How a Baldur's Gate 3 Sequel Could Take Alchemy to Greater Heights (2024)

Baldur’s Gate 3 has blown its players away with personable stories, excellent voice acting, and enjoyable turn-based combat from its Dungeons and Dragons ancestry. However, its alchemy system is somewhat underutilized, leaving a potential Baldur’s Gate 3 sequel with something to expand on.

As it is, the BG3 alchemy system is rather simplified, with no immersion or intricacy. Players collect ingredients, extract them, and receive recipes, which can then be crafted with one click in a simple menu. There are major upsides to not having to put in extensive effort in crafting, especially for a game that emphasizes story. Some players might even find crafting systems tedious, but it goes without saying that alchemists are a staple in fantasy RPGs. To bring alchemy to greater heights would sink Baldur’s Gate players further into the game.

Baldur’s Gate 4 Could Take Advantage of a New Alchemy System

Potions May be Oversimplified in Baldur’s Gate 3

Alchemy in BG3 is largely limited to potions for consumption and oils for weapons. Some of the best and most used potions in the game, like those that offer resistance to a certain damage type, are readily given, but it can be hard to know when it would be best to use them. Recipes are few, and ingredients are scattered. To unlock BG3 recipes, players first need to extract them. The steps are vague in the first place.

The confusion on how to make the most of the system throughout gameplay is especially true for players who like to hold onto their powerful items for the right moment. The simplification of alchemy thus extends to the rest of the game, which doesn’t contain active encouragement. At least, without a hint, such as finding an elixir of fire resistance ahead of the boss fight in Grymforge. Some items or spells also make good potions virtually useless. Simply put, the buffs aren’t strong or interesting enough, and the system isn’t complex enough to encourage consistent engagement.

Alchemy-Related Quests in BG4 Might Increase Player Investment

While the system could use some work overall, there are two strong instances in Baldur’s Gate 3 of some temporary investment in alchemy that highlights its utility. In Act 1, the mind flayer Omeluum sends players to retrieve two mushrooms that will allow it to communicate with their tadpole, ultimately learning more about their ever-threatening condition. While less focused on alchemy itself, it calls a general motivation toward alchemy into question.

The second example is more geared toward combat and perhaps the most compelling. In Act 3, players will find Mayrina, who seeks to finally defeat the hag Auntie Ethel. Using the potion Hag’s Bane, Baldur’s Gate 3 players can save Vanra and prevent another hag from being born by forcing Ethel to eject the girl. This is such a creative and particular use of alchemy, it makes the rest of the system feel underdone. While every recipe can find its use, no others are geared toward making a specific fight easier, which is actively rewarding for players.

Simple Mechanics Could Add to Alchemy’s Complexity in Baldur's Gate

As Baldur’s Gate 3 is a Dungeons and Dragons-based game, one potential solution for a better alchemy system might seem obvious. Just like with skill checks, players could roll in a more immersive system. When collecting an ingredient, there might be a Nature or Survival check to see whether players could collect more, or perhaps Survival or Investigation could reveal harvestables found in the world. Medicine checks could be used on monsters to harvest parts from them, and in general, players could roll to make potions or receive certain quantities of them. Such mechanics already exist in tabletop D&D, so it seems an intuitive next step.

If a future Baldur’s Gate game employs skill trees—potentially challenging for a D&D game but a common feature in RPGs—alchemy could be included. Characters with high Intelligence or alchemy proficiency would have higher bonuses to crafting rolls or other potion-related buffs. For example, Baldur’s Gate 3 currently only allows one elixir to be active at a time, but maybe a character who knows a lot about alchemy could use more.

While alchemy might also be underutilized in D&D games, it still has a lot of potential even on a roleplaying note. Characters with certain backgrounds, like Sage or Acolyte, might have bonuses that relate to their education. This could also mean gamers see new Baldur’s Gate backgrounds like Alchemist or Medic with more obvious bonuses to the system, and those things could feed back into the complexity of potions—providing players with certain recipes at the start, for instance. For a Baldur’s Gate sequel to enjoy the outstanding storytelling of its predecessor, a greater alchemy system could indirectly contribute to that.

Other RPGs Set Examples for Good Alchemy

Part of the need for a more complex alchemy system in Baldur’s Gate is made clear by RPGs that have them fleshed out. While it’s important to keep in mind that complex crafting might not be for everyone, the enjoyment—and especially the immersion—of such mechanics in other fantasy games is often a major point of success.

The robust alchemy of Kingdom Come: Deliverance is one of the best systems of its kind in games today. Players have to remember the full recipe, which is already an impressive task, but this doesn’t just mean the ingredients. They must know whether ingredients go in before or after boiling, whether they are ground or burnt, whether the potion needs to be distilled, among other requirements. Realistic systems open up a feeling of heightened accomplishment. Of course, this could be far too complicated for BG4, but details like that are worth looking into.

Skyrim has simple yet rewarding alchemy, as all ingredients have multiple properties, allowing for substitutes or general experimentation. This mixing-and-matching keeps the system flexible and deep; it lacks the rigidity of specific recipes or the potential dullness of gathering ingredients. It encourages players to put in effort if they choose, but not so much that it takes away from the game.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt also has a remarkable alchemy system. There is a huge quantity of potions and ingredients, there are crafting trees and varying levels of a single item, and players have access to their creations for the rest of the game. It rewards players for doing as a witcher would and strategizing for fights, especially since taking too many potions will damage players via toxicity. All collectibles like potions in games involve some thinking, but with so many options, The Witcher 3's complex alchemy incentivizes real effort in order to live and utilize the player’s full set of abilities.

Where other games succeed with balanced alchemy systems, Baldur’s Gate has oversimplified and underutilized the role potions can play in fantasy RPGs. Any opportunity to increase immersion should be taken to key into the longevity of a game, and if alchemy is indeed taken to greater heights, a successor to Baldur’s Gate 3 could rope in an even larger audience, making it both useful and enjoyable in perfect measure.

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 is a Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG developed and published by Larian Studios. Featuring both a single player and cooperative element, players create their character by selecting a starting class, take on quests, level up, and engage in turn-based combat using the D&D 5th edition rule set.

Franchise

Baldur's Gate

Platform(s)

PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Genre(s)

RPG

Metascore

96

Publisher(s)

Larian Studios

ESRB

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

How Long To Beat

30 Hours

Split Screen Orientation

Vertical Only

Number of Players

1-4

PS Plus Availability

N/A

Local Co-Op Support

1-2 Players

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