Baldur's Gate 3 Weapons Update Could Change How Characters React To Your Worst Crimes
13.10.2023 - 21:56
/ screenrant.com
/ An Iconic
does an admirable job accounting for player creativity and experimentation, but certain possibilities are blocked off by limitations that can be immersion-breaking and lead to some head-scratching moments. The task of emulating the experimentation of tabletop is a challenging one, as the lack of a dungeon master that can respond naturally to improvisation means that the game has to account for a surplus of scenarios ahead of time. Many of 's biggest failures to manage this are all tied to the same mechanic that feels like it has a uniquely incomplete implementation.
Slaying beasts, monsters, and miscellaneous foes is obviously a major focus of the experience, from questing to slay rats to taking down mighty enemies like Tiamat. It isn't, however, always the right way to tackle a problem. Not everyone who stands in a parties way is necessarily evil, and the failure of peace talks doesn't mean that death is inevitably called for. In an effort to replicate the typical tabletop solution to this problem, includes a non-lethal attacks option, but the treatment it receives overall leaves it generally lacking.
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Non-lethal attacks are theoretically easy to employ in, as a handy toggle makes it possible to turn all melee strikes from a party into comparatively innocuous assaults. This can make combat slightly more challenging, as a caster or a party member with a ranged weapon can't safely make any strike that could be a final blow, but plenty of scenarios make the possibility of leaving enemies alive tantalizing. Unfortunately, however, simply doesn't account for non-lethal choices in most of its branching paths, with the story typically acting as if the unconscious enemies died in combat after all.
One simple example of this issue lies in the choice between Auntie Ethel and Mayrina's brothers in Act 1 of, where quelling the brothers with non-lethal blows would seem to be a viable approach to the conflict. The game, however, makes no distinction between knocking them out and killing them outright. They're fated to die via any choices, so this isn't exactly a uniquely bad outcome, but some subsequent dialogue fails to make sense in light of the choice. Similarly, knocking out Mayrina after dealing with the rest of the quest will result in the game treating her as dead.
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The Auntie Ethel questline is only one among many instances where non-lethal damage leads to frustrating results. A number of relevant scenarios arise in Act 3 in particular, as the Lower City of Baldur's Gate features plenty of feuding human forces all interested in the party's involvement. Killing doesn't