Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems owlbear cave - does not trigger dialogue

in the last week, i can't trigger the dialogue with the owlbear. it goes straight into combat.

some reddit posts suggest it's a pathing problem. i reloaded several times and walked up the hill to it several times adjusting the angle of approach.

I think someone said that if you're closer to the owlbear chick than the owlbear mother, it will always trigger combat. You have to approach the mother while the cub is behind it. I played yesterday and got the cutscene this way.

after several tries, i still trigger combat with the chick directly behind the mother. at about 2m, it triggers combat. i thought the dialogue triggered farther away.

Did you speak with the OB earlier ? If you talk to it and go away, I don't think you can talk a second time. Then it is automatic combat.

you are right, it appears as if i've already talked to the owlbear once.

after loading a previous save and completed the fight with goblins at the druid gate, and traveled straight to the owlbear cave, the owlbear mother and chick are there. approaching her, it immediately begins combat.

It happened to me too today. Approaching the mother immediately triggers combat, no matter where the chick is and I'd never spoken to the OB before.

after going back and looking at something and a youtube video, the owlbear is highlighted in yellow when it will outright attack. if it's white, the dialogue will appear.

what i'd like to know, why is it yellow now?

does camping for a day cause this to cut out?

does talking or not talking to the edwin encounter affect this?

I had already camped twice and I had just killed Edwin's followers.

one more reload, after picking up shadowheart (skipping lae'zel and astarian) and beating the goblins at the gate, beelined it to edwins guys. leaving the followers alive, headed to the cave and got the dialogue.

tried camping before entering the cave, shadowheart says in camp "I'm not sure this is a good idea". i still got the dialogue.

note: my other attempts above, astarian had been about trouble at night with gale and lae'zel in camp. i'll make a run with astarian in camp and see what happens.

just ran this with astarian in camp. gate to owlbear, get dialogue. gate to camp to owlbear, get dialogue. it just appears to be buggy vice some order on how things are done.

maybe best advice is save after landing on the beach, go directly to the gate and then to edwin's followers before engaging the owlbear. if no dialogue, go back to beach save and try again?

You know what - that reminds me of something funny that happened to be with the Owlbear. In one run, I was talking to Edowin's siblings trying to goad them into fighting as fodder, and once I got out of the dialogue - I was immediately thrown into combat. The Siblings hadn't triggered it, but for some reason Astarion had walked all the way down into the Selune statue area and come up behind the Owlbear mother and triggered combat. I guess because of the running water you have to force him to walk through - he decided to avoid.

Did you have Astarion in your party during the encounters that forced combat? Was he with the group when this triggered or seemingly misplaced?

my runs at the beginnings of this topic, i had left him in camp. although, i think there was a dead pig by the bridge on the way to the owlbear. maybe he lurked in the cave over night and caused the trigger by pass.

small update. if camp has been visited with Astarian in the party or camp, there maybe a dead pig by the bridge. in a few trial runs, if there is no dead pig, the owlbear mother will talk. if there is a dead pig, the owlbear mother attacks without talking.

my tests involved leaving Astarian and not inviting him to camp or in the party. if need be, i think he can be picked up after this encounter. if he is in the party, from what i've read, make sure he isn't trying to sneak around as he doesn't cross that running water.