secret_online's recent activity
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
secret_online Link ParentThat's cool, especially since you're so far out. I do think it'd be cool to build a tunnel in the lower Nether eventually, but I want to see what happens with the hub first before even thinking...That's cool, especially since you're so far out. I do think it'd be cool to build a tunnel in the lower Nether eventually, but I want to see what happens with the hub first before even thinking about how to connect to further bases. When it comes time, I'd be happy to help with material connection and building if a nether tunnel is ever constructed.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI'm free today (in my timezone). Otherwise it's unlikely to line up. If I'm unable to make it, I'd love to have a couple of Swift Sneaks (one for myself and Eth), though that might mean needing to...I'm free today (in my timezone). Otherwise it's unlikely to line up. If I'm unable to make it, I'd love to have a couple of Swift Sneaks (one for myself and Eth), though that might mean needing to go to a second one which we can do in our own time.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online (edited )Link ParentSolved. The actual issue was a weird timings issue where that piston was getting zero-ticked, meaning the pushing wasn't actually lasting long enough to push the piglins all the way over. As soon...Looks to be an artefact of the vines spreading. @Ethinolicbob we might be able to stop that with some string?Solved. The actual issue was a weird timings issue where that piston was getting zero-ticked, meaning the pushing wasn't actually lasting long enough to push the piglins all the way over. As soon as they stopped in the vines their collision was disabled and they could no longer be pushed. Solved by breaking an observer and placing it again, which caused the piston to play nicely again.
Maybe we do need an off switch, if only so we can turn it off and on again to fix weird things like this.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
secret_online Link ParentObjections about which week aside, that's incredibly early in the morning for me. I'm very much aware of my inconvenient timezone after years of playing online games with international friends, so...Objections about which week aside, that's incredibly early in the morning for me. I'm very much aware of my inconvenient timezone after years of playing online games with international friends, so if it ends up being at that time because it's convenient for everyone else then I'll just sit it out. Any "Saturday" works best for me rather than "Sunday", since "Sunday" actually means "get up an go to work because it's Monday". 2pm EST is about the earliest I'd be able to actually be online at what could be considered an ok hour. An hour or so later would be considered reasonable by my neighbours (not that I'd be doing much out-loud talking).
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
secret_online LinkNew week, new screenshots. I spent a lot of my available time during the week just gearing up so that I could get into other things faster. I went to the End with the community elytra to gather...New week, new screenshots.
- I spent a lot of my available time during the week just gearing up so that I could get into other things faster. I went to the End with the community elytra to gather two pairs for myself and Eth. For those who haven't seen the outer End yet, it's pretty cool.
- I don't know how much Happy Ghasting I'm going to do, but I've built a hangar for our noisy balloons. It's a copy of a design I made on the server Eth and I share, and was just as annoying to build the second time as it was the first.
- Speaking of Happy Ghasts, we've had a casualty. Spookums, my first Ghast that didn't get lost or die or IDK what happened to the other one, was the victim of a rather unfortunate accident. Eth was setting up the Nether roof portal and when he came back from the roof for the first time the game needed to spawn a new portal, and it happed to do so right where Spookums was. Spookums immediately travelled through to the bottom Nether where they suffocated in the other side of the portal because it was the default size. When they dropped the harness it immediately travelled back to the overworld and popped into Eth's inventory, allowing us to reconstruct this series of events from just the appearance of that item.
- The other part of this tale is less tragic, but equally strange. Eth forgot to take a flint and steel when going up to the roof, so I had to do a rescue mission. We travelled back to the overworld in the same portal at approximately the same time. I was sent to the spruce forest ruined portal, while Eth must've just been out of range of that one which is why the game spawned a new portal at our base.
- The other takeaway from that story is that we have a roof portal! I have been piecing away at a tower for it, but it's honestly been a journey. The base has been built and torn down twice, with this third one likely requiring a rebuild. The tower portion has also been built and destroyed in three different sizes before settling on this one. And the top has been through a bunch of design iterations. It'll be finished eventually, but motivation for this project is low.
- I'm avoiding the roof for transportation this season, and the only reason I built a roof portal for our base was so Eth could start building farms up there.
