Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Conversations should use the entire party

Greetings,

I strongly feel that conversations, while in a party, aren’t as immersive as they could or should be. Let’s say I initiate a conversation, while in a party with Lae'zel. There’s an option to use a class specific Fighter line to avoid combat. If I’d instigate the conversation with Lae'zel, this option is present, while if I instigate with anybody else, even though Lae'zel is in the party right next to me during the conversation, this dialogue option will not come up. I feel that this isn’t as immersive as it could have been. It would have been really cool that if you instigate a conversation, regardless of class, wisdom, charisma or whatever, all the dialogue options are there, and the party member with the highest statistic will use that line, or if there’s a class specific line, you can opt to have that party member take over the conversation, until there’s another line that requires certain statistics better suited for another member whom then takes over the conversation.

Example:

I walk up to the NPC called Gimblegock and instigate the conversation as a non-Fighter class with a Charisma of 9. I’m in the party with Gale (whom naturally has the highest charisma 13 at this point) and Lae'zel (who’s a Fighter). I can choose from a normal dialogue option that isn’t tied to any statistical check, which would be fine for the character that instigates the conversation. However, there are also 3 alternative conversational options namely Persuasion, Deception and Intimidation that are all Charisma based. And lastly there’s a 5th option, which is a line you’d only see if you’re a Fighter.

I’d love the dialogue options to look like this instead:

1. I mean no harm – I’m just looking around.
2. [Persuasion] [Gale] That ship is full of monsters. I wouldn’t go near it.
3. [Deception] [Gale] I think that’s an invasion force. Run while you can!
4. [Intimidation] [Gale] The only thing you own is your life. Leave before I take that, too.
5. [Fighter] [Lae'zel] Take your best shot – you`ll only get one.
6. Attack.

See how dynamic this makes conversations where you allow the entire party to participate in it? This would also make much more sense, as this is how a normal conversation generally would go. Now it doesn’t need to say the name of another character, as this might become a bit convoluted when there are multiple characters with both the highest and exact same amount of charisma, or multiple Fighters in this case. But clicking on the dialogue option should give you a prompt where you can choose which character to use for that specific line. Ideally, I would like to see each selectable dialogue option voice-acted by the character chosen, but now I’m probably just dreaming a bit too much.

I’m most likely way too late to even request this as the game is already going to be released in August, but truth be told, I can’t be the only one having addressed this. I also wonder how conversations are going to be held in multiplayer, because that would require the same approach in my humble opinion.

Anyway, thanks for reading and looking forward to a reply.

Yeah this was brought up like at least once per month.
So far not even sign that Larian would plan anything like that ...

I believe that main problem we have found would be either:
The way they are creating conversations ...
Bcs it would make those talking blocks much biger.

Or Multiplayer ...
Bcs if you would have this, it would make perfect sense to also give options to other players to participate in conversation ... and such option is not there as far as i know.

Or camera ...
Bcs one of things that was promised and Larian is holding to is that cinematic aproach to conversations ... that may seem odd, if the camera would jump from character to character. :-/

But other than that ... yeah +1, would love to see that ... just dont believe it much.

Agreed, i think i mentioned this more than once already. And i seriously hope they will do it. Right now it does not really feel like you play a group of people but just individuals.

And every month, the forum shall answer! Muster the +1s!

Hmm, well that's slightly disappointing that it has been brought up so often and Larian haven't showed a single sign of implementing something so logical and might I dare say, even crucial.

yes. it is. You can look up my old posts about this and add your opinion. Maybe if all those old threads start to surface there is a chance that the issue gets some love^^

(Don't worry Larian, we still <3 u)

My guess is that this is some kind of awkward compromise to not always give to the player an easy path to a successful outcome. If it worked like that, there would be no reason to pick other options than tagged ones since they are always better choices than untagged ones.

Well, the thing is, this is a party-based RPG. Larian made sure to advertise as much. Having a balanced party that can cover most of the bases is part of the point of the game. There's even a loading screen reminding us of the value of a balanced party.

