Having picked up Dragon’s Dogma again recently, I’m reminded how much there is to admire with their pawn system. While I’d love for several of the ideas to make their way to BG3, one aspect in particular seems highly appropriate and entirely doable. Let the companions take care of some of the busywork while exploring.
For instance, let the druid in your party be the one to run around harvesting herbs, mushrooms etc. Perhaps the strong fighter is the one who loots heavy weapons and armor from fallen enemies. Maybe the barbarian likes smashing crates. The ranger dissects and skins hides from beasts you’ve slain. It could actually end us saving a bunch of inventory management fuss if the load is spread more automatically.
This can be handled in several ways, it doesn’t need to be locked to class or skills – those are just examples. Building on this you can add several new lines of dialogue to accompany these tasks, to bring them to your attention. Especially say if your rogue finds a particularly interesting item.
It would of course need to be optional to suit different play styles – some people like total control. I however would like to feel that I’m in a party of adventurers with their own personalities. Clicking through dozens of containers to find items isn’t what I’m here for, but I totally understand some people love that aspect of RPGs. I like focusing on story and combat, perhaps saving rifling through everyone’s backpacks for while we’re taking a rest. It would feel more like co-op even while in single player. Watching people stream Dragon’s Dogma, there’s usually someone in chat asking if what they’re seeing is co-op because the companions are so active.
