Baldur’s Gate is known as an iconic single-player RPG. Larian Studios is the developer of the third installment of the series, Baldur’s Gate 3. They are introducing online multiplayer and couch co-op to the series for the first time. Our editor Leya Jankowski learned in an interview with producer David Walgrave what multiplayer looks like.
Why does a site for MMOs report on the single-player RPG Baldur’s Gate? As you know, we at MeinMMO usually only cover online multiplayer games with ongoing updates and live service. Therefore, I wanted to politely decline the invitation to an event where Baldur’s Gate 3 was showcased. After all, Baldur’s Gate stands for a classic solo role-playing experience that originally comes from the BioWare forge.
Then I realized that Baldur’s Gate 3 is announced with a co-op online multiplayer! So I decided to meet the developers from Larian Studios to learn more about the online multiplayer in the single-player RPG – because it could be interesting for you too.
This is what I saw at the event: Swen Vincke, the founder and head of Larian, guided us through a part of the Baldur’s Gate 3 campaign during a live gameplay presentation. Here I learned that Baldur’s Gate 3 essentially plays like a digital Dungeons & Dragons. There is a massive story campaign. It offers
- strong character developments
- and many dialogue options that affect the progression of the story,
- turn-based combat
- even dice that determine how successful I am with a planned action.
But how is that unified with multiplayer?
Multiplayer comes with 2 options and couch co-op
To get to the bottom of the multiplayer features, I grabbed the senior producer of Baldur’s Gate 3. From David Walgrave, I learned that you have two options for approaching multiplayer.
In summary, you can in the multiplayer of Baldur’s Gate 3:
- take control of an NPC companion of a single-player player for as long as you want. This has no impact on the progression of the single-player player’s campaign
- start a campaign with a group of 2-4 players, where each pursues their own agenda, and you all together influence the progression of the campaign
- play in online multiplayer (for 2-4 players) or also play locally in split-screen, the couch co-op
This is the system that Larian Studios has already applied in the Divinity series.
Here is the detailed explanation:
Imagine that I start a game alone. I begin to play and have already spent an hour solo in the game. Then you can simply join in. You take over one of my NPC companions and can also just leave again. The story continues normally. That’s one way you have to play in multiplayer.
But if you say you want to play Baldur’s Gate 3 together from start to finish, then you start a campaign together. Then everyone creates a character, so I create my own, individual character and you create your own, individual character.
These are two different options to play multiplayer. We know that players do not always have the option to be online at the same time. Therefore, we support the “Drop-In & Drop-Out” multiplayer. […] In the first version, where you simply play “Drop-In-Drop-Out,” it is actually a kind of single-player story. The story is played by one person and others can just join in.
In the other option, it’s then the story of the two, three, or four people who play together. Their decisions [in the game] are completely independent of each other. So you can also walk around freely and talk to anyone. You don’t have to stay with me all the time. The decisions you make can, however, have an impact on the entire group.
David Walgrave to MeinMMO about multiplayer
“We expect players to exploit the systems of Baldur’s Gate 3”
The battles in Baldur’s Gate 3 are turn-based. Each takes their action in turn. The action can consist of attacking, healing, using items, triggering abilities, or movement.
During the gameplay presentation, I noticed that it is also possible to exploit the environment. Perhaps there is a barrel somewhere that can be made to explode.
In multiplayer, different players come together with different ideas in mind. So one player might sneak up on the enemy from behind to land a deadly blow while another weakens them in a hail of arrows.
My curiosity for strategic decisions in multiplayer combat was awakened and David explained the principle to me.
The way Swen [the studio head] showed this in the presentation is essentially how the whole game works. When you play Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time, you don’t understand what is possible in the first few hours. We realized that it is difficult to sell a game when we only show screenshots and videos. But if we show players how others play, then you can usually convince them. Once you understand […] that we have built a systematic world, you begin to think about how you can break the game.
Sometimes we get comments from players that they found something and believe it is a bug. But actually, the game only encourages you to use it against itself. All systems work together and against each other. We actually expect players to abuse the systems. […]
Here we set one player up, and someone else places an [exploding] barrel. Examples of this can be found on YouTube if you search for “ways to break Original Sin 1 or 2” (how to break Original Sin). This way, you can also break Baldur’s Gate 3. There are as many ways as there are people who can creatively manipulate these systems.
David Walgrave to MeinMMO about multiplayer
More about the gameplay of Baldur’s Gate 3: My colleague Peter Bathge from GameStar Plus was also at the event. He wrote a detailed preview of Baldur’s Gate 3 and created a video with gameplay. GameStar Plus is the subscription model of GameStar, which comes with several exclusive benefits. Peter played his favorite role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 2 almost 15 times.
More players wanted multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3 than Larian expected
David and I also talked about the importance of multiplayer and that it now plays an important component in major titles. More and more big single-player studios are incorporating multiplayer into their games. This has led to games like The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV or Anthem.
The senior producer told me that Larian Studios has internal statistics showing that more than 50 percent of players wanted multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3. So that is more than half. The team may have expected around 10 to 20 percent before evaluating the data.
I wanted to know if David had an idea of why multiplayer is so in demand.
I believe that it is not only because we offer multiplayer. It is also the way we implement multiplayer. So, the fact that everyone can move independently and make their own thing in the game. That is not just casually supported in other RPGs.
David Walgrave to MeinMMO about multiplayer
Particularly the freedom that each player has in multiplayer is seen by David as a strength. He further explained that in recent years, games that give players a toolkit to shape things themselves have become very popular. This often leads to interesting situations in multiplayer, as different minds may tackle certain challenges differently. The discussion on how to approach a fight or a puzzle is an important factor.
David explained to me what influence multiplayer has on such a toolkit in development.
I don’t know what would have happened if we had made Baldur’s Gate 3 just a single-player game. I know the strength of multiplayer is present. Honestly, I can’t imagine that we would have made Baldur’s Gate 3 just as a single-player. We realized that [a multiplayer] sells well, to be very honest. Plus, it also forces us to think about things we otherwise wouldn’t have considered. It involves certain decisions that one makes.
Very often in the designers’ offices, most sentences start with: “What if …”, “What if the person did this? What if this NPC is no longer alive? What if the building explodes? What if the door is no longer there? Many of these sentences start with: “What if … ?”, and very few sentences start with: “What if someone opened the door in multiplayer?” and that helps us think about other solutions than when we are in pure single-player. Imagine I am talking to an NPC and you are running around and […] open a door and suddenly enemies come in? We have to think about that and sometimes we don’t have our NPCs under control. But it gives us space to make our game even better and more interesting.
David Walgrave to MeinMMO about multiplayer
The strength of co-op lies in the freedom of individual decision-making
After the gameplay presentation and my conversation with senior producer David Walgrave, as a self-proclaimed co-op lover, I have at least put Baldur’s Gate 3 on my observation list. It sounds enticing to start a joint campaign where heated discussions occur about where the journey should go.
Particularly the possibility for other players to move freely and perhaps do something that I personally do not like and surprises me holds an appeal for me. But also the joint strategic decisions on how to tackle a fight best and planning moves sound thrilling.
But I can also imagine that exactly that drives some players completely crazy! If everyone is bumbling about, starting dialogues that one doesn’t notice or slaughtering NPCs that one would prefer to keep alive – that probably doesn’t appeal to everyone.
We will then probably have to wait for the release and see if Baldur’s Gate 3 has the potential to land on our top list of co-op games:
What do you think about the co-op multiplayer in Baldur’s Gate 3?
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