Baldur’s Gate 3 Is EXACTLY What AAA Cannot Be
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
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3 Years been waiting for this game and boy did they bring the goods, really enjoying the game :).
Why is there a hype train around Buldur's Gate III? It's a top down strategy game of some kind and isn't my cup of tea. From watching gameplay videos the gameplay looks antiquated and the graphics (although high fidelity) aren't aesthetically pleasing. I don't get it.
Also what is everyone on about when it comes to meeting this quality? Doesn't even look that good. Once a generation game? I'd rather go play Rust.
@@Erick726 .......................................
I would never get yall's game for 25% off. Only full price for those who make me a game AND provide much appreciated game information. I got the game just because I like what you guys do.
You should take a look at what's going on with Destiny 2 these last 2 days, you are going to have a field day with it, it's a complete sh..tshow.
Imagine practicing your art for 20 years and you master it. Only for others that did not do the same grind critique your path like it wasn’t intentional and everything had to line up. They earned this crown and deserve to be called the standard in CRPG. Bravo Larian!
others could do the same but big companies will just fire entire teams as soon as they finish a project and rehire an entire new team for the next. Too bad
💯 I was going to come at a similar statement. They set the bar high, for all studios that supposedly specialize in a certain type of game. Mastered the craft of making your game and perfected as best you can. Yet they fire senior staff, and expect the cheaper labor to come in and produce the same quality.
Imagine doing a video on a game that you have to try, without talking about the actual gameplay
@@ApocGamingChan Can't agree more to this. Companies want instant success. If they don't immediately see $$$ via a bajillion microtransactions they often cut the team and move on to a completely new project. That is not how you make a competent and capable team. This goes for software engineering in general.
The standard as in the great standard, yes. The standard as in the baseline, no, it's way too good for that
Larian Studio should be the new standard in terms of:
- Treating the talents right so they stay in the company for 20 years.
- Having a strong focus on a studio's expertise and building upon it rather than chasing meme/trends.
- Respecting the players and focusing on the players.
I came here to say this as well.
Maybe if all other places practiced what you listed above we would have games MILES ahead of the garbage that spewed out today.
I don't want a new game of a series puked out every year. I don't care how long it's going to take to make the next one because of its good ill buy it
Yeah, it's true that new entry are often needed,but this doesn't mean that you have to fire or let go ppl with the most experience in your company
This, exactly this.
For me at least, yes the game itself is absolutely phenomenal. But it's Larian's practices, treatment, and passion that made this game what it is. It's this that's making the playerbase so happy. It just feels like one big collective of joy for not only dnd-style gaming but gaming itself. S tier
I totally agree and don't forget to add: Interaction with the community. Larian is a studio I can put my trust in. Long may it continue
I feel like Larian could just be another great studio that gets bought up by a huge company.
Even if this makes a bajillion dollars, I honestly think any large AAA studio is simply incapable of producing anything like this.
Yep. Too many cooks (that is to say, accounting and C-suite types) in the kitchen trying to tell the chef how to cook food.
You need passion to ship a game like that, can't have passion when your only goal is to print $.
Just from the overhead and the producer involvement - there is not a possibility for this type of game to be storyboarded in any of the bloated AAA gambling gatcha sellers.
@@BatkoNashBandera774 Which is frankly why gambling laws need to become more stringent here concerning video games; too many companies skirting around them to run a casino.
@@sodasaintcommentaries4054 I agree, as a graphic designer, all it takes is one higher up to shit up a project.
I still haven't heard anyone mention in one of their videos the obvious implied cause of Larian's success. One of the biggest reasons they are in a position to make such a great success after consecutively developing these games is that they didn't just fire 80% of their staff after a project is completed. They just start a new project and keep all of those productive teams together. I'm not sure why this is such a novel idea among AAA studios because it is a staple concept in cost accounting that it costs much more to retool a factory for a new product than it does to keep a factory making the same product year-by-year.
CEOs don't get 30 million a year for not cutting staff costs.
Have you even thought of the poor CEOs???
It's about lying with statistics to show off short-term quarterly 'gains.'
Firing staff means not paying staff. This means the budget now has an extra 'surplus' in it. The guy that "saved" all that money then points to the graph and asks for a bonus.
That the money wasn't actually saved, and in fact, this shell game likely just costs more in the long run? Doesn't matter. The executives are all in on the game. The 'savings' on the quarterly earnings report are just an excuse, a justification, to hand out more money (bonus) while pretending this isn't a highly unethical and very suspicious grift of questionable legality.
Then the executive either leaves "not my problem!" or quietly starts rehiring immediately at the beginning of the next quarter while looking for the next excuse to chase personal short-term gains over the long-term health of the company.
@@duncanlutz3698 Prime Example of Why blizzard is failing so hard right now. Also why the former Amazing devs they fired are creating games that do better than them... I have no doubt former D2 dev designed game will crush diablo 4. Hands down.
@@crisnmaryfam7344 A lot of the Blizzard North team that made Diablo 2 migrated over to the developers in charge of Path of Exile and are currently working on POE2.
If any game has the power to crush D4 it will be POE2. Even David Brevik who was the man in charge of the team who created the Diablo IP and made it what it was at the height of it's popularity post D2 LOD is working with them
One standard I’ll hold AAA studios to follow is Larian’s transparency, honesty and respect for the project.
....
That character creator though...
@@greschenglin-dz7wjwhat's wrong with it?
That will never, ever happen. The closest as far as transparency and care for their project is Coffee Stain and Satisfactory.
@@deezclops4484 Well for what should be a really expansive set of features you can work with to make your character, for all the dangle bits they let you pick....you're not allowed to be a massive amorphous blob.
You're not allowed to really be anything really. You get 8 or 7 faces, 2 body types per androgynous humaniform, a few strands of hair, but no sliders for any of the finer details of any of them. Save for hair color which does......barely anything.
Oh. But you can gauge how much skin disease you want.
@@greschenglin-dz7wjthe game can have its issues. That is a big issue for an rpg, but at the same time i didn't care or notice it as a downside. I'm just really enjoying the game.
AAA literally has too many rules to make it profitable without making it dull for the customer. Games cannot thrive in a big business setting where profit is the only reason for its existence.
Amen, its such a shame the hobby has been taken over by business men who are not gamers and literally just in the business to extract as much money as they can before they leave the dead corpse behind and move on to the next thing that they can extract money from.
Greed and ESG are the bottlenecks.
Only game you will see quality in is final fantasy games as the investors there have given full creativity to the maker of ff games as he's never once let them down. Once he lets them down once he will probably quit as they probably won't ever give him full power.
Uhh Elden Ring?? Zelda? hopefully Starfield?
