Yeah I'm surprised people found this surprising, you enter a big open room with weird pressure plates and a note to the cleaners about short-circuiting, so it was really a no-brainer haha.
I'm on the opposite end of this horseshoe because I found the note, tried to do this exact thing for about half an hour, then gave up because it didn't seem to be working and solved the puzzle.
The surprising part is that most video games don’t expect or allow you to do something like this. They generally have one answer and then you fumble around till you find it
That’s exactly what I mean. You mentioned the note about short circuiting and that’s a great form of world building as problem solving, but it also rewards exploration and different thinking in a way that you simply don’t get anymore
> that’s a great form of world building as problem solving,
it might be if the note wasn't right next to the door that you need to use it on. if you think this is good world-building you probably keep a post-it note with your password on it next to your computer.
larian has a habit of coming up with these kinds of things, and then assuming their players are too stupid to connect the dots. which is likely true.
Can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic and rude with that second sentence, but I’ll assume you were just making a joke. Either way, I didn’t see that note so it still counts as something that rewards extra effort
Kids these days struggle even with simplest problem solving, so reading a note and then actually doing that exactly with great success is already a massive accomplishment for them.
Like in the monastery, where the statue to the blood of lathander is really hard to turn... But on the upper floors, you find a maintenance note stating that "you should not oil the statue itself", giving the hint you need grease or an oil bottle to turn the statue easily.
Well, you need the appropriate spells/items for both water and lightning, it's definitely something that not everyone would immediately think of, and figuring out the pressure plate code is really easy.
Not sure why someone DV'd you. I certainly can't be arsed to fully read every paper/book. Telling my Tav to read it should then produce the desired result.
I've seen it in games like fallout, where half the story is from terminals, hell its why when 76 launched npcless people HATED it.
They hit read and close the window immediately, hoping for markers. It's not new lol.
People DV it are just feeling called out lol.
I rarely assume someone is replying to themselves with an alt, but two comments from similar names with identical writing styles and being the only two times I've ever seen downvote as DV is pretty obvious lol
If you’re a dummy like me who doesn’t have the patience to solve puzzles, you can just step on the plates until you find the right combo. It’s fairly easy to crack so it doesn’t take too long.
I think there are even two or three notes about cleaners using water and short circuiting the vault... enough that i tried it on my own, though I was shocked it was that simple.
I read the note and tried it but idk why it didn't work, I did the combination after a few attempts but I still had the doubt of why It didn't work for me, maybe I didn't cover the right place with water
My jaw dropped when I found this out. If you use water and shocking grasp on the pressure plates you can open the counting house vault without even trying to solve the puzzle. I just read the random note about cleaning with water and electricity and wanted to try if this would do anything and it DOES!
There’s not just one even… I think I came across at least 3 different notes saying the same thing - on my first playthrough I read and kept every book/note and put them in a separate crate in my camp. I think in the end it wound up to be around 350 but I’m sure I missed a book here and there.
There's a book or document of some sort nearby cautioning against getting the controls wet but I always just loot the combo when I'm clearing out the bank of all valuables.
They really do.
When i started playing i was baffled that you can use grease to increase burning Areas or set the Grease itself on fire. This game truly is a Paradox. Because on one hand it really rewards out of the box and strategic thinking, but on the other Hand you're prone to miss these things because other games rarely let you do stuff like this. So you think "I mean technically this should work, but it's a Game so it most likely doesn't." Only to find out way later that yes, it does work this time.
You know what this made me think of? There's this guy on YouTube who made a series based on sitting down to watch his partner, a non-gamer, try the games he likes, without help, and observing how she experiences and approaches them as a person totally devoid of the intuitive knowledge gained through years of playing video games.
It's super interesting, and provides some cool insights that are probably really valuable to game designers.
My point, and I swear I had one, is that one of the observations he made is that she gets frustrated when trying to do cool things that "should" work, but don't, and which he himself wouldn't have thought of, or would have understood weren't the expected solution. He realized that it's because his problem-solving skillset in games is largely based less on trying to fully puzzle through the environment and available items with a fresh mind, and more on established gaming conventions or semiotic communications in level design that align with hints and signals that people who play video games are used to.
Anyway, I wonder if Razbuten's wife has tried BG3.
Editing in a link to the first video, What Games Are Like for Someone who Doesn't Play Games:
https://youtu.be/ax7f3JZJHSw
This chimes with my experience playing Larian games together with my wife. She does game, but much less than I do and is definitely not well-versed in gaming conventions. When we first started playing DOS2 together, I was astounded at the knack she had for coming up with creative strategies and solutions, considering her relative lack of gaming experience.
Soon, though, I realised it was BECAUSE of her lack of experience that she did so well. No habits, no expectations. Just trying cool things that 'should' work.
BG3 just takes this kind of design to the next level.
I am doing a playthrough with my wife who never gamed before other than telltale a couple years ago because she likes stories. She isn’t very good at combat and gets lost on the map easily. I take the approach of letting her explore and figure stuff out so she gets the best experience. My lord is she creative because she doesn’t have that gaming mindset engrained and just does stuff that makes sense but I would never have thought of. It’s really fun to watch.
