Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Parental Discretion Feature

When someone says they want something, I think it's more than reasonable to also say why.

If someone wants a parental feature to block out sexual content, it makes sense to explain why. Something like, "Because I feel like it's against my religion," seems perfectly valid, in my opinion.

A person's identity has a lot to do with what they do and don't like to consume.

I'm a Christian as well but I don't have a problem with nudity or foul language I games other forms of entertainment. Then again I listen to metal with Satanic imagery sometimes. It's just music to me. As in this is just a game.

I can understand where you're coming from though.

I do know more hard-core and really conservative Christians who wouldn't touch this game or others like it due to multiple deities in it.

And this is exactly why SOMETIMES people should not explain their reasons. -_-
Then people keep talking about if their reasons are good enough, and nobody seem to care about that suggestion was about. :-/

I mean, why does it matter?
Someone dont wish to see digital nipple, or hear swearing, for religion reasons ...
Someone else dont wish to see digital nipple, or hear swearing, for reasons that he have child that can anytime get to his room ...
Someone else dont wish to see digital nipple, or hear swearing, so he can more easily stream this game without need to put 18+ and block out some potential subscriber ...
Someone else dont wish to see digital nipple, or hear swearing, bcs it simply bothers him (or her, or it, or w/e)...
Is any reason better than the other? :-/

I mean, as long as its optional, why would anyone who dont want it even care this option is present? O_o

As I said, I'm not against the toggle for fade to black for sex scenes, and there may be circumstances where I'd even use it. How are they going to toggle language though? Are they going to have to do every voice over in the game multiple times for profanity? Then there's my "beef" with the discussion: What about it's inclusion is oppressive? The OP has made that claim, and that's what I've objected to. Despite today's political climate, oppression has a very real meaning, and including sex/violence/profanity in a video game that is, thanks to Mortal Kombat, marked with a rating system that explains that any or all of those may be included, isn't it.

It usually starts with someone being rude, as was the case in this situation. I made a simple suggestion that if they aren't going to remove nudity and sex scenes maybe they could at least create an option to fade to Black and have dialogue showing the characters only from the shoulders up or even blurring out naughty bits and bleeping swears. There really aren't that many swears overall. It's not like you should be that big of a deal.

So the only reason I brought religion into it to explain myself and my situation was because someone was rude. In the end, it doesn't really matter. I probably won't trigger the romances that much anyway if at all ever again. If I do, I'll probably just Spam the heck out of the space bar and cover the screen until it's over just so I can have Minthara as a companion in my evil playthrough.

So, here's a perspective for you. I've been gaming in the D&D universe for nearly 40 years, yes it is that old. I was eight when my mother bought me the red D&D box set. I remember coloring in the numbers of the light blue dice with the white crayon they provided in the box. And I remember the suggested age for the original game. 9-13. That's right, "adults", a word I use very loosely, are arguing whether or not a game, who's origins were designed for preteens, should have parental buttons in the menu. Adults are arguing whether or not a children's game should be playable for children. Just let that sink in. And the fact that "adults" are bickering about their right to not play a censored game, that was originally designed for children, speaks volumes.

Now, if Larian Studios, a company supposedly made up with "adults", refuses to acknowledge the origins of the game, that is their prerogative. I, personally, won't agree with that decision, and will probably stop playing the game, but that will be my decision.

I do agree with the comment that if they keep this game rated for 18+, the parents among us need to do our jobs to protect our children. It is interesting the number of parents, and grandparents, on Larian's payroll that think it's ok to make an adult game from what was once a children's game. "Things that make you go, Hmmmm!"

Barverak, with apologies, I'm struggling to understand the point you're making.

Times change, expectations change, games change, marketing changes. For me, I'm trying to take this as it comes. Here's the content, here's how i perceive my life situation in relation to it, and so on.

As on observation, wow this scene is different than it used to be, it's a conversation worth having, but I'm not understanding the connection between that and "let's have an option to not show fucking"

As you say: "What was once." As in, is not solely any more.

