In an interview, a Baldur’s Gate 3 developer revealed how many playthroughs it takes to see all possible permutations of a character.

To experience all possible story permutations on a single character in Baldur’s Gate 3 can take up to 18 playthroughs. Lead developer Adam Smith recently revealed this. It’s no secret that BG3 is a vast game with unique and original characters, different story threads, romance, factions and more. But these stats really put it in perspective.

Earlier, Larian Studios said Baldur’s Gate 3 has 174 hours of cutscenes, which it says is twice the combined length of all Game of Thrones seasons.

These cutscenes result from various story choices, permutations and dice rolls made by the player. Larian Studios further stated that a single playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 would take players an average of 75-100 hours to complete. If anything is clear from this, it’s that the game is packed with content.

During the conversation with Smith, the different permutations in the overall story, mission design and characters were discussed. Overall, BG3 is only possible because everyone at Larian worked together on every aspect of the game. For example, one writer was responsible for developing and assigning tasks based on all the possible romantic permutations of the game. This is just one aspect of the characters. There are the original characters vs custom characters, the factions, and many other elements. These all need to be taken into account.

When testing these original characters and their various permutations, Smith realised that “…for one of them, just to test every branch of the story, I needed to play the game 18 times.”

Well, that includes all sorts of permutations, of course. For example, the romances between BG3 companions. As well as how they took on the main storylines, how they interacted with the factions in the game, and much more. Some of these permutations can also be viewed by scumming the saves. Some may also be seen in partial playthroughs. But you can’t see the whole game in one playthrough simply because of how different the story can be. This may seem daunting. It’s doubtful that anyone would invest the 1,800 hours or so it would take to play through 18 full playthroughs. It does, however, offer a huge advantage to players. All these permutations help to personalise the game for each player. “By the time you reach the ending, you’ve told your own story,” Smith said.

As a result, the sheer replay value of Baldur’s Gate 3 is incredibly high, and it depends mainly on how players engage with the title.

Source: Hockmarketing