Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Time for Larian to Surface

Since the Award Shows Larian has gone dark, for many of us. I know a hot fix here and there but the last "patch" was November. While we see people discussing how they want Larian to fix this or that romance to add hugs and better kisses, the truth is the game still has a number of bugs. The Shield Bash alone springs to mind real quickly. While that specific bug and many others can be fixed via mods, that is not how mods should work. Mods are supposed to be additions to the game that the developer chose not to add or never even considered. It is poor form for a developer to rely on modders to create game fixes, especially for bugs that the dev themselves created after the game launched.

As some one that works PR in the tech world, I can tell you this lack of any communication at this late stage sends a message, it says Larian has moved on. I am not saying this is a fact, I am saying this is an impression they are giving the community.

Larian, you do not need to give specific data or dates. But a general statement as to the status of the game and the team still working on it would be welcome. If you have moved on then say that, if you have not then at least surface long enough to let us know that.

Only if you have not been with Larian on this journey before. Larian is a more actions than words kind of company. If you are paying attention there is quite a lot going on behind the scenes. That information is not going to be spoon fed to the general public, so you have to go digging.

Discord news says something about the next patch coming next week.

Yea we’re getting new kissing animations next week.

Hopefully there’s more than what they posted on IG or this is aggressively disappointing.

I will not be disappointed by bug fixes - unless the fixes then break something else. XD Or what do you mean?

I don't follow the communications in the general media, but I have reported bugs directly to Larian via their online site and I must say their responsiveness is wonderful. They email right back with an acknowledgement and then later with a confirmation. Great! One bug is already fixed (Spore Druid halo was jacking up the brightness of equipped items), and I hope the remaining issue with the Armor of Landfall regeneration will be fixed soon. I've been using the Robe of the Wavemother regeneration as a substitute, but uhh ... well, frankly it's kind of embarrassing to wear that one in public.

For the bugs that I have reported, I've only received the general acknowledgement email. I don't think the bugs even got fixed, e.g. Wyll's act three quest or Karlach's approval bug that prevented her romance. Minthara's approval score maybe, since I didn't get that bug when replaying act two. but either way, there were no further communication, quite different than how it was in EA.

I was for sure agreeing with you last night, but this morning, they surfaced! It looks like they’re going to be releasing a large patch next week with a little something for, well if not everyone, for most people. Kiss animations, more legendary actions to make Honour mode harder, and we will have to see what else.

And it's poor form to EXPECT a developer to continue working on a game post release.

Like, it takes time and resources to work on things. These additions and fixes aren't being sold to people to recoup the money spend on working on them.

That Larian are willing to continue to do this is a measure of their goodwill towards the community and fans of their product.

But not only are you EXPECTING that they continue to spend money to improve the game that has already reached massive success, but also DEMAND that they also promptly notify you of everything they're doing?

It boggles my mind. 99.99% of companies would have ditched the game post-release because it's not monetarily beneficial to continue working on an already "Finished" game. Even more so after winning several GotY awards and garnering massive success. Larian goes above and beyond most other companies and provides patch after patch of updates and you still complain?

Personally, I've been around the video game industry long enough to not expect anything from developers after a product release. So whenever Larian drops a new hotfix or patch, it's always a welcome surprise.

I really want them to answer everyone as to the status of the toolset. It was supposed to come out "after the ps5 port" but it has yet to surface. Finding out they've just been working on kissing animations for 2 months is a letdown.

I'd guess that the animators would have nothing else to do but creating new animations or polishing up existing ones, when there isn't any other game to be worked on that is far enough along the pipeline to need animations. So it's great for them to stay relevant. The folks working on toolsets are probably also the ones fixing bugs.

I just want them to tell us it's coming. Come on Larian.

Bug fixes are fine, they aren't sexy, they're hotfix material. Can't remember the last time time I even noticed a bug where I thought to myself "wow that needs to be fixed ASAP"
I was hoping for something like Transmog, which has been a popular ask since Day1, but Kissing animations? lol really?

my own fault for hyping myself up for patches, lesson learned.

I have seen bugs where I’ve thought, wow, this needs to be fixed right away! So I am looking forward to bug fixes, for sure. I’m looking forward to the kissing animations too. Like they aren’t necessarily the number one thing on my list, but since they’re done, I am sure as heck going to enjoy them. But what I want the most is more companion reactions to massive events in act 3. They said that it’s a hefty patch and they haven’t revealed exactly what’s in it, in its entirety. So I wouldn’t be disappointed until they come out with the full patch notes.

We aren’t entitled to more fixes, sure, and we aren’t entitled to announcements. But I think one of the things that makes Larian such a special company, and their games so popular, is the fact that they are holding themselves to a higher standard. I think it’s wonderful that fans can express their wishes and anticipate that the company may very well listen. I’ve made plenty critiques of the game and pointed out plenty of bugs on these boards. I do that not to be petulant, but because it feels so nice and empowering that the makers of the game might actually be paying attention. <3

@Taril I don't understand why to apply a different standard to the gaming industry as to basically every other industry. Even in software and entertainment industry in general stuff usually gets fixed if bugged (or released only after finished.) What's the difference?

That was a reasonable attitude during the 90's, when developers actually released games that were finished. These days though it seems to be an industry wide practice to release unfinished games. You better bet I EXPECT devs to stay on task and finish them!

Fortunately, Larian has a history of doing just that, so I am not particularly worried.

It is very natural to expect a product to work as advertised, and for the manufacturer to fix any faults that become apparent after delivery. Software is no exception to that rule.

It’s perfectly reasonable to expect a dev to fix and patch a game. Thats fine.

But demanding they give you a timetable of what will be fixed when is not in this case. Larian has been very good about releasing timely patches and hotfixes, so it’s really weird to see this coming from a mod especially. I know mods just volunteers, but they are acting in a semi-official capacity as a representative of the studio on the forum. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

I guess you spend a lot of time being disappointed then. Given how few developers actually continue developing games after launch (When they're not "Live Service" garbage anyway, since the entire point of "Live Service" is to continue development... By releasing PAID content to produce revenue to fuel development)


Since when has any manufacturer actually fixed faults after delivery? They normally just send you a replacement IF and only IF you have warranty. Otherwise you're SOL. At best if there's a design flaw they will recall the product but that's not a common occurance.

Especially, when there's a stark difference between "Product works as advertised" and "There's some bugs in a game"

BG3 works as advertised. It just has a few bugs. The game is still a game, it's still enjoyable to play. If it wasn't working as advertised, it wouldn't have sold well (See: The Day Before for what "Product doesn't work as advertised" looks like for a video game)

I think we are entitled to fixes and announcement that those fixes will come in a reasonable timeframe.

In terms of what we are entitled to I think it's 1. A functioning product meaning one that doesn't contain bugs. And 2. What the developers promised we would receive. Which includes things like the modding toolset.
He's referring to how since Larian has started hitting the awards circuit, they've mostly stopped communicating with players about what is being worked on next. Which they were fully clear on before. The Xbox port even dropped suddenly in December without ever being announced previously. Larian being suspiciously silent about what they're working on sends a message akin to "we're moving on to our next project".

Historically Larian has been willing to do things if enough feedback is given to them. See: how they reverted the first person narration during early access to a proper narrator based on fan feedback. And I'm hopeful if enough people request it they'll eventually go "Fine: here's all the things we're planning on giving you this year".