Baldur's Gate 3 II: The Urge for a Second Playthrough

[Psyren]

I think Githzerai DLC would be very welcome, including story DLC. They have to be aware of what almost happened in the main narrative, and I think the resounding success of making Githyanki more interesting (I never in my lifetime thought I would see widespread thirst-posting on social media about Githyanki) could be extended to them.

I mean, another obvious dlc is the Artificer class, with a choice of being a student of Gond of the Ironhand Gnomes.

While we haven't had much luck on the catgirl front, the Artificer has gotten the mod treatment

[Cikomyr2]

I would bet against that. That would involve both adding a lot of class-specific dialogue and a lot more new mechanics than a race or subclass.

I could see it. 20 bucks a pop. Take it or leave it, it's additional content. They paid the voice actors, everyone is happy, go capitalism!

[Jophiel]

If they were to add DLC, I'd expect to see (and hope to see) some side story missions before more races/classes. Or maybe side stories with a new subclass or two thrown in. Be a chance to throw in some Upper City stuff that got everyone* bent out of shape with its absence and fluff out some of the companion stories for everyone not named Astarion (and, in second place, Shadowheart). I mean, there's gotta be more ties one could make for Wyll and Karlach in the city of their birth and raising.

*Ok, not everyone but a very vocal minority of everyone

[NeoVid]

New races/subclasses with some short storylines connected to them as DLC for this game? Larian normally doesn't do DLC, but they'll probably have to add new features to BG3 out of popular demand.

On the subject of the magic/technology conflict, which AD&D setting was it where the source of magic was a crashed flying saucer? I think it was Mystara, but anything completely awesome/crazy to add to an adventure defaults to being part of Mystara.

[Bunny Commando]

I would bet against any story DLC, my take is that Larian'll reach for the low-hanging fruit and give BG3 the D:OS2 treatment with a Definitive Edition including some popular mods and certain (quite small) features.

If they had any plans for a story DLC, I believe they would've said something about it by now; at the moment all we know is that apparently Larian would like to do more with BG3 (they would like to milk the cash cow a little more, go figure) but their vagueness does not inspire me confidence we'll see much.

[Errorname]

Larian aren't really a company that does DLC, but it seems like such a waste to not build on all the assets they've made.

I bring up the standalone expansion / same-engine sequel approach since it seems most in keeping with their ethos.

[Jophiel]

I don't follow the history of Larian game development, and don't expect them to release any substantial DLC at all (based on earlier statements that they had nothing planned) but figure that some story DLC would (a) patch up some of the holes in Act III & address end-game complaints and (b) give people are reason to play the game again a year from now or whenever said DLC released.

Just me, but I can't see replaying the game for the 5th, 6th or 7th time just because now I can do it as a hobgoblin or a Divine Soul sorcerer. More to the point, I don't see me spending money on being a hobgoblin or Divine Soul sorcerer. And I don't know if it's worth it for Larian to spend money on that and successfully thread the needle between spending a bunch on fully integrating a new race/class and them not doing enough and getting "This DLC is a trash money-grab, it's like a player skin and three lines about being a hobgoblin."

I have umpteen-jillion race/class combos (plus Dark Urge, plus Origin characters) to use chillin' in Moonrise Tower right now without spending more money. What I am running out of is unseen content (actual playable content, not 'you only get this voice line as a stout halfling beast ranger'). This is no slight at Larian who has built an amazing game that I have hundreds of hours in, just the fact that I wouldn't find "Now with Tabaxi Samurai" to be reason alone to spend the time and money on playing it again. Especially since, by the time Tabaxi Samurai DLC releases, I'll have put in another play-through or two and likely moved on to something else.

[Cikomyr2]

The issue with bundling what i consider "superficial" DLC (races, class) and story content is that you will have people complaining Larian is locking story behind optional content that some people are not interested in.

Im all for splitting any new content between these superficial rehauls, and new stories (either stand alone post-story stories, or integrated with the main game). But including the artificier with the new Super Gond Underdark Dungeon is a bad idea.

