Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Suggestion: "Realism" or "Survival" mode

I would love to see a mode later in development that made the game a bit more "realistic," as it goes, to play. Things like:

• weight limits actually mattering (and stuff like gold, books, etc., weighing some amount) and not only that, but the bulkiness of items mattering too (can't carry like 7 great axes even if you could handle the weight because there's no way to hold them all, etc.)
• your characters getting tired before eventually becoming exhausted, forcing a rest
• needing to eat and drink and, therefore, pack supplies
• tying into the above, potentially getting sick if you refill your water from a sketchy source or eat raw meat, etc.
• no fast travel (other than to camp, I suppose)
• some sort of rest/camp cooldown so you can't spam it constantly, and/or a time system so that things are happening while you're resting and if you just spend a week getting through one tiny area because you rest every time you use a single spell, things will have already happened that you miss
• torches having a limit to how long they burn before going out
• no just sending all your extra gear to the camp so you can pick up everything
• needing arrows or bolts for ranged weapons, which have weight and bulk
• if you end up putting in a day/night cycle and weather, adverse weather like snow meaning you need to bundle up, heat meaning if you're dressed too warmly you get heat exhaustion, etc.

And I'm sure there are plenty more ideas that people could have. I'm going to love the game either way and will play it through with multiple characters, but it would be fun to have a mode that was like a really strict DM who paid attention to all the little things that most people hand-wave away. I know it wouldn't be for everyone, but in games like this I always see cool half-features that end up not really mattering, like the weight limit here when you can just magically send everything to camp, or once-a-day spells or abilities when you can just rest after every fight. It's like, why bother with those limitations in the first place if they functionally don't exist? I'm fine with the main game mode being like that, but I'd really love to see a game that actually enforced that stuff.

Anyway, just an idea! If anyone else has ideas for what a "realism" mode could involve, feel free to list them!

+1

Obviously not the first priority, but sure, lovely idea!

Item bulk would definitely be a great addition for a tougher, more realistic mode. It would shut down a lot of the ridiculous barrelmancy shenanigans you can get up to now. No PNP DM would let you run around with half a dozen barrels in your backpack, no matter what your strength is.

I get that some people don’t want that level of realism, but as an option it would be perfect.

Why not extremely limited camp supplies for resting instead of missing quests or potential stuff you don't know even exists? Also would balance the resting abuse. Not that you can't beat this game blindfolded with 4 barrelmancers anyway.

This could be an interesting idea. Wondering why needing to eat and drink isn't already in the game with the amount of stuff available.

I suspect based on the items available it will be. You have to figure the hard part of that would be building the system.

But yeah in the first 3 minutes you can shoot a boar and get a pork shoulder. Between that and the survival skill I’m sure there’s something more to come.

One can hope for sure, it's often a part of D&D adventures for sure.
I think one of the least immersive things about BG3 for me so far, is the fact that it is never morning, afternoon, evening or night unless you count the camp. Time only seems to be applicable to the 6 second combat rounds, otherwise it doesn't really exist.

Agree, a survival difficulty setting/mode would be nice. Especially if they reconsidered day/night cycle and weather.

I want an RPG to feel real and believable. It's better for immersion. And I would like a much more realistic take on the world in a Baldur's Gate game.

Heavy items being difficult to move, surfaces being toned down and having a more realistic logic (i.e. arrows don't explode in pools of acid, bombs are rare and expensive), no hiding in plain sight, Jump and Shove being toned down to realistic proportions etc.

It's like they first made the weight system and later decided they don't like their own system and made huge barrels and crates weigh next to nothing. I wouldn't expect to be able to cheese with the barrels and crates so easily. Save that for a casual difficulty, please.

Also in the name of realism, food doesn't heal you and eating pork chops in combat is a terrible idea. It just rubs me the wrong way when eating food as a bonus action is a "good play".

Magic pockets are far too convenient. You can already throw items to one another. Transferring items needs to take a bonus action and have a range that makes sense.

Dipping weapons is a ridiculous concept as well. Coating a sword with alchemists fire and then lighting it up is fine, but a candle or any fire adding fire damage to any weapon is not.

And equipping items needs to have an action tax in combat.

Yes Please!!

"your characters getting tired before eventually becoming exhausted, forcing a rest" -> I totally agree with this part. I put my team to rest for every 3-4 fights. There's just too many consumables and at this point you really don't need the higher tier spells.

Great concepts