Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Can we have (option for) circular darkvision illumination back?

OFF TOPIC
Hey there Larian,
first of all: AWESOME it's out! My heartfeld congratulations to the entire team!

Game runs well so far - even selecting a different GPU seems to be fixed now (in EA i couldn't switch between rtx2070s and a770). Tho i currently experience sound issues that weren't there in early access, but i expect there to be a patch/fix soon for this, since i don't seem to be alone with very silent narrator and audio that sounds as if the speakers were out of phase. Didn't play after the last two hotfixes - maybe it's already solved.

From what i can tell: great launch with minor issues! Well done and thank you lots! <3


ON TOPIC
So regarding the title of this thread. Playing a Drow i noticed that instead of circular illumination around a selected character with (superior) darkvision - as it were in early access - we now have something like a light cone in front of such characters, which i find rather disturbing and hard to bear. It feels more as if my character is holding a flashlight than having the ability to see better in the dark. Especially when my Drow turns and the light cone sweeps over the environment it really irritates me and reminds me of a SWAT game with helicopter search lights.

I much preferred the circular illumination in early access, since it served well as implementation of darkvision without being too much "in your face" with erratic moving light cones flashing over the scenery.

So.. with all the aftermath of the release going on and while hoping you will get some rest too, i'd like to suggest to either revert this change or add an option to the game settings to have circular darkvision illumination again. Please?

Thanks for consideration and keep going!

Personally I think it's perfect as now it once again simulates the character's own field of view like all the other NPCs, while actually balancing other light sources such as Torch and Light Cantrip which illuminate the area around the character fully. Maybe they could just have a slight longer fade-off on the edges, but otherwise I think i't's perfect.

Wasn't a fan of the circular Darkvision at all because it looked silly to have a character acting as a lightbulb and especially because it ruined environmental lighting. It went from being a field of view to circular illumination to entirely globally applied illumination.

Thanks for the reply and your view on the matter - I kinda expected some to push-back, hence i also asked for it to be an option. Since you seem to enjoy the light cone, i'd go and implore Larian: please add an option for this.


Guess it comes down to preference. What follows is my opinion and my thoughts are more like: Since my character doesn't trace my eye's gaze (could use tobii eye tracker maybe?), with the change i now have to turn my character at things that i want to "cast light" upon. But to me darkvision isn't at all like "casting light". Currently it feels more like a flashlight feature and since my character only turns when i click somewhere or hold CTRL to force-attack, i feel it's very cumbersome to actually take advantage of darkvision. I thought circular illumination based on the selected character's abilities was absolutely brilliant before in early access. In a fight the visibility of the surrounding and elements was based on who's turn it was - no matter the direction that character currently faced.

In my mind my character doesn't stand mindless in one spot, staring just straight ahead. As i do IRL i'd expect my characters to look around and be somewhat aware of the things around them. So when i look at my screen at stuff behind my character, i don't wanna first turn that character around to be able to look there **. It's not a 1st person or OTS shooter after all. Plus if i wanna "take in the environmental lighting" i'd just select a different character (or don't play a Drow). For the character i wanna play the environmental lighting is (and should be) less of a factor - to me that's more immersive and more "being in character" playing with a circular illumination, first and foremost because it's being able to "see in the dark" and not "being able to cast light where one looks".

** by extension of that "turn around to see" argument: in that case shouldn't there always be a "fog of war" behind every character? No matter if there's light or darkness around them? Once there's light there doesn't seem to be an argument about the player being able to see and click stuff behind their character - only when it's dark suddenly we're only supposed to see what our character sees? My opinion: that logic is faulty. Sorry.

If i'd want spelunky torch management i'd play a race without superior darkvision. In addition my "real life" peripheral vision is around 180° - i can see much more than just a 45° cone in front of me - and i can look behind me by turning my head alone. In BG3 release version, standing in front of a wall this change becomes even worse with a round sphere of light on that wall. It's plain awful. So much so that i'm considering to start over, picking a character without darkvision.

I get some prefer the new way but i still ask for the option to get the early access circular illumination back. Please.