[Errorname]

The issue with bundling what i consider "superficial" DLC (races, class) and story content is that you will have people complaining Larian is locking story behind optional content that some people are not interested in.

Im all for splitting any new content between these superficial rehauls, and new stories (either stand alone post-story stories, or integrated with the main game). But including the artificier with the new Super Gond Underdark Dungeon is a bad idea.

Bundling new mechanical content alongside new story content is as old as expansions, so I don't really see the problem? I've never seen someone complain about story being 'locked behind' new character options because they're part of the same DLC release.

[Cikomyr2]

Bundling new mechanical content alongside new story content is as old as expansions, so I don't really see the problem? I've never seen someone complain about story being 'locked behind' new character options because they're part of the same DLC release.

I don't consider "its been done for a long while" to be an argument with any inherent worth.

Just because the way of bundling things was a thing during the dial up era doesnt mean it should inform the way things are going forward.

[Errorname]

I don't consider "its been done for a long while" to be an argument with any inherent worth.

Just because the way of bundling things was a thing during the dial up era doesnt mean it should inform the way things are going forward.

Okay, but it does undercut the "people will complain if they do this" because there's a lot of precedent that they don't. Having an expansion that includes new narrative stuff alongside new mechanical stuff is extremely normalized and also generally results in a better more cohesive product.

[Bunny Commando]

The issue with bundling what i consider "superficial" DLC (races, class) and story content is that you will have people complaining Larian is locking story behind optional content that some people are not interested in.

Im all for splitting any new content between these superficial rehauls, and new stories (either stand alone post-story stories, or integrated with the main game). But including the artificier with the new Super Gond Underdark Dungeon is a bad idea.

I do not see the problem either. I might be wrong, but I have not seen anyone complaining that in the recently released DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 CDPR has bundled "superficial" stuff (weapons and certain perks mostly) behind story content.
Sure, I do not see Larian doing that (because I do not see Larian releasing anything even remotely similar to Phantom Liberty) but if they do and throw some new classes at us as well, I would just be happy.

[Cikomyr2]

I do not see the problem either. I might be wrong, but I have not seen anyone complaining that in the recently released DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 CDPR has bundled "superficial" stuff (weapons and certain perks mostly) behind story content.
Sure, I do not see Larian doing that (because I do not see Larian releasing anything even remotely similar to Phantom Liberty) but if they do and throw some new classes at us as well, I would just be happy.

I mean, the new Cyberpunk dlc was a complete rework and polish of the game no?

[Bunny Commando]

I mean, the new Cyberpunk dlc was a complete rework and polish of the game no?

The 2.0 update (rework and polish) is available to anyone who owns the game, it's not gated behind the DLC.

[Errorname]

Like if Larian had new story DLC that introduced NPCs with new classes and races would letting you use them for your PC be locking story content behind superficial features? Would siloing that off and making you pay extra for it be the “consumer friendly” approach.

[Jophiel]

I think that throwing in a new race/(sub)class with story content would be seen as value-added rather than gatekeeping. "10 hours of content, plus you get the kobold race..."

Unless they went in the other direction (nine new races and an hour of content), I expect new stuff to do would be near-universally appreciated and tossing in a race/class would just help soften the fact that it's not *20* more hours.

(Hours used for illustrative purposes, don't @ me)

[Bunny Commando]

On a related note:
Another reason I doubt Larian is going to release a story DLC is the level cap. You can already reach level 12 relatively early in Act 3 and Larian seems loathe to increase the cap (with good reason, if I might add), either a pre- or post-ending DLC would mean play even more hours with no progression, I could see people complaining more about that than having a new class to play with.

[warty goblin]

I don't think people automatically object to paying for story stuff OR mechanical stuff, so long as it's good. After all, it all takes time and effort to develop, and in something like BG3 it's also pretty much all the game is; like, besides the various classes etc and the story encounters, what is there? It isn't the sort of title likely to do free story DLC set to coincide with the new season's cosmetic loot boxes. Paying for bug fixes pisses people off, and rightly so, but good story content, including new mechanics, is generally fine.

