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You can not only hear but also see them.
Image credit: Larian Studios
If you've played Baldur's Gate 3 enough by now, you have noticed how alive and emotional its characters, including NPCs, are. This is because Larian Studios used motion capture data from 248 actors to animate them.
Yes, almost every person you talk to was painstakingly created with help from actors who got into a mocap suit to gift the characters their movements along with their voices, according to the studio's performance director Aliona Baranova.
There were some exceptions to this though, when actors voiced animals, additional dialogue where you can't see the person's face much, cinematic cutscenes, and if an actor couldn't record mocap.
"Which means the iconic head wiggles [Jennifer English] did as Shadowheart WERE Jen’s actual head wiggles. [The] militaristic & alien like movements of [Lae'zel] were [Devora Wilde's] physical choices for the character. [Neil Newbon's] theatrical flare as Astarion are all part of the actors choices."
Baranova's role in all of this is to work with the voice director, focus on the actor's body, their movements, how they embody their character, and make sure that the body is connected to the voice.
She says the team wanted the physical performances to look alive and be interesting to watch, and I think they succeeded.
"But when the magic really happened was when we helped the actor connect to the text on a deeper more physical level. when u could *see* what they were saying affect their bodies," Baranova said.
Image credit: Larian Studios
So there were a lot of people working on the characters, which is, of course, not surprising, but the effort of putting almost every actor into a suit is still impressive. And many developers from prominent studios agree, calling Baldur's Gate a triumph and a masterpiece.
On September 6, PlayStation 5 owners will also have a chance to finally appreciate Larian's work. Meanwhile, learn more about the development on Baranova's Twitter and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Threads, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.