#thank you larian for this incredible game

[dekariosclan]

Larian Studios in 2029: As always we continue to improve the romance experience in Baldur’s Gate 3! See below for some of the changes coming with Patch #43:

— You now have the ability to argue about your tax returns with your spouse

— Fixed an issue where the game would freeze while you & your partner were shopping at the IKEA in Baldur’s Gate

— If you opted to have children, you must now pass a DC 30 check in order to have the energy to stay awake past 9:45 pm

— If partnered with Gale and living in Waterdeep, you can now discuss whose family you will be spending next Waukeentide with (*note, not an option with a Dark Urge character)

[forcedhesitation]

nothing I write could truly capture the way I feel, having finished corydalis' campaign. god. what a game. what an adventure!

[devotedlystrangewizard]

el pov angle had me stunned but hi hey hello why am i giggling

[persephinae]

man fuck Hasbro and fuck all these CEO's laying off game devs fr

also:

EDIT BECAUSE PEOPLE AREN'T FUCKING READING THE ARTICLE:

Larian merely licensed the IP from the studio and proved to the world that they made a great game

They do not own dnd. Hasbro does.

You may pirate dnd materials but it's not Larian's fault that Harbro fired 1100 people from their dnd department.

Please read the article.

I only mentioned game devs as well because over 6500 game devs have been laid off this year from various studios FOR THE SAME REASONS

Please do NOT pirate Larian, an independent studio with NO ties to AAA publishers. That they made such an incredible and creative game is a testament to not being beholden to shareholders and CEO's who don't know or care about the people who create the things they sell

Go burn down Hasbro's offices

Thank you

[wyllzel]

just finished my first BG3 playthrough 🥹 good bye and good luck, lottie... thank you for a wonderful narrative, you awful druid :')

[dailyastarionpics]

A huge night full of well deserved awards and recognition for Larian Studios! Congratulations and thank you for creating such an incredible game!

[a2zillustration]

Farewell

Not "farewell," but "see you later."

| First | | Previous |

[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

...Time to blather on under the cut. I've got thank yous, some notes about potential future comics, and if you scroll to the end of the post, I've decided to compile Croissant Adventures into a physical book. It's mostly for me, so I can hold all TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE of these strips in my hands, as a brick, but if you'd like to own a copy as well, I'll have a link to the preorders down below. If this is where you're going to stop reading, I'll extend a quick heartfelt thanks to you for joining me on this adventure!

Thank you, reader.

This is undeniably the largest project I've ever tackled in my art career; it was never supposed to be this big, and I expected maybe a handful of people to read it, at most. Instead, it became this massive project that I've been working on for ten months straight, and in the end these characters meant so much to me. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who's bothered to read my little comic strips, whether it was just one or two, or if you've been here since the beginning, following Croissant's adventure from the minute they plummeted off the nautiloid. Thank you so much for being here and supporting this project. Thank you to everyone who left kind words and comments, sent me asks about Croissant, liked or reblogged these posts, or just read these and enjoyed them! While I was determined to finish this project no matter what happened, you certainly made it all the more fun and kept me excited to tell you the next part of Croissant's story.

Thank you, Larian.

If by some chance someone at Larian ever happens to see these, I also want to give an immense thank you to everyone who was a part of making this game. I don't play that many games these days, but BG3 rocketed to the top of my all-time favorite games almost immediately. (It was also the game that made me feel the most out of anything I've ever played; I got legitimately depressed for a few days during my run don't worry I'm fine now we're all good haha). You can tell there was so much work, and so much love involved in this game's development, and I'm so happy the studio has been rewarded with multiple awards in recognition of that dedication to making a fantastic game. Thank you again for sharing this story with us, and I can't wait to see what the studio does in the future.

Is this goodbye?

I'm hoping this is less of a "goodbye," and more of a "see you later." I'll probably take a bit of a break, since I've put off other projects for months, and art fight is happening, but I have many more things I'd like to add to Croissant's story! I have yet to play the epilogue, and I intend to illustrate parts of that depending on what happens. I also have a handful of comics for post-game Breadweave, in addition to some scenes I thought would've happened in-game but weren't canon so I left them out of the original story. (If I haven't gotten to these in a few months and you find yourself wondering about Croissant again, my ask box is always open, feel free to give me a good kick to get me back into their story, lol).

