You certainly can’t callBaldur’s Gate 3a boring game, that’s for sure. Littered with plenty of unhinged moments - let us not forget that awkward troll scene in the barn -Larian Studiosleaned into the game’s sexual nature early in the process and for that, most fans are very thankful.
When it comes to that iconic scene in which the smooth-talking Wood Elf DruidHalsinshows his true wild shape form and proceeds to get down to the nitty-gritty of romance as a bear, things could have gone wrong for Larian Studios as that particular part hadn’t been viewed by anyone before the presentation, including their business partners.
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Ask For Forgiveness, Not Permission
In an interview withGame Pressure, the developers from Larian Studios, as well as its CEO, Swen Vincke, discussed Halsin’s raunchy scene, and for those that need a slight reminder, it’s the scene where you can have sex with the bulky druid… while he’s in his bear form. The team even used an intimacy coordinator to help choreograph intimate scenes to maintain a sense of comfort as well as safety between actors during these moments of the game.
When discussing the scene with Vincke and BG3’s writing director Adam Smith, Vincke states that “nothing happens within that scene” and it was left up to the player’s imagination to play out the rest of it, even though there’s no doubt about what was meant to happen as you’d have to have had your eyes closed through it all not to figure it out. Vincke also reveals that the bear scene was a bit of a wild card to go with, as no one knew it was included in the game outside of the initial audience presentation.
“You have to understand that none of our business partners were actually aware that we put that all in there.” revealed Vincke, before saying, “We actually fully expected phone calls afterward. Nobody had seen what we had done before the presentation. Neither console devs nor Wizards of the Coast even. Nobody was aware. Our designers just said that we would have romance options.”
Smith adds that the team’s mantra was to “Ask for forgiveness, not permission,” which seems to have worked for them nicely, but it’s certainly a risky practice. Although I’m pretty sure with Baldur’s Gate 3’s continued success and dozens of awards, Larian Studios may never even need to ask for permission ever again.
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