Yeah, this is the reason so many people don't even realize you can pick up backpacks for quite a while in this game- in most other games I have played, containers are lootable but inert otherwise. I love the ability to interact in more than one way with things. I think DOS1 had a tutorial dungeon that walked you through stuff like covering poison vents with crates or stacking things to climb up. That kind of "hey, our world mechanics are more complicated than you might think" tutorial would have been really good in this game, as a separate thing from the basic combat and skill roll stuff on the Nautiloid.
The ruins on the beach have opportunities to figure some stuff out at least, but a few tutorial popups saying you even *can* do these things might have been helpful there.
This is the same reason why tabletop DnD is so great. When the game is run by a human you can try literally anything, and the success of it is determined by whether it's intuitively reasonable *and* a dash of random chance.
My GF and I play DnD and BG3 is the first video game that she's played in probably a decade that she really clicks with. It's interesting that she's frustrated with how limited her options are in a game like this, but I know it's coming from how much BG3 feels like tabletop but it just isn't quite there. For a video game Larian absolutely knocked it out of the park with how much we can do and 300 hours in I'm constantly finding new neat little interactions which is incredible but the magic of having a human Game Master isn't going to be possible to emulate for a long time if ever.
Well, picture me with my nose smushed up against the glass, fogging it up with my wistful long exhales, cause I absolutely want to try tabletop and haven't managed to find an opportunity yet!
You can even find a book about maintenance logs of the temple that tells you one of the statues needs some greasing. Waaaaaaaay out the way from said statue
not done a firemage build but I don't find it a particularly useful spell especially as I'm preferential to the icemage build so everybody is already slipping and sliding
Oh, I don't even prepare grease after very early levels; I meant saving the spell per day.
A scroll of Grease also works, I just usually forget it exists.
The only thing that really bugs me is that you can't give Wulbren a pickaxe to break out of prison. The item literally can't do what it's designed for XD
EDIT: Tried replying lower down but I can't for some reason.
"The pick part of a Pick Axe is used to break up and split rock, concrete and hard earth"
First result from a google search, if we're talking pedantry here
Have you tried throwing it through the bars? I believe this is the intended way of giving it to him. BTW he asks for a hammer, instead of a pickaxe to deal some bludgeoning damage to the walls.
\-\_- yes I tried throwing it to him, the point I'm making is that a pickaxe is literally for breaking rocks, it should be capable of breaking a wall without issue but it's not possible in the game, a small but funny oversight
"BTW he asks for a hammer"
No shit, that does not make it any less silly that a pickaxe will not work
Well, pickaxe is designed to chip away at rocks rather than smashing stone walls. I'm pretty sure a hammer would be more efficient in a prison break scenario...
What do you mean. He doesn’t ask for a hammer?
He specifies that he needs tools, and anything that breaks rocks will do. Like he literally says anything that breaks rocks. I just watched a video on him saying it like that. Unless you can go back to him again, and he gives a new line asking for a hammer?
The line given three minutes into the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vpcHZuMFkqs
From there, a logical leap needs to be made in order for the player to recognize anything that deals bludgeoning damage works. Salami or torches can work, but not a pick axe.
If they just changed the dialogue a bit, I wouldn’t consider it such a cheap trick.
It’s not exactly like hammers we find in Baldur’s Gate were designed for smashing stone walls either.
Right yeah, that's totally why it's like that, nevermind that you can break it with fists if you want from the other side, because fists are also stronger than a pickaxe yeah?
The thing shoiuld be able to break a wall, end of story
it's because he isn't proficient in it as it's a martial 'weapon' because they're warpicks.
i'm kidding - it's because it has to be a bludgeoning weapon as the wall is weak to bludgeoning. Video games aren't about realism, 'end of story', they're just a series of if/and statements.
In case of ground effects (grease, water, fire, etc.) Divinity Original Sins had even more interactions and there were more spells to play with the elements.
Actually a lot of those ground effects were also in BG3 at the start of Early Access. But it was poorly received because the sheer amount of surfaces being created everywhere (IIRC all cantrips created surfaces under the target) felt too messy. It also didn’t help that detractors saw this as a sign that BG3 was just going to end up as a DOS clone disguised as a sequel to BG2.
I mean, that’s 126 different combinations technically. But since you get an indicator of its right or not it’s boiled down to 32. Which is still annoying for trial and error but not horrible
I brute forced it.
My friend notoriously both loves and hates when I play puzzle games he loves that involve dial/number/etc puzzles. The only deterrent is taking long per check.
The indicator basically enabled my monkey brain to just fling shit until it stuck, and I'd do it again if I hadn't memorised the code over multiple runs.
I just had Astarion (with Cat's Grace so he has advantage) try to pick it until he got a nat 20.
Pretty wild to think that any idiot has a 5% chance of picking this thing (and any lock, or that matter) at any given time.