It's kind of delusional to say that this isn't a big business setting, Hasbro owns WOTC, which owns the Licensing for D&D and the Forgotten Realms setting, this is a licensed setting. The game is a $60 game, and is at AAA pricing, historically, Baldur's Gate and D&D games come with expansions as well. Larian did an amazing job here, but there's still a large part of business strategy in it, and a lot of the worldbuilding was done for them before hand, which does in fact save them time and development funds. Larian has over 400 employees, makes over 100 mil a year in revenue, and 30 percent of it is owned by Tencent. If that isn't big business I don't know where we start drawing the line. The fact of the matter is that Larian has similar resources to other big budget studios and publishers, but since they get funds from sources that are more "hands off" they can dominate their niche in the market that is completely underserved. This doesn't negate the passion behind the project, however there's still the same rules of business being applied
You absolutely can and should hold AAA studios and developers to a higher standard for titles with BG3 quality. It shows what passion, skill and ability can do with the funds they had. They made the game fighting through several hurdles which most AAA titles couldn't even imagine including a war/displacement.
AAA devs and publishers have more resources and generally flexible timelines with better funding flexibility. The issue is that the AAA developers and publishers would rather push out the titles at expedited pace rather than push out quality titles. In other words, these devs trying to come up with excuses are just lazy.
Triple A studios just push out trash and recycled games/sequels, the idea of "they had 20 years of experience" holds true, but at the same time you have Call of Duty and Battlefield that's been made for over 20 years and it's still trash.
100% this. Yes we're not exactly expecting every game to be feature rich. But what SHOULD be expected of them is putting out quality games that are in their lanes. Which AAA game management (the important key there) doesn't care about games & players. They care about digits in a profit amount.
true, look at bethesda been going for years using basically the same engine and every release is buggy as hell.
Obsidian had 18 months to make FNV and they created one of the best games in the last few decades. If you ignore bugs, given another 6 months they would have made the GOAT rpg.
@@the5thson What makes Bethesda RPGs unique though is that there's nothing quite like them. That's why people put up with the bugs and such. Let's say you liked Skyrim, what other game would come close it? There are none apart from other Elder Scrolls games. Bethesda has built incredibly deep and interesting lore with their games and they've got immersion down to a T. First person perspective (basically no other fantasy RPG has that), a highly interactive world (if you can see it, you interact with it), mod friendliness, etc. Skyrim has been out for close to 12 years now and the game still has over 20k Steam players active on average. IN A SOLELY SINGLE PLAYER GAME! I don't like the direction they were going with Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 and that's why I'm cautiously skeptical when it comes to Starfield. But again, Bethesda produces a certain style of RPG that no other company puts out.
Yup, it's not the consumer's job to consider what's happening inside a studio. If two games cost the same amount of money I'm going to judge them against each other because my money and time are both finite. I really don't care what obstructions and restrictions AAA developers face. Whether they like it or not, the bar is raised. If they're not capable of making a game this good, maybe they should fix their systemic issues before attempting to make another game.
I want the developers who made this to be handsomely rewarded and become leaders in their fields! Make this a lesson to hire passionate storytellers not behavioural psychologists!
Maximise player fun and NOT player retention!
This happened with CDred and witcher 3.
And look how Cyberpunk ended after all that hype. Its nothing close to Witcher 3 quality.
I really hope they dont get bought out by greed and the quality drops with future games.
Larian studios been best in their class with divinity 2, that's why they got to make BG3 and they actually did what every AAA studios says they are going to do. Make the game. And that's all just make a good game. Self titles "AAA" studio is no longer a creative enterprise it's a business and business don't make art, they make money.
@@-PurdyBurdy- Larian has been hugely successful in the game dev space for decades now. They didn't sell out then, they won't now. For that, I am greatful.
to be fair, an entertained fan is a retained one!
@@huzzindaableso was CDPR. And that did not go well. But they miiiiiight be going thru a redemption arc???
Speaking of experience, the Narrative Designer for BG3 is Lawrence Schick. Schick has been in computer games since the 80s. His first job out of college, was being hired by TSR to hire a team to design the first D&D modules they started to publish. His resume submission was the classic funhouse dungeon, published as submitted in 1978, was White Plume Mountain. The fact that they have Schick working for them is a giant plus!
Turns out good writing is needed for good games, who knew! ~
I didn't realize he was one of the guys responsible for ESO's success. I remember his hokey interview back in 2014 before game launch. Also in charge of AOL's games division. Some great creative management experiences over his life.
Hot Take :
For me the writing in Divinity games or BG3 is not so good ... This is always my problem with Larian games, the games are so much fun to play and the gameplay is really awesome... but story and writing in general, is average at best.
Unlike Pillars of Eternity for example, which has a messy and over-complicated gameplay but on the other hand, some brilliant, captivating and well-written lore and dialogue !
Good writing is essential for every story 😂
The guy who designed White Plume Mountain worked on BG3?!? That explains a lot.
Never played any Larian or Baldurs Gate games. Had no expectations going into this. It BLEW ME AWAY. I’m only a few hours in and I can’t believe this game exists. Such a breathe of fresh air. I can not explain how happy I am with this purchase. Larian deserves so much praise for this game and I am so happy it exists.
U need to play Divinity... Its even better
@@4k4DexYT it's hard to compare because they are different games with different lore, but in technical terms, Baldur's Gate 3 is quite ahead of Divinity OS2.
Let's put it this way. It looks like a worthy successor to the series.
I am delighted that there are SO MANY people getting into the baldur's gate series for the first time. Welcome.
@@4k4DexYT no way. id take bg3 all day over divinity. Divinity was a very good game not to down play it in any way but this game is chefs kiss. Hands down.
Stop giving AAA studios a easy out, if our expectations are below average that is what they will produce.
Where have you been, most AAA games are average. Pretty, stable if we are lucky. But ultimately... same game, different name.
Exactly!! AAA reaps what they sow. Effort is required for competency and extraordinary effort is required for greatness.
That really wasn't the point if you listened to like any of what was said.
The point was Larian was in a very unique position to make this game and the circumstances that allowed it to exist *are not the same* anywhere else in the industry. Other development houses might go bankrupt if they even tried. It has nothing to do with the shallow interpretation of "this game is good, everybody else just needs to make games this good"
@@pacmonster066 That is the point the guy was making, but amazing games have always come from risk, and the larger companies CAN afford those risks.
I mean, Final Fantasy is the codifier for crying out loud!
Set a modest budget, give it to a team that is pitching an idea that you test by stealth-asking people online. Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, online FAQ, survey.
If they talk to the GAMERS, they might find there is an audience for what they want. Or they might get inspiration for a better idea.
