Baldur's Gate 3 players already have a bazillion requests for modders - I have only one
Please, don't let me finish
Baldur's Gate 3 is the CRPG with a billion and one features, but there will always be players who want a billion and two and yes, I am among these insatiable souls. I cracked a fresh save over the weekend, having bid a sad goodbye to my early access Tiefling rogue, and I already know what I’d like from the game’s modding scene, or preferably, a forthcoming official update. No, it isn’t new races, or increased party sizes, or the removal of the weight limit (which you can get around by offloading spare loot to your Tardis-esque interdimensional campsite). What I’d like most is the ability to switch between characters during dialogue. You’ll trigger many of these conversations without warning as you explore the world, and I routinely bumble into chitchats the character I’m controlling isn’t quite prepped for.
My 1.0 protagonist is a custom Drow sorceress who’s got Charisma and Persuasion chops to spare, but isn’t so great at getting hit in the face. As such, I tend to lead the party during exploration with grumpy old Lae'zel, the better to power through any ambushes, but this means that Lae'zel does a lot of the talking, too, and Lae'zel wields words the same way she does greataxes.
I’m trying to be a diplomatic do-gooder but I’ve gotten into plenty of avoidable scraps thanks to Lae'zel’s flinty bedside manner. I experimented with having Shadowheart take the fore, but she’s not especially charming either in the early game. I wanted to be friends with those ogres, Shadow. Couldn’t you have tagged in my Sorceress rather than winging it? I will admit to savescumming many of these encounters, but Alice B says that’s the correct and proper way to play BG3, so all is well.
It’s not just a question of matching the right ability score to the situation. Given how outspoken your comrades can be in general – e.g. while bantering/flirting/philosophising during travel – and their fondness for judging you, it just feels odd that there isn’t more back-and-forth during dialogue. Though I guess I’m kind of introducing that back-and-forth accidentally, by triggering conversations with the “wrong” character. Embrace the chaos!
As regards Baldur’s Gate 3 modding in general, there’s already a fair bit of it about for the Early Access version and modders have brought a few across to the 1.0 build, from bigger fonts to additional D&D spells, but you should obviously exercise caution, this close to release. One of the more significant mods lets you multiclass in Explorer mode. I’ve also seen a lot of clamour for a mod that lets you change your custom character’s appearance - I can certainly relate to that, as somebody who tends to carpet their characters in leet body paint that looks absolutely monstrous in-game.
Are you holding out for any particular new features or changes, official or unofficial? For more on how this rather outrageously oversized RPG was written, here’s Jeremy’s Baldur’s Gate 3 Making Of.
