Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Please let the companions stare at us again during dialogue scenes

Look, I'm not proud to admit that I've spent a lot of time staring at Astarion's face, even less proud that I'm here making this post asking to look at him more.

Nevertheless, the newest patch changed something that may have technically been a bug—that many Astarion simps thought was a feature. Before, the camera would linger on his face during cutscenes while we picked between the dialogue options of having him go back to camp, or leaving the convo, but now, the camera jumps right back to us after Astarion delivers his line. I think the reanimation of his face during his introductions is great! But I definitely miss staring right back at him, just letting that dialogue box hover before picking an option. I know I'm not the only one down bad; I've seen a couple tweets lamenting the same change, and a lot of videos on TikTok/twitter of that dialogue face looping, and even some people that have made the looping microexpressions their wallpapers.

Please have pity on us Larian <3

I'm not sure if this is the same thing or not, but I noticed some probably-not-intentional camera and light changes maybe, eh, couple of weeks ago? Not in this batch, but an earlier one. During my first playthrough camera angles seemed to be intentional and cinematic during most of the cut scenes and lighting was great. Then during my second playthough I noticed that the same cut scenes where from a slightly different angle and didn't always work: eg. another character or their shoulder was blocking the character that was speaking or the speaking character was looking at an odd direction. And while earlier we saw a smooth transition from companions lines to the part where we pick our line, now it jumps so that they are at first in one position and then immediately in another. Light is also acting weird. For some reason their eyebrows and the inside of their lips are often illuminated when they shouldn't. So I've expected that they made some changes with the camera and lighting, but ended up having unexpected consequences, which take time to fix. At least I hope that's the case.

Oh! That's a really good thought, thanks so much for the response!

The lighting is for sure different during those interactions, and I think they tweaked the facial animations a bit. Like, their faces look so good now (did before too obviously, but more realistic in latest patch), if only I could gaze upon them longer haha

It does make me think it's a bug, cuz it's a very jolty camera cut—my screen will sometimes even flicker black before panning over to me. Hopefully they patch it!

I've noticed the unfortunate changes in patch 2. In a lot of conversations he is now standing at an angle almost with his back to us, kind of looking over the shoulder. Why? There is less close ups with him in the cutcsenes as well, the camera doesn't stay on his face as it did in the original release. In some shots his head is positioned too high so you almost looking into his nostrils. I don't know why they were trying to fix something that was almost perfect to begin with.
Some of the changes are outright worse than what was originally.

I think Astarion's new expressions look a bit harsh after the new patch. But maybe that's just me. I love that we are getting more expressive animations in general and it sure does looks realistic. But I think specifically for Astarion they went a bit in a wrong direction. His expressions used to be softer and now he looks smug all the time It fits his Act 1 self but after the events of Act 2 I think it doesnt suit him, idk. What do you guys think?

I had a scene where Astarion was facing the wrong direction alltogether, which has to be a bug.

Gods, yes, I liked it way more, the way it was.


Additionally, his teeth are looking dark and weird starting in the middle of that scene. Super creepy.

I'm glad others feel the same. The anguish I've felt since this patch dropped... I miss the old version so much. I really wish they hadn't made such sweeping changes to the camera angles.

What are the chances this will be reverted? I am new to this forum so I don't know how responsive they've been to previous feedback.

This is the only thing I care about. I am in mourning.

I don't know if any feedback from this forum gets to Larian. At least on their discord they state that the feedback is collected or so they have us to believe.

I'm not sure why they are messing with the cinematics if they are not bugged. If there is clipping or view obstruction then, please, fix it. But some of the changes are outright downgrade from the original release.

The Larian community management team do keep their eyes on these forums as well as Discord.

Though if you suspect something is a bug you’re better off reporting it to them via their support site from where it will be properly logged and tracked. The “Report a bug” link up along the top of the game launcher will take you to the right place.

This has definitely got to be a bug, it changes the feel of literally hundreds of interactions and takes away the interpersonalization that made these characters really endearing. I'll be submitting a bug report, I hope OP has done the same.

It would honestly be way more confusing if this was an intentional change, taking away something so many of us enjoyed so much.