Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer.
Baldur's Gate 3 serves up a bounty of massive, complex dungeons primed to gobble up unprepared adventurers, but the one that stuck with me the most—even now, a year after launch—has to be the House of Hope. This late game dungeon shares the limelight with some other corkers, like the exceptional, but still manages to stand out thanks to its audaciousness.
The actual dungeon does involve a heist, but not to the degree of the scrapped version. The problem was, none of these earlier concepts were quite fun enough."Ironically, the most fun was when the player was caught," Radostev says,"and all hell broke loose, which is why this always happens in the released version.
Letting you peacefully explore Raphael's abode, for a time, gives it a very different vibe from dungeons like the aforementioned Iron Throne or the complex Gauntlet of Shar."Instead of pushing players into combat we focused on creating narrative tension," says Kozikhin."We hint that Raphael will come and it will be the end, some characters shout it out directly, and at the same time, we maintain that sliver of hope that players can leave without facing the devil's wrath.
"At that point in Lower City, players have accumulated so many potions, weapons, summons, powerful artifacts—some of which are right there in the House of Hope—that health points alone don't make much difference," says Radostev."This is why Raphael has a lot of support, soul pillars that boost his AC, devastating spells, and a couple of soul tricks up his sleeve. The main challenge there is not to die and get to the point where you can deal any damage at all.
"It's the fatigue thing," adds Smith."It was exhausting. It was a dungeon after another dungeon." Some of this still exists in another form, though. For instance, you can tell that the House of Hope is flying when you go out onto the balcony. And if you visit the shop where you first entered the house, after defeating Raphael, you can click on a crystal ball and see a vision of Mephistopheles.
Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings.
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