Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 7 May Finally Add Everyone's Favorite Bard to the Party

ign.com:

Larian Studios may finally be adding everyone's favorite bard Alfira to the Baldur's Gate 3 party upon the release of Patch 7 in September 2024.

Though not wholly confirmed, the patch notes released July 16 said Larian "may have also let a certain bard now join the party as a controllable character if there’s an empty slot, temporarily, of course."

Fans have been calling upon the studio to make Alfira a recruitable companion since Baldur's Gate 3's launch in August 2023 but this tease has reignited the chatter. "OMG, Alfira!?," asked TitanMK0 on Reddit.

A tiefling bard encountered during Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3, Alfira tasks the party with helping her compose a song. She may be briefly involved later in the story, including in one particularly dark quest, but doesn't play a huge role in the overall plot.

She became a fan favorite despite this, and as reported by Dexerto, players are already plotting how to keep her in the party for good despite Larian's warning the bard will only be available "temporarily."

As has been the case with other characters, "I'm giving it three days before glitchers figure out how to keep her in the party permanently," KingdomOfZeal said on Reddit. "Larian may as well add dialogue and quests for her."

Even if they can't, Bucket_Of_Magic notes her addition is "prime real estate for mods," because if Larian adds her as a playable character it has "already laid the foundation."

While mods would normally be great news for PC players and a harsh reality for those on console, Larian is emitting this divide with Patch 7's headline feature: official mod support on all platforms.

No specific release date beyond "September 2024" has been shared for the update, potentially Baldur's Gate 3's final major patch, but the studio will likely share it soon. Once all is said and done, however, Larian is leaving behind the game, franchise, and Dungeons & Dragons altogether to create something new.

In our 10/10 review of the game, IGN said: "With crunchy, tactical RPG