Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Feedback on companion interaction and party dynamics

The lack of meaningful companion to companion interaction significantly detracts from the feeling of being an actual party. While one on one interactions with the player character is masterfully done, interactions among the companions themselves are severely lacking. Over the course of 85 hours of gameplay, there are few if any instances where companions engage in meaningful conversation with each other or contribute substantially to quest dialogue.

Companion to companion interaction

Apart from the sporadic 20 sec filler dialogue that companions engage in when exploring, I can not , almost, remember a single instance in the ENTIRE GAME where two party members exchange words to each other. The only situations where I can remember this is when you free Lae'zel and she and Shadowheart has an exchange, and one other which I will come back to. This absence of interaction makes it feel like the companions have no relationship with each other, and most of the time it feels like companions are just staring blankly in the background during quest dialogue and are not even there. I have not had this problem in other RPGs so this feels like an isolated problem with BG3 itself.


Examples of disconnected moments


Suggestions for improvement:

1. Companion to companion interaction scenes
In order for it to feel like the party members are building relationships of friendship, rivalry, hate, etc. There needs to be actual dialogue that confirms this, where the dialogue is NOT centered on the MC. I need to see Wyll and Karlach build a relationship that progress in a logical manner up to the point where he says "I can not watch someone I love die". If the scene is going to feel authentic.
Example: Dialogue where they reflect on their infernal connections, life before infernal connections, things they have in common etc.


2. Group talks and activities.
Enhance the party dynamic by including for example: Group talks by the fire, card games as a group, shared meals with maybe some reflection as a group.
Further examples: Maybe Wyll comes by as I am playing lanceboard with Gale and wants to play a game. Drunk dance offs, push up contests, stories by the fire. This can be done in either a comedic way or intellectual one, JUST ANYTHING TO MAKE IT FEEL LIKE THIS IS ACTUALLY A GROUP OF COMPANIONS.

3.Vocal approval
Replace the generic text "X approves/Dissapproves" with voiced expressions during the actual quest dialogue. Yes this happens sometimes , but more often it does not. With voiced expressions it will make their feelings more genuine and engaging.

4. Examples from other games regarding party dynamic.
- Leliana's song by the fire in DA:O.
- Mass Effect party DLC.
- Garrus and Shepard, beers and shooting stuff from rooftops.
- Geralt/Ciri snowballfight
- Geralt and the Witchers on their drunk detective quest.

Summed up, it feels like party members never talk to each other and all progression of relationships goes through the MC as a medium.

In conclusion, investing more time into these issues will enhance player immersion and the companions will feel like they have actual personalities outside of talking to the MC.

Honestly I think it would be great if characters interacted more in camp. Maybe this is part of the problem of having every conversation be a cutscene. It takes way more effort to add in the little touches that make characters feel more real.

Overall I agree that companions don't quite seem aware of each others existance. There is artificiality to the companion content, that's for sure. That said:

Im have to point out that Leliana's Song, Garrus Shepard, Geralt/Ciri/Witchers. First two are content between PC and a singular companion, and Witcher doesn't have companions - those are just story moments. Now those are great character moments - aside from Leliana, which is a moment focused on her character, I think the other are too predetermined to work in BG3. Both ME and Witcher have somewhat or fully predetermined characters. BG3 already for my taste doesn't give my enough urgency as far as narrative is concerned - I wouldn't want to see it swayed even further by deciding nature of relationship between PC and a companion.


That could go very badly. What you are asking here is replacing a systemic notification with a narrative interaction. Either writes would have to write naturally feeling lines for each such interaction (which even so, having characters constantly say "I liked that!" would be weird considering how often it happens), and using a pool of generic lines could have the opposite effect. And easy example is Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire - while not voiced the companion relationship system, inserts written companion reactions to represent their changes of attitude. How weird those end up feeling ended up a meme among the community, even after the worst offenders were patched out (like a characters showing her approval of giving proper burial to memebers of her religion by clapping and laughing), repetition of lines brings attention to how artificial the system is, rather than making it feel natural.

You seem to remember Leliana's song a bit differently from me. Granted I haven't really played any RPG for the last 3 years because of education reasons.
This is how I remember it: While the scene starts as a conversation between Leliana and MC, after she starts singing it branches out into an atmospheric scene involving all party members. The camera focuses on each party members face showing that the song is catching their attention, and subsequently they appear to enter a state of reflection. Making this scene a group scene, although there isn't much interaction between party members here either.

