Developers Say Baldur's Gate 3 Is An Anomaly
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2023
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Good video. Looks like you're back from vacation. Wanted to say, consider getting a pop filter for your microphone. Your videos are really good, a pop filter would help the audio to be just a small bit more perfect. Anyway, keep up the good work.
A triple-A game made by passionate, competent and creative people.
It sure is an anomaly.
+1
so much this
Thats cuz larian is essentially an indie studio with pretty deep pockets no? So no one can tell them what to do? They technically arent triple A but have that quality
@@northpaw5416 Then competent devs should stop hiding behind a studio/publisher and follow the same path. Kickstarter and early access is accessible to anyone.
I do belive that most Devs in the AAA gaming industries are competent, creative and passionate. I'm sure it is mostly problem of funding and CEO/Investors not wanting to take any risks (very similar with music nowdays). Larian is a studio full of complete nerds with a complete nerd king as a CEO (nerd in a very positive sense ofc). They are something special , but they shouldnt be.
Larian: *Puts out an amazing work of art with passion and dedication after 3 years of early access, without ripping all their customers off*
Rest of the Gaming industry: "We don't do that here."
Fully Agree! Larian is a beacon of light in the gaming industry! 😍🤩🥰
And if you consider that while Divinity: Original Sin 1+2 where awesome games, they also where pretty niche (hardcore) RPG. Still that company gets it managed to have 250+ employees. This happens when you invest into good employees instead of giving a CEO 200 million dollar or work mostly for shareholders. It is so horrible to watch these companies only beeing interested in making millions or billions on profit instead of investing the money into their employees. I see the same in other IT related companies here in germany that start to outsource more and more competencies and wonder why stuff is not working starting from language barrier, slowing down processes etc.
3 years of mugs playtesting their garbage
@@jurgen4466 That's so weird. I thought that was CDPR.
Gamers never learn.
@@VaultArchive72 to be fair CDPR acknowledged their shortcomings and have made incredible stride to fix cyberpunk 2077. Also, to pretend that the Witcher 3 and its 2 expansions just shouldn't be considered is asinine. I'm willing to bet after their humiliation with the poor release of cyberpunk their next title will only be released when they feel it has met a level of quality that you would need to nitpick issues from.
When your game is so good it makes other devs terrified to publish in the same genre
Larian is shockingly responsive to the community and they love to show their passion. In DOS2, they brought in mod makers and made official content WITH them. It feels like you are in a small part partnered with them.
Its pretty amazing what is possible in the gaming landscape when your focus is on making a good game rather than focusing on how much money you can put into your own pockets.
Divinity original sin:2 was the game that brought me into Larian's games. And what a great studio.
Larian's attention to detail and quality should be the industry standard all game developers should aspire to be. The fact other developers are saying we shouldn't hold them to the same standard tells many of us they're concerned about their profit margins on games they spit out with far less thoughtfulness and passion.
I backed Divinity Original Sin on Kickstarter when Larian was looking to step up what their games could be. It was worth it. They've operated with the same model of early access, open presentation of progress with their fans and backers, and incorporating feedback they get to produce a better game each time. First with D:OS, then DOS2, and now with BG3.
Not saying that every studio has to do that. But Larian has repeatedly and consistently showed what Early Access is *meant* to be , as well as showing the care, love, and respect in their end products.
If people are looking for the next Larian they should look at Iron Tower Studio who are making Colony Ship. Made in the classic Fallout mold the game is looking and playing good.
As an older gentleman, Larian feels like a throwback to a time when game companies were just game companies, not like the multinational media conglomerates they are today. There are so few big independent studios left. You're either a small indie studio or a subsidiary of a huge corp like Microsoft or the Embracer Group. What these AAA devs are saying without directly saying is that they really don't have autonomy to make good games. They answer to shareholders, not gamers.
I too am a older gentleman and completely agree. I had the same thought. I miss the days at game events where the game developers were just regular people showing off what they made. Now it’s just a bunch of sterile, corporate suits, trying to trick you out of your money.
Absolutely correct with regards to shareholder value being the main driver of corporate priorities - not the consumer (or the employees). This version of capitalism is eroding performance & initiative in multiple industries, not just gaming.
its not the developers that are causing this, majority of them are very passionate about their creations, its the publisher that is driving the greed. Larian publishes their own games, its why it takes several years for them to release a game, so they really do not have an outside entity apply pressure. Bioware, once the gem of the RPG world, has EA breathing down their necks, to release a game every 4 years, which causes incredible crunch times, haphazard Q&A, and overall shoddy releases. You can also see this phenomenon with Diablo 4. The game was not ready for release, yet they HAD to release the game in this quarter (there is an entire 5th teir they had to drop because of shareholder interests) and the end game is rather aimless. What they have for endgame is underwhelming, despite it being so promising.
I sympathize to a point but these days the opportunity is there to just leave. Join a smaller team or form one yourself and work on something you can be passionate about. Christ these days even indies with no publisher backing can get their games onto the consoles and as for the PC platform, if you build it and it is good then they will come. The one caveat is that it's been this way for a while now so the bar is actually raised incredibly high.
@@JohnnyMaverik Yeah I don't feel bad for devs at these big AAA corps. They choose to stay put and contribute to pumping out garbage
If AAA studios can't meet the same standards, what exactly is the point of their existence?
Well someone has to think of the shareholders and provide a vehicle for them be able to afford their next private jet or private island vacation home!
to buy Bobby Cockface a new yacht?
Exactly! The beautiful thing about it is the developers don't really get a say in the new benchmark standards...we as consumers do.
to bleed normies with micro$$$
There is none. Investing in crude oil is more productive than giving money to AAA devs.
It's simple... Larian adds a few things into their recipe... love, integrity, and respect for the players.
It's amazing what love, passion and care can do for your creations. Especially when you combine that with good working ethics and taking care of your employees. Happy and passionate employees work harder and produce better creations but these huge publishers are brain dead and think everyone is expendable and not human. Look at Arkane Austin and Redfall, after Prey 2017 most of the team left because they were forced to work on something they didn't want to make because Prey didn't sell to Bethesda's liking. The people who replaced them weren't the same talented passionate folk that came before them and it shows.
Most devs have that.
@@dancinginfernal No, most developers don't have that at all. Especially respect for the players.
@@VenomGamingCenter What have you done to earn respect aside from bitch and moan? If anyone doesn't respect you, it's the corporate fucking leaders who see you as a number to fill up their wallet. I don't think blaming fucking development teams helps anyone, and calling them disrespectful liars for telling you the reality of modern dev makes me wonder if even I, some fuckin guy, should bother respecting players if this is the behavior they're gonna put out in public lol. Put your ass into reality, these people don't serve you. Buy their creations or don't, but they're not your entertainment slave and they don't owe you jack shit.
Bug testing
Small indie studios like Blizzard and Microsoft can not be judged by the standards of giants like Larian - creators of such timeless classics like LED Wars and Beyond Divinity.
nobody said that, and yes if you don't give them 6 years they will not do the same thing as Larian. Many people complained that Bethesda will take 6+ years to make ESO6
@@ni9274 If Bethesda need 6+ years to put out a game that they can be proud of slapping their name on, then do it. Larian got shit thrown at them for the development time too if you follow the steam community update page.
