Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback How to Enhance Immersion

Another Deja Vu...

So an old school Star Wars MMO had a language mechanic, that if yo didn't know another players language it would show up somthing like this "%^&%&%&*^%&*%".

So our guild all made Wookies on a different server (Mine was DR Zaus, the Wookie that looked like a Silver-back Ape). We went strait for the cantina for some hi-jinx.

Wookie line dancing, crazy antics, and....

....since we were all in Team Speak we would type garbage into the chat to confuse people.


"What language is that?", "Why can't I understand it?"

OMG this please it kills me!
It might not be a huge thing, but going Super Saiyan 3 when I hit the dash/what not is completely over the top.
For the love of something Larian how many times do we need to say flashier does NOT equal better. Especially when you try to make EVERYTHING flashier.

Lots of young Marvel fans at Larian I guess?

Would be pretty unprofessional not being able to tell the difference between D&D and Marvel. Or to force your own preferred playstyle on every game you develop, regardless of source material.

-A more in-depth quest log or journal would be better. I would like the quests and their sub-quests to be more clearly laid out and distinguished from each other. And maybe more of a journal format? With notes based on if we passed History rolls, or Arcana rolls, or Religion rolls, or Perception rolls, etc. So each quest feels like our party is actively attending to it even in the journal, learning about what could be happening, and providing lore to make it a bit deeper.
-Meals are more than the sum of their parts. Maybe put a cooking pot in camp (like Breath of the Wild) where we can combine certain food items with low supply count into a meal with a higher supply count. On the other hand, make it optional because I know lots of people skip the cooking in RPGs (like Skyrim). It would make Gale's dialogue about stew MUCH better.
-Faction membership? Maybe doing a lot of quests for a certain faction can unlock a camp follower, or certain unique dialogue, or a special tag, or the ire of enemy factions, or allies in later acts or just recognition of membership from NPCs. Doing quests for Spaw upgrades your title several times. It would be nice if that meant something. Maybe you can get [Myconid Ally] or [Friend of Spaw] or [Life Chanter] tags? Doing a bunch of Druid Grove quests could earn [Friend/Ally of Silvanus] or [Druid Grove Ally] tag? Or the Zhentarim/Harpers/Absolute/Sharran/Gith/Devil Member or Ally tag?
-Occasional events or quests (even just one) which are class-specific. Perhaps a Sorcerer event about investigating/discovering innate ability or its history. Or a Wizard event involving study or acquiring study materials in a library. Or a Cleric event involving the deity, along with a Warlock event of the same type for a Patron (Don't even have to make a model if that's too much; a glowing light would probably suffice). A rogue event involving Thieve's Cant for a heist/assassination. An event to challenge the Paladin's oath. Etc, etc.
-An emphasis on consistency in worldbuilding, cosmology, and lore. Elsewhere I saw a discussion about how WOTC has been a bit flippant with the rules of the Realms... a consistent world makes for an immersive one.
-If ropes are involved in verticality or combat, make it use a roll.
-Discourage metagaming? (Controversial, I know). Primarily let us act on *very specific knowledge* only if it has been determined that our character has access to such knowledge, either by roll, or by proficiency, or by background, or by class, or by preceding quests. I think this is already being done for the most part (I noticed you can only grant blood for a certain sword if you know about said sword), but carry that attitude everywhere. Metagaming breaks immersion in tabletop anyway.
-More hidden areas. And hidden areas inside of hidden areas. And hidden areas inside of those. Make me feel like an explorer delving into places I am not meant to be. I like that it's a bit harder to find the Festering Cove, or that the Fetid Bog involves an illusion, or that a certain house in a certain village has a big basement, or that the Ancient Temple after the Grymforge seems to be a new hidden area.

+1
Awesome stuff that I would really like to join or encounter in game.

-Camera tricks! I'm neither a game expert nor a cinema expert nor a camera expert, but I know Larian has these things in mind. During cinematic moments in the world, use the camera to give us a sense of intimacy with characters (proximity sense, already being done in a way), but also pull the camera to the side and a bit out from being really zoomed in like in the prologue showing the sheer size of the Nautilloid. You can make things seem much bigger than they are with camera tricks. Camera angles are also good for that.
-Let players set how they like the camera in a fixed way. If someone wants a more zoomed-in, slightly over the shoulder experience that you get when you zoom in really far to capture a character's field of view, let them. It can be immersive. If someone wants to zoom out to get a full isometric effect, let them. That's immersive in a different way. Different strokes for different folks, but camera tricks are great at shaping a landscape and its characters (like the initial trailers for BG3 demonstrate). It's already almost seamless, but sometimes a preferred camera setting is overriden by the structure of an area. Provide tilting camera if zoomed in? Then take it away when you start to zoom out more and more.