@@pacmonster066 EA has more than enough money but will never focus on quality to this degree. Its not an excuse that concerns the consumer that they need to deliver safe frequent returns to shareholders. That's their problem and its not a sympathetic one.
Bg3 is what happens when you put passion far ahead of making all the money. AAA devs will never understand that nor do they want to
I think you mean publishers. That's where the greed comes from.
Then stop buying. U are the consumer, u hv the power
The giant companies will entertain the idea of “art” when their reputations are far gone. But for now people consume their products just fine and money is rolling in.
@@aaronhumphrey3514 We did, before actual devs from those companies started spewing the same "don't expect other games like this" bullshit.
@@aaronhumphrey3514 devs aren't innocent. Just look at Bungie
Not to mention the divinity original sin games were essentially larian auditioning for baldurs gate. The studio director said in several interviews they wanted to do bg3 after the first game, but got turned down. So they did a second game, and went back to show their new work, and were offered the job.
It makes sense, but DOS 2 was so good, that I'm very glad that they are going back to the well for their next game.
true
Actually WotC called Larian after DOS2 because they were so impressed.
@@vincentbatten4686 DoS2 was, to me, the best game to come out since Dark Souls (that wasn't made by Fromsoft)
*Makes Divinity 1
"Can do we do BG3?"
"Hmm, that's pretty good, but I don't know..."
*Makes Divnity 2
"WHAT ABOUT NOW, FUCKERS? HUH?! WHAT ABOUT NOWWW?!"
DRM-free and no micro transactions is what makes me respect Larian the most. Have followed the ever since their first game. Their competitive advantage ist their integrity, consistency and their collaborative approach towards their players. We all have stake in their success and want to see them succeed. That alone is worth a lot. I backed OS1 because of exactly that. Bioware has (had?) the same claim to experience and fine tuning, but they cannot fully realize their potential for one reason or another.
why is everyone pretending like this is the first CRPG to not have microtransactions?
I'm so happy Larian is getting the recognition they should have gotten with DOS2. I was blown away by DOS2 years ago and I am again today with BG3. Despite what the tweet said, this is my new standard of a good game.
Larian's success is well deserved, good for them!
What other developers dont seem to grasp is, th at we as a player base dont need games to be as big as BG3 ... but we would love other studios showing the same love to the game they develop as Larion did.
THIS!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes I just want to play something like Vampire Survivors.
True, like dude from Cyberpunk said, that rpg become bigger and bigger and they are hitting the wall. But the thing is, we as players do not need bigger and bigger game, all we need - just FUN games, full of interesting stories, mechanics, ideas, etc. And if at scale it will not be that big as BG3, so fn what?!
I don’t think we want other studios to make the next Baldur’s Gate. We want them to make the best versions of their games, without compromise, like Larian have done here. (Edit: fixed auto correct)
Yes, and devs know it, they're using this as an excuse for when the reviews destroy their next release, they have the scapegoat: "players wanted BG4, we didn't make BG4, therefore the bad reviews".
Fucking exactly! The problem is that CEOs don't see good games as good *games* they see them as trends. So when a game does well, they say "let's make another one of those!" instead of trusting their teams to make the *games* they set out to make. But video games are the new venture capital playgrounds, so everything is trends, everything is racing each other with their bank accounts trying to make something cheaper and cheaper that makes *them* more money, instead of making whatever the product is actually supposed to be.
But their games suck. We want the best version of good games. Not polished trash
As long as gems like this and like Elden ring can still get made. I think there is still some hope for games
Hands down, Larian has outdone not only themselves, but every single studio in the industry right now. While not huge, or a "household" name, like others; they're simply on a scale no one else can touch, in any way.
Either this is the small beginning/resurgence of games/studios reverting back to actually making legitimate art, and unique, fun ideas, or;
This is the best it will be, for a very, VERY, long time.
My counter point is AAA studios have the money and resources to build a studio like Larian that focuses on one thing and build th experience to be better and better. The fact that the companies don’t work that way and look too short term doesn’t mean they can’t or that we can’t demand they meet the standards Larian set. They can gain the advantages that 6th tweet stated
Totally. Let's be honest, these tweets were made in bad faith. They could get all these advantages but they are either playing it too safe or are simply too busy working on new way to squeeze people out of their money instead of improving the quality of their deliveries.
Yeah, I'm not looking for every game to be a BG3 clone; I want games that treat me as a customer and not a consumer, that are made by people with a passion for the game rather than being tasked by their overlords chasing trends.
The fact that some AAA company pays more in R&D in human psychology than making actual game should already tell you much already
couldn't agree more for this!
@@fudgin7778 no, they couldn't, because those tweets came from devs, not publishers. they are the ones that will have to go through hoops and work people to the bone to meet the new standards the publishers and parent companies set to them.
I think it’s not that gamers are expecting this exact type of game from other studios. We just want more games like this, Elden Ring, Skyrim, Hades, etc… that were complete box price only games that are so fun people love to play them even years later. No microtransactions, no gacha, no gamba, and no virtue signaling. These games are awesome and memorable and all very different. Just make a game you’re good at making with no trash that bogs the game down
Many would agree with the sentiment but it feels like a losing battle. There's a whole public out there who don't mind micro-transactions, gacha, battle passes and other aggressive monetization schemes. I mean despite the Star Wars Battlefront 2 debacle EA is still raking boatloads of money from the FIFA whales.
Not sure what you meant with virtue signaling though? BG3's character creator is as liberal as it gets if that matters to you.
@@fudgin7778 The hard part is that now there's a generation or two of gamers that have grown up in this gacha world of gaming. They've never known the experience of unlocking a character or skin in a game from a challenge, just buying it with cash in the store.
@@fudgin7778 the character creator is not virtue signaling lol.. it shows that they have a bunch of developers with very twisted ideologies though. i picked FEMALE and my character didn't change to FEMALE lmao. these people are so weirdly ignorant. they can't explain what a female is but at the same time these same people would tell you that they feel like the opposite sex. how can you not know how to define what a female is but feel like a female or male. the school system has brainwashed and mentally abused these people to the core. really sad to see..
i bet most these people have never really sit still and thought about all these weird ideologies before they just hear this stuff from their echo chamber and run with it without realizing how it's destroying society. this crazy nonsense actually has happened before 2300 years ago..Rip Greek Empire. look up "Sacred Band of Thebes" hilarious. instead of choosing soldiers based on their skill they picked them based off of their sexuality xD
Skyrim is a bad example considering Bethesda quality but ye
@@fudgin7778 i can see how you’d say that, but given that it’s a player option and not something forced, I’m willing to overlook it
As of now, Baldur's Gate 3 just broke into the top 10 for all time peak player count on steam, the only other single player games in the top 10 being Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring. This game is infinitely bigger in terms of player count than I ever could've imagined
People can knock CPR for the cyberpunk release but they shook back genuinely
I know they are wanting to work on smaller games next, but holy hell I would love for them to do an Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights game as well!!
omg and Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights remasters ...
