Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Enlighten Your Spellcasting: The Need for More Tutorials

I am writing to suggest an improvement for this already fantastic game. Most of us know that Baldur's Gate 3 is based on D&D 5th edition, which can be quite complex for newcomers. While the game does come with a journal and tutorial pane, I believe that it would greatly benefit from more tutorials on all spells and abilities.

The tutorial pane already provides a relatively extensive library of basic game mechanics with videos detailing perfectly what they are about. However, I believe that having the developers themselves perfectly explain what each spell and ability does via a tutorial video would be extremely desirable and helpful to a lot of players, especially those unfamiliar with D&D.

Furthermore, having these tutorials available during character creation would be even more beneficial. As amidst this process, players are already confronted with having to choose between a multitude of complex abilities and spells. Making a mistake in the beginning might already be a death sentence, especially on harder difficulties and or especially for newcomers.

I understand that Baldur's Gate 3 is already quite complex, and most spells are possibly completely overlooked as most players don't bother to figure out what they're all about. However, having access to a comprehensive tutorial library would make the learning curve less steep and enable players to make a more educated guess when selecting spells and abilities.

In conclusion, I believe that adding more tutorials on all spells and abilities would be a great improvement to an already excellent game. It would help players of all levels to understand the complex mechanics of D&D 5th edition and enjoy the game to its fullest potential.

Nobody agrees?

I would suggest links to the many video's on YouTube on this subject

I understand your point that linking to YouTube videos can be helpful, but it's worth noting that these videos may not always be accurate or up-to-date, as they are often hastily created to generate views. In contrast, having Larian Studios create tutorial videos would ensure that the information is correct, consistent, and relevant to the game's current version. These tutorials would benefit both newcomers and experienced players, enhancing the gameplay experience and allowing players to fully enjoy the game's potential.

As long as those tutorials will be just as skippable and ignorable as they are now ... i have no problem if there will be thousand more.

Personally I have no stakes in the feature so it is difficult for me to get excited about. Onboarding should be a concern for Larian (they made some major improvements to the tooltips throughout the EA), but it’s not my personal top priority.

From what I understand you are suggesting videos showcasing the spells, similar to DMC5. I would question a usefulness of such implementation.

In some action games video clips of skills are useful because they showcase things that verbal skill description can’t easily convey. I don’t think that would work for a system of BG3. How the spells look is mechanically irrelevant, and I can’t imagine how a video could make a tooltip of each spell more understandable.

I general interactive tutorials tend to be more effective than passive ones. Allowing players to experiment and discover spells for themselves should be more effective as long as players are equipped enough to understand what is happening.

On a more selfish side - high fidelity videos for each spell/skill in the game would significantly increase game’s instal size. I would prefer to avoid that.

While I understand that you may not have a personal stake in the implementation of more comprehensive tutorials for spells and abilities, I appreciate your feedback on the matter. Regarding your comments on the potential usefulness of videos showcasing spells, I can see how the mechanical aspects of spells may not be visually compelling. However, I believe that such videos could still be helpful in providing players with a better understanding of how the spells work in practical situations. In response to your suggestion of allowing players to experiment and discover spells for themselves, I agree that interactive tutorials can be effective. However, I believe that providing more detailed information about spells and abilities would still be beneficial, especially for newcomers who may feel overwhelmed by the complexity of D&D 5th edition.

It's also worth considering that the game's ironman mode, which is likely to be a popular way to play, can limit opportunities for experimentation with spells and abilities. Without the ability to save and reload, it can be challenging to test different strategies and approaches. A simulated training area could be a useful solution to this problem, allowing players to practice and test their spells and abilities without having to constantly restart the game or risk losing progress.

As for the concern about the increase in game install size, I understand that this is a valid consideration. Perhaps the implementation of such tutorials could be done in a way that minimizes their impact on the game's size.

Overall, I appreciate your perspective on this matter and welcome any further feedback or suggestions you may have.

two mins after release there will be 100s of youtube vids telling every spell effect... some of that info will even be correct

In true style of rolling the dice, I`ll have to hope for a natural 20 when searching for video's.

Tutorials to help players is good.
Do we need a vid for every single spell in the game? Maybe not.

But tutorials on the basic rules and having the details in the game, and a tutorial to explain how to the find the information would be good.
They added extra descriptions options in the code which is also good.

I appreciate the help that my D&D 5th Edition friends have provided me with regards to spells, abilities, and game mechanics. However, I feel that there could be room for improvement in terms of tutorials and resources available for new players who may not have access to such assistance and or can't be bothered to YouTube for tutorials. This would not only enhance the overall gameplay experience for players like myself but also benefit those who are just starting out with the game. Providing more comprehensive tutorials and resources may even encourage new players to leave positive reviews on platforms like Steam, ultimately contributing to the success of the game and the possibility of future installments.

Can't honestly say "tutorials" are something I care strongly about, generally speaking.

That aside, they are usually among the final additions across the entire development process of a game, so it's not a particularly wild guess that their current form may not be the final one.


And more specifically, no, I don't think I would enjoy to get a pop-up window/mini-videoclip for every single new spell added to my arsenal.
Once we get a grasp of the general rules, the tooltip describing the spell should ideally be more than enough.

Regarding your concern about receiving pop-up windows or mini-videoclips for every new spell added to your arsenal, it's worth noting that this would not necessarily be the case. In the current beta edition of Baldur's Gate 3, players have the option to turn off tutorial notifications, so it would be up to the player to decide whether or not they want to receive these prompts.

Overall, I believe that the addition of tutorials in Baldur's Gate 3 would be a positive step forward for the game, providing (new) players with a deeper understanding of the mechanics and enhancing the overall gameplay experience.

That's not a solution. No tutorial is bad but overbearing unnecessary tutorial is bad as well.

I am still not getting what potential value would recorded videos of those spells would bring. D&D system isn't affected by visuals - it's an abstract, diceroll based system. How a spells look is mechanically irrelevant. If you intend to force players to sit through uninteractive videos, they better have a pretty darn good reason for existing.

I appreciate your input, but I would like to respectfully disagree with your reasoning. The addition of tutorial videos for spells and abilities in Baldur's Gate 3 is not about visuals but rather how they are used in the game, and it is essential for newcomers to understand these mechanics to fully appreciate the complexity of D&D 5th edition.

While the game does already have a tutorial pane, it is limited in its explanations, and there are many terminologies used in the tooltips that are not explained in the game. The tutorial videos would provide players with a comprehensive understanding of the spells and abilities, helping them make more informed choices during character creation as well as level ups, and enable them to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.

You mentioned that the videos would be unnecessary since D&D is an abstract, dice-roll-based system. However, I would like to point out that there are already many videos explaining the rules and mechanics of the game, and if we apply your reasoning, these videos should not exist either. But they do exist, and the developers themselves have created them to help players better understand the game.

Finally, I want to reiterate that the addition of tutorial videos would not be mandatory, and players would have the option to turn off tutorial notifications if they so choose. However, for those who are unfamiliar with the system, having access to a comprehensive tutorial library would make the learning curve less steep and enable them to fully appreciate the complexity of D&D 5th edition.

Once again, thank you for your response, and I hope this clarifies my position on the matter.