Sometimes even a game director is powerless. Because Swen Vincke wanted to have an NPC deleted from a game, but it resisted.
When a game is released, it usually involves many dozens or even hundreds of people. It’s no surprise that not all developers agree with all the content of the game. In the case of “Divinity: Original Sin 2,” even the head of the studio wanted to delete an NPC from the game before it was released on the Switch 2. But the small companion resisted – much to Swen Vincke’s dismay.
Which NPC is it about? It’s about Sir Lora. He is a squirrel that rides on an undead cat. Sir Lora was originally a reward for pre-ordering, but is also included in the “Definitive Edition” of the game.
Sir Lora has his own backstory and also smaller quests. He wants to save the world from the “great acorn,” was once a knight, and now hides from them.
Additionally, Sir Lora has the trait of dying extremely quickly – after all, he is just a squirrel and does not actively participate in combat. But even in death, he still follows the group as a ghost.
Exactly this is the NPC that Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian Studios, cannot stand.
What was said? In an interview with MeinMMO, the conversation about the new Divinity also touched upon older games – like Original Sin 2. When our editor-in-chief Leya mentioned in the interview that she considered Sir Lora a great example of humor in an otherwise dark world, Vincke countered:
It’s funny that you like Sir Lora. I hate him. If there’s one thing I regret about Original Sin 2, it’s bringing Sir Lora into the game.
This naturally led to more questions. Vincke even wanted to go so far as to have Sir Lora removed from the game post-launch, so that he would not be part of the title upon release on the Switch 2, and the Nintendo console would be spared from the little squirrel. He further stated:
I even tried to remove him from the version for the Switch 2. (…) I really tried to get rid of him.
Squirrel is immortal, does not want to be deleted
But the little squirrel knight resisted with claws and big eyes. Because according to the quality assurance team, it was not easy to remove Sir Lora at all. There was an error in the removal process. In some regions, it was possible to disable Sir Lora, but not in others. Fixing the error had already taken several days, so in the end, they decided to keep Sir Lora in the game.
We tried to remove Sir Lora and almost succeeded. But we have a problem where it works in one region and not in another. We couldn’t figure out why. Sir Lora simply didn’t want to die.
If you are interested in the entire conversation between our editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski and the CEO of Larian, Swen Vincke, then take a look at the full interview. There is also a lot of talk about the new Divinity, which was revealed at the Game Awards, and what it means for Larian to finally be able to make a Divinity game again.
