Larian Studios put a lot of emphasis on allowing players to make decisions in Baldur’s Gate 3 that would have a lasting impact on their journey. But while players largely have free rein over their journey, there are some limitations to what decisions and outcomes are possible.
In a post on Reddit yesterday, several players discussed some of Baldur’s Gate 3’s most frustrating limitations. As a game that gives players an almost endless number of choices, it stands out any time you don’t have a choice in certain matters—and players have noted a few especially prominent moments where actions that appear to be logical aren’t an option.
The original poster of the Reddit thread started the conversation by mentioning that fighting and murdering the last Dark Justiciar, Lyrthindor, doesn’t make sense. If you have Shadowheart as a part of your group and are supportive of her Sharran worship, it seems odd that you would still be forced to kill the last of the Dark Justiciars after saving Lyrthindor from their previous form of being countless rats.
Meanwhile, another player pointed to the fact that players can’t investigate their camp in an effort to find out who among their group is a shapeshifter in disguise after Gortash tells them that Orin is up to some trickery, effectively kidnapping one of their teammates and replacing them with a spying shapeshifter.
While it’s not a part of the post, another potentially frustrating lack of decision-making comes in the form of the Ilithid transformation itself. While players can choose not to consume tadpoles, it at times seems as though the game’s story progression practically assumes you have used Illithid powers, even if you have made a conscious effort not to use them.
There are many more spots where Larian is more stringent about guiding players, but these limitations are surrounded by others in which players have an abundance of control and can make choices and approach challenges in creative ways.