@@baejnebun7124sequels
When you have been a gamer for over 20 years literally playing games every day for entertainment for that long there comes a time when you start feeling gaming is getting stale. That the magic can’t be recaptured and you have just left that part of you. And then a game like this comes out and buckles you back in to a kick ass time and adventure. And I was starting to think I was the one not having fun anymore. But no, it’s the games.
The scope, depth, and quality of this game is absolutely astounding. The graphics, writing, voice acting, and gameplay are all fantastic. Most of all it’s a game that actually works and doesn’t have microtransactions. I’ve run into a few minor bugs nothing gamebreaking but I’m trusting Larian will sort them out.
This loo like an amazing game, a proper D&D game on pc and console , just pre ordered ps5 version, don’t have a pc can’t wait.❤
U had me at no microtransactions
Good to know, I have had the game on my steam library for months... gave it a try months ago but it was... rough. Some graphical glitches I dunno what was up with that, decided to leave it alone until it is fully cooked.
@@Jubanen12 omg stop saying that word
@@schmidth lol...
There has been multiple times where a game comes out of nowhere and breaks the "standard" and changes games forever. If they cannot catch up, they are done for, the genie is already out of the bottle.
yep, the current standard was revolutionary when it came out. you move with the times or get crushed. Like Dylan said : the times are a-changin'.
I was thinking the same thing. You can't beat a competitive product by explaining to consumers why they should pay you the same for an inferior product.
You can’t really replicate a bg3 without the early access model. People already complain about preorders. Imagine a preorder 3 years in advance from a AAA studio. You’re paying to be a beta tester. Triple A studios don’t have that kind of leeway.
@@supergold9390 no, but they have demos, open betas, test play, etc. they just choose not to use them, or if done so, not to properly use them, not listening to feedback, censoring youtubers, making excuses, or doing test when its just too late to implement any significant change to the game by the time its released
This is the main thing Bellular is telling you not to expect in this video.
The 'new standards conversation i feel stems from these companies should be giving their teams the proper; tools, training, and time to make games of similar quality that Larian was able to put out. I think players and devs deserve it
I disagree, this is not an anomaly and we will continue to hold BG3 as the new standard for ALL games not just RPGs.
We don't expect every 2 man indie studio to make Baldur’s Gate 3. What we expect is a quality game that respects our time and our wallet. We are sick of half baked, micro transition filled, online service garbage... There are many long running franchises that should by your definition have the "tech and experience". The sims, NFS, anything Bethesda makes, diablo, warcraft, even Fifa, etc. But these are not nearly at the quality of something like BG3. And it's due to greed and terrible decisions by publishers and executives, both in the present and the past.
I want to spend my money on good games, and the only way we'll get those slimy, money hungry gremlins to give developers the time and money they need to make games, gain experience and improve their tools is by giving them the middle finger when they release trash. I will spend my money on games like BG3 every time. Because yes this is a free market and when we only part with our money for a good quality product, that's when the market will make good quality products. If we part with our money for garbage, the market will make garbage.
Honestly, I had more fun reading the game's tongue-in-cheek EULA than I've had playing most recent AAA's.
Yes, that was a pact I actually was able to get behind.
The whole world of CRPG was almost dead until Pillars of Eternity came back. After that, we got banger after banger. The Divinity Original Sin games, the various Obsidian games, the Pathfinder games, wasteland 2 and 3, mutant year zero, etc. This is kind of a capstone on this era of CRPG.
RIP weekend productivity!
I'll be playing Remnant 2 all Saturday.
It's not just game of the year. It's one of the greatest games ever made.
Other studios can suck! BG3 is a masterpiece - I was not so sleepy like this for decade due to late night play. And honestly, this tiredness during the day is pleasant and nostalgic - reminds of the times when games were actually entertaining! Bravo BG3!
BG3 will show why putting "for profit" ahead of quality is always a dumb idea. Quality of product and passion should be allowed to generally floursish in a game industry. The money will follow if it's good.
The issue is big AAA devs cant risk “money will follow if its good” for them it has to be “money has to be guaranteed or we wont take the risk” thank the shit market sorry i mean stock market for ruining gaming.
@@TheHollowBlade Oh I totally get their modus operandi. What I'm saying is it's funny watching them cry foul at folks wanting BG3 over their shoddy workmanship.
Well that is not true.
Mobile game are the way to go in order to make money, and they don't need to be that succesful to turn a profit.
That said, big games are fundamentally less profitable. So expecting massive profits from them, and trying to find a magic formula that works, is a vain search.
It is there that passion project can attract people, and flourish the best
@@Contevent I'm well aware of what is profitable by trend. I'm talking about what is right for the industry.
Exactly. So tired of games releasing in early access states but being sold as finished day one games. Cyberpunk and BF2042 come to mind.
One of these big publishers need to start doing early access or wait until the game is done.
The damage of poor releases can't always be recovered from.
Cyberpunk still in my opinion is not complete. Maybe this new dlc and update will get the game closer to what it should have been on launch.
Riot Forge is actually a great example of good practices in hiring studios to create their games. Battle Chasers was made by Airship Syndicate and Riot hired them to make Ruined King.
Ruined King almost looks like a mod of Battle Chasers, but for good reason: that's what the team had experience in creating.
The game didn't sell millions of units, but it was a very respectful and very well received creation.
Sounds like a lot of excuses for those game companies. Trying to justify their terrible business models. This should be an example of what to do with Arcane Studies being the example of what not to do.
In an era of megagames, BG3 is one of the largest attempted (many AAA games claim this), built by a specialized group of people (what any AAA game studio should be) using mature tech specially built to make *this specific game* (something any long time AAA studio should be capable of), reinforced by invaluable mass player feedback (what every game has, should devs choose to listen) AND market validation ahead of its launch (what any good game will inevitably have if it's ACTUALLY GOOD)
"Perfect storm" my ass
The thing about BG3, is it didn't introduce some new gimmick or something that you can easily implement into another game. It was just everyone having a clear vision from day 1 and a lot of hard work. There's no "oh people love grapple hooks, how about we make that a core mechanic in our next game".
Like what are you going to say? "Oh people love a highly immersive and reactive world where even the most minute things impact events, guess we will do that"
Larian have done a fantastic job. I will be playing this for a long while, and probably some more when starfield isn't as good as everyone hopes 😂
Starfield is going to be awful on launch, I'm calling it! Buggy, performance issues and empty!
