Even in early access; Baldur's Gate 3's winding narrative boggles the mind

 Branches like an oak tree

As we currently sit around feeling the creek in our bones grow steeper and musk in our throats swell fouler, the release date for Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't seem to be getting any closer to us than it currently is in this very moment. Like the door at the end of the dream corridor that seems to run from us as we run toward it, I'm starting to lose hope that we'll ever see the city of Balduran bought to life in the modern day. But Larian Studios has yet to let anyone down yet! (Unless you were excited for 'Divinity: Fallen Heroes' before that got shelved in favour of BG3) But in a way I can totally understand their reticence to release. Baldur's Gate is one of the ancestors of CRPG and much of Larian's long career in development has led them to this one magnum opus moment. I can understand them not wanting to get this wrong in the slightest by going over everything with a fine tooth comb and putting more effort into everything than they've ever done before, even with their most ambitious titles. And for those that have grown tired, maybe I could recommend trying that Early Access run through a couple more times, because I'm done it somewhere near five times now and everytime I encounter something new.

Now to be fair I haven't exactly been exhaustive in all of my runs, but there have been a couple wherein I've tried to do everything that I can and absorb all the game currently has to offer. Only to play again later and realise that I missed an entire cave somewhere, or a mini quest, or a character interaction, or another quest route. The quest routes are the one's that get me because there are so many permutations leading this way and that trying to make sure the game accounts for just about every possible choice the player could feasible make. And of course there's a push in modern gaming to try and account for player choice in very surface levels driven by some false idea that choosing left or right at a stereotypical crossroads counts as immersive engaging play. The modern perception that 'linear narrative equals bad' has spread from the general public towards game development and is skewering what player choice even means. (It's gotten so bad that even companies that typically excel in choice have become disillusioned about what it even means. Yes, I'm talking about CDPR again, I can't stop myself.)

Portal is a game that won various acclaim throughout it's life cycle for numerous very worthy achievements, but perhaps one of it's most lasting legacies is the belief that despite how robust and functional the game is; Valve thought of everything. That trick you used to sneak yourself out of the test chamber in such a way that made it impossible to progress? Valve knew you could do that and not only planted a contingency but also a voice line to confirm you're not as clever as you think you are. Every shortcut, every twisting path, every choice you try to make has been considered and accounted for. It makes you feel less like a player rebelling at the intricate designs of the developers (at least eventually) and begins to really immerse you into the role of the lab rat stuck by the designs of an all-seeing AI mother who endures your attempts at independence with a veneer of clinical distance and a tincture of withering contempt. (Huh, sounds like my actual mother when I put it like that...)

The reason I mention that is because I very much believe that Larian has borrowed that philosophy and somehow ported it to a full blown RPG adventure in a way that should be totally impossible given the scale of such a project. The kind of twisting branching story thread that, try as you might, there's no way you can lose and which sticks itself to you naturally enough not to break the agency of this player-led narrative. Take, for example, Shadowheart's oh-so-important little black box, probably the Nightsong, which the player absolutely must have with them in order for the events of BG3 to play out. (However they will end up playing out. We're clueless as to the extent of the Box's involvement for the moment.) Gamespot recently uploaded an interview with medieval cosplayer and Larian founder Swen Vincke where he agonised over the amount of permutations that had to be accounted for in order to place that box in the player's party, take a look.

And the Nightsong is not the exception. No, for the breath of choice that effects even the beginning conflict between the Tieflings, Druids and Goblins can branch out enough to fill an entire game's worth of decisions for another decently branching RPG; yet here it covers a single main quest line. (One which is, I believe, entirely skippable if you're looking to speedrun.) The most obvious path to follow is to see the Tieflings, led by Zevlor, on the verge of being kicked out of their safety in the Druid's Grove, meet the current Druid leader Kagha and commit to killing the goblin leaders so that the Tieflings can get off of Druid land safely, and then kill the three leaders, rescue Halsin and bring him back to chastise Kagha about being such a terrible host. The permutations branch from there. Firstly, you can choose to assassinate Kagha within her room at Zevlor's dubious request so that the Tieflings can stay. Or you can investigate Kagha, learn she's a member of the Shadow Druids, and then talk her into a redemption arc so she willingly stops the ritual to kick out the Tieflings. You can also meet with Mithra, tell her the location of the Druid's Grove, retreat back to the Druid's Grove and warn Zevlor and have a massive battle at the gate of the Grove against the brunt of the Goblin Army's forces. Those are just the big branches you can take, and all choices leading towards the 'help the Teflings' endings, and you can bet that there's innumerable branches for 'help the Goblins' and 'help the Druids' laid out for you too. (However, killing Zevlor for Kagha is a bit of a deadend currently, but that's the only limp note in this orchestra brimming with choice.)

There's also significant recurring consequnce choices that you can feasibly walk past entirely. There is quite literally no critical quest path whatsoever pointing early game players to enter the crypt that houses the camp mainstay 'Withers', otherwise known as 'Big Easter Egg of previous module'. We know how integral he is going to be to the narrative, however as of so far he can be totally avoided. Unless they plan to do another 'Shadowheart's box situation where he just pops out of nowhere, and the way Swen was talking it kind of sounds like they never want to go down that path again; that's an huge path of the plot which can just be ignored by the whim of the player, potentially containing drastic changes down the line. And speaking of 'down the line'.

There are numerous instances of encounters in ACT 1 that end with characters on their way to Baldur's Gate whilst leaving their calling card to the player, implying that many of the side quests of ACT 1 will breed a recurring cast of characters that will pop in an out throughout the length of the story. You have the Children Thieves of the Tiefling Camp, the merchant couple in the Myconid Colony, the Deep Gnomes, Mayrina; pretty much everyone you bump into leaves a narrative story hook. All of which hints at the consequences the later game will hold, and given what the team have already allowed for ACT 1, who knows how far reaching these could get? One example I've seen in my latest playthrough was that of Omeluum, the only friendly Mindflayer in the game. If you do his fetch quest he offers you his ring of protection which, it is heavily implied, is the only thing preventing his location from being sensed by any nearby Elder Brains, all in a bid to try and smother your affliction. Who's to say that in the late game, when the MindFlayer's start to really invade Faerun and Elder Brains become numerous, that Omeluum without his ring becomes forcibly dragged back into the fold to return as a late game boss fight? The possibilities are staggering.

As with many out there who are always swapping concerns and speculation on the Larian forums, I am totally clueless about how Larian plans to stretch this extensive reactivity over the entire game and am more than a little bit worried it's going to fall off spectacularly the second the Early Access areas are left. Who remembers when CDPR did that exact same thing with the opening section of Cyberpunk? Teasing all the choices and consequences and then dropping that entirely after the demo locations were finished and explored? Larian have a huge mountain to climb in making this game a true macrocosm of the demo we currently have our hands on, and that almost goes to justify the painfully long time it's taking to get made. Or at least it would, if I was at all a reasonable man. Baldur's Gate 3 has the potential to totally revolutionise the standards of western RPGs forever more and I think Larian have the talent to pull it off. I just wish that maybe, I dunno, they could bring it out before I die. That'd be nice.