Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Latest News Community Update #11 - Inspiration, Freedom & Pacifism

Heavily disagree! If we're talking romance, then Shadowheart is one of the prettier girls, and romancing her is definitely a crowd favorite. I have not yet played the changes but I'm very pleased to see they've reworked her everlasting frowning expression and some of her horrid personality. She was a total unrelatable bitch, and the fact she's giving you the vibe that she's doing you a favor being in your presence is absolutely annoying. Larian must've reworked her for a reason, a lot of negative feedback was given on these companions, which in all honesty, were detestable. They had and still do have the potential to become extremely interesting and likable companions, but their incredibly cocky attitudes and throwing hardships on the player by spouting disrespect every time they open their mouth was honestly not something to be enjoyed. I thoroughly appreciate and respect Larian for having listened to the fanbase and taking measures to change this.

If they were enemies, these attitudes would be suiting because they were provocative and constant - this doesn't mean the companions should be spineless wimps, but a respectable 80% of the interactions with them were negative. This is act 1, yes but it doesn't matter if it is the start of the game or end of the game, logically, linearly it matters what you went through with these characters as of now and not how much there is ahead - so if I'm in Act 1 but I've already cleverly slaughtered the Goblin Camps, got rid of all the True Souls and slain Beholders, the party has already been through a lot. When I run through the battlefield butchering enemies and save my companion's life I want recognition for it. If I don't at least get that, the last thing I want is to see snarky attitudes and them judging my every decision like some kind of jury. We are the main character, and while it's not outspoken, it's pretty clear we are the leader of the party. We make the decisions, and at best they can display their stand on the decision we made -- As it stood, Shadowheart and Laezel behaved provocatively and honestly? Like petty children whose candy got stolen. Their grim perspective on things and whines were tiresome and you'd expect from adventuring adults, priestess of Shar, and a Githyanki warrior a tad more optimism and emotional resilience.

The thing about Shadowheart shying away from the kiss pre-patch and shying away from intimate relations were quite offputting, the way it was addressed and executed made it seem like such childish behavior. They don't have to be perfect, trauma, and stress immune companions, but you expect a minimum from them. Yes, the situation seems grim, after all, they've been kidnapped and there was a foreign creature implanted in their brains, displaying fear and stress is fine - constant nagging and negativity and looking at their ever angry or disapproving faces took away so much. All of the characters are in the same boat, they behaved like the MC was the one who forced them to join this ride and that they're doing him/her a favor.

Bottom line, unless you've got some kind of warped inferiority fetish I believe every player wants to feel respected by the companions that escort him/her throughout the game. You can start as the underdog that everyone doubts no problem, but as you stack achievements and collect victories on the battlefield it should become evident that you are a force to be reckoned with and I believe that Act 1 introduces enough adversity for the main character to get the respect of anyone who accompanies him throughout the act. It is important to clarify that the characters should have some resistance in their personality as is expected, but what we were introduced with initially was undoubtedly too much. I have never played a game in my life that made me think twice about keeping my companions with me. Regardless, super happy with Larian! I bought the game the first minute it was available and don't regret it. There's definitely a lot of ways to play the game.

There's one thing that bothered me though, was the introduction with the (Archdevil?) Raphael. In that interaction is a shameless ' illusion of choice' no matter what you pick he answers the same way and even worse, you end up with the same result. If my decision won't matter, then just give Raphael a monologue. Don't give me false-belief that I have the power to make a decision where I can't, it's frustrating. I wanted to accept the deal and see what happens, but he answers exactly the same things and disappears. I understand that in terms of balance or plot they don't want us introduced to some kind of power granted by him at the start of Act 1, but then again if you introduce a character and implement a choice dialogue, follow up with it. Otherwise, bring him when the story is ready for us to accept his offer the first time he arrives. It can certainly be a long-lasting back and forth dance with him over several meetings, but should provide the choice to take him up on the offer immediately with meaningful consequences as well - as of now, that interaction is shameless and choice-wise meaningless.

I read your entire post carefully, and I gotta say... Bravo, Netharias. Well said. I... agree.

This is very well put. Totally agree with this.

Respect? At the end of the first act? Lol.

