Monday Bits

Dispatches from @ultrviolet@gts.endgameviable.com:

Potential spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 1 Underdark below.

07:52 # I’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 so much now that I walk around humming that cello-sounding chromatic descent hook from the combat music. Dundundundunnnnn. Dundundundunnnnn. Dundundun DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN dunnnnn. #baldursgate3

08:08 # Baldur’s Gate 3. Last night, the party dispatched Gekh Coal in the Decrepit Village in the Underdark. The game warned me that I might be overmatched, and reminded me that fleeing was a viable option (how well I know this already), but I didn’t see how one level 7 guy and four level 4 minions, two of which were dead and nearly-dead in a surprise round, could be that difficult. Then, Gekh raised six reanimated dead from the corpses on the ground, and started counterspelling. Ruh roh. A tense encounter, indeed. #baldursgate3

08:15 # Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m thinking it might finally be time to saunter into Act 2 even though I haven’t quite finished with the Underdark to my satisfaction. I’ve noticed that there’s been exactly zero companion story content for quite some time in camp. No surprise twists, nobody wants a tryst, nobody wants to even talk. Wyll, for example, has remained totally silent in camp, standing there getting sloshed drinking from that goblet, for what surely must be weeks of in-game time now. I have labeled him an alcoholic. I suppose this is one of the perils of playing on Tactician difficulty, where a lot of long rests are necessary. In fact, I’m struggling to find camping supplies to even do a long rest anymore. I’ve reached a soft cap apparently. #baldursgate3

08:46 # Hrm I had an idea for a blog post less than an hour ago that I thought was a fairly interesting topic, I did not write it down, and then I went about making coffee and listening to the morning news, and now I have no idea what it was. So I think I’m going to use this space to write down blog post ideas from now on, as they occur to me. #blogideas

18:45 # 68% of a bell curve is within one standard deviation of the center. Those are all the “good enough” or “mediocre” or “average” games, the ones that are okay while you’re playing them but not particularly memorable or innovative. 95% of a bell curve is within two standard deviations of center. The portion between one and two deviations are especially good or especially bad games. The rest of the top part of the curve, the ones over two standard deviations, are the truly remarkable games, which are the ones I prefer to spend my time and energy focusing on playing. #blogideas