Highlights
- Baldur's Gate 3 is receiving praise for its story and gameplay, but it is not without flaws, including issues with crashing and other minor bugs.
- One major problem that fans are complaining about is the inability to remove a friend's character from their party in co-op gameplay, which is frustrating some players.
- It is unclear if this restriction is intentional or a design oversight, but players are hoping for a response from Larian Studios regarding this controversial issue.
Some players are upset about a particular restriction that Baldur's Gate 3 places on co-op games. Larian's latest RPG is already a hit with fans and critics for its story and gameplay. It seems that Baldur's Gate 3 is raising the bar for developers and will likely be talked about for years to come. That doesn't mean the game is perfect, however.
No game is without flaws, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no exception. Some players have been trying to fix issues with Baldur's Gate 3 crashing on Steam Deck, and there are other minor bugs and gripes that still need to be worked out. One big problem that many fans are complaining about is not a bug at all, however.
It seems that, when a player joins a friend's game in co-op, their character joins their friend's party permanently. This means that, if a gamer has someone join their game with a custom character for even a few minutes, they will be stuck with that character through to the end of their playthrough. That character will take up a spot in the party, blocking other characters from being brought along and can never be deleted or even dismissed back to the party's camp. This basically breaks the normal rules for how to change the party in Baldur's Gate 3 and, for some fans, this situation is practically intolerable.
On a Reddit thread started by user hamburglin, players are complaining about this issue, noting that it essentially discourages co-op gameplay. Few fans want to be stuck with a random, custom character while they're playing in single-player simply because they played one night with a friend. Adding to this frustration is confusion about whether this is a strange feature or a bug.
While some are convinced this restriction is so terrible that it must be an accident, others are wondering if it's just a controversial design choice by Larian. It's possible, these Redditors argue, that the restriction was imposed to prevent a player's camp from filling up with various custom characters that joined the party briefly and then left. Of course, others note that, if this was the concern, there are better ways it could have been handled. Baldur's Gate 3 has already become one of the most popular Steam games ever thanks to its remarkable design, so some fans are struggling to believe that Larian made this decision intentionally.
While some fans are struggling to decide which difficult to pick for Baldur's Gate 3, others are finding the game is suddenly becoming much harder by accident as they get stuck with characters they don't want. Larian has yet to respond to this controversy so, for the time being, players that have been joined by others in co-op will be stuck. For everyone else, it would be a good idea to think carefully before letting someone join their otherwise solo playthrough.
Baldur's Gate 3 is available now on PC and will release for PS5 on September 6. An Xbox Series X/S version is also in development.
