Baldur’s Gate 3 was one of the titles that proved that indie titles could compete with and sometimes even outclass AAA titles. After a lengthy Early Access window, the game finally released and scooped multiple awards, including several Game of the Year awards.
Video game development is an iterative process, and various ideas and plans are discussed and trashed several times before the game is ready for release; Larian’s title was no exception. It has come to light that the game would have been vastly different had the studio not altered its plans.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Narration Style Worked Differently in Early Access
The characters of Baldur’s Gate 3 are nuanced and feel very authentic. However, apart from hearing various characters in the Forgotten Realms, the player also lends their ears to the game to the game’s narrator.
At the EGX 2023, the game’s cast panel was present, and voice actors for various iconic characters, such as Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, etc., were present. In addition to these characters, Amelia Tyler, who voices the game’s narrator, was also present on the panel.
Talking about how she felt she wouldn’t be selected for the project, she said she wouldn’t fit the ensemble of fantastic voice actors who were finally cast for the game. This is what the voice actor said on the panel:
I got cast in Baldur’s Gate 3 when I thought I wasn’t going to get cast in Baldur’s Gate 3. The Early Access version had come out and I saw all of these amazing people [gestures to other actors], and I was like, ‘Oh, never mind, better luck next time’…
She also said that Larian changed the narration style from how it was initially in early access. Specifically, the narration was initially supposed to be delivered by the actor voicing the character chosen by the player.
Larian Decided to Change Baldur’s Gate 3 Narration From First-Person Past Tense to Present Tense
After Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian’s founder said the studio is experimenting with ideas for their next title. The game’s final release also demonstrated similar experimentation and reception to player feedback.
The movement gained momentum as players complained about the boring and inauthentic narration. Soon, critics and journalists also began suggesting changes to the narration style. That is when Larian finally listened.
Now, the dialogue choices were in the present tense to make the game more similar to traditional tabletop Dungeons and Dragons, and a disembodied narrator delivered the narration; Amelia Tyler performed this. On this, she said:
And then [Larian] changed the narration. I got brought in to audition for that and we tried all sorts of different things. I was a little bit snarkier… But we decided maybe domming people for 100 plus hours wasn’t a great idea.
Interestingly, the game’s storytelling would have been different if the studio had stuck to its initial idea. Regardless, the game turned out to be a phenomenon amongst gamers.
What do you think of Larian’s adaptability and propensity to listen to player feedback? We would love to know what you think in the comments below.