@@ni9274 Bethesda will take 6 years and shit out a game that will be even more dumbed down than Skyrim was
@@ni9274Larian also had "6 years" but all of the tweeters and re-tweeters seem to be conveniently forgetting that this was also done during the COVID/lockdown years AND they had the war in Ukraine where one of their studios was located that meant having to move those staff/losing things from that studio.
I feel this should have also been mentioned in the video.
And the 4000 staff? They started with like...50, or something?
They grew as the game grew, they weren't just given 400 (I believe it's slightly under) right off the bat.
Also, they completely redesigned a fairly major characters including COMPLETELY redoing all of his voice work with an entirely new voice actor and this was all off the back of community feedback...name another triple AAA developer that would have done that simply because the community thought that character was a little boring.
@@KillaKingDL And companys complaining that larian had advantage of many years if EA testers ... WTF is preventing to you do the same LOL oh .. yeah that... if in other AAA games you want in EA .. that prob lasts only 1 week .... you need to buy the 200$ special edition xD
I also want to point out that having a successful Early Access period that generated cash flow wasn't anomalous. What made it successful was the constant communication and updates that allowed us to see that our feedback mattered (even stupid stuff like slapping people with salami). Too many developers just want to drop a single trailer once a year at a game conference (if that) and expect that it'll generate hype, whereas Larian openly admitted that they wanted to make the best product they could and asked for the community's help to make that happen. Admittedly, yes, Larian already had good will with the community and that helped them be able to charge full price for the game three years before its release, but if AAA companies would make that same commitment and offer the game at a reduced price for early access in order to foster trust (perhaps raising it at a tiered level as the release date drew nearer, thereby incentivizing early adoption), there's no reason that method couldn't work for them as well. They just need to humble themselves. Think of how much free advertising that Larian got from word of mouth discussions about the improvements in EA; less money spent on advertising means that more can go into the actual game. There's also the fact that Larian strives to over-deliver. Even for those of us who have played the EA more times than we can count, Larian has about thirty percent more content so that we still get the sense of novelty and exploration on our first real playthrough. I could continue, but in short, you're absolutely right. This should absolutely be the new standard for AAA companies.
yeah the constant updates is really where the early access thrived, that and you know...the game that wasn't even finished yet had an ACT 1 that had more depth and care put into it than what most games, even those made by AAA studios, achieve.
I do have to wonder why this topic is even a discussion? the game isn't even out yet and people in the industry are already trying to weisel themselves out of responsibility. Like can we not wait till the game comes out and someone tries to compare it to your game launch?
You nailed it with 'humble themselves'. Spot on.
I've read that act one alone will have about 30% more content than EA version. If true, it really shows how much work was put into this game on top of updates to EA. I try not to hype myself up about games any more after what happened with CP2077, but there is a chance for Larian to take CD Project Red spot as the most trusted and loved studio in the industry if BG3 is as good as people who played the full version say it is. I hope it is as genre defining as Witcher 3 was to action RPG's and that it indeed puts a new benchmark for other AAA studios.
Exactly they did streams people wanted to watch and probably pay money to be there live. They knew what their target audience was and how to reach them.
This is very true, Baldur's gate 3 doesn't have a massive advertisement campaign like Diablo 4 had for example, yet they are top-selling on steam.
Larian are such ballers that they are dunking on the rest of the industry just by being better than all of them😂
They are a bunch of gamers making a game they want to play. Sadly that level of passion is rare these days
This is the way.
now it's up to gamers to support that with good sales
or they ignore good stuff and keeps whining at problems they create in the first place instead of enjoying good games for once...
@@SpecShadow Given that it was a top seller on Steam for a bit there, while a sale was on (that BG3 wasn't a part of) and it hasn't even released properly yet, I'd say the support hasn't been too shabby.
Also really enjoyed Solasta. It’s the thought put in, where you can tell the studio team cared, that matters to me. Enjoy the fan created campaigns also. As an aside, would love to see a Forbidden Lands based rpg. Death is possible every session.
I think triple AAA should be targeting the bar that Larian set. One key difference though is that Sven, the CEO, the same role that Bobby Caudic has, is actively playing and developing the game. I think that is a key difference and the main reason why AAA companies will rarely if ever hit the bars that Larian has set. The people that have the power to direct the resources don’t because they are disconnected from the actual game.
That is a problem in modern corporate culture that far too often so does the CEO have no clue about what the product that corporation produces. It's also very obvious that when a CEO does have a clue, then that company does so well that the CEO tends to become the richest people in the world.
The CEO actually being invested and playing the game is a huge plus. Honestly CEO's should be fans of the work and play them as well. Square Enix just got a brand new ceo in June 2023 and the guy apparently is a FF14 addict lol
If they do that most people will cry cause they have to wait 6-10 years between games, and there is plenty AAA companies who do way better than larian
@@ni9274 There are more games made then there is time to play, so fewer but better games sounds great to me.
YES
Imagine seeing an incredible product and saying that your company just couldnt do that and people should understand
Not just that people should understand, but getting angry if they dare to expect the same.
We've been conditioned into this Marxist hellhole. Everything must be made equal.
@Thanatos2k no. They should give their money to them, anyways.
@@Thanatos2k How can you expect for someone to do the same in 3 years and with 100 devs when Larian has 6 years and 400 devs ?
They never said that
If BG3 launches in a stable and satisfying manner, then it absolutely should NOT be treated as an anomaly. It MUST be treated as the benchmark, the STANDARDS by which triple A development should be carried out.
Absolutely!
It should be the normal standard, too much garbage out there has made people forget
well, there is a trick for this, just market it as the first AAAAA game and see wat happends ;)
"Waaaah Don't let BG3 raise the bar. It isn't fair!" Pathetic cope. Lol.
Agreed. It's like how when WoW first came out and set the modern standard for MMOs. Creating new standards in the industry promotes growth and advancements.
You know you've made it when AAA devs are concerned that your game might shine a light on the sub-par quality of their work.
It is not that other games are "sub-par", it's just that not every game can be BG3. The developers are correct here. It is absolutely unrealistic to expect every high budget video game to set "new standards".
@@theobell2002 It's not about expecting every game to set a "new standard", it's about expecting quality. An incredible amount of AAA games in the past 5+ years have consistently failed to deliver on even the basic expectations of what a functional and enjoyable video game product should be. Diablo 4 is a prime example: the game is fine, and i'm enjoying it mostly, but from a company like Blizzard, with a track record (historically) of making extremely good games, "fine" is an absolutely tragic way to have to describe Diablo 4.
BG3 isn't an anomaly because of how good it is, it's an anomaly because of how bad AAA games have been recently. A LOT of AAA games pre-2010 had that same 'wow' factor that BG3 has, and to see this level of cope from current AAA devs because they can't - or won't - make games like that anymore absolutely warms my heart. Every time a game comes out that breaks the mold of rehashed trash that feels like it was made by a committee interested in creating a vehicle to sell microtransactions, and not by passionate and creative video game devs, we should all be rubbing it in the faces of the companies that serve up the usual slop that is supposed to constitute video games in 2023.
Larian is showing that the model of 'just make good video games and people will pay for them' is still actually viable, and if that makes the people who choose not to do that mad? Good.