I hope Starfield does well, for no other reason than wanting Bethesda to have plenty of fuel to develop the next Elder Scrolls 😛
@@JQ86you do realise the next elder scrolls is probably going to suck too, right?
With everything but their outdated turn base combat😂 bro what year is this 1991
You probably right. Starfield is likely to be garbage unfortunately. Pleasantly surprised if not.
I've had a few minor bugs but the game thus far for me has been phenominal! This is as close to a perfect game for me as possible. At least so far at about 12 hours in.
I started the 4 player co op last night and so far it's been fantastic. Both immersive and fun and strategetic. It's a lot to take in at once becaue tbh I have never gotten into too many crpgs before besides like Pillars of Eternity, but will be jumping back in tonight with the boys for more. In a time where it's hard to have a physical Dnd session with friends, this is simply fantastic!
I can't get past the char creator, got a refund...
Last night I clocked in and decided to try out the game with my controller.
I was blown away. User interface changed and I actually preferred it to KB/M to some degree.
I can see the amount of attention to details Larian place in this product.
Went back to DOS2 at some point (last week) and it was a stroll down memory lane. Good memories.
I really want to send a massive thank you to Larian Studios team for BG3.
Im sure any bugs I'll encounter soon enough will get squashed.
Really? I absolutely hate BG3 with the controller.
Unintuitive and janky.
I love movement with a controller and despise mouse only movement. Feels like shit and takes away immersion. But good Lord that will never trump mouse vs controller UI. Not trying to use 4 action wheels lol.
Arguably id say that Owlcat might be able to pull something similar off if they had similar circumstances with their Pathfinder & upcoming 40k Rogue Trader Thing (although Owlcat are significantly smaller than pre BG3 Larian). I played the Early Access and it was great, and when they put it out they also had COVID and explained that they wanted people to see what they had made so far, while basically shutting down for 18 months. The full release is the best thing ive ever played. (fully naked halfling bard)
Saying that Baldurs gate is an anomaly because of Larian past experiences with divinity and divinity 2 could also apply to Bethesda with Skyrim, squaresoft with final fantasy, Ubisoft with assassins creed and so and so…. Its not an excuse otherwise all these companies mentioned would had made big jumps between one game to another. It’s not how many resources Larian has (because they started small, Nothing was given to them ) but how they were very good at managing all those resources and being extremely organized. I believe they just had an overall really good and passionate team (programmers, project managers and etc) to make the best of what they have and manage their time and resources plus a true passion to their projects.
yep, another example is Grinding Gear Games with path of exile... started literally in a dudes garage and now they are very successful and POE2 looks awesome. When you have people that have a passion for their work, and you enable your creatives rather than forcing them to check boxes, good things happen and you are rewarded.
Or how about The Sims? If we apply this experience making a particular kind of game argument, every Sims DLC should be game of the year.
Larian made Baldur's Gate III because they wanted to play it, that was their motivation to keep improving on it after it had gone far beyond "good enough". Modern AAA devs do not enjoy video games, so they would never understand this
They also listened and acted on the feedback from players during EA. It felt like they listened to me personally, which of course they didn't do. But, suggestions that I made along with other people were actually implemented.
that just isn't true they are just not allowed to because management won't let them.
@@PropaneWP Yeah it's crazy seeing how much has changed from EA especially the dream visitor
@@ZorroVulpes Originally they were going with a lot more DOS-mechanics as well. Like more surface mechanics, explosive barrels, etc. I'm glad they decided to tone it down. The game still has a distinct Larian-flavor, though - which is nice.
I'm absolutely holding AAA devs to this standard going forward
Great take. Though I wouldn't really say it was like some weird chance though. Larian were big fans of the series and basically made a spiritual ancestor to the BG games (Divinity). Imagine more like blizzard had given the rights to make Diablo 3 to the POE team back in 2010 because they, as you said about Larian, are situated with the right dev team and experience. Its not a perfect storm, it only looks like a storm to people who have recently swiveled their heads. Rather they have been trudging, soldiering on. Doing what they love in their corner of the gaming world.
I would love if Larian in the future adds some extra custom origin characters like “dark urge”. Would be less work than a complete origin character and still give a nice backstory on our custom character.
How is it less work?
@@Kurt0542 less story to do, less interactions… doesn’t need to be a fleshed out character like Gale and Shadowheart but a more elaborated past with a few storylines… that’s less work than to make origin companions. Another “dark urge” but more simple where you can also customize its appearance.
The point of the game being an anomaly and AAA studio not being able to replicate is for me a bit of a cop out. Of course, I don’t expect Infinity Ward and Treyarch to turn around and make me an amazing CRPG like Baldur’s Gate 3, but you can’t tell me they don’t have the mature technology, specialised person, and player feedback to create an FPS game with the same quality level than Larian studio with CRPG
I'm thinking about BattleBit Remastered. The market was hungry for a Battlefield game that didn't treat the gamer as merely a consumer. A "developer" whining about how it's too hard to make a good game while the underdog just does it is hilarious.
It's a great example of how early access can be used correctly. Not all studios are built to do that right. They need to be the correct size, experienced in producing games and good at communication. I know Klei does a great job with early access and Larian look like they've done a great job too.
Larian's endeavour with BG3 started in 2014 (after they released original sin) when they applied to get Baldur's Gate IP and make BG3.
Even if they only started around 2019 when they teased it for the first time.
It is safe to say that this is not a 4-5 years long development cycle, but more like a 9-10 years long endeavour.
The standard, should be releasing a game that feels complete and not a buggy unfinished mess that prioritizes an in-game store. Maybe just have an early access version for any game you make to accomplish this, whether you have an experienced team or not!
Funnily enough, just had a look at the Steam achievement page, 0.1% of owners have finished the intro at this point in time xD
I think the achievements are bugged out. Every single one I have gotten thus far shows that same %
Knowing he had 3.5 days to do it makes mortims launch day review all the more impressive as he actually finished a playthrough, and then wrote recorded and edited a review
Thats dedication
Mort is most assuredly one of the best video game reviewers we have today.
Mort! Mort! Mort! what a gamer.
He's insane.
Want to be he drunk liters of coffee and energy drinks to get it done on time? :D
I'm not convinced that Mort isn't part machine at this point...
The thing with BG3 is that it's a labour of love made by an independent game company that was able to parlay their previous successes. The problem in the video game industry is that games of this scope and budget can usually only be made by or with the support of one of the major publishers. Unfortunately those publishers do not care much about making quality games; their priority is pleasing their investors. Making quality games and pleasing your investors are goals that will almost never align.
