Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3fans rejoice, the updates aren’t over just yet. While it was previously assumed that Patch 7 would be the last and signify the closing of a chapter forLarian Studios, it turns out thatthere’s at least one more patchto come and several more features to be added, including amuch longed for photo mode, gameplay tweaks, quality of life improvements, bug fixes, and performance optimisations.
According to Larian, the upcoming patch is due in September, and it’s quite the doozy. More characters and creatures have been given additional Legendary Actions, because Honour Mode wasn’t hard enough already, apparently. The official modding toolkit will be made available, and several new cinematics for evil playthroughs will give your game a “grander finale”. There are also a bunch of bug fixes for Origin characters, including Durge.
Larian Is Making Co-Op In Baldur’s Gate 3 Less Bad
Most importantly for the purposes of this article, there will be changes made to split screen co-op gameplay and minor tweaks to how multiplayer parties function. Namely, players will be given the option to make screen partitions disappear when characters are near each other, making the game significantly less ugly and your screenshots significantly cleaner. This is one change that split screen players have been asking for, so I’m glad to see it.
Party banter will also be tweaked, so that instances between companion characters will no longer be limited to the characters controlled by a single player, and will allow for banter between characters assigned to different players. This is a pretty big deal. As someone who’s briefly played in split screen co-op with my partner andimmediately hated it, this goes a long way towards making multiplayer campaigns more lively.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Multiplayer Still Isn’t Fun
Unfortunately, while these fixes do improve the multiplayer experience, it still sucks. Just today, as I was once again trying to sell my younger brother on at least giving the game a shot, he said that he had friends who played it and that he might ask them to play with him. I could not have typed “DON’T DO THAT” into our messages any faster. I insisted that he play it solo first, because despite these upcoming tweaks, multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3 is still cooked.
My reasons for hating multiplayer are the same as they were months ago when I first tried it, because nothing has changed. The system is unfortunately flawed by design, and fixing it would mean changing how multiplayer works entirely. As it stands, each player can add a companion to their party, but these parties are handled completely separately. Conversations one player gets into will be recognised by the companion they have with them, but ignored by the other. Approval points are split between player characters, but interactions don’t repeat, so it takes ages to romance a character. Companions can only be spoken to by the player who controls them, which isinfuriating.
I understand, of course, why this is the case. I wouldn’t want to be held accountable for other players doing things I wouldn’t have, and splitting the game this way ensures that there isn’t any crossover. But the relationship mechanics just don’t work in multiplayer, and to me, the relationships are everything. If you play multiplayer with friendsDungeons & Dragons-style and are happy to ignore all the companion characters, these fixes are probably enough for you. But if you want to experience this campaign, just with a friend, you’re still out of luck.
I’ve been hoping that Larian would fix this at some point, but it looks like multiplayer will remain an option that’s only really viable for people who don’t really care about the game’s characters. Maybe one day I’ll come around to this style of playing, but right now, it still feels blasphemous.
Baldur’s Gate 3
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.