Also, Lae and Shadow not even close. Lae has a clear task, and she does not whine, she almost orders you, because she sincerely believes that she is better than you, and there is logic in this. It is much easier to understand than Shadow. Shadow is a character who needs more time to reveal, given all the nuances of her story. To be honest, I even think that Astarion and Gale reveal their stories too quickly. But I'm willing to forgive them because the reason is "hunger".

I don't think companions should respect you, you're nobody to them, and you're worse than nobody if you do something they don't like. Everything else needs more than the first act.

Seems like she isn't alone. Just saying.


You were saying?


Perhaps they are seeing you as their companion and expect you to be more of a respectful teamplayer and not such a whining casanova?


And I take it that your "companions" do not stack up the same achievements as you keep them in the background as an insurance policy "just in case".


And there you have the super quality of the companions Larian have created.


I am almost with you on that one, but to be fair - we only notice the "illusion of choice" because we get to play the same bit over and over and over.

Completely agreed - I avoided using Lae'zel on my first playthrough because I wanted to avoid being such a brutish person. And that wasn't a game-y choice I was making, that was an actual RP choice, because of something a character pushed me into. My first playthrough would've been much easier if I had stuck with using Lae'zel. I want punchy characters, ones that make me go, "Oh shit, I think they're going to betray me". I also want some nicer ones, but we have that - Wyll fills out that role, and I'd run him more if I wasn't such a fan of playing Warlocks myself. Gale also fills it out. Even Shadowheart does - you can tell that all the tough shit is a front and I think the way we had things before where you kinda had to push to get past her walls around herself made it interesting. Playing with these characters reminded me a lot of trying to keep a team together in Tyranny, kinda against their will, and I enjoyed the challenge. There will be more nice characters later - don't push Larian to dumb down the ones that are currently a tough sell.


Shadowheart probably deserves more respect than the PC for keeping them alive lol

Also back to Netherias' post:


I agree that the disapproval/approval system can feel a bit heavy-handed at times, but so long as that gets somewhat diluted, I have no complaints with Shadowheart and Lae'zel disapproving of my actions in the early game. Wyll and Gale frequently agreed with my actions, and I was tough enough to get Shadowheart to approve of how I handled things when it counted. If you're playing a neutral/good character, you can still be on pretty good terms with Shadowheart by the end of act 1, even pre-patch, so I don't see what your problem is? Is it that the two female characters available so far didn't like you enough?

I don't think this "Down by the River" Song is very good... Anyone else?

To add. I'm hearing stalling jet engine noises during the crash sequence of the Nautiloid ship. Illithid Jet propulsion?

"Down by the River" certainly fits the storyline perfectly well in Act 1.

The chorus gives a great atmosphere. Recently learned you can procure Mongolian throat singing for computer games from The HU. EA got them for Jedi: Fallen Order.
It's a great atmospheric fit to have alien language and heroic tunes sung for Fantasy games.

I'm expecting the music to vary later. At best it differs between The Underdark and matches map areas.
As a studio that wouldn't be my top priority on EA if the anchors music does it well enough for all of Act 1.

A Nautiloid doesn't need an engine. It flies by psionics of the Elder Brain and operates independent of fuel combustion and Faerûns Magic. That's what I googled on Fandom and would easily make it into the D&D trivia card game.

You never hear engines stall. They simply go mute for you when they do.
The plane accelerates to speed of sound fast. You fall faster than any sound from behind where engine sound can't reach you in the cockpit anymore.

That's by center of mass mostly not where the propulsion is. That devises are heavier that where The people are seated in breathable airspace and space to move around at leisure. That either falls last or the things spins ad spirals down.
Any pressure field of sound from enignes can't reach you.

You can at best hear aerodynamic drag noise of accelerating free fall. Only caused by the things in front of your direction of the fall. So you basically can only hear the aerodynamic drag of vortex shedding on the edges ahead in the lines of you falls direction. As a passenger you can't hear the vortex shedding on stalled engine blaades or stalled wings but only the broken cockpit windows etc.

The sound will spike/mute/spike as you tumble in a spiral. People on the ground will hear sth similar to slat and flaps landing braking aircraft make. That's what people are familiar with.
There is very few piolot who can tell of that experience. Psycholigically that will be limited to old WWII pilots who managed to bail and parachute before entering 6G+ death spiral trapping them inside or a jet pilot pull the ejector seat.

