Why devs consider Baldur’s Gate 3 anomaly, not new standard for RPG genre: “It’s Rockstar-level nonsense for scope” | Game World Observer
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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.
  • dog@suppo.fiEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    All this says is that large game studios don’t see anything but money.

    Game development should be about making the best product you can. It isn’t about getting paid 200 million for “development” costs.

    Indies know this, and large game companies are A F R A I D. So when someone makes a product that’s good, and it threatens their model of minimal effort/maximum profit, they start making hitpieces like this.

    Customers do not decide what games you make. Quit game development if you think we set the bar.

    Customers choose the best product for their time, and I’m sorry, if that’s Baldur’s Gate 3 tier standards, and you can’t as an AAA studio with 10000 employees make as good of a product, that’s on your lack of skill. Stop crying, git gud.

  • Fubar91@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I don’t know a single person nor do I think most people would hold small studios and indie devs to the same level as Larian, which has 400 people working on BG3.

    What’s embarrassing is the AAA devs making excuses, trying to use this concept as an excuse for half backed lackluster AAA releases. When most of them have released great games in the past. Most of which likely isn’t even the individual devs (people) fault, but rather their corporate leaders and shareholders pushing for quick profits. Which has resulted in a toxic release environment.

    People will hold devs accountable, and they should.

  • naclis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I wonder if it is really about an insurmountable scope from years of development–or is that just a red herring on the fact that a lot of developers, particularly in the AAA range, have just forgotten how to make games actually fun to play that caters to their demographics rather than casting a web to the common denominators?

  • ono@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Also, frankly, even the concept of a “baseline” is a damaging concept.

    This is all a bit alarmist, isn’t it? My baseline is a sensible user interface, responsive controls, and fun. Very high-budget games from the biggest studios have come and gone (often failing those modest criteria) yet my baseline remains the same. Having experienced the epics doesn’t raise my expectations or damage my opinion of the less advantaged ones.

    Or to put it another way, I’ve been lucky enough to have a few very impressive multi-course meals, yet I still love a good taco.

  • Chailles@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I don’t think I understand why it even needed to be mentioned. The type of person who is going to dismiss a game purely because it doesn’t live up to another game isn’t the kind of person who is going to take this advice to heart.

    And no matter the costs to make a game, it’s not going to stop people from trying to make a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 anyways. Just look at any game that tried to copy Skyrim. It’s a very highly specialized game in a very well known franchise and takes several years to make, often longer than most development periods for other studios.

    • SuperLogica@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I think I agree with you - I don’t understand why it needed to be said.

      It’s kind of condescending to both their own customers and those of Baldur’s Gate 3 that they feel they need to explain that different games are different 🙄

      Also, whilst I may be in a minority on this, I’m primarily rating a game on its story and gameplay (obviously I’d also like it not to be as buggy as hell). Since all games should be starting on an even footing with that (you need at least 1 creative human brain), you can’t blame studio size. There are plenty of great games with small budgets. And plenty of crap games with big budgets.

      I like that you’ve mentioned Skyrim - part of its success (and longevity) has been the ecosystem of mods that built up around it. But I think we all understand that not every game develops this same ecosystem, and we don’t need that explained to us in Twitter threads, just like we didn’t need it explaining to us how budgets work.

  • Hairyblue@kbin.social
    01·
    1 year ago

    I’ve been a fan of Larian since Divinity 1 because there was a lot of quality for that little game. And they stepped it up for Divinity 2. Divinity 2 looks so good, has great story telling, great voice acters, and many different ways to do things and styles of play, i.e. choice. So I bought the EA version of the game as soon as it was available because I felt I had a relationship with Larian and could trust they would make a great game. And Larian when up a many steps with the quality and dept of this game. They listen to the EA players and had many changes and improvements. It wasn’t a mechanism for microtransactions but a great game with dizzying choices. The game was made with passion and obliously a work of love. AAA developers should take note of why this company is successful. Gamers don’t want microtransactions, NFTs, small games that you have to buy the expansion to get the whole story.

    Larian Studios will deserve their fame this game will bring them. Hey AAA developers, look at how it done.

    We have a Baldur’s Gate 3 community in the Fediverse. Come join us.
    @baldurs_gate_3