An early version of one of Baldur's Gate 3's most well-known characters, Astarion, has been shared by Larian Studios' founder Swen Vincke at the Game Developers Conference. GDC 2024 is currently underway in San Francisco, and game developers across the industry are gathering and discussing their experiences making the games millions of gamers have enjoyed over the past year, including Baldur's Gate 3.
Winning Game of the Year at the 2023 Game Awards over several other generational games from some of the industry's best developers, it's safe to say that Baldur's Gate 3 was the biggest surprise of last year. Its CRPG nature and tactical turn-based combat didn't stop Baldur's Gate 3 from being the most talked about experience in a year filled with games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy 16, and many more. Arguably the face of Baldur's Gate 3, High-Elf Rogue Astarion became one of the most popular characters of any 2023 game, with the actor behind his performance, Neil Newbon, going on to win Best Performance at the Game Awards.
Larian Studios has a major presence at this year's GDC, as the studio's founder and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke held a panel discussing the massive RPG's development. IGN pointed out that in said panel, Vincke revealed a glimpse of what Astarion looked like earlier in Baldur's Gate 3's production. Fans would be surprised to learn that their favorite pale-skinned, white-haired High-Elf in Baldur's Gate 3 used to be a Tiefling, sporting yellow eyes and dark hair.
Vincke didn't reveal when Astarion became the High-Elf everybody knows him as today, but considering how important a character's race is to their personal stories in Baldur's Gate 3, the change must have come earlier on in the game's narrative development. Baldur's Gate 3 was in production for a total of six years, with three of those years spent in early access. With this in mind, Astarion's appearance was likely changed before early access went live, sometime during the first three years of the game's development.
With how long Baldur's Gate 3 has been in development, there's a good chance that some of the game's other important, fan-favorite characters like Lae'zel, Karlach, and Shadowheart may have also looked drastically different long before the game's wildly successful 2023 launch. Perhaps with how popular Baldur's Gate 3 is, maybe Swen Vincke will lend fans looks at early versions of other characters sometime in the future.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG developed and published by Larian Studios. Featuring both a single player and cooperative element, players create their character by selecting a starting class, take on quests, level up, and engage
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Both Baldurs Gate 3 and Palworld both have had a lot of success since their release, BG3 even had earned Game of the Year for 2023. Palworld is a indie developed game that allows players to catch Pals, which are almost like catching Pokemon. The game became a big hit after it released just a month ago.
World of Warcraft fans have discovered unused spells, mechanics, and other features that were relics of previous iterations of Plunderstorm. These features were left on the cutting room floor, but they suggest World of Warcraft nearly gave players a very different type of battle royale than the piratical clash they received.
The Penacony in that players can currently explore and play through was almost completely different, according to new information shared by the game’s developers. Penacony is the fourth major destination on the Astral Express’ path, following Herta Space Station, Jarilo-VI, and the Xianzhou Luofu. Also known as the Planet of Festivities, Penacony was released with Version 2.0, and introduced a vibrant location full of lights, colors, and sounds, as if it were one giant amusement park set in a land of dreams. The destination, however, was almost something entirely different.
The news that won't be getting DLC or a sequel from developer Larian Studios came as a big disappointment to many fans, but when looking at all the facts, it isn't that much of a surprise. This update was delivered at a GDC 2024 panel hosted by Larian, where CEO Swen Vincke clarified that the studio is leaving the license behind to turn its work in other directions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's hard to imagine any other studio following up with something of equal ambition and quality.
It is no secret that Larian Studios worked for around six years on . The developer changed gameplay elements, narratives, and graphics during that time. However, hid a secret change to one companion that was only discovered recently at the 2024 Game Developers Conference.
Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke has revealed some surprising cut content that didn't make it into the final incarnation of the game, already one of the largest, most complete we've ever played. So, if you ever wondered which villains were once considered for companion status or which iconic locations from the series would ultimately not make the grade, read on. Vague spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 to follow!
A talented Baldur’s Gate 3player has shared their impressive fan art, which combines Astarion from the game with The Simpsons’ Bart Simpson. Astarion emerged as one of the huge fan favorites after the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3, and this player has chosen to pay tribute to him in an extremely unique way.
A new Astarion cosplay for has been making the rounds on social media due to how hilariously relatable it is. Astarion is one of the many recruitable companions in and also one of the most beloved among the community of players. This character created by Larian Studios is a half-elf vampire that, alongside Tav and their other partners, has become infected with an Illythid tadpole. Astarion easily ascended to become one of the favorite characters in the game due to his witty personality, brilliantly translated by Neil Newbon’s performance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with Bill Gates shared how India took the lead in adopting new technologies, especially Artificial Intelligence. During a candid conversation at the prime minister's residence, Bill Gates praised Indians for proactively embracing technology to improve lifestyle.
The developers who created the Company of Heroes, Relic, were officially sold by Sega, so they are now standing as an independent studio. Relic was first founded in 1997. A handful of years later, it was almost picked up and purchased by Bethesda Game’s parent company which is called ZeniMax, but that deal didn’t proceed.
Baldur's Gate 3 featured a lot of absolutely epic moments throughout the course of its long and satisfying storyline, but as with any game, some great ideas were unfortunately cut in in the final version.
For many, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is still seen as a kind of Breath of the Wild 1.5 — a half-sequel that builds on 2017's revolutionary hit but, in using the same Hyrule as its overworld, doesn't fully transform it into something new.