From a drama viewpoint people are better of being subjected to the dropping bomb vortex shedding whine they are familiar with from Aircraft desaster movies. No need for any real applied aerospace science here.
Mute the sound for realism isn't helping the audinece and mood at all.

But good luck trying to be the smart-arse of the internet.

Keep the tone civil, please.

I chose the British translation of the German desciptive Besserwisser that leo.org gave me.

As you may have noticed, there is no good alignments in the story setuo. You are bad party on a lit fuse. Your team will implode by fault lines - each one is a ticking time bomb.
Some carry a less obvious warning sign around their neck or do their bidding just well.

The backup in camp partcipate in XP for a very good reason. That you are left with a team that can play through there story on any path.

On a second run across several mutually exclusive affiliations developing through out the game.
Pls. take you time to check what a Shaar cleric is. The wiped part of memory is a time bomd like all the other dark affiliations in your team. Lae'zel is a part of a cult of evil raiders regarding their racist views of Faer!uns inhabitants.
Cleansing ritual of the tadpole sound like ultimate sacrifice and not cure to me. But we can't get there yet.

Someone like Elminster could cure you in Baldurs Gate. Unlikely that Githyanki would not kill any but their own tribes kin.

Gale and Astarion are mutally exclusive as well. Some choices benefit one and hurt the other badly.
Haven't used Wyll much but he is bound to his warlock pact. Simple as that.

Which toad you prefer swallow?

I'm testing what happens when you attempt to perma kick you mates in third run. Rumored not to be that easy for some hidden storyline reason.
Expect that all of them have to make their Odysseus bid fror freedeom of being some deities muppet.
What you think is heavy handed is the storylines straight jacket of a sadistic DM. That what you need to run a storyline in code.

You can pretty freely play any role. Clcik through on the hero button has a lot of twists in for you.

I recommed play a female Drow Lolth cleric and commit yourself to always chose the true to character options. Be it Drow or Cleric.
At vest chose proficeincy in Religion and Arcane for aome nice insights. Reroll to explore where any extremes pull you into.
That's where you get true insight into the more interesting parts of the approve/disapprove hidden stats.

You don't just gain +1/-1 on them and slowly build confidence on a scorecard. Some action weigh in heavy by their dark affiliatiions.
Some of them you cannoot want to please by any means from a "just do the good".

Some characters do their bidding pretty well and you don't know a thing to what ends it leads you.
You could as well trust Raphael rather than any of yozr team straight away. Shop around ... so true,
Destiny drags you along a path? Hells ... yes it does. Enjoy that rollercoaster ride.

You try to please all of them. Fine for a first run but basically a wasted second you could get more feedback out of your time.
I mapped affiliations of rge typical Forgotten realms competing factions of Toril before I engaged in a second run and it yielded a lot of insight.
Then you go and have the more mulled character open up first it get's really interesting.

W/O doing very diffrent deeds and results affiliations turn heavily around. It's a dark hidden matrix stacked against you on every corner.
Pls. anyone seems to be exactly the wrong tactics. You choice works best maatching to play your chosen role true to character.

That's a brand new convincing computerized DM experience. Technically a milestiine in game and storyline design. True piece of art. Probably evil in nature and consuming your soul.
Clearly, the story is addictive.

You can turn the matrix of you approval / disapproval by 180° around.
That's a lot of choice.

And I haven't explored anything about Wyll yet.

You cannot plan this emotional response at the start of a game story writing. You got no data to base feedback on likeabitlity and where random people connect to.


Not in terms if Baldurs gate storylines. You barely did the prequel.


So you didn't care for her backstory at all and did go in form the tits all out right away? Sound like moronic sexdrive rather than romance to me. Correct me if I'm wrong but this wasn't in the game description.
BG3 isn't as creepy moronic as The Witcher where you unlock the ingame XXX scenes as rewards.

BG series has loads female players that pay for it and want to enjoy the storyline as well. They don't want to be looted like treasure as the mainly male The Witchers fans crave to do. Larian does on of the very few select titles that do attract a lot more of female players than hack and slay titles.


Interesting leap in context you make young Padawan. Revealing. Revealing this is.

Each of their affiliations is mutually exclusive to yours for all but 1 companion by you player character choice. Who will jump ship first seems tio be the better question.


