Larian Studios dropped Patch No. 4 for Baldur’s Gate on Thursday, Nov. 2, and players will quickly notice the game’s developers made a handful of upgrades to Faerûn’s ultimate four-legged follower.
The stray dog Scratch quickly became Baldur’s Gate 3’s most universally loved companion when the game was released in early August. But sometimes, he was a bit buggy, to say the least. Patch No. 4, however, looks to remedy some potential issues you might have with Scratch, including a fail-safe if you happen to lose his ball.
While Patch No. 4 is significantly smaller than many of the patches before it, changes to Scratch will surely enhance the camp experience once you’ve recruited the fluffy friend. With two of the patch’s 14 “gameplay” bullet points dedicated to explaining updates related to Scratch, it’s clear Larian isn’t messing around.
For starters, the devs have “refined” his fetching behavior. While in camp, Scratch will now fetch “pretty much everything,” according to the patch notes posted to Steam’s website. Meanwhile, his ball will be “harder to lose,” and if you do manage to misplace Scratch’s ball, he should give it back to you the next time you’re in camp.
The second of those fixes should be especially relieving to players because Scratch’s ball hasn’t necessarily stuck out in people’s inventory previously. Simply labeled “ball,” the item that summons Scratch outside of camp has always looked exactly like any other ball you might find throughout your playthrough and it has the exact same name as well, which can lead to anxiety-inducing moments any time you visit a vendor and want to get rid of items in your inventory.
In general, BG3 Patch No. 4 provides significantly fewer changes than previous patches and the changes are largely minor quality-of-life adjustments. But any opportunity to enhance our experience with Scratch is worthwhile, and for that, we are always thankful.