There are a couple of projects in the works for us right now. I've got another building project in the pipeline, and as I'm writing this comment Eth is designing the item sorting and crafting for the gold farm he's been designing. I've also claimed a plot in town for a building, but I don't yet have access to something in reasonable quantities, so I'm holding off on progressing that build for hopefully not too many days.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online Link ParentI'd be starting with YouTube, especially because there'll often be a farm explanation and sometimes a build tutorial included. Most good farm creators will link to schematics in their video...I'd be starting with YouTube, especially because there'll often be a farm explanation and sometimes a build tutorial included. Most good farm creators will link to schematics in their video descriptions.
There's also a tangled web of technical Minecraft Discord servers that have channels with schematic downloads in them.The Technical Minecraft Catalogue has a lot, but there are also other servers for more specific areas of the game.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 16: Hide + Seek United Kingdom | Trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online Link ParentEpisode 3 YouTube Nebula Extra videos (Nebula only, light spoilers in link text) Sam films a swan Ben films a pigeon Episode 3 spoilers This was so close to being a winning run. Had Sam pulled...Episode 3
Extra videos (Nebula only, light spoilers in link text)
Episode 3 spoilers
This was so close to being a winning run. Had Sam pulled more time bonuses (and not played the 5 Minute King), or if Adam and Ben not been next to pigeons trying to get out of the rain, this would have been very different.
Sam also went down that little path down from the hill at the very start, except when he did it was nearly 7pm, getting dark, and he had a train to catch.
Milton Keynes is certainly an interesting choice from a gameplay perspective, but not really a visual one for sure. Even I know that despite Brits hating their home town no matter what, Milton Keynes is far and above the most loathed. My watching buddy and I spent like an hour on Google Maps afterwards just going around MK and the surrounding area. Our takeaway was that it really felt like a bunch of urban planners were trying out different ideas to see what worked and the result was a mess of different ideas that all didn't work for different reasons. The only part that seemed sane was Bletchley, but that's because Bletchley predates MK.
That bird curse sure felt like a sure path to victory when Sam played it. When he picked it up my mind immediately went "swans", so it was rewarding when Sam went for that same idea. I was amazed that Ben managed to film a pigeon for 15 minutes, but he really did have the best conditions for it. The rain meant that they were roosting rather than looking for scraps on the ground. If it was anything like the time this was played in Japan, then the boys would have been screwed. They did a good job in the edit, because apparently there was a McDonalds promotion happening behind them where people would spin a wheel to get a prize and every time the two poor sods running the promotion had to enthusiastically yell out "You've won.... a McDonald's voucher!!!" which had the boys scared that it would spook their quarry.
Sam missing the sign in the photo of the bank building was a real shame, though for me the major piece of information was just how developed the place was. Not many UK towns would look the way MK does from the station, if any. In the podcast Adam points out that if Sam was seeking then he'd be using the shape and size of the building to narrow it down, even if the sign had been blurred, but Adam and Ben wouldn't have done that unless the mistake was made.
I'm definitely glad Sam saw he could duplicate the 10 minute time bonus to cast the Express Route curse, but it really is a shame that he wasn't able to cast it twice. It absolutely would have won him the round.
The hiding spot in the underpass was a really good idea. Everything just looks the same, and by reducing the amount you can see as the hider you're reducing the amount of information you could give to the seekers. I have to commend Ben for noticing that the photos of Sam's cards looked like they were taken with artificial lighting, but it still took them a long time to find exactly where Sam was.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online Link ParentHappy to join in if it happens to be at a time I'm online! Otherwise don't wait for me.Happy to join in if it happens to be at a time I'm online! Otherwise don't wait for me.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online Link ParentEth and I don't have much in the way of redstone and quartz to spare right now, but I have delivered 5 stacks of dirt and 2 stacks of steak for you.Eth and I don't have much in the way of redstone and quartz to spare right now, but I have delivered 5 stacks of dirt and 2 stacks of steak for you.
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Comment on What's something you're "in too deep" on? in ~talk
secret_online Link ParentI (also he/him) have been putting polish on my nails for the past 3 years (also lacquer, since it's easy for me to do at home on a weekend morning while watching YouTube), and there have been very...I (also he/him) have been putting polish on my nails for the past 3 years (also lacquer, since it's easy for me to do at home on a weekend morning while watching YouTube), and there have been very few occasions where I haven't had them painted since then.
