Baldur's Gate 3 Creator Addressed Criticism of Act 3 and Allegations of „Not Baldur Enough”
Anna Guxens, senior game designer at Larian, explains that previous Baldur's Gate installments and the Divinity series have a common denominator. The developer also commented on Act 3 in BG3.
Despite the generally great reception, Baldur's Gate 3 was not immune to critical comments. Larian Studios was critiqued for - according to some - excessive similarity of the work to games from the Divinity series, and less to previous installments of BG.
The senior game designer at Larian, Anna Guxens, addressed the issue. Although the creator did not take a specific stance in her interview with GameReactor, she did try to explain the studio's approach to game development and the resulting similarity between the two brands. Guxens emphasized that Larian's primary goal is to focus on freedom and "deliver engaging, emotional stories" that are at the center along with the player.
Larian always cares about player engagement, right? And delivering intriguing, emotional stories that always place the user at the center of events. So in both Divinity and Baldur's Gate, we've built very solid gameplay systems that also support the narrative. We have created a sandbox where you can have a lot of fun, but we also provide this fun through an elaborate plot and a very interesting, suspenseful, emotionally engaging story, and I think that's where our strength lies. To have a strong story and characters, as well as very solid gameplay systems and make them work together.
Guxens also took up the topic of the third act in Baldur's Gate 3. It was the target of criticism from players who did not like the drastic change that occurred in the scenery and narration compared to the first two chapters. The designer made it clear that she understands players who, after spending a lot of time in one stage of the story, feel a difference when they move on to the next one.
Especially act 2 has a strong ending, [spoiler], and then act 3 begins, especially if you have so many hours of gameplay behind you, so you may feel that the tone is completely different and changes drastically, right? - Guxens stated.
Guxens explained that every act has its fans. She also advised players to not give up and try to overcome the difficulty of accepting the change in tone between chapters.