...A book?

I said I never intended this project to be so large, and I meant it. But now that I'm sitting here with two hundred and five Baldur's Gate 3 Tav comics, I really wanted to compile them into a physical book for me to hold. This is mostly for me, but if you'd also like one, I'll have a preorder available in my shop until the end of July.

✨✨✨ Croissant Adventures Preorder ✨✨✨

If you made it to the end of this post, I can only thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. I hope Croissant's story brought you joy, and if you're able to play BG3, I hope that you're having just as much fun in your own tavs' stories.

[ginavampina]

Happy “One Year” anniversary to Baldurs Gate 3 🥹 I knew I would be consumed by this game but I didn’t not expect the brainrot to rot this hard. Thank you to Larian for bringing this incredible game into the world 🖤

Here is a new piece that will be going into the shop within the next couple of weeks! 🩸🖤

[roguishcat]

🎉Happy Anniversary BG3!🎉

Happy anniversary to everyone involved in making this life-changing, amazing game! It's incredible how many people were moved by the stories of the characters created by the wonderful, talented team at Larian.

It is a joy to write about Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Halsin, Wyll, Shadowheart, Lae'zel and others, who I think of with utmost fondness.

And thank you to the awesome people who have become a close-knit community! I am in awe of the creativity and talent that I've seen in the months since I joined Tumblr.

Happy Anniversary to us all! 💖

[raviolirash]

Do you insert any of yourself into your OCs? Maybe some more than others? Or are all they completely different people than you?

(I'm struggling to make an OC that's not very self-insert like)

This might get rambly lol

I don't care if a character is a self-insert most of the time. As long as it's not shit like YIIK where it's Rantsona: The Game but we don't have time for that rant.

I think putting your own biases and lived experiences into OCs is ultimately unavoidable, and each of my OCs definitely carries a piece of me. They deal with themes of not having an identity after years of abuse, toxic parents, struggling to not become bitter and jaded and cynical, being an outsider and a foreigner, a lot of anger. But they're barely anything like me as a person irl if that makes sense.

I'd wager that a lot of popular hero fictional characters are self inserts at heart. When writing heroes people tend to write characters they want to be. And ain't nothing wrong with that. I also think it's great to base your characters on traits you admire in other people. A hack I guess is to spread it out. Take one trait of yours, make it a flaw, and have the narrative deal with it. But ultimately: fuck all the rules just have fun with it.

Here's my children in brief and how I shaped them in case it helps. Under a ReadMore because jesus christ this got incredibly LONG. I have terminal brainworms. Thanks Larian.

Dalia is a fool. A wood-elf druid who grew up outside of society and was never subjected to any cruelty of the world until the tadpoles happened. She completely unironically believes that she can fill the Hells with flowers. It's a character flaw in the beginning, but turns to an admirable strength as somehow she isn't completely jaded after the harsh journey. She is changed and stronger, but she never became bitter.

On the opposite end, Raga is a tiefling thrown out of the city who is just bitter at the world and wants to become a Creature. Astarion seems normal compared to them. People already stare at them in disgust and fear so why stop. Fuck it! Eat worms! Oh no, I don't want to become a full mind flayer and lose more than I already have. I want to live. Oh shit, oh fuck. Make it stop!

Vėlė is my problem child. I don't need to get into the harsh and dogmatic drow society and make this post longer. Prior to the story she had never been given a painless space to explore her own ideas, or question them, or be taught that they are wrong. As a result she struggles with everything. She is always conflicted about what the right choice is. In the end, she no longer fights to survive for only her own survival as she had been taught. She now fights to survive so that she can fight for her friends and people who can't hold a sword.

Then you go from there when shaping their personalities and speaking patterns and habits they have and mannerisms etc. They might be based on me in their own ways, but none of these chucklefucks speak the way I do. And it's a fun thing to sit down and figure out what kind of person their respective societies would spit out.

