Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Please return the ability to eat food

Well said!

There is also the gaming aspect. I have a friend who never finished DAO (my all time fav rpg) because he said once he found the Dalish camp and had endless elfroot for making healing potions, the game became unfun. I think the food in battle was making the game too easy, personally.

And sure…we could just *not* use the food available in battle, as per the constant answer to these arguments. Sure. Just like I could ignore the cookies in my kitchen because my life would be better if I exercised and did not snack. Just like my pal could have ignored those mounds of elfroot and kept the game at a level he likes. But gaming is not about “self” control. It is about good mechanics that balance fun with challenge.

(Those cookies…oh how they call to me).

The food mechanic as camp supplies is not ideal, maybe. I find it encourages a bit of grind which I am never a fan of. But I do agree with other posters that balancing camping is tricky. I missed so much stuff when I first played because I did not camp enough and things are timed in camp relative to where u r in game. Why oh why can’t there be dialogue triggers such as “we need to talk in camp”, etc.

Side note—The new face covered in shite has been making me camp more just so I don’t look like a hobo. Which means I need more food. Seriously..no one gets this fracking dirty working outside or camping (which I do alot). It is the most egregious “get to camp” mechanic I have ever seen. (I hate it).

Do we really have to go over this again Ragnarok? I don't remember the word for it but there is a difference between total and acceptable realism. In an imagined world, even one where magic exists, there are still things that people don't see as realistic happening. Those things are different to everybody but even high fantasy need to have some laws of nature, a ruleset of what's possible in that world. As for a pc game portraying that world, some leniancy is given because of convience. For ex weight of currency. But not everything, for example if a world is set in a certain time era with certain amount of technology, the immersion breaks quite fast if something shows up that doesn't fit that era. Imagine passing by a Boeing 747 just standing there, in world where they so far have just discovered gun powder.

Now, like I said earlier, where that line goes for stuff getting too unrealistic is personal but just because one thing is too unrealistic, doesn't mean that everything else becomes that as well.

As for Larian changing how food works might be because several people voiced their opinion on the subject or maybe, just maybe, because Larian noticed in their data that people didn't use it during combat very much and that, together with the forum feedback, led to the change.

I often see you advocating for adding stuff and not remove anything because "someone" might like it. But if we just keep adding stuff that someone might like, we soon will have an inconsistent mess or a goofy open sandbox game instead of a fantastic rpg. Larian won't be able to please everyone. No developer is capable of that. They will just have to go on what they think will please the majority of their target group

Maybe reality was a bad choice of words ..let’s just say it makes the game far to easy with limitless food.
So if it’s in it’s needs balance.
From a game mechanics perspective I don’t mind Larian trying a few ideas to give us players something new or something that helps improve the experience.
I prefer the current option but it just needs tweaking so it feels a worthwhile addition.

No. Just no. Eating an entire cheese wheel or rack of ribs as a bonus action is so broken. The game is too freaking easy as it is. Food as healing agents that work better than potions makes potions unnecessary, and it 100% makes no sense from an immersion standpoint.

Let's not go backwards. Please.

Every item in the game that you can pick up should have unique purposes, or why bother with those items. Even spoons,knives and plates could be given a crafting purpose so it is no longer pointless to pick them up.

Food = Survival. It is the ability to renew your strength, but it takes time to process and work.

Potions = Magical healing alchemy formulas that mend broken bones and cuts and scrapes and gaping holes in moments. They work for combat because they are magical.

Thank you.

Suspension of disbelief is something Larian should pay much more attention to in an RPG. And it goes beyond how they show every successful attack as a lethal strike that draws a huge pool of blood that can be frozen to trip the victim on their own blood, or eating a pig's head to instantly heal that wound.

It's about tiny arrowheads exploding in huge pools of acid, or spiders spitting out gallons of poison. It's dipping greatswords in a candle to add fire damage. It's a human fighter jumping 30ft. high using only their muscles. It's the ridiculous amount of shoving enemies in combat.

Most of these ideas are great! But Larian's execution is just consistently so over the top it's increasingly difficult to suspend disbelief. Even if there is a target audience that enjoys crazy over the top gameplay, this is a sequel that needs to respect it's origins and find the right style for Forgotten Realms.

