Thank you for being here! Here is my comparison between both studios and thoughts on their games. If you have any thoughts to share - I hope you will share them in the comments. If you feel like I deserve it - you're always welcome to subscribe! Thank you! 🙏
Yup. Corporate owned studios have access to more resources but the tradeoff is that they're beholden to an entity that has to show increasing profits every year to please their shareholders.
I hate to say this, I truly do. But that’s right, especially in more creative industries like video games it seems to be better to have a privately owned company that’s run by one person or a small group rather than a publicly traded corporation that absolutely has to increase profits every quarter to appease shareholders.
Publishers and, above all, *shareholders* who run those kinds of companies from the shadows, are the very truly worst part of all of capitalism, especially in the creative world. They ruin everything they touch.
Star Wars KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1. Ahh, the times when DLCs weren't a massive plague, things got really south with Dragon Age 2 and especially Mass Effect 3
@@Cappuccino_Rabbit Mass Effect 3 wasn't that bad. its ending may have been somewhat underwhelming, especially on launch, but the game was pretty great throughout. DA2 was kinda dookie, though.
EA is so anti-consumer the moment they bought the NFL franchise after how amazing NFL 2K5 and later could have been with NFL and gaming fans. But dumb NFL gamers continue to support EA games with Madden.
The true big difference is that Larian is privately owned and isn't on the 'make line go up every quarter' treadmill that Bioware was put onto once they were bought by a publicly traded company. By default a publicly traded company is always first and foremost concerned with making profits. That's why Larian can make a game where making the most money isn't the goal because they're not owned by a publicly traded corporation.
@@notsocasualYT They're indeed legendary world creators standing above almost everybody. I hope they never sell to a public corporation. This is where I'd be fine with nepo babies if they carried the Larian traditions forward.
@@AlyssMa7rin Yeah, that news isn't good but I'm going to trust Larian set up appropriate guard rails to prevent their meddling. 10c invests in lots of video game companies and I haven't heard of any undue influence stories about them so let's hope they stay quiet, passive investors.
It's not just the publicly traded company thing though. Because there are still studios that are big publicly traded corporations that still make good games - it's just that almost none of them are WESTERN studios. Capcom, Nintendo, SEGA . . . most of these companies are publicly traded and they still make and publish good games regularly. So it's really a philosophical thing rather than a pure financial thing. *American* corporate mentality is the one which focuses on the "line must go up!" mentality above all else and ruthlessly pursuing this without caring about *how* it can be done. But obviously, not all companies are American, and it's in non-American gaming studios and companies that best seem to be able to keep this perspective these days it seems, whether that's Japanese companies or European, a common denominator is just that they're not North American.
Long may they last. However, when the day arrives that Sven leaves and the successors fall into the same trap as Bioware, history repeats itself. Heck, even EA once stood for quality and beloved games! (though I'm aging myself that I still remember them) There was LucasArts and Sierra and... the list goes on. You know the end is nigh when the 2 dreaded words crop up: "private" and "equity". That's when the vultures are diving their bloody beaks into the still-living body.
Old Bioware will always be influential to who I am as a person today and the way I view characters; I forgot that for a while, but BG3 reminded me of those great times.
BG3 filled the void Dragon Age Origins left fifteen years ago, when I closed the game for the final time. I spent 700+ hours in Baldur's Gate. I have barely any interest in DA4.
I know it's a bit of a personal thing, but I would say Dragon Age II and Dragon Age Inquisition are just as amazing in their own ways, but as beat for beat sequels that you are looking for out of Origins they are not, but that doesn't make them any less amazing imo.
If Larian was owned by EA they would consider those 700 hours "severely undermonetized" because they werent shoving a MTX shop in front of your face the whole time or pushing some 'live-service' bullshit
Rarely you see someone doing this accurate observations about what happened. All of this doesnt apply only to bioware, simplifying games to make them easier and therefore more appealing to non-nerdish masses, was the wrong path, BG3 proves it pretty well.
