While Baldur’s Gate 3 may be a sequel to Bioware’s original Baldur’s Gate games, it’s not just a successor to those games. In many ways, Larian Studios’ brilliant Dungeons and Dragons game is also a successor to later Bioware titles, Dragon Age and Mass Effect, especially in the way that Larian cinematically frames its stories and characters.
Speaking to FRVR, Mass Effect cinematic designer Armando Troisi explained that Baldur’s Gate 3 does follow in the footsteps of what Bioware achieved with its sci-fi and fantasy series. Alongside discussing the 21-day crunch periods of the original Mass Effect and the upcoming Mass Effect 4, Troisi said they can feel the blueprints of early Bioware in Larian’s successor.
“I can still see a lot of the DNA,” Troisi said. “It’s really interesting to look back… the animation director [Greg Lidstone] on BG3, he was also on Mass Effect. So, I think there’s a lot of cross-pollinisation of DNA, which is cool.”
Troisi explained that he’s played through Baldur’s Gate 3 multiple times, not just as a fan of the original, but as a fan of the level of storytelling that Larian crafted into its fantasy world.
While Mass Effect and Dragon Age built the foundations of what RPGs could do with characters, storytelling, and acting, Troisi sees Baldur’s Gate 3 as a true evolution of what Bioware was doing in the early 2000s. In fact, they believe the game has exceeded the Mass Effect trilogy, largely down to Larian’s impressive technical design.
“I’m really glad to see a little bit of that DNA in Baldur’s Gate 3.”
Armanda Troisi on Mass Effect’s DNA continuing into Baldur’s Gate 3
“I love story, I love games. I think that they did such a fantastic job with the acting, probably better than we ever did,” the developer said. “The nuance of the facial animation, the gestures, are so great. Shadowheart, absolutely amazing; Lae’zel, so well done.”
While Mass Effect was impressive for its time, Troisi recalled trying to hide as much as possible when it came to facial animation, which Baldur’s Gate 3 never needs to do. “It’s really hard to pull off, like, we tried to distract a lot of people from bad facial animation by keeping the camera jumping around, right? It’s like, as long as we don’t settle on your face too long, no one’s gonna realise the face isn’t great. But they could do it because they really nailed the tech,” he said.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is obviously an evolution of Larian’s work with its own Divinity series, but it’s also very obviously drawing from Mass Effect and Dragon Age. For Troisi, who worked on the original Mass Effect games, there’s a sense that the quality that the torch Bioware was holding has been picked up by Larian.
“I’m really glad to see a little bit of that DNA in Baldur’s Gate 3,” he said. “I think they definitely moved the ball forward, and that’s all we can ever do, is keep building on each other and building forward.”
Right now, Larian Studios is returning to its own franchise with Divinity. Since Baldur’s Gate 3, the team has made major tech improvements to its in-house Divinity Engine, and the studio has claimed the game will be Larian “unleashed”.
As for Troisi, the former Mass Effect developer has consulted on Owlcat Games’ upcoming spiritual successor, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. The upcoming RPG is currently available in early beta, which does feature some incredible set pieces, but the game won’t be ready until sometime next year.
