Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Nit Picks 'n Things

So, finally had the time to get around to playing the prologue. I tend to be a completionist, so between that and character creation it took around 3.5 hours. Figured I'd drop my impressions on some little things while they were still fresh in the mind. The game is lots of fun! Saying what I like would waste time, so here are some critiques/thoughts. Hope it helps!

Surface effect damage (even if just for the prologue/beginning) should only be 1 point. In most games these kinds of decorations are cosmetic. My full health character casually brushed the corner of some flames on the floor, caught on fire, and almost died. A single point of damage would have sent the message clearly enough that we need to watch what's on the floor. Later, "Us" attacked me and left brine or something on the floor when my character killed it. This is also is typically just a cosmetic thing in pretty much all games. So much so that my brain doesn't even acknowledge that it's there. I walked into it to loot at full health and just died. Bizarre and punishing behavior on the part of the game that only serves to frustrate.

Us: Is the guy that Us comes from dead? Because he looks very much alive, looking around, trying to speak. There are no options to try and save him or put him out of his misery. You don't even try to speak to him. It's a pretty sadistic scene with no options for playing a good person that wants to help. You either attack the brain or rip it out of his skull and seem to not care either way about the actual PERSON laying there.

Character Body Animations: These need a lot of work. People don't bend at the waist to lean in during conversations (or not very often) so it's coming off strange, like bad actors who are over-acting to convey emotion. The #1 mistake that amateur actors make is moving too much when performing, so it's making the performances look cheap, like try-hard. (Or maybe like some stage acting that has to project/translate across a huge room) As a rule of thumb, if your character is having to bend their neck to look at the char because they are leaning so much, then it's way over-done. Neck movement is also way too much. Characters are rotating their heads nearly horizontal sometimes to convey emotion. It doesn't look like a bug. I would say watch some movies on mute, paying attention to how little the characters move their heads and bodies during dialogue. They keep pretty still. The facial animations in this game are excellent, so don't be afraid to let the face carry the weight of your scenes.

Player Voice Selection: I'm assuming way more voice options for the player are on their way down the line. The two male voices are very samey (and the two female as well). Go back to listen to the voice options in BG1, BG2, and Neverwinter Nights. The style, accent, and presentation of the voices were each very different from one other (and from what we are getting here). Some more neutral American accents would be welcome as well if I don't want my character to sound British.

Meters vs Feet: Speaking of American... The distances are listed in meters, but for 5e the default is feet. Seems like an arbitrary change that makes it feel less like 5e. Also confusing when you know the 5e/feet rules.

Love the music! It would be nice to hear a beat of the classic Baldur's Gate riff: Whap WHHAUP, whhaup WHUP. Maybe when you first click for the game to begin. It would help it feel like playing Baldur's Gate. That music is super famous, so it's a missed opportunity not to see(hear?) it anywhere.

Narrator: The new narrator is great! She's going to be awesome. The previous guy is so synonymous with Baldur's Gate that it feels strange to not hear his voice SOMEWHERE. I mean, the whole "Venture Forth" meme comes from him saying that. If you find a way to work him in at the beginning, that would be ideal to set the feel of Baldur's Gate. Even if it's just a guy dying on the ground as your first conversation when you wake up outside your pod. As he dies, he could tell you to "gather yourself and venture forth" without him.

Hell: The game starts in hell, so I was surprised when I walked to the hole in the ship to look out at the alien and fearsome landscape. It just looked like West Texas. Maybe some dramatic lighting that made everything beyond the ship look super red or heavy orange with dark green water would do the trick. As it is, "hell" just looked like the place I drive to visit the in-laws. (Hmm...)

Player Character Motivation: As is, the custom PC has no story, no motivation, no nothing. Combine that with the character not talking, and they feel like a manikin. You're just a person trying to get off a ship. Sure, you don't want to die, but you have nothing you're actually AFTER. The drama of the character about to die on a ship should be because death will prevent them from reaching their GOAL. There should be something my character wants besides simply surviving. I should be angry that mind flayers abducted me because of that thing I was trying to do/reach, and now that's all messed up! What am I going to do? I have to get off this ship NOW! (You get the idea)

Character Movement: Unintuitive and hard.

Cheers!

Regarding us: the guy's brain is very much gone, it's called an intellect devourer for a reason. They replace the host's brain entirely (what do you think those little brains-on-legs you fight do?) and control the body.

You can change whether you want meters or feet in the settings somewhere.

Dice Rolls: Forgot to mention this. The rolls all feel the same, with no benefit from my stats or proficiencies. It would be awesome to see the +3 or +5 out to the side of the roll. Once the roll completes, the +X and the die slide together to form the total.

Advantage/Disadvantage: This should display two dice. Both roll, then the higher or lower is selected, making it obvious what advantage/disadvantage is and how it affects the outcome. Make those dice red for Disadvantage, and some other color for Advantage like blue. Default dice could be yellow. These visual updates would better communicate what is happening.

But you don't know that unless you sadistically rip his brain out of his skull.

I get what you mean, but the modifiers are actually subtracted from your DC, instead of added to your roll. I think it's for making it easier to grasp what you are seeing.
I like the idea of advantage/Disadvantage though, it would make it feel more powerful.

If you pass a check you recognise what it is. The voice doesn't sound correct either, for a male elf.

Yeah, I got the Arcana check telling me it was an intellect devourer. It still is the guy's brain though, and he's looking around the whole time, moving his mouth. You pretty much just ignore the guy and go inspect his head. Any reasonable person would first try to speak to him, revive him, or offer to end his suffering. THEN once you realize there's nothing you can do, you could shift around behind him and deal with the brain.

EDIT: Plus you're smiling at the brain as you inspect it, like you're fascinated. It's pretty Hannibal Lecter. Your char should be horrified.

Shadowheart: Forgot this as well! It's obvious after the prologue that you weren't supposed to save Shadowheart, and there was no solve for this. (or at least I assume so).

As a tutorial level, it didn't communicate well enough that she couldn't be saved. I thought I was doing something wrong and losing a companion for the game. Wasted a lot of time walking back and forth, thinking I didn't know how to play the game right.

EDIT: Also, in pretty much any other game, your character would go to extremes to save such a helpless/trapped character. It felt very scummy to just say "sucks to be you, I gotta catch a ride outta here" and leave. Maybe if you added some dialogue from Gith lady explaining that transporting the ship out of hell would actually help the poor trapped woman. "If we save ourselves, it will save her as well. The best thing we can do for her now is reach the helm as quickly as possible."

Thanks! You would think feet would be default since 5e is feet. Seems like an arbitrary default change.

This was my impression as well. It's not terrible, but it does seem like overacting and it would probably be better to tune it down a notch (if it's possible at this stage of development). With the cinematic camera we can see the characters clearly, so subtlety wouldn't be lost on the players.