It wasn’t just “non-nerdish masses” as BioWare openly fell into the same trap as so many other developers of that era: “we want the call of duty audience”
The trick isn't to dumb down your game so it's easier for more people to play - the trick is to make the game engaging enough that more players want to learn how to play it.
Basically the moment you hear that any company no matter what industry was purchased by a private equity firm, you know that it’s about to go through some serious trouble. The desperate drive to maximize profits at all costs eventually leads the company to eat itself alive and whatever’s left is sold for spare parts.
Not to mention they will borrow heavily against the company to raise profits for shareholders without regard to long term financial viability. Even if absolutely nothing else changed in regards to management, employees, work output, or real profits the debt taken on will bury them sooner rather than later.
The entire business strategy for a private equity firm is to seek out firms with alot of potential that need funding to get the cogs spinning. They can also restructure the organisation and ask to take positions on the board of directors. Eventually, the goal is to sell the shares to a higher price than what they bought them for, and also making money from fees and the like. It is litterally a long term investment, and firms that seek private equity funds are probably in financial or some other trouble to begin with.
Bioware is what got me into gaming, First KOTOR (I was too young for OG Baldurs Gate. Watching the fall from grace has been so sad, and I am so thankful for Larian and BG3, finally have that feeling of wonder I did when I first stepped into KOTOR and Dragon Age: Origins
BG 1 was the first RPG I ever played. I wasn't even fluent in English back then, and yet I remember the experience fondly. After the Enhanced Edition was released I played it again, and found so much I've missed the first time, just because of the language barrier. It was a wonderful experience, and the people who were involved in it's making deserves credit for making something that great - and laying the foundation for Larian to build on with BG3... Even if the studio itself is but a shell of it's former self.
My dude , jade empire was so damn fun ! I remember being young and starting over several dozen times just to make sure I choose the “right” fighting style for myself hahah
It was dire straits situation. They've even sold their Aurora engine to at the time completely unknown CD Project to try staying independent, but it wasn't enough. Absolute killer was the fact that they didn't own IP for their best selling games and EA locked rights on Star Wars games for long time period.
Damn, Swen is absolutely crazy for continuing with his game studio after the very serious fails and lackluster results that they had in the past -- I don't know how he managed to keep together, much less keep it up. Thankfully his passion for the craft and confidence on the potential of their projects are on another level, 'cause BG3 was the major wake-up call that the game industry needed (hopefully driving a serious shift on its standards and practices) and, above anything else, just an exception piece of genuine art...
5:00 Yup, I also think that DAO was BioWare's peak, and it makes extra sense to me now, knowing that it was the last thing that started development before EA acquired it and ran them into the ground.
You forgot about the divinity 2 dlc 'flames of vengeance' which was released together with a re-release of divinity 2 called 'the dragon knight saga'. Which is what ultimately saved them (as they did get to finish that game after all). I loved it by the way, still do. It's larian's hidden gem. There is so much atmosphere there, even more so than in baldurs gate 3 in my opinion.
I'm 315 hours into Baldur's Gate 3, and I'm not stopping anytime soon. I've finished it once, gotten halfway on a handful of other playthroughs, and played around with mods, played co-op with friends. The best damn game I've seen in years
Wow I really was not expecting such a great video when clicking on this. Poor larian, they just got let down with financials and publishers again and again, where they only needed time and money to make proper games.
Larian Studios really gets it; they stick to what they believe in and always put gamers first. That's why they've got such a loyal fan base. Basically, they just have to announce a new game, and boom, we're all over it, no fancy ads needed. They save a ton of money on marketing just by making awesome games. On the flip side, you've got those other studios and publisher that just rush games out to hit sales targets, cutting corners and ending up with games that disappoint. They end up blowing loads of cash on marketing just to make those games seem worth it.