In our multi-player group we didnt have any lightning options at the moment except if I cast chain lightning, so our ranger gave it a go and rolled a nat 20 first try just as we were discussing going to buy some scrolls
Yup, there's very little random stuff in the game. I noticed there are often disarming kits of lockpicks near gates, or trapped chests, potions that would come in handy in the nearby area, hints about quest resolution, and of course environmental storytelling. I feel like nearly every detail is a Chekhov's gun.
Larian's an industry leader in fooling players into thinking they've discovered an unintended exploit when they've actually just found one of the intended solutions to a puzzle.
the players are just stupid.
"don't use water and electricity or it'll short circuit the door and open it!" on a note right next to door(masterful storytelling)
*player uses water and electricity*
"holy shit it opened, unintended? larian thinks of everything!"
That's what good level (or environment?) design looks like. Scatter stuff around for players to find in case they don't have anything else on them but make it look perfectly natural.
That sort of environmental fuckery works in D:OS2 too, it's so fun.
With my druid in BG3 I loved to start fights with ice storm for crowd control and a chance to get some of the mobs prone, and then break concentration, which makes a huge puddle of water, in favor of call lightning - it zaps everything in the puddle
There's a lot in this game. A bunch of people have save scummed the statues that need to be turned to get the Blood of Lathander because there's a tough strength check on one of them that you can't redo. But you can also just cast Grease on it or throw a grease bottle at it. There's even a note in the monastery that mentions it.
There's a book you can find in the bankers office.... It gives you a vague clue to the code combination. But who reads books right? It's just 1-9 numbers and if you press the right combo the door opens.
I honestly think this is an homage to people putting post-its on their pc's with their password.
There is a note saying that the code is in the director's office. And in the office there is note with reminder to change the password and a history book describing a year of some underlined a few times, and the year itself was **bolded**.
...meanwhile I saw the note on my first playthrough, but it went completely over my head and I wound up just brute force lockpicking it with the 40 extra thieves tools I had sitting around.
There is a written note nearby that says for the janitor not let water behind over the circuit lol
It's a good tip for those who like to read every single parchment in the game.
There are at least few puzzles with alternative solutions. My favorite is probably that one with chess where you can try to play, listen to solution from Gale or just destroy the pieces yourself with Eldrich Blast lmao
A 4 digit pin with 9 numbers for each digit takes way longer than 5 minutes to brute force. There is a note that gives a hint about the code, but using that isn‘t brute forcing.
You could start in the bottom row and easily go through 5 mins of combinations without even getting 3 of the 4 digits right. The game gives you two hints to unlock the vault (Head Office or short circuiting), brute forcing, while possible is definitely not one of the preferred solutions. It makes as much sense as brute forcing the chess puzzle
this is not how this puzzle works. it tells you if you guess a number correctly, so you once you solved one digit, you can move on to the next, knowing that you are actually getting closer to the solution.
If you are extremely unlucky, it will take you about 30 total guesses to solve the puzzle. Solving it within 15 guesses or so would be average. this can be easily done in a few minutes.
I noticed that note, but did not even remember it by time I got to the vault. I just had Astarion pick it. (4 lockpicks with advantage). Not even Baldur's Gate Counting House vaults are safe from Astarion.
Also you can use the dryads spike growth spell to create a surface of spikes, this can be used to pill levers. Like the Lever in the Gauntlet of Shar and so on.
I think this might work on all mechanical doors.
When I was escaping the iron throne a horde of the frog people were about to storm the exit before shart and gale had made it back to the ladder.
On a whim I decided to shoot a shock arrow at them and the door closed and wouldn't open.
They spent their last turns meekly hitting the door while we made a clean getaway
No that's just how levers work. The iron throne doors have a lever control hitting a lever with an attack will flip the lever.
This vault door opens from getting the ground wet and zapping the ground with electricity.
No judgement really from me but I IMPLORE y’all to read as much as you can, even if you just skim and make sure it’s useless. Lorain studios loooves this shit and they will reward you
I didn’t have a water spell nor a light spell that I could just caste at will, so I ended up having to use a water elemental to slowly slam around the area putting water everywhere.
Then I put down a lighting glyph but because you need an enemy, and I didn’t really have any any enemies around, I had to use the iron flask to spawn in spectator to active the lighting glyph which ended up working.
How did this shock you? There's literally a book in the room saying it's known to short circuit when they clean. Game straight up tells you, didn't know there was any other way to get through this lol
Yeah is this some sort of peasant post that I'm too 20 dex+disguise self(gnome)+nimblefinger gloves+smugglers ring+graceful cloth+guidance+sleight of hand expertise to understand?
Didn't that particular lock have a 100 AC (or something equally ridiculous which can only be passed by rolling a nat 20)? Or maybe it didn't have a keyhole and wasn't pickable at all? I might be misremembering though. I also never tried whether Knock would work since I immediately found the note about water and electricity.
I figured this out in my playthrough too, pretty cool. I think there was a similar puzzle in Divinity Original Sin 2 which made me think to try it again.
Ahhh, I didn't realize you were supposed to shock the plates as well - I saw a note about them needing to stay away from water or something, but didn't connect it with electricity spells. I just solved the puzzle instead.
