Bruce Nesmith appreciates how Baldur's Gate 3 makes decisions carry lasting consequences while defending Bethesda's more open-ended approach to RPG storytelling.

The freedom to shape an adventure is one of the biggest attractions of role-playing games. However, meaningful decisions can sometimes make an experience even more memorable. Bruce Nesmith, lead designer of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, recently shared his appreciation for how Baldur's Gate 3 handles player choices while explaining why Bethesda takes a different approach.

Speaking about the two RPG design philosophies, Nesmith praised Larian Studios for bringing Dungeons & Dragons' fantasy rules to life. He was particularly impressed by how Baldur's Gate 3 allows decisions to permanently close certain story paths, giving players a stronger sense that their actions matter.

Bethesda has traditionally favored giving players the freedom to experience as much of its games as possible. In Skyrim, for example, players can join the Thieves Guild, Fighters Guild, and Mages Guild without having to sacrifice access to the other major faction storylines.

Nesmith supports this philosophy but admitted that experiencing the opposite approach in Baldur's Gate 3 was a pleasant surprise.

He explained that having certain decisions lock players out of alternative quests made their choices feel more significant. Discovering other possibilities required starting another character and exploring a different path, encouraging multiple playthroughs.

For Nesmith, both approaches offer enjoyable experiences. Rather than choosing one philosophy over the other, he believes RPGs can succeed by embracing different ways of delivering player freedom.

Although Bethesda generally prioritizes unrestricted exploration, its games have included several examples of meaningful faction conflicts and mutually exclusive decisions.

Morrowind offers some particularly interesting examples. The Fighters Guild and Thieves Guild eventually become rivals, with certain quests requiring players to undermine the opposing faction. Similar tensions exist between the Mages Guild and House Telvanni, while the Dunmer Great Houses have their own complicated relationships.

Skyrim also features decisions that influence which content players can experience.

The Civil War storyline forces players to support either the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks. The Dawnguard expansion also presents a choice between opposing sides, while the Dark Brotherhood storyline offers an alternative path for players who decide to destroy the assassins rather than join them.

The option to side with the Penitus Oculatus instead of the Dark Brotherhood is especially interesting. Although it does not offer an equally extensive alternative questline, it adds another layer to the world and makes the decision feel more consequential.

With The Elder Scrolls 6 on the horizon, there is room for Bethesda to explore this design philosophy further.

Imagine having two fully developed questlines for opposing organizations, such as the secretive Penitus Oculatus and the Dark Brotherhood. Rather than simply choosing one faction and losing access to a handful of quests, players could experience two substantial storylines with different characters, motivations, and outcomes.

That approach could preserve Bethesda's signature freedom while giving certain decisions greater emotional and narrative weight.

However, meaningful restrictions depend heavily on execution. Nesmith's observation that Baldur's Gate 3 handled its content-locking decisions well is an important distinction. Not every decision that removes content automatically improves a game.

Some RPGs make mutually exclusive story paths feel unnecessarily restrictive. The Witcher 2, for example, divides its second act into two substantially different experiences depending on an earlier decision. While ambitious, this approach can leave players feeling as though they are missing out.

By comparison, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty demonstrates how branching decisions can create compelling alternative experiences without making those choices feel like arbitrary roadblocks.

Ultimately, Nesmith's perspective highlights an interesting possibility for the future of RPGs: players do not necessarily need unlimited access to every storyline to feel free. Sometimes, knowing that a decision genuinely changes the adventure is what makes an RPG worth experiencing again.