Baldur's Gate 3 Praised By Skyrim Lead Designer For Its Meaningful Player Choices
"Bethesda games have always had the philosophy of let the player play everything."
Baldur's Gate 3
The Examined Game recently conducted an in-depth interview with Bruce Nesmith, a longtime Bethesda veteran who contributed to nearly every major release from the studio before retiring in 2022 and who served as Lead Designer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. During the conversation, he touched on a range of topics sure to interest Bethesda fans, including what it was like working alongside Todd Howard, Skyrim's design philosophy, and the backlash surrounding Fallout 3. Decision-making is one aspect of video games that Nesmith is particularly interested in, and having spent much of his career working on RPGs, it was only natural that he would be asked about Baldur's Gate 3. He said that it was "joyful to see the D&D expression of fantasy rules come to life", adding that Larian Studios had done a "magnificent job" of bringing that experience to players.
Nesmith explained that Bethesda has traditionally followed a different philosophy, "let the player play everything":
"You can play the entire Thieves' Guild, you can play the entire Fighters' Guild, you can play the entire Mages' Guild, etc. There is nothing that your character can't play. That's a very good philosophy. I support that philosophy. But I was pleasantly surprised to see how positive it felt to me to make consequential decisions that closed off gameplay in Baldur's Gate.
That also felt good, because it was done well. I felt like the decisions I made had more meaning in certain ways, because there were actual consequences. If I wanted to see those other gameplays, I'd have to bring up another character and try different paths."
Nesmith added that he doesn't prefer one approach over the other, saying "they're just fun in different ways":
"The lesson learned is: You can have both. I can enjoy this game over here that does it this way, and enjoy this game over here that does it that way."
Watch the full interview below:
Next year marks Fallout's 30th anniversary, so fans could have plenty to look forward to: a new reality TV show is coming to Netflix, remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are reportedly in the works, as well as another standalone Fallout game from Obsidian.
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