Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Do my companions have their own AI in combat?

Hello Devs,

I would be interested to know if, unlike DOS2, you have thought here to give all the companions and their summoned creatures, if desired, a good AI in the battles, so that they independently use all their talents and possibly comply with tactical guidelines that I can give them.

It is simply important for a group RPG that the companions have a soul and that they at least optionally give an independent convincingly acting fighter, healer, summoner, etc. in combat, so that they appear alive and as living beings.

This should also be extended to summoned creatures and also give them an AI if desired.
This adds a lot of value to a very specific aspect of the game, which I found extremely lacking in DOS2.

Because if I have to command all my companions around myself at the end, I don't have the feeling of having a real group, but only 4 characters instead of one, plus possible summoned creatures, which I control and thus the companions rather become puppets on which I pull the strings.

Since there will be people who like to control everything by hand, the AI should be able to be turned off.
For me, however, the most important thing is that I feel like I have real different party members who are also alive and represent a class I control my main character and really feel like I'm in a party.

This is a very important thing for such RPGs! Without this option I will like it much worse, I already know that from experience! My enjoyment of the game is greatly increased with this option.

Oh and please, don't save on translating the sound into other languages. Especially for role-playing games, native language is simply an enormous quality upgrade, in addition, it will appeal to all those who are hardly to not powerful English and who then turn off the spoken sound anyway, because it only disturbs when reading text, when there's someone in between chattering and you hardly understand anything anyway.
That's exactly why it would be a very good improvement. I understand the temptation to save money here, but it is the wrong place and actually a step backwards.

Thank you and good luck with the development.

Many greetings

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

I'm not a Dev but BG3 does not currently have companion or summoned creature AI. Party members will only do what you tell them to do except for certain cutscenes. I have heard no indication from Larian that they plan to implement such AI.

Honestly I think combat would become too boring if companions acted on their own. You'd spend the vast majority of it waiting for enemies and allies to take their turns. Companion AI works best when turns happen simultaneously, something that is almost certainly not going to be implemented for BG3.

I doubt the VO will be in more languages then english. Back in a day BG1&2 were translated to multiple languages, but those games had only partial VO. Amount of lines BG3 will have to record will be staggering. That they attempt to do full VO is potentially a waste of resources (in my humble opinion). Doing so in multiple languages would be crazy even for Larian.

Therefore, this AI should also be able to be switched on or off as desired. So that everyone can follow his interests.

Look, when I play a role-playing game in which I have other companions with me besides my character, and especially if you find them as NPCs in the game and take them with you, then it is absolutely important for me that these companions also embody their own soul.

And especially in the battles it is important to me that the companions then also implement this.
Then it feels to me as if my companions have a soul and are real team members. For me, it increases the immersion when I have companions that seem alive.

If I then control these NPCs characters myself, they lose their quality as real characters in the game. They become puppets and I pull the strings. These kinds of puppets seem pale and lifeless to me, soulless, so to speak. Interchangeable number-producing objects also fits the bill.

I want to give my companions an AI that I set accordingly and then they act according to their role. That gives the whole thing much more liveliness than if they just end up being chess pieces, dry and dull.

I understand that in a turn-based RPG, this doesn't matter to some. But for me it is very important.

I also eventually installed a MOD in DOS2 that allowed the chars to have a life of their own in combat. It unfortunately only worked 80% well, mainly because summoned creatures severely interrupted the flow of the game because I had to control them all by hand.

I just want to understand my char as part of the group and live out my role. For me, it makes a huge difference if my companions seem alive, or if they are blunt wooden posts that I push around across a playing field in combat.

I hope you understand the implications of my point of view.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)