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

Let’s start with that I don’t very much like Solasta’s prompts. They tend to violently stutter combat flow imo.

I thought maybe it will be proper to temporary give control of a character that is about to perform a reaction to the player. Not sure it will work in all cases (e.g. divine smite).

Here to ask the community.

Can you elaborate on your suggestion? I'm currently understanding it as: the game would identify when a reaction can be made, pause the combat, switch control to the relevant character, and then you'd have to click on the appropriate icon in the hotbar (attack, hellish rebuke, riposte, smite; non-available icons would be greyed out?). Or click "end turn" to not use your reaction.

I feel like this would be much more of a hassle and interruption to combat flow than a simple yes/no popup...unless I'm misunderstanding your suggestion?

Yes, you understand me correctly. Instead of pause it could be a slow-mo like effect when let’s say a creature is still finishing its attack which it failed to land and you can seamlessly counteract with fighter’s Riposte. That could probably add some dynamics to combat.

Unless this slow-mo effect continually slows down until time stops completely, this method would require a time limit for making any reaction decision. In which case I strongly disagree. This is a turn-based game; absolutely nothing in combat should proceed without player input. The fact that the game doesn't automatically enter turn-based mode when a trap activates or that it leaves turn-based while characters are still making death saving throws are already bad enough.

Swapping to give you control of said character would be helpful in cases where you can choose between multiple reactions (instead of multiple sequential pop-up windows), but it's worse for situations where you only have 1 option. For these cases, the game should simply give you a pop-up instead of forcing you to search through your hotbar for the only available reaction.

Your suggestion sounds way more intrusive in actual practice, and harder to program/higher potential of bugs. Switching full control to another character sounds like it'd violently break something down the line, like being able to use certain reactions and skills in situations that you're not normally supposed to. Not to mention a lot slower as you'd have to fish through the UI for the appropriate reaction to use to begin with, and again, extra programming effort as the UI creators would have to find some way to highlight which skills are applicable to use in such a situation (instead of outright telling you what you can use with a yes/no prompt).

For the gripes that people may have about Solasta's reaction system, there's a reason no one has come up with anything better yet, and no one can argue that it isn't simple and effective at the end of the day. And I have a particular disdain for overly flashy visuals pretending to be 'immersive' when they slow down the gameplay to a snail's pace in reality, which is even MORE immersion-breaking in the long run.

I disagree with the temporary control of another character when someone can react.
Having to click on its hotbar to perform its reaction would usually slow down combats a lot according to me and it's probably going to be hard to understand what happen.

But I also suggested a slow-mo effects for a few seconds that would keep the battle ON but let players some time to think about it.
With a time limited small popup, combats would be a mix of TB combats with "real" time elements. I think it could be cool and more dynamic / less frozen.

I guess this is a +0.75

On the other hand I had replayed Solasta and I have to admit that I was less bothered by the static popups than I remembered from my first playthrough.
But I'm not sure a lot of players would love this.

I prefer just popups, slow motion would actually ruin the flow of the game worse for me and make me paranoid about missing my timed window in a turned based game.

It's a lot quick getting to choose from available reactions instead of taking a whole micro turn.

Pop ups may seem annoying, but they're not that different from quick-time-events. A window can be a bit drab, so an action icon that prompts the player to press "R" to use the reaction and "Space" to cancel would be preferred. Or some other simple scheme.

It can have the visual appeal of God of War with the functionality of Solasta.

No time limits, after slowing down it eventually stops, requiring an input from the player. But the problem is how to inform a player what kind of input is required. Small pop up near the reaction section maybe with allowed reactions being highlighted. Idea is that the player will eventually get used to this and will react fast enough for picture not freezing completely. I personally don’t like this freeze moment, it gives me a feeling of accidentally pressed ESC during an intense action.

A slow-mo in a turn based game makes no sense at all. It just kills the purpose of its core combat mechanics. Slow-mo can only work in real time games.

Any implementation of reactions would be better than pop-ups from Solasta.

That's pretty much what Larian wanted to avoid by making reactions automatic. I am waiting for Solasta 1.0 release, but I assume their reaction window is pretty utilitarian. I am sure that all is needed is figuring out presentation. XCOM1&2 managed to do some fancy stuff with overwatch. I am sure, if they wanted to, Larian could spend a fraction of their budget to make a reaction selection screen that would feel satisfying, rather then gutting the whole system. Some kind of suspension in time (ala XCOM overwatch) could do a trick, while the player could choose or skip and attack. Recent Chimera Squad had breach mechanic, which sort of worked like that.

I thought about maybe a button to interrupt enemy turn. So many like RTWP and what I was thinking would be similar. Enemy is taking a turn, player wants to use reaction or readied action, hits button, selects reaction or whatever, hits done. Actions play out.

Obviously the best solution is to give us a few options to choose from. Keep as is, A prompter, or a button that you can choose to activate, slow-down, and so on...

Lol. Exceptbwe keep asking them for all this customization. This game is gonna be 300gb in the end.

I honestly like Solasta Reactions, so...

True, BUT, arguably customize-ability would make it the truest it can be to Dungeons and Dragons.

XCOM doesn't have a reaction system. Overwatch is more of a prepared action. Wich Solasta manages exactly the same way. Only difference is XCOM adds a slowmo effect and shows every attack individualy, wich slows down the fight.

After playing a paladin in Solasta I get why popups become annoying. Having the ability to togle individual reactions, or add aditional conditions would help. In some games there are systems to configure companion AI (Dragon Age series, Pillars of Eternity 2, Neverwinter Nights 2). A similar system could be used to define whether reactions happens on popup, automatic or not at all. It would take longer to setup, but will save a lot of nerves, and time through the playthrough.

Timer sounds like horrible idea ...
Yes, it would add some "dynamic" ... but that dynamic would be kinda dull. :-/
Its like "hey dude, now you have 5 seconds to react ... but when you do, you can go make cofee, shower, meal, and get out with your dog. We shall wait, no problem, but right now 5 seconds!!!"

About using icons on hotbar ...
I kinda dont see any reason, nor any benefit, to be completely honest. :-/

So if this should be voting, i vote for static popup confrimation windows ...
As much as it pains me to write this: Yes, just like Solasta.

He said it ! Quote this, it's a great day. He has joined the team !

Who said timer?