Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Latest News Community Update #10 - Romance Numbers & Cinematic Tweaks

It’s big patch time. But this time, not only are you going to feel the improvements, you’re also going to see them. As we’ve previously said, Early Access is about improving and iterating on every single facet of the game, and that includes all of the things you see and hear.

In this big patch, we’ve got general fixes for cinematics such as this one below. He was starting to get a crooked neck, and we’re pretty sure he doesn’t have health insurance so we helped him out a bit. See for yourself:



It’s not just about tweaks though. As many of you know, despite playing through the Early Access content sometimes for up to a hundred hours or more (wow!) you still haven’t seen all of the content, because incrementally new things are seeded into the game. In this case, a missing cinematic. Where once was darkness, there is now light!



See if you can spot the differences in the game for yourself, or continue to read this Community Update with attached patch notes for spoilers. You know you want to.



A certain song has also been ‘re-shot’ by our cinematics team, which gives you an excuse to check it out again. Did you need one? Side note: we’ve been watching your reactions to this song in your VODs and YouTube videos, as well as in various streams, and the reactions are beautiful. Watching you play the game as we improve it is very motivating for all of us.

On the topic of music and joy, last week saw the Symphony of Sin, which included the first ever live performance of some of the music from Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as some wonderful songs from Divinity: Original Sin 2. You can watch the VOD here, it’s well worth it: [previewyoutube=3duWZPJm-9s;full][/previewyoutube]
With that said, let’s look at some of the data that’s been making us smile over the week.

Everyone knows you can pet the dog in Baldur’s Gate 3, but did you know the dog has been petted 400k times? Such a good boy deserves that many pets.



Speaking of good boys, last update we discussed how Gale was ultimately attacked quite a lot. Check out last week’s update for the stats on that. Somewhat contradicturally, he’s the most “romanced” of the party. He’s been “romanced” by 33% of players. Shadowheart came second, falling in love with 31% of players, and in return 31% of players fell in love with Shadowheart.

1.37% of players chose to sleep alone. Which is cool too! We have the other stats, but thought it might be fun if you gave it a shot and guessed them. One thing we’re seeing is the stan memes aren’t correlating with the actual “romance data”. For sure, there’s enough tinder in the campfire to ignite some flames.

On a less romantic note (though this really depends on your tastes), 5.87% of players tried to steal the ring… but 26.3% of those players merely sucked a toe. If you haven’t got there yet, you’ll know when you see it. Since we’re talking about failure statistics, many people have made it to The Underdark. But 40.79% of players who jumped down a large, dark hole arrived dead, because they leapt without Feather Fall.

We’re saving perhaps the most interesting until last. Slight spoiler, so if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read this. You may know that at a point in the game, you may side with one of two factions: the Tieflings against the goblins, or with Minthara who demands the gates are opened for the goblins to attack the Druids Grove.

74.85% of you stood with the Tieflings, and 25.15% of you sided with Minthara. Good outweighs evil, it seems.

An optimistic note to end on.


Changelist:

Improvements:

• Optimized overall sound settings to improve performance on lower spec machines
• Added polish to several in-game cinematics
• Attack of Opportunity indicator is now correctly hidden for invisible enemies
• Improved timing of some tutorial messages
• Improved usability of skill selection in character creation
• Added new tutorial messages related to combat
• Listening to other players’ dialogs now correctly shows the other players’ dice rolls
• The reason for a waypoint being unavailable is now displayed on the map
• Party members now correctly cancel their spell prepare state when switching to another character

Fixes:

