Baldur's Gate 3 developer adds touching NPC tribute to a player's father living with Alzheimer's

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer adds touching NPC tribute to a player’s father living with Alzheimer’s

Time Stamp: January 5, 2024 9:46 AM

Baldur’s Gate 3 includes an incredibly touching tribute to a player’s father living with Alzheimer’s.

To fully appreciate this tribute, we need to go back a few years. When Baldur’s Gate 3 was still in early access, forum user Solfalia messaged Larian to thank the studio for releasing Act I, despite the game not being complete. This release allowed Solfalia to play the game – as it was at the time – with their father, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Their father had played other Larian games in the past and was a fan, so this opportunity meant a lot to them both.

“This Early Access means that this Xmas I’ll be able to go on an adventure with him one last time, and I know he’ll enjoy it,” Solfalia wrote in their original post from 2020.

Here’s our video team playing Baldur’s Gate 3.

Fast forward three years, and it transpires this initial post caught the attention of Larian, and an anonymous writer at the studio contacted Solfalia.

“It turns out my message had resonated with quite a few of you, as many of us have experienced the struggle of a family member with Alzheimers or Dementia, and [Larian] was emailing me to ask if I would be open to having something included in the game to honour my father,” Solfalia wrote in a more recent Baldur’s Gate 3 forum post.

They accepted, and Solfalia and Larian discussed Solfalia’s father further over email. Then, when the full game was released, Solfalia asked the anonymous Larian writer where they could find the tribute, expecting it to be something simple such as a “mention in a random book, or a plaque”.

What they were told, however, was so much more than that. Larian had actually added an NPC named Golbraith Stredivas, who is inspired by Solfalia’s father, to the game. Golbraith is a retired mindflayer hunter of “great renown” with his own cellar to explore.

“Not only did Golbraith look like my father, but he had multiple lines of dialogue. Some really touching ones too (for me, at least),” Solfalia shared. “The different papers in the house were amazing, the stack of letters between Golbraith and his son put a lump in my throat. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t misty eyed. The secret mindflayer-hunter cellar was awesome.

“As soon as I finished looking through the whole house, I told my Dad. He’s in a care home now, so can’t play the game, but he listened to my description with a child-like glee I haven’t seen in a while. He loved every moment of it. He loved the idea that his character has a monocle, and was proud his character has a secret cellar with weapons. He still talks about it from time to time during our weekly chats.

“And so here comes the purpose of my post. Thank you Larian. Truly. It was so much more than I was expecting, and was extremely touching. Both my Dad and me loved it.”


NPC Golbraith Stredivas in Baldur's Gate 3
Image credit: Larian via Andrea Gatta

This heartwarming story was reshared on social media by Larian writer Rachel Quirke (who stated she is not the writer who scribed Golbraith, but she did volunteer).

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we read that letter… Really happy we got to honour the mighty mindflayer hunter,” she wrote to accompany the post.

In reply to the social media user who took screen grabs of Solfalia’s story and shared it on X, Larian’s Swen Vincke said the studio’s anonymous writer is “an amazing human being”. I fully agree, Swen.

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