Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General What is this?!

"As we head into Baldur's Gate 3's launch year of 2023, we want YOUR stories for something special!

Funny moments? The most challenging battle? Who holds your character’s heart? 👀
Share your adventures with us!

More info and how to submit here: https://stories.baldursgate3.game" //Salo


So, as I understand it, you're asking people to provide Larian Studios with videotapes of their faces and/or voices talking positively about their product but won't reveal what it is for or how that material is gonna be handled?

And as per your "Promotional Video Participation Statement" you intend to use it for commercials and without reimbursement!

That's fishy. Larian Studios have money enough to pay for their own god damn publicity. The community here, through ideas, feedback and discussions, and to a not small degree, money, has given them more than enough. It's time for you to actually give something back!

You're much too worked up over this. It isn't malicious, and they aren't withholding anything from you if you *don't* participate. To boot, they're apparently giving some sort of prize to the 'winner.' It won't be money, since that is potentially outside of legality.

Meh, sounds like a cringy marketing campaign showcasing "community". Feel free to not participate. Those who do, are probably enthusiastic enough to not care about any of the things you mentioned.

What's up with this forum always having this weird entitled anti-Larian tendency to turn everything into a negative.

It's literally a community thing that many companies do because why not. It's nice and sometimes even cool. The most recent video community event I recall was with the game Control, where people were able to send their questions to the actress Courtney Hope. So it's nothing out of the ordinary as plenty of companies do it and it ends up being nice.

As for this event, nobody is forcing you to participate nor anything of the sorts.

I’m with OP. Crowdsourcing content creation is ethically sketchy under the best of circumstances. In this case, it seems a little tone-deaf for Larian to be asking for yet more from the community after money, feedback (if possible with annotated illustrations), patience, trust, and more patience.

This would have been the perfect thing to ask for during, say, a PfH marking two years of early access. It would have felt like a celebration of the early access community. This feels like exploitation.

If I could send questions to the voice of Gut, that would be different. This is using fan’s work without compensation to generate profit.

What exactly is it you think that I feel entitled to, Crimsomrider? An opinion? The right to voice it? Yes, I admit, I feel entitled to that. Just like you felt entitled to voice your concerns about the new graphics in patch 8. I didn't call you entitled or anti-Larian for that. But thanks, I guess.

It is a thing many companies do because they have something to gain from it. Cheap publicity. Remember, a company aiming to earn money, NEVER do anything for free. If they add a dlc for free it's to earn goodwill. If they donate to charity it's to earn publicity. All indented to later make them earn more money. But those same companies have no shame at all, asking their customers to give them promotional material...for free, even though they have more than enough funds to pay for it. Doesn't matter if you personally find the end result "Nice", the company gains more from it than the participants.

Your face holds value, your voice, your thoughts, your passion, they all hold value. Companies knows this, so they should pay for it. And you should stop giving it away for free, you're worth more than that

I'm not complaining because I feel this is forced upon us, or because I'm anti-Larian. I complain because I think Larian, and other companies should stop with these practises.

Free marketing? Huh.

You are indeed entitled to your opinion, and the right to voice it. You're even entitled to be wrong, and to make wild assumptions like that this is an effort for free publicity rather than a misguided attempt at community engagement.

It's still a wild assumption, though.

"Involve the community!1!"

They scream.

"NOT LIKE THAT THOUGH WTF!112!11"

They get angry.

If you don't want your face shown on stuff or used - then don't submit it. It's as simple as that.

Some people wont stop complaining until the game is out, and then they will finally be able to start complaining about the game itself.

I'm not technically savvy enough to make videos, but if I were, I'd take the opportunity to spam them full of bug reports.

2) "What is the best, weirdest, and/or funniest thing that has happened to your group so far during Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access?"

Here's a "weird" example: from 02:23 min to 02:48 min (Patch 8).


Xeph, Amek, and Rechel are complaining about the druids, but as you can see, their gestures and facial expressions are directed in the wrong direction (to Marricko & Locke in the upper left).... However, the Druids concerned are at the bottom right of the stairs...

