Baldur’s Gate 3 player Mike Johnston has promised to let his character’s decisions shape the story, provided the story agrees to the decisions he has already made about it. “This time I’m properly roleplaying,” he said, saving immediately before a conversation. “No looking things up. No trying to get the perfect outcome. Just seeing what happens.” What happened was that a goblin did not believe him.
Johnston reloaded, explaining that the failed persuasion attempt did not reflect how his character would actually have said it. The second attempt was also discarded because he had been distracted by the dice animation. On the third, he decided he should have used a different character to speak. “You have to distinguish between consequences and the game misunderstanding your intentions,” he said, returning to the same opening line for the ninth time.
The character in question is a reckless adventurer who acts on instinct, takes risks and has never entered a room without a recoverable save immediately outside it. Johnston maintains that he is happy to accept failure when it serves the narrative. So far, none has.
His commitment was tested further when a companion disapproved of a dialogue choice. He reloaded to establish whether the objection was serious, reloaded again to check the alternative, then selected the original response after confirming he could regain the approval later. He described this as staying true to his character.
A friend suggested that an awkward conversation might itself become an interesting part of the adventure. Johnston agreed, provided it did not close off a quest, cost him an item or make anyone like him less.
He has since spent most of an evening persuading the same goblin to let him past. The encounter has become a tense battle of wills between a guard who does not know he is repeating himself and a player who insists the outcome is in fate’s hands.
On the successful attempt, Johnston leaned back with satisfaction. “That’s what I love about this game,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
