Baldur’s Gate 3 is the gift that keeps on giving. Larian Studios’ multi-award-winning RPG is back with yet another update, and this time the latest hotfix brings some important changes for those who love keeping Gale around and those suffering from buggy combat in-game. If you’ve accidentally lost Gale due to his own impatience rather than your selfish behavior, this patch should prevent everyone’s favorite goddess-adoring wizard from jumping ship too soon.
I have so many hours in Baldur’s Gate 3, I’m surprised I’ve been able to get anything outside of my adventuring party done. Heck, I’ve even let my real-life DnD games slide to fit some extra time into Larian Studios’ addictive RPG. With each new update, no matter how minor, I’m sucked back into the game for more. This recent hotfix is no exception, with its changes to Gale and how he responds to dialogue early on where he asks you for magical items to consume.
“Poor Gale,” writes Larian alongside its latest patch notes. “We know your pain, sometimes it’s easy to read something into a situation that wasn’t there.” Rather than leaving upon your first inability to provide a magical artifact, Gale is now “more likely to stick around.” The dev jokes that the team has sat the wizard down to explain that “if someone doesn’t offer him a shoe to eat every time, that doesn’t mean they never will.”
It’s important to note that Gale will still depart if you make it obvious that you don’t ever plan on providing any magical artifacts. He isn’t the only character with fixes this hotfix, either. Anyone stuck in a ‘story event’ in-game after dying to Grym in the Adamantine Forge shouldn’t be any longer. No longer will you be unable to take control of your companion following their untimely demise.
Other changes accompanying this patch include some boss-related ones that specifically affect all your honor mode players. I don’t know how you guys do it, but Larian’s frequent updates probably help. More general fixes come across the board with the hotfix, including those for combat bugs, some crash resolutions, save game file size issue adjustments, and more. You can view our highlights below.
Baldur’s Gate 3 patch notes – Hotfix #17– Monday, January 15, 2024
If you’re interested in exploring Larian Studios’ full set of patch notes for the recent hotfix or wish to see the developer’s accompanying post, you’ll find the ins and outs of the hotfix directly on Steam. Before you dive into your save, make sure to check that all of your mods are compatible with the latest update.
Gameplay and combat
- In Honour Mode, the aura of Cazador’s Potent Mist Form now properly dissipates after he’s no longer in Mist Form. Sorry!
- Fixed the camera sometimes zooming in while jumping or casting projectile spells.
- Fixed the ability to walk through open doors when you click beyond them from far away.
- Fixed Thieves’ Tools in the camp chest or inventory of a companion who is waiting at camp not being accessible when lockpicking.
Flow and scripting
- Gale will no longer permanently leave the party if you don’t offer him any magic items while talking to him – unless you’re abundantly clear that you don’t plan on ever doing so.
- Fixed characters getting stuck ‘in a story event’, preventing you from controlling them, after getting killed in the fight with Grym.
Performance and code
- Increased the compression of savegames, which should fix several issues caused by large savegame files.
- Reduced the size of save files by removing summons that don’t exist in the game anymore.
- Guarded against crashes caused when certain character resources (Actions, Bonus Actions, Superiority Dice, etc.) were added and later removed by a mod or cheat engine.
UI
- Safeguard Shield’s Saving Throw modifier is now correctly reflected on the Character Sheet.
While you wait for more updates, you should browse through our guide on the best Baldur’s Gate 3 builds to improve your in-game experience right away. Sure, you may be like me and be unreasonably attached to your mushroom-loving druid, but there are so many powerful options to peruse. Alternatively, take a look at some of our favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 mods to spice your base game up for free ahead of new patches.
Be sure to follow us on Google News for even more daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some Volo-approved bargains.