@@theobell2002 Just say you like mediocrity and move on son
@@theobell2002 Dont set new standards but at least hit the standards that are already set by good existing works. I excuse smaller teams but the Blizzards and Ubisoft's and Bethesda's of the world have no excuse!
@@theobell2002 How absurd of a take. Larian Studios has not been a AAA studio for very long whereas blizzard has been one for 20 years and has only given us trash recently.
You can have all the money in the world and a huge number of employees and still fumble the ball. Larian took a chance releasing BG3 full price on Early Access. When it was released it was janky but you could feel the passion they had. Then listening to them talk about the game you could see that they had so much passion for their creation. They treated their fans with respect and created a game people wanted. You can't say that about most AAA studios.
It's so disappointing to hear these responses from AAA devs. How can we as gamers have confidence in these companies if they're just straight up telling us they don't want to bring games of this quality to table? Not every game has to be revolutionary, but achieving a high quality standard should be something to aim for
AAA basically telling you: "Don't ask questions. Just consume product and get excited for next product."
All we gotta do is stop throwing money at AAA. That's all we gotta do.
it's crazy it almost seems like good working conditions and liberty to your employees let you keep your talents and do good games when you're not a shitty greedy CEO actually working as any employee too, interested in what you're actually doing
Very weird that developers would even bring this up in the first place, you're right. The sentiment is atleast somewhat understandable from indie devs, although I still think extremely misguided, but truly baffling from AAA devs. Larian is showing what the game industry COULD look like, and in doing so are unintentionally shining a light on its current disgusting state.... So I guess it's not surprising that all the leeches that populate the industry now and have helped ruin it don't like that light shining in their face all of a sudden.
So much yes.
Lmao, how are most game devs leeches? Who are they leeching off of? The publishers who fund the games? It can't be gamers, because game devs don't see much from game sales. Larian is one of the few studios that can self-fund their games, most game devs have to answer to the publishers and actual people that are paying their salaries. They don't have anywhere near the amount of freedom that Larian does.
Most AAA studios don’t have the freedom that Larian has, so I kind of get where these developers are coming from. There so many external factors at play for most AAA developers. In other words whatever amazing game they want to make rarely survives its encounter with the corporate drive to maximize profits.
I'm inclined to agree with mostly everything said! That aside, I do understand why developers witnessing the triumphant finale of what will most likely go down as one of the greatest RPG's, if not potentially the greatest RPG ever made! Are a tad anxious that, this may become the new standard through which there product is judged! It should be taken as a challenge in my opinion rather than a fear, but then again, that's like expecting every NBA player to play at the same level of MJ! Larian form since Divinity 2, have shown that they have the unique talents & traits to become a truly phenomenal game studio on the same level of Rockstar! To live up to that level shouldn't be imposed on any dev, even triple A ones (who should be taking notes regardless), because there are a few who will for multiple reasons & innate raw talent rise to the top of their craft & be in a category near exclusive to themselves; just the nature of the game!
I'm actually stunned the AAA devs actually thought they could say this. It's like an olympic sprinter going on camera and saying we can't expect them to run fast because Usain Bolt exists. I get that the suits in the companies make it difficult for the devs to put out a polished game rather than broken micro transaction heavy garbage. All the AAA studios rather go for quick cash grabs rather than a good game after all. But that doesn't mean the devs shouldn't be aiming for the highest standard regardless. They are basically telling us that they aren't even going to try and that we should be satisfied with mediocrity.
It's kind of hard to not call it an anomaly. Many of the reasons why have been covered many times. I'd like to add, when was the last time a company moved up the release date? In my opinion, that is incredibly significant.
I feel like the guys at Larian have a personal pride in what they are doing.
If you take it to just today, Yes, it is an anomaly.
Problem is, if you go back to 15 or 20 years in the past, revolutionating (or at least significantly improving) the video game industry was the standard. And sometime made a video gaming revolution for the joke of it, like Dune 2 (1992), the father of all Real Time Strategy game, who was made because at the time, people thought that the strategy game genre was a dead end, and the little guys at Westwood Studio said "Hold my beer". Without Dune 2, you wouldn't have any Starcraft, Warcraft (and so no WoW either, as the original game wouldn't exist), League of Legend... All because a studio said "fuck that shit, let's do it!"
That's the deal, it shouldn't be an anomaly if you're at the top of the actual game developement studios, it should be the norm. The fact that it as become an anomaly is, in fact, the biggest thing you should question: why as it become, and why should it stay like that?
@@xIQ188x Pure capitalism doesn't exist because it is always corrupted by the human condition. It is the same for communism. They are two ends of a spectrum of human "ideals" that never bear fruit because of the flawed nature of humanity. Actually, games like BG3 would be more common if pure capitalism existed because the entire concept of capitalism is free enterprise to provide the best goods and services based off of demand. What always happens is human greed takes over and as the push for profits increase, the quality of the product decreases. Eventually, there is push-back and there are course corrections, but it is like a seesaw.
If you look at Larian, they are a private company that isn't beholden to increasing shareholder profits if it was publicly traded. Therefore, that is why you get a game like BG3. They can focus on making a great product for a profit, but not focus on maximizing profits with the pressure of outside influence.
@@xIQ188x Larian is also a for-profit studio, the broader economic model isn't the problem. It's stupid, short-sighted business leadership on the part of the AAA studios that think they should put profits over quality, even though games like BG3 and TotK prove that quality still brings in the big bucks.
Very wary of pre-orders and Early Access games, but the two divinity games were so much fun I wanted to support Larian on BG3 (old enough to have thousands of hours on the originals back in the day and even play co-op on dial-up). I was so impressed that I ended up gifting it to 2 friends. Larian deserve every penny of my money for what they have done, but I get the impression from them that they want to have earned that money and for me to enjoy their work too.
We'll all still love the indie studios and the games they make, not hold them to Larian standards. But the so called Triple A studios, you had the chance and you blew it. You think you deserve our money and you want it all with minimal effort. This is a benchmark whether you like it or not, you will be judged by this and I hope the verdict is a death sentence for you.
Any chance you can gift me a copy as well, I don't have the money to pay for it and my social security only covers medical and a few living expenses :(
Witcher 3 didn’t kill ‘lesser’ action RPGs, BotW didn’t kill ‘lesser’ open world games, but they sure as hell should have made other devs think about what they did that made them so beloved and how to implement at least some of those things as their process and budget allows, rather than carrying on doing the exact same things they were doing before.
It's not up to the devs sadly, the suits in charge are the problem
Tears of the kingdom is another good example of having great devs that care about a good product. And then get that cash.
Well Breath of the Wild was a garbage open world game so it's sorta hard to be lesser than that.
The funny thing is, you can actually see what happens when a big bloated corporation at least allows the team to make the game they want: Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Sure, that game wasn't for everyone but it felt like the people who made it loved making it. It was HUGE and feature complete on launch. It was relatively low on bugs as well. It's not like AAA can't do a labor of love, it's just not as profitable, so they refuse to do it. They don't care about quality, they only care about exploiting.
@@palladiamorsdeus L comment.
Imagine you work on a game with passion for years, listening to feedback and what players want so that the game is a success... And then people call this an anomaly because the targeted audience loves it.