-As in Baldur's Gate 2, when we enter the city (assuming it's a true and active urban zone, hopefully), please give us a large tavern/inn with plenty of quest-givers, ambient chatter, dialogue, and events. Make it illegal to sleep in the city streets, and have guards approach us telling us off. If you are going to give us so much gold at the start (bit questionable), please make it expensive to enjoy the full extent of civilization, to reflect potential currency inflation. Either we need to get a room at an inn (of differing qualities, as in BG2), go to the sewers or some other hidden zone in the city, or head to the outskirts of the city to rest.
-More stuff outside of items and being shaken down to use our gold on please. Maybe investing in a structure that develops or a business venture. Maybe donating to a faction to help it develop, which could grant more quests.
-Don't want to knock the writing team too much, but the plot, characterization, and dialogue could be... deeper? More philosophical? Something that helps to express the worldviews of various characters, which would be a nice thing to integrate into party banter. Outside of shitting on the Moon Witch, can Shadowheart make a persuasive case for Shar and her corresponding worldview? Can Gale speak to whether or not pursuing forbidden knowledge/love is worth it if it destroys yourself and those around you? Can Astarion explain persuasively why someone who was tortured for a long period is not bound to care for others at all? Perhaps the intellectual and charismatic depth of our companions can be tied to their actual stats for Charisma, Intelligence, and Wisdom. While it was often a bit cheesy with some companions in BG2, they expressed their worldviews to each other and often challenged each other's ideas about the world, or concurred in a friendly manner. Do that, but better. I feel that many characters, party and NPC included, could express a bit more of their values and philosophies (where applicable, of course, and when relevant to narrative). Due to the tadpole being in the brain, I still feel that free will, autonomy, morality, and evolution are interesting themes to explore philosophically (if only through dialogue/chatter).
-In DA:O, interacting with the dog plays a cutscene of the dog and another companion. Can you do that with our companions, camp followers, or pets in camp at certain times (maybe only certain cinematics play after a specific decision or event)? It wouldn't have to be a lot of scenes, just a few sprinkled throughout the game. Maybe upon clicking the fire to rest, some camp members can chat around the fire.
-Are we too powerful too early? The DOS2 early game was more difficult and more restrictive than the BG3 early game. Is the difficulty too low? I thought level 1 characters were supposed to be weak. I'd like to keep all of our abilities, spells, and skills, but maybe have harder combat encounters.

+1 about camera

Good points, sounds of environment, day night weather, fires off I like the most

Every common action looks as if we play an anime character, it's so silly, +1

Lore and geography accurate Faerun. Its on a planet called Toril. It has a sun. Moons. Calendar. Seasons. Day/night. TIME Larian. TIME. This RPG game is more static than hell. 25 year old games do a better job. Hell, a 30 year old game, Ultima 7, does a better job.

wiki:
Toril was comparable in size to the planet Earth,[4][6][2] with an equatorial circumference of about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers). Its polar circumference was slightly smaller, at approximately 24,900 miles (40,100 kilometers).[2]

Toril consisted of various continents and islands, including Faerûn, Kara-Tur, and Zakhara in the central super-continent[6] and, throughout most of its history Anchorome,[9] Maztica,[10] and Katashaka in the western region of the world.[11] There was also one large and very mysterious continent east of Kara-Tur called Osse whose nature and inhabitants were all but unknown.[12]

Following the Spellplague, however, Maztica was sent to Abeir, the sibling world of Toril, and a new continent, Laerakond, appeared in the west.[13] Maztica returned to Toril during the Second Sundering.

On the matter of simplifying or making more subtle the common/bonus action:
In DOS2, every move had a cool animation because it made sense. Every move was supposed to be something special that we worked toward. Hell, backslash that the rogue gets early on is literally "*Teleports behind you* Nothing personal kid." Actions like shove, dash, and jump are meant to be simple things, unless they do something special, like throwing someone into a pit of lava. Make subtle actions subtle in their portrayal, with big VFX if they do something important.

1. Backgrounds / Factions

Especially the last two make me curious. Choosing that backgrounds and joining a faction / being a sell-sword for all the mercenary companies would be awesome. There is a lot of potential such as encounters with the infamous Bregan D'aerthe and completing assignments for them and other mercenary companies. The Zhentarim and Flaming Fist are already part of the Game.


2. Excursions outside of Faerûn
I would also like to make small trips to other areas. BG 2 and IWD 2 took us to locations in Kara-Tur or the Jungles of Chult. Maztica was also discovered in BG 2, but only mentioned...

Lore is being underutilized in general in this game, and it's just missing a lot of little things, like more in-depth item and map descriptions, usage of lore in more books (and more kinds of books), casual references in the world, visual storytelling, etc., and it's a shame because DnD has a lot of lore. I mean, look at games like Elden Ring or the Elder Scrolls (esp. Morrowind) in how they utilize lore for items and environmental storytelling. Items are described by their famed history or magical origins. Unique weapons get a whole quest built around them, with associated lore to match the quest reward. People will refer to places of legend that you eventually find.

I have funny feeling that WoTC's <D&D contract> for Larian has quite a number of restrictions...you get our license BUT you must comply with xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx....
I have ZERO trust in Wotc/Hasbro. Basically EA' s bastard relative.

I mean, Larian can always make up their own lore that just complies with the general rules and structure of the lore in DnD. Y'know, nothing that breaks anything important, but makes for interesting story/dialogue/chatter/description/storytelling. They can always:

-On the matter of implementing a calendar, or day counter, or marking of the days in some fashion, there are many ways NPCs could hint at time without having to deal with d/n. If you do a quest for someone, having them say, "Come back in 3 days," would mean coming back after 3 long rests, so nothing crazy, but a good illusion.

Why can't we have a day version of a zone and a night version of that same zone with appropriate content/changes.
Double the fun.
And double the work...hence my theory that resources are going WAY into cinematic dialogues more than anything. So we are NOT getting lots of <normal> RPG stuff that should be in the game and that takes quite some work.

A minor thing I found weird in the latest Panel from Hell presentation is the animation when playing musical instruments. I mean, the animation feels like the characters are "pretending" to play the instrument, but not playing. The body language is weird, is too cartoonish/exaggerated right now. I think it could be toned down a little bit. It seems like the violin animation are based on Lindsey Stirling