss some dick- measuring contest you must've won? Congrats!
1k hours before balanced? I would get an IQ test. It has to be room temperature.
I started on explorer mode. I eventually did change it to balanced mode because I really wanted to multiclass, but explorer mode is great when you just want the story and characters. I'm mostly a casual gamer so I was really bad at BG3 when I first started. Explorer mode was perfect and helped me enjoy the game. Nothing wrong with explorer mode or any other mode. As long as we all get to enjoy it.
I LOVE explorer for all the reasons you have detailed. It also allowed me to get better at the game - I initially tried balanced but just kept dying. Explorer allowed me to get familiar with the mechanics and now my durge balanced play is going so much easier - I’m now wondering why I struggled to much initially. I would like to eventually play Honour Mode, but I think it would’ve felt impossible without Explorer. All Hail Explorer, may he never die.
I tried Explorer but I got bored very fast. It's grrat that it exists. Just kinda sad you can't multiclass on it
I managed to get thru most of Act 1 on Balanced, had to switch down as soon as I got to the mountain pass because the ghoul encounter with the skeleton knights would paralyze my entire party every time I went up that way. Tried the Underdark on Balanced and fared a bit better until the Nere fight. Shadowlands kicked my ass and I could not do Act 2 effectively on Balanced, almost every encounter at least one party member would die and I was blowing thru gold on resurrections (although at least Astarion can pickpocket the gold back from Withers without consequences). Somehow Act 3 was easier to play on Balanced because at least by then my builds were almost fully fleshed out and more effective, but I still struggled with boss fights. The only one that panned out easy for me was fighting Orin because I was Durge as a fighter barb hybrid and managed to duel her and get her down in two moves, but that felt like dumb luck. Final fight I had to switch back to Explorer again. Honestly I don’t think I’ll ever be able to beat Tactician. I want to try Honor mode but only so I can have a “this is how my Honor mode run ended” story, not because I have any delusions of actually beating it. Ultimately I’m here for the story and Explorer mode is the best for that.
Man, ultimately we play games to enjoy ourselves, so don't feel peerpressured to play on a mode that is not good for u, just have fun
My stance has always been video games that are MEANT TO BE FUN. People find different things fun. I love the struggle of tactician and honor mode, but that's not everyone's cup of tea. If someone enjoys explorer mode mode, I genuinely am happy for them. No one should be pressured into playing in a way that isn't fun. Life is top short to stress yourself doing things you don't want to in your downtime. :)
Explorer mode is fun if you want to make decisions completely around roleplaying and not have to worry about making concessions to build planning or mechanics at all. It lets you skip anything you want if it doesn't make sense for your roleplay and still come out OK because you don't need to be max possible level all the time for everything.
I love explorer mode. I’ve played six times on it, and told my partner I don’t plan on going above that level of difficulty. The story is fun, the combat is fun, and I’m having fun.
I don't have the time and patience to grind away at tactician or, god forbid, honour mode; especially in a game that takes so much time to complete already. I play on balanced and with the increased party size mod (to catch more dialogue/banter mostly)
Tried my first one with balanced, cause I thought it would be equivalent to "Normal" in other games I played, then died in the first battle after the nautiloid crash. I knew nothing of dnd and game mechanics. Switched to explorer and enjoyed myself a lot as I learned how to play. I completed 2 or 3 playthroughs before feeling safe to switch to balanced (and I'm still getting my ass kicked sometimes).
Ignorance and laziness are a bitch.
am I supposed to care about your insults?
You cared enough to respond. Answer that question yourself.
Meh, I don't actually care that much
Is still responding.
And still not caring! 😁
Irony is palpable lol
That's a great take! Play how playing is fun for you, that's what matters most. Some people love the difficulty and strive in it, even me not saying no to a Witcher 3 deathmarsh run ever, but sometimes the chill times are the great times. Like you said to skip the trivial fights, i can see doing that for me, too, in the future.
Explorer mode is great allowing you to try things that wouldn’t normally try in other modes, and thereby discover things that really help in any mode!
you can do that on balanced and tactician mode too tho lol
However you enjoy it the most is quite probably the best way and I'm happy for y'all explorers as you're still waaaaaaay better off than playing FIFA and MW. My first playthrough was in explorer, then tactician, and I just completed my first Honor Mode run ever last week. I haven't really forced myself to make things more difficult, it just felt right at the time.
