Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Please don't force my Tav to threaten a companion when I don't want her to

Companion scene spoilers:

In Astarion's new bite scene, right away there's a clearly marked option "grab weapon." I never choose that, yet the game forces my Tav to grab a stick and try to stake Astarion anyway (even though he knocks it out of her hand). I do not want to act that hostile, or even if I did, my Tav's first instinct would be to use magic instead. You put in so many choices that say "Kill Astarion now" that it's overkill enough without forcing my Tav to threaten him against my will. It ruins the whole relationship between the characters to me when I was trying to be nice to him before that. Really, my Tav's first thought to wake up and see someone on top of her would be "rape" not "ooh a vampire I know exactly what to do in this situation!"

What happened to the being understanding and patient scenario of previous patches? It's really a weird and sudden shift to have Tav go from "I must kill vampire aaah!" to 10 seconds later "I trust you." It doesn't make sense. Yeah I know some people want to kill him but that's not every player, and not me. I'd like the option to not automatically grab a stake!

Rape would be my Tav's first thought too, and damn right she's grabbing a weapon! That's not a time for understanding and patience, you know?

The way they had the scene before worked for me where the two talked it out. I am asking for the choice to not be violent and the choice is in the dialog! It just doesn't seem to matter. If the choice made a difference we could both have what we want.

So... I've not seen it yet, but it sounds like you're saying that in the new bite-night scene (back from being missing, I presume), you have a bunch of initial reaction choices, but no matter what you actually choose, your character always (at thee very least) grabs a weapon and threatens him, not matter what?

That's pretty ridiculous. If that's the case, then it's another sign that Larian simply don't understand what having a personal character is all about... and even after a year of feedback, they still don't.

Don't get me wrong - Most of my characters would probably assume, waking up with another party member crawling over them, that their goal was sexual violence. Their reactions would be varied based on the characters, but none of them would jump to "vampire! Better grab a stick instead of my actual weapon!", at all.

Also....

Just putting it out there again...

If we can, in this sequence, stab Astarion with a wooden stake, and he dies from it... That's Not How Vampires Work In The Forgotten Realms Larian!

It's not! Vampires and Vampire Spawn are only affected by wooden stakes is they are 1) incapacitated and 2) in their resting place. Astarion is neither in this situation, so a wooden stake does NOTHING to him, other than ruining his shirt.

My guess would be that either:
1) They don't want to have to branch out the cinematic visually
2) they haven't finished working on the cinematic yet.



So how about an option to drag him over to the river and down/melt him in it?

I just want them to show a basic level of understanding and respect for the world setting that they've taken on to work in... it really shouldn't be too much to ask.

Could be so much more interesting dialogue/monologue options, if only it weren't for these cringe cinematics boging the game down with fewer choices on how you want to play your character.
A dialogue system like BG2 but improved with REAL reactivity and TONS choices.

If you get option to not threaten him with your stick ...
And i dont get option to murder him to death in our first encounter ...

I would be very sad panda.

Yeah, that's pretty much a challenge of doing cinematics - developers author how conversation progress to a bigger extend then just showing text. It is not a coinsidence that best titles that used cinematics greatly reduced player's control over protagonis aka. Mass Effect, Witcher.

The only benefit for BG3 would be if Origins will turn out working well - though considering how much work would it take to create unique cinematic for every potential companion I expect it to be half baked as well.

Imagine this, instead:

The scene starts out as normal, we are asleep, but restless, and as Astarion creeps on us suddenly your character wakes - Now, the scene dims slightly, the action slows to a halt just on the cusp of movement taking place; we've awoken, but we haven't reacted yet. HERE, it gives us out first scene dialogue choice - and it's a choice of a few different decisive actions; maybe you freeze up, maybe you grab a weapon, or prepare to cast a spell, maybe you try to back away, maybe you shout - only once you choose, does the scene play forward, to the point of dialogue (or murder as the case may be).

In this scenario, it's mechanically no different than having your character react first, then give dialogue options for you to define your reaction - either way, they will have to design a handful of different scene choreographies for the transition between waking and talking. The main difference is that if they let you decide how you're reacting initially before showing it, then they aren't violating your character by having them act in a decisive, specific way before giving you any input on the matter.

It's perfectly okay to have the Pc react in minor or non-committal ways during scenes, but actions such as grabbing weapons and threatening others are decisive, characterising actions, and they should never be taken by the player character in cutscenes without actual player input on the issue.

The three options you have at first are "lash out with your elbow", yell "Stop!" or "grab a weapon". The thing is, Astarion is immediately off of Tav and already backing away (and he looks scared) so he's not seeming quite so dangerous anymore (to me). Then he says "I wasn't going to hurt you! I just needed blood." Then Tav will automatically freak out and make a stake and wave it around at him, and he knocks it out of Tav's hand. Finding out my friend is undead (and was the whole time I knew them) would NOT make me want to murder them immediately, especially if they were not attacking me. I wish Tav would only grab that stake if you pick the very obvious "grab a weapon" option.

And now learning here that a stake in the heart only kills Forgotten Realms vampires under specific conditions makes it extra annoying that they make it so easy to murder him in a cutscene.

+1
I'm with you on this issue, I do not like the new way the scene plays out. There should be a clear non-violent option. I don't have a habit of murdering companions let alone the ones I sympathize with.

If folks haven't done so, I'd highly encourage everyone who feels this way about the new scene too submit their comments to Larian's official feedback form as well, if you cna spare the time and energy ^.^

I'd gladly do so if you could kindly point me in the direction of the official feedback form... sorry for the dumb question, but I'm not certain where to find it.

Is this it? https://larian.com/support/baldur-s-gate-3#modal

That one is for bug reports, but thanks for linking it - it's the harder of the two to find. (and if what you're reporting is something you think is a bug or unintentional, or broken etc., then that's the one you should definitely use!)


The other, for general feedback is the similar: https://larian.com/support/baldur-s-gate-3#feedback

Well shoot I submitted it there. XD

Thanks for the proper link.

+1 on this. My character would DEFINITELY grab the stake, but I am 100% for the option not to.