Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General The cornerstones of BG...in my opinion

Hey, glad to hear BG is back again. It’s been a while since any meaningful update, like around 19 years – no pressure
But really, you guys are lucky to have a chance to work on this piece, although it must be damn hard to satisfy both new and old fans and I could only hope that you don’t neglect the latter.

Just want to share my opinion on a few things and factors I like the most about BG. And although by no means am I a massive gamer anymore, I still enjoy playing it because of the below reasons:

No, not because of how the characters look.

No, not because of how fights are animated – if at all.

In fact, I don’t care a bit about graphics.

And no, not because how menu/inventory/item collection/trade and all the game handling is put together.

But

the STORY,

the WORLD

and the CHARACTERS' PERSONALITY!

What’s a good story like in a BG world:
A seemingly innocent world which, however, is over-woven with intrigue, conspiracy and is unpredictable. Behind the curtain something is about to happen, but who knows what it is, no-one can be trusted, but it is evident even in among the very lower layers of society. On the surface, they try to mask their fears with laughter and audience. They perform their daily work only to distract their attention from the uncertain tomorrow. Sneaky forces are moving, nobody can be trusted. This pulls the curiosity of the player to the extreme. It connects the player's attention just as a book that can and should be deeper because there is content behind it. BG is known to have brilliant content, one that gives me the chills every time I hear about the iron shortage. Okaaaay, it has worn out since, but you get the idea.
Don’t be mistaken, my point being is that a well rounded little story is often more joyful than a large-scale, obvious one with a clear outcome from the beginning. In other words, it doesn’t have to revolve around deities and huge endeavors – like the ending of BG II. It’s the many layers and the context that provide the best experience.

By the way, the music you composed so far requires nothing short of an amazing and treacherous story.

What’s a good world like:
One that lets you wander in it forever.
Just when you think you discovered every territory, alley and invisible trap doors all across the map, you come back 5 years later and still get surprised to accidentally have found new hidden corners. Again, a world which has depth.
It’s not the main, boring and evident route that creates adoration and keeps the excitement but everything else that’s not added in your mouth. The endless choices, the little unsuspected quests at the end of those roads that you should not even be on. The sum of all these creates the illusion that the player eventually has the notion that something has been discovered even the designers don’t know about. Maybe a weird connection in the story, a hidden treasure/island/room/person/quest an unlogical sequence of actions that produce a weird outcome and so on.

And also the freedom to just wonder effortlessly, without being overwhelmed with content and action. BG1 has large areas where nothing happens just the song of birds and the sound of a forest is present. Even though there’s nothing there, not a quest, or item, you still have the freedom to roam around. And if you persistently do so, who knows, maybe you find something other’s don’t.
In other words, pushed aggressively or too prominently towards the main action/main storyline becomes boring very fast, kills the excitement and the charm/sentiment of the game. The possibility to get lost, or do something irreversible without knowing. Where’s the risk then? An RPG that’s not punishing enough can’t be taken seriously.

Last, the characters!
For me, Baldur’s Gate is prominently about the characters. The weird stories they tell, the weird sounds they make, their unexpected sudden reactions, yells or cynical quiet murmurs, and their unique performance and meaningless blabs...that’s what fills the game with life. Without the unique characters, even the best stories and maps become empty. BG has always done a great job with regards to creating the illusion that there are 100 people around. Just go the market or an inn, it will instantly cheer you up with its full atmosphere.
And again, I especially like the fact that I never know when I should stop clicking on an NPC in the hope he/she has something new to say, which is a tiny little aspect but still lends depth to the game. Aka the more lines, the characters have, the better. They are a story by themselves. And of course, good voice actor performance is crucial.

All in all, when I play with Baldur’s Gate I feel it's a good game for not what it is designed for on purpose, but for what it’s not. Or rather what it wanted to be back in 98. Everything that - for the first notion - don’t go as planned, so the player can feel the things happen almost randomly, imbuing the moment with a unique/odd feel.
Nowadays, every game is oversimplified. If BG III. becomes that, it’s just gonna be one of those games.

Thank you for listening!
You guys had great ideas in Divinity I loved much of it. Please resurrect BG to its worthy glory

Great points. It's never been the large features that made BG exceptional, but rather the small, often hidden details.

Just to gravitate in on a point you've mentioned, in BG every time you speak to an NPC, they say a flavorful little voice line that's separate from their dialog, which sort of functions like a greeting. Even characters of the lowest importance, like commoners, have these voiced lines, and there's typically around 3-5 variations per character, so you'll keep hearing new lines if you keep talking to them over and over. There are hundreds if not thousands of such voice sets hinted throughout the game, and there are a lot of characters, even minor quest NPCs, who possess fully unique voice sets.

Looking at this feature from a game design standpoint, it's an insane thing to implement in a game like Baldur's Gate. The writing and voice acting budget spent on this feature could have been spent on other areas of the game, and in any other game, it would likely be the very first feature on the chopping block. And it has been, in many cases, like in games such as Icewind Dale and Pillars of Eternity.

However, I too am certain that it's these kinds of small, detail-rich features that elevate Baldur's Gate above its peers. Without these, it would "just" be a great game. It takes going beyond what's expected, as well as what's reasonable, to reach legendary status.

Needless to say, Larian has almost impossibly big shoes to fill as far as us fans are concerned. Best of luck to them to successfully grow their feet to the required size.