Anticipation. It’s the prelude to any grand gaming narrative, a symphony of excitement mixed with high expectations. This crescendo finds its peak in Larian Studios’ upcoming role-playing game epic, Baldur’s Gate 3, and the latest information are becoming more intriguing by the day.
In gaming, where monumental franchises and hidden gems vie for the affections of millions, a significant marker of success is diversity in narrative. How do developers manage to create a story that feels intimately personal for each player? They write a multitude of endings. But for Baldur’s Gate 3, “multitude” feels like a trivial term.
A conversation between Fextralife and Chrystal Ding, the associate writing lead at Larian Studios, gave fans plenty to cheer about. When asked about the number of distinct ending variations in the game, the number revealed was 17,000. The sheer magnitude of this figure is enough to generate shockwaves across the gaming world.
Yet, as with any revelation, it’s essential to approach this with a modicum of tempered enthusiasm. Each of the said 17,000 endings are unlikely to be wholesomely distinct narratives but rather nuanced variations. A word here, a gesture there, and voila, you have a slightly different shade of an ending.
To put things into perspective, imagine 10 lines of dialogue, each having a couple of variations. The ways of arranging each line balloons quickly. Though the tangible difference may seem minor from a player’s viewpoint, the effort to construct the dialogues is colossal. Ding’s six months of painstaking work on the ending alone stands testimony to this labor of love.
But for Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t a mere game of numbers, even if they’re breathtakingly high. The goal is for a total immersion in a world so rich in detail that players would willingly drown in its depths. The game boasts an impressive 174 hours of cinematics and offers 22 distinct subclasses for players. And as for the narrative content? It holds thrice the word count of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. If ever there was a metric for literary ambition in a game, this might be it.
However, beyond the statistics lies a promise. A promise of unparalleled player agency. Every choice you make and every path you tread is meticulously tracked, ensuring players pen their tales. Larian Studios wants gamers to embrace the reins of their destiny, with the world of Baldur’s Gate 3 bending and swaying to their will. That’s the hallmark of an exceptional CRPG, after all.
While fans wait for the game to come out, the developers are struggling to juggle between excitement and anxiety. Michael Douse, Larian’s director of publishing, humorously expressed a sense of dread when the game’s 17,000+ endings became public knowledge. You can only imagine the flurry of questions and curiosities that such a revelation stirred and would continue to stir well into the game’s lifecycle.
Of course, there’s also the premise that Larian Studios designed the higher difficulties of Baldur’s Gate 3 purposely to make gamers cry as if they’re being closely monitored by a Dungeon Master who has it out for them.
This year is shaping up to be a golden year for RPG enthusiasts. With titans like Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3 looming on the horizon, players have a lot to look forward to.
Baldur’s Gate 3, which has been in Early Access on the PC for years, will finally be available to play on August 3 for desktop gamers with PlayStation 5 owners following suit on September 6. It’s still unclear when the Xbox Series S/X version will come out.
