Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Party Banter

What is everyone's thoughts on this?
I feel we need way more banter between companions, fleshes out the world and immersion more. Things still feels way too static.
More area based banter/comments also would be great!

+1 for sure!

Definitely agree. That's a huge part of why I want a party of six, so that the number of permutations of banter among party members is so much greater.

+1

I fully agree, but I hope that they change it from how it was in divinity where it was idle talking that often repeats to how it was in Baldurs Gate where it takes you into the dialogue screen and be in more depth

I want more in act two and act three, but I feel like there's plenty at the moment, at least for folks who haven't played the same content fifteen hundred times in a row.

And I only want the banter in certain areas. No idle chatter while sneaking through a crypt, for example. Which only leaves a few places where it's appropriate.

Totally agree. My memory might fail me but I seem to remember in BG2 being able to facilitate a romance between Aerie and Haer'Delis which was really rather cute, with dialogue between them etc. It really made the characters feel alive. I had no interest in having an in-game romance myself but it was a nice touch being able to help your party members do so.

Hells yes!

I would specifically purchase DLCs that would add even more part banter.
This could be even taken further with character's opinion of the player whether romantic or friendship or general dislike.

It would make things a thousandfold more immersive!

Already the banter we get fills in a lot about everyone's personality. It's also nice to have everyone acknowledge the existence of each other, if companions only ever talk to Tav it can be strange.

This! Act 1 has too much dialogue in my opinion. It overwhelms me and annoys me and the rolling of the dice doesn't make it any better because it interrupts the desired chain of dialogue... I'm more into dialogues than actually playing... Unfortunately, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to that. Quite a few dialogues e.g. Nettie are just too long and branched out for me. In addition, I have to overload my carrying capacity in order to get the desired dialogue which means the desired result at the end. But in this particular case, that's a different story. What I actually want to say: Its really annoying and haunts me like "Noober". I was reading more dialogues and was reloading because of dice fails than playing the game by exploring and fighting... I want to play Baldurs Gate not SIMS. When it comes to dialogue, less is more. By that I don't mean the dialogues themselves, but their length and complexity (like Facebook threads). I know I'm exaggerating.

Hehe. Finally something we agree on.

Right on!!

It would be awesome to have party banter that specifically happens in camp, too. Right now companions are just standing around for convenient access if Tav wants something from them, but why not have them walk around, cook, craft, and while doing all that, have banter going on between them. It would make them feel so much more alive.

First post on a forum, sorry if I'm not doing it right.

Just wanted to agree with this. Banter and intra-party interactions are a great way to enhance immersion in one's party of choice, and they keep characters from feeling like cardboard
cutouts with backstory and the occasional long-winded interaction (which is the only area I think the parties in DOS2 came up short). What's already been done here is great, but there could be more.

I also want to agree with Etruscan's point on the neat nature of being able to facilitate relationships or interactions between party members in BG2. If we are going to be locked into a 4-person party where we hit the eventual point of losing access to others, it would be nice if those few party members could be given greater depth in their interactions with each other (also enhances permutations/replayability). I also remember in DA:O that the banter could also react to the player character's romance. Reactivity to a few major choices in the game in terms of party-to-party banter and PC-to-party interactions is a great way to immerse the player in both the events of the game and the characters we choose to take along with us, giving extra thrust to our choices.

The banter would be best in certain areas. One place that makes perfect sense, as noted by Sigi98, is the camp. Right now, the companions just sort of stand around, waiting for you to talk to them. They are all pretty close together, and the camp is the one absolutely safe place in the game. This could also make the camp-companions more interesting by giving them more opportunities to express characterization. Volo could talk to a party member, which could be funny. Suppose you made a decision that one character liked, but another did not. Would it not make sense to have a line apiece arguing about it in camp? IIRC, Pathfinder: Kingmaker had conversations upon rest. That makes sense, does it not? Especially given how much detail and care has been put into the camp and rest system.

As anyone can see, Lae'zel and Shadowheart HATE each other, and have lines of dialogue "subtly" threatening to kill each other while traveling. As the de facto leader, you should be able to stoke that hatred with inciting dialogue or subdue it with mediation, or tell them both to stop threatening each other with persuasion/intimidation. If you don't romance Lae'zel, she'll seek out Astarion. Maybe Astarion, being Astarion, chooses some colorful commentary to describe the evening, and Lae'zel, being Lae'zel, threatens him in response. If Gale consumes a magical artifact previously equipped by another party-member, maybe they'll have thoughts about losing their stuff. The potential companions have a lot to talk about: Wyll and Astarion both took dark deals for a cruel master/mistress at a precarious point in life, Gale and Astarion are both slaves to a certain hunger, Lae'zel and Astarion hate helping others, Shadowheart and Lae'zel are both fiercely loyal to their respective Goddesses (a potential point of mutual respect or hatred depending on your incitement/mediation?) etc. If you ask for Omeluum's help, Gale and Astarion could banter on satisfying hunger in tough circumstances in camp.

