Larian released a Community Update about the way forward, and Swen also gave an interview to IGN:
Hello all, Since launching last month, a lot of tweaks and updates can already be seen in Baldur's Gate 3. Over the past few weeks we've chased down bugs, polished up some cinematics, and used your feedback to help organize our thoughts and inform our plans going forward. The first major patch...
store.steampowered.com
Baldur's Gate 3 developers Larian Studios are promising major fixes for Minthara, who accidentally had more than 1500 lines of dialogue blocked out by what director Swen Vincke calls a "very, very stupid bug."
www.ign.com
I'd like to look at these bits critically because I am not happy about the language they use and the reasoning.
On July 18, 16 days before the game release, the Internet was hyping the 17k endings discovery, and this was supported by the Larian messaging as well.
A Larian Studios developer reveals that Baldur’s Gate 3 will feature 17,000 possible ending variations, adding further to the game’s replayability.
gamerant.com
Larian has worked pretty hard to make sure you never get the exact same ending twice.
www.thegamer.com
Hundreds of media outlets wrote about it, and it helped to increase the hype (when BG3 was #1 as the top-selling game) to sky-high levels.
Turned out, it was a lie. No endings, no epilogues.
Now the Community Update says:
"We’re pretty strict with ourselves and our ideas. If it isn’t good - if it isn’t fun to play - it doesn’t make it into the game. One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience. But clearly, not everyone agrees with us! So we’re going to do something about it."
What is that even? How? And how does it correspond with the previous expectations they have given players and rode their popularity with? I'd say it's to be expected to see epilogues after a 100+ hour adventure. There are multiple other games that provide a rewarding conclusion after hours and hours spent with your companions and other characters.
On July 31, 3 days before the game release, Larian released a Community Update about tadpoles and using them.
"While these creatures may be a source of great power, all that they offer comes with a cost. As the parasites' hosts, you must make a choice. Will you resist the powers and the corruption that comes with them or will you embrace them, risking your body, mind and soul to save the Realms... or destroy them?
The deeper you go through the illithid skill tree, the more powers you'll discover. But nothing comes without cost. While your companions can also consume parasites to gain their powers, not everyone in your party will agree to it, and your companions' perception of you can undergo a significant shift based on how you approach this opportunity."
Turned out, it was a lie. Companions don't mind you using tadpoles and consuming them. There are no consequences, unless you get to the 3rd tier of those abilities (and thus consume a lot of tadpoles actually).
Now the Community Update says:
"Baldur’s Gate 3 is a game with many release dates, and despite us moving its launch up by around a month, it’s still a couple years late. It was late because we grew teams, ambition, and ideas in function of it being the best game it could possibly be. Thankfully, not every idea makes it into the final launch. It wouldn’t be the game you enjoy if they did."
So does it mean the current situation where me not using any tadpoles in Act 1 when there is no consequence for using them is more fun? Does it mean that it's the best it could possibly be?
The Community Update says:
"What’s been datamined is not really cut content but content that we didn’t want to release because we didn’t think it worked."
Does that really say that cut content is not cut content? Then why later in the Update it says:
"But that’s not to say Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t see cuts just as every game."
And finally, about the Upper City.
"It’s just important to know that what ultimately shipped was planned long ago, in function primarily of making Baldur’s Gate 3 fun to play, not for us to close development quickly."
Well, on June 12 another update from them said:
"This weekend, we unveiled the city of Baldur's Gate for the very first time, with a glimpse behind its walls and around its familiar labyrinthine streets. It's been about 20 years since we last had a pint in the Elfsong Tavern or crawled through the sewers beneath the city streets and, as you might have spotted during the PC Gaming Show, many of these locations are back, and many news ones are waiting to be discovered for the first time - giving you a chance to explore the menacing roads of the Outer City,
the opulent estates of the Upper City, and the dark alleys and pubs of the Lower City."
This huge section of the city was mentioned specifically by Swen in the final Panel From Hell on July 7, just four weeks before the full release.
So was it planned long ago to trim it? Read more about the Upper City's importance for companion quests and just the general story here (spoilers, though):
A missing location in BG3 is causing issues.
screenrant.com