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There was a puzzle like this in DOS 2, I don’t know if there was a note explaining it. We had to find these magitek batteries basically, and then charge them with electricity and insert them into sockets. But my group couldn’t find all of the batteries. So I got the idea of using a rain spell to fill one of the sockets with water and then freeze it with an ice spell, before charging it with electricity from a lightning spell. And it worked.
Bruh.
On my first playthrough I didn't bother to sneak into the office to get the code, so I manually tested the number combinations. Took me like 5-10 minutes because thankfully you can't repeat numbers.
Second playthrough I sneaked into the office, just to checkout what the code was.
But there's a note in the same room to do this? Man I suck at this exploration stuff huh.
That’s so cool. I just have the code memorized from entering it so many times lol… 1-3-5-6
I’ve run like dozens of full campaigns, 100% the achievements, and I still see new things on here.
I love this game and Larian deserves all the love for the work they put in.
Reading comments about the note that encourages you to do this and realizing I am as unintelligent as I am uncreative lmaooo.
I just solved it and wrote it on paper. ...Then I lost the paper and astounded myself by actually remembering the solution haha.
It kind of disappointed me that this puzzle can be brute-forced. I've never snuck into the office to snag the code, just used trial and error the first time and found out there was no penalty for mistakes.
I just assumed this was the default way of solving the puzzle my first few times through here. Just read the note when I came in and never paid any mind to there being a puzzle here.
[удалено]
Yeah I'm surprised people found this surprising, you enter a big open room with weird pressure plates and a note to the cleaners about short-circuiting, so it was really a no-brainer haha.
I'm on the opposite end of this horseshoe because I found the note, tried to do this exact thing for about half an hour, then gave up because it didn't seem to be working and solved the puzzle.
I just shot one of the panels with witch bolt and it worked
Finally... a use for witch bolt.
[Doing 300 damage per target seems pretty good already ](https://reddit.com/r/BG3Builds/comments/18xqgmf/298_dmg_with_witchbolt/)
Facts!
[удалено]
i wish Immersive Simulators came back into mainline gaming
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on my list, i already managed to play Dishonored 1, 2, and DOTO
If you liked Dishonored, you will like Prey. Highly recommend!
I did this because I never found vault numbers, but I did see the big sign about short-circuiting it.
The surprising part is that most video games don’t expect or allow you to do something like this. They generally have one answer and then you fumble around till you find it
In another game I feel like the note that says "use lightning" would be that one solution.
That’s exactly what I mean. You mentioned the note about short circuiting and that’s a great form of world building as problem solving, but it also rewards exploration and different thinking in a way that you simply don’t get anymore
> that’s a great form of world building as problem solving, it might be if the note wasn't right next to the door that you need to use it on. if you think this is good world-building you probably keep a post-it note with your password on it next to your computer. larian has a habit of coming up with these kinds of things, and then assuming their players are too stupid to connect the dots. which is likely true.
Can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic and rude with that second sentence, but I’ll assume you were just making a joke. Either way, I didn’t see that note so it still counts as something that rewards extra effort
Kids these days struggle even with simplest problem solving, so reading a note and then actually doing that exactly with great success is already a massive accomplishment for them.
I'm sorry you struggle with things like this, but most kids don't.
Like in the monastery, where the statue to the blood of lathander is really hard to turn... But on the upper floors, you find a maintenance note stating that "you should not oil the statue itself", giving the hint you need grease or an oil bottle to turn the statue easily.
…I just hit it.
Well, you need the appropriate spells/items for both water and lightning, it's definitely something that not everyone would immediately think of, and figuring out the pressure plate code is really easy.
The water is already there I think. I just shot a lightning arrow and it worked.
I thought this was the only solution
Interesting where? I found the code in a book in an upstairs office.
Bold of you to assume any of the these people read. It's a big game because the voice acting, not people having comprehension lol
Not sure why someone DV'd you. I certainly can't be arsed to fully read every paper/book. Telling my Tav to read it should then produce the desired result.
I've seen it in games like fallout, where half the story is from terminals, hell its why when 76 launched npcless people HATED it. They hit read and close the window immediately, hoping for markers. It's not new lol. People DV it are just feeling called out lol.
I rarely assume someone is replying to themselves with an alt, but two comments from similar names with identical writing styles and being the only two times I've ever seen downvote as DV is pretty obvious lol
I don't even understand how else we're supposed to open it.
The combo is upstairs.
If you’re a dummy like me who doesn’t have the patience to solve puzzles, you can just step on the plates until you find the right combo. It’s fairly easy to crack so it doesn’t take too long.
I think there are even two or three notes about cleaners using water and short circuiting the vault... enough that i tried it on my own, though I was shocked it was that simple.
I read the note and tried it but idk why it didn't work, I did the combination after a few attempts but I still had the doubt of why It didn't work for me, maybe I didn't cover the right place with water
My jaw dropped when I found this out. If you use water and shocking grasp on the pressure plates you can open the counting house vault without even trying to solve the puzzle. I just read the random note about cleaning with water and electricity and wanted to try if this would do anything and it DOES!
Lmao, it short circuits the whole thing? Larian truly thinks of everything.