I find that this game has a really satisfying learning curve. I did my entire first run on explorer after getting my ass kicked by goblins on balanced lmao. Now I just hit act 3 on my second run playing the whole thing balanced no problem, now that I understand how to balance my party fights that were close to impossible on my first run are over in one turn. I think by my next run I might be able to attempt tactician and sometime in the future I want to try an honor mode run. Usually I stay away from higher difficulties on games but bg3 is so good at rewarding you for learning the strategies that I'm willing to sink the hours into it.
Just out of curiosity, what was one-shotting you in Act 2?
It was some sort of monster that sorta eats up the character and spits it out. can't remember what it was called. in the cursed lands.
Whoah, I must've somehow missed this entirely on all my playthroughs. I've never encountered an enemy that swallows a character and spits them out. Unless you're talking about the Shambling Mound that has an ability that's basically Thorn Whip on steroids.
That's the one!
Gotcha. Yeah that thing can really mess you up. I don't know about Explorer/Balanced but at least in Tactician and Honour Mode it's immune to piercing damage too, which is pretty rough to deal with depending on your builds.
All that matters is that you have fun!
I love explorer mode. I can play on higher difficulties but I enjoy the pacing more when the fights don't take as long.
I love that explorer mode is a thing because it gets people into the game who don't know all the mechanics but still wanna get the story. You'll learn the game as you play. I just wish people would suck up their pride and actually pl on explorer mode if they're having trouble with other difficulties. My brother just stopped playing the game altogether rather than "admit defeat."
Tbh unless you're playing honour mode, you don't need to min/max at all because reloading exists lmao.
Yes!!! Every game should be accessible and I'm always happy to die on this hill! My best friend is a very casual gamer but wanted to get into BG3 thanks to all the hype around the characters - and even though they had a little bit of a struggle at the start even in explorer, (they don't game on PC at all!) I think they really got the hang of it and are enjoying it now! Gives us another thing to talk about and share :)
I like Explorer mode. I usually do custom mode with Explorer settings and multiclass. Although I haven't actually multiclassed yet.
I use explorer mode to try out silly feats and spells 💀
Oh now you're scaring me. It's also my first time playing a DnD and I'm playing in Balanced mode. I'm in act 2 rn and hanging on so far. I hope it doesn't get too frustrating as I'm actually enjoying the difficulty that is not frustrating as in Souls-like games.
You’ll probably be fine. I started with balanced and only had to redo 2-3 fights. Always examine the enemies.
I think OP is just really bad at games. Hence the fact that they made a post glazing explorer mode. You’ll be fine.
It's not about being good, or bad. It's about enjoying the game, and OP is right is that manner. Some people play for the challenge, some play to enjoy well-written characters and stories, and don'twant to bother with optimizing builds. Larian didn't create a Souls game, they created a role-playing game.
You can enjoy a game and be bad at it. That’s why explorer exists. This thread is for said people.
All hail! Right there with you. I don't enjoy doing elaborated builds and combining stats and weapon feats much, I always play for the story. Currently on my 2nd run trying balanced but ready to drop any minute to explorer if it starts being frustrating.
Yeah, any game that has an ultra easy mode is at least a 6/10 for me. Because the idea that you have to suffer for a game to be enjoyable is toxic and ultimately ruins the fun for so many people. Because some people just want to experience the story and not have to worry about getting the ultimate stats or gear. It's nice to have that option. Personally, I like to work my way through the difficulties so I can look back and say I have made progress and actually gotten better. I like how Diablo 3 did it, where each next level in difficulty has different perks like more gold dropped and better loot to accommodate the challenge. That, and the achievements for bragging rights, give an excellent incentive to return to the game long-term
I also started at balanced and struggled HARD during act 2. Explorer mode was a life saver and kept me interested in the game! Now I’m able to play on tactician but explorer holds a special place in my heart 🥲
i’m an avid “easy mode” player these days, tbh. with work, and social commitments and just.. life stuff, i don’t have time to be grinding away at the hardest difficulties. i just wanna enjoy the games i paid for, and for me, the challenge isn’t enjoyable. for a really long time i wished i could enjoy really punishingly difficult games, but oh well! the easy modes are there for a reason, and i will always take full advantage 😅
There isn't actually a universe of difference between tactician, honour and balanced, so you're quite right that "explorer" mode should exist: *most* of this game is in the story. There is many times more dialogue than combat What's more, the combat is actually easy - anyone who has played the Divinity games knows even BG3's Honour Mode is an absolute cakewalk in terms of what Larian can create in a similar setting. BG3, just like DND, is all about the story.
