Allow party members to engage/support/switch in dialog/events

[Kori]

As the title says. Im shocked this isnt in the game yet, it even states in the loading screen "Keep a well mixed party, it will help you in combat and in social situations" only to be absolutely blocked in said social situations and stuck with the character that triggered the conversation/event.

Let me switch to other characters in dialog to use their skill checks for persuation, sense motiv or whatever.

Its so frustrating to bump into dialog situations with the wrong character. There is no way you can know when and where a certain character can shine with their skills, unless you either quick save every second foot step, or you have already played the game once...

[Voldski]

+1

[Silmaril]

+1 Solasta does this.

[LuuMor]

Totally agree with with this!

Also quote from the latest news about this topic:

On the topic of doom and chatter, we get a lot of questions about how conversations work in a party of four, so we thought we’d lay out some scenarios that explain how it’s handled.

Typically, the character who initiates a conversation (in both single player and multiplayer) hosts that conversation. In multiplayer, the other players can witness the conversation by clicking on the appropriate icon or character, which will allow them to vote on the host character's choices in dialogue. The host is free, and often right, to ignore them.

“What if I enter a conversation with a character who has the wrong proficiencies for the choices I’m dealt?” This depends on a few things. When a conversation is started unexpectedly, the character who initiated whatever led to the conversation will host the conversation. That character's proficiencies will therefore be the ones used to decide the fate of the conversation.

To give you an example, if you run around a corner and bump into someone unexpectedly, you’re the person who’s going to have the conversation.

Clicking on the appropriate icon or character is the worst experience in the game. This needs to change, because it feel really bad to follow the story when you always miss the beginning of the dialogue.

Also not be able to choose who is doing the talking in a party feels weird.

[Koboldnation]

+1 let us change who is leading the conversation, example, was fighting the hag, the gith fighter is closest when she initiates a conversation with the hag, while my charisma warlock has no say.. meaning i cant use my actual group leader to negotiate..

"To give you an example, if you run around a corner and bump into someone unexpectedly, you’re the person who’s going to have the conversation." this example only works if you are alone, once your friends round the corner, are they just supposed to stand there quietly, not saying anything while you fumble, even though one of them might be a smooth diplomat? makes no sense. please let us pick who leads the discussion.

[KurLao]

I agree with the previous speakers, social interactions in Baldur's Gate 3 seem a bit off, even in single-player mode, not to mention the multiplayer situation. The second player simply doesn't participate in the dialogue, and I honestly expected an implementation similar to that of SWTOR, where all characters are in the frame and can take the initiative using a dice roll.

As for the checks, why can't both players roll the dice? They're part of the same group after all, and this often works in tabletop games where everything happens simultaneously. The current setup gives the impression that you're playing solo and streaming to someone else.

Even when compared to Wasteland 3 (where the highest skill in the group is considered) or JA3 (where all characters voice their opinions despite the highest skill being taken into account), the dialogue in BG3 feels less immersive and dynamic. I hope these aspects can be improved to enhance the gaming experience.

[Poqreslux]

They could learn a thing or two from how Solasta (all party members roll, game takes best result) or how the Pathfinder games (party member with highest bonus rolls) handles dialogue skill checks. Not every persuasion or deception check needs to work this way, but they should definitely do this for the passive checks that happen. There's no reason that just because the Barbarian taking the lead in the cutscene doesn't know jack about history and fails his history check that the wizard right behind him can't but in to enlighten him if he passes his.

[KurLao]

Having spent more time playing in cooperative mode, I can now focus on the most pressing issue we've encountered. Essentially, the second player is treated as a separate group. While I understand the logic and control reasons behind this design, I would really like the ability for all players to participate in dialogues as if we are all from the same group.

The way it's currently set up, any origin character my friend chooses remains silent for the entire journey, failing to reveal their character. Moreover, if they control more than one character, I don't see the second one in the dialogues either. It would be really appreciated if this issue could be addressed as a priority. Making all characters in a player's control feel more involved in dialogues and narrative decisions would significantly enhance the co-op experience in my opinion.

[Montollio]

After a fantastic co-op experience in DOS 1-2, I was entirely sure that the tradition would continue, but BG3 has been a significant disappointment in this regard. What's the point of having highlighted dialogue options when your co-op partner can't influence the conversation? Why isn't the whole party drawn into dialogues? The second player may miss some important information during gameplay.