Well in fact you don't have to imagine it, this is the world we live in now. Remember Elden Ring ? Same thing happened back then.
I feel like many indie developers are already meeting this bar. Maybe not the exact quality and scale, but the passion you can feel in many smaller games is what’s really important. Most AAA developers put out hollow lifeless shells of games these days, and that is completely unacceptable.
A few of the popular indie games, maybe. But these indies are as rare as Larian is in AAA.
But honestly most indies are no different than AAA. In fact, most indie developers are just as greedy as AAA and despise their own fans more than AAA does.
It's sad, but unfortunately true. Indies are also often scammers more than AAA with their gross gambling mtx. As sad as that is to say, but too many indies take 6-7 figures from their fans and then run off without finishing their game. Many lie funds ran out (they didnt, or did bc they spent it all on a brand new sports car and million dollar house) or just ghost their fans entirely. And some indies that do this will keep the scam going for a decade lying that their vaporware is being worked on. But it isnt and no game ever appears. Even bigshot indies do this, but unknown average joe indies do it too. No exceptional group.
"Stop being good, fans will expect us to be good too" Perfectly summarizes how some AAA studios view the modern gaming industry.
To the big companies who don't want this to be the new standard I will simply say: "Get Good."
To the small indie devs: "your good, just release a game your satisfied with."
And I'll add to the small devs.. release the best game you can, use that experience, and make the next one better.
Small/indie devs are goated and based, only other good big company that comes to mind is GGG, PoE is such a consistently fun game even with some of the worse leagues.
Agreed :)
I would say get good or get lost! 😆
Don't sell indie devs short. There's a lot of fantastic indie games out there to compare them to. Dwarf Fortress, Factorio, and Kenshi are great examples. The truth is that if the devs know their craft and love their game, gamers will jump at the chance to share in that joy.
It's really sad to see how passionate and dedicated Larian Studios is but then to see old beloved companies like Blizzard take a corporate 180° and make everyone believe this kind of development shouldn't be normal.
This is classic game development at its core. Fun, creative, and passionate team members working on a project they love to want other people love it to. Classic game development was Indie developers with resources.
Now adays, development is a corporate standard with high expectations, shitty work ethics, and greedy microtransactions that care more about your wallet than your soul. So I'm glad Larian is setting a standard.
I agree and you are spot on. Baldur's Gate 1 set the standard 20+ years ago and then Baldur's Gate 2 blew my mind. It is almost like Larian's contemporaries are apologizing in advance for their products before Baldur's Gate 3 has even been released. It is kind of sad but it also makes me just that more excited about Baldur's Gate 3 full release. The new standard has been set, beat it if you can.
What an incredibly niche thing to be worried about. Big studios should strive to reach this level of quality and scope and everyone else will see BG3 for what it supposedly is going to be: an inspiration.
But it costs money, its better to cut corners.
But then they can't churn out their yearly releases and mediocre tripe game to enable an in-game store where people will waste their money on skins and season passes. It's not about putting out quality products, it's about getting money. All the money. Triple AAA? Nah, Triple $$$
@@DvSDiabloHR Don't forget about cutting content and then releasing it as dlc
@@DvSDiabloHR Child Gambling
The thing about the complaint about Larian having prior experience is that what it really shows is how little continuity the AAA studios have - all their best old devs have been burned out, fired, or quit to regain artistic freedom. And that's not a good excuse, big publisher depredations are why most AAA studios suck.
And the fact it's called Diablo IV kind of denotes some prior experience, like the last 30 years of Diablo games lol Blizz has more experience, more hired talent, more money, more people.... can't buy passion.
The high turnover rate of employees and lack of internal promotion in american companies is the death nail for any video game franchise and leads to homoginization of games and the tools they are made with, because everyone worked everywhere. It is almost at maximum enthropy. The people who worked on game 1 don't work on game 2 or the remake anymore and they don't give a shit beyond the paycheck.
It also does not help that many of these devs expect us to view making the games as the end goal in itself, as if dev studios are some kind of recreational centre for programmers.
I like this, lets get the focus on to actually AAA studios and take this bias away from studios like Obsidian who brought up real issues with bg3.
Insomniac is just complaining to complain
You hit it on the head. No reasonable person would ever expect a small studio to produce something like BG3, but fucking Activision Blizzard lmao get out here not only should they put something out as ambitious as BG3 but even more so given the massive amount of money they make from their other franchises. They should be laughed out of town for even suggesting that the bar is set to high
Just to think how many GOOD games Actv-Blizz could throw at us and still be super profitable is madness inducing lol
I think what most people are missing is the fact that Baldur's Gate 3 only exist as it does because its an independent project that doesn't have to worry about all of the logistics that most AAA studios have to. Stuff like mandates, meddling from publishers or execs, and a steady cashflow that allows the developers to actually dedicate themselves proper to the game is not something that most developers get. Baldur's Gate 3 got to fill itself out alongside the community and really curtail itself into the game it is today.
Most AAA developers are not in the position to properly leverage any of what Larian can because while they might have the talent and the money, they don't have the freedom to utilize any of it to the degree that Larian does.
Larain is incredibly lucky to be in the position that they are to make their game how they want, but that is not the industry norm.
@@JC4Stuffs Blizzard have the same advantage of being their own publisher, so they don't have that excuse other then perhaps having bad execs, but then that is on them to fix.
Sure, small studios can't produce anything like BG3. But why can't they produce something like Divinity Original Sin?
@@znail4675 blizzard hasn't been their own publisher for years, a decade at this point. It's a part of a publicly traded company that answers to investors and has suffered from some of the most toxic work culture of the last five or so years alongside all of that. They're one if the worst examples you could've gone for.
The weirdest thing to me is the reference to them having experience from past games. What AAA studio doesn't have access to team leaders with decades of experience? There are small indie groups that have people on their team that have several games experience.
So when they do it, its revolutionary, game changing and leading the way. If someone else does it its suddenly a threat
(I'm speaking of AAA games, not the small indie games which ironically are better than many big AAA games/studios these days)
It's because it's by a relatively small and not very well known Studio.
@@DarksideGmss0513Larian isn't that unknown after Divinity 1 and 2 and they have a pretty big team and studios.
@@Ashbrash1998 I'm talking in terms of other third party publisher they are relatively unknown.
This is just happens when the people making the game love it, are given creative control and actually listen to their fan base. Not really all that hard but it seems to be an extremely rare thing nowadays
elden ring, witcher 3 , hollow knight baldur gate 3
Always was an extremely rare thing TBH. Budget also helps when trying to make a game of this scale, although you don't necessarily need scale to make a great game, even an RPG, you do however need the creative control, ability to adapt to feedback and a love for the game.
Most CRPGs are made by much smaller teams with much smaller budgets so it certainly is an anomaly in that way. My understanding of the broader excitement is that people are hoping more big studios will see that big budget CRPGs can be successful and we might get more. Nothing to do with expectations about smaller changing what they do.
I don't think it's about CRPGs, it's about transparency, quality, Community interaction, feedback Integration, making sure it's finished, making sure the scope is gigantic and focused on what the players want
@@GodofChookie I just want good writing that isn't compromised for the sake of making everything big and shiny. BG3 seems to have managed to get the shinyness right but that means nothing to me if all the choice and consequence comes to nothing at the end. Not saying it will but Larian has a bad track record when it comes to endings. Focussing too much on how big the scope is misses the same point that Ubisoft missed when they tried to replicate The Witcher 3,
So to me it is all about the future of CRPGs since the genre is the last holdout of choice and consequence style storytelling, I really couldn't care less what the impact of BG3 is on the "AAA" game industry.
