Baldur's Gate 3 - Adam Smith Interview @CGMagonline

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Adam Smith, senior writer for Baldur's Gate 3, was interviewed by CGMagonline.

CGMagazine: I wanted to just touch on this into lore and the canon of Dungeons & Dragons up to this point. How much flexibility did you have as a writer for this installment of the series?

Adam Smith: There was a module that worked as a precursor to where we are, even if it's not a prequel story. We spoke to Wizard of the Coast, while they were working on that we made sure that things matched up. It is very collaborative in that sense, but in terms of the lore we would come up with concepts only to find out it already does exist. Because it has been decades with so many writers and so many designers, if you can think it, Dungeons & Dragons most likely has it in some way.

It's already been thought of so what we tried to do is say, let's find these really cool weird, interesting parts of the Forgotten Realms and outside them sometimes. What we tend to do is we find the really cool, weird stuff, then we just see how far we can push it and how it overlaps with the other stuff we want to do. Obviously, we're going to end up in Baldur's Gate and when you get there, a lot of different things are going to be converging on you, including a lot of different concepts and themes. It is exciting to see that happen.

[...]

CGMagazine: How did you balance fresh material while still keeping true to past instalments?

Adam Smith: Baldur's Gate 3 needed to not feel like it's just a throwback or a nostalgia trip. It has to feel new, because that's part of what Baldur's Gate always was. It was the thing that was pushing things forward. We want to be there as well. Narrative wise, canonically, we are set 100 years later, so that means that we're not going backwards. But the stuff that happened in Baldur's Gate, the Bhaalspawn Saga, is not the kind of stuff that gets forgotten. So, it is part of our world. And we have characters who remember it. We have characters who have strong memories of it. 100 years is a long time if you are human, but it is not a long time if you are an elf. So, some people are still around who know what it was like to live through those events.

But it is that sense of both the history of the games, but also the history within the world of the events of the game, that is powerful. The story within the game, within the Forgotten Realms, has a legendary status so there was no way we could ignore it. You don't need to know what happened 100 years ago to have your own story now. I don't need to know the history of New York City to be able to be in New York City and experience it. Our objective was always to tell a new story that takes place in a world that recognizes the same world and all history that came before.

[...]
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More information.
 
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They have time for interviews but can't finish or update the game.:p
 
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I like what they are saying. They just need to stop saying it and finish the damn game.
 
"Taking advantage of the latest technology while keeping the core of what made the series so memorable, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the follow-up fans have been begging for."

I'd be curious to hear if the Baldur's Gate fans agree with this ;)
 
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Don't go there, I'm warning you don't go there.:devil:

 
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Redglyph said:
"Taking advantage of the latest technology while keeping the core of what made the series so memorable, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the follow-up fans have been begging for."

I'd be curious to hear if the Baldur's Gate fans agree with this ;)
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OOO look at all that fire!! haha

but all in all kinda pff interview nothing new..
 
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I can't tell if you folks are kidding, but a) most of the writing is probably done at this point in development, and b) nobody spends 24 hours a day doing their exact job and only their job.
 
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Redglyph said:
"Taking advantage of the latest technology while keeping the core of what made the series so memorable, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the follow-up fans have been begging for."

I'd be curious to hear if the Baldur's Gate fans agree with this ;)
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As a Baldur's Gate fan I say: Better a good game, which is not very similar to BG than a bad game which desperately tries to follow BG or D&D lore, aesthetics and/or mechanics.

Edit: I don't want to imply that trying to be true to BG inevitably leads to a bad game. But it shouldn't be more important than making a good game according to today's standards.
 
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With gamers it's heads they win tails you lose. When devs cave to pressure to release a game before its satisfactory by the devs the mob descends. When they take their time to "get it right" the mob descends.

As far as I can tell, Larian owes you nothing. If you choose to be an unpaid alpha/beta tester by purchasing a Steam "early access" that's your choice. The only thing a developer is beholden to deliver is a competent game commensurate with what they charge for it. I personally prefer devs to take more time and deliver a better initial game experience. Contemporary Exhibit A: Cyperpunk 2077.
 
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I just want the game done before I buy....please finish.
 
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bkrueger said:
As a Baldur's Gate fan I say: Better a good game, which is not very similar to BG than a bad game which desperately tries to follow BG or D&D lore, aesthetics and/or mechanics.

Edit: I don't want to imply that trying to be true to BG inevitably leads to a bad game. But it shouldn't be more important than making a good game according to today's standards.
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100% agree
 
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JFarrell71 said:
I can't tell if you folks are kidding, but a) most of the writing is probably done at this point in development, and b) nobody spends 24 hours a day doing their exact job and only their job.
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I'm not kidding their update schedule has been sparse and minimum all year long. All that amounted to was a few patches and the new druid class. Where's Act 2?
 