Vėlė is a master of survival, and that includes a sharp silver tongue that I wish I had instead of being stunlocked. She will make very bad choices with good intentions because she's struggling to fight a worldview that has done more harm than good. She would be eloquent, as choosing the wrong word meant death back home. When in a relaxed environment like talking to her companions at the end of the night, that stiffness gradually fades away as she can shut off Survival Mode. You might actually hear a joke.

Dalia would be terrible at Common, in turn focusing more on giving gifts and practicality instead of trying to form a sentence when it comes to bonding with her new companions. She struggles as a leader, not being the best speaker. She will always choose to make her point with actions instead. Dalia is not dumb by any means. Ah yes. The struggle of having to do 5D math in order to express yourself in another language. That's nice.

Raga is just angry but a lot of that anger does come from an identity crisis as they have no idea who they are. So it translates to the more they speak the less time to eat worms and modify their body. You can't lose yourself and replace yourself if there was nothing there to begin with. But plot twist: there was something there to begin with.

I better stop this post here thanks for reading lol.

[kittenintheden]

I want to share something. I absolutely adore how you write Astarion. You capture his mirth, the absolute ridiculous stray ginger cat energy he embodies, the tragedy of his situation, and how utterly hilarious he is all at the same time. But what I love especially is how *young* you manage to write him, like this is an elf who was killed before he even reached young adulthood in Elvish culture and you capture that brilliantly in both his mannerisms, sarcastic and sometimes juvenile quips and even his body language. It's just mind-blowing and I love reading your fics due to how well you capture him.

this is such an incredibly sweet comment and thank you so much for making it T_T my heart, it is warmed.

if I may ramble for a moment!

here's my thing: based on the information available to us, it's pretty widely confirmed canon (fanon? since Larian hasn't actually confirmed to my knowledge?) that based on the translated dates on his grave marker, Astarion died at 39. which is VERY young for an elf, but still adulthood, because elves physically and mentally mature at a similar rate to humans. the "they don't reach adulthood until 100" is more cultural than physical/mental, so Astarion very much was an adult with a career and all that when he died. culturally, however, he would not have been considered fully adult by other elves.

kind of like if you had a bar/bat mitzvah at 100 instead of 13? like it's not a measure of physical/mental adulthood, it's a cultural/religious ceremony signifying the passage into adulthood. that kind of thing.

WITH THAT SAID: Astarion did die young (we think) and then was launched into a situation that severely impacted his growth and progression as a person. namely: it stopped. he's frozen in time. he had no opportunity to learn, grow, or change. he was literally prevented from doing so.

Cazador worsened and encouraged this behavior not only in Astarion but in ALL the spawn. he refers to them as children, they're considered siblings, and the journals and notes we find in the palace indicate that they frequently pranked the shit out of each other and were generally the worst versions of themselves because Cazador regularly pitted them against one another. he starves and belittles and torments them physically and mentally. no one can thrive in circumstances like that.

when we meet Astarion in game, we're meeting a severely abused soul in survival mode who's never been able to make a plan or act for himself or exist in a world that wasn't constant terror. not since he can remember, anyway. he's fully and completely trauma-brained.

SO MUCH of his behavior is rooted in that. Cazador and his staff routinely refer to Astarion as a brat, little one, child, etc. dialogue indicates that he was constantly shamed for "prattling" and being a talker. so here's a man who's in literal arrested development and any meaningful growth he could have had was cut off at the ground. and he acts it.

until he gets a chance to grow.

then he still acts like a big baby boy but, you know, one who's also beginning to think past his own nose and develop a tiny bit of empathy and consideration. if you let him lol. you don't have to.

also I have a history in writing YA and Romance if that wasn't PAINFULLY OBVIOUS LMAO.

[optiwashere]

Is there any part of baldur's gate 3 that you dislike? I know you enjoy the game, but most fans of the old games I see are very critical and you're one of the few that I've seen that seems to love it.