At the start it was definitely strange and I felt the exact thing you're talking about. I still remember how I felt the first time I went out in public with them done and how I'd constantly be checking them as if to confirm whether they were really mine or not. The next time I didn't as much, and soon after it was just normal for me. As mentioned earlier, my nails are basically always done now, and I would feel something was missing if I didn't. Pretty much exactly the opposite of how I started.
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Comment on Help me enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 in ~games
secret_online Link ParentIf you consume one, then later on there will be a high DC saving throw of a particular stat, or else your character will be forced to make a certain choice related to ceremorphosis. If you have...If you consume one, then later on there will be a high DC saving throw of a particular stat, or else your character will be forced to make a certain choice related to ceremorphosis. If you have not eaten any, then you will be able to make the choice freely without the influence of the dice. I'll put the required stat and consequence spoilered below, so you can choose whether to reveal it.
The required stat
Wisdom. I believe the DC is 21.
The consequence
If you fail the save, you will be forced into becoming a half-illithid.
This transformation has a visual component, adding dark veins all over your character's face. You will not sprout tentacles, but some/most find it ugly AF. This transformation is reverted if you go for the "good" ending at the end of the game, so your character would look normal in the epilogue.
It also unlocks some of the most powerful abilities in the game, which are an absolute blast to use. Effective crowd controls, huge buffs, the ability to fly; things like that.
It sounds like the temptation and apprehension you're feeling is exactly what the writers were going for.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online (edited )Link ParentGlad to hear my modpack is treating you well! There are a couple of other mods that help with performance included which focus on different areas of the game. The main ones are Immediately Fast,...Glad to hear my modpack is treating you well! There are a couple of other mods that help with performance included which focus on different areas of the game. The main ones are Immediately Fast, FerriteCore, and Lithium. On the server side there's also Krypton and C2ME, but those aren't as relevant when playing on multiplayer.
Also, whatever mod makes it so you can walk up full blocks like they're stairs -- how did I never think of looking for that before?
That would be Accessible Step. The person who made it must be really cool ;D
I started using a similar mod a couple of years ago, but then the person maintaining it stopped (they were pretty much done with Minecraft a year earlier, so fair enough. Maintaining mods for a game you no longer play is even more thankless than usual). So I decided it'd be a good idea to try and make that mod myself as an introduction to modding. This was right around the time that Mojang made the step height an attribute of entities, so the actual core of it is pretty simple and should stay the same for future updates. I've since done some automation around it, so the amount of work I need to do to keep it updated for new versions of the game is pretty low.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online (edited )LinkWell, I suppose at this point we can call day 1 over, given that for most people it is already tomorrow, and there's only a couple of us for whom it is still today. Most of you will have seen...Well, I suppose at this point we can call day 1 over, given that for most people it is already tomorrow, and there's only a couple of us for whom it is still today. Most of you will have seen @Ethinolicbob online, who I've been playing this game with for half a decade now. We've got another server which is basically a shared singleplayer for us, but that doesn't have the sense of community this server does. Anyway, what did we get up to today?
- I started by scouting out a nice hilltop to settle on. You can find us at +300,-50. I didn't take a starting screenshot, but I do have one of what it looks like now (taken from the Happy Ghast who killed me with lag).
- I fixed up a ruined portal.
- I started digging the server's first canal. @DisasterlyDisco, who lives right next door to where I was digging, saw what I was doing and offered to help out. I believe this is our first bit of community-built transport infrastructure (I suppose maybe the bridges from the spawn platform would beat it if those count).
- Being me, I couldn't resist making a path, so there's a path from our hilltop to the portal. It hasn't been decorated, it needs lights and walls and bushes and flowers and everything else you've come to expect from a path built by secret, but it's day 1.
- I got bored of digging at one point, so offered to help @GravySleeve with the villagers. I placed and broke 633 lecterns to get our Unbreaking 3 villager. At the time it was my 2nd most broken block, and this was after digging the canal. All that villager wanted to give me was Silk Touch. That's a lie. Sometimes it game me the cheapest Mending trade multiple times. I might've gone crazy. But eventually I got what we wanted.