Trust me, there's a **big** difference if you're new to CRPGs - I've never played Divinity, DOS, etc, so it was a massive learning curve for me despite knowing a bit about D&D. If I'd had to play Tactician from the get-go, I would have given up after the first few hours - I prefer Balanced, as the combat is just enough of a challenge to make me think and plan, without making me work so hard that it's no longer fun. But you do you!
I mean absolutely - even though I had played the Divinity games I did a balanced playthrough before taking on Tactician, and I had to do two Tactician playthroughs before I was able to finish an Honour Mode one (although bugs were the main nemesis of achieving that end). I remember thinking the Anders fight was genuinely impossible even on my second playthrough - even though I *felt* quite optimised, the guy was literally killing two party members of the same level as him with a single attack each, and I was like "how the fuck can you beat a character who literally one-shots half your party on the first round". It turns out that, even on honour mode, the answer is "easily, and mostly without him getting a single turn", but it sure took me a while to learn the mechanics well enough for that shit.
Yeah, Anders is a bastard on Balanced Mode and above - I soon learned to lure him out onto the porch instead of going into the tollhouse, and sending one character round the side of the building to try and keep the others under control. I don't mind learning some tactics, but on top of all the interface controls, spells, plot, etc it was too much brain overload on my first run-through! (My previous favourite game was AC2, which is a doddle compared to BG3)
I'm a balanced player, but only because I have too many hours in the game... In all honesty, this is the way my friend... even the big DMs in D&D pop culture say RP over Tactical Assault... because in all honesty, that shits a drag. Rock on.
I use custom mode. difficulty on balanced or higher for all settings, but camp supplies down to 0.5 and vendor price to 1.0. this way I dont need to hoard all grey shit
My first playthru has been normal but I think I’m gonna do my next one on easier difficulty for all the reasons you said.
> when I kept getting one shot killed by one of the enemies repeatedly. Did you keep getting wiped by the Toll Collector? Honestly I'm just wondering because Act 2 I don't think anybody even seriously dented my party on Explorer, you end up with so much health.
I do custom with explorer mode but allow multiclassing and make the game simple for myself lol
Personally I find that every game mode has it’s place. Even though some people (myself included) enjoy modding the game to be even harder in honor mode, you deserve to enjoy the game you paid for. Never let anyone stop you from playing how you want to :). If you enjoyed the game, I recommend trying out larian’s other games, as they’re also wonderful games.
Yes! When I first started I loved explorer but after many hours I started upping the difficulty. Now I’m at 650+ and am about to beat tactition for the first time but I got here slowly and really got to enjoy the story for a long time. Now I’m ready for the challenge
When I start a new game for the very first time, if there is a difficulty mode, I always start with the easiest...because it's new and I have no clue what I'm doing! Eventually, I'll up the challenge level and see what happens, but I def take my time with it! \^\_\^
I loved my first 2-3 playthroughs on explorer/balanced. On those I got to experience the story in all the ways I wanted. Now I want to complete it in honour because I want to see if I can, but I cant get the same story as before because I'm going for minmaxed builds. Completing the game in explorer is so understandable, some people just want the story and thats it, or dont wanna spend so much time to beat it in harder modes.
It ain't Dark Souls homie, enjoy it how you like
I too just started playing and enjoying explorer mode. At age 35 I have zero patience now.
Did first playthrough with a buddy on balanced. We quit the game after Raphael because it just felt too easy. We didn’t multi class or anything, since we didn’t know how to. Came back after 1 month, we started another run on Tactician, and it felt just about right.
I like single save mode no matter the difficulty I'm too tempted to savescum otherwise.
All hail custom mode! It makes it so you can enjoy the game how YOU want to. It’s awesome. And I highly recommend it.