Seceral people detect you very early and show questionable interest in your progress.

You simply assume wrongly there isn't any dire consquences in hidden stats by your camp. It's not +1 /-1 love heart on the romance scale.

The only thing you know it had no immediate negative effect in the visible stats that you checked. Each companion has strongly different opinions what types of evil are more manageable than others. This guy is part of the prequel and he challenges you to shop around. That's exactly what you do - compare prices for a cure around the bloc.

Also you believe a devil that he truly is the hidden power that keeps you running around with a tadpole longer? Maybe yes, maybe no. In the Blood War setting not unexpected that a devil apppears. I found troves of hidden clues on all corners I'm not going to spoiler. In my eyes the scene did serve it's purpose on you well introducing him. Depending on the context of clues the perception of it differs vastly.

His terms is subject to the Pact Primeval any devil is bound by. He just can't cut such a simple deal to trade your soul without corrupting you first. You need to approach him for it and propose it by your own choice. That's the lawful evil legal requirement for him to make a valid claim to your soul post mortem. That's what he wants in exchange for his help. The rest is bargaining.

It's a safe bet you bargain among competing devils and see some angry demons appear closer to Elturel area. You are in a landing zone or staging area of the next big battle.
All their usual gangland allies gather for a invitation only GB party in Baldurs gate next weekend around you. The sign is on the wall or in the stars. Did you really expect anything else in a BG number 3? After BG 1 % 2, Neverwinter Nights, Icewind Dale or Divinity: Original Sin titles? They stay true to their trusted concept for good her at Larian.

That would be know-it-all (Harry Potter has the answers - Snape calls Hermione that all the time)

Thank You!

As mentioned in my post, if you'd have read it carefully you probably wouldn't have written this; it doesn't matter how much longer the journey is ahead, it matters how much you've already been through together from the beginning to the end of Act 1. By your reasoning, it doesn't matter if the party has been together for a day or a few years, so long as it's the middle of the story or the end of it only then certain behaviors are justified and nothing that has happened in-between matters. It is flawed reasoning, I cannot stand behind it. Regardless if you decide to stick to your opinion, it's yours.



I fail to see how her backstory justifies childish behavior unless the fact her memory erased also erased her personality's growth and if that is the case I expect her to be much more juvenile. It is certainly an option and a possibility for her to fear intimate relations and attachment, but the way it was executed exhibited, in my opinion, a poorly portrayed character acting like an incompetent child as opposed to an adult priestess of a god (quite the status) who probably had a tad more emotional resilience than this.



I don't see what you are insinuating here or what you think you are conveying, regardless you took 7 words out of a 50+ words paragraph.




I simply assume wrongly the way you assume wrongly there are going to be some significant consequences from the camp, this is merely a baseless assumption at best from both sides. In my opinion, this has nothing to do with the camp at all and how they behave towards it; the interaction is an offer with an outsider, go through with it or don't, but do not give the players 'illusion of choice' - furthermore, if you persist on your claim and say 'but there is a choice, it affects the camp though' it is a roundabout, inefficient and disappointing way to do so.



Regardless, I've read all of the comments in response to mine; to those who resonated with my claims, brilliant, good to say we're on the same wavelength. These comments, compliments, and criticism were all based on the hundreds of comments I've read, and I merely felt the need to state my opinion.

To those who disagree with my feedbacks, you are entitled to your opinion and I respect it. I will not attempt to convince anyone otherwise through logically-structured arguments as that seldom works, and the majority simply are grounded and have no interest in this.

Larian's true challenge is taking the notable points from all our feedbacks and creating a playthrough that suits most of us (as making everyone satisfied is impossible). Through this skeleton of the early-access Act 1, I have faith Larian can weave a magnificent story by reading people's comments, using statistics and data-retrieval to back their decisions, and being open-minded. Good luck to Larian, and until we meet again on the next post.

I definitely agree they're open-minded especially since the last patch proved they will implement changes requested by the community. I just wish they were a bit more open-mouthed...

There needs to be a lot more communication. For a smaller studio and EA type product, there should be frequent community updates with progress on the game and plans for EA content releases. Having a designated community person who checks in with teams and their progress should also help them keep track as well.

What's the point of EA or testing if there's no information or content to test? So far I like the game, but am super unimpressed with the transparency and EA.