Since the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, the game has been datamined to the Nine Hells and back. This was very common in early access as, among other reasons, people eagerly wanted to see what was coming down the line for the game. However, with the game fully out, miners are finding large swathes of locked content—and some people are getting angry with the game’s creators, Larian Studios. From blocked-off sections of Baldur’s Gate to several minutes of epilogue story that were cut (especially of Karlach), some fear the implication: that even this bastion of hope in gaming can succumb to terrible industry standards.
For those who just play games without all the discourse, let me explain. In a just world, a complete game would be published with quick patches for small misses here or there. After release, if the studio and fans want more content, then more would be made and sold for a fraction of the cost of a full game. Instead, the last 10-ish years of corporate greed have resulted in broken games, unfulfilled content promises, microtransactions up the wazoo, and selling the game for parts as DLC. (That’s if these features come at all.) Yes, even when those elements are already in the game and installed on your device, studios will paywall it off and ask for more. If you know anyone buying a new car, you’ll know that this is not just a gaming problem.
So, when gamers found these “missing” elements of BG3 and accusations started flying, it didn’t come out of nowhere. Additionally, many feel betrayed by Larian, a studio that’s been praised for putting people first—not just in how it treats its player base, but also in how Larian stands out from other studios behind the scenes, too.
Larian hears criticism
In Community Update #24: Looking To The Future, the studio took the time to address these accusations. In what seems to have been intended as an announcement post, most of the text is dedicated to this. The note split the sources of frustration from finding the files into three categories: performance, bugs, and user experience.
UX covers a lot of things: from how it feels to play the game, to how you feel when you’re playing it.
Regarding bugs, Larian claims this was the cause of some of the cut content. The studio pointed to some companion cutscenes failing to trigger and appear as one example. Two days after this update, Larian fixed some of these in the second big patch as part of what it calls “tying up loose ends.” This patch covers much of the game, but most of the moment- and setting-specific notes take place in Act 3. The note makes it clear that more is coming as Larian is still finding solutions for bugs recently discovered. Larian stated that Act 3 was the most ambitious part of the development process and that it’s aware of the issues, noting that it’s “been hit pretty hard by some setbacks.”
Another reason Larian says there’s “cut content” is because some of it was removed as part of the creation process.
Many of the ‘building blocks’ or ideas, tests, or however you want to refer to the junk data that falls outside of what we shipped with, can and is being datamined. That’s okay, but it’s important to understand that not every building block in the giant box of Lego is needed to create the experience we ultimately envisioned and intended over years of iteration.
This includes unplanned elements that came in the development process that ended up getting scrapped. Developers across different studios have backed this defense, sharing that this is common in the creative process. As an artist who’s worked on complicated, collaborative projects (nothing as huge as a AAA video game, I’ll admit), I completely buy this. If the story works without it for the audience and the creators feel the message/story meets the vision, then that’s what’s most important. These extra parts and features can pop up in other projects later.
These cuts included trimming elements of the story that Larian says they didn’t think worked.
We’re pretty strict with ourselves and our ideas. If it isn’t good – if it isn’t fun to play – it doesn’t make it into the game. One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience. But clearly, not everyone agrees with us! So we’re going to do something about it.
Because people love Karlach so much and wanted more of those “missing” endings, the studio shared that they’re plugging it back in. Larian announced the extended epilogues were coming back, including a new option for Karlach’s ending. It explained that her finale is “fiery, poignant, and gives her the ending she deserves.” Some of this arrived today in the second patch and more is coming.
Quality over quantity
I believe this response from Larian Studios for a number of reasons. First, as I stated earlier, things get cut for logistical or artistic reasons. In its finished form, this game features 170 hours of just cut scenes. That’s dozens if not hundreds of hours that will never be seen. Cut scenes are one part of this game. The scale is huge and each moment is the result of dozens of decisions. Larian worked on this game for over six years and it shows. Quantity doesn’t translate to quality, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has both. Across two plays (neither of which has reached Act 3), and not including my dozens of early-access hours, I’ve hit 167 hours of playtime. (Yes, I harbor some shame because this game released less than a month ago.)
Secondly, this message is in line with the messages coming from the CEO Sven Swen Vincke and the studio. In various interviews, part of the development team emphasized that they don’t want to share anything until they know it will work because they don’t want to disappoint players. This extends to DLC. People are finding some of it anyways and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, we can’t turn around and demand things that were never promised or even hinted at in the first place.
Now in my second playthrough with TMS writer Madeline Carpou, she’s constantly pointing out things that have been trimmed in the game. As an RPG player who’s played Baldur’s Gate 3 for over two years and isn’t afraid to critique the game, Madeline continues to praise how the story has been tightened up. I hope we see more of this transparency from developers in the future. Not only does it build up trust, but it gives aspiring artists and developers a look at what it takes to make something incredible.
(via Steam News, featured image: Larian Studios)
