Baldur’s Gate 3 Vendor Woes: Unveiling the Troubling Issue!
Baldur's Gate 3's Co-Op Experience Hindered by Vendor Issues, Impacting Gameplay Flow Buying essential items becomes cumbersome and frustrating, detracting from the immersive core gameplay loop
Highlights
Baldur's Gate 3 offers an immersive singleplayer RPG experience and an incredible co-op mode, but the co-op experience has limitations.
The vendor system in co-op mode of Baldur's Gate 3 presents several issues. Players are forced to wait their turn to interact with vendors, forming a queue similar to real-life situations, which can be frustrating and time-consuming. Moreover, selling items to vendors in co-op involves bartering instead of a simple right-click, often resulting in accidental item donation rather than selling for gold. These problems highlight the need for improvements to make the vendor system faster and more user-friendly.
Baldur's Gate 3 has finally arrived, and it has certainly lived up to expectations so far. This game encompasses everything that RPG and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiasts have been longing for, setting an impressively high standard for future fantasy titles. It not only offers an immersive single player RPG adventure that can occupy players for months, but it also provides an extraordinary co-op experience for those seeking to conquer a fantasy world alongside their friends. However, despite its many strengths, Baldur's Gate 3's co-op experience does have some flaws.
While Baldur's Gate 3 successfully delivers a distinctive co-op experience, certain aspects of the game's systems can feel limited when played with friends. The storyline can be challenging to follow, combat can occasionally feel sluggish, and navigating the game world together can be cumbersome. Although these factors may contribute to a slower pace, one of the major issues arises during the process of purchasing items. While the vendors operate similarly to those in many other RPGs, the co-op element often hinders the enjoyment of this particular experience.
Baldur's Gate 3's Vendors Fall Apart in Co-Op
Vendors have always played a significant role in the RPG genre, and this holds true for Baldur's Gate 3. Throughout their adventure, players will acquire various items that they can sell to accumulate gold. These vendors also offer a diverse range of items that may prove crucial to the players' journey, and engaging with most shopkeepers is an enjoyable experience. While this is a common feature in RPGs, the co-op functionality of these vendors falls short.
In Baldur's Gate 3, the vendors can only be interacted with by one player at a time, even if there is a full party playing together. This means that players must wait their turn to sell items if they are all present at the vendor. It is not possible for multiple players to simultaneously sell items to the same shopkeeper. Instead, they must form a queue, similar to real-life scenarios, which can significantly slow down the entire process. Although this does not significantly hinder the game, it can still be quite frustrating at times.
Forming lines in games like Baldur's Gate 3 seems strange compared to real-world experiences where lines are necessary for buying things. If other RPGs such as World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14 implemented line formations, the vendor system would become tedious. Despite Larian Studios incorporating game-changing dialogue options, players should not be excluded from accessing vendors while waiting for others' decisions.
In co-op mode, Baldur's Gate 3's vendors operate sluggishly and differ from other RPG games. Instead of simply right-clicking to sell items, players must engage in bartering with the vendors. Carelessness may result in accidentally donating items instead of selling them for gold. To obtain rewards for their item hoarding, players must explicitly request gold, prolonging the process even more.
Larian Studios aimed to create a highly immersive vendor experience in Baldur's Gate 3, but this has resulted in slower interactions. However, with some adjustments, this issue can potentially be resolved. It remains to be seen if the studio intends to make these changes. Despite being considered one of the top RPGs in recent years, there is still room for improving the speed of the vendor process in Baldur's Gate 3. The game is currently available on PC, with a PS5 version releasing on September 6, and an Xbox version is also being developed.
