Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Prevent save scumming by using fixed seeds

It seems the seed used for the RNG which determines the outcome of a dice roll is generated at the time of the dice roll. This leads to the possibility to save immediately before a certain roll. That is especially the case for dialogs. Of course you could play the game in a "soft ironman mode" by never reloading if you fail a roll but for me (and I guess many other players as well) it is simply far too tempting to do so. And it devalues dialog choices without roll that do not lead to the best outcome (but not to the worst either). There are several possible solutions to that problem: An Iron Man mode will definitely prevent save scumming but also making the game potentially unplayable if you get in a situation you cannot handle with your current level (not recommended in first playthrough). So I'd like a solution that works for first playthrough as well. So how about adding an option to use fixed seeds: By generating the seed in advance (i.e. making the roll long before the player actually makes the roll) you could render save scumming mostly useless. Of course you could still save before a dialog and change gear and use spells to change modifiers but your roll would stay the same no matter how often you try. Please consider adding such an option.

If people want to save scum why does it matter? If you cant control yourself then an iron man mode would be the best solution for everyone. Save scummers can save scum and enjoy the game as they like, people who don't want to save scum can not do it, and those who don't even want the temptation can turn on iron man mode. Win win win.

Of course the game needs to get more stable before an iron man mode is introduced.

Nah. No thanks.

My experiences with Iron Man modes are pretty good if they are used in games without high luck dependency. In DOS2 it was actually implemented very well because outcomes in that game (especially battles) were more dependent on your tactic than plain luck. In BG3 it seems mostly two different things determine the difficulty of a battle: Your starting position and luck. Especially at the beginning of the game when you don't have many skills. So do you really want to play a hard Iron Man mode on your first playthrough without knowing which battles are waiting for you with a hard save game wipe if your entire party dies? I wouldn't recommend it for a DnD video game. Because there is no Dungeon Master who saves you if you screw up. It's just a merciless machine. I was searching for a solution to make me live with my decisions but without having to throw away my entire playthrough if I get into a situation (e.g. battle) I cannot handle. Skill checks are meant as barrier. What sense does a barrier make if you can overcome it by save scumming? In other games you have hard thresholds you must overcome for skill checks. In real DnD you cannot save therefore no savescumming. In a DnD video game you have to make adaptions to still follow DnD rules but also consider the different environment (possiblity to save). I simply provided a possible solution that could be an option in a settings menu. Of course who absolutely wants to save scum could deactivate it.

No need, they'll likely implement an Iron Man mode once they game releases

If that's how you feel then don't save scum, what's the problem? If some players want to save scum and enjoy the game that way that's up to them. It's not like we're talking about a mechanic in the game that has to be used, it's entirely down to you as a player if you reload the game to try to get a different outcome. Is the issue that you can't resist the temptation? If so that's not a good enough reason IMO to restrict how other players play their game.

No.

this feels like a solution looking for a problem sort of thing. The freedom to approach these games how you want is one of the big appeals and this would take that away from certain types of people. So I'm a hard no, just wait for the ironman-style mode if you are so lacking in self control that you cannot stop yourself from save scumming.

This can be a great idea for the highest difficulty! In my opinion, "ironman" mode is not a really good idea on a game as unstable as a big rpg with 100h+ lifetime (corrupted saves, enemy bug/unkillable, colision etc). But fixing die's results can be a really good thing.

As I wrote I would use an optional setting so nobody would be forced. Your reasoning could also be used to ask why we even need an Iron Man mode. There is nobody forcing the player to use more than one save.