Now, D&D is a game system that caters to all ages and all walks of life, having grown from a tightly limited scope into something that can now appeal to almost anyone, and provides support and advice for how to pitch your individual game or game table to the audience that it is individually for - be that how to tailor a game space to be fun and engaging, yet still suitable for younger children, or a game space that contains tones and themes that younger audiences might not be mentally or emotionally equipped to explore maturely yet, or even, yes, games that serve as a vehicle for intimate games between mature and consenting adults. The fact that the game has grown and change to encompass all of these things is a good thing.

That aside, Larian don't really seem to have that much interest in making a D&D game to begin with - they don't really have much respect for the setting, system or background lore, and have even stated on record that their main hopes revolve around using this IP as a means of drawing attention to and promoting Their games... So if you want to look at game history and origins, it might be more appropriate to look at Larian's earlier games, which include, just as the first example that comes to mind from one of their earlier games, a ~12 year old boy-prince who was abusing his position of power to coerce one of his former hand-maidens into being his sex servant instead, and whom he disparagingly referred to as 'miss yo-yo knickers'. This situation was largely played for laughs. That's Larian's style of humour and tone-pitching...

The only hard out swearing I have encountered is the tie fling rogue Karlach on the risen road - she has potty mouth on certain branching paths in dialogue… I actually really like it - it’s real.
While I don’t share the OPs views on the matter a way to turn these things off if it’s not a huge cost to the development of the game is fine.

Ironically, Karlach, the tiefling (probably paladin) is one of my favorites too. I can't wait to see her actual model with the 1 horn.

I agree. The language is not so much my concern. Compared to most movies and TV shows, it's pretty tame. It would be nice to have the option to blur it out, but if not, whatever.

That is interesting perspective ...
Can you please tell us how much nude, or explicitly sexual scenes that "box" contained?
Or how many scenes with splashing blood and body organs falling out was there?
Or i dunno, im running out of examples fast so early in the morning ... lets say how many examples for slavery or torture was showed right there?

My gues?
None.
So, how exactly is that anyhow relevant to curent case?

I mean come on ...
That would be like comparing Showhite from Disney ... with that porn version for adults.
Yes, it was both based on same story (wich was originaly quite different, by the way) ... and that is kinda everything it have in common, it dont mean that while frist move was created for childern, the second one have to be too.

If you look at DnD ... yes, there are some "revealing artworks" for some oversexualized female characters ...
Not sure if they were so explicit in that old version you mentioned, but even if ... have you ever seen what some popstars are wearing on stage?

But what is expicitly "part of DnD rulebook" and not made by Dungeon Master ... that could be seen as inapropriate for childern?
There is the charm, nothing ins explicit.
Even if you find in rulebook things like slavery, torture, or killing ... its all just mentioned without any details, and that is okey.

For what it's worth, I get where you're coming from. I wanted to mention that because I see some other comments suggesting that what you're saying doesn't make sense. But it does make sense, and your viewpoint is at least as valid as anyone else's.

The game was originally for kids. And it was good for kids. It developed imagination, encouraged friendships, and got a lot of us reading. It helped latchkey kids who were otherwise raised on television.

Childhood was the kingdom where DnD was born. And now, to know that a popular version of the game isn't suitable for those very same kids, well, it feels like maybe it turned its back on its roots. Like it's no longer there to help those same kids, but rather, maybe it's been sullied somewhat, tarnished by adults who couldn't leave the magic behind for the following generations.

Basically, a parent who wants his kids to enjoy the game, but can't. At least not in this incarnation.

I think that's what's being said, roughly. A lament. A barking at the moon.

No argument, I think the pushback from me and others was that it should be it's own discussion, separate from whether or not there should be an explicit content toggle. Since it looks like this thread's going that direction, then I guess it's now a thread about that.

Have you seen Heroes of Hesiod? My kids *loved* it, and it sparked their interest in the real thing when they got a little older.

How old are you now? Did you expect that a company that started up a game wouldn't try to evolve/age with it's initial audience, as well as try to acquire a larger one? I was a bit older than the target age when I started, and the campaigns we ran reflected that difference, ie: the games we ran would not have been suitable for the target audience. It's the exact same materials, but completely different results. Were we just angst driven adolescent pervs? Maybe so. But we could build an entertaining, for us, campaign out of the exact same source material. The only limits were the rules, and your imagination, I'd imagine that there were campaigns running at the time that would have made our campaign look every bit as tame as a campaign for the "target audience".