He does actualy, just not bcs flying ... you know, freezing breath ... that thing cant be "turned off".
Its actualy kinda funny how in later projects some directors sneak easter eggs for us, that coments his superpowers working all the time.

For example Supergirl mentioned that se few times accidentaly break her partners nose, when they were kissing ...
Or Supermans son actualy (Jordan i believe) comented freezing breath that is like have permanent mint in your mouth, so he was unable to enjoy his favourite meals since his powers started to show ...
Superman himself comenting that touching every person is hard for him as Clark Kent, since when you give you hand, strong grip is expected ... but for him, making that grip stonger by using 0,001% of his strength means crush other person arm into mush.
etc. etc.

Yes and i agree with that great man ...
Sadly for this example, he talked about fiction story as a whole ... and therefore its more like point in my favor. :-/

Meaning: If we would use this rule, we would have to aply it on everything in this game ...
But people here require realism only when it suits them ... and that is why i have problem with that word in this topic.
That is why i dont concider it argument, but only covenient excuse ...

Few Examples:
People are complaining about Barrels not having "realistic weight" ... on the other hand, the same people are complaining that Gold even have weight ...
People are complaining about Foods healing property ... on the other hand, the same people have no problem with healing by "taking a pause to catch your breath" usualy known as "Short rest" ... or drinking potions, wich are litteraly just herbs with healing effect (yup, exactly the same thing we were able to heal by eating it in the past, but we are not anymore) mixed with water, and probably boiled or something ...

My gues its bcs of childern ...
I mean, if you loot at any fairytales for small chindern (and i mean older fairytales, not Teletubbies) ... there is allmost every time some Hag burned alive, decapitated Dragon, or eviscerated Wolf with rocks stuffed in his stomach that drow in the well ... pretty brutal things if you thinks about it. :-/
But once we leave out all details, its sudently "apropriate for childern" ...

So we do in games ...
We have some effect for injuries, but no details ... and then we have final effect, once again without any details ... and that is acceptable.

Goodberry is actualy interesting example ...
To eat some fruit that was forced to grow by Druid (or at least that is how i allways imagined it ... but i presume its possible to also think that Druids simply "created" the berry out of thin air) ... its perfectly acceptable.
To dring some healing herbs processed into healing potion (i mean come on, does anyone really know what is in that thing? ... maybe except GaMERCaT > and part two )

But to heal by eating litteraly anything else is absolutely out of question.
That just dont quite make sence to me. :-/

I mean i also disliked healing by eating pig heads (and other stuff, but those were mentioned most often since they healed the most) during combat ...
So i didnt eat them ... and world was perfectly okey acceptable and realistic enough for me.
And i simply cant understand why there even exists people who demand to ruin this game for other people who are completely fine with healing food, since that is nothing new in fantasy videogames ... and demands change of rules so this particular game is "challenging enough" for them (and everyone else who never wanted that in the proces). :-/

I mean its not so buig fuss, but if we take this situation a little to absurd measures ...
Can you imagine that *one day* enough people start demanding that HP are not realistic enough and its very existence is ruining their experience ... and so they demand that every character have single HP only and die after first lethal hit?
Me neither.
But i was also unable to imagine someone would mind option he can completely ignore and never even know it is there ... and yet, here we are.

Diferent word, same point.

Eating an entire cheese wheel or rack of ribs is in option, especially in Skyrim and ESO. Difference there is you don't need that as your health and stamina regenerates. Unlike in DnD type games where it doesn't. You need short rest or long rest. My reason for having food you can eat is as an option. You don't have to use that option, it's just there for those that like it. I feel like having to constantly go to camp is being forced here. I want to add, there was a discussion recently in the gaming industry about players acting as if a game has to be played a certain way. This had to do with difficulty. The game developers were all discussing how it's unfair to criticize players that may want an easier experience in gaming. Not everyone games the same and that does not make you more or less of a gamer. I see this with DnD sometimes and I think that's unfair to new players. I have watched some DM's explain that they will make the game easier for new players because they want them to have a good experience but go harder on the veteran players because they are used to it. I don't see a problem with making certain things easier for new players and once those players get the hang of things then they can challenge themselves.