First of all, this is a very fun question, anon! Thanks 💜

Secondly, you're experiencing illusory correlation when you connect "previous BG fans" to "those that dislike BG3." It's further compounded by the fact that most people only get really loud when they're disappointed/upset, and the people that are happy tend not to post as virulently or constantly about said topic. Millions of people have played BG1/2 and then a good chunk of those folks went on to play BG3, so think about all the people you aren't seeing when you see a post like that.

Anyways, there are things I'm either bleh on, annoyed with, or dislike about BG3. I'm too old to expect perfection.

Some of the things I don't like:

Callbacks to BG1/2 like Sarevok and Viconia, though that is more WotC's fault than Larian's, and this goes double for Abdel Adrian being referenced at all in the game. Those books should have been memory holed.

The uneven nature of all the companions' stories. Some have tons of dialogue, reactivity, and the ability to let the player choose to give the companion the choice of how they handle things, with the player's own choices affecting the companion's decision. Others are in a semi-broken state (Minthara) or feel lacking despite being great characters (Wyll) that deserve those choices.

5E D&D is a bad system down to its bones. Its flaws are openly on display in the game; the only reason that the tactical gameplay feels any good is because Larian is very skilled at crafting memorable, enjoyable encounters and they hacked in a dozen different homebrews and house rules to make the damn thing feel any good. BTW, 2E AD&D was a mess for wildly different reasons and the old real-time w/ pause system is conducive to spamming filler encounters, so it's not as easy as saying "old game better" for me.

The lack of companion banter in Act 3 when compared to the previous acts. Hell, even Act 2 has a fair bit less than Act 1.

The way that some companions feel kinda hollow when you're not actively engaged in their romance. More platonic connection! One of my favorite scenes in the game is the platonic stargazing with Gale. Let me dance with Wyll without it being romantic, let me go on a friendly night on the town with Karlach, let me experience some of these scenes through the lens of friendship. I know that this is probably one of the more time-consuming tasks for the team at large, but it's one that I would love to see some day.

The character creator is lacking in body types, facial structure for various ethnicities, and a truly broad scope of what trans/non-binary bodies can look like. However, I'm incredibly grateful for what we did get and I will take one small step if that means it becomes more and more common in RPGs. I'll fight for more, but I will be happy with what we have in this game.

Is BG3 the bestest, most greatest CRPG of all time? No. Do I love BG3? Yes. Is it my favorite BG game? Ask me that question in ten years.

[ladyduellist]

BG3 TAG GAME ✨⚔️

This one looks like a lot of fun! Thanks to my lovely friend @verbenaa for thinking of me!

Favorite romance: Astarion. I think it goes without saying that a lot of people have been able to relate to his plight in some form: whether that is through physical abuse, sexual assault, emotional abuse, or other traumas. He is not a perfect man and is a downright shitty person in the beginning, but if we never give people a chance to grow, we will never see them bloom either. He is a great example of us taking the time to understand why a person is the way the are and having a bit of humbleness in that regard. Astarion isn't just his trauma and I believe there's a lot of lessons to be learned through his character. That's what initially attracted me to him.

Favorite class to play: This is the first DnD game I was able to experience playing as a bard and I instantly fell in love with it! Otherwise, I do really enjoy playing as a beefy fighter or monk!

Favorite NPC: Hmm...Kethric Thorm is the first that comes to mind. He stole the show for me in Act 2 and I found his character to be incredibly compelling. I also have a soft spot for Roland, Alfira, and that sweet baby angel gnome, Barcus Wroot.

Favorite song off the soundtrack: Wash My Dreams Away, Nine blades, Who Are You, and Weeping Dawn to name some!

Tell us a little about your Tav: Tavelle is a balance to Astarion. He is outwardly a charming prickly extravert that is inwardly unsure, afraid, and anxious. Tavelle, on the other hand, is outwardly a humble introvert that is inwardly calm, slowly processes things, with bouts of depression. She's corny, flirty, quiet, feels confident in the skills she knows—readily showing them off—but suffers from making real connections with people due to her severe trust issues and sometimes lack of self worth. I could go on and on and on about her honestly!

