Larian Studios collects a lot of data—as plenty of studios do—about their player’s habits in-game, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is no exception. For example, it shared the game’s most-played multiclasses back in September, leading to some interesting insights about how a strong character theme wins out over min-maxing power.
Well, it’s time to look at numbers and charts again. A whole host of new stats was revealed on Twitter yesterday, and—is that a bear? Oh no. No no no. Oak Father, no.
In case you’ve somehow avoided the ruckus, a sexy bear scene debuted before the game’s release, and it went viral. It’s not technically a bear, it’s a man shapeshifted into a bear, so the usual horrible ethical consequences are mostly dealt with. Halsin’s just a bit of a freak, but he can’t help it. He was written that way.
You, on the other hand. The 33% of players who chose ‘yes, I would like the bear sex scene please, yum yum’—you have a lot of explaining to do. I’d say I’m very disappointed, but I’m polite and I was raised not to kinkshame. Just know that if you and three friends who romanced Halsin are in a room, at least one of you has done it like they do on the discovery channel.
Mercifully, those aren’t the only interesting stats at play here. For example, Gale is the most-picked origin character by far—with Astarion and Karlach pulling up the rear.
Paladin remains stupendously popular for some pretty good reasons. It’s tanky, smiting people is fun, the Oaths are fun to roleplay, and it’s a class that uses Charisma—which is great if you want to talk to people, something the game rewards in spades.
Elf is probably popular because it’s hot. I don’t really have an insightful D&D-based opinion for the elf. A third of you got slammed down big-style by a bear and I have to live in that world now, so that’s all you get.
In more wholesome news, best boy Scratch (who I absolutely didn’t kill for an article once) has been pet 48.5 million times. Larian’s also released Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for romance. While Shadowheart and Karlach taking the top spots isn’t all that shocking, I’m pleasantly surprised to see Lae’zel pulling up third.
PC Gamer’s own Robert Jones was completely disarmed by how good her romance path was, and as someone who is wooing her in their current honour mode playthrough, I can concur. For a character with such a hard, thorny exterior, Lae’zel has a ton of character depth.
This trio of Shadowheart’s ‘I can fix her’ appeal, Karlach’s ‘she can fix me’ energy, and Lae’zel’s promise to tear you clean in half are all pretty alluring. They’re solid picks, so well done. Unfortunately, one third of you Halsin lovers went to bone town, Jungle-Book style, with the Sword Coast’s very own Baloo. So I’m still docking points.
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