Baldur’s Gate 3 Was Almost “Impossible To Finish” Because Of Swen’s Quality Standards

As reported by Games Radar, Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke spoke at the Digital Dragons conference in Poland about how he refused to sacrifice quality despite the lingering financial and time constraints. He shared the studio’s journey through development and how it overcame all the problems in the process. A particular benchmark would need to be met before Larian felt satisfied with the quality.

You might have something that you would rate, when you review it, 45% on Metacritic. And then what are you going to do? You’re going to say it’s not good enough, we’re going to do it again,” said Swen.

Often, a part in Baldur’s Gate 3 would need to be changed at multiple points, which required a huge amount of time considering the game’s scope. At one point, the devs felt that it was impossible to finish the game. The quality was still not compromised, but Swen changed tactics to make it easier for the devs.

We just said ‘no, the game needs these things, so we’re going to be doing this, we need to create breathing space to get the game to the quality level that it’s going to need because otherwise, it’s just not going to work out’.”

A Single Change Would Have Required Devs To Alter Many Cinematics

Swen used the example of 9,500 cinematics present in the game, where changing something would require devs to alter a lot of other cinematics in the process. Despite budget constraints, the new strategy to streamline development was used to deal with this dilemma and to make it easier for the teams to handle quality control in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Similar Reads:

• With Larian Out Of The Picture, Will The Baldur’s Gate IP Be In Safe Hands?
• Larian Isn’t Done With BG3 Yet; A Bunch Of Added Stuff Still Coming.
• Larian CEO Thinks Studio’s Next Game Will Be Their “Best Work Ever.”

The decision not to sacrifice quality in Baldur’s Gate 3 paid off in the end, as the RPG won multiple awards and received appreciation in the industry.