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Divinity: Original Sin's story was done in 'three days or something,' but the Baldur's Gate 3 team now 'spend years discussing story and trying to develop characters'
Larian Studios' success with Baldur's Gate 3 has allowed them to expand their team and focus on story and character development, which was lacking in the early Divinity: Original Sin games.
Larian Studios can now spend years hammering away at a game's story and characters since Baldur's Gate 3 earned a pretty penny for the studio - a stark contrast to the Divinity: Original Sin era where the team only had a couple of days.
When talking about some of the studio's lowest points in an interview with PC Gamer, Larian CEO and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke said the team couldn't execute everything it wanted to in its games "because we were too small." Based on Vincke's "guesstimates," the first Divinity: Original Sin had about 40 developers, the sequel had around "120-ish," and after opening a seventh studio recently, it's now "approaching 500" employees. Baldur's Gate 3 money, see.
Before employing hundreds of developers across the world, Vincke would apparently tell the team that "'If we do one thing right, it has to be the combat, and you have to be able to play it with your friends.'" He even goes as far as calling Divinity: Original Sin's story "really tacked on" since it was developed in "like three days or something."
Thankfully, the crowdfunded game was a major success, prompting Vincke and the team to iron out other areas in future games. "Now we spend years discussing story and trying to developer characters," he continued, which is very evident when looking at Baldur's Gate 3's extensive early access stay.
That'll probably also mean that we won't hear about Larian's next two unnamed games for a while, as the studio only just moved on from its now-cancelled Baldur's Gate 3 DLC and closed the door on a potential Baldur's Gate 4.