Something you wish was in the game: I think some of the companions need more development. Halsin, Wyll, and Minthara are lacking big time in those areas. I also wasn't thrilled with how Act 3 felt overall. While I did enjoy the quests, it felt too much like I was playing in a sandbox of filler fetch missions, instead of enriching the story we were already playing through. Also, I actually really liked the original idea Larian had planned for the tadpoles??? It seemed actually quite interesting!

Do you create fanworks? Share something with us: I am a lover of inner turmoil, angst, and poetry. If you are too, please check out Epistles of Saints & Sinners! This fic has been the longest project I've ever worked on in terms of writing and I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.

Tagging: @inkymoonbunny @preciouslittlebhaalbae @kalmiaphlox @bhaalsdeepbat @roguishcat

[dreadfutures]

7, 16, 19 for DA4 asks!

Thank you for joining in on the HYPE!

7. Which character from the previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

Honestly, Vivienne or Cassandra.

I know, I know, but hear me out.

After Inquisition, Jaws of Hakkon, after Cassandra's personal quest, these women have to have changing opinions about magic in the world. I would love to have conversations about coming to terms with societies flooded with magic, how they are not evil merely because of that freedom. Possession is reversible! Spirit companions can be peaceful!

It would be an opportunity too to make up for some of the weakness in DAI's/Trespasser's writing with the Andrastian characters not questioning their beliefs enough in my (and many others') opinions. I don't think that they don't, to be clear: I think Cassandra's reign as Divine is way more reform-oriented (depending on your choices) than most people interpret her ending slides to be. But I wish they had confronted their beliefs more in Hakkon, and I wish we could see them ten years later--with a Mortalitasi, and a Tevinter commoner, and an elven Veil Jumper at our sides.

16. What's one crack theory you subscribe to (yours or someone else's)?

So I really wish we can swim. We can jump and parry and dodge. CAN WE SWIM? GOTY for me if so.

But I feel like probably not, so. Crack theory. (I didn't think this would count but someone else said swimming for their answer to this question so I guess it does.)

19. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

I was planning on replaying DAI to get Ixchel's Bad World State in order, but…

My tastes in games have changed a lot over the years in terms of tecnical gameplay. For pause/play and strategy Turn Based games, I much prefer Owlcat or Larian. For goon-slaying chaos, I prefer Dynasty Warriors. For smooth-feeling real time combat, I am a souls girlie.

With the news that we won't be using the Keep but rather manually making our choices (very welcome news, personally!), I feel far less pressure to slog through the combat and resource gathering.

I wish I could play DAO, but!!!! No matter how I patch it, no matter how I cleanly install it, no matter how I run it, I cannot escape the game-locking crash in Denerim Market. And I don't have it on console. And it's such an out-dated gameplay and so below industry standard and quality of life of modern pause-and-play strategy combat that… I just am not incredibly interested (though I wish I could have a playthrough with Hal ;-; I really do).

I loved DA2, it is my favorite story -- blatantly pro-immigrant and confronting the xenophobia and racism of the post 9/11 west; no, I don't see the "both sidesing" as much as everyone likes to moan about, I think you really have to misinterpret a lot of the intention to think it's purposefully "both sidesing" -- but I've played it once, and I don't really need to do it again.

[softremains]

Page 9

I’m so proud of you Larian for sweeping the game award! Truly an incredible game , I was able to get out of my art block because of you. Thank you , y’all are incredible. :)

[dolceaspidenera]

Our Personal Take on Baldur’s Gate 3

Foreword

After many hours of gameplay and the initial excitement about Baldur's Gate 3, it's finally time to switch back on our brains' critical and analytical parts and express a more articulated opinion on the game.

Even though it’s likely that this letter will only reach a few people, we’ll try to get our thoughts out there for anyone to read.

DISCLAIMERS: what follows is intended as constructive criticism towards the game from fans who have little to no experience in game development beyond what is publicly and generally available, alongside a small taste of it during the academic career of one of the writers. This letter was written before Patch #1. If in the meantime, anything we've pointed out has been corrected, we'll be more than happy about that! 