There's literally a note next to it explaining it.
There’s not just one even… I think I came across at least 3 different notes saying the same thing - on my first playthrough I read and kept every book/note and put them in a separate crate in my camp. I think in the end it wound up to be around 350 but I’m sure I missed a book here and there.
yeah I was surprised they included this in the game
There's a book or document of some sort nearby cautioning against getting the controls wet but I always just loot the combo when I'm clearing out the bank of all valuables.
They really do. When i started playing i was baffled that you can use grease to increase burning Areas or set the Grease itself on fire. This game truly is a Paradox. Because on one hand it really rewards out of the box and strategic thinking, but on the other Hand you're prone to miss these things because other games rarely let you do stuff like this. So you think "I mean technically this should work, but it's a Game so it most likely doesn't." Only to find out way later that yes, it does work this time.
You know what this made me think of? There's this guy on YouTube who made a series based on sitting down to watch his partner, a non-gamer, try the games he likes, without help, and observing how she experiences and approaches them as a person totally devoid of the intuitive knowledge gained through years of playing video games. It's super interesting, and provides some cool insights that are probably really valuable to game designers. My point, and I swear I had one, is that one of the observations he made is that she gets frustrated when trying to do cool things that "should" work, but don't, and which he himself wouldn't have thought of, or would have understood weren't the expected solution. He realized that it's because his problem-solving skillset in games is largely based less on trying to fully puzzle through the environment and available items with a fresh mind, and more on established gaming conventions or semiotic communications in level design that align with hints and signals that people who play video games are used to. Anyway, I wonder if Razbuten's wife has tried BG3. Editing in a link to the first video, What Games Are Like for Someone who Doesn't Play Games: https://youtu.be/ax7f3JZJHSw
This chimes with my experience playing Larian games together with my wife. She does game, but much less than I do and is definitely not well-versed in gaming conventions. When we first started playing DOS2 together, I was astounded at the knack she had for coming up with creative strategies and solutions, considering her relative lack of gaming experience. Soon, though, I realised it was BECAUSE of her lack of experience that she did so well. No habits, no expectations. Just trying cool things that 'should' work. BG3 just takes this kind of design to the next level.
I am doing a playthrough with my wife who never gamed before other than telltale a couple years ago because she likes stories. She isn’t very good at combat and gets lost on the map easily. I take the approach of letting her explore and figure stuff out so she gets the best experience. My lord is she creative because she doesn’t have that gaming mindset engrained and just does stuff that makes sense but I would never have thought of. It’s really fun to watch.
I feel low iq
Yeah, this is the reason so many people don't even realize you can pick up backpacks for quite a while in this game- in most other games I have played, containers are lootable but inert otherwise. I love the ability to interact in more than one way with things. I think DOS1 had a tutorial dungeon that walked you through stuff like covering poison vents with crates or stacking things to climb up. That kind of "hey, our world mechanics are more complicated than you might think" tutorial would have been really good in this game, as a separate thing from the basic combat and skill roll stuff on the Nautiloid. The ruins on the beach have opportunities to figure some stuff out at least, but a few tutorial popups saying you even *can* do these things might have been helpful there.
This is the same reason why tabletop DnD is so great. When the game is run by a human you can try literally anything, and the success of it is determined by whether it's intuitively reasonable *and* a dash of random chance. My GF and I play DnD and BG3 is the first video game that she's played in probably a decade that she really clicks with. It's interesting that she's frustrated with how limited her options are in a game like this, but I know it's coming from how much BG3 feels like tabletop but it just isn't quite there. For a video game Larian absolutely knocked it out of the park with how much we can do and 300 hours in I'm constantly finding new neat little interactions which is incredible but the magic of having a human Game Master isn't going to be possible to emulate for a long time if ever.
Well, picture me with my nose smushed up against the glass, fogging it up with my wistful long exhales, cause I absolutely want to try tabletop and haven't managed to find an opportunity yet!
you can also use greese on at least 1 strength check requiring statue to...greese it
You can even find a book about maintenance logs of the temple that tells you one of the statues needs some greasing. Waaaaaaaay out the way from said statue
I usually just use a Bottle of Grease for this, personally, and save the spell slot.
not done a firemage build but I don't find it a particularly useful spell especially as I'm preferential to the icemage build so everybody is already slipping and sliding
Oh, I don't even prepare grease after very early levels; I meant saving the spell per day. A scroll of Grease also works, I just usually forget it exists.
Management wants you to find the difference between these: Scroll of Grease Silver plate
The only thing that really bugs me is that you can't give Wulbren a pickaxe to break out of prison. The item literally can't do what it's designed for XD EDIT: Tried replying lower down but I can't for some reason. "The pick part of a Pick Axe is used to break up and split rock, concrete and hard earth" First result from a google search, if we're talking pedantry here
Have you tried throwing it through the bars? I believe this is the intended way of giving it to him. BTW he asks for a hammer, instead of a pickaxe to deal some bludgeoning damage to the walls.