As for Garrus and Shepard, you can easily incorporate one or two more characters in that scene while keeping almost everything the same. I should maybe have stated that when I wrote it.

Keep in mind these were only indented for brainstorming, I am not necessarily saying that Larian should copy them. I just wrote what I could think of in the moment( as said before it has been a long time since I played DA:O and other classics.)

As for the approval system, like you said it can come across badly but vocal approval actually already exists in BG3, it is just exceedingly rare. And as for making it natural, well, that is why you(Larian writers) are being PAYED to write right? In my opinion there are many situations where it just feels very strange that the companions are saying nothing (both for or against said decision).

Does it make more sense now?

*Edit* Regarding the witchers not being companions, I don't feel like it makes any difference, a similar scene could easily be implemented in BG3 for added party dynamic.

Act 3 the lack of party interactions is especially noticeable if you have the room in the tavern, they all just stand by their beds like they are waiting for a military inspection or something.
No one moves, they have a really nice seating area that no one sits in and no outdoor area for the pets (a little roof garden would be nice - can be screened so that you can't see the street or anything). Have em use the seating area now and again, there are tables that could have chess games going
Its so bad that on my current playthrough I just high tail it back to Rivington every time and use the campsite there (the one in the Lower city not the tavern is a miserable place, I prefer a bit of sunlight and you are clearly meant to be using the tavern).
At least at the campsite they are spread out and doing different things in there own little areas so the lack of interactions isn't quite so obvious.

I don't really understand why at night when we have a campfire we can't all be sat round it with a bit of mild scripted banter going on, doesn't have to be a ton of stuff, just sat next to/with the person that has been defined as your significant other by Withers might be nice, have them wave you over if you land back at camp after dark even hand you a mug of something. Just a small cutscene with a bit of background conversation rumble with some music until you call sleep time - anything other than what we get really.

As I said though just doing something with the Tavern in Act 3 would be so much better.

What you are describing here is exactly what I had in mind. Small stuff, just enough to keep up the feel that the party is actually, a party.

- Gatherings around the campfire, conversations which aren't exclusively 1 on 1, but group talks.
- I never played Gwent, but maybe a mini game like Lanceboard?
- Like you said, use seating areas. And the military inspection was a nice touch, I could not quite word it the way I wanted to.
- Party members engaging in whatever really, drunk dance offs for comedic effect, maybe you could have a philosophical debate with Withers and Gale for intellectual effect, who cares, anything goes, just something.

I'd love to have Campfire scenes (as I mentioned in another thread) not only would it be a good way to show how everyone went from being a disparate bunch of strangers pulled together by circumstance to being a team of people who work together to deal with this massive threat.. but would also save a ton of running around asking "what do you think?", instead there'd be a proper discussion (potential argument) amoungst everyone in a single scene.

Not to mention help communicate how certain companions are feeling in a much better way - for example:

Exactly.

As it is I feel like this is almost absent from the game. Not just group talks. I can not, almost, remember a single scene where anyone in the party talks to each other, except through the MC as a medium. It feels like the companions have no realtionship with each other. Only with you.

WHich makes it baffling when Wyll states " I can not watch someone I love die" (referring to Karlach). I am just sitting there thinking "what on earth?". The guy has not had a single conversation with 1 on 1 with Karlach all game.

Act 3 feels like every companion died inside.

I totally get what you mean. It also does feel a bit odd to have characters like Dame Aylin, Isobel, Volo, Yanna, and Barcus just hanging around camp doing nothing at all. And Dame Aylin being always in full armor is just weird...

It would be great if these characters had more involvement at camp too, taking part in some of the interactions there. Otherwise, I don't know why they're even there in the first place. I also don't get why everyone vanishes during camp attacks. It's likely for gameplay reasons, but it does break the immersion.

As for the pets, they are just there too doing nothing most of the time. Scratch brings Tav random items, which is fine, but the owlbear seems to just roam around without much purpose, so there could also be special interactions between pets and companions.

Additionally, there are plenty of unused buildings at camp, such as the ruins in Act 1, the house in Act 2, and the barn and other buildings on the Wyrm's cross camp in Act 3, which seem like wasted opportunities to add some interactions there.

All of act 3 everyone is just standing around with nothing to say.

