I have four concurrent playthroughs ofBaldur’s Gate 3on the go at the moment, none of which I have finished, but I’m enjoying living in this world too much to let any of these stories end. It’s very rare I make so many decisions about a game or preach its greatness so willingly having not finished it, but even if it doesn’t stick the landing, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an all-timer.
That’s not to say there aren’t areas that can’t be improved. The turn-based combat could be refined. I think some places to travel to are better than others, but everyone’s going to have a level preference. The one area that I think could be radically improved however, is your camp.
Again, there’s a lot of great stuff at camp. You can roleplay a chef and ensure your meals are perfectly balanced – don’t put a Tethyrian red with a lovely grilled fish, for instance – and it’s a chance for myriad plots to advance. Your companions often save their most vulnerable conversations for tender moments at camp, rather than sharing willy-nilly on the road, and your gathering of tents becomes a focal point for the game’s story.
But more stuff should happen at camp while you’re away. In my latest playthrough, I left Wyll and Karlach at camp alone as I wandered off to do my business with others in tow. This was early in my playthrough, and I hadn’t brought Wyll with me to rescue Karlach. I’ve had that conversation twice before, and I just didn’t need the drama right now. So, both of them chilled at camp until my return.
I cleared out the Goblin Camp. I freed Halsin. I found Kagha’s secret chest. I went hunting the Shadow Druids. I went to see lovely old Auntie Ethel. I navigated her traps, dispatched her minions, and I killed lovely old Auntie Ethel. I confronted Kagha. I showed her the error in her ways. Halsin forgave her. Then I went back to camp.
That’s a week’s worth of travelling and fighting, at a minimum. I know a turn of combat only lasts six seconds or something, but the number of combat turns between my long rests could have hit four figures. And when I got back to my tent, ready to finally close my eyes and restore a little bit of health, Wyll decided to kick off.
Thus played the whole ‘Wyll sees he’s been duped’ cutscene. My question is, what have he and Karlach been doing this whole time? Why did he wait to try to murder someone he thought was a devil, an embodiment of evil, until he could get my permission? Why hasn’t the camp been utterly trashed in their five-day fight?
I know the real reason. The real reason is that all your companions fold away with your tents and fit nicely in your pocket until you unfurl them and peg them to the ground at your next campsite. They don’t exist unless they’re on screen. But maybe they should.
This idea is called ‘the hammerspace’, after Bugs Bunny’s magical cartoon hammer that squeezes into his invisible pockets
Baldur’s Gate 3 needs the Nemesis System. Pioneered in Shadow of Mordor and immediately unceremoniously copyrighted by Warner Bros. Games, it allowed enemy Orcs to grow in power whenever you (and sometimes they) died. They fought each other, went on hunts, gained new abilities, and generally became tougher and badder even if you’d been Assassin’s Creeding on the other side of Mordor. Baldur’s Gate 3 needs a narrative version of this.
I should have returned to camp to find everything in tatters. The game should have decided, based on dice rolls and weapon options, who won that fight between Wyll and Karlach. Because they would fight, without the player character there to mediate. They would tear each other to shreds. My money is 100 percent on Karlach, by the way, but we’ve all rolled a nat one at a crucial moment, so it could go either way.
Baldur’s Gate 3 wants to ensure you see everything that happens in the game. That’s fair enough, because the writing is so strong and performances so brilliant that it’d be a shame to miss any of it. But you can miss Minthara as a companion if you’re a goodie two-shoes. You can miss Auntie Ethel’s quest completely if you just don’t properly explore the south west corner of the map. You have to choose between the Underdark or the Mountain Pass. You miss things in every playthrough.
I can’t help but think the characters would be even stronger and the story even more surprising if they acted on their emotions without you. You’re the player character, but the world of Faerun moves on without you all the time. Your companions should do the same.
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