Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Things I love about Patch 6

Hi, I have read so much negative feedback in the past few days, that I wanted to bring up a few things I loved about this patch, especially since all of them surprised me. I have written about all of this before in various other threads but I guess, it doesn’t hurt to collect it in one comment in the designated feedback section.

First, thank you for changing the dialogue with Gale in the brothel. The new lines for the PC work much better in my opinion: There is a clear way out, the teasing now sounds like good natured teasing and not like mockery, and turning the persuasion-line into a question takes away the dubious flavour of the situation. The dialogue alone suffices to show just how much Gale hates the whole idea.

The blessing Gale can now receive from Mystra at the Stormshore Tabernacle is such a good addition! Apart from using the orb to cheese the final battle, Gale’s decision about the Crown felt oddly meaningless previously because it had no relevance for the game proper. Now it feels like he is on a divine mission for his goddess and the choice made at the tabernacle actually matters. It’s also a very nice continuation of the buff (or buffs in Gale’s Origin) which you can receive in Act 2, which have been special moments for me.

This sense of a divine quest and the beautifully desperate endgame kisses also help convey Gale’s state of mind during the endgame. In my last playthrough, I got his sacrificial dialogue at the bottom of the brain stem and it seemed to come completely out of the blue. Dying for Mystra’s forgiveness hadn’t been a concern of his since the end of Act 2, and his doubts about winning the final battle only really surfaced once after defeating Cazador - which you can easily miss if Astarion ascends. The sacrificial dialogue will probably still break my heart but I think it works much better now that there are more hints leading up to this dramatic moment.

On a related note, while I like all of Gale’s kisses, the embrace kiss at the morphic pool is spectacular. I got it with Astarion-Origin so I could see the PC's facial animations and the desperate tender longing of it is just peak perfection. Kudos to the animation team.

And last but not least: Thank you so much for the new epilogue option for Astarion-Origin and romanced Gale! I know that not too many people play Origins, so it always feels special to get new content for them but even more so, when it is this thoughtful. The new Underdark ending is just lovely and feels like an antithesis of both characters’ Power-endings. Instead of trying to eradicate their perceived weaknesses, they find support in a loving relationship and use their combined talents to create a good (un)life for the most unfortunate group of NPC in the game. This has instantly become my favourite ending for both characters as well as for the game itself by far.

As a small (or maybe slightly longer) tangent, I overall really enjoy having Gale with me as Astarion, but I absolutely loved him during Cazador’s ritual. I had not really planned on ascending Astarion, but I wanted to find out if something in the game would actually try and change my vampire’s mind about it - since all the conversations Astarion has with Tav are obviously missing. So, after the fight was over, I made Shart and Wyll guard the door and took only Gale along. Aborting the ritual has never felt so special!

Gale is awesome during this scene: He first agrees to help out of empathy with Astarion, but when the contract is carved, Astarion’s eyes are blazing red, there is blood everywhere and the whole scene is at the pinnacle of suspense, Gale makes a heartfelt plea to consider the lives of the other spawn. When Astarion relents and subsequently lets all the spawn go, you find out that even Gale’s moral objection was partly motivated by his concern for Astarion’s mental wellbeing. I never felt so cared for or “seen” - to quote the obvious - by a NPC. Gale is a spectacularly good friend in this scene, a true partner and equal, if you will - maybe especially if you consider that he is also slightly apprehensive of losing all that juicy vampire power for the final battle. After such a special bonding moment, I am so very glad they now have a hopeful Underdark ending too.

This is a lovely initiative- I often see so much bad faith criticism and ruthless nitpicking of this game it feels like I'm playing something else entirely. Thank you.
Also, I might have talked to you on Discord or something lol :P I remember someone else telling me playing as Astarion and having Gale talk you through the ritual was great. Do you know if other companions are also really good there? I still have to do my Astarion Origin run.

Also agree about the persuasion check being removed. It felt scummy to have a persuasion check in that context and not have it be acknowledged by the game.

Thank you!

