Baldur’s Gate 3, the latest project from Larian Studios (creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2), charged into Early Access and won over the hearts of players with its characters, story, gameplay and more. Even if the game is in the EA state and only features the first act – roughly 15 to 25 hours of gameplay, depending on how you approach exploration and combat – it is clear to see we have something amazing in front of us. However, even a masterpiece has areas that can be improved.
Below you can find 6 (major) features we’d like to see added in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Multiplayer Dialogue Choices
Just like Divinity: Original Sin 2 before it, Baldur’s Gate 3 provides players with something special: a deep, story-driven RPG experience that can be shared with friends. There are, however, places where BG3 doesn’t like to share much, most of all the dialogue system.
Similarly to DOS2, the player that initiated the conversation is the one who calls the shots, sometimes aided by the companion “chained” to their party.
The second (and onward) player can only stay a while and listen – or continue doing their dastardly deeds and run across the background of the conversation. The dialogue system is one of the few areas of the game that makes BG3 feel like a single-player RPG even if you are adventuring with your friends.
Bioware’s story-oriented MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic managed to solve the problem by adding a vote for a dialogue choice among party members – BG3 can always use something similar, by making players roll dice against each other were they to choose different options in addition to the present “listen” function.
Additionally, it would be nice to see your friend’s dice roll happening instead of staring at the screen uncomfortably.
Different / Upgraded Movement System
Baldur’s Gate 3 “chain” system can be a source of annoyance both in single-player and multiplayer alike. Unlike its predecessor, Divinity: Original Sin 2, the game features much more vertical space management and a distinct lack of teleporter pyramids that allowed the party to get together quickly in Rivellon.
Sneaking somewhere only to have Stealth broken and a group of companions runs to you, breaking any possible positioning management before it even began is not fun.
Being able to choose which characters are currently actively controlled by dragging a box around them old school way can add much to solving that problem.
Alternatively, a quick Group All / Ungroup All button can work in a pinch.
Single-Player Dialogue Options / Companions’ Comments
Similar to the first point, it could be nice to have an option of choosing which character tackles a certain dialogue option and/or providing companions with their own unique options.
If my character started a conversation with, say, an Arcana check and I have Gale in my party, I should be able to have him do the roll. Sure, some conversations allow you to gracefully leave and attempt again with a correct character but the ones that matter usually immediately plunge you into combat if you are unlucky with a roll.
Bioware’s Dragon Age series, in particular Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition, also allows players to choose companion-specific dialogue choices. For example, Guard Captain Aveline Vallen in DA2 had an extra dialogue option any time you would deal with Kirkwall Guard meanwhile Cassandra Pentaghast in DAI had much to say to other Chantry members and fellow Seekers. It allows the game to build up companion characters as well as provide some extra replayability – sure it would be easy to guess that Shadowheart might have some things to say about Shar and Selune, but where else would that special dialogue button pop up?
While incredibly simple, it could keep players on their toes in terms of which companions are brought to quests.
Don’t Kill Off (Inactive) Companions At Certain Story Point
This is something I have carried with me from Divinity: Original Sin 2. For those who have not played the game, at a certain point only your active party manages to continue their adventure while all the companions that have been left behind are gone for good.
Larian Studios did not specify whether they want to use the DOS2 approach to companions and kill off anyone who is not following you during a specific mission or allow them to live.
I understand the logic: Act 2 story for companions might not make much sense if you didn’t trot them out enough in Act 1. For example, if you didn’t travel around with Shadowheart in your party, you might not even be aware that she is a Cleric of Shar (besides that being stated in her character bio of course). How can her story be continued if such a crucial moment is not explored?
But… At the same time, I believe it is possible to adjust it enough to make it work. Dragon Age, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Tyranny, and other cRPGs have managed to do it. Have the companion pop up out of nowhere and strike up that extra important conversation even if they aren’t in the party – maybe even growing offended with you for not taking them along to begin with!
With the possibility of 8 companions – a number mentioned by Larian developers during a live stream – would it not feel punishing to lose over half of your companions and thus content related to them? It is probably silly, but I still feel kinda iffy about that in DOS2.
Hide Helmet / Dye System / Transmog
Okay, I’m incredibly vain and it’s going to show. I love what I have done with my character and I want to see her face in the conversations and cutscenes, unobstructed by the bucket I keep on her head for stats.
Let’s take it a step further: BG3 is a gorgeous game featuring equally gorgeous characters and – so far – very few armor choices that sort of make them all look alike. I really hope Larian considers adding the Dye System or allowing players to make one piece of armor look like another, effectively using WoW/Diablo/Guild Wars/ESO transmog system.
Fully Voiced Protagonists
While not a very important point for me personally, this feature is something I have seen mentioned frequently enough on Steam and the game’s Reddit community.
Baldur’s Gate 3 provides players with a choice of 4 voices for their character: 2 male, 2 female. However, while your character would drop a one-liner here or there to point out their surroundings or share a sudden piece of wisdom, for the most part, your protag will stay silent.
At this point, there is a great number of games featuring fully-voiced protagonists, including but not limited to The Witcher, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mass Effect series or Dragon Age: Inquisition (providing players with a choice of 4 voices as well!).
Below you can also find a list of quality of life improvements we’d like to see added to the game:
- General bug fixes
- Shorter loading times
- Separating saved games by characters’ names (currently, regardless of your character, all saved games are lumped in a big pile)
- Being able to see another person’s dice rolls in multiplayer
- Being able to select multiple items in inventory at once
- Quick loot option (looting multiple nearby corpses at once)
- Map pins/markers
- Hiding failed passive checks such as Perception, Religion, etc.