So, it wouldn't make much sense if the designers' reasoning was "oh no, if we let players act like a whole party during conversation, they'll always have good bonuses for the choices they make".

As a result, I don't think this is the core explanation for why conversations don't involve the whole party.



I'm not so sure of that. Because the DC (Difficulty Class) you face when picking an option is not always the same.

For example, iirc, when trying to convince Kagha to let Arabella go, you can use a [Druid]-exclusive dialogue option, or you can try a [Tiefling]-exclusive dialogue option, and the latter has a higher DC.

I'm sure there are some cases where you could, for instance, either use Intimidation and get a DC 18 or use Persuasion and get a DC 12 (because you're facing someone who's not easily intimidated, because the Intimidation line is actually stupid, and/or because the Persuasion option is actually the most sensible given the NPC's situation). And a DC 12 with a +2 bonus is easier to pass than a DC 18 with a +5.

So it would not necessarily be the case that the players would default to "tagged options", or more precisely, the options involving the Races, Classes, or Skills that they have good bonuses for in the party.

Well let's not jump to the most negative conclusions. Larian studios are very capable developers whom have proven to clearly listen to the suggestions of their fanbase.

As such, especially since Drath Malorn emphasizes how Larian has promoted the importance of having a balanced party, it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable that they would implement these conversational updates for the official release.

They`ll have to leave some surprises for us, right? We've already had the luxury of enjoying the game and contributing to the development with our opinions pre-launch for a very long time.

While hope is the fastest road to disappointment, we must accept this finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope :3

having anyone but the main pc talk breaks the muliplayer code... hence the last patch forces the main pc to talk in all cut sence [breaking many of the talks because it wasn't tested to actually work]

is it possible = yes but would take a lot of work and imo thats very unlikely at this stage of Dev unless they already have a team working on it ... you know like Monk

While its true that Swen litteraly promised us that even us, who have thousand + hours played will have new experience with our first character after official release.
(Only paraphrasing, its almost 3AM and i refuse to search source to quote. )

It seems little overstated to me.
But i would gladly be prooven wrong!

Well, if the above has been requested at least once a month, Larian will have known about this for a very long time.

And indeed, I've been following to development as well and I'm aware of Swen having promised that even us beta players, will have a new experience.

Now if that means we get something that is tied to the request of topics like these, I don't know, but in a game where there's so much emphasis on conversations,

I think it's acceptable to assume the official release might offer us exactly what we want from dialogue options.

Had a thread few months ago specifically about this topic, where I even took the time to suggest a possible solution to the problem layered in several levels of complexity/budget spending: https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=101623&Number=826412#Post826412

Then again, as others pointed, this is a recurring one.

Would you argue that this requested mechanic is one of the most re-occurring requested mechanics to be implemented?

One of them, possibly, though I suspect mechanical changes relevant to combat (eg stealth) come up more.

It does come up often enough that I’m considering making it a mega-thread.

At the very least, skill checks need to be opened up for the party members who actually HAVE that skill.

Lae'zel rolling Arcana checks while Gale stands behind her and watches is just moronic.

It's probably in the top 10%. The thing is, some players are more interested in combat, and it being interesting, challenging, balanced, etc, while some players are less into combat. But I think most players care about having a reasonably immersive story.


Let me/us know if you need help tracking down previous discussions on this topic.



Sadly, yes. Larian said they chose this cinematic approach for conversations in order to put the focus on the party. But right now, it rather underlines the fact that the party cannot act as a party.

Truth be told, I'm a lover of both. Sometimes it's more logical to talk your way out of things and when those options are immersive, it only contributes to my overall enjoyment of the game, just as high quality combat would.

I think most of us probably think like that.


They still have almost 5 months though. Combine that with the fact that this is an often requested feature, I will remain hopeful that we might get to see this implemented.

It’s definitely one of the more common ones. I am under an impression that it’s being requested in some for, over and over again by variety of people, rather than the same reoccurring posters.


It is a rather fundamental change though - it moves conversation system from “avatar” speaking to party speaking and new systems would needed to be develop to support it both in single and multiplayer, alongside potential changes to the content of the conversations.