Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Body Language, Voice Acting, Writing! [SPOILERS]

I'm going to start by saying I have nearing 60 hours in this so far and it's just Act 1 Early Access!! Larian have made a wonderful game so far and I'm excited to see where it goes!! This post is to vibe with everyone else who, like me, has fallen completely in love with these characters.

Now let me say: holy shit. The voice acting? The nuance to every line? The delivery? Not only do the Voice Actors picked for this project nail it, but the Voice Direction might be some of the best I've ever heard in a video game. I truly feel like I'm conversing, actively, with a person that has their own thoughts, feelings, standards, insecurities. You can't just Choose The Option That Sounds Right, you have to factor in what the person you're talking to is like, emotionally. The body language for each companion is also top notch, there's a handful of stock motions (which I've never minded in games, honestly), but what blows me away are the whole personalities evident in their gestures during talks at Camp and so on.

- Lae'zel's VA is so choice. She sprinkles in those Gith verbal tics so fluidly and consistently, I can only imagine the practice that took and her body language is short, sharp, to the point. She has such harsh presence, and I'm so into it. The way she's intrinsically assured of Gith superiority but isn't blindly loyal enough to bow to that dragonrider is wonderful and I hope there's some way in the future to get her her own dragon because I just NEED that in my life.

- Gale's VA manages to sound exactly like every wizard I've ever read in my head and I mean that as a compliment. It's nice to finally have a wizard companion in a game that's truly one of those knowledge bloodhounds and the way he lets you in both emotionally and with his whole sordid tale if he trusts you is a breath of fresh air. I truly look forward to helping him fix his problem one of....MULTIPLE ways.

- Shadowheart's VA is so distinctive, I love how disaffected she sounds, a True 'Evil Cleric'! Her 'hmm maybe this isn't completely terrible' at camp if you help the refugees DELIGHTS me, and I'm so appreciative of being able to just blithely say 'I actually don't mind whomsoever anyone chooses to worship.' She's pragmatic and mistrustful, and I can't wait to figure out exactly why. Also I just love that petting the dog gives her approval, she is possibly the past person you'd expect that from and yet here she is...night orchids and dog-loving alike.

- Astarion's VA...I was always going to love Astarion, he's my Type, but good god. His VA and writing have me consistently happy. Ducking and bowing his head when he feels unsettled or scrutinised just like someone forced into 200 years of subservience woud be? The marionette gesture with the line 'power over people'? His blasé attitude that is clearly at least 25% a front to parry prying eyes away? This man is the 'good luck fucker, I'm behind 7 proxies' meme but for meaningful interpersonal relationships and I'm so into it. I don't care what Astarion did in his past or what he may become, I'm killing Cazador and giving Astarion his blood in a chalice and his skull on a pillow as a wedding proposal.

- Wyll's VA knocks 'cocky but deeply regretful/resentful' out of the park, and I love the way he muses over the big moral questions. Also his flirts with Shadowheart and Lae'zel both, especially Lae'zel, are so endearing and amusing to me--it just feels so organic. We don't have much of his personal quest in EA yet and it took me at least four playthroughs before he stopped being bugged for me, but I really can't wait for more, especially if you're playing a fellow Warlock.

EDIT: How could I forget the Narrator herself?? She's amazing, remarkable, she's the clearest example of a stunning VA since we have no face or body language to ascribe to her, yet she still manages to brim with personality. The part where you find the dying Mindflayer and she manages to really sell the 'You feel compassion. [beat] Compassion?'. Heard again with the tadpole from the dead dwarf and it's trying to wheedle affection out of you again, she affects a very very slight tone that you'd use with like, a beloved pet. 'How could you ever think of hurting something so pure, so precious?'

In short, I'm so happy I bought Early Access. I know we're only at the very tip of the iceberg in our relationships with these characters, and I can't wait to see where they lead. It really does feel like a DnD party of adventurers, all with their own backstories and lives brought to the table.

I agree with you completely! This game is a masterpiece, I am really looking forward for its release, I want to play full game so badly!
Also fell in love with Astarion, oh god, I didn't expect a fictional character to be so charming and attractive, and your line about "I'm killing Cazador and giving Astarion his blood in a chalice and his skull on a pillow as a wedding proposal" YES YES! Feeling the same! Astarion had some lines about his own coven, if he frees from Cazador, I wonder if he and MC could build their happy vampire family. (I want this so much ;P)

I wrote this post about loving all the companions but sweet mercy Astarion's everything is just so entirely in the back of my mind all the time. The way he doesn't respond well to your blithely saying 'I'll protect you' because hello? you just met, meanwhile he's been under Cazador's all-consuming manipulations for two hundred years. Of course he's not going to take you at your word--he doesn't know you have Main Character Powers. The way he says 'I don't want to tell you anything at all [about Cazador] but that won't do anyone any GOOD will it?' Is so choice too.