(The only case I can think of where people were unhappy with story content being sold for an RPG is that one time Bioware had an in-game NPC hawking their own questline. Mostly because that's just gauche as hell.)

I think a really cool thing they could do is very focused DLC stories. The main game is big enough, and packed with enough stuff, that I really don't need more jammed in there. But a nice 10 - 15 hour bit where you play a fairly specific person in some particular scenario could be really fun. Particularly if they gave you some unique mechanics for that character, put in some fun choice and consequence, and made the scenario depend heavily on the custom mechanics.

[diplomancer]

On a related note:
Another reason I doubt Larian is going to release a story DLC is the level cap. You can already reach level 12 relatively early in Act 3 and Larian seems loathe to increase the cap (with good reason, if I might add), either a pre- or post-ending DLC would mean play even more hours with no progression, I could see people complaining more about that than having a new class to play with.

While this is true, there is A LOT of loot on chapter 3 that makes the characters considerably more powerful, even if they don't go up in levels, though of course there's a limit to how much this tecnique can be used.

[Psyren]

If they want to work on something I'd prefer they fleshed out the endings/epilogues more. In particular, you should be able to learn of a companion's future plans without romancing them, that's just punishing the ace/aro players (plus it would be interesting to know what they default to absent any ties to the MC.) I'd also love if they added Act 3 character quests for the characters that currently lack such (Halsin and Minsc.)

I would bet against any story DLC, my take is that Larian'll reach for the low-hanging fruit and give BG3 the D:OS2 treatment with a Definitive Edition including some popular mods and certain (quite small) features.

This seems the most likely to me. There's some core functionality added in via mods that should definitely be codified into a definitive edition like the Dodge Action, Bags of Holding, Transmog, extra subclasses and spells etc.

Actually, one thing I think they could easily do that would cost them almost nothing and convince people, especially console players, to put in another playthrough is to create a Good Minthara Recruitment path. I'd be willing to bet the majority of players haven't seen any of her companion dialogue, and having a paladin party member would be fun. The legwork has been done for them via the existing mod, all they would need are a couple extra lines of dialogue to explain how she survived Act 1 and you can pick her up by

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springing her from Moonrise

like her current A2 recruitment.

[Bunny Commando]

While this is true, there is A LOT of loot on chapter 3 that makes the characters considerably more powerful, even if they don't go up in levels, though of course there's a limit to how much this tecnique can be used.

Which makes a story DLC with no level progression even more problematic. Leaving all sense of progression to loot is not really feasible when you already have so much powerful stuff in the game already.

This seems the most likely to me. There's some core functionality added in via mods that should definitely be codified into a definitive edition like the Dodge Action, Bags of Holding, Transmog, extra subclasses and spells etc.

Agree. Dodge action especially, I'm here wondering why Larian chose not to implement it.

Actually, one thing I think they could easily do that would cost them almost nothing and convince people, especially console players, to put in another playthrough is to create a Good Minthara Recruitment path. I'd be willing to bet the majority of players haven't seen any of her companion dialogue, and having a paladin party member would be fun. The legwork has been done for them via the existing mod, all they would need are a couple extra lines of dialogue to explain how she survived Act 1 and you can pick her up by

Spoiler

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springing her from Moonrise

like her current A2 recruitment.

Even though I don't see that happening (IMHO Minthara is basically the only real reward you get for going the evil route in Act 1 and she's really not enough for what you lose) I have to admit I would really like to have Minthara in my party without having to murder a bunch of civilians. Having another frontliner other than Lae'zel so I can demote Karlach to camp duty for the rest of the game would be great.

[Cikomyr2]

On a related note:
Another reason I doubt Larian is going to release a story DLC is the level cap. You can already reach level 12 relatively early in Act 3 and Larian seems loathe to increase the cap (with good reason, if I might add), either a pre- or post-ending DLC would mean play even more hours with no progression, I could see people complaining more about that than having a new class to play with.

