Summary
- The transition of Baldur's Gate 3 from PC to consoles may have some hiccups, but with controller and accessibility options, it should be smoother.
- The game already has bugs and glitches, such as quest-breaking issues and save file corruption, which need to be fixed before the console release.
- Additional improvements, like colorblind mode, split-screen multiplayer, HUD customization, and better combat controls, would enhance the console experience of Baldur's Gate 3.
The release of Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5 and Xbox is quickly approaching, but the game still has a few hurdles to get over until it's ready for consoles. Baldur's Gate has always been primarily a PC game series, and as such, its visuals are designed top to bottom for the small screen. Moreover, its gameplay just seems to make more sense with a mouse and keyboard. Developer Larian has already instituted controller , along with a suite of accessibility and customization options, all of which should make Baldur's Gate 3's transition to consoles far smoother. However, it won't be without hiccups.
There are also more general, pre-existing glitches in Baldur's Gate 3 that have yet to be fixed. Some of these won't be any worse on PS5 and Xbox, but they certainly won't be any less noticeable on bigger screens and less customizable platforms. While some of these patches are sure to take more time, it'd be nice to see Baldur's Gate 3 have a clean, relatively bug-free release on consoles by taking these issues to task.
12 Quest Bug Fixes
This probably won't get any worse on consoles, but Baldur's Gate 3 already has a whole host of bugs that can lock players out of certain quests. Quest-giving NPCs may become suddenly unavailable, or lack the dialogue options necessary to complete a certain task. In some cases, choices made earlier in the game may cause certain options to become unavailable later. Choices matter in Baldur's Gate 3, sure, but some are inexplicable connections that shouldn't affect each other. For example, sparing Karlach in their first confrontation locks some players out of proposing marriage to Gale. This needs a fix in general, not just on consoles.
11 No More Save File Corruption
Another common issue is the tendency for save files to become corrupted. Baldur's Gate 3 incentivizes save scumming, and there's an easy way to quick save and quick load on PC with the press of a button. That's useful in case of corruption, as it's likely there will be tons of other recent saves available if one becomes unusable. However, it's not clear whether such a feature will appear in the PS5 and Xbox versions, with the consoles' limited storage space and relatively few choices for button shortcuts. Besides a fix to save file corruption, consoles also need an easy quick save option.
10 Colorblind Mode
Colorblind mode should be in every game anyway, but the omission is especially glaring in Baldur's Gate 3. Map icons are small and hard to see, especially so if their hues blend together. On PC, this is somewhat easily overcome by leaning in for a better look, but that's much harder when sitting ten feet away from a TV screen. It'd be as simple as including a menu option to change party icons and other landmarks to brighter colors that stand out more easily, and would make the game more accessible to thousands of players.
9 Split-Screen on Xbox Series S
Baldur's Gate 3 already has a great option for local multiplayer, but that won't be coming to all consoles. PS5 and Xbox Series X will allow for local, split-screen multiplayer, but Xbox Series S won't. It makes sense, since the Series S' lower specs make processing two sets of graphics at once more difficult. However, there's no better way to experience that Dungeons & Dragons feel in a video game than to play Baldur's Gate 3 in the same room with friends, and it'd be a shame for anyone to miss out on that opportunity. It may never happen, but there's enough time until the Xbox release to test the waters.
8 HUD Customization
Along with colorblind mode, HUD customization would help make Baldur's Gate 3 easier to look at on the big screen. There are already some options for scaling text size, but these should apply to maps and hotbars as well. More so than that, the ability to move or remove certain HUD elements would also be useful. Scaled-up menus could obscure the rest of the game, making important things too hard to see. Being able to shift them around could prevent them from blocking anything important, and even help with immersion in some cases.
7 Graphical Bug Fixes
For one thing, even the most minor graphical bugs will be infinitely more noticeable on larger screens. There have also been reports of glitches that cause certain appendages to clip through clothing, and some that cause party to appear in the buff at camp. That's all well and good when the player is hunched over a tiny PC monitor, but could be awkward to explain on a shared living room TV. Plus, it'll be harder to fix these issues without the ability to update graphics drivers. Just make sure no one else is home or that nudity settings are off when finishing a romance option in Baldur's Gate 3.
6 Easier Inventory Navigation
Inventory navigation is already a hassle in the PC version of Baldur's Gate 3, but it'll only get more difficult without click-and-drag controls. While there are a few inventory tricks to save time in Baldur's Gate 3, inventory management controls will need a complete overhaul ahead of the console release. It'd be ideal if there were a quick way to send an item to a merchant's or another party member's inventory with a single input, or perhaps a way to highlight multiple options by holding a button down.
5 Remove Multiplayer Characters From The Party
It's already a common complaint that, once a multiplayer character s the party, they can't be removed. On PC, there's a workaround for this in the form of a Baldur's Gate 3 mod that makes it possible to have more companions. However, there's no mod for the console releases, so these characters could become permanently stuck without a more organic way to remove them. Of course, the rest of the party can always kill them if they become a nuisance, but it shouldn't be that difficult or dangerous.
4 Crossplay
It's already known that there won't be crossplay for Baldur's Gate 3 when the PS5 version is released. Between its two console releases, many more people will embrace its multiplayer features, but as it stands, they'll be limited to partying up with people on the same platform. That can be incredibly frustrating when no two people in a group have access to the same console, or even if one of them just has preference for a different version. Even though it won't be available with the PS5 release, it'd be nice to get crossplay in Baldur's Gate 3 by the time it comes out on Xbox.
3 Better Combat Controls
Since the PC version of Baldur's Gate 3 already has controller , it's possible to get a sneak peek at how it might operate on consoles. While walking controls are better with adjustable thumbsticks than fiddly mouse clicks, combat options are relegated to radial wheels when playing with a controller. These can be hard to use, and make it too easy to inadvertently select the wrong move. That's usually the standard for games like this when ported over from PC, but there are more intuitive methods out there. Since it's totally turn-based, would it be so awful to pick attacks by scrolling through a list like in a classic RPG?
The PS5 and Xbox ports of Baldur's Gate 3 won't be perfect from the beginning, but with a few adjustments, it's possible to make the transition far smoother. While there will doubtless be many bugs, glitches, and idiosyncrasies to get used to at release, these can all be patched out in updates to the console versions of Baldur's Gate 3.