I had already reported it on 04/20/2022 (Patch 7) with screenshots and not only in this forum, but also directly to the support. At that time I was surprised at a quick response, the same day (a Sunday). But until now, this and many other reports (collection thread of me) has not changed much.

ha! Mine easily would be this one:

This kind of community involvment already exists. Larian’s twitter account is all about reposting their fans’ work. Early access could have been something of a two way street; this is more of the same.

Remember that on october 6th, Larian chose not to give the community anything. Two weeks later they are choosing to ask for more from us. It’s not a great look and it rubs me the wrong way.

I don't think its accurate to say "this forum" is anti-Larian or always complaining. Plenty on here are generally supportive and consistently positive. Almost every poster has been positive at least some of the time. Certainly there are lots who are disappointed with Larian's efforts and the current state of the game.

It doesn't help that the developers have been AWOL from the forum they set up to discuss the game, particularly as its an EA release. I've never seen a developer do that before. The various "Community Managers" that have popped up lately with these types of announcements don't compare to having the developers drop by at least once in a blue moon to discuss progress, answer questions, address issues etc.

Nature abhors a vacuum and this forum has been allowed to become one due to their deliberate absence.

As to the topic of the thread I think its pretty harmless and obviously is voluntary. The OP's critique of corporate PR in general however is certainly spot on.

I'd have been happy to submit some form of artistic contribution - a montage of game screenshots with story-boarding, for example - but I don't have access to any kind of digital recording software, I most definitely don't show my face on digital footage that I don't have complete control of, and I'm mute, so, I can't and don't vocalise either. If video submissions of players chatting about stuff if what's requested specifically, I can't do that.

I'd probably just have told the story of Ka'chu'ka, Githyanki 'wizard', with screenshots anyway... and hilarious as it is I'm not sure that would be counted as the kind of endorsement they want ^.^

Always loved posts like this. Without the hyperbolic caps-lock and tone, the two strawman quotes look entirely fine as a progression.

Larian's not going to give you any extra credit for demonizing people who are critical of them.

Well the way an opinion is formed and expressed is what makes it so, which is what my observation is simply based upon. Such as;


If this was EA or Activision or Ubisoft, anti-consumer corporate parasite companies that actively and shamelessly exploit their customers as they have been for decades, then yeah I'd understand. But with Larian? Admittedly Larian does lack in the communication department, but this whole talk like they're a "fishy" company dealing in "shady practices", that just takes away and gives nothing back and owes something to us... come on now. Despite being silent, at least they're making a great game that won't be half-assed and riddled with effing in-game stores, micro-transactions and overpriced DLCs, while trying to cater to some woke agenda. It will be a pure game for gamers, as gaming used to be.

Not to mention there's an entire community of people outside these forums who actually make artistic content for the game; whether it's mods, screenshots, cosplay, artwork, stories, roleplay, videos, events and many other things, who do it out of passion and might want to get involved with this because they love the game, but also because it might give them exposure too. I personally am curious to see the artistic side of the community and I hope the video does justice to their art.

So I truly do not see the issue here for wanting to promote the game by including fans who wish to participate in such a thing, as many people do such things out of fun and because they like the game. It's just free and cheap marketing with some community input. Just like with Twitch streamers on release day. It hurts nobody and affects nobody. And it's only a problem if a person decides to make it a problem, which to me this is simply making a mountain out of a molehill. Personally I would be the first in line to point out any corporate anti-consumer bullsh*t, but this just isn't it.


No work can be used without a fan deciding to participate, so those who wish to participate will do so without strings attached as they don't care about such things. Those who expect compensation clearly won't.

Nice strawman.

Personally, I'd be much more uncomfortable with paid player accolades. It could be fun to see a compilation of player favorites, if there are stories or events that folks want to share. I'm not interested in paid (and therefore suspect) testimonials or in reading about how Larian bought such favorable commentary. I see nothing wrong with Larian's invitation. Players can embrace the opportunity or not as they prefer.

Honestly i dont see the problem here ...
Thousands of people around the globe showed that they want to stick their face to this product, several youtubers based in fact all their content on it ... so, if they are going to record some praising video and Larian is going to use it in some montage, most of us will skip anyway in next PFH ...
Why not?