To be clear Larian has like 400 members. Sure it’s nothing on EA or blizzards 1000’s but they aren’t a small indie dev team either
@@daniel7035 I never said or even alluded to Larian being "a small indie dev team". You've apparently fallen for the thought trap that has become prevalent in the last two decades of automatically thinking that 'independent game company/studio' means 'small indie devs'. Be that as it may; name the independent game companies that can pull of what Larian just did without the aid of a large publisher, crowdfunding, or an entity like the Embracer Group providing substantial financial 'assitance'. I can think of only two others that could definitely do it: Paradox and CDPR; and both are basically publishers in their own right.
@@stynkus what was the point of this comment “well actually you pleb while not have a publisher they are in fact independent ugh what garbage” I don’t care. My point stands. Larian has 400 people call them indie if you want but I’d say that’s an unfair precedent to set for other indies. Actual indies, not we have millions in the bank and staff all over the world indies
@@daniel7035 You do know that the term 'indie' means 'independent' right? Right? It has nothing to do with size or money. Like I stated earlier; you're under the false impression, a thought trap to be precise, that independent game company/studio means small indie devs...
@@stynkus and that’s why we shouldn’t compare companies based on semantics because even within those definitions your speaking of a broad range of studios with AAA talent
Idk but why is making games like BG3 considered an anomaly now cuz an unsuccessful indie dev says so? As a developer myself i cannot get behind this kind of thought. You make games for primarily money then do not be surprised if the game lacks soul. BG3 is good because Larian actually cares. To say now we should not hold companies like Obsidian to the same standard is coming off as "Its okay to make sub par games." If someone as you said Bioware comes up with a game like anthem then i will hold Bioware liable for that final result. If they cannot do it then do not do it if you are in it for the money alone. No indie dev should be concerned and is not concerned because not everyone tries to come up with slightly modified asset flips.
So you're saying if you give the people with the skills & the tools some time... They can make a good product? Why has no one ever thought of that before! 🤣🤣🤣 If I was that Nelson guy, I would have been embarrassed at that tweet.
There is one more very important ingredient you forgot to mention and why the AAA industry won't ever be able to make a game to the standards of BG 3....That ingredient is passion. Larian was passionate about it. This was their dream game, they gave it their all. They got declined before to make BG3 and now they finally could.
Without Passion you can have all the knowhow, all the money and all the fancy engines, your game will still not reach greatness. Look at Blizzard, the WoW developers were all demotivated, calling it a 9 to 5 job, and we all saw it back in WoW. We all saw the decline in what they cared to produce, there was no creativity, it was all generic BS, just another bunch of boring ass dailies that you need to do to unlock stuff to progress o how exciting, they gave up on WoW and it was felt in the game.
Look at Dragon Age, the first game was supreme. It was a throw back to the old CRPG's, a genre that was tossed aside. It came back, Bioware having a clear goal with it, a passion for it. They wanted a old school RPG like we used to have. It oozed with care and passion. It was such a great game, yet it's success became It's downfall cause now EA wanted a Dragon Age 2 made within a much shorter time. Dragon Age 2 was terrible compared to the first, it lacked so many things, level design was bland, the story boring and the combat while flashy lacked soul. Yes mainstream players hated the first Dragon Age for it's combat cause they all need this real time devil may cry combat and not this semi turn based real time combat were you had cool downs to keep in mind and people moving around each other. Yet Dragon Age 1 had brutal execution moves, you had a wide choice in how to build out your character, wanted to be a plate wearing mage? Knock yourself. Hell my mage used a 2h sword while using magic as armor, sure my mana pool was small cause of the constant casting of armor, but it made for a devastating warrior who threw a few fireballs as well. Now Bioware doesn't seem to give two flying craps about their games, Mass Effect Andromeda was tossed off to their B team, their dream game is probably one of the biggest failures in gaming history, and that says something when people still had No man's sky in the back of their mind yet that game went on a redeeming tour (cause again, they have passion for their game).
AAA Industry doesn't allow passion, it only allows for mass produced generic crap that one game made a lot of money on so now all the copy paste stuff happens and then finding out that no one is gonna buy it cause it's lesser quality and then close a studio down cause the guys in suits aren't taking responsibility after forcing developers to make shit instead of the games they want to make and care about.
In Blizzards case (and many others also for that matter) when a studio becomes too large, it tends to become too corporate and much if not all of the passion fades away, which is sad.
After being burned a few times with games I hope Larian makes ALL THE MONEY. So far I’m loving the game and I’ve never played anything like it before.
Bravo Boulders gate team!
This isn't chance or luck, they aren't lucky to get this, watch the interviews they worked for this, from the start their goal was BG3.
This is effort and passion
I just want the success here to show that single player games are still in demand and that releasing a finished, polished game equals happier players.
I like your balanced view and the lessons you're getting out of that development. I can also confidently add that regarding the particulars of CRPGs, it's a masterclass implementation of the "Actions have Consequences" principle and that's really engaging for this type of game audience. The branching of consequences in BG3 is insane and if, as you said, Larian has been doing it for years in their previous games, they've really pushed it to 11 here. And it means the way the team was working and how the tasks were scheduled during Early Access are direct emanations from that goal. Larian could have secured less venture capital, they wouldn't have made a lesser game. We just wouldn't have got as many shinies (gratuitous animation sequences, character art or even recorded dialogues) but the structure would still be there because the backbone had been built for it from the start.
So many of the AAA games this last decade have received lukewarm reviews and poor retention because they knowingly stepped away from complex branching and consequences, not only for production cost containment but also because they didn't put the bare minimal effort in writing and structuring. That's why the old Interplay Fallout and early TESO Bethesda games were so loved and why the latest releases of these franchises wouldn't stand on their own without their prolific modding scene. Or just look at one of the main critics about Cyberpunk 2077 (beside their abysmal QC at release) : with only 3 origin stories, past the 15 first minutes of the game, none of these have any impact in the character's journey. The game is now technically stabilized but it's pretty dull. Same can be said of the very generic and bland The Outer Worlds from Obsidian. These may be direct results from designing the game engine with different priorities in mind but the the output is less than appealing and retention inducing. I'm very curious of what Bethesda's Starfield is going to bring to the table with that first iteration of the Creation Engine 2 and what it was designed for as a tool.
I was not expecting the sheer variety of consequences and outcomes in Baldur's Gate 3. I expected a lot but I have a for stream playthrough and a slightly behind personal playthrough and I've had ENTIRELY different experiences speaking to companions, with quest options in the same questlines... and so on...and not just one off conversations. A failed roll out in the world lead to several scenes being entirely different or not even existing.
