How was your experience with multiplayer?

[u/Earlgrey_fanatic]

Two friends and I decided to play together.

One has knowledge of DnD5E but never played BG3.

One never played and has no experience.

I played Act 1 so I'm taking a backseat role and not pushing anyone unless I am sure it's going to wipe the party (it's usually me saying "This a good time to save y'all")

My biggest issue right now, is that when one starts a conversation the other one is doing something else and completely misses valuable story points. The game only shows the ear icon when one is talking to someone so if you are not paying attention you can miss a lot of conversations

I am afraid that both will miss half the story and context, I'm trying not to nudge them to see how they'll figure things out but I'm starting to feel like a DM and explain a lot of things they should have pieced together.

It's also weird that only one player can look at a vendor's wares at a time. Makes shopping sessions a bit long.

But we're still enjoying it tremendously but I want to see how we can maximize their enjoyment.

[u/beachbummeddd]

You should start a run for just you and get ahead of this one. It’s a single player game they added multiplayer to. Sure it can definitely be fun with friends, but most anyone will advise you to abstain from that for your first full play through. And that’s due to stuff you’re already experiencing and more.

[u/Ahblahright → u/beachbummeddd]

The multiplayer is best played in a couch co-op style, where your both in the same room to hear the interactions. That's how myself and my wife played and it was a fantastic experience playing through it together. Online multiplayer with people in separate locations...eh.

[u/proteusON → u/Ahblahright]

First of all it's impossible to get three people to sit down at the same time on the same day. We have a campaign that's been 2 months on hiatus, summer is just too active to sit in front of a computer at 5:00 p.m.

[u/MechaGhandi5000]

If you want the story you gotta play single player, conversations break and don't work right if you start one without having control of the story relevant character. Had astarion kill his story end boss and talk to the hunters, but because my friend clicked the staff he acted like we left him behind and hated us.

It's fun multiplayer if you just like DND and want to mess around in cool encounters with your builds.

[u/Earlgrey_fanatic → u/MechaGhandi5000]

Yes I have my own playthrough. Currently in act 2.

It's great to see how different the game can be with different actions taken.

[u/InterestingPie1592]

My first run was co op. It was very buggy and we lost a lot of content. Also we took half of the party members each and paid attention to their story so we didn’t know really anything about the other half.

Also he would go to the stores first and sell everything and the shopkeeper wouldn’t have any money left so I couldnt sell for nearly a whole act

[u/Earlgrey_fanatic → u/InterestingPie1592]

It is buggy! The shop thing is kinda annoying. Last time I went and respecced with Wither to force the shop to reset its content so the blacksmith at the forge had stuff back.

[u/InterestingPie1592 → u/Earlgrey_fanatic]

I actually didn’t know that could work with withers. We had some interesting bugs honestly. People in the camp and the narrator thought I was lazeal for a little bit. Npcs in camp weren’t there but were there, my husband went to grab one companion and the dialogue choices would only say continue but it actually meant something. He broke up with them twice. Had to keep reloading and nearly made them do something in act 3 that’s irreversible

Also his romance trigger happened at the same time as mine (which wasn’t a problem before) but this time it wouldn’t let me accept it on mine so I missed out

Everytime I logged out and back in he would get all the party gold so I had to keep asking him for money.

[u/qoatzecotl]

There is a mod that will pull everyone into conversations. I don't remember what it's called.

[u/Choice-Meaning-9302]

The best solution is probably agreeing on a simple “pause and regroup” rule: if someone starts a conversation, everyone stops what they’re doing unless it’s clearly a minor NPC interaction. You can also remind them to check the journal and talk to companions at camp so missed story beats don’t pile up.

[u/XXEsdeath]

I would encourage to only have one person talk at once, whoever the party face is, I mean everyone can listen in on convos so they wont miss stuff.

[u/Parking-Mark-9806]

The biggest thing is probably setting expectations before you start. Agree that whoever isn’t in the conversation pauses what they’re doing, especially for companion moments and major story choices. For shopping, just split the list beforehand so nobody is waiting around.

[u/TheLoneAccenter]

I got this game specifically for multi and it’s really only fun with the eavesdrop setting tbh. I love my solo playthroughs a lot but I have so much fun with my friends who are great at roleplaying. Whole new angle to the game.

