The game requires long rests to trigger important dialogue and cutscenes, which sucks because that is never clearly signposted and is antithetical to the time pressure implied by the plot. I missed a lot of stuff on my first playthrough because I was trying to be efficient. It felt like I was being punished for playing well.
Then, after you learn that the time pressure doesn't matter, there are random moments where it does, like unearthing Nere or rescuing whoever Orin kidnapped, occasionally punishing you for engaging with the game the way it wants to be engaged with.
The way the plot triggers are handled might be the game's biggest flaw.
This. I'm a long time D&D 5e player, so when the game told me I'd be a mindflayer in a few days, I thought "I've been training for this for a decade". Played like I was in a low-level dungeon with an evil DM: leaned hard on cantrips for caster damage, used short rests, saved obvious side-quests like Withers' crypt for after I'd stopped the tadpole timer (which I figured would happen after I found Halsin or the Creche). It didn't help that on my first long rest, iirc after hitting Abandoned Village, I got the cutscene where you have tadpole fever dreams and Lae'zel tries to kill you. To me, that was a clear reminder from the game that I was on a tight deadline.
Imagine my surprise when a friend told me that not only I could take as much time as I wanted, but I actually should be long resting super often if I wanted to see all the companion content... WTF Larian.
So I started long resting with abandon. Then I got to Nere, and my companions at camp were all "Hey we should hurry, everyone's dying in the poison room". To which I said sure, then went exploring every nook and cranny of the entire place first. Finally got around to setting them free and the gnomes were all dead, I figured that was a fixed outcome. Later I found out I could have saved them if I'd gone there faster.
WTF LARIAN
(really, I think those instances where you're actually on a timer should have had a clear prompt, like the ones you get before you trigger story progression)
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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '25
The game requires long rests to trigger important dialogue and cutscenes, which sucks because that is never clearly signposted and is antithetical to the time pressure implied by the plot. I missed a lot of stuff on my first playthrough because I was trying to be efficient. It felt like I was being punished for playing well.
Then, after you learn that the time pressure doesn't matter, there are random moments where it does, like unearthing Nere or rescuing whoever Orin kidnapped, occasionally punishing you for engaging with the game the way it wants to be engaged with.
The way the plot triggers are handled might be the game's biggest flaw.