This really is next level.
The original pools of radiance set in the forgotten realms came on five, 512k floppies it had a run time of two hundred hours on the average. So much story in so small of a space. I'm happy this game is aiming for that kind of story time and quality.
It's so fun! I had already put like 250+ hours into the early access and am slowly making my way through the first act again, can't wait to make it to the city. There's so much in Act 1 that it's hard to really steamroll through it without missing something. I don't know if it's setting a standard but it's the way I've wanted a CRPG to be for a long time - just the large amount of reactivity is amazing.
10% zoophilia 80% awesome 30% roleplay 100% I'm bad at math.
You know, this whole controversy around the bear Druid scene is frustrating. It isn’t zoophillia and while it’s definitely weird, it’s the culmination of a number of player driven choices to get there. We clamor all the time for games to reward player choices and when we get it, even in more extreme examples like this, a bunch of people crawl out of the woodwork to insult the game. People need to grow up.
@@HumanPerson_final I agree that it's not a big issue, but you cannot deny it is zoophilia.
@@bazookaman1353 To be honest, I’m only unsure because even while it looks and is a bear, it’s technically a consenting adult person. To me, that bridges the gap and makes it acceptable for those who are … interested in that.
Not saying it isn’t still weird, though.
almost 800k players ingame right now, that's amazing for a single player dedicated rpg game, i love it that many people trying it out and enjoying the game
The game is so good that as soon as I played it for the first time, I lost track of time and ended up playing iy for 10 hours straight. So now I play with a 3 hour timer to avoid it happening again.
It's so incredibly immersive that you get lost in it! It has beat all my previous fave games and is now my 100% number 1 favourite game.
Have you played oneshot
My husband and I started playing together at 9PM last night and next thing we know it was 7 AM. It's very impressive and my husband was impressed and he is picky about games. The graphics is amazing. We barely scratched the surface in the game, we're still in the beginning. This time we play it we're playing it pretty serious. Next play through we're going to play races, and classes we wouldn't normally play and absolutely silly as it can be.
thats how you know you found true love
Good going. I started with a Teifling Paladin to mock the 'holy warriors' of the world by making one of them look like the traditional depiction of the Devil. The main thing is to have fun and appreciate the time you have in the game. It looks like this game has a whole load of re-playability when you consider the races, good, evil and pragmatic (which so often seems pretty evil to me) choice runs - especially because in game racism is real and your experience with any one in-game character will show a lot of differences depending on the race you are playing. If you want to feel particularly alienated try a Drow play-through!
The same comparison applies to Blizzard vs GGG, with D4 and PoE2. You can throw all the money you want at something, doesn't mean it will be good. It's the people behind it that really matter and the GGG developers are as passionate today as they were 11 years ago when setting out to make PoE1.
Yup passion and dedication are the major factors not the money. Look at games like Hollow Knight very small indie studio and very low budgets compare to bigger companies like Blizzard and look how great Hollow Knight is.
The game's scope and depth are insane..I reckon we ain't going to see something quite like it for some time!
I mean based off the gameplay. I hope so.
I hope Larian keeps it up and I will be waiting. 🤌
Similar games/company OwlCat games and their Pathfinder:KingMaker and Pathfinder:Wrath of the Rightous are amazing games in similar genre! Wish they'd get more love! They deserve it!
If I remember correctly ( please correct me if I am wrong ), Black Isle studios made Baldurs Gate 1&2 and Icewind Dale 1&2 then the company broke up and 2 new companies were formed, Bioware and Obsidian entertainment.
wrong, but you're not far off. baldurs gate 1 was developed under the name bioware and published by black isle studios, part of interplay. interplay went through financial troubles and closed down black isle, around the time some former black isle employees started obsidian entertainment.
There was Troika Games if i remember correctly.
@@VadymMykhailovskyi Troika did Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic Obscura.
I liked the original fully 3d Divinity games where you could eventually turn into a dragon. Was never able to get into the isometric Divinity but i loved Baldurs gate 2 back in the day. Probably one of the first pc games i played to the end. Definitely the first collector’s edition I purchased.
Divinity 2: DKS ❤️
Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights were really nice too.
These guys are the real deal. I respect their ambition and results. A good company deserves support. Bad companys deserve active disscouragement.
I think this misses some big points that we can hold other studios to these standards BECAUSE larian put in the work to set themselves up for this success. They worked hard to build this knowledge up. It wasn’t “a strange perfect storm”. It was dedication, appreciation and honing of craft, and then tackling a large project with those tools.
Plus love and passion for what do and respect for the player.
So SOOOO happy its out fully now. I can honestly say I had over 180 hours in just the open Beta, replayed lvl 1 each time they brought more character types and LOVED every moment of it. I have played several multiplayer attempts, and at first it was horrible, but had been getting better each patch. Will be interested to start at least a three player game coming up this week, cant wait to see how it holds up!
One of the few early access games that I have not come to regret buying. I'm happy to have been there during development. Sven and the rest of Larien really pulled it off with this one.
The Co-op is currently bugged and Larian has not seemed to even address it yet. You're supposed to be able to drop in and and out, simply taking control of an existing party member (unless you started together in which you both create custom characters) but currently if you join another persons game it forces you to make a custom character and that character is stuck in the party and can not be removed from the party after the other player leaves.
Is this a widespread error happening for other people as well?
Remember they had to bump it up a month due to the change in starfields release- so its gonna have a few more bugs than they were hoping to launch with- and unfortunatley- im thinking co-op bugs will be low priority because they know only a small % of people will use that feature- so they are gonna go for bugs first that hit everyone..
@@TacoLex Yeah its been posted all over both the Larian and Steam Forums.
@@elevown Yeah thats what were afraid of too, it was working just fine in the beta even up to the day before launch and We only noticed it when my buddy joined me and then had to leave after about an hour and I couldn't remove his player from my party and going back would have cut off the second half of act 1 so now I'm stuck with 2 custom characters. The Co-op and split screen are one of the box features so ignoring it too long might have repercussions.
I hope Larian Studios learn from the mistakes that CD project red made after the success of Witcher 3. Larian Studios did great with Baldur’s Gate 3 and I really hope they will grow and make bigger games after this. ❤
What are you even on about? There is a good chance Larian never makes a game with the same scope as BG3.
@@gregpenismith1248 What?? And how do you know that? Do you work for Larian Studios by any chance?
@@Waliant8349 did you even watch the video?
@@gregpenismith1248 yes
@@Waliant8349 so you heard the part where the CEO would like to work on smaller projects.
