Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Early Access Feedback/Suggestions | Spoilers

Hello everyone,

I just finished most of Early Access and figured I would provide my feedback. I played Baldur's Gate 1/2 when I was younger and love Larian's Divinity series. These are thoughts I have outside of just 'fix bugs before launch' since that seems rather obvious and is just part of the development lifecycle.

So far I think this game is good. It seems like it has a chance to be great, perhaps even the best RPG ever made.

Here are nine thoughts I have on the game that I don't think would be that difficult to implement/change:

1. More Companions - I imagine that this is in the works. I made a note that Karlach seems like she will obviously be someone you can have join your party at launch, which is great! I wanted to note this because it is the thing I am most concerned about. Six seemed okay for D:OS2, but it doesn't seem like it would be enough for this game. Perhaps it is the size of the scope of this game and the variety of options. I ran into choices to kill, anger or get rid of party members... but I don't want to act on those because I already have so few options. A companion for each class (they wouldn't even all have to be Act 1 Origin' characters or romance worthy either) seems like it would be ideal. If not eight (enough for two plays of the game if you select an origin character) or nine (three plays if you play a custom character) seems like it would be acceptable.

Even though it is a different setup and they aren't true companions, what I mean by not all of them having to be 'origin' or romance worthy is look at say, The Witcher 3. Triss and Yennefer were great romance options and 'companions' in that game. But there were other characters all close to the player character who were great to have around because they were funny, interesting, etc... and I never found myself saying "If only I could romance or play as this character". Adding companions who are part of a 'supporting cast' rather than 'main character worthy' would be just fine.

POE2: Deadfire is another good example of this... some companions had massive stories that spanned the whole game/were love interests and others were more just 'side characters'. Both were very enjoyable.

2. Companion Consequences - Semi-related to number one. Maybe this already happens. I sided with the Druid Grove on my only play so far. But a good example of what I am talking about is Shadowheart having her artifact thing and Minthara wanting it. I think it would be great if you chose to side with Minthara (who is also a Cleric, it seems) that Shadowheart would end up getting killed and Minthara would replace her as a companion. I think stuff like that and consequences like that are awesome. It would provide a ton of variety between journies.

3. Companion Variety - It seems like a lot of the companions are evil or neutral right now. That was okay with me, I enjoyed most of the companions thus far. But it would be nice if there was a wider range of companion types.

4. A New... Face? - Minthara looked incredibly... odd to me? I believe some of the corpses on the beach I talked to described her as some undeniable beauty that people just had to follow. That seems to make sense with her character, to make her incredibly alluring not only to those who she is luring within the story, but also to the player. Whatever model is being used for her right now just kind of makes her look... old and weird? Dunno. Just doesn't seem to fit the character or what I expected at all.

5. Spell Variety - Perhaps this is just because level 4 is the cap right now and I reached it really early in my journey. But I never felt like the skills/spells in D:OS2 got stale at all. Combat was awesome because I enjoyed playing just about any class in the game and they had just enough variety to get you to the end of the story. As I got toward the end of Early Access I found myself getting a bit too familiar with my characters' "kit".

6. Enemy AI- I imagine this is something they are working on. At times it was perfectly fine, at other times it was REALLY bad. The biggest offender I saw was at the big battle at the grove... there were multiple enemies wandering around aimlessly and getting caught on things.

7. More Character Customization Options - More faces, hair styles, tattoos, etc. But most of all more body types. It would be nice if you wanted to play say a human warrior that you could make them a bit more heavy set.

8. The Evil Option - I was torn on playing a good or bad character my first play. I kind of walked the line early and realized that the decision with Minthara vs. the camp was where a decision had to be made. When I was presented with it I tried to think of why I should be evil and the only thing I could come up with was that it would be the easier road for my character and that he would get to learn more about his new powers which may/may not consume or kill him.

This ties in a bit to what I said earlier about Minthara being visually appealing... but she should also be an appealing character in general. She should tempt you with power, knowledge, pleasure and so on. She should give you an indication that if you side with her you may be slaughtering innocent people... but she will give you the things you desire or that would make your life easier, put you in a position of power, etc.

Right now when you reach that point in the game she basically just says "Hey, you have one of these things in your head too... therefore, do what I say". The only thing that drew me into the evil side was more funny than empowering... which was that you had goblins worshipping you/afraid of you. But goblins aren't very encouraging or empowering. Commanding an army of goblins doesn't seem... that great in the grand scheme of things?

9. So Much Stuff - Scrolls, grenades, potions, etc. are awesome to find and use. I even like the resting system quite a bit, along with the food/supply resting system. But you get WAY too many of these things. I felt like I could drink a potion just about every turn, read a scroll or throw an explosive every turn and I'd never run out of it. I felt halfway through act 1 I had enough food to last me five plays through the game. I would cut down on the amount of these.