D&D: Baldur’s Gate 3 Levels Up Multiplayer Dialogue
Larian Studios wants you to play Baldur’s Gate 3 with your friends. In their latest video, they break down multiplayer AND streaming dialogue…
Baldur’s Gate 3 feels like a turning point for D&D video games specifically, and like a great example of iteration for CRPGs in general. That is to say, Baldur’s Gate 3, designed by Larian Studios, feels like it’s being developed with the principle that the game should be as much fun to watch as it is to play. In the latest video, talking about Multiplayer & Cinematics, the devs at Larian outline their plan to make sure that you can have fun no matter if you’re playing the game with your close friends in drop-in multiplayer, playing online to a crowd of people (technically three’s a cloud, so you’re probably good if you can convince two friends), or even all by your lonesome.
The only way you can play a disaster tiefling without everyone knowing
It all comes down to dialogue. Let’s take a look at how Larian wants you to talk to and with your friends in-game.
Let’s start with the big new system–there’s a built in voting system for other players, or even a streaming audience, to share their opinions with you while you’re playing. If you’re a streamer, for instance, without having to opt-in to any third party extension, you can let your Twitch chat vote on what dialogue option you should pick. Of course, like the American Electoral College, you can theoretically go against their wishes, but that’s opening a whole can of worms towards introspection and wondering where politics and games intersect.
You can also troll your friends in multiplayer. If you’re playing a game with folks, you might find that your companion is staring at an NPC, locked into conversation (i.e. viewing a cut-scene), and you’ll either be able to influence the conversation or pickpocket anyone who’s got in-game blinders on. Pickpocket your friend. Pickpocket the NPC they’re talking to. Move a bunch of barrels around.
Or if you’re feeling truly brave, you can hand over the controls to your streaming audience, enabling their votes to automatically pick whichever the most popular adventure is, forcing you to deal with whatever decision they make.
Which is great because it means you can potentially play the game Exquisite Corpse style. Where every decision is one you’d never have made–though your main questline might make little sense by the time you’re through. That’s part of what makes the game feel so much like D&D though. Messing with your friends, having to clean up the mess made by other people who thought you should do a thing.
It’s great. And you can take it for a test run in Early Access, coming at the end of the month. So be sure and check back, who knows, maybe you’ll get to try the dialogue system well before you ever play the game.
Happy Adventuring!
