Baldur's Gate 4 Should Go The Extra Mile With Its Gods

Summary

Clerics in Baldur's Gate 3 have limited interactions with gods, missing potential for more personalized gameplay experiences.
Existing plots in BG3 could give Clerics more involvement in the game's story, offering opportunities for higher stakes and reactivity.
The lack of reactivity for Clerics in BG3 is disappointing, especially considering the immersive potential of Dungeons and Dragons roots.

This article contains major spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3.

One year ago, Baldur’s Gate 3 took the gaming world by storm, allowing longtime Dungeons and Dragons players to get more of their favorite game and fantasy RPG enthusiasts to put more precious hours into character creation before actually playing. Now, speculation regarding the future fourth installment begins, and it comes out of Baldur's Gate 3’s Clerics.

At the core of these iconic healers is devotion to their chosen god, and BG3 allows players to take their pick from several deities in the Forgotten Realms. With these gods, some Clerics get special dialogues from companions and quests, but players have found it to be limited beyond a few of those deities. BG4 could go the extra mile when it comes to future characterization for classes.

The Gods of Baldur's Gate 3 Explained

The gods of Baldur's Gate 3 are the source of a cleric's power, are numerous, and play a large role in the lives of the ordinary people of Faerun.

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By Shayna Josi

BG3 Contains Hugely Missed Potential for its Gods’ Involvement

Reactive Dialogue is the Heart of Cleric Immersion

Despite how many gods a Cleric can choose from, there’s a lot to be desired when it comes to god-based interactions — or even a more personalized story if Baldur’s Gate 4 is able to pull that off. Most gods get a few or even no special dialogues at all.

The primary way all races and classes get personalized immersion in BG3 comes in reactive dialogue and skill checks. Shar’s sister and enemy Selune is the only god that gets a lot of content during Shadowheart’s quest, with Shadowheart making regular comments about the player being a Selunite and frequent options to act against or question her worship. Similarly, Clerics of Mystra get a few unique lines with Gale, and githyanki Clerics of Vlaakith will have more personal stakes in Lae’zel’s quest. But it’s certainly curious that the personalization of those deities is directly tied to companion quests rather than simply being a fun feature of the game.

For example, gods of war or justice could have unique intimidation checks or means of starting a fight. Clerics of Tyr, though, are limited to being able to call out the Tyr “paladins” that initiate Karlach’s companion quest. Despite eventually exploring Lathander's monastery, his Clerics are limited to recognizing a statue.

Most “[Cleric of __]” options in dialogue will notice that they’re based on the god’s alignment, not necessarily fine-tuned. Larian recently released statistics for the one-year anniversary of BG3, and Clerics are the least chosen class. Perhaps more reactivity could’ve made it more popular.

Existing Plots Would Give Clerics More Skin in the Game

There are also gods in BG3 that are not on the list of deities to choose from, but this missed opportunity could offer inspiration for whatever plot makes up Baldur’s Gate 4. While it perhaps makes sense to forgo Shar given how expansive Shadowheart’s quest is, making it somewhat redundant, the same cannot be said for the Dead Three upon which the story rests.

Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul as well as Shar were all deity options in Early Access for the game, and apparently, the Cleric dialogue can be accessed in hidden game files. So clearly, Larian had the idea to include Cleric runs with higher personal stakes, furthering the case for an evil playthrough and a fitting main character and ally (or competitor) to Gortash, Orin, and Ketheric. Alternatively, the evil gods that did make it onto the deity list don’t have nearly the same skin in the game.

The closest a player can get to this feeling other than playing a Selunite might be by becoming a Cleric of Kelemvor. Steeped in important Dead Three lore, Kelemvor is about as close as one can get to worshiping Jergal as overseer of the dead — that is, Withers himself. But even within that, players are met with only one unique dialogue with Withers and no further interaction with Ketheric as Myrkul’s Chosen, smiting other necromancers and undead, or triumphing over the Dead Three at the end of the game. Really, any Cleric that contributes to saving the realms could at least get direct communication from their god at the end of the game, making players properly feel like the heroes of Baldur's Gate and wrapping up their individual story nicely, as would occur in D&D.

It would suffice to say the reactivity of Clerics is disappointing, especially when such features in other areas of BG3 really elevate gameplay. Some of the best games in history have reactive storytelling, so any means by which Baldur’s Gate players could experience this in the future would be true to its immersive D&D roots.

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 96 /100 Critics Rec: 97%

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Released: August 3, 2023
ESRB: M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
Developer(s): Larian Studios
Publisher(s): Larian Studios
Engine: Divinity 4.0
Multiplayer: Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
Cross-Platform Play: Full cross-platform play.