Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Companion Approval / Disapproval

Perhaps hold off approval / disapproval tags until the whole conversation is done. Like with the torturer conversation, when I opt to try my hand at torturing Liam, I'm not sure that deserves disapproval from Wyll and/or Gale until after the next dialogue option where you can choose to attack the goblins after getting them to drop their guard.

What? Why would anyone (any non evil individual) wait to disapprove of torture... it's pretty clear that it's evil, and if you aren't, well there is going to be an immediate reaction.

Because you're trying to get their guard down. There are a ton of situations where you lie to evil aligned factions to trick them, or to convince them you're going to do something you won't actually do. If I say I'm going to help a villain raid a village, but I give them bad directions, I don't expect my party members to get mad at me for helping them raid the village I just saved.

+1

Plus characters not in the party shouldn't show approval changes.

I'm agreeing on first, but not the second. The have sources(companions that are with you) to get to know what you did. Better show how they got the information then remove their opinion on it.

I'd rather they just not know. There is usually a reason I have particular people in my party for a given quest. Having someone who isn't even there pop up with a disapprove in real time is distracting.

On more meaningful choices sure, but they wouldn't know right away. Why would someone not in the party care about how I handled an Owlbear?

I consider that just a cosmetic thing when it pop up. Right away or after they know, does it really matter?
About the owlbear... It can be told in a conversation about how we got to know more about the Absolute right before and in process. So weeding out what should be never known is not that simple, unless Larian go for actual conversations about our deeds between companions.

I agree that people not in the party shouldn't have approval changes -especially when you can't complete their quest objects without them being in the party. Perhaps when you long rest and go to the camp, it can be an option or prompt that they strike up conversation about something you did? Or perhaps they don't metagame at all and if they're not there, they don't know about it.

I think the approval/disapproval system could do with quite a bit of tweaking.

Characters not in your party should not gain approval/disapproval immediately. I think for bigger events/decisions it would be more immersive to have conversations back at camp where they heard about what you did. Additionally, there should be persuasion checks that influence how much approval/disapproval you get. A person with high charisma, for example, could talk their way out of a lot of situations and possibly even turn disapproval into approval. Or, maybe someone approves of what you did but you're an ass and say you did it for the wrong reasons, turning approval into disapproval. I think it would make interactions, and by extension the companions, feel much more real.