Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Make Keys Disappear

...or put them in a special key container.

After using a key, there's no need for it anymore. But I don't always know which key was used with which lock. Can't the key just disappear when it's used, like a consumable? What's the point of keeping it around in the inventory?

+1

There are so many and you have no way to know if you've already used them or not. It would be nice if they just disappeared after use.

I think we should be given an automatic keyring container that holds all the keys, no mess and has the chance of use if we need a key again for whatever reason.

I agree that it would be nice if the keys disappeared or were destroyed once they are no longer needed. I just send my keys to camp since I don't want to litter the map with keys but sometimes it's hard to remember which keys you have used.

I find that my keys disappear quite happily. They are usually later found in little-used coat pockets, under paperwork or casually dumped on the kitchen side.

Maybe Larian could add a quality to keys that makes them disappear and then randomly turn up in someone's inventory? On second thoughts, maybe not though.

Just add a key ring.
This was already in "Realms of Arcadia" from 1991.
You could buy a key ring for a few coins in every shop.
When you find a key, you could drag it to the ring and it was added (the key disappeared in the inventory)
Double click on the key ring and you could see a list of rings you have.
You could sinmply use the key then (it remained on the ring and was not added back to inventory when used).

That's a very elegant solution. I have always liked using specialised containers (scroll cases, gem pouches, and so on).

I was thinking of what Resident Evil did, notifying the player the key would be out of uses. But a keyring is nice and can keep the inventory organized.

I agree with the issue, but the solution isn't that simple I think. There are multiple cases where doors have more than one key, sometimes as many as 3. I think once you use a key to unlock something, that key's tooltip should update to tell you what it opened. That way multiple keys with the same description would let you know they are duplicates. Keys with that unlocked could then all go to a seperate container so your inventory only holds keys with unknown purpose.

I still think the key ring is the best idea.
In Reals of Arcadia there were also several keys with the same name, such as "iron key".
When you interact with a door the game simply assumes you try every key in your posession before telling you either "You opened the door." or "The door is locked."
It is normal that you do not know what a key is good for when you find it.

If a door needs several keys and you got some of them there is a message like:
"You have opened a lock but there are still two locked." or "The door has three locks. You have opened already two of them."
It is not absolutely needed to know what key opens which door. If you have an iron key and a copper key and you open a locked door it is sufficient when the game tells you "You opened the door with a key."
Actually, you don´t need this text. You hear a click and the door opens. Without key you get "The door is locked."

Is there any reason, once a key is used, why it should stick around? I'm not aware of any situation in which you can re-lock something in BG3. Are people going back through their album full of old keys, thinking about the doors and chests that they opened, and reliving the glory days?

It would be really nice to get rid of some of this clutter. It feels like keys should go onto a key ring when you find them and then they should just disappear when they are no longer relevant. Usually this means they would go away when they have been used. You could argue that they should also go away when you finish an act and can no longer return to the thing that they unlock. Either way, it would help to clean things up.

In DOS2 one could combine a key with soap to make a lockpick - so may be they are keeping all the keys as future useful material?

I would, however, like to know if I have keys whose purpose I do not yet know. Did I miss a secret passage somewhere? Miss a chest and its contents? Is there a prisoner somewhere I can free as part of a quest? Or is this key just a copy of another key that already opened a door.

In short, key copies and lockpicking. Just because a door is open, does not mean you used the key. Maybe Im unusual, but if there is a key in my inventory I want to know if I need it. For that reason I'd rather have a key's existence tied to the status of the lock, rather than whether the key has been used.

I'm totally good with a key going away as soon as it's not useful for any reason. As soon as that door is unlocked, just remove all copies of the key from the game and I'm happy.

While collecting keys throughout the storyline, it is very easy to forget whether the key was already used at some point or not. Plus the keys keep piling up in the inventory (more than 10 keys in early access already), which clutters the inventory.

I suggest to introduce some sort of key-ring system (container in inventory or something like that) which holds keys and - more importantly - gives the player the information whether a key was already used to open a lock at some point. Knowing that a key in the inventory still haven't found its lock would give a nice hint in questing, imo.

Not to necro a thread but damn lets do something about this. I dedicated a pouch to it, but beginning to worry if the weight is adding up lol

Lol. I agree. This is one that needs to be necrotic.

The less item management, the better. I'm so sick of all the useless junk in the game. Get rid of useless keys. +100!

I just leave them behind in random containers.

I drop them as soon as I use them.

The problem is when I don't know if I've used them yet or not.

Same with other quest items. At least make them "de-quest" with regard to colour when they're used, so I know I can ditch them.