That might well be, it is a topic I tend to jump on because it was such a good experience. ^^; But I have the impression that most folks who are fond of these two as a couple, also have a fondness for this particular scene because of how emotionally warm it is and because of how much Gale's voice actor and writing lean into the drama of it while keeping it sincere. I have heard that Minthara is good if you want to go through with ascension because she edges Astarion on, but I haven't tried it yet. Wyll - if I remember correctly - was more concerned with doing the right thing, but nothing he said was memorable enough to stick.

So I’d like to add some of the things I love about patch 6, myself!

I’ve barely played the game since the patch dropped, but I absolutely love Selunite Shadowheart’s new kisses. There’s been plenty of critiques of the kissing animations, some of which are justified, but the Selunite Shadowheart‘s ones are great. Very sweet, intimate, and wholesome.

I also love that you can hug her in the scene after the conclusion of her act 3 quest. A long hoped for change, and a very nice touch!

I was happy to see, too, that they fixed her bugged cutscene after the confrontation with Mother Superior in the House of Grief. It wasn’t playing properly before. But now it’s running great.

Thank you, Larian!

I haven’t played the patch enough to comment on other changes. But I’m looking forward to seeing the small content additions for Shadowheart in acts 1 and 2.

I don’t think that the distress among the fan base is coming from fans of Shadowheart though. Because this was an objectively nice patch for her. Now they just need to fix her special Grymforge kiss and my life will be complete, lol.

I’m also a fan of Lae’zel and, even though I wouldn’t choose this ending option for myself, I really liked that they added the option for non-Githyanki folks to go with her flying off on the red dragon.

Shart hugs! Thank you for reminding me @Ecc2ca I had forgotten to check that and I even have a save directly before the scene. It's a very nice addition too.

From what I've seen so far:

1. The ability to switch companions without having to dismiss them is such a QoL improvement! I adore Astarion's line and grumpy face when he's dismissed. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rhq7iHKmOms

2. I love the fact that Shadowheart can now be hugged too! I so wanted to do that in my game and she deserved it.

3. Keeping the Githyanki egg is now a legit option, and it is talked about in act 3, and we can even jokingly call our companion "Mommy Lae'zel". Video for reference in the spoiler.


4. The new Nightsong vs Lorroakan scene is also much cooler now!


5. Minthara finally has proper kisses and it's easier to recruit her. She also doesn't share her tent with Halsin anymore.

6. After reading the discussion about the super cringy conversation between Gale and the twins I'm also happy it was improved.

7. Gale's proposal scene is much better now.

8. The new animations for the epilogue where we finally see some intimacy between Tav and our LI.

9. Leaving together with Lae'zel even if you're not a Githyanki yourself. Would be cool if it was a friendly and not only romance specific option too, like with Karlach.

10. Being able to tell Lae'zel to make the decision herself after the final battle. (Wyll needs these options too)

Pretty much everything about the inventory, party and camp management is much improved on PC M&K! The new idles are fun too! It feels new again when that sort of stuff happens. Especially the little things that we see almost immediate, like on character creation or going to camp. I love that stuff~

I can only imagine how glorious it will be if they can manage to front load some more content into Char creation or like anything with class/subclass/background those sorts of tweaks, cause that just always brings me out. I'm glad! The Gale stuff is great! It all feels exceedingly honorable and timely. I only had one save with issues, which was a Durge-y run, but Durge is used to it hehe. Otherwise it's cookin' now! For a midwinter update I'll take it for sure. Love that new Camp chest! Now I can see what's going on at a glance and the clicker finger rejoices. Nice work!

What I like the most about Patch 6 is that it did not break the mods I need to play the game for long or at all, mainly a clothing mod and a transmog mod to change or hide the ugly and often badly fitting items of the game, the WASD and UI mods to make the game more immersive, the camera mod to correct the abysmal vanilla stuff and some mods to tone down the mostly terribly overdone magical effects. I know that's a kind of poisoned praise.

I hope they succeeded to really remove the shield blow bug, that was so annoying. Would be the most welcomed change. I started a new playthrough and yet don't have such a shield, let's see.

The inventory/party management changes are a great help, especially if you try to use many companions for appropiate quests. That was quite tedious before.

The rest for me is not overwhelming or mandatory but also not bad, I appreciate some finetuning with lore and social stuff.