After reading some of the key details aboutBaldur’s Gate 3’s writing process, I finally understand why every character feels so incredibly fleshed out.BG3continues to be one of the biggest games out there even as it approaches its second birthday, and that’s due in no small part to its instantly iconic cast of companions. From the loquacious and somewhat pompous Gale to the fearsome-yet-lovable Karlach, each one of the game’s main characters endeared themselves to fans with their personalities and backstory.
Between cutscenes, mid-fight banter, character chatter, and reactions to things like picking locks or sneaking past enemies, each individual Origin character has thousands of lines of dialogue throughoutBaldur’s Gate 3. That requires a massive amount of writing for each character, a Herculean task for even the most talented team. However, the approach that Larian Studios chose to take when developingBG3is one that’s not only a perfect fit for a game likeBG3but alsoone that other games should look to emulate when it comes to developing their own characters.
Each Companion Has Their Own Writer
One Designated Writer Per Character Wrote All Their Lines
Each one of the ten companions inBaldur’s Gate 3— Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion, Wyll, Karlach, Minthara, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc — had their own dedicated writer whose primary objective was to produce all necessary dialogue for that character. Essentially,each one of the game’s main companions was hand-crafted by one writerwho worked closely with that character throughout the game’s entire development cycle. In an interview withGame Rant,BG3’s lead writer Adam Smith elaborated on the creative process behind bringing the game’s characters to life.
In terms of the actual writing, every one of the companions has their own writer. They all have a dedicated writer, but they do a lot of other stuff as well. We don’t have anyone who only does an origin, but they know them so well. At this point, they’ve been working with them for six years. — Adam Smith
Smith makes it clear that the entire process is a collaborative effort from start to finish between the writers, voice actors, and animators, but it’s obviousthere’s still a massive amount of pressure on the writers trusted to handle these characters.BG3’s script is estimated by Larian to be around 2 million words long (for comparison’s sake, the five currently released books inA Song of Ice and Firetotal around 1.7 million words), and since the companions form the backbone of the story, their dialogue accounts for a sizable chunk of that amount.
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To a degree, that sort of compartmentalized approach makes sense given the branching, fluid nature ofBG3’s story. With seemingly infinite permutations of choices and possible outcomes for almost every action you take in the story,wrangling a narrative like that would be an impossible feat without a properly organized team. With Larian’s approach of assigning each companion to a dedicated writer, it found a way to keep the tangled web of story branches organizedwhile giving each character a chance to be fully and properly fleshed out.
BG3’s Characters Feel More Alive Because Of This
Each Companion Comes With A Full Story
There are hundreds of characters the player can interact with in-game, including everything from party companions and major NPCs tocats and dogs inBaldur’s Gate 3. While it would hypothetically be possible for all of that dialogue to be written through a committee process by a team of writers,Larian’s approach of appointing a designated writer for each of the main characters brings with it several advantagesthat allow the cast’s development to flourish in a way it otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
This approach to development mirrors the way an actualDungeons & Dragonsgame works.
In his interview, Smith describes how a character’s writer can come up with new lines for them practically on the spot when prompted with a possible scenario you might encounter while playingBG3. That kind of quick, off-the-cuff creativity is a testament to just how deeply the writers were able to occupy the headspace of their respective companions. WithBG3’s development lasting around six years, that’s over half a decade of hands-on experience, meaning thateach writer probably knew their character as well as they knew themselves by the end.
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In a way, this approach to development mirrors the way an actualDungeons & Dragonsgame works, where each player puts the full force of their creativity into a single character. By properly channeling that kind of energy and work,each character ends up more richly layered, becoming the star of their own story that weaves together with the others to form a beautiful tapestry. It clearly worked wonders for the award-winning story and characters ofBaldur’s Gate 3, and it’s an approach that I wish we could see more games put to proper use.
More Games Should Share Larian’s Approach To Characters
It’s clear that Larian struck a chord with millions of people around the world as fanart, cosplay, and otherlabors of love forBaldur’s Gate 3’s world and characters continue to spread across the internet. If other games want to achieve a similar kind of impact, they would do well to take notes from Larian’s success,especially for those kinds of games that are going to invite comparisons toBG3regardless. There’s a reason why questions about whetherAvowedfeatures romanceare so common, and it invites a desire for a similar level of depth in companion stories as well.
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Adopting the designated writer approach has several advantages. First and foremost,it can help expedite the writing process, as it only requires one writer to come up with an idea and sign off on it for a specific character.It also helps ensure consistency in characterization, as trusting one person to shepherd a character’s development ensures that the same ideas are being held to at the end of the game as they were at the beginning. But the most important advantage is that it simply delivers more well-written, fully-developed characters.
Every one of the companions inBG3could be the main character of their own story thanks to how well-written they all are. Each line of dialogue they speak captures their unique personality in a way that would sound wrong if it came from the mouth of any other character in the party. That level of care, attention, and trust in the team’s writers is why the party members inBaldur’s Gate 3are all so instantly endearing, and it’s why I hope more developers follow the blueprint that Larian has left them.
