Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback [Multiplayer] Toggle option to auto-join conversations

So I recently watched a video where two guys were playing multiplayer in prep for launch. One of the issues they mentioned was that players do not get dragged into conversations when someone initiates one, and they have to make the intentional decision to opt in but they also need to see this and do so. This was also a thing in Divinity OS2.

I would like to suggest there be a settings toggle that is an auto opt-in for this, so that we don't miss out on any story whilst playing together. It could be adjustable in settings but appear as a checkbox at the beginning of a run. I'm looking forward to playing with a few different friends come launch, but I know at least one of them really gets into mischief when I'm not looking and don't necessarily want to miss out on things because they jump the barrel and having that kind of option to either be "autonomous" or "play together" mentality would be fantastic instead of missing out when someone does something and you don't see it / they don't tell you.

+1 This is necessary for an acceptable multiplayer experience in my mind.

I don't want to have to manually click on conversations to join them, and I don't want to miss the first line (or second) as a result.

+1! I would love this for multiplayer.

Any improvement for conversations is more than welcome!

I think something like that is probably planned ...
When you rewatch PFH, that part where 3 monks were fighting Goblins in Moonhaven VIllage ... and focus on that part when third monk joined them ... as he attacked and Narator told him that his actions will cause him to join combat, it was shown on screen something like "Private conversation toggle: on".

I remember they had the debug text open for some time. But, sadly, probably it could mean just that people couldn't join in "listening" mode.

Well, last night I thought I didn't have much to add to this thread, as I felt the first 2 posts had said what I would have said, but on second thought maybe I can add a little something (namely, the third point below).

Here are some of the issues with conversation cutscenes at the moment, that related specifically to Multi-Player (there are also issues related to not being able to behave like a party, but this affects Single-Player and Multi-Player equally).

• Need to actively click to join a conversation. When a friend initiates a conversation with an NPC, we need to hover the mouse over their characters and click to join in the cutscene.
  
  This is tedious. We should be able to activate an option to automatically join.
  
  
• Missing out the first lines of conversation. When a friend initiates a conversation, the NPC will be the first to deliver a line of dialogue, and will start talking immediately. Even if we try to join in as soon as possible, we are likely to miss half the first line spoken by the NPC.
  
  This is poor experience. Why do I get less cinematic and voice-acting content than my friend when I'm in the same conversation ?
  
  
• Not seeing the dialogue lines chosen by our friends. When our conversation-starting friend has a choice between dialogue options, and chooses one, we don't know what they chose.
  
  One way to know what they chose is to ask them after they've chosen. Or better, ask them to announce their choice before going for it. And do this for every single choice.
  
  Another way to know is to super-impose the Conversation History Journal on top on the conversation cutscene. So we lose out quite a lot on the cinematic aspect.
  
  This is again poor experience. I have the choice between two bad options, either slow down the game and ruin immersion, or get a lesser cinematic experience.

Larian has made it clear that Multi-Player is a big part of their vision for the game.

It is likely that a certain number of design decisions were made a certain way "because Multi-Player", even if that lessens the Single-Player experience (e.g. no Turn-Based Mode for the whole world, no shared inventory, etc).

It would be a pity if we get the worst of both world, where SP is less satisfying because the game must allow for MP, and MP is not satisfying because conversations are designed for SP only.

Great points, Drath!😊

I agree Drath, my friend has never played this type of game before and making it as smooth an experience as possible would be fantastic.

A simple fix with as to seeing "what dialogue option was chosen" would be to merely display it at the bottom of the screen after it was selected with a different coloured text to signify it's what "you" (or friend) said.

I would be absolutely fine with the dialogue playing from the standard top down view when someone initiates a conversation and you can click to watch the cinematic angles while seeing chat lines to know what dialogue choices the other player made, albeit its not an ideal solution.
There is still the issue that the other party member can't interject or add their opinions, which feels pretty unrealistic. Sometimes party members will comment on your choices, such as Astarion objecting to helping the Tieflings while Gale is in favor of it, but it's odd we don't get more bickering based on interactions like that.

Edit: another thought would be you could have proximity based "auto-join cutscene". If you're too far apart, it wouldn't make sense to have someone else dragged into a cutscene they're nowhere near.