The idea of hiding DCs for skill checks did get me thinking, but on reflection I’m not sure it would stop me reloading if I were tempted to, just make it more frustrating as I wouldn’t know how close I was getting. But clearly mileage on this will vary and I can see it might feel less like failure if you just roll and something happens without it being clear whether your roll beat the DC. If DCs were hidden I wouldn’t object, and if it were an option toggle then I do think I’d give it a try.
I will say that I think BG3 has mainly cured me of save scumming on failed dice throws and I’m less tempted to reload if things don’t go my way than I’ve been with any game previously. And I do think part of it is that such a production is made of the dice roll so somehow if feels more like cheating to reload if I fail. Admittedly a fair amount is also that I already know what happens if I pass the roll, given I’ve played EA through a number of times. But I don’t believe I’ll lapse once the full release comes out as I find accepting the dice results so much more fulfilling and engaging. Yes, sometimes a series of poor rolls can leave few options to progress and none of them are what my character would have wanted, but that now actually feels to me like an interesting story for my character as opposed to a failure. And I’ve never had to actually reload due to bad rolls given Larian seem to have done a good job of making sure there are such a variety of ways to accomplish most tasks.
I certainly wouldn’t object to additional interesting options being implemented for failed rolls, or indeed critical successes (or critical failures, though I know that’s a controversial one). That would be great. But actually I’m no longer finding the urge to reload a problem with my own game and have learned to embrace the drama and unexpected challenge that the D20 introduces.