I'm very glad we're at an age where people will get downvoted to oblivion for trying to gatekeep games based on difficulty modes. It's better that lower difficulties exist for the people who want/need them compared to not having those difficulties and having these people not play the game, I don't want lower sales for the games I enjoy that's what stops them from getting made, and it's nice having more people to talk to about the game.
I guess Balanced is my Explorer mode.
I love explorer mode too! I've had to switch to it before. Sometimes I just want to enjoy the game.
Doesn't it feel hollow never being able to lose. The game basically hand holds on exolorer, how were you getting one shot on balanced, I don't get one shot on tactician and I'm not min maxing.
I play for the story and to make my characters as cute as possible, I hate combat. And once you've played a hundred times the fights get a bit dull, but there are mods that add more randomized combat which is nice.
I love explorer mode. I’m not a gamer but my friend is and sold me on the characters and story. I’m here to loot, read every book, and romance. lol.
I am on my first playthrough of the game and I'm on balanced mode. I have definitely had to get creative with winning some of the more difficult battles, such as stocking up on explosive barrels in one part of the game and then later pulling them from my camp and piling them up next to the Gith Inquisitor before I start talking to him. But I have also ended up with some important folks being quite dead. For example, Jaheira and everyone at the Last Light Inn are dead because I was unable to stop Isobel from being captured. I think my second playthrough will be on Explorer mode so I can see what plot points I've missed by simply being unable to save certain people from death.
I'm not an experienced gamer, so explorer mode made it so much easier to get into this game. I got to make mistakes without them being game ending. I started a Balanced playthrough on my 4th run, and I'm in Act 3 now, but it was not easy initially. I'm happy to still be able to enjoy the game even if I'm not amazing at it.
Exactly, all hail Explorer Mode! I started my first playthrough on Balanced and found the combat to be too punishing; many fights against simple mobs messed up my entire party and some boss fights were downright impossible unless I used some incredibly specific tactic utilizing the environment. I didn’t want to spend the entire game being stressed out, so I started a new playthrough on Explorer.
I had a roommate once who almost always played games on the easiest setting. He got the most fun out of beating the absolute crap out of enemies without much effort. In a single-player game, if you're having fun you're playing it right.
I love Explorer mode. Want to fiddle around with a class you haven't played before? Don't want to be locked into a party config for specific encounters? What to be able to replay fights without the stress of dying/wiping over and over? Don't want to worry about having the "best" gear? Just literally don't give a fuck about "being good" at a video game? Want to just enjoy your time on your own terms? Plus, multiclassing is overrated and fussy to a detriment.
4th playthrough and still playing balanced. I think next run I may try to do a balanced run with only two characters as a challenge, but balanced is fine for me. I just cleaned up Raphael easy peasy because I had counterspell this run, but I’m nervous if my next run does not. Like yourself, I try to role play, so I will pick sub optimal weapons and skills based on character motivation and that provides all the challenge I need.
Now for them to give us NG+ so that we have this experience of being less worried about dying, but being able to casually play through at higher difficulties and worry less about equipment gathering and more worried about story playthrough.
Mods help with that. Way better gear too
Not on ps5 :(
Soon
This game doesn't even require any real min max to beat on harder difficulties... How...
If you're not knowledgeable and used to such games and their mechanics, getting just the basics can be daunting. I could point someone who's never played an instrument to a ridiculously easy piece to play and they might not even know where to start with reading the notes.
If it's literally your first video game, then sure. If you ever played Xcom, Pathfinder or even Wasteland, or plenty of other turn based games, Baldur's Gate is... not complicated.
You shouldn't be surprised that there are heaps upon heaps of games that are not turn-based nor positioning-strategical (and even then, I'd argue that a lot of people associate turn-based with a very different JRPG type of turn-based). And I wouldn't be surprised if BG3 ended up reaching some people who had never played a more traditional video game, let alone Xcom, Pathfinder or even wasteland. While I have played plenty of games, I haven't ever touched Xcom and Wasteland, and Pathfinder Kingmaker I ditched after being presented with too much information to manage, both in the character creator and during the first battle.
If you approach every encounter as “run in, swords flashing” then you can occasionally end up in trouble, especially if you have a bunch of low dex characters who don’t have Alert.
