10 Biggest Changes in Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7 makes a lot of changes to the game, but the most important ones have a much bigger effect on the core experience than most of the smaller tweaks do. Baldur’s Gate 3s numbered patches have always packed in bug fixes, optimization improvements, improvements to awkward scripting, and more, helping to support the game in areas that aren’t urgent enough to require hotfixes.

The changes that get top billing are ones that really overhaul the game, opening up new avenues of play and answering long-standing community requests. While some planned and requested features are still waiting in the wings for future updates – a photo mode is a great example – Patch 7 cleans up some of ​​the most critical areas where the game still has room for improvement.

10

New idle animations add some life

The world of Baldur’s Gate 3 Feels surprisingly alive, an experience helped by the presence of complex idle animations for many characters. As recorded in the patch notes available on the official Baldur’s Gate 3 Website, Patch 7 adds a little more to the mix, addressing both party members in camp and the way some NPCs carry out their usual tasks elsewhere.

Fan-favorite vampiric rogue Astrion gets some new idle animationsReducing the time he will spend reading a book. Minsc also benefits from a new one, and Lae’zel and Karlach get some fixes to previously awkward implementations. Abdirak and the chefs in Jannath’s Estate are still a couple of characters singled out for improvements, and companions in Wild Shape will no longer perform human idle animations.

9

Honor Mode rules join Custom Mode

Honor Mode additions like Legendary Actions can arguably be seen as reasonable upgrades to the game, but not everyone wants to experience the overall grueling difficulty and punishment of permanent game overs just to enjoy the perks. It was previously possible to continue Honor Mode runs as custom games after dying, but the Honor Mode rule options are not available when starting a custom mode game.

Patch 7 officially incorporates the rules in custom modeOffer a convenient way to enjoy some interesting challenges without the commitment. A number of fixes to custom games with Honor Mode rules have also been implemented, ensuring that they are clearly distinct in-game.

8

Alfira becomes a temporary party member

Playing Baldur’s Gate 3 Being a Dark Urge Origin character might be the best way to experience the story, and one unique part of the Dark Urge story is the plot involving Alfira. The tiefling bard requests to join the party in act one, but – spoiler warning – ends up dying at the hands of an impulse that the dark urge can’t control.

Previously, Alfira never actually got to join the party properly, dying in camp the night of her request to join. Patch 7 actually adds Alphara as a true temporary memberGive players even more of a chance to get attached to the character before ruining everything. The official patch notes explain that the change does not make it possible to keep her around as a permanent party member, an idea that some fans ended up getting a little too excited about.

7

New dialogue and reactivity improves immersion

Patch 7 doesn’t overhaul core scenes or rewrite huge swaths of dialogue, but it does tweak and add a lot of individual bits, a change that the patch notes refer to as “dot[ing] Several dialogue options and voice lines in a handful of dialogues throughout the game.“The main intention is to clean up awkward transitions and ensuring that things that should provoke reactions do so, a goal helped by some other changes to reactivity outside of dialogue.

Key patch 7 dialogue additions include a reaction from Karlach if Dammon ends up dying and some changes to the conversation about ceremorphosis with Gale. A lot of bugs with dialog triggers also get fixesBoth in terms of things not popping up when they are supposed to and vice versa.

6

Cinematics get fixes and improvements

Baldur’s Gate 3The cutscenes and character interactions have always batted well above the average for motion capture animation in games, and patches have constantly made improvements to raise the level of immersion. patch 7 tweaks”Facial expression and emotion across companion dialogues” Make a special note of fixes to the playable character’s facial animations during kissing cinematics.

Patch 7 also mentions improvements to camera shots, mockup animations, staging, shots and lighting, so it’s safe to say that a lot has been cleaned up across the board. These changes should serve to fix awkward or buggy scenes and elevate ones that are already solid, providing a more engaging presentation of the story than ever.

5

Split screen gets a rework

Baldur’s Gate 3 is fully committed to the co-op experience, including the increasingly uncommon option to play the game in split-screen. This traditionally splits the screen right down the middle for two players, significantly cutting viewable real estate but making it possible to enjoy a multiplayer campaign with just one copy.

Patch 7 reworks the split screen to be dynamicMeaning that the two halves of the screen merge when the playable characters are close. It is a feature that has proven popular in games like the various LEGO Tie-in titles, and it can create a much more immersive experience in Baldur’s Gate 3Where the party is likely to stick together in many scenarios. Baldur’s Gate 3 Developer Larian Studios previously featured dynamic split screen in the Divinity: Original Sin games, so it’s nice to see it make a comeback.

4

Honor mode gets more legendary actions

Legendary Actions give bosses extra power and pizzazz Baldur’s Gate 3s challenging Honor Mode, allowing them to disrupt the turn order with unique and sometimes devastating moves. Patch 7 expands the roster further, giving legendary actions to a number of bosses that previously had none And adding a second legendary fight to a couple of lucky enemies.

The bosses that benefit from the changes are the Bullette, Malus Thorm, Ch’r’ai Tska’an, Ch’r’ai Har’rak and Ptaris, so it’s worth being extra careful in the fights to avoid the crushing defeat From a permanent Honor mode game over. In addition to legendary actions, Dror Ragzlin gets a new spell to call on the help of spiders, and the Bullette is even more of a tank thanks to a condition called Diamond Scales.

3

The Mod Manager makes mods easy

Downloading and installing mods for Baldur’s Gate 3 Has previously relied on third-party solutions, a process that can be a bit alienating for newcomers and uncomfortable for everyone. While sites like Nexus Mods make the process almost as simple as possible, there is no official solution when it comes to ease of access.

Patch 7 adds an official in-game mod manager to Baldur’s Gate 3Making it possible to do everything from browsing mods to deactivating unused ones in the game application itself. Multiplayer parties can also sync up their installed mods through the manager to ensure compatibility across the party. For those who want to casually browse officially approved mods while the game is closed, they can also be accessed on the official Baldur’s Gate 3 website or mod.io.

2

New bad endings make bad deeds exciting

Baldur’s Gate 3 Offers a lot of ways to be evil, but they don’t always feel like they have payoffs as big as opting for traditional heroics. Although it makes sense that certain subplots and valuable rewards end up lost to a path of destruction, the lack of unique endings for different dark approaches ultimately felt underwhelming after finishing an evil campaign.

In patch 7, 13 new cinematics enter the mixSignificantly increasing the likelihood of an angry party to get a conclusion that feels like a true result of their actions. Of course, the dark urge benefits from these additions, with a memorable new ending that shows the true power of the characters and the dark way they can set the world on. It’s not just for the dark urge, though, as every origin character who tosses aside any real attempt at morality now has something unique.

The new mod manager in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a nice perk, but the real future of mods lies in the addition of these Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit, an official mod creation solution based on Larian’s own tools. Although it has certain limitations, the toolkit makes it easier to add new character options, redesign cosmetics, tweak the user interface and more. There’s no official editing support, but a Toolkit Unlocked mod available from Siegfre on Nexus Mods opens even more doors.

The toolkit is a suitable successor to the Divinity Engine modding solution for the Divinity: Original Sin GamesAnd with the huge popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3It is sure to see a lot of use. Larian has provided tutorials for creating basic mods of every supported type on mod.ioA relatively straightforward process that still requires a learning curve for the new to Baldur’s Gate 3 modding.

Source: Baldur’s Gate 3, mod.io (1, 2)