I finished Early Access last night. I took it slow, explored everything, and reloaded many many many and many more times. Took me 49hr to reach the end of Act 1.

I just wanted to gather my thoughts about it here.

First of all I have never played tabletop DnD and literally everything I know about DnD is from the old IE games, so I can not tell how lore and rule friendly the game is.
While the game play similar to DoS, it had a complete other feel to it. Even DoS2, which was supposed to be a darker story, felt like a less-serious lighthearted fantasy story (at least for me), while BG actually felt serious and dark by default.
I like the story so far. Interesting, dark, and motivates me to go and explore more.
I really love how rewarding exploring every nook any cranny is. You can find all kinds of secrets by discovering secreth paths, some which may only be reachable by jumping at the right spot.
The graphics are gorgeous. I really wish photo mode was added to the game later.

My thoughs on certain little things in the game:
Interface:
Still needs some work. For example:
The game does not pause when you press ESC. Why?
Whenever you put something in a container, the container's interface scrolls back to top. This is very annoying when you want to place multiple intems in a chest, and for each and every you need to individually scroll back to the bottom of the chest-inventory to put the new item into an empty space.
I could not find a way to compare the equipment you want to buy with the equimpents of the party members. Even if you switch characters in the shop interface, the item will still only be compared to the one's who originally initiated the conversation with the shopkeeper.

Fast travel:
You can fast travel from anywhere to waypoints you have discovered. Which I am not really a fan of, since this way I could just cheese my way out of places via fast travel instead of sneaking. I would prefer if fast tarvel was only possilbe by clicking on a waypoint.

Combat:
Something is seriously wrong with the % chances. According to some DnD gurus on reddit, the % chance is inaccurate because *insert DnD explanation on dice rolls, and maths here* and voila 70% suddenly means only 30%. .... ok, I understand, but how about just displaying the actual % chance instead of the "base % from which you can find out your actual % after doing some DnD maths"? Just make the computer do all the maths... It's really annoying when you see 80% and then you fail two turns a row...

Companions:
I love my companions! I got to admit, I hate how Larian has already announced in an update that after Act 1 they will most probably pull a DoS2 on us, and lock us out from the ones that are not in our party. I mean, there are 5 companions currently in EA, and we will get more in the final game. So far each of them seem very interesting and well written, so I'm not really a fan of missing out on their story. Also, constantly changing your party based on the challenge you will face is part of the fun. Not to mention that since you can only have 3 companions with you, you will inevitably have to choose between keeping the companions you like and keeping a "balanced battle party". Eg. The companion I like the most and totally want to keep is Astarion, but he is a rogue and I prefer playing as a rogue as well. So now I either ditch my favourite companion or cripple my party's battle prowess.

Talking about switching party, I wish there was an easier and faster way of switching between companions than the "go through an entire dialogue tree to dismiss them, and later go through another dialogue tree to add them back." Sometimes I just want to equip the ones that I currently don't use, or just check if they know a certain spell, and having to go through a dialogue tree multiple times just for this is a chore. Okay, if we really end up losing everyone except the active party sometime after Act 1 then this will no longer be an issue, but until then, it would be just nice to have access to everyone's inventory and character sheet in camp. Many games with party mechanics do this: on the road you can only check the ones that are with you currently, but in camp you have access to everyone by default.

I got a minor issue with party banter: During banter the waiting times between two sentences are just too long. Person 1 says something, 3~4 seconds pause, person 2 replies. It's just too long, and often I stand and wait for several seconds just to see if the banter is really over.

Also I wish companions were a bit more... active during cutscenes. Right at the beginning of the game, when I already have 2 companions with me, Astarion attacks me, drags me to the ground and I'm trying to wrestle his knife away from my throat. My two companions.... literally turned their backs to me and are looking at the sea. I mean... Ok I get it, we have just met and we are not friends (yet), but do you really literally turn your back on your travelling companion when they are being harrassed with a knife, especially when you are armed to the teeth yourself?

