Playing Final Fantasy 7 "scared" Baldur's Gate 2's writing lead into adding romance to the RPG series: "These guys kicked our ass"

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Baldur's Gate 2 added romance to the beloved RPG series in a move that was influenced by Final Fantasy 7, after the sequel's writing and design director was "scared shitless" by the JRPG, believing that "this is how a game should be."

During a recent discussion in celebration of Baldur's Gate 2's 25th anniversary with YouTube creator Slandered Gaming (below), BioWare veteran David Gaider – who worked as a designer on Baldur's Gate 2 – admits that "I did not want to write romances at all" in the RPG sequel, but was asked to by writing and design director James Ohlen.

Celebrating 25 Years Of Baldur's Gate 2: Part 1 w/ @edgreenwoodofficial, David Gaider & Trent Oster - YouTube

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"He literally said, 'Guys, these guys kicked our ass. This is how a game should be. We don't know what we're doing.'"

Oster continues, noting that Ohlen was "hard on everybody, but he was a humble guy, and if he thought something was better, he fought hard to get something better in the game." That extended to the RPG's setting, as Oster describes Baldur's Gate 2's setting as "kind of like a rollercoaster through some of the most great places in the realms" in comparison to Baldur's Gate 1, which is "kind of linked to one map."

Talking about the sequel, he adds: "You're in the Sahuagin city, and you're in the Underdark, you're just hitting all these high spots that you've always read about in books, and you finally start to hit some of these places and it was just awesome."

Needless to say, it all worked out in the end – romance has become an increasingly popular feature in RPGs, after all, and it's hard to imagine Baldur's Gate 3 without it.

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I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.

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