No, I'll have to check it out. But in fairness, my daughter is not into DnD stuff at all. The closest she'll come to video games are things like roblox.

Let me get this out of the way before I continue: I do not necessarily argue against some kind of toggle system for those who want to black out the nudity scenes (I know I would like such an option myself as I find the visual nudity rather forced and to be quite honest rather cringy, so they break my immersion pretty much on the spot).

To the point, as great as DnD is for kids (you certainly won't get any argument from me there) - I'd like to remind you that it is just as good for adults. Many adults completely lose their imagination as they grow older, and DnD is a great way to stimulate it which has a long row of health benefits. From increasing the ability to solve problems with creative thinking to lessen depression.

While DnD might originate from a kids' game, there is no good reason it should stay as a kids' game exclusively. I am all for more adult-"friendly" versions of it that can offer things that might be inappropriate for children - be it sexual content (without necessarily being as visual as it is in BG3 - but hey! That too if people like it), violence, psychological horror, corruption, gore and emotionally taxing plots and twists. After all - I believe that DnD should have games aimed at all different ages, including games designed for young kids, teens and adults individually. And while the game does not have to be exclusively for one of these groups, it is very difficult to design games that carter to all of these ages as children, teenagers and adults usually look for different thing in games. It is not impossible, of course, but difficult - and I believe that each company would do well to primarily focus on one of these audiences at the time, and in Larian's case it would be the adult audience.

After all, parents are responsible for supervising what kind of games their children play and while I do not necessarily believe in the age-rating system entirely, BG3 is labelled as adult content and hence "parental control" should not be necessary as I do not believe that parents have the right to force censorship on a grown child. Either you do not allow your child to play adult content games, or you allow it without censoring it. Let me just be clear: this is, of course, nothing more than my personal opinion and as such it is as valid as anyone else's feeling on the matter.

Sooooo... To summarize: I do not believe in the concept (or, more precisely, the nature of the NAME) "parental control" in a game like BG3. HOWEVER, I do not argue that there shouldn't be a option to skip or at least "textify" (DoS2 style) the nude romance content - but I wouldn't call it "parental control" as much as I'd call it something like... Streamer-friendly mode or something similar.

Yeah, I couldn't think of anything else but Parental Discretion.

Honestly, kids could play this game without most parents having an issue except for the nudity and sex in those "romance" scenes. However, a parent might also get upset if their kid is playing it and is told by Astarion, "I mean sex, Darling," and Lae'zel saying, "You will wonder what it was like to..." Even with fade to black.

It's kinda a shame. Could market the game to a younger audience if they didn't have it. But whatever. Too many seem to like the naughty scenes.

But, for people like me and streamers, some sort of censorship option would be nice.

Man! I sure could use this parental discretion suggested feature right now in grim forge. The dark dwarves have such potty mouths, and they are constantly repeating they're potty mouth comments. I know a lot of players will think that's funny, talking about the boss guys hoo-hah, and various things done with it, but I sure don't appreciate it. Up until this point in the game oh, the language hasn't bothered me that much, but yeah. It's bad here. It makes the whole experience a lot less fun for me.

Other than that oh, I am finding the whole new level very enjoyable. I think that is why I am even bothering to bring this suggestion up again. If I had a way to turn off their foul mouths, grim forge would be one of my favorite areas of the game so far.

I wouldn't expect that from this game because the ESRB is "M 17+". That means that this game is targeting adult audiences. I'm not sure if you are a parent, although it sounds like this is something you want for yourself. As a parent, just be care that your kids aren't around when those scenes are on or skip them. If this is for you and you worry about games having nudity or swear words, then your gaming style might be anything below the ESRB rating of Mature. Every mature video game has some nudity or cursing if not worse. Take GTA V for example, that game is very explicit. Where you can have a woman (prostitute) servicing you in a car and you can see it. The thing is that game is rated M, it's not for anyone who is under the age of 18.

Yeah, I know. It's just worth the ask even if it is a long shot.

Getting harder and harder to find fun fantasy games these days that are NOT rated Mature with lots of stuff I don't like in games.

If they did do something like this, more like myself could enjoy it more without all the nasty bits. It's an awesome game, but I'm only 44. I'm not mature enough to handle the the nudity and vulgarity.

😇