Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback The Dialogue System is Antithetical to D&D

+1 to OP; points well-made.

I tried a couple of games with my husband in patches 2 and 6(?) but we found the dialogue system too clunky so I just play solo atm and he's waiting for the full release.

+1 to the Pathfinder comment. I really liked the skill system! I knew we needed Persuasion (well, that's what Daeran was for), Mobility and Athletics for fewer map ambushes (and any pet/mount took care of that), Regill and Seelah shared the burden of Knowledge (skills) so in the end, the PC didn't have to be some ridiculous jack-of-all-trades. Everyone pulled their weight.

I think companion switching / teammate help wouldn't be that hard to implement because they have Origin animations and dialogue so all you need is to switch the camera focus to the character who is rolling, as though they were advising the person who the game selected as the main speaker.

I can certainly imagine Lae'zel butting in to intimidate someone, Gale hem-hemming until everyone listened to his opinion on some artifact, or Astarion condescendingly offering a hand with a tricky lock .

I would absolutely love for the dialogue system to work that way. Taking the Origin animations into account for the switching of characters during dialogue is a fantastic point. If Larian can make that change and make it work, it would improve the dialogue mechanics immensely. It doesn't have to be perfect, as long as we can utilise the party's various skills in dialogue (within reason), that would already be many times better than what we currently have and have had since the beginning of EA.

Perhaps one of the main reasons we haven't seen drastic changes to the dialogue system yet is because it may be tied to the Origin animations and options exclusively to that. However if that is the case, I would appreciate Larian letting us know. I would be content knowing they are working on it and we'll just have to wait until they implement the Origin system into EA before we can get the enhanced dialogue mechanics. I'd feel a lot more comfortable knowing something is happening or nothing is happening, instead of just silence and hope of change from an apparent comment made on a Stream a few years ago. I could focus my feedback elsewhere if that is the case.

Especially since with every patch, we're getting closer to release. The closer we get to release with the same dialogue mechanics, the less likely it seems it will be improved.

I believe it’s doable, as there exist mods in DOS2 that allow you to use your party’s stats for dialogue. Larian studio could just buy the mod of the person who developed it and stick it into BG3.

I think, ultimately they prefer it this way as IRL of someone is speaking to you who is an authority [a cop, a boss, a politician etc] you would not expect your Bf /Gf / Mom / dad to jump in and speak for you. So it is likely for immersion. Yet where do I stand?

I think it should be an option for players that is on for default. As most players will expect this, as it’s a trope of D&D as was said by Op. even if I personally would not use it

+1 for dialogue system updates. I hope they make it in! I would love to see a system like SWTOR has for multiplayer dialogue. For single player I would like to have the option for dialogue that starts automatically to go to the pc.

- I get the impression that BG3 is about a group of equal adventurers.
All of us have a special tadpole in their head and seek a way to cure or use this condition.
I do not have the impression that any one of them is more importent than the other.

suggestion for single player:
- When several chars are chained together, the one at the top does the talking.
This is mostly for cut scenes, not when you select a char and then select another NPC to talk to.
- During a cut scene or conversation and when it makes sense, ALL chained chars make a roll and when your "face" fails but another one wins, (s)he will tell you.

This may not be perfect, but I think it could be an improvement.
And I admit it can be lots of work.
Lets say an NPC talks about planar travel and you fail a knowledge check what he is talking about. Then you would need voiced lines and animations for every companion to explain you what a plane is in case they succeed the roll.

I see a solution. The narrator has lines when a check is successful (eg: the descent history check at the grove "You remember that...").

"You turn to your companion." is only one line, regardless who rolls and who the camera focuses on. And it's generic enough to fit many situations.

I think that mechanically-wise Solasta dialogue system is excellent for party-based crpg. I didn't like the looks and it was very shallow but I really liked the core of the system: it's the party doing the dialogue, not just 1 person. And when choosing the answer you can choose who would answer. If you want to persuade it should probably be the character with most developed persuation skill and so on. If it's a passive check like arcana, they all should roll for it at the same time. Whoever passes the check just says (or another char asks and they answer) what they recognized.

Yeah, aside from how underdeveloped this side of the game is, it was the first time an adventuring party in an RPG felt like a party. A design worth exploring further, I think.