Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Suggestions for DLC / Definitive Edition

New races, classes or spells and abilities don't interest me that much, neither do other changes to the current story and it's participants. Would not buy such stuff. I would appreciate the possibility to totally customize hirelings and park the hired at the camp, other than that I just want new story content in a new area.

Some additions:
- Potential plot of dealing with remnants of Absolute's army in Act 3 (in currently unexplorable area below Rivington). Even if we kill their remaining leaders Orin and Gortash, a part of the massive army that we saw at the end of Act 2 is still outside of city's walls even after unlucky siege attempts and even with their leadership decimated they can still cause havoc near Baldur's Gate and could have a quest dedicated to dealing with them.
- More itemization for currently low represented item types. Aside from already mentioned absent Rare+ quality Light Crossbows, there is only 1 Heavy Helm, no Heavy Boots and so on. Though, since there are a lot of items that are datamined, currently not accessible in game and were not a part of Early Access (as some EA items were replaced by other), maybe Larian is already working on that.

Some additions:
- More options for custom difficulty settings, like more / stronger / smarter enemies, shoving to death not working with a custom setting (like exists for some bosses currently) etc.
- More narrative options in Act 3. Aside from mentioned earlier exposing Gortash and truce between Emperor and Orpheus, there could be more options for Umberlee Temple situation (to fake dwarf's death, convince Wave Servants to keep him alive and he would somehow compensate for his crime instead and so on), refugees situation (to let some of them get into the city like Mattis and tieflings from earlier acts) and so on.

If Act 3 could get more dialogue and camp scenes from companions, especially from the companion you're romancing, that would be sweet! It would be nice if act 3 was similar to act 1 in terms of companions having amazing dialogue packed throughout the act. Act 2 is fine because it's such a short act that it doesn't feel like it has quiet spots. But act 3 is so huge that it can feel too quiet. Companions seem to care less about you or what's happening than they did in act 1.

I support those who wrote about the cure for Astarion in case he doesn't ascended. I really like the Ascension path, but the "good path" is so lose-lose right now, looks unrealistic and secondary, that there isn't even any "choice problem". Why unrealistic? The cure options are just begging for it, they fly in the player's eyes when you go through the game with a non ascended, which makes the player feel helpless and angry. For example, Dalyria with her diary and description of her blood transfusion experiments. Why have to just let her go rather than take her to your camp and continue her experiments? In BG2 we find a way to heal from vampirism, why is this unavailable in BG3 despite hints? Separately, Jaheira's ritual, perhaps if refined, could have a way to help Astarion or Karlach. At the moment it's unclear why this ritual is in the game, what it does ( hanging out in inventory and doing nothing). Hopefully this is still just as yet unfinished content, and not just an excuse for a little "how bad is it to want to be immortal" dialog. Healing Astarion will in no way reduce the value of going through the Ascension ritual, on the contrary, it will make both options of going through equally valuable, because at the moment, alas, the "good way" option for me looks simply extremely depressing and unacceptable to go through, even "for the sake of variety".

Also support the suggestion of revealing Astarion's past - that would be very interesting and I'd really like to see it in the game. Love the suggestions to add new interesting companions to the game (I vote for Nere - that would be really fun!). And of course, it would just be great to be able to have an additional adventure in any of the cities that the portals in House of Hope lead to. It could be a great continuation of the game after the main story is complete.

Yes. they could definitely add more interactions to Act 3 both to companions and the world. For example, both companions and surrounding world have little to no comments on Gorthash's death (aside from Karlach), companions barely react to Balduran's identity reveal (you would assume that people like Wyll and Minsc would be shocked by it) and so on. Definitive Edition / DLC or even later patches could ge a good possibility to add more interactions or reactions.

I would like for the commitment to physical media to be lasting, but realistically this might be one of the last games I ever get to purchase on some kind of Disc.