The level cap argument is actually why i think story-focused and character-focused would be better suited.

Like, you could engineer a mini campaign for Lae'zel, the high-level Githyanki fighter, much more easily than you can engineer a campaign that have to accommodate a full party with all class combination possible. Sometimes a wizard will just break the setting where a cleric wouldn't.

Also, the fact that they would be narratively appart from the main story allows you to implement soft Bag of Spilling mechanic for most of your loot.

[Bunny Commando]

The level cap argument is actually why i think story-focused and character-focused would be better suited.

Like, you could engineer a mini campaign for Lae'zel, the high-level Githyanki fighter, much more easily than you can engineer a campaign that have to accommodate a full party with all class combination possible. Sometimes a wizard will just break the setting where a cleric wouldn't.

Also, the fact that they would be narratively appart from the main story allows you to implement soft Bag of Spilling mechanic for most of your loot.

I do not see that working.
First, you would've have to release a short story for every playable character or people would complain (yes, I am quite sure that many people would complain if their favourite character of the bunch does not get special treatment). This is not something that would necessarily stop Larian, but since you mentioned complaints might be an issue I thought it would be worth noting.

Second, I believe they would fail to attract much attention. The overwhelming majority of players has played a custom character (Dark Urge included), so I believe most people would not be interested in playing a short story as another character.

Third, such stories would be rather inconsequential. If they happened before the main game, there's no real way to make that story your own - Astarion can't really be anything more than start-of-the-game Astarion. If they happen after the main game there are no more stakes, the villain has been defeated - plus, certain characters might not be alive anymore.

Lastly, if these short stories happen after the main game Larian would've to decide what ending is canon and TBH, I don't see that happening.

[BRC]

I could see some sort of companion focused Side-Story DLCs. Not sure the math works out as far as work to build vs actual demand, but

The pattern would be a short side story, set sometime during Act 3, featuring the companion and 3 NPCs, where the player controls the companion in question as their primary character. At the end you get some sort of loot or bonus feat for the character in question, so there IS a mechanical benefit for doing the DLC, but it doesn't break the level cap the way "Hey, here's some more GAME" DLC's tend to.


I could even see them being done in bundles to save asset creation time.

Laezel, Gale get the "Astral Sea" package Laezel gets recruited by some other Githyanki and a Gyff to go retrieve something (maybe I just want a Gyff party member). Gale gets recruited to go rescue an old mentor who went missing in the Astral Sea. They can use the same overworld map for both their quests (Although with different enemy/NPC placements).

Meanwhile, Wyll and Karlach, get the same treatment down in Hell.

Shadowheart and Astarion maybe get to do some skullduggery in the Upper City.


Edit: The low hanging fruit would be an Arena DLC of some sort.

[Cikomyr2]

I could see some sort of companion focused Side-Story DLCs. Not sure the math works out as far as work to build vs actual demand, but

The pattern would be a short side story, set sometime during Act 3, featuring the companion and 3 NPCs, where the player controls the companion in question as their primary character. At the end you get some sort of loot or bonus feat for the character in question, so there IS a mechanical benefit for doing the DLC, but it doesn't break the level cap the way "Hey, here's some more GAME" DLC's tend to.


I could even see them being done in bundles to save asset creation time.

Laezel, Gale get the "Astral Sea" package Laezel gets recruited by some other Githyanki and a Gyff to go retrieve something (maybe I just want a Gyff party member). Gale gets recruited to go rescue an old mentor who went missing in the Astral Sea. They can use the same overworld map for both their quests (Although with different enemy/NPC placements).

Meanwhile, Wyll and Karlach, get the same treatment down in Hell.

Shadowheart and Astarion maybe get to do some skullduggery in the Upper City.


Edit: The low hanging fruit would be an Arena DLC of some sort.

I had the same idea except id swap Astarion and Shadowheart.

Lae'zel and Shadowheart get to be involved in conflicts throughout the Tears of Selune through the astral plane.