I just genuinely enjoy how reactive in a Real Sense these characters are, you really have to pay attention to what their personal quirks are to get the most interesting dialogues.

Also his writing is like....uproariously funny. Everyone has their moments of making me laugh but Astarion is a seratonin farm with how hysterical he is.

Yep, I also like everyone despite them treating MC a bit hostile, but yes, they are just like real people, who just met and they don't have to trust you at once. This makes them so genuine and interesting too! I think it's like a bit of fresh air in writing, because we have a lot of companions who are good towards player in other games, and here we have something more. I really love the layers the team put into characters. I think we would have very interesting interactions with all of them in the future.

Same! I like learning what makes them tick and using that to gain approval and trust, it adds something to the experience!! I truly can't wait to peel back all the layers from each one!! Companions and their personal arcs are always my favourite part of RPGs, and BG3 is giving me what BG1/2 and NN never reeeeeeally did for me.

The only issue I have with some of the conversations is sometimes when you are talking, the rest of your party members are looking into space and its so distracting. You will think they would be interested in what the npc that the MC character is talking to about. I can't remember the bard's name where she will sing a song. But during the scene, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Gale or whoever you bring. They just stare out into the ocean, when they should all be looking at the bard as she swings around with her lute. Even the chipmunks should do some moving around but they stay in one spot.

True, but it's Early Access!! The animation is VERY barebones right now, but what they've put in so far is a really good indicator for what's to come.

Reminds me of Mass Effect Andromeda with "my face is tired" where she just looks like a blank canvas. But with the bard scene with her singing, the main character will be looking at her while she sings and moves around. I mean if you look at Shadowheart, she looks like a stoner in high school lol.

You should talk to the them.

Poor squirrels

Is this...a sarcastic post? I cant tell.
The cinematics dialogues are...mediocre. The acting is just awfull/cringy, buggy animations (which I completly forgive being EA), blank stares...None of the very short list of NPCs are appealing to me.
These will most definitely NOT age well lol. Yea its not a finished product, but these time consuming, labor intensive cinematic animations are pretty much set in stone for what to expect. I doubt things will drastically change.
The game wants to be Witcher 3 dialogue , BG setting, DOS gameplay, and D&D ruleset.... at the same time, it needs to be more focused.

It's a sincere post! I love this game so far and I can't wait for the full release!!

It may come as a surprise, but we're not a monolith, what you consider cringy I consider wonderful and fun, and what you consider 'too much at once' I find really well integrated!

I made a post about how much I love this game so far, how happy I am with what I've seen, and to enthuse about everything that's coming (:

This is just a beginning of something great, at this stage of production they did an amazing job. Personally, this little flaws don't spoil anything to me, because it will be fixed later, but for me, if a game gets so hard on that stage, what will be, when it release? I think it will be definetely the greatest game of all times in its genre.
I personally don't see a problem with dialogs, this is what I exactly wanted it to be. All games that you mentioned are awesome, and imho, it is not so bad to gather the best things from them to create something fresh and new.

Agreed... although, the overall writing quality and (voice)acting not even come close to Dragon Age, let alone Witcher 3. Glad some people like it, though.

Yes, they absolutely need to fix that one. And that, otherwise great, bard scene was absolutely one where it stung. I guess it's EA polish issues, bet they themselves internally cringe at it.

What I would like is more party involvement too, right now 90% of the cases you talk to NPCs, it seems you do all the talking with your character, while your party stands there roleplaying bodyguards paid to keep you safe and their mouths shut.

Other than that - really excellent characters designs, voice acting and facial animations are just brilliant. There are some touch-ups to make, like sometimes you have characters use stock emotional animation which is totally not typical to them, like Lae'zel sad/pity face at Owlbear cub in the cave after you take out mother - made me burst laughing that one - that face on the edgy survival of the fittest Lae'zel? Nope.

+1

Great feedback on the voice acting and facial animations. Not perfect, but some of the best I've experienced as a 30+ year cRPG gamer.

Agreed on some of the graphical glitches (it seems glitchy and not intentional). Hope those get ironed out.

It really is remarkable to me, listening to the voice acting. I play a lot of RPGs and I've never heard voice acting that truly drew me in quite like this? It feels like they actually know/were given their characters backstories and motivations and can bring their actual acting chops to the table, rather than just Reading the Emotional Direction on the script.