• Fixed a crash on startup for specific driver and hardware combinations
• Fixed a crash related to trading with Zevlor after the raid on the grove
• Fixed a crash in dialogs related to dynamically adding items
• Fixed a crash in combat AI
• Fixed a potential crash with moving platforms
• Fixed a crash related to loading savegames while in a dialogue
• Fixed a crash when destroying multiple familiars with a single spell
• Fixed a crash related to unloading resources (when loading a save or returning to main menu)
• Fixed a blocking issue when someone would join during level transition
• Fixed a blocking issue when starting a dialog just as someone leaves the game
• Fixed not being able to save anymore on the host when another player is stuck in “in dialog” state
• Fixed players getting stuck in the same dialog inside the camp after choosing to fight Minthara
• Fixed characters being stuck in animation if downed during precast spell
• Fixed characters not being at the correct position after loading
• Fixed not being able to talk to party members after talking with gale and summoning the weave
• Fixed not being able to use some spell scrolls when out of spell slots
• Fixed a rare issue for players that don’t have a profile on startup, requiring selection or a profile or creation of a new one
• Fixed quest markers not showing up correctly when multiple markers point at the same object or location
• Fixed the tieflings’ celebrations not proceeding correctly if the player had already done a long rest right before
• Fixed the physics of the door on the Nautiloid reappearing after saving and loading
• Fixed Ethel not triggering her ambush if she leaves her home during combat
• Fixed several minor bugs related to in-game cinematics
• Fixed zone spells not targeting invisible characters
• Fixed summons from items not having an owner, causing them not to join combat
• Fixed the goblins not using the war drum correctly
• Fixed issues with lockpick progress going out of sync
• Fixed savegame screenshots being too dark
• Fixed spell sounds not playing correctly in multiplayer
• Fixed a long black screen being displayed if a dialog was started just as another player was joining
• Fixed Zevlor initiating dialog during combat
• Fixed audio settings not resetting when switching profile
• Fixed not being able to correctly switch character in trade window
• Fixed not being able to click through scenery you can see through, improving navigation
• Fixed the Gith becoming hostile incorrectly if Lae’zel was never recruited
• Fixed additional reroll when using an inspiration point
• Fixed inspiration points not being able to go up after using an inspiration point or gaining another one
• Fixed an issue with the hidden vault entrance closing again after the puzzles are already solved
• Fixed marking an item as a ware not getting set correctly
• Fixed being able to select summons in the trade window
• Fixed Zariel Tiefling clerics not being able to level up to level 4
• Fixed character creation color tooltips
• Fixed characters sometimes falling off moving platforms
• Fixed several animation issues with torches
• Fixed being able to select invalid targets for Misty Step skill
• Fixed not being able to see other players’ hidden summons at all
• Fixed party members being rearranged when detaching and reattaching characters to the group
• Fixed certain equipment still generating sound after unequipping
• Fixed several texture and skinning issues
• Fixed several minor localization issues
• Fixed minor issues with the action log

Mac specific:

• Automatic crash reporter is now enabled for mac

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=718798&an=82#Post718798


No matter what, it seems we people playing CRPGs have a thing for the "Light Side", even if they ask us to go evil in the EA.

I´m eager to mewt the good guys in BG3. Right now with Gale and Wyll it´s not enough for a good-hearted party =P.
Kinda like the girls, but they´re pretty pissed off at me all the time when I try to... well, not even help people, but just not leave anyone for themselves and go find a cure. I think in my current run i´m going for a record. Our relationship numbers are so negative I´ll have to use the kelvin degrees scale to make it readable.





LOL that I believe.

I tried to do an evil playthrough, I really did. I can’t go through with it. I like being heroic.

The only character I’ve had proposition me is Astarion. I gave him the old, “ no thanks, bro. Maybe next time.” 😂

would have been helpful if there were an evil path. not just mmorpg quest with sex scene

Shadow Heart is predictably the most popular female character and has been well written and designed. Moreover, it is universal for both good and evil heroes. But Gail was a surprise.
Hmm, we have 35% on Astarion, Minthara, Laezel and Will.

I won't tell you the exact percentages, but I'm pretty sure they are:
1. Astarion has the highest percentage (very charismatic character)
2. Next comes Minthara - 25% minus most of the female characters who helped the goblins, male characters who helped the goblins share a bed with her in 80-90% of cases.
I'm sure that her rating would have been higher if it was easier to get her / there was more motivation to help goblins. Many people did not even know that the goblins could be helped. Or they simply did not understand why they should do it. The percentages could have leveled off almost 50-50 who help tieflings and goblins if the path of evil had been better written. In this case, Minthara statistics would be much better. She could be the second most popular female character after Shadow Heart, easy.
3. Laezel - few people love her, but she definitely cannot be the last place. This is a good character, and I can see that Larian put his bet on him.
4. Will - guys won't romance him, girls are jealous of Mizora or just doesn't like him compared to others (theory). Since he loses to Gale and Astarion. I don't even take Will to the party, but kill on the spot almost at the first meeting

Only 1.37% of players chose to sleep alone? I didn't realize I was part of such a small crowd! Although Shadowheart and Gale in subsequent playthroughs. 😊

Oh yay more focus on romance and a bunch of stuff that's bare bones for development.

