The absence of a screen option for selecting the group in Baldur's Gate 3 enhances its focus on interpersonal relationships

Most role-playing games with a focus on group dynamics do not approach the process of assembling a group in the same way Baldur's Gate 3 does. In games like The Outer Worlds or Mass Effect, for instance, upon leaving the spaceship, you are presented with a screen that prompts you to select the members of your group who will accompany you. Baldur's Gate 3 could have adopted the same approach every time you leave the camp. However, it chooses not to do so.

In fact, you could easily play through the entire game without ever exchanging the group members, unless you actively choose to do so. Baldur's Gate 3 will not insist on it.

Instead, every time you speak with a group member, you can ask them to return to the camp (or stay there if you are already there). If they are not currently traveling with you, you have the option to invite them to join. The game does not force you to do this, but the option is available.

I have noticed that some players find it bothersome, and I understand why. It is more cumbersome to engage in two separate conversations—one to ask someone to stay behind and another to ask someone to join—every time you want to exchange a group member. And if you want to completely reconfigure your group, you could end up having to have up to six conversations. This is not the most efficient way to handle it, but it is the approach that focuses on interpersonal relationships. Instead of treating your group members as mere game pieces to add or remove from the board, they are traveling companions with whom you must engage in conversation.

If the selection of group members in the game worked in a traditional manner, I would not hesitate for a moment to bench Shadowheart, despite having a romance with her. Instead, I would take Lae'zel with me to aid in the search for the Githyanki creche. However, in Baldur's Gate 3, I actually have to speak with Shadowheart and inform her that I want her to stay at the camp. Then, I have to approach Lae'zel, who recently almost killed Shadowheart, and ask her to accompany me instead. It's a minor detail, but it made me contemplate how Shadowheart might feel—whether she would be angry or jealous that I left her behind, and whether it would affect our relationship in the future. I assume the answer is no, and I read much more into the disappointed lines spoken by each character when asked to stay back than Larian intended to conceal.

On the other hand, this is a game where you can speak to any creature you encounter, as well as interact with many corpses. So why wouldn't it take into account how you treat your companions?

I am now paranoid. And for a game that focuses on a group of characters brought together by dire circumstances rather than friendship or shared values, that is precisely the right feeling. If I have to worry about waking up and finding Shadowheart holding a knife to Lae'zel's throat, it seems only fitting to also be concerned about whether my companions are angry with me.

Perhaps this is just a temporary mechanism. Larian could easily remove it while working on post-launch refinements. However, I hope they don't. While it would be more convenient, convenience is not everything.