Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Combat Improvement - Reactions

We have probably reached the point where we will not see any major tweaks to the game, however, I believe the following change would make the game feel better, more fluid, and it would not require much work. Talking point -> Reactions feel like they ruin the fluidity of combat.

The reasoning for making the game turn based was "tactical pause feels messy". It feels kind of "interruptive" then to have reactions pause the game, every time they trigger, and it becomes increasingly more "interruptive" the more characters have reactions, even multiple reactions for multiple characters.



In the interest of making combat feel more fluid and immersive, what if?

Reactions trigger a slow motion movement that gives you two seconds to choose a reaction. This could be accompanied by a hotkey function that lets you press for example: 1 (for reaction 1), 2 (for reaction 2). Or, any other key you would bind to the function. ->

- This could be implented as a slow motion that ends in a pause if nothing is selected. So as to avoid "stress" for players that want to relax.

- Slow motion that continues combat with no reaction.

- Or best of all: adjustment options in the settings for whichever you prefer.



The only thing that would need to change would be the coding of the game so that you get a slow motion effect before the pause, giving the option of bypassing the pause by selecting something before it triggers.

Thoughts?

Seems complicated to me and often not adequate. There are builds which offer several reactions for one char. You often have to consider what reaction is best in a given situation. Do I choose a lvl 3 or a lvl 4 counterspell, or do I use tadpole retaliation? Or maybe something else I even don't know. A turn based game should offer time to think. I would be more or less annoyed by a slow motion alternative.

On the other hand, if such an alternative could be a toggable option for people who like it, why not? It's then a matter of how many would like it and how difficult implementation would be.

Yes I agree, this game is a tactical game, therefore thinking is part of it, so naturally you should have time to think.

However, you have to remember, you are always thinking ahead in tactical gameplay. For example you can see that an enemy lvl 5 wizard has the next turn, and your party is grouped up. --> You already know you want to counterspell that before the turn starts, and almost always you would want to counterspell with a lower slot. So it doesn't require any fast thinking.

The games combat system is actually well done despite the fact I did not like the idea of turn based before, however, the reason to make a tabletop game into a video game would be to make it feel more alive and dynamic than any previous iteration. Therefore one of the main goals should be a dynamic feel and fluidity in how the combat flows. You want a video game to "come alive" so much that it immerses you, right ?

Reactions, are actually the ONLY pause function in the game, as such it feels really strange when they pop up, and they just feel like they disrupt the flow of the game. Especially since enemy reactions are not paused. --> Also, keep in mind, after a while you will get used to it, and you will already be sitting with your hands on the keyboard, 2-3 seconds is actually a really long time for something that requires you to move a finger 1cm. We are already using hotkeys anyway to separate the group with G for example. WASD to move the camera, and so on.

But yes, I guess we both agree on a toggle with a few options is best.

Well your late to the argument, there were at least one major thread about this before they implemented reactions. Originally they were just passives on the action bar that had a circle swirling around them when they were on.

I said the same thing about reaction system, it would interrupt the game play especially during co-op. I was the minority (majorly), to the point where it felt like I was just trolling the forums.

Cool suggestion btw.

Wow I did not realize the forum was this dead. I was going to post about another couple of small fixes that would improve the combat system, but maybe it is pointless now.

Regarding reactions, yes it does feel kind of disruptive the way it is. I am not talking about slow motion with a shaking camera and effects and so on, naturally. More like a slow motion function to increase the fluidity of the combat -> the moment you choose the reaction you want normal game speed resumes.

Idk what kind of solutions were being discussed before but people could have misinterpreted something. Seems a bit off if most people think the current implementation is fantastic.

They already released the last update, presuming it's going to be hot fixes for now on. If anything I'd recommend hitting up there discord for mod suggestions or this forum. Truthfully though, its more active on discord than here for mods at least.

It was a discussion before the implementation, I think it was before paladin class was released but don't quote me on that. Any discussion about the reaction system that is live now, I have no idea. I stopped coming here a while back and just dropped in cause I've been digging around the toolkit again.

Yes I know the last patch dropped. Idk if they have a stance on what entails "hot fixing" though. I was thinking if it was really simple improvements they might do it.

Im not sure but I don't think my suggestion for reactions requires much more work than a handful of bug fixes. Maybe, maybe not.