When will they address some serious issues instead of dangling this carrot on a stick?

yeah, the game funnels you to the grove and gives you the Tiefling's sob story so it's really difficult not to side with them first, which makes siding with Minthara doubly difficult because you're betraying people who were looking to you for help. so you really have to go out of your way to go evil. 75/25 makes sense

I don't want to turn this post into an Evil Path discussion, there are several of those in the suggestion forum. I'll just say that what I meant is that IMO evil path has NO STORY. any story would be better than NO STORY.

to the evil path's credit, the goblin camp is a lot of fun. unfortunately for the evil path, you don't have to choose the evil path to experience most of the goblin camp's attractions

I'm pretty certain there is a lot more goodness to come and this patch like every other improvement to the game is most welcome. I do agree with getting the really core issues resolved over the eye candy but it all helps make the game better and that for me at least is key. Thanks Devs.

No response at all to the entire community complaining about game breaking design mistakes, but you care about how many people pet the dog. This patch does nothing but fix a few crashes and some minor bugs. The action economy and stealth systems in this game are beyond broken but you don't even mention them. Nothing about when we might see more classes or races either. Just a little bit of a response to our concerns would be appreciated.

As its a computer game the only stat that counts is how many men are playing female characters....

I just hope to feel some performance improvements and I'll be satisfied honestly.

I wanted to emphasis these two points and hope Larian takes note.

The "evil" path is so badly written that you can't really blame people for not taking it or even knowing about it. I do find it mildly insulting that Larian takes such a massive difference as people just prefer to play good guys rather than acknowledge their own poor writing might be cause. In my opinion, the whole thing needs a complete overhaul.

As for Lae'zel, I personally like her a lot, but I feel like she's the hardest to gain reputation with. There are far more instances where you can lose reputation with her than gain them. I feel like Larian need to either lighten up on her reputation decreases or add more ways to gain it with her that don't involve just murdering everything in sight.

You should realize that the priority is to fix all the technical issues the game currently has. Only and I say only then will they develop/deploy fixes to current gameplay issues.
They have full year (as Swen stated) to fix gameplay issues.

+1.

It's a perennial problem with most CRPG's that try to offer both Good and Evil paths. They're always chock-filled with "Help the NPC" quests, and if you ignore them or try to finesse an Evil outcome, you end up with less XP gain and less loot. Since the implicit goal for both Good and Evil playthroughs is to level up and get cool loot, the Evil side just doesn't pay off.

Evil really only pays off when the entire game is built around it. I remember one very good user-made module for Neverwinter Nights where the MC was an Evil necromancer. All the dialog and interactions were built around that theme. It really worked, and I had a great time playing it, even though I normally take a default Good path in most of these games for the reasons mentioned above.

Thank you for the update

Agreed, there is barely anything there on the evil route. As with Lae'zel it's quite hard to get approval if you don't decide to murder hobo everyone.

That and there is a general lack of story/roleplay incentive to be evil in most of these games.
When I played my own drow character and met Minthara, only to learn that she seemingly abandoned Lolth for servitude of this 'absolute'... sorry darling, that is a stabbing. One could argue that a drow could see the benefit of manipulating the situation, use it to kick the asses of the druids, then stab Minthara to death for abandoning the goddess, and be totally happy.

/shrug

Why would a tiefling realistically care for the aid of the goblins?
Why would a githyanki care?
Why would anyone trust the goblins over the druids?

Maybe if you have a character that is just a simple murder-hobo.
Or if you have a character that is all about the tad-poliness and all over "the absolute"