Baldur’s Gate 4 needs to fix this one problem with party members

If and when Baldur’s Gate 3 finally gets a sequel, there will be a big problem for the game’s party members. After launching in 2023 with great success, the cast of BG3 have quickly established themselves as some of the most popular characters of modern times. Whether fans fell in love with the dry wit of Astarion or the lovable puppy-dog nature of Karlach, each of the game’s companions has their own claim to fame.

But while each of the ten companions is inside BG3 is a fantastic character when he stands on his own. Seeing them all lined up as a group highlights a very notable problem: There is a clear lack of biodiversity. A character’s species (previously referred to as a “race”). Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Rules Update) is one of the main components, along with the class, that determines its abilities. And during D&D offers players a wide variety of species to choose from, the party begins Baldur’s Gate 3 does not represent the same variety.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s companions lack biodiversity

Too many people and elves

There are ten companions that players can meet, recruit and possibly woo Baldur’s Gate 3; of these ten only two —Lae’zel the Githyanki and Karlach the Tiefling —are not a variation of elves, humans, or a combination of the two. Even among members of the same species, there is still some variation: Minthara, for example, is a drow, an elf native to the subterranean Underdark, while Astarion is not only a high elf but also a vampire. But that doesn’t change anything Eight out of ten companions in the game belong to one of the three main species.

Baldur’s Gate 3 There are eleven races that players can choose from when creating their own character: Human, Elf, Drow, Half-Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Orc, Tiefling, Dragonborn, and Githyanki. This results in the majority of them remaining Species that occur in completely unrepresented BG3is the main casteven if the player chooses one of the other options for their own character. Although it is a mainstay in the traditional D&D and the fantasy stories that inspired it, there are no dwarves or halflings to accompany the player on his adventures.

Why BG3’s party doesn’t have the diversity it should

Technical limitations may have held Larian back

It’s unlikely that Larian Studios simply overlooked or ignored the rich biodiversity D&D when it came to designing the cast of Baldur’s Gate 3. There is a possibility that it was a question of technical feasibility and the potential difficulties of translating motion-capture performances onto characters of less humanoid proportions. There are thousands of lines of dialogue BG3 For the companions alone, translating an actor’s performance onto, say, the reptilian features of a dragonborn may have seemed daunting.

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But that doesn’t mean the task is impossible, and Larian himself has even proven it with the wide variety of NPCs that exist throughout the world BG3. Enemies, merchants, quest givers, and even random townsfolk come in all shapes and sizes, representing the full range of types available in the game. When you showcase the diversity of Faerûn like this, the homogeneity of the main protagonists becomes even clearer in comparison.

It’s hard to imagine some of these NPCs fitting easily into the party to fill in some of the gaps, especially since the Companions also don’t have the game’s available classes (no monk, no bard, though two Druids). The deep gnome Barcus Wroot spends so much time in the camp that he feels like a group member anyway and would fit in perfectly BG3 added the Artificer class of D&D. Such missed opportunities are not game-changing, but they hurt a little.

Ignoring other types ignores one of the best parts of D&D

Experimenting with character combinations is fun

Creating a character is one of the most entertaining parts of the game Dungeons & Dragonsand that also applies to Baldur’s Gate 3, This is evidenced by the literal years players have spent on character creation alone (via Larian Studios on X). With eleven species and twelve classes available, as well as the various subraces and subclasses to choose from, there are hundreds of possible combinations you can use to create a character before you even start assigning ability scores or choosing spells.

By creating a party so heavily oriented toward humans and elves, BG3 deprives players of the opportunity to adventure with most of these combinations as they customize their party lineup. Astarion’s class can be changed from Rogue to Barbarian, but you can never make him anything other than a High Elf. It leaves players feeling trapped, especially when every companion with High Elf ancestry starts with the same Firebolt cantrip.

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The lack of biodiversity in the group not only hurts the game’s mechanics, but also limits the story’s potential. Lae’zel’s personal path is heavily influenced by her Githyanki heritage and upbringing; by omitting species such as dwarves and half-orcs, BG3 ignores so many stories that could only be told by these characters. Baldur’s Gate 3 has a fantastic narrative full of depth and gameplay possibilities for the player, but it is a story that does not fully reflect the world in which it is set.

Baldur’s Gate 4 will have more options than ever before

New D&D rules will form the basis of a future sequel

The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons was the most successful in the game’s history, but after a ten-year run it was updated with the release of the remastered version Player’s Handbook And Dungeon Master’s Guide in 2024. During Baldur’s Gate 3 was based on the original fifth edition rules, A future sequel must take the new rules into account.

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With the release of the new book, the character creation rules have been updated and several new species not included in the 2014 manual have been added, including Goliaths, Orcs, and Aasimars. Aside from the addition of Githyanki, BG3 stuck pretty close to what was inside Player’s Handbookso a hypothesis Baldur’s Gate 4 would probably do the same if the new rules apply. That means more opportunities for players to create characters, but also an increased need to reflect that diversity in the game’s playable characters.

When people come together to play D&DYour adventuring party will be as wild and diverse as the personalities of the players at the table, but BG3 does not offer the same option. D&D is changing, and the games it inspires must change with it. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fantastic game, but there is still room for improvement in this area in the sequel.

Source: Larian Studios/X

Platform(s)

PC, macOS, PS5, Xbox Series

Released

August 3, 2023

developer

Larian Studios