Baldur’s Gate 3 provides a major improvement to save games in the latest update while introducing a better narrative flow for one of its companions.
Highlights
Hotfix 17 for Baldur's Gate 3 addresses performance issues on the PS5 and reduces the size of save game files.
The update also improves the narrative flow of the game and provides more options for dealing with the companion character Gale.
Larian Studios is committed to continuously supporting and polishing Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3 has released Hotfix 17 across all platforms, an update that fixes performance issues on the PS5, compresses save game file size, and improves on some of the game's narrative flow. As the best-selling game on Steam in 2023 and the recipient of many accolades – including Game of the Year 2023 at The Game Awards – it's safe to say that Larian built a worthy sequel to Baldur's Gate 2. Though the developers openly admitted that Baldur's Gate 3 greatly benefited from its three-year Early Access period, the level of detail and care that went into the game is still impressive.
That being said, it's also important to recognize that Act 2, and especially Act 3, have lacked the polish of Early Access content. Larian has done its utmost to fix the game's technical issues through five major updates, with Patch 5 even adding the Epilogue to Baldur's Gate 3, but there is still work to be done. Fans on Xbox have notably suffered from catastrophic save game issues, and though Microsoft released several firmware updates in an effort to address them, the problems have stubbornly persisted for a fair few players.
Listed as Hotfix 17, the latest Baldur's Gate 3 update primarily tackles save games, crashes, and one of the more annoying aspects of having Gale around in early Act 1. While Microsoft claims that it will fix Baldur's Gate 3's save game issue on January 16, all three platforms should still benefit from a reduced file size, as outside of Honour Mode, the number of manual saves can easily pile up. Not only does the new update bring better compression, but it also removes stored data that the game no longer uses (such as summons).
The other key improvement concerns Gale, one of the main companions in Baldur's Gate 3. The Wizard of Waterdeep notoriously gets hungry for magical artifacts rather early in the game, and if players fail to feed Gale when starting a conversation, he can end up leaving the party for good. Hotfix 17 gives players more leeway in how they can approach the situation, with Gale only storming off if it is made explicitly clear that players have no intention of ever feeding him artifacts.
Overall, Hotfix 17 is another incremental step in polishing Baldur's Gate 3, and the team at Larian has certainly shown that they're willing to support the game for as long as it needs. Though no DLCs or expansion packs were announced by the developers, the precedent established by the Divinity: Original Sin games leaves the door open for a Definitive Edition of Baldur's Gate 3 coming in the future.
Baldur's Gate 3: Hotfix 17 Patch Notes
PERFORMANCE AND CODE
Fixed black and colourful visual artefacts sometimes appearing for 1 frame on PS5 when switching scenes or opening and closing UI windows.
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.
GAMEPLAY AND COMBAT
In Honour Mode, the aura of Cazador's now properly dissipates after he's . 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.
UI
Safeguard Shield's Saving Throw modifier is now correctly reflected on the Character Sheet.
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.
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.