Why not give the opportunity to pass speech checks based on the stats of ALL party members? Especially considering that in single-player mode, characters communicate quite vividly with each other and overall feel like those much-advertised DISTINCT PERSONALITIES. In a story-driven project, the chance to FULLY enjoy the story when playing co-op is trending towards zero. I sincerely hope this is something you're planning to address.

[Voldski]

Not sure what best system would be to put in place, but I don't think current one really involve other parties members in way that feels involved. I get they talked about organic gameplay and it triggered for person who engage, just on same note don't feel it's that organic if you see people walking as a group to completely ignore the others either. Except maybe for certain situation where authority figure maybe demand to speak to representive or leader of the group.

[KurLao]

Publicado originalmente por Voldski:

Not sure what best system would be to put in place, but I don't think current one really involve other parties members in way that feels involved. I get they talked about organic gameplay and it triggered for person who engage, just on same note don't feel it's that organic if you see people walking as a group to completely ignore the others either. Except maybe for certain situation where authority figure maybe demand to speak to representive or leader of the group.

I completely agree. As a GM and player for TRPGs, and generally as a video game player, it creates a dissonance for me that the game ignores other players who are not "chained" to the main character. As we know, in co-op, you can't "chained" another player's characters to your own. As a result, their entire storyline character (Origin) doesn't even participate in the dialogues, and we lose an amazing plot thread. It's very disappointing. I hope that the developers find a way to enhance the co-op experience by allowing all characters to engage fully in the narrative.

[dh-hovey]

agreed

[Kefke]

Said it on another thread, and I'll say it again here. Party members should be able to tag in for relevant skill checks. (Also, nearby party members grouped with another player in multiplayer should be able to jump in, use buffs, etc...)

[Vamppire]

Publicado originalmente por KurLao:

I completely agree. As a GM and player for TRPGs, and generally as a video game player, it creates a dissonance for me that the game ignores other players who are not "chained" to the main character.

Oof, I have a lot of beefs with dialog, but I didn't even realize that only the origin character chained to the speaker has the ability to interject in the conversation. Both me and my partner did the same dialog with a certain npc and I was wondering why Shadowheart spoke up the second time we did it, but not the first, I thought it was a bug. How disappointing to know we are potentially missing an interesting story bit or dialog line from (x) character because the one chained to them isn't the one who clicked on the NPC.

Everything so far has been pushing us to go through the same NPC dialog multiple times, first with one character, then with another, potentially even reloading if we need to, which is ridiculous and not how we want to play at all. It's just that we paid for the game and would like to see the content that makes sense for us to be able to see given that all us characters are present for the convo.

Everyone is standing there in front of the npc. In real life, it would be a group conversation. All companions should be able to interject if they have a scripted line, everyone should be able to do a skill check (if not everyone, then we should pick the person or it should automatically be the one with the highest skill), everyone should be able to contribute something related to their class/race if they are present. If my warlock partner clicks on the NPC druid, but I as another druid am standing next to him, the game should react with that druid familiarity as if I was the one who clicked on the npc. I'm right there, my partner warlock might say hi, but of course I would also say hi, fellow druid here -druid secret handshake- lol. ESPECIALLY in cases where its a triggered dialog. We've had to reload so many times because one of us accidentally stepped into something we would have chosen the other character for if we realized.

If I was on another part of the map, then of course that would be different, it wouldn't make sense to contribute to the dialog. but anyone within a reasonable distance should be included, as they would be in reality, or in tabletop.

[Pooh]

Publicado originalmente por Kori:

As the title says. Im shocked this isnt in the game yet, it even states in the loading screen "Keep a well mixed party, it will help you in combat and in social situations" only to be absolutely blocked in said social situations and stuck with the character that triggered the conversation/event.

Let me switch to other characters in dialog to use their skill checks for persuation, sense motiv or whatever.

Its so frustrating to bump into dialog situations with the wrong character. There is no way you can know when and where a certain character can shine with their skills, unless you either quick save every second foot step, or you have already played the game once...

100% this. I'm a Druid healer with medicine and I can't examine the boar corpse cause Lae'zel walked in front... Game pls.

[eisen]

Currently playing a coop campaign with 2 other people and this is jarring. Did anyone at Larian ever play a single game of D&D?
Or watch some footage of it at least?
Dialogue's aren't isolated between one character and the NPCs, the entire party can roll knowledge/insight checks based on what they hear and actively participate.

Getting to decide who says which line or attempts what skill check is crucial for a party based RPG.