Devs say Baldurs Gate 3 shouldn't be a "baseline" for rpgs from other devs- I disagree and here's why

[showler]

That's your rather bizarre interpretation, not what they said.

 

It's all about how much money you can throw at a project and still expect the desired return.

[gnarly1]

This forum is too confusing to use on my phone.

And then:

Stupid people piss me off fyi.

Given nobody else seems to have a problem navigating the forum on their phone, I guess that means you're continually pissed off at yourself.

 

Keep on raging spasmodically you glorious, not-too-bright keyboard warrior.....

[showler]

"Games have budgets and different games have different budgets. More at 11."

[JimboUK]

 

Wait, seriously this is all because some other devs said "don't expect the same result as BG3 unless the same amount of time, labor and experience is put into a project with a similar background and development process" and you're offended by that?

 

 

 

 

No, I'm offended at the dismissive nature of the other devs remarks. It isn't progress if they dont even try. They're only after the money and it is obvious.

"They're" meaning the other devs* Holy crap am I going to have to operationally define? I can't tell, because y'all are missing the point- THE OTHER COMPANIES DON'T WANT TO PUT IN THE EFFORT TO MAKE HIGH QUALITY GAMES.

 

 

They weren't being dismissive, they were praising the game, all they were saying is that it shouldn't become the benchmark moving forward and that makes sense, the development team on it is four times the size of the one that made Skyrim, if that becomes the norm then smaller studios will find themselves unable to compete, this is nothing to do with effort and everything to do with basic economics.

[showler]

I'm not sure "throw money at it" is how I'd define progress anyway. If we could automate some of the drudge work while keeping creative people employed that would be progress.

[JimboUK]

I'm not sure "throw money at it" is how I'd define progress anyway. If we could automate some of the drudge work while keeping creative people employed that would be progress.

 

Throwing money around makes games worse, those doing the throwing become increasingly risk averse and we end up with safe titles that feel like they've been designed by a focus group.

[showler]

Not sure I agree?

 

There was a comparison to Rockstar's games which do tend to have exceptional detail and quality because that have huge budgets. And they have those huge budgets because they are expecting a massive return from high sales numbers.

 

In the case of BG3 the game has been selling in early access for three years. Customers are paying for the game in order to have the privilege of beta testing it and providing feedback. The early access sales mean that the customers have been paying for the continued development of the game.

[JimboUK]

I think Rockstar proves my point, neither GTA5 or RDR2 took any risks, they tweaked what worked and what they knew would sell. Would they spend the $250m plus it cost to make GTA5 and chance it on a new IP? I very much doubt it and if idiotic budgets become the norm we're going to see far fewer risks taken.

 

We only have to look at what ballooning budgets have done to Hollywood, we've had endless safe movies, they've been the same thing over and over again, of course that leads to stagnation and now these once profitable franchises are struggling to break even, admittedly they haven't helped themselves by shoehorning divisive politics into everything but the fact is these formulaic focus group tested movies are not appealing to people.

[Guest deleted34304850]

"they" are other dev companies. Use context clues.. Holy macaroni are people dense. Just go on twitter and see word for word what they are saying but they all unanimously agree that Baldurs Gate 3 is revolutionary and that we shouldn't expect the other companies to produce games that are on par. I say that that is not the way it should be. Stupid people piss me off fyi.

could you, in very simple words, describe your issue, because i've read the gibberish you've posted and literally nothing you've written makes a bit of sense.

maybe take your frustrations, and boil them down into a simple list of items that can be followed?

also, swearing and calling people stupid for trying to engage with you really doesn't paint you in a good light. was that your primary goal? to make yourself look stupid? if it was, it worked, so well done you, i guess?

[JediMasterTallyn]

While Blizzard, Obsidian, Insomniac, and several other AAA game development companies have in fact made comments about "Baldur's Gate 3 becoming the baseline for future rpgs." A deeper dive into comments reveals this sentiment:

"We cannot expect an Indie dev with 40 people to make a game of this quality, they can get close but lets face facts, AAA devs are far more likely to be able to emulate the BG3 gaming experience than a indie dev would. simply because of manpower. let alone technology and advantages they can afford that the indie dev cannot things like licensing, research, loyal and articulate beta testers."

What BG3 should become is the bar, the brass ring that all devs should be aiming for not the baseline.


After all when Skyrim first released it did not automatically become the baseline for what we expected it became the bar. Now years later after lots of improvements to consoles, pc's, gaming engines, graphics cards, and how we tell a story through a video game; Skyrim has FALLEN to the baseline. Skyrim is the least we expect from a rpg.

Being the baseline means this is the bare minimum we the consumers expect from our game.

Baldur's Gate 3 is now the bar This is what we the consumer expect from a 5 star rpg. After all does the release of BG3 make Skyrim any less of a success of lessen it legacy as one if not THE greatest rpg's?

NO, it doesn't; it just raises the bar for what we expect from a great rpg; just as Skyrim did when it released.

So I agree with the AAA devs BG3 is not the baseline, its the bar.

And to them I say:

Better get busy brah. Larian hit the ground running and left you guys in the dust.