I really like the concept of
branching in video games, but I don’t know how much narrative branching will be on Baldur´s Gate. Did the developers say anything in this regard?
I think there are typically four levels of branching:
1) Linear plot: no branching
2) Limited branching: player´s choices or other actions have a small impact on the narrative: you can skip fight, get an different item, some side quests have different outcomes (and then all character involved disappear from the game), but there aren't any over lasting effects on the plot.
3) True branching: the game have ROUTES. Routes are common in Visual Novels, but uncommon in rpgs. Basically, the game narrative can split and there are unique quests, dialogues, enemies and companions to each route. Events and important character outcomes change dramatically depending on the route taken.
4) Extreme/Infinity branching: there are infinite routes. That´s possible only if the game has “emergent narrative†or “procedural narrativeâ€, where the narrative is created at run time. The only game who have attempted to do this is Dwarf Fortress and I think that I will not see on other games try this for many years still.
So, what type of branching should I expect to see in BG3?