Karlach and Wyll both get to face off against Mizora and one of the game's most absent antagonist, Zariel, in Hell.

Astarion and Gale have comedy adventure with vampires and wizards the big city. Name that one "Suckers of Waterdeep".

And the Dark Urge has a solo story content. But instead of being a sequel, its a ***prequel*** that ends with.. well, the events that start the game.

[BRC]

I had the same idea except id swap Astarion and Shadowheart.

Lae'zel and Shadowheart get to be involved in conflicts throughout the Tears of Selune through the astral plane.

Karlach and Wyll both get to face off against Mizora and one of the game's most absent antagonist, Zariel, in Hell.

Astarion and Gale have comedy adventure with vampires and wizards the big city. Name that one "Suckers of Waterdeep".

And the Dark Urge has a solo story content. But instead of being a sequel, its a ***prequel*** that ends with.. well, the events that start the game.

I could see that working.

My thought was that by picking a single "Leader" character, you avoid having to record extra dialogue for whoever is not being controlled to react to things, but I guess that's just how they approached the game anyway, so having "Gale is Talking, Astarian Reacts" vs "Astarion is talking, Gale reacts" isn't that big a deal.

Biggest issue is

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accounting for the wildly different potential paths Lae'zel and Shadowheart can take.

I guess all you need is for Shadowheart to unlock some relevant Sharran memories, whether she's Sharran or Selunite at the time, she can get pulled into "Hey, help us stop this evil thing", and let her current allegiance effect lesser details.

Call the three "Spelljammed", "Hellbound" and "Suckers of Waterdeep"

[Keltest]

If a DLC about the companions was released, I would prefer it to be a prequel for all of them. See how exactly they managed to get caught on that nautiloid.

[Psyren]

If a DLC about the companions was released, I would prefer it to be a prequel for all of them. See how exactly they managed to get caught on that nautiloid.

This would be my preference also. Especially since (a) you'd get to play around with all their high-level, pre-tadpole skillsets, (b) it's a lot less work for Larian because you don't need to worry about having different narratives for every permutation of Shadowheart or Lae'zel, and (c) we'd see how they got off in different places (e.g. Wyll arriving at the Grove first, Gale getting stuck in hammerspace, Karlach being so far from the others etc).

[Zevox]

I'm kind of good with whatever as far as additional story stuff goes, personally. I just assume it's the least likely thing to see since it's by far the most work on their part, and there's no obvious option for what to do with it.

Just me, but I can't see replaying the game for the 5th, 6th or 7th time just because now I can do it as a hobgoblin or a Divine Soul sorcerer.

I mean, I wouldn't do that either, but that's because I never replay a game just to do some different option. I replay a game because it's good and I want to play it again. If I have different options I want to use when I do, that's just a bonus. And while there's a decent number of those in the game now, due to them including everything from the PHB and then a few, it's far from unlimited, and there are some subclasses and races that I'd really like to have more than the ones that we do have that aren't included. Beast Barbarian, for instance, is the only version of that class that has ever made me want to play it, so it's the only way I'm likely to play a Barbarian.

More to the point, I don't see me spending money on being a hobgoblin or Divine Soul sorcerer.

I would. Not for every possible race or subclass they could add, granted, but for certain ones, like Goblins, Aasimar, Genasi, Beast Barbarian, Psychic Warrior, or Bladesinger, just to name a few off the top of my head.

On a related note:
Another reason I doubt Larian is going to release a story DLC is the level cap. You can already reach level 12 relatively early in Act 3 and Larian seems loathe to increase the cap (with good reason, if I might add), either a pre- or post-ending DLC would mean play even more hours with no progression, I could see people complaining more about that than having a new class to play with.

Eh, that doesn't bother me. As long as the story and gameplay I'm getting is fun, what does it matter if I'm leveling up or not? I hardly noticed the lack of it after I hit the level cap in my first run anyway.

[Psyren]

Beast Barbarian + all the monk (unarmed/unarmored) goodies they crammed into this game would be pretty fun!