Summary
- The omission of a key location in Baldur's Gate 3 is causing controversy among the BG3 community.
- The absence of this location has resulted in broken questlines, impacting the overall gameplay experience.
- While there are no firm details about DLC or patches to reintroduce the missing content, Larian Studios has previously included cut content in later versions of their games, suggesting a potential future update for Baldur's Gate 3.
It's hard to believe that a game as massive as Baldur's Gate 3 could have been even bigger, but that's likely the case, as data mining has revealed that there is a big missing feature from the final release. As more people get further into and even complete Baldur's Gate 3, numerous reports of broken or incomplete quests have been filtering through the community, all pointing to one area. Indeed, it is obvious that further into Baldur's Gate 3, the quality of missions and game lack the polish seen in Act One.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3.]
Cut content is something that is perfectly normal in the game industry, and it's not unusual for games to be released with questlines, areas, and mechanics not fully implemented. However, the Baldur's Gate 3 is stirring up controversy among its players due to the nature of the missing features. As time goes on, it is becoming more apparent that features that were widely publicized in early access are noticeably missing, leaving some feeling let down.
The Upper City Is Missing From Baldur's Gate 3
The most noticeable missing content from Baldur’s Gate 3, and the one causing most of the contention with the community, is the entire Upper City of Baldur’s Gate. This huge section of the city was mentioned specifically by Larian Studio’s co-founder Swen Vincke in the final From Hell on July 7, 2023, just four weeks before Baldur’s Gate 3’s full release. Data mining has revealed the huge part this missing area would have played in the final act of the game, so huge that some of the quests found in the full version are broken because of its absence.
Why The Misper City Is A Problem For Baldur's Gate 3
The Upper City of Baldur’s Gate is where the richer, more affluent of society live and was apparently set to be an area that could be fully explored with its own questlines. While the opulent estates of the Upper City were mentioned in Larian's community update #19 on June 12, 2023, that section of the city is missing from the final release. The same community update also mentions the menacing roads of the Outer City; however, the only Outer City area seen in Baldur’s Gate 3 is Rivington, which is hardly menacing.
What is interesting is watching the introduction video Larian Studios released about the city shows various clips from the then-unreleased final game. All of these clips show the Lower City, which adds to the confusion surrounding the misper City. While it does feature in the final showdown with the Elder Brain at the very end of the game, the only section seen is the High Hall, which the party is teleported to by the Emperor.
What becomes increasingly obvious is that far more of Baldur’s Gate was meant to appear in Baldur’s Gate 3 than is currently seen in the finished version of the game. Clearly, Larian was over-ambitious when it came to wanting to see the huge city realized on the screen, and if those missing sections were not ready to a satisfactory level as the release date loomed, then cutting them is completely understandable. However, the absence of the city is not what has created the problems; the knock-on effect of its absence has caused most of the issues.
The Upper City's Absence Affects Quests
Missing side quests are one thing, but broken questlines are quite another, and the Upper City being cut from the final game has created issues for certain characters. Karlach is the most obvious example of this, but other characters and locations had to be shifted to accommodate the missing section of the city. Some of these are minor, such as Lorroakan being moved from Ramazith's Tower in the Upper City, as mentioned by Gale and Rolan in the Druid Grove, and instead having him in Sorcerous Sundries with players teleported to his residence.
Karlach's personal questline is the one that has been hit the hardest and is currently unfinished, resulting in a failed state no matter how hard people try to save her. This is because the final part of her quest was to take place in the Upper City; however, with this area unreachable, that stage cannot trigger. Data mining apparently shows that this questline was fully voiced and practically complete, but what remains in the game is actually only her Act One and Two sections of her quest.
Astarion is another origin character whose personal questline was impacted by the loss of the Upper City. His former master, Cazador, was meant to play a much larger role and even be a potential ally in the final battle. While Cazador's palace would technically count as exploring an opulent Upper City estate, one mansion hardly justifies all the hype given to specifically mentioning the Upper City.
Cazador would have also factored into some quests surrounding politics in the Upper City, perhaps bringing in other well-known Baldur's Gate families, such as the Vanthampurs who played a key role in the Dungeons & Dragons campaign Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. With the involvement of Cazador, there may have even been a rival vampire or a quest to help maintain Cazador’s cover as he attempted to gain more political power. Given the complexity of the politics in Baldur’s Gate, this might not have been a questline that suited every playthrough, but for those interested in diving deeper into the inner workings of the city, it would have been tons of fun.
Baldur's Gate 3 DLC & Patches Could Reintroduce Cut Content
There are no firm details surrounding a Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC, and given the nature of the main plot, it would be difficult to add on an adventure after the final battle. The reintroduction of cut content could also be achieved with a DLC or expansion in the vein of Dragon Age 2’s DLCs, which allowed the players to go on additional adventures at any point during the story or after the end-game battles. However, given the nature of the missing content, it is much more likely to be gradually added back into the game via patches, as this would be a more controlled and easily integrated delivery method.
It should be noted that Larian has previously included cut content in other games when releasing other versions of their titles. Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition, Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition, and Divinity II: Developer's Cut all included previously cut content.
This has led many to point out that Larian always releases these almost exactly one year after the first release of a game and that perhaps the missing features are part of a marketing strategy to guarantee definitive edition sales. However, regardless of whether the Upper City is reintegrated via a patch, DLC, or new edition, it is clear that Baldur’s Gate 3 has suffered from the absence of this key location.
Sources: Larian Studios/Steam, Larian Studios/YouTube
