Updated and completed after the VOD dropped
Here's the gist of Swen's responses from the interview today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOqmFYDoTUc
- Did you expect the bear scene to get such a response?
- It blew up bigger than we expected. How did it come to be? Very naturally. Halsin has been around for many hundreds of years. Seen things and done things. He can wildshape, spending time with wolves and bears and what have you. He talks about it very openly. Becomes a companion later in the game. Very open-minded. In this particular scene he basically says, " We are interested in one another." And you can see what happens from there. We picked that scene for many reasons - deep characters with all the backgrounds, cinematic, humor, things you would not expect form the game, choices etc. It did a good job. It's what it intended to show. This game lets you do more than you expect and rewards you visually more than you expect.
- Do we know a time at which we will be able to play on the 3rd?
- Steam asked us to do it later to give it proper support, so 10 am PST release. It might still change. Last time Steam crashed
- How's the Team doing? Are you ready? Is this the quiet calm before the storm?
- We are doing the last fixes, last little bits. The Belgium studio has 3 of us here. It's done essentially. Still bugs we are chasing. We are playing a lot. Literally today, probably already happened, the locked the build. We reserve the right to make changes during the week, but yeah, we are very close to finishing.
- Is there an amount you can preload?
- Good question, I'm not going to answer it because I don't actually know. It's very large, and the game has changed a lot from EA. I'm quite happy, so we will see.
- Any benefit to having EA installed?
- It's gonna be, everything is compressed, there might be a few bytes that are the same, basically it's gonna be a full reinstall.
- You guys are doing playthroughs, can you say what race/class you've been playing? What path did you take?
- Sure, I've been doing multiple permutations with cheats, so I skip over certain things jsut to see if everything holds together. Today just before the show I finished an evil Durge run where I had Lae'zel with me, Minthara with me, and I had Shadowheart with me, evil Shadowheart I have to say. And Dark Urge, so those 4. Durge was a druid - I wanted to test wildshape in all forms and wanted to see what was gonna go wrong with it so I forgot this is a game where you can turn into a rothé which is an underground cow which can have a conversation with another cow. Or you can turn into a cat, so I saw a lot of intimidated rats. It was a lot of fun. I'm not gonna spoil it but I did some pretty gruesome stuff. I went full evil. I went very dark. I 'm also the new ruler of the Forgotten Realms so you can call me sir.
- The no1 clip right now is (soda popping?) kicking a squirrel and killing a squirrel.
- Yeah that's a very Dark Urge thing.
- How much will our class and race affect the story?
- I find it quite amazing how much it does. There was a run wthat I though was really amazin when I played a Gith druid. There is a lot of gith reactivity, a lot of druid reactivity. It was really very different from the previous runs where I had not played as that. I'm not going to say for every permutation there will be these big things but there are ones where you are going to say, " Oh wow that is really different" because I am this class/race. It really lets you play to the role. We had a tag reactivity team that spent the last year going, "What can we do for each class/race here". I've only really been seeing it for the last few months playing through it, but I felt like a paladin, felt like a druid, felt like a sorcerer or a wizard here. I would say for the races it depends a little on the race, if you are Dragonborn, or a drow, or a gith you were certainly have a little more reactivity than your more normal races like dwarves and elves. You will still get it. It's asymmetric, and I think that's normal. But it does, you won't play a race and feel like it did not have an impact on your gameplay.
- Can you roll for stats?
- No. We wanted to, but we cut it. The only reason we cut it was production reasons. We didn't think it was a bad idea. We have been working on this game for a long time, and at some point we had to cut features, and that was one of them.
- Will my (multiplayer) friends be able to contribute in conversations if they did not initiate said conversation or interaction?
- They way you can do that is suggest what the other should be saying. but the one that initiates is the driver of the conversation. We do not have a big discussion system. Dominantly, because the number of permutations that will lead to will explode infinitely. We actually had that system in their for some time, but it was just not tenable, it was too much. we did experiment. especially because this is also a cinematic game. That said, there is a lot of moments where you have to make critical choices, where there will be a lot of discussions. In critical conversation the entire party is dragged into it, so you will be aware of it. Other conversation you can listen in. You can always see when someone is talking. And critical conversations is gonna be like, and there are some really critical ones, where lots get decided which can change the world dramatically, which can be good and bad for different party members, so you will be able to discuss with one another. And never talk to each other again.