As a game developer in the AAA space, it's not necessarily fear from developers, this is more fear from publishers and companies that already don't want to pay use well enough to make the games we barely get across the finish line. Larian did this with a mix of passion, good funding, no publisher (!), and a built in amazing community. This won't ever happen again anywhere else because games aren't passion anymore, they are an investment vehicle.
Capitalism ruins innovation, quality, and human life.
It's a leech that sucks everything it can out and leaves a husk. Doesn't matter the topic.
Larian almost went bankrupt multiple times making this game. But stuck through and they all took pay cuts.
@@jakematterson8652 That the thing though, every studio goes through that. Without publishers, many studios ARE bankrupted by their games, this is the reason no one can divorce publishers because you need lots of cash to pay developers, but they can't go nearly as hard because then they dip into the C-suite's profits.
Its not an anomaly. Its just what happens often when besuited parasites have as little input on the development process as possible.
I’m not saying ‘none’ because WOTC undoubtedly have tried to meddle, but Swen is a passionate and experienced studio head and seems to have been able to blunt or prevent any sigificant meddling.
> WOTC undoubtedly have tried to meddle,
it's their IP, you can't change what they've licensed you without their confirmation in a first place, if you plan to sell it as a product to a third party / customers and not just play in your basement (names, canon DnD as set before the events of the game, etc. I would assume crucial changes to mechanics are also consulted upon, so WoTC meddle is literally protecting their IP)
"besuited parasites" I'm having that one, thanks!
They only bought the license, they are still 100% self funded. Tho they probably keeped talking to each other bc the game enters the official canon
exactly, amen
@@nickrubin7312 Fextralife did a stream where they were talking about their time with Larian and Swen said he got complete control other than the initial pitch about the story (the mindflayers and such).
Since Divinity: Original Sin, Larian has done nothing but hit it out of the park with their rpg's. They're what Bioware used to be.
I just hope they don't lose their vision like Bioware did.
Bioware got bought up by EA, and we know how much they care about games... I think that was the biggest reason for Bioware's fall.
If EA tries to do this to Larian then i hope someone could nuke/burn EA's headquarters.
@@ianbuenav there's enough reason to burn EA already. The amount of studios and IPs they bought and then killed is insane.
@@Einomar Contrary to popular believe - it's not a reason whatsoever. In fact BW was left on their own with ALL decisions....
It's entirely their own fault. In fact Anthem would have been so much worse if an EA executive didn't look at the game and said"wtf is this shit - at least make the suits fly"...That's right BW didn't want to make the suits fly, cause it was too hard....Now imagine Anthem without flying.....
The reality is - the most talented people left due to internal struggle within BW.
@@Einomar Actually, EA really suffer from it's old reputation, at a time where they REALLY killed licences themselves. But that was what... like between 10 and 20 years ago?
Right now, most often, when they bought back a company, they just say "here is your cashflow, make something that will be good and sell" and don't look at it with much precision (or go against the dev' choices either). That's why sometime company under them fail miserably (we already have the money, why work more ?) and sometimes do wonderfull projects (I'm sorry, but C&C remastered collection is one of the best remaster of a game I've ever seen, putting most of the others remastered game in a corner, gasping for air as they cry and roll over in the mediocrity they were built with).
Bioware likely had the same treatment and decided on the "we have the money, why work more?" path. Not EA fault, but Bioware's choice. Same way Microsoft work with Bethesda, tbf, and it doesn't seem to be working well for Bethesda either.
Baldur's Gate 3 Developers literally saying. "Sorry we're not lazy, money driven parasites. Carry on infecting and poisoning the industry that we love and hold dear to our hearts, don't mind us."
Other developers aren't afraid of yhe technical merit that Larian has achieved and being held to that standard, they are afraid of being held to the standard of creativity and passion that Larian has produced. When making a game becomes a job those without passion are selected and those people are the type to work for Blizzard and other large corporations.
Blizzard? It's all Microsoft now.
A billionaire pedophile named Bill Gates now owns most games studios. No wonder they suck dick.
I agree! This is not an anomaly but the standard. Developers that say anomaly are covering up their greed, embarrassment & shame for not doing this. It's quality that counts.
Looks like the whole 1994-2004 time period is an anomaly in pc games...
have you even played pillars of eternity or tyranny? and have any footing to stand on what a 'current' triple A rpg game even is right now? No one plays them. bet you didnt even know these games existed.
They're not covering their "embarassment". They're covering up their butts because when a company with less people and less budget makes a close to 10/10 game with many new features, rebalancing and so on while also the game itself being stable and rather well optimized and all of that within 3 years, that raises question, why the fuck do all these people in AAA companies get paid? Of course they're going to say that "This is not how game dev works", otherwise they're at bigger risk of losing their jobs.
@@FFtprivate Didn't Pillars of Eternity had a fundme years back? What Larian has done using 5E, movement & classes is very satisfying. Myself having played DnD since the 80s, I have been quite happy with I've seen so far. Have you worked on Pillars or Tyranny directly by chance?
You know something has set a new gold standard if its competitors try to find excuses not to be held to that very standard.
Like Solasta, me and my friends love playing that, and we love it for what it is. We know that it’s not going to have the branching paths that BG3 does, and won’t have the voice acting that it does, but it is tons of fun and gets the combat perfect and that’s what we like. Plus, the odd acting and what not gives it it’s own special charm
The effort and talent larian is putting into bg3 is definitely baring fruit. I'm also very excited for rogue trader and poe2. Remnant from ashes 2 looks good I think as long as developers are pouring passion into their creation and working with the community to craft a game with playing that is the most important. I've had enough of crap like red fall and there have been plenty of other disappointing broken or terrible games built by commity chasing a genre trend to waste everyones time and money all the mtx, deep seated monetization first or live servicification of my favourite hobby.
Bg3 is an anomaly because its the first time in a long time that any company for any project puts care and effort into their product, rather than vapid profit. Larian cares, and it shows, and will pay dividends
Try Divinity original sin 2 if you havent. Same studio amazing game
@@matthewalvarez6884 Or Original sin 1
@@matthewalvarez6884 I did pick it up on steam, played a little bit of it and it didnt quite hook me in. Havent written it off completely, but I'm gonna check it out fir sure
@@NexusProd1gy what game is,this theyre developing?
There are TONS of indie games and even RPG that are made with care and effort this is just an ignorant statement.
I have been a fan of Larian studios since before the original sin days and Swen has been front and center and you can see, tangibly feel, and it makes you smile, the amount of passion he has for his creations. Larian is one of the last bastions for me in the gaming industry and i hope beyond all hopes that they never fall into the current "AAA" standards and practices.
If they haven't by now, there's a very good chance they won't.
And as you underlined, it all comes down to the sheer will of one man- ultimately (not to put down his teams in any ways, but he's the one who made their work even possible)
Its crazy to see how far theyve come, even their games at those times were still always ambitious for what it was.
amen.
