The developers played what was arguably 1997’s biggest game, which then influenced the sequel to Baldur’s Gate.

Baldur’s Gate 2 is undoubtedly more significant than the original. The game established an RPG design template that studios still use today (see Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2). Baldur’s Gate 2 didn’t come out of nowhere. An interview revealed that, while we owe many of our favorite RPGs to BG2, Baldur’s Gate 2 itself owes a debt to Final Fantasy VII. According to Trent Oster, that game pushed director James Ohlen to double down on BG2’s structure and companions. Oster worked on the original Baldur’s Gate and later became CEO of Beamdog, the team behind the first two Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition releases.

Oster recalls that Ohlen was rattled by the character interactions and romances in Final Fantasy VII. Companions in Baldur’s Gate 1 had standout personalities (like Minsc), but ultimately, they were just a bunch of shouty characters you swapped out the moment you found someone better. They were tools, not the kind of friends players bonded with in Final Fantasy VII. Ohlen’s reaction was that those characters blew them away — that’s what a game should feel like — and they didn’t know what they were doing. This led the sequel to devote entire storylines to companions, a concept that fully blossomed in Mass Effect 2 with loyalty missions.

It wasn’t only about companions; it was also about structure. Oster says the same applies to environments. Baldur’s Gate is tied to a sort of world map, whereas Baldur’s Gate 2 is more like a roller coaster through the realm’s showcase locations (Sahuagin, the Underdark, and so on). Structurally, the first Baldur’s Gate was mostly a mass of dull, generic countryside maps that didn’t differ much. Baldur’s Gate 2, on the other hand, takes players from one set piece to the next…

Source: PCGamer