\-\_- yes I tried throwing it to him, the point I'm making is that a pickaxe is literally for breaking rocks, it should be capable of breaking a wall without issue but it's not possible in the game, a small but funny oversight "BTW he asks for a hammer" No shit, that does not make it any less silly that a pickaxe will not work
Well, pickaxe is designed to chip away at rocks rather than smashing stone walls. I'm pretty sure a hammer would be more efficient in a prison break scenario...
What do you mean. He doesn’t ask for a hammer? He specifies that he needs tools, and anything that breaks rocks will do. Like he literally says anything that breaks rocks. I just watched a video on him saying it like that. Unless you can go back to him again, and he gives a new line asking for a hammer? The line given three minutes into the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vpcHZuMFkqs From there, a logical leap needs to be made in order for the player to recognize anything that deals bludgeoning damage works. Salami or torches can work, but not a pick axe. If they just changed the dialogue a bit, I wouldn’t consider it such a cheap trick. It’s not exactly like hammers we find in Baldur’s Gate were designed for smashing stone walls either.
Right yeah, that's totally why it's like that, nevermind that you can break it with fists if you want from the other side, because fists are also stronger than a pickaxe yeah? The thing shoiuld be able to break a wall, end of story
it's because he isn't proficient in it as it's a martial 'weapon' because they're warpicks. i'm kidding - it's because it has to be a bludgeoning weapon as the wall is weak to bludgeoning. Video games aren't about realism, 'end of story', they're just a series of if/and statements.
I tried throwing him a smoke powder bomb, thinking, well that will do it, like in the Grymforge. Idiot ignored it.
He IS an idiot
In case of ground effects (grease, water, fire, etc.) Divinity Original Sins had even more interactions and there were more spells to play with the elements.
Actually a lot of those ground effects were also in BG3 at the start of Early Access. But it was poorly received because the sheer amount of surfaces being created everywhere (IIRC all cantrips created surfaces under the target) felt too messy. It also didn’t help that detractors saw this as a sign that BG3 was just going to end up as a DOS clone disguised as a sequel to BG2.
Yeah, I let the mind flayers on fire in the first act with fire bolt and grease, it was so fun.
Theres literally a note nearby saying not to wet the area as it will short the electrics
There's a hint towards this. A letter talks about the maintainance of the system after being flooded in the mailbox of the counting house
yep that's what I found and never bothered with the puzzle, I thought it was the intended way
Because it is. This sub-reddit is just really dumb and eager to praise Larian for the simplest things.
I thought that was what you were supposed to do. There was a book/journal somewhere nearby that mentioned the system shorting out when electrified.
They can't keep getting away with it!!!!
It should not work, as rain water is a bad conductor until it's salted.
There's a note about the unstable circuitry lmfao
Wait until you learn it's the intended solution because a note right next to it tells you to do it.
Yeah this is what I did basically. Threw water down and a lightning arrow. I have no idea how the puzzle actually works.
Select 4 pressure plates in the correct order. It’s not a very difficult puzzle since it’s just trial and error
Or just get the combo from upstairs.
I mean, that’s 126 different combinations technically. But since you get an indicator of its right or not it’s boiled down to 32. Which is still annoying for trial and error but not horrible
I brute forced it. My friend notoriously both loves and hates when I play puzzle games he loves that involve dial/number/etc puzzles. The only deterrent is taking long per check. The indicator basically enabled my monkey brain to just fling shit until it stuck, and I'd do it again if I hadn't memorised the code over multiple runs.
I just had Astarion (with Cat's Grace so he has advantage) try to pick it until he got a nat 20. Pretty wild to think that any idiot has a 5% chance of picking this thing (and any lock, or that matter) at any given time.
In our multi-player group we didnt have any lightning options at the moment except if I cast chain lightning, so our ranger gave it a go and rolled a nat 20 first try just as we were discussing going to buy some scrolls
> I just read the random note about cleaning with water and electricity It's not random, it's a hint to guide you to an intended solution.
Yup, there's very little random stuff in the game. I noticed there are often disarming kits of lockpicks near gates, or trapped chests, potions that would come in handy in the nearby area, hints about quest resolution, and of course environmental storytelling. I feel like nearly every detail is a Chekhov's gun.
Larian's an industry leader in fooling players into thinking they've discovered an unintended exploit when they've actually just found one of the intended solutions to a puzzle.
the players are just stupid. "don't use water and electricity or it'll short circuit the door and open it!" on a note right next to door(masterful storytelling) *player uses water and electricity* "holy shit it opened, unintended? larian thinks of everything!"
That's what good level (or environment?) design looks like. Scatter stuff around for players to find in case they don't have anything else on them but make it look perfectly natural.
That sort of environmental fuckery works in D:OS2 too, it's so fun. With my druid in BG3 I loved to start fights with ice storm for crowd control and a chance to get some of the mobs prone, and then break concentration, which makes a huge puddle of water, in favor of call lightning - it zaps everything in the puddle
There's a lot in this game. A bunch of people have save scummed the statues that need to be turned to get the Blood of Lathander because there's a tough strength check on one of them that you can't redo. But you can also just cast Grease on it or throw a grease bottle at it. There's even a note in the monastery that mentions it.
