Brandon Adler is happy that there are games that allow players to make mistakes.

According to Adler, director of The Outer Worlds 2, something was lost when RPGs became blockbusters instead of adaptations of pen-and-paper games. He told GamesRadar in an interview that he is glad RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 force players to pay more attention to their character builds and the game world.

Adler recounted watching streamers create suboptimal characters in The Outer Worlds 2. He noted that their choices and methods were fine, whether they were experimenting or simply didn’t understand the game. They would be able to finish the game, but it would be more difficult. He also mentioned that objective markers have replaced actually listening to what NPCs say, preventing us from rushing through dialogues.

“In general, it feels like many games, but RPGs in particular, are like, ‘Well, you’re not allowed to make bad choices, so every character build is viable, and we make sure that no matter what you do, everything’s going to be fine.’ The problem with that, in my opinion, is that for choices to matter, they must be capable of being either good or bad depending on your actions.
In a true RPG, you need to think about what’s happening while playing the game. You have to be willing to engage with the game. I’m starting to see a lot more of that now as games like Baldur’s Gate 3 are being released. I think it’s starting to go back in that direction. I think that’s great because people are really going to enjoy relearning how RPGs allow this kind of player choice that they’ve maybe been missing lately,” Adler said.

One important factor may be that knowledge of mainstream tabletop RPGs has evolved significantly since the 1990s and 2000s, as reflected in the games. Baldur’s Gate 3’s success coincided with the growing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop games.

Source: PCGamer, GamesRadar