- Eth built a small Copper Golem-based storage room for us. We have since muted all of the Copper Golem sounds using Sound Controller.
- Our storage room opens onto a massive cavern, and underneath that cavern is another massive cavern. So for the last few hours we've been digging a hole to connect the two. Eth is now building an iron farm in the hole as I write this comment up.
So how much did I play on day 1 in total? Not much at all.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online (edited )Link ParentAnd here's my mod list, in pack form: https://modrinth.com/modpack/secrets-pack Some common keybinds This is mostly for those who haven't used some of these mods before. Some of these are custom...And here's my mod list, in pack form: https://modrinth.com/modpack/secrets-pack
Some common keybinds
This is mostly for those who haven't used some of these mods before. Some of these are custom to my pack and not the default for these mods, so it's also useful for those who have seen them before.
C: Zoom. Use the scroll wheel to change the zoominess.
F7: Light level overlayT: Tool for the current block you're looking atEnter/Return: ChatX+C: Tweakeroo config (configuration for anything with X in the shortcut, and so much more)X+B: FullbrightX+H: Hand restockX+F: FreecamX+R: Repair mode. Swaps damaged items into your hand until repaired. Will mess up your inventory.X+T: Swap nearly broken tools for fresh ones.Shift+X+T: Swap to correct tools for blocks. Can lead to "ghost blocks" on multiplayer, especially at higher pings.X+G: Toogle movement while in freecamShift+X+F(andShift+X+G): Fast left (and right) click (does multiple left clicks per tick, turn the number down or you'll be kicked for packet spam)Ctrl+X+F(andCtrl+X+G): Periodic left (and right) click. Use the config to change the period, but by default it's once per second.Alt+X+F(andAlt+X+G): Hold left (and right) click.M: Litematica,: World map (sinceMwas taken)M+C: Litematica configM+J: Easy place modeMiddle mouseon a villager trade: FavouriteMouse 5in the villager trade menu: Trade all favouritesMouse 5in the world: Free look. Keeps your player's view constant according to the server, but allows you to rotate the camera on the client.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
secret_online LinkLooking forward to seeing you all in-game soon! I'll probably spend the first while getting the basics (and by basics I mean trying to get some starter diamonds and giving up when my luck...Looking forward to seeing you all in-game soon! I'll probably spend the first while getting the basics (and by basics I mean trying to get some starter diamonds and giving up when my luck inevitably fails me), then help out with whatever starter community projects there are. Thanks to the wonder of timezones and the earth being round, I'll have plenty of time to be playing.
I am sure I'll miss having Elytra, but this stage of the game wouldn't be as much fun if we all had them immediately.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
secret_online LinkI've done a lot of work on my Tiny Flowers mod for Minecraft. Maybe too much to the point where I haven't had a break this summer because I've just been working on this. I haven't published it...I've done a lot of work on my Tiny Flowers mod for Minecraft. Maybe too much to the point where I haven't had a break this summer because I've just been working on this. I haven't published it yet, since I'm considering waiting for version 26.1. Still, I am building it from 1.21.11 at the moment, so if you want to try it out (and do some bug hunting for me ;D) there are a couple of ways to get the .jar file.
- If you have a GitHub account, you can get download the latest
build.zipartifact from the workflow page. Just select the latest build, scroll down to artifacts, and download it. - Otherwise there's a fantastic service called nightly.link that allows you to download artifacts without being logged in. In this case, here's a link to the page with the latest build on it.
There have been some minor changes since the last post, but the most recent one (as in from today) was making Eyeblossom behaviour configurable. Now any flower can have something in its definition to say "turn into this other tiny flower at day/night" and it will just work. I see this mostly being useful for mods that add Eyeblossom-like flowers that change based on the time of day, though it can also be used for fun. You could have a set of flowers that change themselves over time, though that would likely get stuck in a pretty rapid loop as a flower changing also notifies other nearby flowers to change too. This work also opens up the possibility for me to define other special behaviours for flowers for more special interactions later on.