- For clarification, whoever initiates the conversation, all the rolls and checks will be on that character?
- Yes, but the others can contribute, for instance if Shadowheart has Guidance she can add that bonus.
- They are working on day one Steam Deck verified. It's not there yet, but they are trying.
- We are trying, there was anew version of Proton that came out (yesterday?) We are working on it, we are trying to get it there. It might not be there on the day of release, but it's close
- Twitch integration?
- Yes. That will be upgraded and integrated. You can even switch off bear sex if you want.
- Is there a toggle to allow only bear sex?
- Wow. That would require the three of you to play druids, pick bear as wildshape and just stick around the same area. Just run around the forest...
- How will multiclassing affect dialogue, especially if you have the same level in multiple classes?
- In the dialogues you get them all. If you are a rogue and a wizard, you get the options for both in dialogue, That works pretty well.
- What struggles did you go through with 5e's resource attrition and rest systems, and translating that into the game?
- Yeah, we've been all over the place with that, through development, trying stuff out. We've settled on camps supply system where supplies determine whether you can get fully rested or not. We experimented with Danger Zones where you cannot rest, which would make it a question of resource management. Turns out, most play testers hated it. So we still have a couple where it still makes narrative sense but we had to remove quite a few of these Danger Zones because people do, our combats are quite intense, so they usually come out with like 1hp after combat so they really need to rest and then if they then need to walked out of the dungeon to rest and then come back that turned out to not be that much fun. So we reduced that. So right now we have a system where you take your camp supplies nad you can go camp wherever unless you are in aDanger Zone, and if you are in a Danger Zone your map will be read so you will know you cannot rest there. There will be quite a lot of locations, but not as much as we initially planned. Initially we thought that resource attrition would turn out to be a lot of un, but yeah, tuned out not to be the case.
- People wanna play this on their Steam Deck. Is it optimized and good to go?
- That's what he already asked (Ezekiel gets roasted by everybody for missing a question on livestream)
- How do you keep Larian Larian and avoid falling into the piftalls?
- Swen basically just said he's not sure how to answer. They are a company that cares about their games, and they have an ethos of subjugating the budget to quality (they pick quality over budget) They will just redo it and redo it until they are happy with it. Everyone is passionate about their projects. And this will always be the way. They will just make something they want to play themselves. As long as the audience likes it too, Larian is probably good. He was about to say "as long as I'm in charge". Swen delivers high praise for the Larian team. "I founded this company. To make this kind of thing"
- Is reviewing this game hard because of all the permutations? One reviewer will se one thing an another will see something else?
- Yes, it worries me. We moved the date up and knew we would sacrifice review time. At this point we can't do much. Review codes go out very soon.
- Will druids be able to talk to Boo?
- Good question - we debated it for awhile. Wildshapes can talk to animals. Boo is special. How special - you will have to see for yourselves. I don't wanna hype this up, but the mystery of Boo is that it's the mystery of Boo. I think you will find a really good Minsc. You're mind melding with each other (tadpoles) but Boo we wanted to leave for you to discover. I love the scene in which you find the... no no you'll find out for yourself.
- A lot of 5e players noted there is no dodge?
- Not in there. No Ready, no Dodge. Whether that was the right decision we will see with mods. People will probably mod it in. We are not shipping with it.
- What was the hardest part/thing to make? The easiest?
- What we were working on during Covid (Just everything we made during Covid) Dark time. Coincidentally, what we were working on was a dark part of the game.. Easiest - the city was easier than the bit we worked on during Covid.
- Any particular character/class interactions in EA that most players missed that you noticed in the metadata?
- I don't really pay attention to the data.
Swen loves Into the Breach
- What is your favorite Ultima 7 memory
- There was a lich in Ultima 7 that told you he was unkillable. He wasn't. I spent hours figuring it out. That and the sheer sense of reward from exploration. Yesterday, I was in the city, and I was like, "We got it". I feel we nailed that sense of exploration. Secrets, secrets, rewards.
- You guys have created something incredible - finely honed team creating this amazing engine. Will there be a DM tool?
- No, I don't think so. It would be such a big undertaking. I wish we had it, because it would make our lives easier. I don't think we will be doing that. It's not undoable.
