In a recently posted presentation for Sofia game jamLarian gameplay scripter Mihail Kostov outlined the work and thought that goes into an RPG as free-form as Baldurs Gate 3focusing on the “edge cases” that Larian had to consider, even if an incredibly small percentage of players would encounter them. We’ve heard similar stories from Larian before, but Hostov offered an interesting, detailed approach.
This follows newly discovered content from Proxy Gate Tacticianwho has dug up new fail-safes and a rare unresolved soft lock tied to the loss of the all-important Netherstones in Baldur’s Gate 3. One of these safeguards, a group of kobolds who can retrieve your Netherstones from a destroyed factory if you somehow left them behind before the explosion, is mentioned in Kostov’s talk. The rest of the presentation is an equally fascinating look under the hood of a famously detailed RPG. Spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3, up to and including Act 3, follow below.
Hostov and Larian define edge cases as “any way in which a player action can push a system to its limits.” Larian’s goal in these cases is to “ensure that the game is always complete from start to finish,” no matter what antics players get up to, and to maintain consistency in the narrative—no teleporting or inexplicably resurrecting characters or whatnot. This challenge is similar to Larian’s desire to “nurture and reward player creativity,” Hostov explains, and to ensure that “player choices have consequences.” This aligns with previous comments from Larian boss Swen Vincke, who emphasized the importance of creating content that few players will find.
Here’s the “but” hanging over this situation: there are many ways to crack Baldur’s Gate 3. Hostov shared a laundry list of challenges that will undoubtedly strike fear into the hearts of game developers:
- Most NPCs can be attacked and die
- NPCs can be taken out non-lethally
- Items can be attacked/destroyed/moved/stolen at any time
- Important items can be dropped in no longer accessible regions
- Most triggers/spotting areas can be bypassed
- Any dialogue can fail for many reasons
- Any dialogue can be interrupted at any time
- Quests can be completed in any order
- The party can have more than one character (or player) in different locations
- NPCs can be used in earlier situations with multiple outcomes
- Most battles can be escaped
- Multiple battles can be started separately and then merged into one
- NPCs can be moved by crimes or other disruptions
Even then, Hostov says, “There are many, many more, and those are just a few.” But these factors alone present a host of potential exploits and loopholes, which will be discussed later in the lecture.
Hostov’s first example of “true edge cases” is also the simplest: how do you prevent players from bypassing checkpoints by having characters sneak past while another character talks to the guards? Hostov’s answer: add multiple guards and give them escalating warnings for crimes like trespassing, which can override other cases. Small workarounds and mini-quests like these can fall under Larian’s “booster” category as opposed to full-fledged quests.
What if a necessary NPC is missing from a quest due to complications from another quest – or, perhaps, an untimely death in a freak accident where their head landed on your hammer? In this case, Larian will often use another character you’ve met before to fill in, and if that character is dead, another An. If they are also dead or missing, create a new one if necessaryHostov argues that it’s okay for the overall reliability of any situation to decrease as the scenarios become more specific – and even then, “not all edge cases, if missed, can be resolved in the best way” – as long as everything is tonally consistent and checks the essential boxes.
My favorite example is tied to Lae’zel and one of the main Githyanki questlines. You encounter the Githyanki leader, Voss, in Act 1 and if you follow his questline to the end, he gives Lae’zel a legendary sword in Act 3. Hostov agrees that it is the best sword for melee Githyanki builds, so apparently players found a way to get it in Act 1 by casting the Heat Metal spell, which makes characters drop metal weapons on Voss. The problem is that the dialogue initially tied to this sword actually ruined the events of Act 3. This forced Larian to change Lae’zel’s rules, knowing that it would be extremely overpowered for early builds.
“The easiest thing would be to block players from using Heat Metal on Voss,” Hostov explains. “But we don’t like that at Larian. We love this kind of thing, so let’s fully support it. Let players keep the cool weapon. They found a way to exploit the game, let them have it, it’s great. And rewrite Laezel’s dialogue to make it work in Act 1. That might mean adding new rules, hiding some rules, but supporting player creativity is great. We found out later. there is actually a wiki page for this exploit. It’s also super long. That’s awesome.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 7 won’t be the RPG’s last update after all, as Larian promises additional support including cross-play and photo mode.