My little rig doesn't even have an optical drive anymore, so swooping whatever Deluxe or Definitive thing is more of a symbolic act than a rational purchasing decision, but that said, I think whatever lives on the Disc needs to basically function as version 1.0 of this game. The baseline for whatever modding support follows. In other words don't add content once that thing ships, but leave it be so their can be an version that lives in an actual library for historical provenance and future reference/curiosity. The thing as it was, in the moment. Once that exists we should be able to launch that version among the defaults, and have it be totally cross compatible with anyone else doing the same. This way it can live on the various platforms and in MP, without a bunch of version/mod checks or whatever. Whatever is added later for a second point of sale should be an actual expansion and it should not override that 1.0 but be a separate launch, if that makes sense. Otherwise modders don't have a place to call home where everyone is on the same page, or with fear of rogue updates that change something major. I think Deluxe is already branded, since it's the thing they are selling right now if you go to the page via the launcher. Definitive seems to be some kind of assumed follow up, since DOS2 has that Definitive Edition, but honestly I still don't like the term Definitive, cause that suggests something that will supplant whatever the Deluxe ends up being. You know what I mean right. Instead of that, just do an Expansion campaign with a hamlet hub and big ass dungeon crawler for the anti-climax. Pretty much Durlag's but a BG3 version, and I better see some Dwarves with that gravel in the voice! heheh

Other than that, what I want mainly could be summarized as more Character customization for the Tavs, and then things within the game to help support the idea of a unique characterization from Tav to Tav, or Durge to Durge, Origin to Origin etc.

Here are a couple random ideas... An Idol of Silvanus called "The Candle Keeper." This is not a PC but an Animal companion that can be customized at the mirror. Doesn't need spoken lines, instead barks! But the idea is that they might have names, ability points, skills, a level progression and safety colors. Proof of concept might come in the form of a Withers zombie. Half the reason I enjoy this game is the attention they paid to the animals. I think at least some would agree, given how many pets Scratch has received, so this just extends that concept to its logical conclusion. Recruit NPCs into the party. For novelty and replay this could be an unlock after completing the game at least once. The idea is to give certain NPCs already present in the game a recruitment path into the party. Each gets a couple one liners abridged from the current voices lines to form their basic barks. Maybe a guidebook for the recently deceased. Recruits fallen NPCs into the party via the Withers zombie mechanic? Durge could be haunted in this way or it could just be a general thing. Perhaps different barks or with some echo added in for the right sound there. For a nod to the past, Custom Hireling might be called "Charname" by default, and be fully customizable. This would allow a mechanism to say, dust off Kivan or Faldorn or whoever, for one last chance at making history lol, and try to recreate just any D&D character concepts one might dream up using the building blocks provided. In effect a sort of toolset, but that caters more to player than the DM if that makes sense. More players Handbook than DMG MM, which might have a different sort of screen.

For that one, maybe when running the game as a DM or dungeon designer, instead of seeing the regular loadscreens, we just see a bunch of that cool concept art from the big art blast with different sorts of tips that key off the Toolset rather than the boxed campaign. That would feel pretty cool!

Also Glama Llama and the pack animals, the Black Goat and an Owl, there are a bunch of animals I'd like to see.

Then just give us the Goblins! They're all so great. If ever there was a game were I wanted to play as a Goblin this is probably it hehe.

But who knows, guess we'll have to wait and see what happens...

Definitely Upper City DLC and thats where Astarions story lies, definitely playable Goblins.
Waterdeep could be another DLC idea.

What I wouldn't mind is a dark urge pre story DLC and the setting up of the main story It would be interesting though You'll have to accept that Orin ruining your head as the final scene of it.
* Crown of Karsus being stolen from Mephistopheles the dead 3s original set up.
* Tadpole alteration in more detail
*plenty more Gortash (I can listen to Jason Issacs all day )

Not Pre Story DLC : Cure for Vampirism
Cure For Wyll's Devil Form
Cure for Karlach thats not Avernus or death/mindflayer (upper city ?)
Spawn survival and reeducation in the Under Dark

Yes, many of options mentioned here could be good additions. Not sure whether they would want to do pre-story DLC though, but if they do, they already have some foundations for them like Murder in Baldur's Gate.

So it seems like we won't see any DLC or DE anymore, sadly. See this IGN article

Withers: It is over. For now. FOR REAL.

I won't lie, I'm pretty sad about these news. Swen sounds really sure in it, I'm sure it's the right call for them if their heart isn't in it (which is a shame) but the fact that Hasbro is 100% going to shop around for who knows what studio to make BG4 is scary. I don't want the characters we've come to love to be soiled, lol. Though I imagine fans of Viconia and Sarevok felt what I'm dreading.
I'm also not ready in general to let go of these characters or have their stories be over. Very bittersweet, overall.

I hope that them saying there's still some content left means that there's a chance there'll be a sorely needed definitive edition, but this is the copium speaking.

I'll take a few drags of that copium, though I am glad they decided to stuff they want to do instead of following the call of much more easy money, that a DLC might have been.

