Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Solo vs Co-op Play - What will you choose?

I'm not sure if this has been covered elsewhere in the forums but out of interest I'd be keen to hear from forum posters on whether they intend to play BG3 solo or co-op (or both?) and also perhaps what their choice was in previous BG games or previous Larian games.

With some game design decisions seemingly being driven by Co-op play I'd just like to get a rough idea of who will play what, purely on a very informal basis. I assume Larian have data on this and I totally get the desire to recreate a tabletop session in a CRPG but I can't help but feel frustrated that a few basic things are apparently being dispensed with, in the name of implementing Co-op play.

Anyway, what will you choose?

Both! 😊

I don't think this has been discussed/polled too much, and I think this thread is a good idea.

I think my play-time will be over 95% in Single Player mode, though I'll almost certainly use the Multi-Player mode at least to some extent.

I'll do a Single-Player playthrough, when I start the game for real. To me, BG3 is first and foremost a Single-Player game, as are most "long games". I might do one or more further playthroughs if, by the time the game is released (and definitive editioned and modded), the major User Interface obstacles between me and the actual game have been removed or alleviated enough.

Since Multi-Player is a possibility and I have friends as interested in CRPGs/DnD/Baldur's Gate as me, I'll probably try some MP play with them. But I doubt we'll have the regularity to play a full playthrough together.

(Also : I only ever played BG 1-2 in Single-Player mode, though I never "solo'ed" them but always had a max-size party.)


And for what it's worth, I too would be disappointed if some aspects of the game are subpar, especially when playing SP, because "MP play has to be possible" or "it isn't that bad in MP mode". (I'm thinking primarily about party controls, as well as the Continuous Time Mode vs Turn-Based issues).

I've never played much MP and I'm not looking to start. Good old CS beta was fun during LAN parties with mates waaay back in the day, but that's about it for me, as far as MP goes.

I played the old games in SP, I've played thousands of hours of games since in SP, and I'll be playing BG3 in SP too, I suspect.

Thank you for the replies. A part of me is actually quite intrigued about co-op but it is totally alien to me in a CRPG and I always loved losing myself solo in the worlds of BG and similar games. I had a blast playing Vermintide 2 and Diablo 2 co-op back in the day but these are not story driven RPGs.

I might be persuaded to try co-op eventually but I think there would have to be some considerable changes to draw me back to try the game once again.

I still suspect it is a strong majority that will play BG3 solo but without the data my opinion is sort of moot.

I will be playing solo....

SP only for me. Cannot concentrate on story with folks chattering in my ear.

I do like MP for other games that require less attention, like shooters or puzzlers or party games or sea of theives, etc. But anything with alot of dialogue? No. I would go insane trying to play with my silly friends. We tend to laugh too much.

Both
I have finished DOS2 in single-player and multiplayer of 4 players and I actually had more fun in my co-op experience than the single-player experience and the main reason for the enjoyment was the group I have played with are more into single-player games than multiplayer so when we decided to try DOS2 we wanted the game to still feel like a single-player game but instead of Loshe, Ifan...etc in my party now I have my group to control any one of them or play with a custom character.
it actually might be one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had because of the multiplayer aspect.

and I think one big aspect where it is clear that the game is designed with taking into consideration the co-op aspect is the map design.
I can see why people complain about BG3 theme park map but recently I have started playing WL3 in co-op (I have played it alone before) with one of my friends since it is a 2-players co-op and my god the loading time and how frequent it happens during the game might kill us since it is clear that the game is designed for the single player but we still want to play it because it is really a good game
but for everything we have to do we have to go through a loading time and stare at the screen for at least 20 seconds!
not just that but the fact that I have to be on the same map as my partner to do anything.
Like, I remember one thing that annoyed me so much while I was playing WL3:
we were at Downtown Colorado Springs and I was doing a quest when my friend wanted to respec his character.
I was like ok go for it but he had to go to Ranger HQ which is literally a place next to Downtown Colorado Springs
but there is a loading time between these two locations.
So I had to go with him to respec his character and then go back to do the quest (two loading times for that).
that was really annoying

and there are more examples but this might give an idea of how bad the map design is for the co-op experience

Single player almost certainly exclusively ...

I mean there is no way in hells i would play this with strangers, i had my own amount of that in MMOs and it was more than enough. :-/

And i dont know many pepole who would like to play in coop ... maybe if situation come, i would like to try but doubt that. :-/
I mean right now game is pretty slow when you get to big combat ... cant even imagine how boring it might potentialy become when you play single turn in whole round. :-/

I'll go with single player. Games like BG or Dragon Age, I like to explore alone mostly.
I might do one playthrough with two friends though, who are contemplating getting the game too.

100% SP for me. The whole point of playing these games for me is to get away from the real world and my real life, and most importantly from other people.

I tend to spend hours and hours beyond what the game itself would normally take up immersing myself in the details of the game, such as reading lore and playing around with the (re)distribution of my items across my companions.

Single player only. I don't like multiplayer games, they feel like too much pressure quite honestly. I like being able to go through a game at my own pace.

single player for sure, if i do play multiplayer games, they're generally more action oriented. Games where you make conversational choices, and listen to a lot of dialogue aren't fun for me if I'm trying to also chat with my buddies. I end up just ignoring the game, which defeats the purpose. LoL (used to at least), Phasmophobia, Ark, etc are games I play with friends.

Most likely single player for the most part. Generally in Larian games I always do singleplayer first to get a full experience from start to end; Unless there's a reliable real life friend that I can have enough confidence in that will see it through with me. Though doing this in Dos2 made me realize that singleplayer first is probably always best, because my friend was heavily into crafting and min-maxing with vendors at any given opportunity. So our run ended up taking 162 hours when it should easily have been around ~100. Meaning I spent several tens of hours standing around twiddling my thumb, waiting for my friend.

For replays though, multiplayer is always fun!

Solo. Have several friends that play but rarely ones who can match my schedule. And had enough playing with strangers during my WoW days.

Overall I use games for escapism and don't want others butting in on that precious me-time.

Solo.

I would very much like to play it with friends and might end up playing a little bit of it in Coop - however, my go to gaming buddies live now on other ends of the globe + plus there is no way we will be able to playthough a lengthy campaign. In both D:OS1&2 all my coop campaigns lasted at most until the end of chapter1. I don't think games that last more then one 10h are good fits for coop - not for me at least.

Most likely both, eventually. Initially, however, I'll be running SP exclusively.

If we get a toolset like NWN, however, all bets may be off...

Mostly solo with some MP. Larian games aren't great for MP if you care about the story/dialogue. They're not particularly bad for their genre: just any incredibly long game filled with tons of one-on-one dialogue and things to do individually (crafting, inventory management, etc) while the other person waits isn't great.

I'll likely only play multiplayer if:
a.) it's still my first-third playthrough and I thus won't get too bored talking/listening to every NPC
b.) I'm playing with friends who have also done multiple playthroughs and thus we can all ignore the story/NPCs/etc for the most part

I hadn't thought of that. I remember being seriously addicted to a persistent world using the NWN toolset...had a hell of a good time there. Almost 20 years ago...eeek.

Solo. I play rpgs for the escapism and to immerse myself in the world and story. Having another person running around while trying to do that wouldn't be great for me in that department. Never played MP in any of the Infinity Engine or NWN games and feel no great desire to do so with BGIII.