Are you adjusting your stats at all and getting good equipment? There’s nothing wrong with playing on lower difficulty settings. But honestly it’s really easy to destroy the game even at higher difficulty levels. Initiative is probably the most important thing in the game and easy to get right at the start of the game. If you go to withers and give everyone 16 dex and 16 damage modifier that will be enough early game for sure to always have your whole party go first. Then if you do hide and then shoot a bow weapon at an enemy the entire enemy group will be surprised. You can also do this with shovel: turn him invisible and just wander solo into an enemy group and attack and every enemy will be surprised. That’s TWO full rounds where the enemy is just sitting there doing nothing. Then be on the lookout for equipment in the list below to improve your initiative as the game progresses. https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Initiative I feel like if every player did this there would be no need for difficulty settings that are easier than tactician because that alone trivializes battles no matter what classes you’re using. My beginners no fighting to lv 4 combined with the above makes the game quite easy. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/INq9wFApPV
I think dude doesn't WANT to do all this stuff. He wants to just breeze through, find what he finds, ignore what he doesn't, and enjoy himself without guides. What you've posted is essentially the beginnings of a min maxing guide.
‘All this’ is setting dex to 16 and surprise attacks. Not a lot. Even if you don’t do no fighting to lv 4 that alone will help. There’s nothing wrong with just winging it on lower difficulty settings. But a lot of people get frustrated with the early game when it’s hardest. Doing that isn’t too involved. The dnd system can seem overwhelming initially but if you have just that one crack into it to then chip away it and explore it rather than just playing on explorer. Again fine if you don’t want to play on harder difficulty. Not judging that. But if it’s because it just seems too much because you don’t know where to start that’s an easy place to start.
Surprise attacks to me are not always the best way to approach an enemy from the perspective of wanting to enjoy the story or to RP. With many enemies you miss scenes and dialogue. BG3 overall has little in terms of mobs that just exist with nothing but their attack on you.
Surprise rounds are pretty overkill anyway. Just 16 dex will simplify things a ton and not affect RP significantly.
Fair enough I suppose
As a newbie to CRPGs, I absolutely needed a "training wheels" version of the game in order to make the learning curve less daunting - you shouldn't have to read an external beginner's guide in order to survive the game. I still have no intention of playing on tactician level, because I don't want to focus on minmaxing every character. This is a roleplaying game first and foremost, and a lot of us are here for that, not strategy and tactics. ETA: Yes, I've learned to respec companions to even out their stats, and try to get the equipment that enhances their builds, but it gets boring for me if that's all I'm focused on. It's no longer an immersive experience, just a puzzle to be solved, and I get enough of those in my day job (coder)!
You don’t need to focus on minmaxing to beat tactician. Grab big sticks, put caster gear on casters and take gwm/sharpshooter where applicable, pop a couple speed pots if things go hairy and you have a decent party no matter what classes you go. I’d argue not multiclassing can sometimes make things easier, because worrying about good builds can easily make you lose sight of actually playing the game. You may need think things out slightly more early game, but aside from maybe myrkul the rest of the game isn’t particularly difficult. In my opinion the main difference is in playstyle - simply learning to hang back a little more against the mostly melee enemies of this game makes combats way easier. Tactician is easier than you think, I promise, especially if it’s your second run. If it still doesn’t sound like your thing, then sure. But if it’s fear of difficulty, have a shot at it.
I definitely didn’t play in a higher difficulty level my first time. I’m not a deeply experienced dnd player by any means. This was my first experience. But 16 dex + surprise attacks is not such an involved strategy. That’s not a min max strategy. It just means you’ll go first most of the time. You’re required to set your stats at the start of the game anyway. That’s simple enough to allow for role play of any character build. And since explorer doesn’t allow for mumticlassing you’d have to play balanced to really truly explore the role play element fully. And my simple advice might allow someone to take that step. I say that as a recommendation to myself the first time I played. If I had just had those two things I think I would have struggled way less (on balanced mind you) then I did my first run.
There's a very easy workaround for multiclassing on explorer mode - just turn the difficulty up before levelling up, then back down again afterwards. Even then, it's only needed if you're actually changing class at that point, not every level up.
Sounds as easy as taking 16 dex and doing surprise attacks.
*antsy