Options for every rules does not make great games.
Great games have coherent and interresting rules.

Eating food to heal is not coherent nor interresting in a DnD setting. On top of that, it makes no sense.

Everyone doesn't have to be a better healer than healer and food doesn't have to be better items to heal than items to heal.

There are potions, there are spells, there are clerics and druids, scrolls... and there are ritual spells in DnD that could help you if you don't have enough potions.

I was trying to make the point earlier that making combat less punishing is really what is being asked here, not that it specifically has to be through bringing back magic food (that many players find immersion breaking).

It can be less enemies, weaker enemies, more HP for players, free short rest after every encounter.. things that can be easily included and modified in difficulty settings. If they make food items act like magic potions that would be there in every difficulty setting.

That's why difficulty settings need to be brought in now rather than later.

+ <3

You have watched a game of DnD where a DM allowed one of their players to pull out a sausage from their backback, eat it, and regain 10 HP on the fly?

Also, adjustable difficulty has nothing to do with dumb game mechanics that trivialize the very concept of it for everyone involved (like food and barrelmancy, in this case).

I don't see how eating food for hp outside of combat is immersion breaking. It's not being forced on anyone. It's just an option. I agree in adding difficulty settings to early access, especially for players that are not used to dnd rules in general.

That's not what I said. I said DM's will make a game easier for players that are new and harder for veterans to keep the game interesting. I didn't say anything about food but was speaking in general terms, even as far as fudging rolls to help new players which I think is nice on their part. Now, that doesn't mean they do it all the time but just to keep the new players used to the game and also to make sure they are entertained. I have seen some on this site in different threads act like DnD "HAS" to be played a certain way and if it's not then it's not DnD. Even WOTC have said that the rules for DnD are a guide to how you can play a game not that it has to be that way.

Then i don't see how this argument relates to the discussion at hand. What you're describing transaltes to difficulty settings, which again have nothing to do with wonky game mechanincs that arbitarily dumb down the game for everyone involved.

Goodberries are berries enchanted by a Druid to be magically filling, and heal a single hp.

The mere existence of that spells strengthens the argument that food shouldn't heal up. Why waste a spell slot on casting Goodberry when you can just eat a normal carrot?

It has been explained many times over why the "if you don't like it, don't use it" argument isn't valid.

Why do you feel like you need exactly food healing? What's wrong with another Short Rest, or even a free full heal after every combat? If you want more healing, why should it be done in a way that many players find immersion breaking when there are other ways that make sense and would even be more convenient?

Just because YOU don't like something doesn't mean it has to be that way for everyone else. That's gatekeeping. Like I said many times, what's wrong with making it an option? No one is forcing you to eat food to replenish you health if all your other options have been used. You just don't do it, if that's how you want to play.


I don't see how the option of eating food is breaking someone's immersion, if it a an option. That means you don't have to use it if you don't feel like it. I just don't think it's fair that a vocal minority gets to have a say on how everyone plays a game. That's gatekeeping.

How does the option of eating a fruit or a vegetable dumb down a game? You don't have to use that if you don't like or you feel it's to easy for you, but don't take that option away from others. No one can speak for everyone because not everyone plays the same. When players try to change a game to fit their desires by removing options that others may like, they are then changing the game to fit their playstyle and ignoring the other players who may have a different playstyle. That's a form of gatekeeping.

This is not about breaking the game or options, more about the rule system. BG3 was declared to be a DnD game made according to the rule-set of DnD 5e. But Larian instead mixed two systems - 5e and their own from DOS. DOS is good for their games - all this goofiness, funny moves, things like gulping in pig's heads - funny and creative, but this is not DnD and, most importantly, it contradicts and negates many DnD rules.

Should they say "we are making BG3 but with our system" - they could do whatever they want. But the deal was "use 5e rules", so, it is expected, that the game will follow 5e rules.

The rules 5e are not set in stone, even WOTC have said this. They are meant to be a guide, the DM is still the final say on rules. That's why homebrew rules exist.