Exploits and strange behaviors are not punished in Baldur’s Gate 3 – but rewarded. This was planned from the very beginning.
In Baldur’s Gate 3, you have quite a few options. The trailer called it “True RPG Freedom” and that describes it quite well. However, this freedom of choices is not a random product that simply arose from the nature of the game. Instead, it was Larian’s design philosophy that ensured that you can exploit the nonsense and “exploits” that sometimes make the game so absurd.
What was said? The gameplay scripter Mihail Kostov gave a presentation at a gaming conference in Bulgaria (via gamesradar) talking about the design of Baldur’s Gate 3. Much of it focused on “Edge Cases,” situations where it is not entirely clear: Should this be possible in the game? Is that more of a bug or exploit? Situations where the game systems are pushed “to the extreme.”
Larian’s decision was: In such cases, the creativity of the players should be rewarded and not hindered.
We at Larian believe that player creativity is great.
The ability to creatively exploit systems is therefore not seen as a malicious attempt to “break” the game, but simply to pursue extreme solutions.
These things were taken into account: Accordingly, there was also a checklist during the game’s development to ensure that there is enough freedom. This “list of edge cases” had these (and other) points:
- Most NPCs can be attacked and killed, but at the same time can also be knocked unconscious.
- Items can be attacked, moved, destroyed, or stolen. Important items can be dropped or left in areas that are no longer accessible later.
- Most areas or fights can be avoided by sneaking around.
- Any dialogue initiation can fail because “the player is currently a bear or something”.
- Party members can be in different locations at the same time.
- One can flee from most fights.
- Multiple fights can break out separately and then turn into a large battle.
That all these points were carefully considered was demonstrated by a player just a few days ago when he misplaced the essential items in the game and had to be rescued by a fish.
These were the consequences: This great freedom allowed to players required a lot of planning. Because it is quite possible for a “hero” to stomp through the game, killing pretty much every NPC in sight. For such cases, “emergency NPCs” had to be created to at least roughly guide the hero through the story, even if much is lost along the way.
Another case is when, for example, Lae’zel acquires the legendary sword in Act 1, which she should actually receive only at the end of Act 3 as a reward for a long mission. Through spells and clever combinations of abilities, it is possible to get the weapon early. When Larian noticed this, they said:
Let players keep the cool weapon. They found a way to exploit the game, so let them keep it. That’s awesome.
As a consequence, they even added additional dialogue lines that can only be heard if one secures the weapon early.
Did you take advantage of the great freedoms of Baldur’s Gate 3 and experience situations where you thought, “This feels like cheating?” Or did you stick to the story from beginning to end in a rather “ordinary” way? And if so: Are you checking back in with the new Patch 7 with 1,000 changes?
