Ex Dragon Age writer fears publishers will learn “the wrong lessons” from BG3

It’s no secret that Baldur’s Gate 3 is among the greatest RPGs ever made. From its sprawling, living world to its cast of lovable yet complex characters, Larian’s Dungeons and Dragons epic rightfully deserves its place in the spotlight. In its wake, we’ve seen a resurgence in narrative-driven RPGs, with Sandfall’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being the latest triumph. But with BG3 now being considered the gold standard for RPGs, others will, of course, try to emulate its success. I ask former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider if that’s a good thing.

While Gaider’s latest project is a gothic roguelike deckbuilder called Malys, his credits include Dragon Age: Origins through to Inquisition, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the original Baldur’s Gate games. With Malys being somewhat of a stepping stone towards a new, romance-focused RPG, I ask his opinion on triple-A publishers inevitably trying to replicate Baldur’s Gate 3‘s success, and whether or not that’s doable in the current risk-averse climate.

“Here’s the hope: [Baldur’s Gate 3’s success] shows any company with an IP like Dragon Age or a good RPG IP in their basket what’s possible when you double down on committing to the genre and not approaching it with the idea that RPGs, on their own, are just this niche thing,” he says. “You don’t need to go ‘oh we need the action audience, we need to increase the mass appeal’ – what, because RPGs are niche and nerdy and will never achieve mass success? No. If you double down on what that genre does well, people will [play it] – it’s the Field of Dreams method of game development, I guess.

“But while that sounds like something they should learn, I don’t think many publishers learn lessons like that. My fear is that what they start asking developers under their wing is ‘we want results like Baldur’s Gate 3,’ and the developer will say ‘okay, well I need X and Y amount of resources,’ and they’ll say ‘can you not get the same results with half of the resources you need?'” Of course, the developer is probably going to say ‘yes, of course we can,’ but the answer is no, that’s not how it works.

Following Baldur’s Gate 3, it seems like every other RPG is serving up romance options. Even Warframe is getting in on the action with its 1999 update, which Digital Extremes confirmed was very much inspired by BG3. Smooching your fellow travellers is back in fashion, so I ask Gaider for his thoughts, given he wrote the relationships for both Alistair and Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins, which are two of my favorite-ever videogame questlines.

“It’s a troublesome thing,” Gaider says. “It’s so easy for companies to take the wrong lessons: the idea that romances should become rote, that, if you’ve got a character, it’s like ‘let’s tack on a romance’ that’s just some extra lines of dialog and maybe a cutscene, then that’s what players want. It’s not really pushing the envelope – it’s not pushing the medium forward. If we get to a point where romances are seen as just a staple you add in, I think that would lead to backlash where people could rightly say, ‘look, this whole romance thing just feels very heartless and like a check on a list of features.

“I would hate for people to look at the example of Baldur’s Gate 3 and think that they can pick and choose what parts they can replicate or that it ends up being a laundry list of features, as opposed to a directive of its development.”

The beauty of Baldur’s Gate 3, for me, was that it not only brought to life a setting that I know and love, but that its romances didn’t feel forced. Its characters have depth and aren’t just hopeless stereotypes; in many ways, despite being tieflings and vampires, they feel like real people.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for yet another reason to return to Faerûn, we have a list of the best Baldur’s Gate 3 mods. Alternatively, if you’re looking for something completely new but equally as magical, check out our rundown of the best fantasy games.

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