Everything just stops. But imo the problem is deeper, like stated in the OP, companions never talk to each other.

Imo, the like stated in the OP. Companions just don't talk to each other and build relationships.

Companion reactions to plot points and overall dialogue decrease in act 3, but it feels like companions don't talk to each other for the entire game.

To be fair, companions do interact while in your party when you go on adventuring time. I like that a lot, but sometimes I miss the lines and maybe a journal of these talking would be nice to at least read if missed.

More camp interraction would be great :

- let characters wander around to talk to each other instead of staying near their tent and even come to reach you if they have something to say
- let them intervene in fights as uncontrolled allies if not in your controlled 3 (if they die, and you change scene, put a coffin near their tent with some corpse conservation magic making lights to remind you they should be resurected
- let them perform camp activities (cooking, fire caring, playing, etc.... anything that brings life and heads toward bonding or antagonizing each other

These could add too much more content, but an option to get hints from other present party members could be nice.
Let say you are in a cutscene and a choice arises. You have an icon downscreen to have the chosen party member express what they would do.
Maybe give the insight only if you pass a check with a bonus based on approval ? Or put each party avatar next to the choices they like or dislike when you pass the check.
Im getting off topic, sorry.

I too would love to have more camp activities and to see the companions have interactions together! It would make the party feel more real and you'd probably feel closer to those characters that you personally don't play so much with.

If we take an example from a very different genre, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a mind-blowing camp system. There other characters go about their tasks, talk together (both one-on-one and in groups), their stories evolve regardless of you and if you go to them they react to you being there, and in the night they gather around the campfire to tell stories and sing. I understand that Larion doesn't try to have that kind of camp environment, but there'd be so many examples of simple ideas that could make BG3 camp environment feel more alife.

Personally I think it would be nice to have more voiced reactions when some characters like or dislike your decisions, especially when it's something meaningful. But not every time and definitelly not from everyone, because there's just so many of those moments.

Yes I pointed out that they engage in banter while exploring. However, that is always 20 sec very shallow, non-relationship building dialogue. Also, by the time you reach act 3 they are not even doing that anymore. There needs to be actual dialogue that has progression over time, that shows they are building relationships. If not the Karlach-Wyll dock scene for example will never make sense.


I have not played RDD, but what you are explaining here is exactly what I had in mind. What kind of party would just stand in each others corner like it's a boxing match for 90 hours?
Things that are needed:
- Campfire scenes, singing, star gazing, storytelling, dinner together etc. This would flesh out party dynamic.
- Companion to companion interaction without the MC as a medium almost does not exist. We need to see for example, Wyll-Karlach talking about hell, Gale-Shadowheart discussing goddess problems, and so on. And just to re-iterate, it needs to be MORE than shallow 20 sec dialogue.

I liked





I loved the ideas

What I want is 2 things:

-Let us hug our romanced character, dammit!

This is really noticable when you romance Shadowheart. At the end of ACT 2 and with her personal quest. She is there alone, questioning herself, her life choices and crying, while my character just stands like a moron. You should be able to hug your companions, only Karlach and Astarion get a scene like this, last I checked.

-If you romance someone they should be sharing the bedroll, cuddling.

Just a little bit of reactivity, holding hands, etc. Just not asking for a kiss.

Mass Effect 3 had a little bit of this, where you could find some companions together playing poker, or just chatting in the Mess, or drinking at the bar, and you could go up and have a conversation, but you could just as easily stand there and listen to them chat. It gave them more life to see them interract with each other in that way. Would LOVE to see even a small part of this in BG3 at camp. Even if it was just some of the chatter you hear while walking around, but hear them talking together in camp, like Lae'zel and Gale about battling prowess, etc.

I think there's plenty of feedback within the game from companions, NPCs, etc. You can change the level of feedback in the game settings LOL! I don't want them commenting on everything. This is a Video Game and not REAL LIFE. That's the level of immersion you're asking for. You want your Companions to be your virtual friends because I'm guessing you have a lack of those. Perhaps you should make your own game? That way you can have everything you could ever want *rolls their eyes*

Is that so? You want to point out where that is exactly? Screenshot it maybe? Because if you're referring to "Point-and-Click Voice Frequency" that is the player character and how often they comment when you move them or click back to them. And I don't believe the OP is trying to make the companions friends IRL. It's feedback. If you don't like what is said, why dog a post? Just ignore and move on.