Atm romance is a bit weird: some flirting while talking, and then during the party in the camp... suddenly everyone wants me regardless or approval. Well... I am a hero now, so... I guess it makes sense that everyone wants a piece of me? Imo this should be worked on a bit more, because it really feels like we went "from nearly 0 to 100" in under one conversation.
Also.... I let Astarion suck my blood druing the love scene and Shadowheart disapproved.... Is she watching us or something? ಠ_ಠ

Some bugs and Glitches:

- I kept on giving Gale the same one magic item over and over and over again (the book). I also had the dialogue about his unique condition with him trigger twice. The second one triggered quite some time after the first (I was already feeding him with magic items, and he has already explaied to me why, and then suddenly he apologetically gives me very same the explanation again).
- You can fast travel from camp, which is confusing, since the "normal" way of leaving camp would be to click on your bedroll. This is regardless whether you visit it for a long rest or just fast travelled there to change party. BTW: clicking on your bedroll makes sense if you go to camp for a long rest to end the day, but when you just visit to change party, it's not obvious at all that clicking on your bedroll will take you back.
- I went to the beach, got the quest "investigate the beach" then saved my game. The harpies killed me, so I reloaded the game, and decided to come back later when I'm stronger. I went to camp, rested, and I got the quest update "saved the child on the beach".
- Sometimes clicking on my bedroll took me to a different place from the one where I was. Example: I was in the phase spider cave with Astarion in my party. I fast travelled to the camp from there, and swapped Astarion to Wyll. Continued my journey for a few hours, and I fast travelled to the camp from someplace totally else. I put Astarion back to my party, and when I clicked on my bedroll it took me to the phase spider cave (the last place where I had Astarion in my party).
- In the druid grove, there was a hidden door. My char said "I don't even see a lock to pick". Then I proceeded to open the door by picking the lock.
- Some horrifying visual glitches at the end of the Khaga questline, when you confront her with the letters.
- The trader in the Zhentarim Hideout has some hair-gliching through his belly.
- Wyll complained that I killed Spike without him, but he was with me. I had no conversation with the goblins, as they were already hostile when I reached them.
- I started a conversation with the person guarding the warehouse in the grove (the one with the injured leg) through the wall of the house (I was still outside).
- I also encountered the "Aunt Ethel is not appearing at the end of her cave" glitch. I just attacked her in her house, did not waste my time talking, idk if it has somehing to do with it.

No, 70% is 70%. Those numbers displayed are accurate, I checked them. If someone sells you 30 for 70 they don't know statistics. That's exactly how it works though. 80% chance to hit means 80% on that roll. And then 80% on the next roll. These are independent rolls, the first does not affect the other. The formula that applies is

Probability = (# of desired outcomes) / (total # of outcomes)

Let's say we make a straight roll (single d20) and want to achieve an 80% chance to hit:

0.8 = x/20; x = 0.8*20 = 16

Out of 20 possible rolls only (the highest) 16 will make you succeed in your attack. On a straight roll. If you roll with advantage or disadvantage it get's slightly more complicated since there are more possible outcomes, in fact 400, and you're now looking at conditional probability. If you wanna know more about probability look it up. In words it's basically for advantage "either one has to be higher" and disadvantage "both have to be higher".

Let's make an experiment with 20 balls in an urn which are numbered from 1 to 20. First we draw one ball. Then we draw one, note the number down, put the ball back in the urn and draw again. Once we take the better and then the worse of two draws. We want to know the probability to have an end result of "1".

Straight: x = 1/20 = 0.05 = 5% (by drawing "1")
Better: x = 1/400 = 0.0025 = 0.25% (by drawing "1,1")
Worse: x = 39/400 = 0.0975 = 9.75% (by drawing "1,y" or "1,1" or "y,1" with y being any number between 2 and 20)

Now these numbers will never change no matter how often we make our little experiment. The chances will always be 5/0.25/9.75% for each on their own.

If that explanation is not satisfying enough, check out a very similar post of mine on the same subject right here.

Ookay... I don't want to be rude, and I really appreciate that you tried to explain how it works, really, but... I'll be honest: I don't understand this at all :(
I'm totally crap at maths, I have never played tabletop, and never had to deal with dice rolls in my life.

All I want is the following: let the PC do all the dice rolls and maths in the background, and only show me the "final, actual % chance of this hit actually landing on this monster".

