Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Opinions on amount of companions

So... if you purchased a game based on it being advertised as a particular type of product, and something you thought you might enjoy... and when you got it home, you found that it was not, in fact, that thing at all... you would not be unhappy that it had been falsely promoted to you, or that the reason that had drawn you to purchase it was not, in fact, present or true? You would not be annoyed at that, nor expect the industry to hold that product producer to a better standard of representation?

That's what you're claiming, but I don't believe that it's true; I think if you bought a blender, and when you got it home and opened the box to find a toaster, you would not simply appreciate your new toaster and be content that it toasted bread efficiently; you'd take it back to the shop.... because what you wanted when you purchased was a blender, and you made the purchase you did because the product claimed to be a blender - if the product had advertised itself as a toaster you would, on this particular day, have walked past it in search of the blender you were after.

You're welcome to have an opinion that having fewer party members to choose from intrinsically creates more intimate and personal stories... but what I'm pointing out to you is that that is a false equivocation; it is not inherently true, and there are many counter-examples to be had of this. By correlation, both things can be true together, and they often are - but it's not a contingent relation, and if it is your opinion that it is - that one does necessarily entail the other... then that's simply incorrect. A lot of commenters feel that the limited number of companions is stifling, because it presents a list too small to choose a varied party of people that we want to adventure with. Different players have different tastes, and right now there's virtually no choice at all; there should be more. If you're not trying to say that having fewer companions intrinsically means that they will be better, then what you actually end up saying as a result is that you think that if Larian attempt to add more companions, they will let the quality of those companions suffer, in a way that many other games do not and have not... is it your opinion that Larian just aren't up to the task of having more than a few companions, compared to other developers who were? If you don't feel that way, then there's no reason for you not to be in full support of there being more companions to choose from.

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I'd also suggest that Larian's idea of party bonding is really atrociously lacklustre compared to pretty much every other contemporary game that tackles the issue. There are virtually no interactions or ties between companions that make them feel like they exist in the same space; there are a couple, but really, barely any at all... the majority are blank one-on-one conversations between your cardboard mop player characters, and the NPC who is using the conversation to dunk on you or show off how extra they are in some way... They manage the worst of both worlds, actually, because you either have conversations that are one-on-one conversations that no-one else is even seen to be aware of at all... or there's party banter on the road that completely excludes your character and renders them non-existent. Other games have dialogues and conversations that involve all or at least several party members, which you are also a part of, and they help the party feel like a genuine party. BG3 has maybe one or two of these in Act one... it is by far not the norm.

Yes I mentioned other games again - That's because BG3 does not exist in a vacuum, and my experience and enjoyment of it is directly impacted when it does, or fails to do, something that I've experienced other, older games doing far better. I might be okay eating rock soup with salt... I might find it passable, pleasant even, and I might comment on the interesting kick of flavour that the salt lends to the dish, and consider it a far better dish than rock soup without salt... but if I've had lasagne before, and found it to be an excellent meal, and then someone promises to make me an excellent lasagne meal with their personal twist, I'm not at all going to be appreciate of them serving me rock soup with salt, and talking about how skilful they are at adding the salt, and self-aggrandisingly talking about how much effort they put into getting the application of salt just right; I don't care, and I won't be happy if I paid them to make lasagne.

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