But by far the biggest news is something I mentioned in the previous thread. Since flowers can now be defined by other mods using data and resource packs, I wanted to make a way to make those packs easily. Mods can include data and resource packs without much hassle, so why not make a website that creates mods for my mod? Well, I've now made that site. There are a couple of features I think are pretty cool:
- The first one is more obvious. You can either upload an icon for the mod, or you can nave the site generate one for you. If you upload a different icon using the input underneath, then it will create an icon for you based on the style of the main Tiny Flowers icon. You can also upload textures for each of the 4 flowers on the grass block, and change the colour that's used to shade the background (btw, if you use Svelte, svelte-awesome-color-picker is, in fact, pretty awesome).
- The second one is a couple of clicks away, and is also to do with image generation. One part of making the original Tiny Flowers mod I found difficult was making the textures for each of the flowers, so I wanted to make that process smoother. If you go to the Block Textures part of a flower definition, add a texture, and change the texture type to "Create from template" then there'll be 5 colour pickers. As you change them it will make the block texture for you. And if you upload an item texture at the top of the flower definition, then it will extract the colours from that texture and add them as buttons to the colour picker so you don't even need to copy over hex values to get the right colours.
I'm actually really happy with how this all turned out. It has been a bit of an obsession, and I haven't been able to do anything else really, but there's been some good learning.
- If you have a GitHub account, you can get download the latest
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 16: Hide + Seek United Kingdom | Trailer in ~hobbies
secret_online Link ParentWhoops, I forgot to do my commentary and podcast comment for episode 1, so I guess I'm doing a double feature. Episode 1 spoilers This is one of the best Jet Lag episodes created so far. It does...Whoops, I forgot to do my commentary and podcast comment for episode 1, so I guess I'm doing a double feature.
Episode 1 spoilers
This is one of the best Jet Lag episodes created so far. It does an excellent job of explaining the concept of the game and introducing things as they come up. This is one to use to introduce people to the show at large.
This is such a long run, big congratulations to Adam. I would say I don't know how this compares to others in the season, but by the point I'm writing this comment I've already seen episode 2 and will be watching episode 3 in an hour. Obviously transit connections are less frequent than the main lines in Japan, but even accounting for that this feels long. I wouldn't immediately say it's game winning, but it certainly feels like a contender.
Since Adam's was the first run, he actually had more time to choose his hiding spot. He reached out to Tom Scott for some recommendations, and then continued looking around. He narrowed it down to Scarborough and a small town near the Welsh border that he could use to border hop for the same country question. Funnily enough, it ended up being in one of the small gaps left by the other questions pretty late into the game, so if he had gone there then the seekers would have needed to double back and he'd have had even more time. There were two major factors that made Adam choose Scarborough: the fact that it'd just be too obvious for Adam to go to Wales, and that message to Tom Scott. Initially Adam didn't see it, but it was listed in Tom's recommendations.
The seekers didn't make too many mistakes in this one, mostly just the detour through Hull. They did explain the reasoning for this on the podcast. Adam couldn't have reached most of the stations along the back half of that loop during his hiding period, and there were very few on the Scarborough end that he could have gone to. So it made more sense to the seekers that they go anti-clockwise in order to cover more stations. The curse of the jammed door struck again, leading to a bit more lost time.
Episode 2 spoilers
Oh Ben, my precious Ben. I don't have much to say about this one, it's all rather self-evident unfortunately.
Ben's hope was that by putting himself between two major transport hubs, the seekers would eliminate one of them and stop looking along that line. Unfortunately, it also happened to place him right in the middle of some rather effective radar questions.
Side anecdote: apparently Hebden Bridge is the lesbian capital of England with a higher-than-average proportion of lesbians living there. They came to the conclusion that it's likely because it was an accepting place to be out during the 70s, which then led to people moving there. My watching buddy pointed out a rather prominent rainbow flag as Ben was walking down the street, so it seem like that legacy is continuing.
The endgame for this one was apparently quite painful, especially with the curse. That curse was designed to be an even more annoying Gambler's Feet, and it was incredibly effective at that. There was a lot of cut footage of Adam and Sam walking around because it just wasn't interesting and the round was effectively already over as there was no way Ben was going to survive another 5 hours or so.
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Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Get hyped countdown thread in ~games
secret_online Link ParentHappy to help out with this! I don't really have a plan for this season yet, so I'll probably just help out with whatever community projects are going on.Happy to help out with this! I don't really have a plan for this season yet, so I'll probably just help out with whatever community projects are going on.