You delivered this really well. Good content. I like how you creating a discussion, not a hate, reaction, click bait., being negative for content sake. Subscribed! Enjoy your holiday!
I remember games like Chrono trigger and ff6 and a huge wall went up in the 2000s where people stop doing their painting when it looks kind of like a tree
This is what has happened to the video game industry. A game that comes out, complete, polished, intuitive, fleshed out and made with care because the time was taken for that care to flourish.
AAA should look at this game and become overjoyed. Publishers should look at this game and WANT to show it up, not cower in fear and cry.
EA, Ubisoft, activision, etc, keep pumping out trash and wonder why people are upset with their games. What a sorry, sad state the video game industry finds itself it.
Long live Larian. May Sven shut the doors on the place before they become a bloated whale carcass, slowly being devoured as it sinks to the bottom of a void of creativity... Blizzard entertainment... if you call that entertainment.
its not complete tho, thats the thing.
@glimoreganajai2206o How is it not complete? It's not even out yet, and no, EA doesn't count.
@@glimoreganajai2206 bro really said "it's not complete tho" to a game that isn't even out yet 💀
It may be worst time for AAA games but the indie scene is amazing right now. Plenty of great games out there if you look for them.
Money isn’t everything you need good management and the right people to work on projects yes money makes it easier but you need vision to make a good game
where can i find the thumbnail of the video as a wallpaper?
Really amazing video, one of the few times I've subscribed to a creator from just one video. looking forward to what you produce in the future, much love
The developers are expressing a combination of jealousy and fear.
I wouldn't call it an anomaly. Larian started small with Divinity series back in the day and when they wanted something bigger and they couldn't afford it, because Divinity series before Original Sin didn't sell enough so they had to rely on the community/fans of the original IP to come and support them on Kickstarter to create DOS and eventually "one of the best CRPG's in the Kickstarter era" in DOS2. That game is the reason why, after trying many times, went to Wizards and they showed their pedigree and Wizards finally decided to let them do BG3 by using their D&D license.
So all the money they got from DOS2 were invested into making their team bigger which is a drop in the bucket when we're talking bout AAA production values.
CDPR had the same jump with Witcher 2 to Witcher 3 and they increased their developers almost tenfold from Witcher 2, but we all know how big of an impact Witcher 3 had on every other games that preceded it and every RPG that was third person and open world was compared "but is it as good as Witcher 3?".
Let's not forget the fact that Larian were smart enough to release their games in early access (DOS 1, DOS 2 and now BG3) and take feedback and implement it in the game to make it better. The game's been in early access for quite a long time (3-4 years I reckon?) so they had enough time to polish it properly (let's hope).
This game will probably be the next "Witcher 3" this generation that all other RPG's are gonna be compared to it, because it's inevitable. The Baldur's Gate brand..Larian's DOS 2 launch and success and the feedback/content we've already seen in act 1 of early access gives us enough signs that this will be one of those special games that you can't really miss if you're a fan of RPG's.
and after Witcher 3 they tried to go even more ambitious and big, and happened exactly what this Xalavier dude said, literally bursted, because they just couldn't meet the demands taking on the project with such scope, management-wise, technology-wise, etc.
The problem with CD Projekt Red is them forcing crunches of 100+ hour work weeks before release, resulting in burnout & staff leaving after release
@@snubbull7309 Well that is what usually happens in most big AAA games. Naughty Dog had 75% of their staff leave after Tlou2 released.
Just looking at the pannels from hell, I think that passion and involvement with their community makes Larian and their games really special. Divinity Original Sin 2 was amazing, and I'm sure Baldur's Gate 3 will be even greater! 😄 I'm counting the days!
This depends on what aspect you think it should set the standard for personally I hope it sets the standard for the overall story and how it's implemented which I think that most developers should strive for one way or the other. I think a lot of the modern rpg or action combat games suffer most from is a lack luster story and try to replace it with gimmicks and cool looking gameplay or cosmetic rewards and what not rather then a good story and characters that people actually care about, it's part of why most of the games I play are from Japan rather then America since they tend to have better story's to be told.
I rather have good gameplay then shit one with good story.
The key to Larians "sucess" is that they are not trying to look for ways to monotize every little thing and they understand that you can't diminish the single player experinece for the sake of multiplayer, most AAA studios are looking for ways to milk the customer instead of looking for ways to improve their games , also Larian is very focused on their specific gameplay and don't water it down in the pursuit of a potential broader audience it's not like Feks. Dragon age that went from a CRPG to a firstperson shooter and in the process destroyed everything that made it a great game.
The secret is having a vision beyond the next pay check.
This shows you the scope that Baldur’s Gate 3 has. It has other Devs hesitant about their own projects. I said it when I played it a year ago, and I’ll say it again, when this game is fully released, it is going to turn so many heads and change gaming for the better.
Only if other dev's try and do the same and call there games what they really are... early access.
Bf2042 and cyberpunk come to mind as games that were early access but we were not told they were.
@@jcaashby3 regarding Cyberpunk/BF thats because of shareholders. Larian Studios for what i know, dont answer to anyway other than themselves. But i get you.
All the bigger devs are gonna start sweating now because of BG3, the quality of it. Instead of all the AAA games that a pisspoor and gets pumped out.
Maybe CRPGs. From a macro perspective it seems inconsequential
I wish this was true, but if it would be, Elden Ring would already have done the job. Without ingame shops etc. the game can never achieve the same value for investors. You need passionate people to develop games to achieve something like this.
@@MetalKabu elden ring did make some good changes for the gaming community in the soulsbourne genre. But you are right, some companies just don’t care about their products which is why we still get mediocre. I just wish more studios were passionate about their products.
Yeah I think I'm gonna hold new games to this simple standard:
1. no cash shop
2. no in-game currency
3. no battle pass
4. no dailies etc. designed to chain you to the game
So-called "triple-A" companies could absolutely make a game like BG3 if they wanted to, but they just don't. Simple as that. They would rather overpay their CEO, force their devs and designers to work inhumane hours for very little pay, chase celebrity endorsements and expensive ad campaigns, make psychologically manipulate game mechanics and monetization, sell 10 different pre-order editions of the same game to maximize FOMO, sell season passes, sell microtransactions, push rushed games out the door before they're ready, making the best possible graphics that barely function on any consumer hardware at the expense of everything else, copying popular gaming fads just for the sake of it, etc. And that's if they're even making a real game for console or PC at all, a lot of them have abandoned that and just make crappy fake games for mobile phones.
Here's to multiple years/decades of Larian success. Focus on the quality of your product all the time, every time.
The sad thing is that alot of that sentiment comes from lead devs & CEOs often refusing some devs to make small passion projects within games. Which is the case at Bungie in Destiny 2, where there has recently been drama surrounding the conference call presentation, where they directly admit that they would rather underperform than overdeliver due to the consequential increase in expectations...
4:45 nah Josh is pretty open about having autonomy under Microsoft.
He told them "let me make Pentiment or I'm leaving" and they let him make it.
4:54 Josh never said that he simply stated Baldurs Gate 3 is indeed an anomoly.
I'm sure if you just tried to ask him to clarify his position instead of snarkily implying he's being illogical this would all be cleared up.