My biggest concerns and fears upon learning of that article is that a different studio will pick up the torch of Baldurs Gate 3's legacy and then do it dirty just to make money out of it, I really hope WotC will be very careful with this IP, its burning so hot right now that it just feeds on my fears that some money siloed studio would not do it the justice in long terms, hopefully Baldurs Gate 3 will remain untainted in the next 5 to 10 years.

It cant really be worse than BG3 though. BG3 has an atrociously bad story and bland characters and is only held aloft by brand name and shippers.
A studio that knows how to write stories could also deliver a much better BG4 or DLC.
Just imagine what Obsidian could do when you consider hiw they managed to upgrade games with DLCs (Mask of the Betrayer, New Vegas).

True, the story is at max mediocre, the characters are written inconsistently, we have lot of bugs, plot holes and so on. At this point, I feel like there are several studios capable of delivering a better quality than Larian did.
They just have to be careful about who they pick. LIke Obisidian could be really good, I've always been a fan of the old Interplay and Black Isle people and Brian Fargo, but that might just be the oldschool Fallout fan speaking.

I would like to see some of the (for me) most creative people to pick up the IP, like David Gaider (BG2, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Dragon Age etc.), Chris Avellone (Fallout 2, BG, Icewind Dale, NN, DOS2, PoE, Pathfinder etc.), James Ohlen (BG1, BG2, DA:O, Mass Effect etc.), Timothy Cain (Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Arcanum, PoE, Outer Worlds etc.) and so on.
I can only imagine what could be done with such an IP in those hands (again). Not blaming Larian, but maybe the footsteps have been a bit too big.

Also, we can only speculate what made Larian coming up with the decision to move away from Dungeons & Dragons. Usually you would think that they want to stay in these waters with the huge success BG3 has been. Maybe they are exhausted, maybe Hasbro decided to part ways, I don't know and I don't want to jump to conclusions. Still at this point I feel like this game earned way more awards than it deserved, at least when it comes to story telling. The individual awards like for Neil Newbon are well deserved.

I didn't think I'd agree with that. As much as I had hoped. But I agree.

I can see what happened to Astarion, Minatra in patch 6. Minathara is the most broken character and now they have become inconsistent in writing. Overall from the beginning there were big lapses of story and character research which interests me.
I've heard a lot of complaints about drow lore and that act 3 doesn't care about drow or not-drow.
Before release: "we weren't afraid to make content no one would see, you'll get evil companions for the path of evil". After, Interview - evil is isolation.
A questionable philosophy that what - means evil characters won't get content or something enjoyable, not black and white, complexity, something fun to think about, interesting.

Given that datamining is available, there's an opportunity to appreciate how much things have been simplified in the scenario.
I can talk about what I know well and the potential of Magistrate Astarion, the theme of poetic justice, human trade, evil, punishment - with roleplay. Which suggests the triumph of evil. The ideas in EA's script and the development of the story, connecting to the words of the character's author - it was a complex exploration of evil, the dark side of humanity. It's still there, but there should have been more. And got hurt by someone's superficialities.
Some things just didn't even get done in time.

Act 1 is good, still is. It's the one that caught people's attention, who take a very thorough approach to history, ultimately their hopes are not realized.

- Visual and music bg3, in general, the fantasy genre for many people is euphoria. For me too. It's a good job.
- Actors with rare talent. Fascinating.
- The scripts and characters definitely took a damage. For complex reasons. It's too noticeable.
- Lore DnD is also a miss. Act 1 There are a lot of exclusive answers for different races and classes. Act 3 - three times less of those answers.

I agree with Filia and LiryFire.


+1

It's very hard to form any concrete attitude to the situation, until we know what kind of studio will take on BG4. And I hope that BG3 will still be brought to the end, and we will get a normal playable final edition.

So happy its over. No DLC no BG4.
Just fix and improve the current game.

In hopes that anything similar goes back towards Obsidian or similar... and show how a true Baldur's Gate game is done. BG3 is an amazing work no doubt, I just DO NOT LIKE Larian type games. Their art style, story, immersion, gimmicks...I would play PoE series over DOS series any day. Obsidian understands immersion and world building in an RPG. Larian does not. Their try to bring the "fun" with weird gimmicks that screws up everything.

Knowing WoTC, they would immediately try to burn down and destroy this IP, look at their ONE D&D OGL 1.1 idea or their Magic the Gathering's Pinkerton idea, as long as WoTC has the same leadership it has today, in the next 5 or 10 years, you can 100% guarantee that BG4 is screwed, WoTC Leadership is so bad that I can imagine BG4 being shitty live service, the Horror.