Baldur's Gate 3 will let your co-op partners and Twitch chat vote on dialogue choices
It's getting an early access launch on GOG too
I'm fully spoiled for RPGs at the moment, but that sure won't stop me greedily gobbling up details about Baldur's Gate 3 whenever Larian is ready to sprinkle them out. The more I see, the more I hope it will have the intimate, party-focused storytelling that made one of my best pals fall in love with the Dragon Age series. Which is why I'm oh so thrilled to hear a bit more about multiplayer this week. Please oh please, Larian, help me convince her to co-op Baldur's Gate 3 with me so I can be an absolute thorn in her side the way childhood friends are meant to be.
In their latest post, Larian talk about multiplayer, cinematics, and crowd voting systems for livestreamers. Twitch integration, which will launch with the early access version of the game later this month, sounds quite neat. Viewers will be able to peruse a streamer's inventory, character sheet, and spells on their own screen. They'll also be able to vote on dialogue choices if the streamer allows it, a bit like they did during Larian CEO Swen Vincke's playthrough earlier this year—now with a proper in-game interface. YouTube will allow a feature called Crowd Choice, a Stadia Enhanced feature, that Larian say will let you "choose the next story path and alter what happens next," which sounds like you'll actually be in charge and not just voting.
It's not just Twitch viewers that can make their voices heard. As with co-op in Larian's prior Divinity: Original Sin 2, one player can start a conversation with an NPC while the others get up to their own mischief. Now they can also choose to listen in on a party member's conversation and vote for dialogue choices, which has a poking your beleaguered parent while they're on the phone energy that I enjoy.
Even if they aren't butting into your conversations, friends can get up to other shenanigans that sound pretty familiar to D:OS2. "They can even pick-pocket you while you’re in a dialogue," Larian say. "Or cause a fire. Or abandon you. Or, put an end to your waffling and kill the person you’re talking to." Make good use of the quick save button, those of ya with capricious party members. I wonder if you can use that new shoving action on your pals while they're busy. Not that I would do that. No siree.
You can catch another video specifically on the game's cinematics, where Larian cinematic director Jason Latino talks about adaptive cameras and how to re-imagine traditional cutscenes for an independent co-op party.
I remember Divinity: Original Sin 2's multiplayer getting quite a lot of praise for the freedom it allowed various party members but never got to give the co-op a try myself. I'm keen to make it a priority for this next Larian RPG.
Looks like Baldur's Gate 3 will also get an early access launch over on GOG. That'll be on September 30th, GOG announced, the same day that the game appears on Steam.
Disclosure: Adam Smith, who used to write words here (RPS in pieces), now writes words for Larian.