This is the level of quality we should expect from AAA Billion dollar companies. The fact that this is considered an anomaly highlights the major failures of the industry.
Larian has indeed set a new standard for big triple A studios. Huge studios like Blizzard should be putting out content the meets or exceeds the scope and quality of Baldur’s gate 3
I still remember back in the day thinking that future games would all be much more advanced than they are now. (kinda like what we see here with BG3) I mean the trajectory definitely pointed that way. But then mobile gaming and facebook games by Zynga came out and showed the industry that they could make much more money by having half-assed content with microtransactions. That's when you can see the shift from more depth in gameplay mechanics to shallow, watered down mechanics with a "pretty facade" that just makes it look good enough for marketing, but after an hour of play you realize they're games that just play themselves with artificial time-sinks constantly trying to get you to buy some skin or some XP boost or whatever. So much potential squandered by chasing the dollar.
It's interesting to me that in the Microsoft court case in acquiring Activision-Blizzard, Calp of Duty was brought up as a possible "unicorn" in that it's so profitable and usually an annual release. It saddens me that companies are fighting in court over an uninspired game (my opinion) since it's so lucrative, while big companies in the case of BG3 are conceding that it's a different type of "unicorn" that they won't attempt to match in quality. I think that's the problem in modern gaming: companies are chasing after the wrong unicorn.
I still play "Solasta Crown of the Magister" made by 25-50 people and is a good game even if it's not AAA. You can notice when a game is made with passion, even if you don't have a big budget or team behind.
Solasta is better than BG3.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a passion project, something the team always wanted to do. Other games, from other studios, are not. They are made with profits over artistic freedom.
Most AAA developers in the last decade have relied on delivering minimum viable product with a ton of microtransactions and now they're afraid of losing that money mill.
minimum viable product is ruining the AAA entertainment industry. Innovation and creativity are left behind so that rich af investors won't be scared of losing their millions.
I completely understand that there are economics at work behind game development that far exceed the understanding of the average individual. If any company wants to step up and say: "we are not as well organized, experienced, nor funded to create games at the same quality and price point of Larian. So understand when you buy our product it is in almost every sense of the word inferior, and your money is better spent elsewhere." I support that level of honesty. As much as I feel for the plight of game development studios in what at times seems like an impossible business model, it's a two way street. Either make a good game or don't. The main thing here is "don't hold us to the same standard" what exactly does this mean? You want me to look at the value of products I purchase differently based on pity for the inequalities of those who created them?
It's just that it's another example of what capable, committed devs can do with direct connection to the people, no publisher interference. The rank and file workers are probably more satisfied too. 🤷🏿♂️
Larian is independent and they have passion, they are not owned by a bunch of suits with money signs for eyes.
It is not necessary to put in the extra time and effort as Larian are doing to make truckloads of money and as most AAA developers are owned by suits...
Let's not get ahead of ourselves, we'll see how the big success affects them in the future, after the CDPR fiasco nothing surprises me
@@Cormano980 Judging by act one they have put in extra time and effort.
I don't feel like I am getting ahead of myself.
@@nisse18 your money after all
@@Cormano980 Calm down, jeez 😆
I have actually played a large part of act one myself and I have experienced their extra effort, it is no speculation.
Very weird for Obsidian to chime in here, when they were the last ones to "raise the standards of RPGs" with Fallout New Vegas
Larian truly is among a dying breed or AAA devs, A studio run by gamers rather than marketing execs who from top to bottom of their structure make games with passion rather than trying to milk fans for as much money as they can. They understand how gaming used to be, where a studio makes a good game that people want to play and thats how they make money because people will buy it.
Happy to pay $60 for this masterpiece. And I won't pay that amount on other games from now on unless they meet these standards.
I would for smaller games like pathfinder wotr but they rarely cost 60 bucks
Games like this actually need to be 100. Games need to start being more expensive
agreed
@@conradkorbol And murder me more in the exchange rates no thank you. At least you Americans can earn 100$ in a week. I would be lucky to see 100$ in a month with overtime.
@@conradkorbol never speak again.
Yes it is an anomaly, but it shouldn't be. Everyone should approach every project with the same passion. I don't expect this much depth from a game that a smaller team put out in two years, but I do expect to never feel that they cut corners.
Resisting buying into the early access for BG3 has been SO difficult, but I wanted to experience the full thing when it was finally complete.
After playing DOS 1 & 2, I knew Larian would deliver. The fact we're getting this AND Starfield in the next few months has me already plotting multiple vacations from work 😅
Soon brother, we are so close...
i bought it and still havent played it. Worth getting it cheaper.
Starfield will be a wreck.
I hope I am not right tho
Better behave then me lol but your wait will be worth it because what they have let us play is just mind blowing .
@@lukedemler4421 I've only ever seen it at $60 the entirety of early access? Was it going for cheaper at some point?
larian has always seemed to make good quality games that pushed the genre forward. so this game being the next evolution makes sense.
their best thing was releasing chapter 1 early access with funding at a discount and actually engaging the players on what worked and didn't work. they could refine the gameplay before even finishing the main story and levels.
i did like the game, definitely played similar to divinity, but i personally thought going turn based made the game very slow to play, almost tedious. losing a fight was a brutal setback in time.
but i guess the takeaway is that larian focussed on what the player wanted and stuck with what they knew best. maybe they have the same studio director and are also not part of a larger company. i would imagine any dev that works under EA, or activision is given a very rigid outline of what the next game can be.
I love Diablo4 vs BG3 thing. Both studios followed different aims: Blizzard was trying to maximize profit and gameplay time via grinding. Larian aim is to make a good game with a solid story.
I never played Diablo but my impression is that this is literally the whole point in past titles and the newest one? I mean the excessive grinding and big numbers on screen.
Comparing both is kind of a weird thing to do
Diablo gets old very fast, it's a game you play in sessions whenever you feel like hacking mindlessly, BG on the other hand demands you to get invested in it
@marinin. It's not weird, they're both fantasy rpgs so people can compare them to a point
@@Cormano980 Well sure they're both rpgs but the guy is saying Diablo 4 is bad because it has grinding even tho thats the whole point of whatever subgenre the game fills. There's a million reasons why the game is bad/mid, but that specific reason is super weird lol.
I still don't think it makes sense to compare both, but in any case BG3 still the superior game out of the two lmao
@@Marin117. yep, BG wins out of them two
To come out and say what they said and show fear is way more embarrassing than they imagined.
Can’t wait for this game.
Fear is right. Thousands of annoying know-it-all Video Game Guys screeching is indeed terrifiying.
@@TheArtkawits even scarrier when theyre right to point out that companies with far more resources than larian cant even make a game with half the depth and polish that larian can
Insomniacs tweet was 100% fear.
Obsidians reaction is 100% facts though. play Pillars of Eternity or Tyranny and tell me those games are not fantastic rpg games. Those games had 25ish people working on them. Then play bg3 which has 400 people working on them. You can be a AAA studio, but the people who are assigned to the rpg games they are making doesnt mean those people are not passionate about the games they make.
The difference is that Larian is headed and owned by their creative director. He isn't a suit that makes decisions based upon how much money he can swindle from their customers. He actually cares for their games and takes an active part in their development.
and presents the game himself while wearing plate armour :D I love this dude
"It's not the standard"
You see, friend, you don't get to decide that. The consumer does.
Translation... we need to train our fanbase to have low expectations so we can sell them beta version of our shit at full price
10 years. Just ten years ago, I believe Larian was on the brink of bankruptcy. Their games weren't panning out after Divinity. I believe Divinity: Original Sin was their "Final Fantasy". I remember playing Dragon Commander and thinking "Welp, this is awful", then seeing them making D:OS and thinking it was gonna be bad, but oh boy was I pleasantly surprised. D:OS was made with around 50 devs iirc. Of course, they grew threefold after the success and D:OS2 was even better. Now they had even more people working on BG3, more than doubling what worked on D:OS2. All three of those without publishers backing them, instead going to Kickstarter for the first two and building BG3 from D:OS2's success. This is Larian climbing the ladder themselves after being on the bottom rung.
We don't expect all indie devs to be this lucky. We don't expect this level of polish, graphics, and scope. There's another title out, right now, that uses 5e rules that I love for different reasons than I've loved BG3 so far; Solasta: Crown of the Magister made by Tactical Adventures. It's made by around 20 devs, self published, and I love it. It is tile based combat, but it has some verticality to it, as well. I have put over 100hrs into it and bought most of the DLC. It's not full priced, and you could buy the game with all the DLC for about $60USD. I still plan on playing it even after playing BG3 because it scratches a different itch and look forward to more from TA.
As far as devs from larger studios are concerned, like the D4 devs, they better expect to be held to this standard with the amount of people and money involved in their games. I have already hopped back to Last Epoch after my time from D4. Last Epoch is just better to me. Better skill trees, itemization, and good Lord the item management just kicks D4 in the teeth. D4 definitely doesn't feel like someone should pay $70 for it when I would argue that the $40 for LE will give you a better experience that you can play even when offline or while Blizz is being DDoS'ed.
Larian showing the triple a devs , how it’s done 💪🏽
Baldur's Gate 2 set a huge standard back in 2000. I didn't see any developers whining that they couldn't stack up back then. What changed?
While discussing Diablo 4 on the Diablo subreddit, I made a similar point when comparing the dungeons to those in Elden Ring. From Software is well-regarded, but in terms of resources and manpower, Blizzard surpasses them by far. Despite this advantage, Blizzard failed to deliver a truly exceptional product, relying instead on the success of their previous titles. I had high expectations for Diablo 4, hoping it would improve upon every aspect of its predecessors. However, the only notable improvements I can confidently mention are the storytelling and the impressive artwork. Nonetheless, great visuals alone cannot carry a game. It is disheartening to see a director from a massive AAA studio thinking they should be under the same scrutiny as indie devs. This sheds light on a broader issue within the game development philosophy of these companies.
For a long time, many attributed the decline of Blizzard's products to Activision. However, it has become clear that Blizzard bears sole responsibility for the demise and deterioration of their products.
edit. grammar
The issue is that, with the high turnover rate in these AAA studios, nobody knows what they are doing when making a sequel or a remake because they need to reinvent the wheel every single time.
Honestly, even if the story itself is intriguing, the storytelling itself in D4 is arguably worse than in D1 and D2. Just watch The Act Man's video 'Why is Diablo 4 SO BAD?!' where he explains it.
Crazy to think small devs thinking its about them.
Especially when they are making bangers in their own right.
Well said! You've touched on a significant issue within the gaming industry that many gamers have been grappling with for years. The disparity in quality between AAA games and their price tags has indeed been a growing concern.
Triple A companies have the resources and the capacity to deliver high-quality games but many seem to be dropping the ball, releasing games that are underwhelming or riddled with bugs. In contrast, smaller studios are creating brilliant, memorable experiences often at a fraction of the price, like what we see with Baldur's Gate 3.
This goes to show that a big budget and a renowned title are not always indicators of a great gaming experience. These AAA companies need to step up their game, quite literally, or reconsider their pricing. As consumers, we should get the value we pay for.
Let's hope the industry takes note and we see improvements in future releases. Gaming is a beloved pastime and art form for many, and it deserves to be treated as such by its creators. Thanks for your insights, your comments are very much appreciated!
The only way is not to buy them, why should they change when you still buy them?
@@dimitrifake53 I don’t
Every game should be aiming for the fences but the bar seems so low most are barely playable on release.
they are scared
They are and they should be we see with larian studios what can be done with good management and vision and being somewhat small (compared to other studios with far more money and people )
Nah, just jealous.
What I hope this game will do is to be so successful that it nudges one or two other big studios towards making a CRPG of similar quality (and hopefully not just cash grabs). It's the only way to see other AAA CRPGs not from Larian atm. Nobody else can really do it, which is fine, good studios like Owlcat are doing an awesome job even without the need to aim that high.
I don't think anyone could accuse Wrath of the Righteous of not being a labor of love. That game is actually kind of ridiculous.
Just picked it up, waiting for release until playing, played bg1 and bg2 back in the day...
Can't wait :)
Well analysed. Baseline fact is that Larian didn’t fall for the same short-term capitalistic way of game making that most parts of the AAA industry have fallen for long time ago. Holding that against a studio that is way smaller than yours, has way less budget and manpower is just ridonk. It’s like saying „don’t hold MCDonalds accountable for small restaurants serving amazing food for reasonable prices, putting love in and listening to their customers“.
They’re all twisted by the capitalistic idea of endless growth, maximising profits and shareholder value at all costs. Unfortunately that has been injected into the brains of the world during the past century and see where it takes us. Everything’s going downhill because of it. And the gaming industry too (even tho that is probably still the most harmless part). Anyway I’m rambling. Great video dude and really refreshing to see there is still game studios out there that stay true to the craft!
Don't know much about other studios, but when it comes to Obsidian, I think that if a developer needs to raise funds for their games through the kickstarter you definitely can't keep a team of 400 and develop one singleplayer product for 6+ years
Obsidian is ultimately owned by Microsoft, so I'm sure they can get more funding for a big project if they want. The issue is Josh Sawyer apparently only wants to make smaller games at this point. They don't seem to have any ambitions to make anything big in scope in the first place. We thought they did with Avowed when they implied it would be something of the scope of Skyrim, but nope, they backtracked on that.
@@roddbroward9876 Obsidian sold out. Now they do not have a vision - the vision is dictated to them. They are immensely bitter about this. They know they're another Bioware - that their game quality will slowly decline over time as the publisher prevents them from making the best games and pivots them towards making the best products. Then all the original developers will leave, and they will be another worthless husk.
Let's hope it ain't an anomaly or once in a lifetime game that would be sad.
The cope from devs who dont have the skills nor the work ethic to do what Larian is doing is sweet music to my ears.
This feels like a weird discussion. It’s not up to the customers to hold developers to a certain standard, that’s up to themselves and their owners. They are the ones who decide what to make, how to make it and what it’s allowed to cost.
What’s up to us is to buy the products we want and pass on the ones we don’t want. If other developers release subpar products they simply won’t be successful.
I always believe in Larian and I knew they will come with huge RPG even if they weren't AAA studio at the start of the development. Now developers are scared ppl will again demand high standards and not buy any garbage they give.
Huge W for Larian
The sun shall not be seen from aug 3rd until the veil that is the completion of bg3 has been lifted
Big S