Spending 6 dedicated years to a project can be draining. Who would fault them for never taking on a project of this large of scope, again. That doesn't mean they won't make more Divinity games, but those are much smaller in scale than BG3.
The entire reason why a company like blizzard cant make Diablo3 or 4 correctly is bc THEY FIRED EVERYONE THAT MADE D2!!!!
To say a triple A gaming company CANT do it is bc they KILL THEIR OWN GAMESENSE as you put it. If Blizzard kept making Diablo games with the same programers, scripters, n devs they would KEEP MAKING THEM BETTER. But instead EA/Blizz/Activision fire entire teams as soon as the game is complete and rehire new ppl for the next project. NO WONDER no one has been able to give us a good game. Lets not even talk about the chase for microtransactions. The amount of dev power that goes into cosmetics is stupid. MAKE A GOOD GAME FIRST, GIVE ME COSMETICS AFTER YOU HAVE 500k PLAYERS FOR A YEAR.
I'm tired of the excuses
Baldur's Gate 3 is a AAA game though, and not a small one either, 400 devs is an absolutely massive team and more than 3x the size of divinity os 2 which was also arguably AAA. You guys know Death Stranding had fewer devs than divinity os 2?
Also, we've had plenty of juggernaut AAA game releases this year
Larian needs to be well rewarded for their efforts. They have made a masterpiece without micro transactions, loot or gotcha mechanics. I'll be supporting them as much as possible.
It makes a big difference when you make something out of passion and love.
I hope the big Devs take notice.
And the Pale Beyond is awesome. Yet another game built with passion. And u can see that. I have already wish listed it & I'll be purchasing that next.
Don't ever tell me BG3 was an anomaly it's called being competent, doing your job and having passion with what your working on. When you do that your success will naturally come because people will feel the same amount of love that went into it.
I was hesitant about this one because I’ve never really played a turn based crpg but I’m glad I actually gave in and tried it. This game is quality on a level we have not seen in an extremely long time.
I kind of feel the fact it is turn based is what makes this kind of game possible
@@jsgames6843Yep turn based is perfect for D&D content its a match made in heaven.Becuase most gamer that grew up playing D&D can relate so much to the character, and creatures in game. I hope Larian Studios keeps putting out more content for this and treat every new release like a new D&D campagn map you would pick up at the hobby store. The content would be endless.
@@stannistargaryen I just want a drizzt rpg. I feel like it'd make for an awesome gaming franchise. Especially if it had a mix of sekiro and ff16 combat with the depth of bg3.
@@jsgames6843 Well we will have to wait and see what direction they decide to go if any.
@@stannistargaryen I'm not talking about larian in my last comment I just meant in general with dnd and forgotten realms in particular. I feel like so many forgotten realms stories would make great games.
You know what though? I dont care. I dont care if larian made crpgs for long time or whatever else. They delivered a game of the century type of game because they thought of the people,the players first. Blizzard for example with the gazillions of dollars they have they simply dont care. They will be judged. Larian is a shining light
Ill change your title "Baldurs Gate 3 is exaclty what AAA gaming USE to be" Its threateing to them that a game like this can be made and enjoyed and should absolutely be the bar and the standard for high value prudcution gaming studios. This isnt a new bar or even a new standard. This is quality that use to be the norm and Baldurs Gate reminds gamers that there is a couple studios out there willing to stick to the old tradition of a completed, feature complete video game with no money grabbing tricks. A game that is a pefect example worth a $70 dollar price tag.
I haven't been this excited for an rpg since kotor!
This game is exactly what I've wanted.
i wasn't a big star wars fan when kotor came out, so i can't say i was that excited. but it's an awesome game, it still made it to second place after BG2 for me, until minecraft pushed it down to third place. honestly, it made me into some weird type of star wars fan who never really liked the movies.
i can imagine your excitement for kotor, and i'm also just as excited now :) 25GB to go...
Skill and technology might have been big contributors to the game, but I think passion might be what drove it.
An absolute masterpiece! One of the best games of all time 🎉
I was playing early access and I was sad when I hit the limits. This game is very good and has me hooked. Eat your heart out Diablo.
D4 is doing just fine....
The trend that needs to stop with most major game studios, is the studio laying oof their developers after a game launches, Larian kept their team mostly intact over multiple games of the same type. Developers sure can follow the same thing Larian did if they actually kept their team and segments each team by skillset, like this team is for RPG's, this other team is for shooters ...etc ..also stick with a game engine that works the best for each team.
If you have been following this game for the last three years- you know this game was obviously a labor of love. This shows what artist can do when they aren't limited by profit models. It's an example of what gaming could be like if we can manage to expunge all the dirty, greedy crooks!
YES!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
@BellularNews Interesting that you mention experience and technology, since D4 is showing copypasted code in places where it doesn't fit the MMO-lite genre that it was launched as, and design-decisions have repeatedly been very disappointing.
It's like a lot of development-decisions were focused on shortcuts to rush the product out the door, and design-decisions are hugely affected by people just out of college with no real experience yet.
This game has been amazing so far and looks to have a massive amount of replay ability. Just wait until mods start coming out for this game.
Easily game of the year and people will be playing for the next ten years.
While it certainly can be done. I, as someone that dabbled into possibly modding the game myself, feel sorry for anyone trying to work with the code in this game. It works sure, but man is it a huge pile of spaghetti to sift through
I really appreciate the success Swen and Larian Studios are having these days. They have had a bumpy road to where they are at today, and it is only because of great sacrifice and stubbornness that they didn't go bankruppt and withered out in the sand before DOS:1. If they hadn't done Kickstarter during development of DOS:1, and ditching established publishers and investors we probably wouldn't have seen this game. So thank you Swen and Larian Studios for believing in your dreams, and beeing stubborn. I salute you. 🥰And thank you all that supported Kickstarter for DOS 1 and 2, and bought early access to BG3 to ensure this masterpiece could be born. 🥰
Larian is the new AAA, every other studio has been degraded to AA, but that would be unfair to actual amazing AA's, so they'll be downgraded to a single A, and that A is not for graphics, nor mechanics or audio, but an A grade towards predatory sales practices.
I hate that other studios/devs are making excuses for why their game can't be this good.
Yes maybe Larian was specifically well positioned to make a great game but that doesn't excuse anyone else to churn out dogs*** level games.
If you're mega company with infinite cash maybe you deserve to lose money on crap games until you figure out how to delivery a quality product.
Deliver your best effort, or don't charge me 60€ and call it a AAA high quality game.
It's okay to release a 15-20 hour well crafted game and charge me 20€, it's not okay to make something awful and blame xyz and charge people AAA tier prices.
Current peak players is now 593,788. Safe to say this has been a very successful launch for Larian Studios.