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I'm a huge Baldur's Gate fan and this definitely is unappealing to me. As I said many times, what a turn-off, trying to cram a new "Baldur's Gate" game in an Original Sin engine. They might as well call it, Original Sin 3, D&D mod edition. (as said in numerous ways in a large number of negative reviews on steam)

I'm far from alone in this, of course, in my critical eye towards this game. The glacial pace of development and various other issues (bugs galore) have been noted by many players of the game as well. (Full price for a potential 3-4 year "early access game??" wow, Larian, just wow)

Larian can't always hit a home run, so I'm hoping this game was just a misfire (although a pretty colossal one)

Suggestions for both Bethesda and Larian in terms of their future games - junk the
Original Sin engine, and junk the ancient Morrowind whatever-they-call-it engine. I get it will cost heaps of money to do that, and to do brand new high tech cutting edge rpg engines from scratch, but it would be worth it, eventually. My 2 cents.
 
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I am a huge Baldurs Gate fan and have 200 hours now into the EA of BG3 and so loving it. Can hardly wait till they finish. I am extremely happy with how they are managing it and feel it works fine so far ... it is hard to know the "3" part in regards to plot but there have been a couple hints. Regardless I think its a great follow-up.

So as a diehard Baldurs Gate fan I can say I am very happy with how BG3 is going and find it super appealing. Looks fantastic and plays very well for an EA so far. I have finished the entire Beta twice now and started a third but waiting to see if they release more content.

I got plenty to do for the rest of this year, into the next, so prefer they polish the game so its released in good shape instead of rushing it.
 
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I've only played 20ish hours so far of the early access. This is mostly due to stability and the game sometimes struggling to render during busy combat scenes then crashing. I'm well within specs so it shouldn't be a problem and there has been some improvement with patches I must say.

What I've played seems well thought out. Conversations seem natural and dialogue is not forced. Mechanically it is interesting but hard to really get into it when things start chugging. I have some, what some might term, minor quibbles here and there. For example I'm not convinced by the look of tieflings as they look too human like to me. I'm convinced the pacing of the game would be improved by speedier combat resolution so speeding up of combat animation should be a priority if they won't do real time with pause.

I of course want more classes to play with. Give me my paladin Larian! All together its not bad and quite polished for this stage and with plenty of development still to come.
 
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Couchpotato said:
I'm not kidding their update schedule has been sparse and minimum all year long. All that amounted to was a few patches and the new druid class. Where's Act 2?
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But why drop that complaint into a thread about an interview with their head writer? I guarantee you he's not the one holding things up.
 
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Couchpotato said:
I'm not kidding their update schedule has been sparse and minimum all year long. All that amounted to was a few patches and the new druid class. Where's Act 2?
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Hey Couchpotato,
I don't think they are going to release Act 2 prior to full release.

I really am looking forward to this game, but haven't bought it or played early access yet.... Would be too disappointed I think to not play it all the way through.
 
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Stahl33 said:
Hey Couchpotato,
I don't think they are going to release Act 2 prior to full release.

I really am looking forward to this game, but haven't bought it or played early access yet. Would be too disappointed I think to not play it all the way through.
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The game was supposed to have three acts. The first one was already released. Now in most EA games you get everything except the ending of the last act to test out.

So yes Act 2 will more then likely be released to play test along with Act 3. As the goal is to beta test the whole game before they release it. Just not the end game content.

It was the same with Original Sin 2.
JFarrell71 said:
But why drop that complaint into a thread about an interview with their head writer? I guarantee you he's not the one holding things up.
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Yes he's just a writer but he's still part of the development team. He's still employed and according to the updates still updating, and changing the game based on feedback.
 
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Arkadia7 said:
Suggestions for both Bethesda and Larian in terms of their future games - junk the Original Sin engine, and junk the ancient Morrowind whatever-they-call-it engine. I get it will cost heaps of money to do that, and to do brand new high tech cutting edge rpg engines from scratch, but it would be worth it, eventually. My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I believe the Bethesda engine is called Gamebryo.
 
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Silver said:
I have some, what some might term, minor quibbles here and there. For example I'm not convinced by the look of tieflings as they look too human like to me. I'm convinced the pacing of the game would be improved by speedier combat resolution so speeding up of combat animation should be a priority if they won't do real time with pause.
Click to expand...

I don't have an issue with the looks of the different races so much as the voice acting attached to them. It's pretty bad in some parts. Not bad from a talent standpoint but rather how it's delivered. For example, goblins speaking the common tongue perfectly and with heavily exaggerated British accents. I found it quite immersion-breaking at times.
 
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