"I’m honestly heartbroken right now." Reddit user Naoness shared those words alongside a video of their badly damaged limited edition Baldur's Gate 3 vinyl earlier this month. It was accidentally left out in direct sunlight hot enough it melted the record (sparking plenty of memes about Astarion's "full concentrated power of the sun" quote).
Naoness shared the post as a warning to other BG3 fans, but the damage was done. The record was a limited edition and a gift from Naoness's wife, meaning it was nearly irreplaceable—nearly.
This week, Naoness posted again on the BG3 subreddit with a surprising update: Larian sent a free replacement for the melted record and even a few pins to go with it. Apparently, someone on the Larian team saw Naoness's original post and reached out to help, proving once again that the BG3 dev team really does care about its fans.
Naoness was understandably ecstatic about the replacement, saying, "I honestly can’t thank Larian enough. You’ve already given us one of the best games ever made, and now this kindness on top of it. It really means a lot!" As for the ill-fated original record, Naoness is holding onto it to display with Astarion's "power of the sun" quote, commenting that they also hope to get it signed by Neil Newborn.
Larian replaced my melted Baldur’s Gate 3 vinyl <3 mi from r/BaldursGate3
The vinyl saga comes just a few weeks after Larian expanded the BG3 mod toolkit "to give you even more freedom," another community-friendly move. It's especially noteworthy since Larian confirmed earlier this year that they're not planning to make a Baldur's Gate 4, but good support for mods and community-created content lets players keep enjoying BG3 long after finishing the main campaign.
In a similar incident back in April, Larian even voiced support for a mod for an entirely different game, the "Baldur's Village" mod for Stardew Valley. It was briefly taken down by Wizards of the Coast until Larian CEO Swen Vincke came to the mod's defense. Larian seems to still be standing by Vincke's motto from an interview about Baldur's Village: "Happy player, happy business."