Also, this post has no intention whatsoever to belittle Larian's effort, to whom goes our greatest appreciation and gratitude for making such a beautiful, rich, interesting, fun game, which respects us fans and consumers beyond what the market has led us to expect from other game-development companies. This game is simply beyond greatness in a gaming landscape filled with micro-transactions, poor and recycled content, washed-out stories, and live services, it’s clear how it's a work of passion down to the last single, accurately crafted detail. 

All the praise the game is receiving is absolutely well deserved, and since most of the good stuff has already been said, we've decided to focus our attention on the type of content we’d like to see more and that we felt there was a lack of.

We'll be discussing the following topics:

Interactions with/between companions;

Skill checks management;

Party management. 

Lastly, this post has been cooperatively written with @myopic-skull, but in the following, the singular first person will be used to enhance the experiences of each player.

Thanks for reading and sticking with us; we hope you will appreciate our ideas and points of view and beware of the long post under the cut.

Interactions and Dialogues

Scarcity of Dialogues Between the Main Character and Companions

After many hours of gameplay, I've been feeling a lack of dialogue with the companions. 

I must admit that I am one of those people who would gladly spend hours talking to everyone in the camp at each chance they get, while I understand that other people don't care about this aspect of the game and skip most dialogues to get back to the gameplay. Still, I think that dialogues are a fundamental aspect of RPGs.

Of course, worldbuilding and plot — of which there is definitely no lack in Baldur's Gate 3 — are also pillars of this genre, but after all, the strong relations you tie with the other characters and the affection towards them are what make you feel deep inside you that your choices have consequences, and that those consequences carry a huge weight, that let you realise that the stakes are high and that they would affect someone you've grown fond of and care about.

Please, Larian, grant me the possibility to spend more time with my companions, talk to them more, and get to know them better. It's frustrating how each time I go back to the camp, I'm hoping to read new dialogues and discuss the recent events, just to end up reading the same old default lines. I'm not saying that the characters are uninteresting or badly written. Quite the opposite! It’s because they are such interesting characters that I crave to know more and to discover every little detail about their stories and personalities, and above all else, to spend more time with them.

⚠ Spoilers about Act 2 ahead! Astarion's backstory is incredible. I love how Larian handled such a character. I've loved the revelation that for him, sex has been weaponized, that it's been a traumatic experience about which he never had any freedom of choice and that it's become second nature for him to use it to manipulate people. Also, I love that Shadowheart's story touches on topics such as religious trauma and how many small details about her she reveals to the Main Character — such as her fear of wolves, her favourite flower, etc. These are just a couple of examples of the fantastic work I think Larian has done. End of spoilers ⚠

The problem is that these discoveries and interactions are spread over way too many hours, especially in Act 2, while Act 1 seems denser. The evolution of relationships with the characters doesn't develop organically through many conversations that let you know more about them. It's mostly dependent on their personal quests, leading to many hours of silence or irrelevant dialogues, eventually leaving the feeling that the pacing is off. Even after huge events, there's been a lack of comments by the companions, usually only a couple of lines where you don’t get to answer anything.

Scarcity of Party Banters and Dialogues between Companions

I know it may not look like a big part of the game, but the small interactions between party members can go a long way regarding their characterization and building a sense of cooperation and group dynamics.

Sadly, despite the over 100 hours of gameplay and having reached Act 3, most of the time has been spent in total silence when it comes to the companions. Maybe just three to four interactions in the beginning, but definitely not more. Nevertheless, I can't be sure not to be experiencing a bug that may be causing this problem. In fact, I'm curious to find out what other people's experience has been when it comes to this, because I'm suffering due to this lack of interactions.

Thinking back to games like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect — which I believe Baldur's Gate 3 to be the closest heir of — there were many more episodes where the party would talk to each other, helping with the immersion in the game's world. Moreover, they helped to flesh out the characters, to make them feel more real, and they were ultimately fun to listen to. This has always been one of the facets of this genre that I loved the most, and it's sad to experience so few interactions while playing Baldur's Gate 3. This feels like a missed opportunity, especially given the huge potential of its wonderful characters and the amazing voice actors who give them life.

