Everything New Coming To Baldur's Gate 3 This Week (Patch 6) (2024)

Baldur’s Gate 3 just received a big update, and although it narrowly missed a release in time for Valentine’s Day, some of the changes and additions will be perfect for the romantic at heart. Major patches are no surprise to Baldur’s Gate 3 players at this point, as the tradition of dropping long lists of adjustments has been fairly steady since the game’s full release. The gap between Patch 5 at the end of November and the new Patch 6 has been longer than the others, but this long after launch, the rate slowing is something of an inevitability.

Previous Baldur’s Gate 3 patches have addressed plenty of major issues that used to plague the game, like exceptional performance troubles in Act 3 and crashes that could trigger under certain circ*mstances. They’ve also added features that players now take for granted, like the Magic Mirror that allows characters to change their appearance and an Honour Mode that offers a true challenge for hardcore fans. There’s no doubt that Baldur’s Gate 3 is in a better state than ever, and Patch 6 marks another step forward for an already-acclaimed game.

Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 Improves Romance And More

Improved Kisses, Camp Behavior, & Dialogue Priority

Although kisses should be a beautiful moment in any Baldur’s Gate 3 relationship, it’s not uncommon for them to be disappointing, or worse, amusing, an awkward result of the game trying to account for the extensive variety of character customization options and Origin characters. Patch 1 made some basic fixes regarding previous height difference issues, but according to the patch notes available on the Baldur's Gate 3 website, Patch 6 finally goes back to the drawing board to really improve locking lips, with a wider variety of more detailed animations for everyone to make romance better than ever before.

Romance and more also get a boost at the end of Baldur's Gate 3, with cinematic scenes that take place before the epilogue receiving reworks. For lovers and friends alike, time spent in the camp is improved thanks to a batch of new idle animations, from Minthara pondering a skull to Halsin whittling. Other camp improvements encompass fixes to the menu used to pull camp supplies for Long Rests and the ability to dismiss party members at night. Dismissing party members can also now be done while speaking to a companion that Tav is inviting to the active party.

Patch 6 brings some other key quality-of-life improvements to life as the protagonist of Baldur's Gate 3. Automatically triggered dialogue will now also default to the protagonist instead of whatever character the player happens to be controlling at the moment, adding more consistency to story moments and avoiding what could sometimes be an unwelcome surprise. The trading interface now features the whole party's inventory and adds more clarity to the process of bartering. For those wanting to experiment, it's now possible to switch to Custom Mode in the middle of a non-Honour Mode campaign.

Combat Changes In Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6

More Legendary Actions, Bug Fixes, & Non-Lethal Additions

Legendary Actions are a big part of what makes Honor Mode exciting, spicing up boss fights with extra out-of-turn actions to make the party’s life even harder. This feature has its origins in tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, and it helps keep bosses competitive even after any minions on the table have been taken care of. Patch 6 adds even more in this regard, along with fixing some bugs with Legendary Actions and the mechanics of using counterspell against them. One Act 2 encounter also gets upgraded to full boss status in Honour Mode, which could be an unwelcome surprise.

Not all news for combat deals is exclusive to Honour Mode or deals with making the game harder, as some basic fixes take care of issues that can cause inconveniences in combat. The Shield Bash and Rebuke of the Mighty passives, which have been broken for months, are working again after Patch 6. Combat pathfinding through certain tricky environments is improved, which could result in less frustrating instances of wandering into puddles that inflict status effects. Getting the drop on enemies or avoiding combat outright might be easier than before, as Group Hide now also applies to followers and summons.

Immersion gets a boost thanks to some fixes to knocking NPCs out, as non-lethal combat in Baldur's Gate 3 has always been a struggle for the game to incorporate. Some journal entries will now reflect non-lethal attacks instead of acting like characters were simply killed, for example. NPC reactions to "knocking out other NPCs with one attack" have been fixed, as has their acknowledgment of shoving characters off of cliffs, which was often missing. The number of possible ways to knock Minthara out for the purpose of recruitment has also been increased, which could be fun to experiment with.

Installing & Troubleshooting Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6

Patch 6 Requires 21 GB Of Space

The addition of more features does demand more space, and Baldur's Gate 3's significant file size has expanded yet again with a 21 GB update but will require approximately 150 GB of free space to install on PC and Steam Deck. Some of that space is overlap, however, so uninstalling and re-downloading might make it possible to squeeze the game onto a drive that can't handle the update download with the game installed. Larian Studios also notes that anyone who has issues with the patch should check to see if uninstalling mods fixes them, as the lack of official mod support means that things can come into conflict sometimes when new patches release.

Anyone interested in digging deep into Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 can explore the full list of every minor change on the website, although spoilers abound within its depths. Even the most niche tweaks can make a big difference in the right campaign, especially when it comes to fixes for crashes and bugs. Patch 6 might not have dropped in time for Valentine's Day like fans were expecting, but it's here now, and Baldur's Gate 3 is once again better than ever before.

Source: Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3

Franchise

Baldur's Gate

Platform(s)

PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Genre(s)

RPG

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence