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It's that time of the year again. After Elden Ring's 22 release and devs being salty of its success, now it seems some are already going on the defensive against Baldur's Gate 3

Why devs consider Baldur’s Gate 3 anomaly, not new standard for RPG genre: “It’s Rockstar-level nonsense for scope” | Game World Observer

A few weeks prior to its launch, Baldur’s Gate 3 looks like one of the most promising RPGs in recent memory. However, some devs are urging players not to rate all other games in the genre by such a high standard, appealing to Larian Studios’ unique combination of vast experience and resources.

gameworldobserver.com

Imagine these replies. Josh Sawyer from Obsidian entertainment! Why didn't he make a game of that scope after Pillars of Eternity was done and the engine was known? Since he's got Microsoft funding now i hope he can make a masterpiece for his next project! Apparently that's all you need.

ToTK DLC narrative transpires in that last tweet. BG3's easy because they had the DOS2 done, hell, Sven loves Ultima 7, and that game had 12 years of previous titles feeding into it! SEE? RECIPE IS EASY!

In the meantime, AAA devs have been working on the same foundation baseline since PS3 roughly. Barely any progress in any genres. What's their excuse?

Imagine being threatened by Larian. The studio was small and indie-like not even that many years ago. Much like From Software being thought of as a niche Japanese developer pre-Souls.
Sven worked his fucking soul into that studio. This ain't no fucking ubisoft recipe where they throw 700 peoples at the problem and hope for the best. If this game has the biggest scope of ANY cRPG in existence its because the studio worked for it. Baldur's Gate 3 ain't quick cash grab like the 15th Assassin's creed.

It looks fucking dire for most studios out there, they lost the plot.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Larian has been better than most developers for a long time. The success of DOS 1 & 2 shows this isn't an anomaly. Only difference is this time they are taking their same craftsmanship and applying it to a decades old beloved multimedia franchise. There have been plenty of DND videogames that fucking sucked and no one gave a shit about.

 

[Corian33]

I don’t know the entire history of Larian, but they made OS1 which was fun and decent enough but not a huge hit, then built on it with OS2 which blew up because it was an amazing game. That got them the resources and trust to make BG3 and instead of a lame cash grab reboot that ignored what people loved about the original games, it looks to be everything we ever wanted from a fantasy cRPG. They can raise the bar all they want, they deserve the credit.

 

[Shubh_C63]

If BG3 raised the standard which will be harder to meet by this developers then someone else will fill the shoes, simple.

Even if market ever crashes the consumer will still come out on top eventually because consumers are just not going away. Gaming market is huge.

 

[Filben]

They scared of a new benchmark (if they can deliver on quality as well)?

It's not like they made BG3 from nothing without any history before...

 

[Drizzlehell]

Meh. Nowhere near as spicy as a couple of individuals throwing childish tantrums about UX or whatever.

 

[balls of snow]

Thats why Im double dipping baby.

 

[balls of snow]

Larian has been better than most developers for a long time. The success of DOS 1 & 2 shows this isn't an anomaly. Only difference is this time they are taking their same craftsmanship and applying it to a decades old beloved multimedia franchise. There have been plenty of DND videogames that fucking sucked and no one gave a shit about.

Reminds me of cdpr jump from witcher 1 and 2 to witcher 3 which did raise the bar for open world rpgs to the point where an entire generation of assassins creed copied it.

 

[samoilaaa]

Reminds me of cdpr jump from witcher 1 and 2 to witcher 3 which did raise the bar for open world rpgs to the point where an entire generation of assassins creed copied it.

yeah and none of them got close to witcher 3 , story and voice acting felt like AI generated

 

[Fredrik]

I don’t even understand… They’re complaining that some devs has been around a long time and has been perfecting their underlying game systems over multiple titles?

 

[poodaddy]

Yo is that Doogie Howser?

 

[Guilty_AI]

Meh. Nowhere near as spicy as a couple of individuals throwing childish tantrums about UX or whatever.

Instead they're throwing tantrums over their own studios with decades of history, succesful titles and megacorp funds not having the base experience or IPs to pull this off

 

[Fabieter]

I wish larian all the best. Hopefully it will sell like 20m copies.

 

[AlteredForms]

Larian have been putting out absolute bangers in the form of Divinity: Original Sin I and II, I don't expect anything different from this release. They're a humble studio based out of Belgium for crying out a loud, I suppose for that reason I'm rooting for them due to being underdogs in the industry.

 

[Topher]

So these devs feel threatened by what they are seeing with BG3? That's what it sounds like.

 

[PisswasserYellow]

What a bunch of pussies.

 

[Fredrik]

Larian have been putting out absolute bangers in the form of Divinity: Original Sin I and II, I don't expect anything different from this release. They're a humble studio based out of Belgium for crying out a loud, I suppose for that reason I'm rooting for them due to being underdogs in the industry.

Yeah. And they’re squeezed up in between FF16 and Starfield. Not a comfortable position even if the Baldur’s Gate IP is big, or used to be. I saw a long gameplay video and the combat is spot-on, turn-based with position being a factor as well, I want all RPGs like that tbh.
Anyhow I’m trying to keep my schedule clean from big games up til Starfield so I’ll probably not play it until after that.

 

[acm2000]

wish i liked this style of rpg but i just cant do it, stick me in first person view and i'd smash the shit out of it tho

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

"don't compare our creations to the creations of our superiors, that isn't fair, raising the bar is problematic bawwwwww"

 

[Kilau]

So they are worried we might come to expect content in our games not just mindless filler?

 

[rofif]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Oh god, this couldn’t be any more cringe.

It’s good that developers are being pushed by gamers to do more and better. We are paying for these fucking games, make them good!

That one about Larian having the foundation from DOS? Kind of I guess, except BG3 is a whole new system with completely different combat and rules. Just comes off as salty.

 

[Solidus_T]

Thats why Im double dipping baby.

Same I'm getting a PC version and then a PS5 version for that sweet couch coop.

 

[Kilau]

Same I'm getting a PC version and then a PS5 version for that sweet couch coop.

Bear threesome?

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Lost all remaining respect that I had for Josh Sawyer.

Also BG3 was completely off my radar, I'm getting that game day one now.

What a bunch of buffoons.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

How the hell is any of this supposed to be considered salt? They're literally praising Larian for the insane amount of work they put into BG3.

Do any of you consider RDR2 the bare minimum of what a successful 3rd person game should be? Are the horse testicles really that important to you?

 

[MidGenRefresh]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

Generic in what sense? It's set in Dungeons & Dragons universe. It's as iconic as it can be. Do you mean that it's so iconic and was copied so many times that to someone who don't know any better it might appear as generic?

 

[diffusionx]

NOOO YOU CANT HOLD OUR GAME TO THE STANDARDS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SAME GENRE ITS NOT FAIR NOOOOOO

 

[rofif]

Generic in what sense? It's set in Dungeons & Dragons universe. It's as iconic as it can be. Do you mean that it's so iconic and was copied so many times that to someone who don't know any better it might appear as generic?

well... yeah

 

[Katatonic]

Bahahaha wrong thread.

 

[Fuz]

So they are worried we might come to expect content in our games not just mindless filler?

 

[Mitsurugi Reiji]

Josh's games are exceptional same as Larian.. Why are you supporting this fluff Josh :\

 

[Fuz]

completely different combat

 

[killatopak]

Dunno about all this hostility. Shouldn't games be of this caliber be something to aspired on instead of being attacked?

 

[Mister Wolf]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

If you bought the early access version today it would be the best game you've played all year.

 

[Wildebeest]

I guess the fact that RPG developers are not intimidated by the huge budget of Final Fantasy or Cyberpunk means they don't really consider them to be RPGs or a competitor in the RPG space. Interesting.

 

[moniker]

Larian's success(es) is entirely by their own doing. It's not like they lucked out - they've put in the work.

 

[Fuz]

Removed because pointless and partially incorrect.

 

[Solidus_T]

Bear threesome?

Of course. That only makes couch coop more spicy

 

[amigastar]

Latians success(es) is entirely by their own doing. It's not like they lucked out - they've put in the work.

Exactly, now lets hope they will continue on this success story with their upcoming games.

 

[semiconscious]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

when it comes to highly anticipated major releases, sometimes i wonder if this's even relevant anymore...

 

[Dr_Salt]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

What is antiquates about the game exactly? Is it because we aren't shooting stuff in FP?

 

[Gorgon]

I understand the comments and agree when it comes to smaller devs. But when we're talking about devs like Obsidian, a studio with such a pedigree, now bought by MS and now a studio with supposedly (according to themselves) AAA budgets, there's simply no excuse. We certainly should judge in those cases. And maybe the cold reception to that dissapointing Avowed trailer didn't help.

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

As I said in other threads, the art direction feels like something out of a Korean MMO. It's the only thing about the game that puts me off. But then again, they always had that kind of art direction. If you're refering to the isometric tactical gameplay, well, that has been arounf since forever and never went away, and I don't consider it antiquated in way.

Generic in what sense? It's set in Dungeons & Dragons universe. It's as iconic as it can be. Do you mean that it's so iconic and was copied so many times that to someone who don't know any better it might appear as generic?

D&D is iconic, yes. It's also for the most part generic as fuck and always has been outside of a few settings. Forgotten Realms being one of the most generic but not the "worse" in that sense. Nothing wrong with that, but for some it doesn't cut it, which is fine too. However, if you look at the classic art for Forgotten Realms, especially Larry Elmore's iconic illustrations from back in the 80s and 90s, there's a world of difference between that and what we see in BG3. It's not surprising, because D&D since 3rd ed (and Pathfinder etc) has taken a more similar art direction to what we see in BG3 then we had before that. 5th edition is full of this kind of cartoonish cum anime fantasy illustrations. No wonder the OSR counter-movement in D&D circles took off back in the 2000s and is going strong to this day.

Anyway, none of this is an actual problem, but for older geezers growing up on art by Elmore, Buscema, Frazetta, etc, BG3 is hardly appealing. BG3 does seem amazing otherwise, and my most anticipated title of 2023. Probably my GOTY.

 

[Killer8]

Tall poppy syndrome.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Sounds like Outer Worlds 2 will be as bland and forgettable as the first one.

 

[Puscifer]

but is it good?
It's an antiquated style of game that looks generic af at that

Someone never played Divinity 2 and it shows, the amount of freedom you got in builds to trying to figure out puzzles was awesome.

 

[rofif]

Someone never played Divinity 2 and it shows, the amount of freedom you got in builds to trying to figure out puzzles was awesome.

I never liked these games.
The one that clicked with me was icewind dale 2. It was excellent.
I never could get into neverwinter nightrs or baldurs gate

 

[moniker]

Sounds like Outer Worlds 2 will be as bland and forgettable as the first one.

But they have "tech and institutional knowledge to draw from" now, so it should be as good as anything Larian puts out!

 

[Puscifer]

I never liked these games.
The one that clicked with me was icewind dale 2. It was excellent.
I never could get into neverwinter nightrs or baldurs gate

Give it a try, it's XCOM with magic

 

[LRKD]

Most modern devs are so incompetent it's insane.