Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Thoughts on Direct Character Control

I'm wondering how people feel about the idea of adding a direct 3rd person (or even 1st person) character control mode outside of combat.

So I suppose it would look something like: Slightly increase the zoom level in over-the-shoulder mode (e.g. Witcher 3 style of camera angle) while directly controlling the character. By direct control I mean using WASD to move the character directly and using arrows to rotate the camera, rather than just controlling the camera and using click to move. Do you think this would add to the role-playing element of the game? Why or why not?

I personally think it would be great to have the option. Tactically it may not be very useful since you're limiting what you can see substantially, but when you're just running around the Druid's grove talking to people, it could be nice from an immersion point of view.

I would very much appreciate this. To my mind "tactical" movement is largely irrelevant for most of the game. It comes into play immediately prior to combat, and within combat, but when it comes to just cruising around the area chatting with random NPCs, appreciating the beauty of the environment, I would much prefer WASD for character movement. It's more relaxing and immersive for me. Makes it feel like I'm inhabiting a world rather than just playing a Map game. I would prefer 3rd person "over the shoulder" for this, with the ability to swing the camera around if I want, but even if they could only provide a 1st person POV, I would definitely use that over the ISO party movement view for the majority of the time.

Camera control and character movement has been a major frustration for me in BG3 from the get go. To use a sonic analogy, the way the character control works right now is a bit like listening to a false smoke alarm go off. Like at first you'd find it really irritating and probably run around your flat trying to locate the source to knock out the battery, but then you realize the sound isn't actually coming from your apartment, so you knock on the neighbors door and try to get to the bottom of things. Then you call the property manager and find out it's not the neighbors either, but a system wide default error coming from the lockbox, and the fire maintenance guys should be there sometime late this afternoon. Sure you could stick around, turn on the fan or play loud music, put in earplugs or bury your head under pillows to try to get through it, but eventually you'd probably just leave and go for a really long walk. That's where I'm at right now with BG3. I'm on a really long walk with a bit of a headache, and probably won't be back until they do something with their camera and their party movement control and get on top of this massive inconvenience. Because it's just so loud and so overbearing that it eclipses almost everything else about the game for me. Doesn't matter how warm and cozy some other things might feel, cause the smoke alarm is still going off!

Interesting concept even in combat. I think it would be pretty fun looking out the eyes of your characters as they cast spells and swing swords etc. I suppose as some of the assets are kind of already in game, zoom in when they chat to someone, it would be something modders could do. I doubt it is something LArian would invest time in.

Still interesting idea.

Theoretically it could be nice thing to have, but more practically - how much would there be needed to be changed to make it actually useful beside fleeting novelty - my main concern would be interactibles - picking up and moving items, climbing ladders, looting containers etc.If you tried to played in zoomed it mode, you probably noticed that interacting with objects from that point of view is very junky.

Yep, the immersive OTS exploration camera and movement are missing in BG3. Even though they have the clunky chain-follow system that would actually work with continuous movement of a lead character.

Even without the free movement, camera needs to go down to eye level to properly show what's in front of the party. There are a lot of great looking locations, statues etc. that you simply can't see properly because the camera doesn't go low enough and you're always looking at the ground.

1varangian Definitely. I feel like when I'm using the current zoomed-in camera mode, I'm just chasing my characters and playing leapfrog with them. I'm always trying to see them moving through the world while being close enough to appreciate the detail, but that's fairly difficult to do consistently at the moment.

Walking through Grymforge is like "oh cool look at this, wait where'd they go?" and I search for a minute then repeat.

Even if they limit what you can do to make it easier to implement, an "exploration mode" or something would be very much appreciated.

@Wormerine Fair points and you might be right about Larian's ultimate ambitions in this regard, but I've basically given up on using Mouse and Keyboard in BG3 at this point, so I hope they do something. Right now I'm just waiting for Controller support and the attendant UI overhaul which that will necessitate, in the hopes that they eventually hit on something here that I don't find aggravating in the extreme. I consider the game's current controls largely unplayable and can't comprehend the design philosophy behind them at all. It seems somehow specifically engineered to infuriate me lol. This is just about the only modern RPG I can't play comfortably or find a rhythm and get into, which is kinda baffling. I haven't had this kind of experience playing a game since like the old arcade days. BG3 reminds me more of struggling to play Skate or Die than anything I can think of in-genre hehe.

et al I agree very much about the camera behavior. Having the camera angle pegged to zoom distance is one of the things that grates endlessly for me. The only way to access the Z axis is through zooming in/out. I just want a free floating orbital cam, or if it has to be a track cam then I want to lay out the track, set the angle and distance then have it lock onto me from that position into an orbital. I think it's a struggle because the game teases a driving cam sort of view, but everything else about it screams locked iso, and anywhere in-between just has me hobbling. I don't like click tunneling for movement like this, I'd much prefer WASD for that.

For interactables, I'd like a toggle to switch cursor on the fly. Basically exactly what they do in most other games, where you can switch a stick from Mov or Cam to Cursor by depressing a button, or holding one down, or just with a keybind on the keyboard. For a game like Baldur's Gate (and most cinematic RPGS) I like the controls to recede into the background, whereas in BG3 they are always top of mind for me.

In order to have a proper third person we need to have proper z axis movement. If they can fix this then I think an in game toggle to switch the controls would be great. WASD or equivalent for movement and mouse wheel to zoom in and out while in the third person (could also allow first person when zoomed in all the way,) and mouse to turn character and adjust sight angle would be ideal for me. We could then use the toggle to switch back to what we have now or some sort of tactical camera if it was needed.

I don't know why it would be such a problem.
They are going to make the game work with controllers anyway (albeit, not soon, I think), and a lot of similar games have had manual movement, at least on consoles for most of them.
Dragon Age, Original Sin, Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance, Diablo, Disco Elysium, etc.

The usual solutions for interactions with the environment when there are too many objects are:
- A search area feature (gives a list of objects).
- A selection cycle feature (moves selection to the left or right of currently highlighted object).
- An interaction mode toggle (switch to mouse/mouse-like controls).

3rd person OTS camera would be great for exploring.😊

I could live without it ...
BUT IF this should be implemented it should be done by some toggle button or keybind ... certanly NOT by proximity of camera aa Dragon Age did it. -_-

Or at least give me option to turn it off.

Dragon Age Origins has the best most intuitive camera I've ever seen in an RPG. Mouse wheeling quickly and seamlessly between an immersive OTS view (with free mouse look) and a tactical view.

Yeah ...
Unless you hit that sweetspot in between those two regimes and turn your control crauy.

Pretty much logged in just to post this.

Started DA:O again, and once again I instantly fall in love with the ability to explore with a character camera, then zoom out for battle. BG3 already comes close, the angle just needs to be more horizontal (also more camera control in general would be nice when zoomed in).

It's so nice to get a sense of scale when in exploring the world. I love it so much, and BG3 is sooooo close...

Trying to play BG3 origins with zoomed in camera I found it to be troublesome - items didn't register properly from low angle, and there was no distance from which I could interact with them (I would try to click on an item, and istead the character would go to the door behind two doors. I don't think it is impossible, but most likely both camera settings (top down and zoomed in) would benefit from differet systems of item interaction. I remember DA:O having the same issue, though that game has been far less interactive then BG3. Of course, I cannot comment and what is and isn't feasable.