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Comment on Help me enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 in ~games
secret_online LinkI've been playing BG3 since early access and have a few hundred hours in it so far. I love the atmosphere, story, music, and all the rest too. One playthorough was co-op, and I have another much...I've been playing BG3 since early access and have a few hundred hours in it so far. I love the atmosphere, story, music, and all the rest too. One playthorough was co-op, and I have another much slower co-op game where we play about 1-2 hours a week because that's just when we have time to play, and a couple of singleplayer ones in there too.
But this time I felt constantly stressed about getting the "right" outcome, picking the "right" dialogue, getting the "right build....
The game is, for the most part, extremely forgiving when it comes to choices in dialogue. With maybe two exceptions, it will be incredibly obvious what the "bad" option is. Otherwise, let yourself be surprised. Unless you completely and utterly screw it up, it will be alright in the end. And if you do, well isn't that an interesting story you've just told. And if you really don't like it, just reload.
On that last point, save scumming is ok. I tend to roll with the punches and go with whatever happens, but ultimately it's a singleplayer game. Nobody will judge you except yourself, so any pain experienced is self-inflicted. Save (F5 to quick save) before every fight, save before dialogues that feels like they're important, and use those saves if you feel terrible about what happened. I'd say don't lean on them like a crutch, but they're a safety net.
As for your build, again the game is reasonably forgiving. Like in normal D&D some classes have different power curves, and party composition definitely matters. Have a front-liner or two, some who can heal is great, and someone with range.
If you've met a certain skeletal someone (which can be as early as the first few hours of the game), you can change any character's class and points around at any time for such a low cost. If you haven't met them, have a poke around under the chapel near the start.there are a couple of secret doors.
Like the characters but not the way they play? Just change them. In fact some of the origin characters are funny when you change them to something other than their original class.
So I am asking--how to you play this game to maximize your enjoyment?
I love exploring. Poking my head into every corner, and seeing what's there. If there's a point on the map where my characters haven't set foot, I will walk to it and see what's there. If there's a fight, I'll do a little bit of prep in terms of positioning, then initiate the fight on my terms.
Also the game seems to be pushing you not to advance time with long rests, but that's actually a trap. Your, uh, condition only advances at predefined points in the story and usually with an explicit choice in dialogue. My general philosophy is to do a short rest after every fight, and a long rest whenever I'm out of short rests or spell slots, whichever comes first. There is plenty of food if you're looting most containers, so you don't need to worry about that.
How much did you rely on wikis or our guides?
On my first playthrough, not at all. I did not want to know what was coming. I wanted to be surprised, to get things wrong, and to try and make right if I messed it up.
On later playthroughs, I now know the world, the characters, the stories, and basically everything I need to know. I'll check the wiki for specific details, but I don't use any guide materials as I am now my own guide.
Are there mods out that you recommend?
Honestly, there isn't much that I'd consider necessary to have a good time. The game is pretty good on its own. Is there anything in particular you're looking for?
What attitude so you bring when playing that makes the game enjoyable for you?
I'm here to be taken on a ride. If something happens that changes the direction, then well I guess we're going that way now.
Help me love this game, I really want to!
I want you to too. BG3 is such a special game made with lots of love and I cried at the end not because it's a teary ending, but because damn I'm so glad I live in a time when games like this exist.
One final offer, timezone shenanigans dependent, but I can offer my services as a co-op partner. I can bring advice and try my best to answer questions without spoiling any future story beats. If we do play together, it will still be your playthrough, I'll follow your lead. This is something I've done before for someone else already, and if it would interest you, flick me a DM on Tildes. Otherwise also happy to answer questions here too.
Keep these n00b updates coming! It has been a very long time since I've been able to feel a sense of discovery with this game, so reading someone else having those experiences is just so nice and reminds me why I fell in love with this game in the first place.
Have you tried increasing the field of view (FOV) while playing to help with motion sickness? I find the default angle of 70° to be far too tight and playing like that makes me nauseous even when playing for short periods. I generally find somewhere between 95-100° comfortable, even over very long play sessions, but I also understand this is very wide for most people.