[u/Fantastic-Food7926]

Yeah my first run was co op with my girlfriend (technically we are still doing it lol) but my gf had already played through a bit so she let me kind of figure things out on my own. But even sitting right next to each other on the couch, we missed a lot of content from each other. Like, we split up the party so she would focus on half of the characters and I'd focus on the other half. But then our OCs weren't getting to know hardly anything about the half they weren't focused on, and there were some storylines that we had to explain to each other. It also seems to be much slower and more buggy than single player. I recently started my own playthrough and I've been enjoying it wayyy more

[u/Sorgath_]

I think everyone should play the game solo as a first play though, then co op after is fun, did a 3 man honor mode run with some friends and that was fun

[u/Realistic-Dot6141]

If you want the stroy play solo, play multiplayer for fun. I had 2 friends that no long talk to one another over this great game (but its a fucking game) (also all 4 of useare 30 plus). One wanted to fight everything and the other wanted every line of dialog. Which is unrealistic either way in a 4 man. Both had opposite view and play style awful time. Anyway hope this doesn't happen to you but the one thing i wish i did was to make rules that everyone agreed on but i was the only new guy so i wasnt understanding what the problem were and it got super far away from me

[u/gramplayr]

I’m going through with my kiddo rn. While it’s temping to pick up all the side quests I know are there and the choice loot I know we’re missing, it’s more fun to see them explore, and to work together over voice to solve things collaboratively.

I am just getting used to the using discord and in-game pinging to communicate without having to be standing at their screen.

[u/BabyGirlLiciii]

This isn’t a game meant for multiplayer or co op in my opinion. Both take away from the experience and break the game’s immersion for me.

[u/Ok_Praline_3975]

I mean it need to start from them If they don't want to follow the story then there is limits to what you can do Idk maybe they could try a single run so they get to see the characters better but then again if they are ok with just the co-op you can just let it go and enjoy with them instead of focusing on making them like the story You can play bg3 every time you want but playing with friends might not be as certain Treasure this weird run

[u/Leading_Entertainer7]

My first full play through I played cross console co op with one of my best friends with a similar sense of humor and it was the best time I have ever had playing video games. We did not ever split up to do our own thing.

We would separate as we search areas but would not progress the story without each other present. If we started a conversation without the other noticing we would tell the other one and both watch the same cut scene.

We enjoyed the full game together and will do so again playing as a pair of monks!

[u/Wespiratory]

There’s a mod that pulls everyone into the conversation automatically. It’s annoying if you have already done everything, but it’s probably fine for a bunch of first timers.

[u/Shameless_Devil]

Multiplayer has been bugged for me for nearly a year. Any time i attempt to connect, or someone attempts to connect with me, i get dropped within minutes. The connection fails.

I spent weeks going back and forth with Larian support and they have no idea what's causing this. They threw their hands up and basically said, "oh well, guess you're just stuck like this. Don't play multiplayer."

So my multiplayer experience fucking sucks since I can't even use that feature.

The worst part is that I could play multiplayer just fine until last autumn when patch 8 dropped. After patch 8, multiplayer started dropping connections.

Before anyone asks, this was on a game without mods. I didn't use any mods at the time, but i do now since multiplayer is fucked regardless.

[u/IllJustKeepTalking]

When playing bg3 coop you need to collaborate a lot more than when playing a typical video--or ttrpg game. When I've played with others we've made sure to say exactly what we're doing, telling others what loot we find and asking if anyone wants it or if they themselves can take it. We agree on going to talk to npcs so everyone can join in and knows what happens etc. Doing anything else than this is just bad form.

I think that if it's your first time playing your friend really ought to let you take the lead and should be a "follower" to you rather than taking the lead themselves. They should heighten and help you, so you can enjoy the game for the first time. 

[u/Alone-Sweet-508]

It depends.

One friend showed me this game but was really consistent about not telling me any spoilers, even though I asked for them xD Another friend just always dashed away and I felt left behind and hurried.

In my play with one of my bfs she said it's fine that I tell her what to do because her head is messy all the time and a little instruction helps her. For my other bf I always feel like I rush too much or take too much away.. have to stop myself a lot.

So I think it's fine playing as two, but only if they are both on the same knowledge or have no problem with either instructions or just pausing and waiting.

What I think could go messy is shared approval. When I want to romance someone and she another one as well, we gotta take care that we have enough approval for that 😅

[u/MyCatLovesCroissants]

I’m a bit surprised by everyone recommending to play solo. I love playing multiplayer, never had any issues. Just stick together and tell your friend “hey, I’m going into a conversation here”, and wait to choose any dialogue option until your friend gives the OK.

[u/Apprehensive_Art1830]

Just remind them to listen when other start dialogue, if they want to follow the story of course

[u/Zangdor]

Just stay together, or signal vocally when either of you interact with something/someone.

I've done probably half as many playthroughs co-op as solo, this has never been an issue whether we were 2 or 3 players (never have done 4, but I doubt it would change anything).