The classic combat system that defined the original Baldur’s Gate games has been replaced with a turn-based style in Baldur’s Gate III. Developer Larian Studios is hard at work on Baldur’s Gate III, the latest entry in the long-dormant Dungeons & Dragons series. After cutting its teeth on the critically acclaimed Divinity: Original Sin games, Larian is prepared to take on the preeminent franchise in the genre: Baldur’s Gate.
The original Baldur’s Gate games, developed by BioWare, utilized a real time combat system that could be paused at any time; an evolved, 3D version of this system would provide the foundation for BioWare’s later game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. For Baldur’s Gate III, however, the combat is no longer real time, but turn-based, echoing games like Divinity: Original Sin and even XCOM or Final Fantasy Tactics, at least to a certain degree.
In a franchise as beloved as Baldur’s Gate, any changes are going to be met with a degree of skepticism, but developer Larian Studios is confident its approach is the right way to handle a Baldur’s Gate revival. Based on the gaming community’s reaction to what was shown at PAX East and behind-closed doors in the days leading up to the convention, they seem to have made the right call in ditching the old-school Infinity Engine.
In Screen Rant’s recent interview with BGIII Combat Designer Matt Holland, the topic of Baldur’s Gate III‘s rebooted combat system inevitably came up. The developer explained the studio’s turn-based approach:
A lot has changed in the 20 years since Baldur’s Gate II, just in terms of tech and the advancements of gaming, but also inside of the D&D ruleset itself. The original games ran on the Advanced D&D ruleset, and now we’re all the way up to the fifth edition. We want to work with the fifth edition ruleset, so going turn-based made more sense on that front. And our last two games used turn-based combat as well, so it made sense for us to bring that into Baldur’s Gate.
Baldur’s Gate III is a new game, and some tough choices needed to be made to update the franchise, especially after 20 years have passed since the last main entry in the series. According to Holland, today’s D&D rules more easily lend themselves to a turn-based approach. Baldur’s Gate III is as much a follow-up to Divinity: Original Sin II as it is to Baldur’s Gate II. Fortunately, this change in gameplay shouldn’t make the game any less of a hardcore RPG experience for longtime fans of the genre:
Obviously, we want the old, returning hardcore players to be able to sit down and enjoy this game. But we also want people new to D&D to still be able to get a really good experience.
Anyone who has played Divinity: Original Sin II knows Larian is arguably the best in the business at crafting immersive RPG experiences dependent on player choice, character builds, systemic gameplay, and complex gameplay mechanics. With Baldur’s Gate III, the studio is leveraging their pedigree in the realm of Divinity to craft a unique Baldur’s Gate experience that can cater to newcomers and veterans to either series. The combat system may be different this time around, but it’s still undeniably a Dungeons & Dragons adventure.
