Generally the perfect talent you get in an RPG would not come till you are close to max stage and have ascended to godhood, casting Ultima or Summon Meteor or another megasplosion of fireplace and fury. Generally the perfect talent is the one you begin with at stage one. In Divinity: Unique Sin 2, that talent was Rooster Claw, and I am determined to know if Baldur’s Gate 3 may have an equal.
I performed 104 hours of Divinity: Unique Sin 2 as a polymorph warrior with a literal demon inside me, and my default position in fight was as a buffed-up injury sponge. The polymorph class is all about modifying your physique in unusual methods, and I routinely used my starter abilities Tentacle Lash and Bull Rush to briefly tackle the power of an octopus or a bull to slap or ram enemies. These had been simply setup for the polymorph’s greatest talent, although, the one which remained simply as highly effective at stage 20 because it was at stage one. Rooster Claw turns any enemy with out bodily armor right into a defenseless, skillless rooster for an entire spherical. Completely fowl.
Rooster Claw was an excellent equalizer, a solution to take highly effective enemies out of motion whereas I caught my breath or let the group pile on injury throughout their weakened state. It was additionally simply persistently humorous. Archer who pissed you off? Rooster now. Large, scary crocodile? Chickenified. Last boss? No immunity—chickened.
Rooster Claw bought even higher with a pleasant scoundrel within the social gathering, since you may solid Rupture Tendons which did injury anytime an enemy moved, and anybody become a rooster would run round uncontrollably. We might snort all the best way to the win. This technique was extremely common again in 2017.
Divinity: Unique Sin 2 was stuffed with nice writing and intelligent quests, however it was additionally goofy as hell, a combination I hope Larian is ready to protect in Baldur’s Gate 3. There’s actually a quest in that recreation known as Counting Your Chickens that includes a hen you possibly can converse with named Massive Marge. It additionally culminates in a brutal battle towards an entire military of demonic chicks, making it the uncommon quest that’s each laughing with you after which laughing at you. Unique Sin 2 at all times cherished turning the tables on you.
Given Baldur’s Gate 3’s viral Druid bear intercourse scene that features an observing squirrel doing a spit take, Larian’s writers clearly nonetheless have their humorousness. However how a lot of that silliness can manifest in fight? And extra particularly: Can I flip my enemies into chickens? Mice? Rocks? I am recreation for any kind of assault with a consequence I can point-and-Nelson-laugh at.
My expertise with Dungeons & Dragons podcasts tells me that every one method of silliness needs to be attainable always, however Larian would not have fairly the identical flexibility as just a few folks sitting round microphones making an attempt to make one another snort. PC Gamer’s Baldur’s Gate diehard Ted Litchfield tells me D&D is “just a little bit extra buttoned up” than Divinity’s sillier Rivellon, although there’s nonetheless some potential for shenanigans.
However there’s hope: the polymorph talent exists in Dungeons & Dragons, and was even within the authentic Baldur’s Gate video games. Again then, BioWare determined to separate the spell into Polymorph Different and Polymorph Self, which was a clever distinction—you actually do not need to unintentionally flip your self right into a rooster within the warmth of battle, proper? No less than one CRPG blogger thinks very extremely of ol’ Polymorph Self:
“Instance of utilization: Solid Net, shift right into a sword spider, after which crawl into the online and tear the immobilized victims new assholes. Rank: Prime-tier.”
They thought-about Polymorph Different, then again, “God-tier,” as a result of it turned enemies into squirrels. Now that is what I am speaking about. It is one way or the other nonetheless rather less embarrassing than chickens, although; maybe that explains why on this decade-old discussion board thread about Baldur’s gate 2: Enhanced Version, just a few posters agree you need to be capable of flip enemies into chickens, too. It is not simply me!
However again on level: is polymorph in Baldur’s Gate 3? And if that’s the case, what animal(s) does it will let you flip your self and others into? If it is nonetheless squirrels, that probably provides an entire new layers to that Druid bear intercourse scene…
Polymorph is not among the many spells obtainable in early entry, however Larian has mentioned there are “over 600 spells and actions” in Baldur’s Gate 3, which leaves a number of room for just a little animal mischief. If it is not an choice, I actually do not understand how I am going to be capable of correctly goof off.
From what we have seen to date, barbarians might find yourself having essentially the most enjoyable in fight because of their Improvised Weapon talent, which lets them throw no matter’s mendacity round within the atmosphere into somebody’s face, or use smaller enemies like goblins as unwilling projectiles. If somebody mods in a bowling pins sound impact, I am all aboard. Bards have a talent known as Slicing Phrases that triggers precise voice recorded insults, which is certainly foolish however not the sort of foolish I am searching for. I do not actually need to do get up comedy in the course of fight—I would like poultry energy.
Absent this explicit energy fantasy, I am excited to see essentially the most damaged builds and exploits that come out of Baldur’s Gate 3 as soon as the total recreation is accessible. Rise, ye plucky polymorphs, ye bodacious barrelmancers, and show the no-holds-barred spirit of Divinity remains to be on the coronary heart of Larian’s most cinematic RPG but.