There's an interview in Polish site GryOnline.pl with Swen Vincke. Here's the English translated version
Baldur's Gate 3 is just around the corner, and the premiere accelerated by a month (not to mention the love scene with the bear) is very intriguing information – it is a rarity in the industry, where the delay of the debut is the norm. Added to this is the shocking freedom that the creators promise, as well as a huge campaign (the usual passage of the game is to take over 75 hours!). Michał Mańka recently had the opportunity to visit the Belgian studio Larian. He played excerpts from the full version and also talked to Swen Vincke, the head of the team and creative director of the upcoming RPG. Here's what we learned.
GOAL: The Baldur's Gate series has a long history. What was the key aspect of the world you wanted to put in your game?
Swen Vincke: I think there were a few things like that... First of all, it was the first adaptation of Dungeons and Dragons at the time. So I think we wanted to make a similar breakthrough by translating the fifth edition of D&D into the game. We also wanted to maintain the team character of the game. Another important issue was the theme "a monster grows inside me, what do I do with it?". We start by being infected by a parasite and then being able to take control of it or resist it. This is present in many origin stories, but especially in the main plot – this dilemma of what you are going to do about it. We also wanted to transfer the feeling of being in the city from the second Baldur's Gate to the actual Baldur's Gate [in the "two" we did not visit the title city, only Athkatla – editor's note]. That was our next ambition.
What do you think was the hardest thing to grasp after all these years? Let's call it a sequel, although I'd say it's more of a continuation of the world.
Yes, it is a continuation of the world, not a direct continuation. So the world is affected by what happened in BG1 and 2, so you will see more than you expect, you will see the dramatic consequences of all the things that happened (especially with Sarevok). I think that capturing the impression of adventure and connection with the characters, known from previous games, was the most difficult for us, and also the most important.
And what was your target audience? Who were you thinking of when you decided, OK, we're doing Baldur's Gate 3. Were they fans of Divinity, Baldur's Gate, or just RPG fans?
The latter. We've always been careful – maybe we were wrong at some point, maybe we're wrong now – but we think if we like it, RPG fans will like it too, because we're all RPG players. This is a game from RPG players for RPG players.
What is the reaction of fans to the fact that you are working on a brand like Baldur's Gate? Were they very positive about what you did with the world? Or maybe they need to be convinced that it is worth investing their time in it?
Opinions are divided. So there are fans of the original games who wanted it to be an exact continuation of that storyline – this is not the case and some are disappointed. Others, however, changed their minds after trying the game. We had testers and there was one particular girl among them. She came from the other end of Ireland, so she had to travel a few hours before she got to the office and tested the game... She said, "I signed up because I wanted to tell you, 'How dare you!'" She walked away, thanking us and saying, "I was very happy with what you did with the city. I was so happy to go in there. I was scared, but you really did the series justice because this is the first time we've seen it all in 3D." So that was a very big compliment.
When it comes to nostalgia and older players, there will always be people who won't be happy with how it's been handled. The same goes for everything else, from Star Wars to everything you can imagine. But if you let that get in the way, nothing will happen anymore. The things I talked about at the beginning, the things we aspired to, the things we wanted to pay respect to – I think we succeeded. The vast majority of players say yes, some say no, and that's okay.
And if you tried to convince someone that it's worth the time and money, how would you sum up your game to convince a fan of this world?
Well, I would say: if you like Dungeons and Dragons, you'll like Baldur's Gate 3.
And that's it?
Yes, I think so. We put a lot of work into making the rules accessible, we did a lot of work to make sure that your decisions, your identity, who you are, what you do – that it's all going to be reflected in the story, in what's going on in it. This will be presented to you as if you had your own Game of Thrones written for you, as the game's script adapts to you when you play it. Based on the things you do using a set of rules... To be honest, I don't think such a game has been created before – in which the systems, multiplayer, narrative layer and cutscenes come together into a coherent whole. Something like a multi-ingredient cocktail, the sip of which you take and find – everything fits together here.
It's amazing that even today, playing for only a few hours, I had three different scenarios where I lost the same companion. And not just in the middle of a regular fight, but simply by making decisions like "hey, she's leaving the team to talk to people; Oh, I'll just check what's around the corner." You come back and she's dead. It's amazing to see how the world reacts to the player's decisions.
Yes. It's a sacred rule, it doesn't touch: the player's agency above all else.
It's really wonderful. Did you change any aspect of the previous games, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, that you thought was a bit outdated?
I think these games were great in their time, but it's been 20 years, so everything has evolved. I don't think it's comparable. At that time, these games were the pinnacle of the RPG genre and I think they did very well, they are a testament to craftsmanship, well done work, and they are still really good RPGs, if only because of the Enhanced Edition or the iPad version – I play them on the iPad, it's really great.
BG2 in particular offered a lot of freedom and nonlinearity. Some of the mechanics were really new to the genre. It's a trendsetter. We try to make BG3 the same, we try to push every boundary we can push to try to move forward when it comes to the RPG genre.
That's very nice to hear. I had previously spent many hours with Divinity: Original Sin 2. Is there anything specific you took away from this game? A lesson you remember that helped you work on BG3?
Yes, there were many lessons. DOS1 was really about systems. DOS2 was about connecting narrative to systems, and BG3 was about how to connect cinematic narrative to systems while improving every aspect of them. I don't think we could do BG3 without DOS2 and we couldn't do DOS2 without DOS1. These were all gradual steps in our erepegowym developer craft.
There is one thing about peaceful solutions in the approach to quests that I had in mind. I felt that in those days Baldur's Gate was more focused on combat, comparing it to Planescape: Torment or Fallout. Do you maintain this approach to clashes in BG3, or do you give people complete freedom in how they can resolve potential conflicts?
You have absolute freedom. There are very few fights. You can even ally with Gorthas. And it's literally to ally, he keeps his word. So you don't have to fight it. There are many persuasion options in this game. But there are some fights that need to be fought.
In a sense, we have already touched on this topic, but I would like to talk about it for a moment. Of course, there are many references, characters from Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 appear in the game. What was your approach to creating BG3? Did you feel it was necessary to continue the legacy of the series? Or maybe you wanted it to be more your own interpretation, your own view of this world?
We wanted to show that everything that happened in BG1 and 2 really happened. How it affected the world. But on this basis, we wanted to build something of our own. And I think we did. As you walk through this world, you'll see what the iron throne meant to Baldur's Gate. You will meet characters such as Jaheira, who has a complicated history. You will meet her children. Jaheira is older now and wonders, "Should I stop looking for adventures, is this lifestyle for me; Who can handle it?" She had a friend who had left.
These things took root in the original Baldur's Gate and shaped the city today. But new events are taking place in the game world. In Forgotten Realms, too, everything changed. The gods have retreated, the city has evolved, and you are going to enter it. Then, using a new set of rules, you'll explore them in a new way. So it is a mixture of old and new.