Finally, one tiny problem I have with the banter as already implemented is how short and cursory the interactions feel. Some lines are more conversational, while others are just single comments between characters. I much prefer the more fleshed out interactions (as in BG2), and I thought that the short two-comments were a shortcoming in DOS2.

I would pay for a greater characterization DLC/enhanced edition if necessary, as Eddiar mentioned, if it is too late in development to implement these suggestions.

+1 to everything

In hindsight, I actually don't understand why Larian isn't bigger on banter and companion-to-companion interaction or interactions between the PC and multiple companions. They seem to do fewer companions in their games than other games (meaning creating and inserting banter is literally less work because there are fewer permutations/combinations), and since DOS2, they seem to be moving in the direction of character-driven storytelling (albeit through the origin system). Why is it that games made 22 years ago (BG2), 13 years ago (DA:O), or some of the other recent CRPGs made by smaller studios capture this one process better than Larian. Especially if we are not only party-locked after a certain point, but also party-locked with only 4 characters, as opposed to the traditional six that can be changed on a whim. If less is more, then please give that less more depth so we can AGREE that less is more. Also, Larian does good character writing when they actually do the character interactions, so they shouldn't shy away from it.

The handling of individual companions in complete isolation in DOS2 was fine for a constrained story that connected you to the broader events, but it made for atrocious, bordering on nonexistent, party interactions. I've said this elsewhere, but there are multiple points where Red Prince, Ifan, and Sebille have overlapping stories, and they NEVER address it to each other, and usually one character's story (in my experience, Sebille's) seems to take automatic priority. Like going to that Lone Wolf guy or the Shadow Prince. Do these characters seriously have no opinions or thoughts on their overlapping fates or commonalities? (I know Shadow Prince addresses Red Prince before going for Sebille, but it's never brought up again, and it was a defining moment for both of their storylines and characters. Like the Lone Wolf guy and Ifan/Sebille). To be more immersive is to make the characters feel more alive. To make the characters feel more alive involves making it seem like they exist BEYOND the player character and their whims. Banter is part of that. Companion-to-companion interactions is part of that. Total party interactions is part of that. Decision reactivity is part of that. Commentary about the world around them is part of that. Conversations with each other about the world around them is part of that.

Also, more banter that isn't small talk please. As the game progresses, it would be nice if the party got familiar with each other and the dialogue got more personal, deeper, or more philosophical/worldview-based in nature to reflect the characters getting to know each other well. Evil companions making the case for why they see the world, as with neutral, as with good. Use banter strategically to make the characters seem deeper, more alive, and more real.

I would like if SOME companions would start dating (if i dont romance them ofc) ...
For example Gale seemed to be interested into Shadowheart

I think it's a fundamental problem with the Origins system and how they've been using it. Every companion is written as a *competing* protagonist, which seems to diminish their ability to develop together and work together with good companion arcs like other games have. Could also be a result of the perma-death/fixed party backfiring so they are not willing to put the time into two characters that share an important moment (like the Shadow Prince) if one or both of them could be dead.

if bg2 did this we wouldnt have the game that inspired so many great RPGS, larian took the name they need to take the responsibility too make the same level of depth in the NPC interactions

Its quite amazing how well the banter system worked (mods included) in BG1. Simple and elegant. Even more complex for BG2
For every 18 NPCs (and many mod's npcs) you had:

-General/Non-Banter Quotes :

-Reputation Quotes

-Selection/Action Quotes

-Environment Quotes (including certain zones/areas for BG2)

-Insult, Compliment, Special, Death Quotes

-Unique Banter Dialogue Trees (sometimes banters between 3 or 4 members of the party in BG2!)

-NPC Banter Summaries

-Recommended Party Formations

In BG2....I remember being blown away during this epic side quest were we ended up being in this den of phase spiders...banters started and Viconia commenting on this beautiful area while Jaheira responding quite positively saying we shouldn't mess with the spiders...starting talking some lore about them to Viconia... but Korgan being quite realistic saying to hell with it lets chop chop these evil creatures before they eat us and to hell with elves too! (that was hilarious since my party was nearly ALL elves) To Aeries horror ,and Korgan just traumatizing her to no end LOL.

I mean if Black Isle can do it with 18 NPCs...surely this is doable for Larian's 6~8 NPCs?