Divinity Already Sounds Better Than Baldur's Gate 3 In One Huge Way

Following up Baldur's Gate 3 is a tall order for Larian Studios, and delivering an even better experience than the dizzyingly ambitious CRPG could prove nearly impossible. Luckily for us, Larian isn't shying away from the task. Details about the upcoming Divinity game are still sparse, but a recent Q&A session revealed some interesting tidbits to analyze.

A lot of Larian's plans for Divinity involve sticking with what worked in Baldur's Gate 3. Borislav Slavov will once again compose the score, for example, and the focus on handcrafted magic items will take precedence over the more randomized approach in previous Divinity titles. When it comes to relationships, however, Larian is already planning some major changes.

Divinity Will Make Relationships More Complex

Companions With Real Agency

In response to a question about narrative improvements in Divinity, senior writer Kevin VanOrd cited companion relationships as a major focus. VanOrd lays out a twofold approach: deeper relationships between companions, and a subtler approach to the progression of relationships with the player. Both of these could be challenging goals to implement, but pulling them off would patch up the weakest aspects of relationships in Baldur's Gate 3.

Video game relationships are usually all about the player, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no exception. It isn't hard to get a good thing going with any of the primary party members, and even spurned companions won't have eyes for anyone else.

In some games, this lack of subtlety works out just fine, but it's a bit of a letdown compared to the rest of Baldur's Gate 3's narrative complexity. Making the player character the center of the universe strikes a blow to the interiority of Origin characters, sidelining their believability and depth in favor of easy player gratification.

Fleshing out the relationships between companions should be an effective step one to fixing this problem. If party members are building complex connections with each other over the course of their game, it won't feel like their worlds revolve around the player character.

Baldur's Gate 3 Romance Has Some Weaknesses

There's Room For Improvement

Baldur's Gate 3's successes in this regard are all appreciable, with the relationship between Wyll and Karlach being one standout, but there's a lot of room to expand the approach. In Divinity, plans for "more interaction between companions" should allow these relationships to blossom.

Just how far Larian will take this concept, however, remains to be seen. I'd love to see companions have romances with each other, and BioWare games have set a reasonable precedent for this possibility. Some players might not want to face actual romantic competition, but once they've chosen a relationship path, it would be nice for companions that didn't make the cut to have other options.

The second point of subtler relationship building is appreciable in any context, but it should especially hit home for those who played Baldur's Gate 3 at launch. Before patches, some companions were shockingly immoderate in their affection for the player, with Gale's amorous aggression being a comically notable example.

Years after launch, the biggest offenders are all a lot tamer, but relationships can still feel like a flip of a switch. Turning those dynamics into a more even progression would create a much more lifelike sensibility.

VanOrd also mentions "player friendship" as something that could grow in a more nuanced way, which could help with both amorous relationships and platonic ones. Turning down romantic advances in Baldur's Gate 3 sometimes sacrifices opportunities for meaningful moments between friends. Softening this hard division could allow players to form more memories with companions that they don't romance, making individual playthroughs of Divinity feel like more complete experiences.

Divinity Is Making Other Big Changes

Relationships Are Just The Start

Of course, it's possible to have a great RPG without even touching on romance, but that ship has already sailed for Larian. Companion relationships turned out to be a major selling point for Baldur's Gate 3, and plenty of fans will be coming into Divinity with the same expectations. If Larian can manage to not only meet but also exceed that standard, Divinity could successfully bring the momentum of Larian's last several releases forward.

Relationships aren't the only area where Larian is promising improvements. Swen Vincke notes that the D&D 5e system felt somewhat limiting for Baldur's Gate 3, and returning to the gameplay and leveling principles of the Divinity series could open up new opportunities. The Q&A also includes some more cryptic teases, like Nick Pechenin's mention of a thing he "wanted to do in every previous game" (possibly swimming, based on the clues provided).

Whether a sea of individual improvements will result in a better game as a whole remains to be seen, but it's nice to know that Larian isn't resting on its laurels (even if all the AI discussion is still a cause for some concern). If Divinity's changes to companion relationships are as good as they sound, Baldur's Gate 3 might start to look archaic by comparison.