LogIn"Our dialogue trees blew up so hard, we just couldn't manage it anymore. So we had to cut it all."
Storytelling is key in modern games, many of which offer immersive narratives. In some games, dialogues with minor characters provide hints about the game's main story and they also become another source of fun. A good example is "arrow in the knee" from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which has evolved from game dialogue to a popular internet meme.
Image Credit: Larian Studios, Baldur's Gate 3
At a recent RPG roundtable hosted by PC Gamer, Larian's founder Swen Vincke shared intriguing details about the evolution of roleplaying in Baldur's Gate 3, especially about the dialogues. He revealed that the game initially had a more intricate multiplayer roleplaying system than what fans got to experience in the released version.
Larian, renowned for its work on the Divinity: Original Sin series, attempted to bring back the intricate roleplaying dialogues from the first Original Sin game, which didn't work in the end. Vincke stated:
"In Original Sin 1 you could actually roleplay dialogue with your partner, in co-operative play. We actually had that deeply in Baldur's Gate 3 at some point also. But the problem was our dialogue trees blew up so hard, we just couldn't manage it anymore. So we had to cut it all."
Image Credit: Larian Studios, Baldur's Gate 3
Looking into the future, Vincke expressed his ongoing interest in the deep roleplaying dialogue system seen in Original Sin. He said, "It's still an ambition." As the host of the roundtable Wes Fenlon had speculated, "If Larian's next RPG is a bit smaller than Baldur's Gate 3, perhaps those dialogue trees will be a bit more manageable with intra-party roleplaying added in."
Check out the original report from PC Gamer here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.