> 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.

AAA game labels spend billions on producing mediocre quality bullshit sequels just to maximize revenue predictability rather than quality, originality or artistic value. That's their choice.

This is one of those games that I would have chewed on all summer back when I didn’t have responsibilities to tend to.

To those who might consider themselves “well-rounded” with careers and families and sports etc. Does that magic and sense of free time to dig deep into something ever come back?

I'm still not convinced it's worthy of the Baldur's Gate name. I'll wait for the actual reviews.

Also, there is such a thing as too big a game. I've played some great games lately that could have used being 30-50% shorter.

>Diablo IV senior designer Chris Balser also agreed with Nelson Jr., saying that it is important to remember that not all studios operate under the same conditions. He compared Baldur’s Gate 3 to Ultima VII, the favorite RPG of Larian founder Swen Vincke — “that’s a game that had 12 years of prior games feeding into it.”

So does Diablo IV. I understand this sentiment for smaller studios, but from Activision Blizzard? Blizzard DOES have the ability to put in the effort, so I am just going to ignore Chris Basler entirely here.

Is this a joke?

Larian Studios makes good games, but by no means are they a "gold" standard.

The Divinity series has a very interesting take on the RPG genre that's not to everyone's liking. And their world-building chops so far are somewhat lacking, compared to the original Baldur's Gate series.

It's also going to be interesting how faithful it is to the mechanics of D&D, and whether Larian again will make a game where you have to scrape by every right, rather than feeling like a powerful RPG character.

Kind of silly that before the game is even released, competitors are calling foul that the game is going to be “too good”. Seems like cope to me.

> Two previous games, Divinity: Original Sin and Original Sin II, “worth of tech and institutional knowledge to draw from”;

Divinity: Original Sin was one of the best games I've ever played. I don't game much these days but that one sucked me in hard.

I tried playing other CRPGs (Divinity was my introduction to them) to fill the void but they didn't have the fun combat that Divinity did (Path of Exile) or were very story focused (Planescape: Torment, I would have def loved this one if I was younger and had the time).

>Two previous games, Divinity: Original Sin and Original Sin II, “worth of tech and institutional knowledge to draw from”

I wish there were more games like the 1st Divinity Original Sin. Personally one of the best humour and writing in a game I'v ever played. Very laid back and down to earth, and not taking itself very seriously (considering the fantasy cRPG genre)

Original Sin 2 is good, actually better, but it's more mature and more dark, totally changed the tone from the first game

Both Divinity games already set the standard for cRPG, Larian Studios basically solved cRPG.

Indie devs that try something entirely different with the RPG genre will have a shot.

AAA studios have ZERO excuses, some studios like Bethsesda & Rockstar did what Larian is doing decades ago on their own genre and they still are reaping the fruit of this strategy.

I have to admit that I can't imagine competitors like Ubisoft pulling this off even if the life of the business depended on it

To AAA studios: yes, I will compare your products to the new standard so if you try to make a similar game try to be up to the challenge

To smaller studios: if you can't compete with scope, try bringing something new to the table. Isn't it your role as indie?

lmao, big name AAA names saying, please dont rate us against this, they have 400 people and 7 years!

Then diablo4 credits almost 10k people in making it, and although a fun game, feels like its basically still in beta with all the basic features its missing.

Undoubtedly, this is a new standard for this old stale mold. Let us all rejoice. Hallelujah.

Its worth calling out this article what it really smells like it is: native advertising.

> James Berg, senior technical program manager for accessibility at Xbox, noted that the amount of dev effort put into Baldur’s Gate 3 could equal 2-3 other games in the RPG genre combined. “It’s Rockstar-level nonsense for scope. Only a few studio groups could even try this.”

This is serious, devastatingly sad levels of cope. This is one of the three most valuable companies on the planet, who just blew almost $70 billion dollars on the largest acquisition in video gaming history, comparing Baulders Gate to Rockstar, a company with over 5,000 employees making literally the most expensive games on the planet. Oh, fun fact though, Halo Infinite is also, easily, a top 5 most expensive game ever made; I bet James Berg doesn't want to remind you of that.

If the people at Larian take offense at statements like James', its justified. James, and many of the other devs/people in the replies, are essentially saying "oh its resources, I mean they've got such a structural advantage in making such a good game, it can't be skill, it can't be an intense and unique alignment of mindset and goals, its just money!".

Let's see how many other ways game developers can say "we have visionless leadership":

> Diablo IV senior designer Chris Balser also agreed with Nelson Jr., saying that it is important to remember that not all studios operate under the same conditions. He compared Baldur’s Gate 3 to Ultima VII, the favorite RPG of Larian founder Swen Vincke — “that’s a game that had 12 years of prior games feeding into it.”

I am LOSING my mind at the cringe from these game designers. Previously never before seen levels of excuse-making and cope. Let me check my notes here... Oh! Right! Diablo 1 was released in 1996! Diablo 4 definitely didn't have, checks calculator, 27 years of prior games feeding into it, let alone ELEVEN years of evolution and refinement in the previous game alone... which Blizzard basically threw out the window. (to be clear, D4 is a fine game, but there's a lot of very genuine criticism that they forgot most of what they learned with D3).

> Obsidian Entertainment design director Josh Sawyer noted that “having the foundation set and the funding to build things on your own terms is invaluable.”

Well, if Xbox not releasing a single good game in, like, four+ years didn't have you concerned for Avowed before, seems like Josh is trying to tell us that we should be. Three responses from people within Xbox Game Studios (technically!). I mean, I'm not one for identifying patterns where there may not be one, but... Xbox hasn't released a hit, exceedingly well reviewed game since... I don't even know. Flight Sim is a mainstay. Maybe Ori in 2020? Minecraft has the strongest back in the history of business, singularly keeping tens of thousands of people employed.

See, I think Rockstar is gonna keep making awesome games. Whatever Naughty Dog and SSM make next will be awesome. Nintendo? Physically incapable of making bad games, they can't do it. CDPR? They screwed up, but they still make incredible games. Its no wonder that its all the Xbox people hopping in to these threads. If there is a structural difference between Larian and other game developers, that difference is Passion, and that's it; and that speaks volumes more about Xbox and the other devs in that thread than it does about Larian. Go find a mirror, and make better games; market economics won't feel the pity you're so hoping to make us feel.

this is some lovely dark marketing, an innocent insider conversation, prompted by a single developer, Xalavier Nelson Jr., who might or might not have been encouraged by Larian marketing team, gets blown up into a narrative piece by a literally who game news sweatshop. the narrative here is that "the game is so good, how can other games compete", as a concern troll, communicated by the developers of lesser games themselves. so bold as to be comedic! much respect to Dominik Warkiewicz.

Weird that it's called Baldur's Gate 3 when it has basically nothing to do with BG 1 and 2. If they really wanted to use the Baldur's Gate name for easy publicity they should've gone the Dark Alliance route and added a subtitle to set it apart. Now it just seems like a low effort, audience alienating cash grab. And really, they couldn't make a high tier epic level adventure for the God of Murder to go on? They had to pick up a tiny encounter in SoA and base an entire game on it? That's like writing The Lord of the Rings part 4 and making it all about Elfhelm's adventures.

I explicitly set aside time for it, and track video games along with other things on my todo list.

This may seem counter-productive and like it might ruin the fun, but the opposite turned out to be true. Since free time is finite now (and arguably always was), it helps to get the most out of a game, prioritize which games I really want to play, and what I expect to get out of the experience.

It doesn't. You got old.

Either you decide that it's a hobby worthy of your time and MAKE time between your other responsibilities (or remove some of them) or you make peace with the fact that you don't really care that much about this hobby and that you're done with it.

Not for me. After going through the Switch (perfectly designed for people like me, by being a main console that's also portable), the Steam Deck (finally being able to play those Windows games on Linux, _and_ take it with me), and a few of those Chinese portable emulators like the RG35XX (maybe if I play the games I already love? ...), I finally admit defeat.

It wasn't the games, or even the time, it was my age. That's gone now, and I'm finally admitting it to myself.

I think the grown up version of gaming is coding. It's tackles the things I enjoyed, but in a more mature way.

Not to the same degree, no, but between a Switch and a Steam Deck I'm able to actually chew through my backlog today. I am no longer a completionist but I'm at least able to experience games again. FWIW, I've got 4 year old twins, an 18 month old, a full-time+ job, a spouse I love spending time with, and a small set of hobbies that I engage with daily or weekly; I'm busy. The Steam Decks killer feature is it's sleep mode, which lets you effectively pause any game at any state and seamlessly resume it on wake (Switch has the same feature).

Occasionally.... for me it I seem to get more hooked on a good story line than any specific gameplay. It's more like reading a good book with an awesome plot. The last game I spent a long time on was God of War - PC.

Also, getting older and having more responsibility typically means you become wiser. I no longer want to waste that much time gaming. I'm good with a few hours a week. There are so many better uses of time that I have. I've got outdoor hobbies like mountain biking that take priority over screen time. I spend 40hrs a week doing work on a screen and have a hard time feeling good about MORE screen time when I get home.

I think this is just something that changes over time. Could I spend every single waking moment of my life (aside from work) playing Zelda? Sure, I guess. Will I? Nah. Not because I can't, but because as I grew up I realised there are more important things to experience in life other than 24/7 escapism. I will still play and enjoy it, just not in the extreme way that I would if I was still a teenager.

Ending my career was the best choice I made last year

Absolutely. We don't have kids tho. A few times a year a game comes up when I have to explain to my wife that I'm going to need some more time for myself for a week, I go less to the gym during that time, maybe I don't go out for the weekend and house chores get left behind a bit. Then I binge something for 30 hours for a week and then dial back

It depends how you define that magic & sense.

I definitely have to pick & choose which games I delve into more carefully. I basically only play 10/10 new games & classics now.

Also, if given a choice between a 5-7h game, and a 15-20h game I'll pick the shorter one.

Then I also set time aside in my weekly calendar to game. I try to have it be a mindful, rather than mindless activity.

Nope

Once I did the maths on how many Sunday afternoons I have left (if I live a median lifespan) I found it really hard to spend much time on videogames, sadly.

> Does that magic and sense of free time to dig deep into something ever come back?

Cut down on tv series and your gaming time suddenly shows up :)

yeah, sometimes. there is always something nagging "you should be doing X", where X is cleaning the gutters, or rebalancing the checkbook, etc. but sometimes you get excited enough that it drowns out the nag.

but it'll never be like being in 8th grade and playing starcraft until your eyes bleed, and then hanging out that the pool; repeat.