Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Less Narrator, more Companion Dialogue

Yeah. Funny how many times I start with a suggestion and wind up getting talked into something else. I wanted Tav to have more convos with his party instead of so many narrator lines, and for Tav to have alignment and expressions based on alignment, and I got talked into the opposite. 😁

Traditionally, having a narrator explain what a character is thinking and feeling has been considered the least effective way to make a character less dull.

Also the most invasive and violating way of doing anything in a game where you are meant to be roleplaying as your own character.

I still maintain narrator is your tadpole. Ie, trying to tell you what you *should* be thinking.

That is how I RP it anyway…

That would be better, but it isn't executed that way. Dialogue from the tadpole trying to influence you should be guiding you to some course of action, or at least presenting exposition in a more conversational form. For example:

"He will betray you sooner or later. Kill him now, before it's too late."

A tadpole in your head shouldn't be issuing descriptions in second person.

"There, in dim firelight, you see him for what he really is; a vampire. A slave to sanguine hunger."

That just sounds like a DM who graduated from the 'tell, don't show' school of storycraft.

I chalk the narrator narrating your character’s feelings and interpretation of events as a side effect of the idea that we were originally going to have vague third person dialogue options (‘I say X’ type of options, which was universally reviled to the level where Larian probably had to rewrite large chunks of the script before EA launch).

They should still ultimately be struck down, or better yet, your companions should take over some of the lines and the narrator only joins in if the party members are absent.

So ...
How exactly would you do that?

pretty good idea there GM4him !

I love the narrator.

I love that my character worked a thing out for themselves.
I hate when my high Int and/or Wis character can't put two and two together without having to have an npc explain it to them as though to a particulary dense child. Having others explain it like that takes a lot away from your own character, they become dependent on others to understand what's going on, and it's rather annoying.

No to Galesplaining! Yes to player charaters that actually do have a clue!

Personally I couldn't stand the narrator telling me what my PC sees or feels, totally goes against the notion of roleplaying. There's simply too much tell and not enough show in this game; actually I find it a little condescending.

Plenty of ways. Just cut the narrator for one. Had you really not worked out that Asterion was a vampire until the narrator force-fed the exposition to you? They are about to explicitly reveal it through dialogue anyway.