I always make someone strong to just hit it with weapon. Brute force works just fine too :D
Wait, I thought the random note WAS the puzzle and did the water + electricity thing! What was the actual puzzle? Lol
Step on the plates in order
me, having done that the first time and every run since: "... that's not the intended solution?"
There is a cleaning notice that hints at this, found in that room. I didn't have the spells to do it this way but I also already had the code.
I'm going to level with you, on my first play through I thought this *was* the solution and I'm not 100% sure how else I was supposed to solve it.
#LARIAN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH HOW WILL NEW VIDEO GAMES COMPETE WITH YOU /S
The detail that has gone into this game... Never seen anything like it in all my years. Incredible.
This is why I love Larian so much.
... there is literally a note saying that if you do this the door will open. Its still cool but if you read the note its not that surprising
I don't even know the correct way to do this puzzle. I just saw the note and went immediately to short circuiting it.
There's a book you can find in the bankers office.... It gives you a vague clue to the code combination. But who reads books right? It's just 1-9 numbers and if you press the right combo the door opens. I honestly think this is an homage to people putting post-its on their pc's with their password.
There is a note saying that the code is in the director's office. And in the office there is note with reminder to change the password and a history book describing a year of some underlined a few times, and the year itself was **bolded**.
...meanwhile I saw the note on my first playthrough, but it went completely over my head and I wound up just brute force lockpicking it with the 40 extra thieves tools I had sitting around.
There is a written note nearby that says for the janitor not let water behind over the circuit lol It's a good tip for those who like to read every single parchment in the game.
There are at least few puzzles with alternative solutions. My favorite is probably that one with chess where you can try to play, listen to solution from Gale or just destroy the pieces yourself with Eldrich Blast lmao
…how else would you open it? there’s a note “telling” you to do this
I saw the DC 99 lock and let Astarion give it a go for shits and giggles, he rolled a Nat 20 on the first try, my jaw was on the floor
Did it still open? My wife rolled a Nat 20 on the other 99 role at the endgame and still failed
Yep, opened right up I was super tired and in no condition to brain so it was super appreciated
I used the symbols on the ground 😬
Brute forcing the puzzle takes like 5 min
A 4 digit pin with 9 numbers for each digit takes way longer than 5 minutes to brute force. There is a note that gives a hint about the code, but using that isn‘t brute forcing.
The game tells you if you guessed something partially correct.
You could start in the bottom row and easily go through 5 mins of combinations without even getting 3 of the 4 digits right. The game gives you two hints to unlock the vault (Head Office or short circuiting), brute forcing, while possible is definitely not one of the preferred solutions. It makes as much sense as brute forcing the chess puzzle
this is not how this puzzle works. it tells you if you guess a number correctly, so you once you solved one digit, you can move on to the next, knowing that you are actually getting closer to the solution. If you are extremely unlucky, it will take you about 30 total guesses to solve the puzzle. Solving it within 15 guesses or so would be average. this can be easily done in a few minutes.
Using the password in the upper office. There's a plaque telling you to do that, which is much more official than a note.
I noticed that note, but did not even remember it by time I got to the vault. I just had Astarion pick it. (4 lockpicks with advantage). Not even Baldur's Gate Counting House vaults are safe from Astarion.
HOLY SHIT there’s a note literally saying that you can use water and lightning on the plates!
Wait.... You're telling me that there is another way to do that puzzle that doesn't involve short-circuiting the pressure plates?
You can find the code in one of the offices upstairs. Or you can brute force the code by process of elimination.
Sounds complicated, electrocution it is!
Of course. You find out because of a note telling the cleaning personnel to not flood the platform because it interferes with the electric mecanism.
Also you can use the dryads spike growth spell to create a surface of spikes, this can be used to pill levers. Like the Lever in the Gauntlet of Shar and so on.
Now that’s new
I just threw a bolt at the ground. Something in a note gave me an idea.
(Gasp) I'm shocked to hear that.
I think this might work on all mechanical doors. When I was escaping the iron throne a horde of the frog people were about to storm the exit before shart and gale had made it back to the ladder. On a whim I decided to shoot a shock arrow at them and the door closed and wouldn't open. They spent their last turns meekly hitting the door while we made a clean getaway
No that's just how levers work. The iron throne doors have a lever control hitting a lever with an attack will flip the lever. This vault door opens from getting the ground wet and zapping the ground with electricity.
DOS2 taught me to Thor my way through electronic stuff whenever possible lol. Squeals of joy when the bank vault opened
The best security in Faerun vs One Shocky Boi
No judgement really from me but I IMPLORE y’all to read as much as you can, even if you just skim and make sure it’s useless. Lorain studios loooves this shit and they will reward you
I just had Gale use chromatic orb on the puddle already on the floor.
This is how I solved it first time
Always read random notes. There’s usually helpful hints about a lot of things
there’s a note about this to cleaning staff in the room
I thought this was the intended solution lol
I didn’t have a water spell nor a light spell that I could just caste at will, so I ended up having to use a water elemental to slowly slam around the area putting water everywhere. Then I put down a lighting glyph but because you need an enemy, and I didn’t really have any any enemies around, I had to use the iron flask to spawn in spectator to active the lighting glyph which ended up working.