Please don't tell me that if all of my characters have over 70% chance to hit then failing EVERYTHING for three turns a row is normal...
I ended up ragequitting the game after that (and I almost never get mad at videogames) :/

Or it's possible that this system works well enough in tabletop, and just transaltes badly to pc.... since I'm far from being the only one complaining about the % chances :/

quote = I mean, there are 5 companions currently in EA

well you didn't try every combo then ;)

Hmmmm :)

So far I have only finished the game once. I will try another run a few patches later to see what else the game has to offer :)

MadyNora. Don't worry :) I like and know math pretty well, and what GrizzledLone has written is pretty weird to say the least ;)

To put it simply - if you have 70% chance to hit, you have 30% chance to fail, so far it's simple.

If you fail three 70% rolls in a row, probablity of that is:

30% * 30% * 30% = 0.3 * 0.3 * 0.3 = 0.027 = 2.7%

In other words, it *can* happen, but if you have such results frequently, something is wrong with random number generator, or the displayed chance is wrong.

I had 70%s failing multiple times a row quite frequently.... =/

I'm totally new to D&D and I think the dice rolls add to the immersion. I love it. I've barely started but' I think it's another great experience from a good studio. With all the junk being put out these days I think it's refreshing.

Generally I don't mind the dice rolls. I don't mind them during eg. dialogue choices or random environment events at all.

But I do mind missing literally all my hits in combat for several turns a row even though the subtitles blatantly say 70~80% hit chance in my face :(

Yes I've had some of those myself. I hope balance is something they can tweak as EA goes on. It actually seems like when a party member starts missing it stays for awhile.

Math might be right. But in real life, I've (much more than a percentage like 3 percent would indicate) seen bad runs in rolls at craps and games like DnD.

Roughly 2/3 way through my 2nd playthrough, drow ranger (have just finished off the goblin leaders)
My observations so far:

I love playing as a drow. I can often just talk myself out of combat by just telling them that "I'm a drow so stfu" :D
(I have the bad feeling that his will bite me in the ass when I reach more "civilized" areas...)

Either the RNG gods stopped trolling me, or the % chances are more accurate now.
Although I did have a "100% chance to hit -> Critical Miss" once....

Us is cute as hell, and I was really hoping to keep it as a pet if I gave it lobotomy :c

I tried what happens if I go to the monster hunter before Astarion reveals himself to me :D Loved how the devs thought of this as well, and made the dialogue different. (Although I prefer the version after the revelation)

A "hide helmet" option would be nice to have.

A random thought, but shouldn't Astarion take damage when we jump through the waterfall in the hag's hideout?

Bugs:

- very very bad braphical glitches in the Blighted Village-> apothecary's basement. The glitches start when I enter the hidden passage.

- Lae'zel told me in camp to go find Zorru after we have already spoken with him. It triggered right after dialogie in which she told me about her home.

- The dialogue between Volo, the goblin and I in the goblin camp kept on looping endlessly.

- Companions are reading invisible books in camp.

- The owlbear cub never showed up in my camp :( I won the chasing, I demanded the cub for myself and told the cub to go to my camp with Speak with Animals.
EDIT: It DID show up finally, but only after I've killed all the goblins. Right after all the goblins were dead, Astarion in my party said sth like "I've always wanted a murderious pet" and next time I was in camp the owlbear cub was there. Though, I fed him once then he run away :'(

- Astarion's dialogue in the morning after I let him drink form me did not trigger. I just got his usual greeting dialogue when I clicked on him. He was not in my party at that time. I had to load a previous save, add him to my party, have the drinking scene again, and with him in my party the dialogue triggered normally.

- I could not re-add Lae'zel to my party after I told her to wait in camp. She was not selectable for dialogue. It happened after we have met her kin, and avoided to fight.

- Also, we did not fight her kin, and after they left she still told me to search the bodies for clues.

- If someone is not in my party when I rest in the camp they don't heal up. I don't think this makes sense, they should rest at night even if they are not the active party.

- After I let the torture victim go at the goblin's place, when I asked him another question he took up the "torture" position again when he answered me.

this is not a bug its bad game design, she is upset with you because you didn't talk to her kin i.e, its the "cold shoulder" treatment

I DID talk to her kin, and we even disussed the meeting in camp after that =/