Matthew Mercer is one of those voice actors that end up in everything, so it's no surprise that he plays one of the companions in Baldur's Gate 3. As the new voice of Minsc - a companion who has made it into all three games so far - it's no surprise that Larian invited him to stream the game on launch day.
However, I think it's safe to say that Larian got more than it bargained for. In the stream, Mercer demonstrated his, uh, unique approach to problem-solving. Rather than put his character in harm's way to breach a castle, the actor instead spent a bunch of time carefully balancing dozens of crates on top of each other. Then, he climbed to the top, putting him in bow and arrow range of the ramparts. So, he whipped out an arrow of transposition and simply teleported into the building, negating the need to sneak or fight his way past any guards.
It's the kind of creative thinking you'd expect from someone who plays a whole lot of Dungeons & Dragons. But what's even better is that he had Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke watching on the whole time, looking on as Mercer played the game in a way the devs probably didn't anticipate.
The fact that this is even possible in the game is delighting D&D enthusiasts since it's a sure sign that the game will reward us for thinking on our feet like this. It will also be incredibly handy for those of us who don't go for bulky builds - Bards need to make their way around too!
Another bonus here is that you don't have a long-suffering DM begrudgingly allowing all of your daft ideas, hoping you start rolling ones so you can get back on track. Instead, Vincke can only watch the chaos unfold.
While it looks like it's hard to go wrong with how you approach Baldur's Gate 3, there is one playthrough you shouldn't touch until you've been through the game at least once: the Dark Urge. Players who did opt for this path as soon as the game launches yesterday are already regretting their decision, finding that it removes some player agency to tell the tale of a soul haunted by, uh, dark urges. As the name would suggest. Larian itself even agrees that you should leave this path for your second playthrough since it shakes the game up quite a bit compared to other origins.