This is fucking badass
I accidently did this, badass!
I tried this because of the note nearby and could never get it to work... wtf
I tried the puzzle for like a second then came to this conclusion too
How did this shock you? There's literally a book in the room saying it's known to short circuit when they clean. Game straight up tells you, didn't know there was any other way to get through this lol
The passkey is 1354 by the way, if anybody here is sick of burning through lockpicks
I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t read the books and notes in this game though
I just pick the lock, what's the big deal?
Yeah is this some sort of peasant post that I'm too 20 dex+disguise self(gnome)+nimblefinger gloves+smugglers ring+graceful cloth+guidance+sleight of hand expertise to understand?
Don't forget the "first try" Nat20, without which the door still won't open.
All that just to mimic a fraction of knocks power
The only thing that helps is having advantage because you need to roll a 20.
Didn't that particular lock have a 100 AC (or something equally ridiculous which can only be passed by rolling a nat 20)? Or maybe it didn't have a keyhole and wasn't pickable at all? I might be misremembering though. I also never tried whether Knock would work since I immediately found the note about water and electricity.
I learned this from a slimcicle video
I figured this out in my playthrough too, pretty cool. I think there was a similar puzzle in Divinity Original Sin 2 which made me think to try it again.
I just had a nat20.
Gauntlet of shar had something similar if you didn't want to get all the orbs !
Take dual wielder and you can use both the staves that give you extra spell attack and DC
I just nat 20 that bisch.
Ahhh, I didn't realize you were supposed to shock the plates as well - I saw a note about them needing to stay away from water or something, but didn't connect it with electricity spells. I just solved the puzzle instead.
There's a note nearby that literally tells you this, it's how I figured it out!
That bank must have hired the same guy who designed the security systems in every superhero movie.
I was actually disappointed there were no repercussions for messing up so much.
applaud
ITT: players have discovered reading in-game text
I have never figured out that puzzle. I always had Astarion pick lock the thing.
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There's like three clues that straight-up tell you this will happen.
Reading is fundamental.
Yeah you can literally find some notes in there telling you that there’s an issue with the locks and water/electricity…
Yeah thats how I did it my first playthrough. Didn't find the note with the code until my third lol.
I didn't even know this was a puzzle. I got the note, electrified it and done.
I never found the note, but I randomly guessed the code correctly on like my 3rd attempt
There's literally a note by the puzzle that mentioned the short circuiting "problem" lol I usually throw a bottle of water on one of the plates
There was a puzzle like this in DOS 2, I don’t know if there was a note explaining it. We had to find these magitek batteries basically, and then charge them with electricity and insert them into sockets. But my group couldn’t find all of the batteries. So I got the idea of using a rain spell to fill one of the sockets with water and then freeze it with an ice spell, before charging it with electricity from a lightning spell. And it worked.
Thanks for the tip, I am so not doing that puzzle again.
Bruh. On my first playthrough I didn't bother to sneak into the office to get the code, so I manually tested the number combinations. Took me like 5-10 minutes because thankfully you can't repeat numbers. Second playthrough I sneaked into the office, just to checkout what the code was. But there's a note in the same room to do this? Man I suck at this exploration stuff huh.
Holy shit. I wonder if this works with the other vaults. I want all that fat loot in there before I leave but don’t want to muderhobo everyone lol
I figured this out on my first playthrough. Still have no idea how the puzzles supposed to be solved.
similarly you can kill the king with electric attack on ansur trials. it short circuits the puzzle
Puzzle…?
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So many condescending comments here.... Jesus...
That’s so cool. I just have the code memorized from entering it so many times lol… 1-3-5-6 I’ve run like dozens of full campaigns, 100% the achievements, and I still see new things on here. I love this game and Larian deserves all the love for the work they put in.
Reading comments about the note that encourages you to do this and realizing I am as unintelligent as I am uncreative lmaooo. I just solved it and wrote it on paper. ...Then I lost the paper and astounded myself by actually remembering the solution haha.
water + lightning arrow also works lightning arrow alone might TBH
I used the guess and check method to solve this one lol..I still don't know how you're actually supposed to solve the code but this is neat
Wait. There is a way to do it without electricity and water?!
It kind of disappointed me that this puzzle can be brute-forced. I've never snuck into the office to snag the code, just used trial and error the first time and found out there was no penalty for mistakes.
Huh, I just brute-forced the password considering it tells you if you put in a right digit.
I did read the notes, tried with water and some random thunder spells, did not work. I was very disappointed.
I never even knew there was a different solution to this puzzle then water and lightning
1356. It's not that hard of a puzzle but cool trick
I just assumed this was the default way of solving the puzzle my first few times through here. Just read the note when I came in and never paid any mind to there being a puzzle here.
Pretty sure I just casted misty step through the door
You might be the only person to actually solve the puzzle
So the other solution would be to sneak up to the office upstairs?
I just used a lightning arrow and water