Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Latest News PAX West Panel - Baldur's Gate 3: A Retrospective

We’re off to #PAXWest next week and bringing with us the one and only Swen Vincke, Art Director Alena Dubrovina, Director of Design Nick Pechenin, Writing Director Adam Smith, and Matt Davis - the Cinematic Artist of a certain scene with a bear. Moderated by our Senior Communications Developer Aoife Lockhart!


If you're visiting PAX West, drop by our booth in the Arch Expo Hall and watch out for the panel today Friday at 4pm PT at the Main Theatre in the Summit.

This panel will be livestreamed and then available as VOD - Will update this thread once the link is live!

What timezone is that?

PT, pacific Time!

You can watch the panel here!

PAX Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/pax

Not here for the live? We will have a VOD later and I will share it here!

That was a fun and insightful watch, thanks for letting us know about the stream.

And Luality being there was very sweet, her firebolt against Grym being mentioned from her stream months ago was awesome ^^

For anyone curious; the firebolt moment.

Damn it, I was taking a nap! Hope the VOD comes out quick and that they've shown more concept art. Saw a talk about a week ago from some of the artists (it was with GNOMON or something like that?) and there was a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen but I wish they had shown more.

EDIT: OK immediately checked and VOD is up, doesn't look like they'll be showing concept art but still :P

Yes! If you missed it live the VOD is now available on the PAX Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2238409963

Forgot to drop by again after watching the VOD, and I have to commend the audience for having such good questions. Sad to hear it's the last talk they'll do on BG3, if I understood them correctly, because I really need a super in-depth talk about both concept art and their writing. Shucks!

I'm particularly jealous of those who got to talk to Adam Smith after the panel- he said on twitter that if anyone dropped by he'd tell them something they didn't know about their favorite character.

It was a very lovely panel. And I agree, some great questions from teh audience.

Thanks so much for watching! In case you missed them, there were some very interesting panels during the BAFTAs!
- Bringing the characters to life
- Secrets, stories and behind the scenes
- Composing music for games


Also! The PAX Panel is now live in the Larian Channel From Hell:

1 Larian does not play test their game beyond the limited 4 hour basics... I knew this already but its nice to finially have it confirmed
2 the mod support is going to be very limited and Larian is wrapping it up now so there isn't going to be any BG4, short stories or Dlc... talk to WotC

i expect to hear from Larian again in 2-3 years when they tease their next game [good luck with that guys]

Thank you so much, Salo, for posting the video. It was a great panel and very interesting to watch. Such likeable and beautiful people!
The armor is going back to the wall. I wish Swen and the entire Larian team a good Journey to their next game

I just watched the panel, too, and agree it was really fun and interesting and the questions were great. Like many other fans, I’d be happy if Larian kept developing and talking about BG3 ad infinitum, but understand that time has to be called and am looking forward to hearing about what comes next and seeing what Larian can do using the experience they gained from developing BG3.

But I know that whatever the next game is, it can’t be something that has such a deeply entrenched place in my heart as the BG franchise. I’m so glad I got more BG after all these years and in the form of a game I loved, and which like the originals I expect to keep playing and replaying for years to come.

I want Larian to move on from Baldur's Gate 3 and keep the creative side alive, but they are doing it way too early and game is not even finished properly, least I was able to enjoy watching the panel since they will crawl back into their cave again.

This essentially. I started gaming with BG1 and the first two games have a steady place in my heart and the same happened with BG3. SO yes, I'm sad to see Larian move on from that, but I will be excited for whatever they come up with. I read somewhere the next one might be scifi and I'm happy about that.

Yeah that was probably their best panel, like more than any of the EA ones for sure. I got kinda misty eyed there when he shouted out Lua at the end. Like damn Seattle, way to make it rain in my apartment for the send off! hehe That was cool.

I'll just always be pretty stoked that they didn't drop the ball on BG3 and managed to get it over the line somehow.

I mean to think that I'd ever be able to just say the words 'Baldur's Gate' and have someone know what I was talking about. It had been almost long enough to pass out of memory, but then earthquaked right back in there and climbed to the pinnacle! hehe

I will miss not having more BG3 things 'right around the corner' or 'coming soon, when it's ready.' Hopefully for their next thing they keep these oldschool boards around. There's something that's still very charming to me about 90s style forums even in the modern day. I mean it's probably not as tight as discord I guess, for ease of use, but for somebody like me it scratches the itch. I will just always associate BG and Boards now, they're inextricably linked up in my mind, just like old bioboards. Spots that still have that vibe like zines from yesteryear. I wish there was a BG4 in the offing, or just a BG3 that never ends, but plaudits for still delivering on it, even with the revised timelines during a world ending plague. I think it will also be a shorthand for whatever big changes have happened or may be still to come for games and gaming generally, as it really does feel like some sort of sea change industry wide. Like a before and an after BG. The way things get made in the future, whether we still get to have things like actual artists and peeps with the heart in it, like as well as some skin in the game.

They gave me at least 3 dozen very memorable characters to hold onto. Some in the spotlight, some bit players, but quite a few all told! Whether people get down for 60 hours 1600 hours, like it worked damn pretty well, as a BG game. Got me excited again at least!

I think in the fullness of time it will define 5e the way the old BGs defined 2e and NWN 3e as a point of popular reference. I really wanted a 6th Edition D&D to somehow align with a BG3 to BG4 then NWN3 thing, but it seems like the Wizards just couldn't really get their Tower in order to make that happen. It will probably go down in the annals as like a mystery for the age, but BG3 still holds up. I've been playing it for like 5 years straight, and already I can tell that I'll probably just be playing it every year, probably around the Holidays. Like Jaheira says, that's the thing about home. But maybe Mods too! Fingers crossed

I remember when they first showed the game, when the dialogue was first person, and there was even a persuasion check you made against yourself to do (or not do) something. I was really excited by that.

Yeah the first person dialogue was an interesting idea, I remember not hating it myself when they showed it but a lot of people reacted loudly and negatively toward it so I understand why Larian changed it (considering it was relatively early in development too back then). Would be neat to see that system implemented in a game that doesn't have a giant IP with already set expectations to it in the future.

Yeah it's bitter sweet for me. I am a OG BG fan. Played them in college, however, I am not really a D&D (never had a "pen & paper" session) or a Larian follower but I do have a fondness for them. I am a fan of the old CRPG D&D games (Torment, IWD...) but looking forward, it's hard for me to be excited by any other settings they may come up with (Wizards or Larian). It was the nostalgia that got me to pull the trigger in early access and it was the story that kept me there. I had to really stretch "work life balance" to get the ahem 1300+ hours in 8D (so far). I honestly cant see anything else grabbing my attention like this again (that dopamine just don't hit like it used to). I have gravitated to games that I can play for a few hours and drop for a week if needed. This game, you just keep doing one more turn. If it takes another 20 years for a masterpiece like this, then I hope I am able to enjoy it.

In a few months I will hit the big 50... So,

Thanks, Larian for helping me remember the fondness of CRPGs from my 20's! You guys rock! And Godspeed on your future endeavors.