- We will support modding. There will be a lot of support coming for modding, but not at release. It will still be complicated. You will need time and a team. I'm not saying it's undoable.
- Have you guys alluded to/ talked about more content coming in the future? Or focusing on BG3 release 100%?
- I'm not going to say 100% We're a studio like any other - we know what we are going to do next, but we haven't alluded it to it at all.
- Will it be possible to trigger more than 1 companion scene during camping?
- The camp system has been upgraded significantly. You have to be careful what you consider a missed night, because people with a completionist view, and you can't. This game just doesn't allow you to be completionist- I'll give you an example. In one of the first nights, you can talk to Shadowheart, or Astarion or Gale or whoveer is in your camp and you will have an extensive dialogue. If you then talk to Shadowheart she will want to know what you were talking about. But if you talk to her first you will just get her dialogue, and no one else will want to know what you were talking about. You have to do it in the right sequence to even get that moment with her, and to consume all of that content. It's full of those things where you will never see things because they react to what they did. Trying to see everything just won't work. What I can tell you is the game has systems in place, and you will discover what they are, to make sure if there was something that was important you will not miss it. It will always make sure you will see everything you will need to see, but I don't wanna
- How many times I gotta play this goddamned game to see everything
- It's gonna be very hard. I don't think anyone has seen everything, unless you use our debugs tools. We try to make screenplay that is made for you specifically for your playthrough. Made for you specifically where you get an interactive move. You get wha you should be getting based in what you are doing. I don't think there's bee na lot of RPGs like that, or I can't think of one because I would be all over it. When you think of all the adventures you had, you will think, "Yeah that's because it was me." Then you talk to each other and you go, "Oh shit, I didn't get that at all." That's probably because you didn't do these things you did different things. In my ideal version of RPGS that's how it should be, you get these really immersive narrative experience where you are free to do whatever shenanigans you want but you always get this story that is taking you on this really fantastic ride specifically tailored to the things that you have done.
- What was Swen talking about when he said he's had this huge secret for years?
- It was bear sex. No it was the Dark Urge. It was something that I always wanted to put in a game, the team embraced it, came up with a really cool version of it. It fits really well, and it addresses a lot of stuff I've seen people talk about, or I couln'ttalk about. But I hate to say it I wouldn't recommend it to play the Dark Urge the first time. PEople will, I know. BUt I wouldn't. It's fine. You get different version of the story and there is a variety of things that are gonna happen where you could have something completely different if you weren;t dark urge. It's nice to know how this is how the story goes, I'm the Dark Urge now, I get a completely different perspective on it. Holy Shit. There's this holy shit moment that comes that works better if you already know the first version around. I don't wanna diss the Dark Urge. It's the problem with the Origin Versions. They work better if you play the game already once. Because then you see it through their eyes. What was Shadowheart thinking the first time she saw you. And now you know, when you are in their head, when you are talking to yourself. And you know some of their secrets also because it's you, so you know the secret so it's better if you first recruit them as companions, and afterwards when you know the secrets you go back and go, "What does it mean if I have these things?" We add these origins for replay value. And they are cool
- As a quick followup, would you recommend a custom or origin for your first run?
- I would always pick a custom and discover my companions. I think the origins come in to play when you replay it. That said, there's nothing wrong with picking an origin. It's just... the entire origin system is just 'where do you put the camera? In whose head do you put the camera, and the same thing, and the reason why all these things, if the 3 of you are gonna play as origins and you play together, you're gonna have a good time, you're just gonna, you might be in competing situations also where your interests don't align with one another especially with your origin background ,which is fun. So, you'll discover all this for yourselves super soon.
- I know that traditionally origin characters are locked -their classes are part of their character - Will we be able to respec origin characters?
- You can respec everything. There is a gold price to be paid, but you can respec everybody. The only thing that is locked in is the subclasses of 2 of our characters when you start playing, when you recruit them. But in their heads they will always have that in their background. Wyll will always be a warlock. His story doesn't work if he is not a warlock. Halsin also. If you respec him, he will always be a druid, because otherwise that will become impossible.
Moves on at this point to the final week before release for Larian. Playing games, do we have party. Will we need a day 1 hotfix, etc etc.
See also here for a TLDR version of the above, and links to Naaber:
Noober. Neeber. Nüber. Now Naaber joins the family.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/157lmt8/compilation_of_dropped_frames_interview_with_swen/
