Larian Studios founder and CEO Swen Vincke shared his thoughts on what could be in DLCs for Baldur s Gate 3: character levels up to 20. (Images: Larian Studios and Wizards of the Coast)
- Larian Studios founder and CEO shared in an interview his thoughts on higher character levels for future Baldur’s Gate 3 DLCs.
- Swen Vincke related how he and his team were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and wanted an authentic D&D experience in a AAA game.
- Vincke understands that higher character levels will require different stakes, different environments, and different antagonists.
The CEO of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, gave some insight into what fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 could anticipate from DLCs that raise character levels from 12 to 20.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s performance suggests that Larian Studios might easily sit back and enjoy its success. Actually, the present project is focused on creating a stand-alone game, unrelated to their third Baldur’s Gate project with Wizards of the Coast. Additionally, the development team has been very busy fixing technical problems that BG3 players are running into by offering hotfixes and patch updates.
Nevertheless, Vincke claims that they are not ruling out the possibility of future DLCs.
During an interview with Todd Kenreck, the creator and CEO of Larian Studios—a man who looks like a boss in plate mail armor—Sween Vincke talked about how he fell in love with everything D&D.
What’s next for #BaldursGate3?
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Kenreck mentioned in passing how the Dragonlance novels introduced Vincke to D&D for the first time. The head of Larian Studios reportedly became interested in tabletop role-playing games in his teens because they allow players to share experiences and go on adventures in a heroic fantasy world.
Later in the conversation, Vincke would elaborate on his ambition to innovate in role-playing games by drawing inspiration from Larian Studios’ Divinity series while also expanding on it. Vincke discusses the difficulties in updating the D&D rules to be a fitting continuation of the beloved Baldur’s Gate tale while also considering the demands of contemporary AAA gamers, such as cross-play and multiplayer features:
I wanted a triple A RPG driven by systemics that you could play in multiplayer with your friends and it had to be a cinematic experience. And that was the big, big challenge here. All of the choices and consequences, there were things we were already doing in the Divinity: Original Sin 2 or even [Divinity] Original Sin 1.
A significant portion of the interview sheds light on the inspirations for Vincke and his team’s creation of a genuine Dungeons & Dragons experience. It feels outdated to return to turn-based, tactical gameplay in light of the popularity of action role-playing games like Diablo 4 and Elden Ring. But not just with video games, the popularity of Baldur’s Gate 3 has actually led to a renewed respect for more deliberate and slower-paced fighting. Vincke is informed by Kenreck that players of the D&D tabletop game are using more cunning and inventive strategies to win fights as a result of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Level 20 is “not undoable,” according to Vincke, but it will call for different strategies than the first 12 levels of BG3. At the epic level of a D&D game, adversaries and allies would act differently.Subsequently, the conversation turned to BG3’s potential future, specifically on character advancement and levels. Vincke noted that the abilities of characters in D&D change significantly beyond Level 12, particularly in relation to magic spells:
Well, you could do different things so it doesn’t have to be necessarily at the end of the game. And so there’s different ways you can do that, but you could make a Level 12 to 20 game. It’s a different game, all right. So you would approach it completely differently different stakes, different environment, most likely different protagonists and antagonists.
Players of the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons are aware that the scale and balance of power will alter significantly for characters level 12 and higher. For instance, a Level 13 D&D Wizard can prepare and use spells from the 7th level, like Plane Shift, Finger of Death, Delayed Blast Fireball, and Reverse Gravity. This level of cleric would allow them to use Conjure Celestial, Etherealness, Fire Storm, Regenerate, and Resurrection in the interim. These spells are incredibly potent, and the potency only increases when you use 8th and 9th level spells.
Development and design time would be greatly increased if a future BG3DLC balanced the potency of higher character levels. However, Vincke notes that “it’s not undoable.”
Players must place several exploding barrels in the proper locations in Baldur’s Gate 3 to achieve the degree of devastation seen in this picture. However, Delayed Blast Fireball, a 7th Level spell, has the ability to do the same enormous destruction all by itself.After listening to the entire 47-minute interview, it should be clear that Vincke is an enormous D&D fan and understands the fervor that the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying game can elicit. And the fact that he was a Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast himself played a big part in Baldur’s Gate 3’s eventual success.
The entire interview with Swen Vincke is available to view on the official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channel.
What were your thoughts on Swen Vincke, the head of Larian Studios and self-confessed D&D geek? What do you think about the possible updates that are hinted at in the future? Do Baldur’s Gate 3 DLCs need to stick to a low level and concentrate solely on the plot? Or should character levels of 20 and above cause BG3 to reach epic proportions?
Concerning Baldur’s Gate 3:
“Gather your party and return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship and betrayal, sacrifice and survival, and the lure of absolute power. Mysterious abilities are awakening inside you, drawn from a mind flayer parasite planted in your brain. Resist, and turn darkness against itself. Or embrace corruption, and become ultimate evil.
From the creators of Divinity: Original Sin 2 comes a next-generation RPG, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.”
You can get Baldur’s Gate 3 for Windows PC and Sony PS5 from the Playstation, Steam, and GOG stores. Microsoft Xbox Series X and Series S versions are presently under development; release dates are expected to be announced later in 2023.