The dialogues between Morrigan and Alistair in Dragon Age: Origins were extremely fun and entertaining, giving the illusion that the characters were more than a bunch of polygons and some scripted lines. Not to be forgotten are also the exhilarating interactions between Zevran and Wynne or Shale's rants against pigeons after spending centuries as a statue. And can we not think about the embarrassing and beautifully cringe conversations in the Citadel's escalator in Mass Effect? And these are just a few examples. They may seem like small details in the grand scheme of these games' massive plots, but these details are what make us care for the characters, what we think about with a smile while reminiscing about these games, and what makes these characters feel like old friends who made us laugh, cry, and think. It's strange how Larian has thought of so many other great details with Baldur's Gate 3, but has ultimately skipped this particular aspect of the Role-Playing part of the game.

Just to put it into perspective and give a better idea:

Dragon Age: Origins has almost 3h40' of banter. Party banter | Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Inquisition has close to 5h30' of banter. Party banter [complete] | Dragon Age: Inquisition

Baldur's Gate 3's early access appeared to have around 20 minutes of banter, and most of it is now in Act 1, while Acts 2 and 3 are especially empty. Party banter | Baldur's Gate 3 [Early Access]

Mutual Exclusion of Character's Interventions During Dialogues

I'm frustrated by the fact that the intervention or the comment by a party member during a dialogue prevents any other comments from any other party member from happening, especially when we know that there won't likely be any others when the dialogue is over and that probably nobody will react to it. I don't feel like this adds to the replayability of the scene or of the game. I think it just gives the sensation of missing out on content and the chance to get to know the characters better. Also, the interactions are so randomised that by reloading the game, we might hear the same line over and over again before someone else says something different. This is different from the feeling that choosing a different answer may open up new paths and lead to a different outcome. This is just a feeling of missing out on content and being locked out from all the possible experiences.

For example, I recently had to reload a dialogue due to terrible dice rolls — I know. Please don't judge me. The Dice Gods have hated me enough already while playing D&D irl. - The first time, I heard a comment by Shadowheart, while the second time Astarion, whom I'm currently romancing, expressed some concern for my character in his usual sarcastic, subtle way. If I hadn't reloaded, I would have missed this small but cute and interesting detail, which is also narratively significant.

Also, there are little to no interactions between the characters in this sense. The dialogue between Astarion and Shadowheart during the scene with Abdirak, Loviatar's follower, is exhilaratingly funny, and I would love to see more interactions like this one.

I love how each character is extremely supportive of the others when something big happens to them. But this is only shown when explicitly interacting with them, never in a spontaneous way between them or through party banter.

Skill Checks Management

We're a party and we're working together: why, for example, shouldn't the big, strong, muscular barbarian be able to intervene when the situation calls for some intimidation or the strength to kick down a door? I really miss this feature in the game, which would help a lot in conveying the sense of teamwork and of belonging to a real D&D-style party.

Party Management

Let's face it, it's tedious to manage the party.

Instead of relying on a quick and easy interface like the one from Dragon Age: Origins maybe, managing all the companions, swapping the equipment, levelling up, and changing who's part of the actual party is a hassle. You need to listen to the same couple of lines every time for each character. This can be fun the first few times, but it gets increasingly tedious as the game progresses.

Closing Remarks

Once again, we'd like to point out that we're exceedingly satisfied with the game. We love it and think it's worth every penny we've paid. Also, Larian deserves all their praise for building such a special and huge game, so far from what the market mistakenly thinks we deserve.

For many years, we hadn't experienced such eagerness to play; days go by thinking about the moment when we'll be turning on the PC, launching the game and getting back into the story. We had surrendered to the idea that, unfortunately, our love towards cRPGs didn’t align with that of most people and the market. We thought we would never play anything like Dragon Age: Origins, Pillars of Eternity, or Divinity Original Sin ever again.

These criticisms stem from our love for the genre and the game itself: we would love to spend more time with it and with its incredible characters.

So Larian, please, we beg you on our knees crying, grant us more content about the amazing characters you gifted us 🙇‍♀️🛐🥺😭

With love, MT, L and whoever agrees: fans of yours ❤