Liner Notes: Baldur's Gate 3
The Outermost Illusion of Freedom
This month’s podcast (January), was Baldur’s Gate 3, and the liner notes are a combination of all the things we mentioned in discussion and the usual suspects we love to highlight (as well), speed run, soundtrack. You can listen to the episode here.
In The Episode:
Critical Role Shows brought up:
The Mighty Nein and The Legend of Vox Machina.
Other Actual Plays brought up:
Gamumentary (Divinity: Original Sin):
The idea is that understanding Larian studios and their journey to Baldur’s Gate 3 is also understanding how/why they were in a unique position to make something like it:
I can’t find the Alanah Pearce Starfield potatoes discussion/video that I swear is real, but here’s an alternative: https://youtube.com/shorts/a7OHvDGRqHY?si=EFmT_kz98MldaD4t
How many people does Larian employ?
Over 400 people according to their website, with a Quebec studio since 2015 as well as studios in Belgium (Ghent originally) and Europe, and Asia: including satellites in Dublin, Guildford, Kuala , and Warsaw. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg reported 530 as of 2025, though I could not confirm this link has that information as it is paywalled: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-12-16/-baldur-s-gate-3-maker-promises-divinity-will-be-next-level
First-person branching narrative rogue-like time-loop game The Forgotten City, set in Rome. I call this a “version” of Baldur’s Gate 3 this is not to say they’re officially related, but more that it’s a branching narrative rogue-like game that I’ve heard of.
Speed Run
Mae doing a Baldur’s Gate 3 (any % speed run world record holder at the time in 2024 or maybe even currently):
Need to know DnD?
This is actually something a lot of people disagree with us about. Toben and I think that it would be useful to know DnD 5e a bit better than zero in order to play through BG3, but then a lot of others don’t seem to think it’s necessary (perhaps with the caveat that you make good use of the tool tips and tutorials within the game, which we perhaps did not).
Regardless here’s a couple resources, with the idea that you can experiment around and learn a lot in-game if you prefer that (and also carefully read things).
Reddit user Recjawjind recommends this website to learn about 5e DnD rules:
https://5e.tools/
Jeffrey Parkin and Jeff Ramos also write about what could be useful to know here: https://www.polygon.com/baldurs-gate-3-guide-walkthrough/21502359/beginner-starter-tips-dungeons-dragons-stats-abilities-turn-based-combat-autosave/
Soundtrack
You can also purchase a vinyl version here: https://us.merch.larian.com/en/products/baldurs-gate-3-vinyl
Next Time
We’re going in on speculative Saturn RPG Demon School. By this of course I mean that it plays on modern platforms but is designed as if it might have been a Sega Saturn game. What does that even mean? Take a look below and tune in to find out at the end of next month.