This whole dynamic seems almost like the favourite oldest child and the redheaded second child. The first constantly being told how good they are, how talented, how amazing. They get complacent. They get dependent. They get used to putting in minimum effort and being praised. The younger child has to struggle and overcome, but by doing this they become stronger, independent and self-sufficient. The oldest becomes a methhead and the younger becomes a doctor. Okay the metaphor may be far fetched but I can’t help but feel that it applies.
To me, BioWare died after Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 (even though i still enjoy ME3 and damn the multiplayer was pretty good). And it just got worse with Andromeda and Inquisition onwards I am skeptical about the next Mass Effect, because not only i'm sure the new writers have no idea how to continue the story, but they'll surely slap Andromeda lore into it
That's how it sounds by them potentially reverting back to Shepards story for both fan service reasons + lack of content. It's made me lose faith. I actually have friends who are writers trying to shift from the film industry to the video game industry after the strikes so there's not a shortage of writing talent just whatever they're doing with it. And whatever is happening with Dragon Age is just...ugh.
While everyone treats both Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition as the black sheep of the franchise, I for one, enjoyed both Dragon 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition the same way I enjoyed Dragon Age Origins and Baldur’s Gate 3. At least those games allowed me to play out my escapist fiction as I explore the setting of each game, romance some characters, fight the monsters and experience the story of each game. I do hope that Dragon Age Dread Wolf will be good in its own right.
DA2 had it's flaws but at least tried something new with the time skips and a defined protagonist but one you could shape the personality of. DAI went for the most bland and faceless approach to a protagonist and a world that was entirely empty and dull (outside the DLCs). NPC interaction was largely with your party or at special events. While DAO had a a world full of interesting NPCs with story, personality and quests DAI was "collect these items". It also had the most generic and hackneyed fantasy plot, ancient dark lord awakens. It wasn't bad but wasn't in the same league as DAO or BG3 for story or immersive world.
@@101MantI looooved Dragon Age Inquisition. Only game I have ever gotten all achievements on. There’s a lot of depth and personality and way more detail than most people think as many people never escape the Hinterlands and judge the whole game based off that zone. It was so satisfying immersing in the world and they did a great job making an open world Thedas
@CreativeUsernameEh I’m happy you enjoyed it, but personally I find it to be by far the weakest Dragon Age title. It’s still a good game, but I just can’t place it higher than the first 2. DA2 had its glaring issues, but I found the story great and the characters/companions were fairly solid. Even Hawke as a set protagonist wasn’t much of an issue. Inquisition though, the story just felt weak and it shat all over what DA2 had been building. DA2 ends with a massive mage Vs Templar shit storm that seemed like it would change the world, only for Inquisition to essentially turn it into a barely relevant side plot that boils down to you picking a side to be fodder in your army. And the main Villain was a recycled DA2 DLC bad guy… the moment Corypheus was revealed as the bad guy it was a MASSIVE let down. But it wasn’t the end of the world. For the early game it was amazing everything up to Haven I loved especially that final battle which sees the inquisitor go face to face with Corypheus for the first time in What seemed like a guaranteed suicidal attempt to save everyone else. Up until this early point in the game I was loving it, it was tense the stakes seemed high and the situation seemed almost hopeless. And combine that with all the games promo stuff harping the tag line of “lead them or fall” and so by this point I was psyched. If the game kept this dire tone all the way through it would have been epic. Buuuut instead we then gets Leliana’s glee club moment right after on the side of a mountain and everything went downhill from there… The Inquisitor is given an army, a fortress and for the rest of the game proceeds to curb stomp anything that stands in their way. They literally physically go into the fade and only lose 1 person in the process… they’re also apparently this godly warrior/mage despite having no real backstory that would indicate anything like that. They’re either a minor noble before or a mercenary, but either way they’d don’t have any real fighting or combat rep. But can go toe to toe with some of the strongest creatures around. The Inquisitor ends up basically being 100% a Gary/Mary Sue, which isn’t as obvious on your first playthrough, but subsequent play throughs it’s obvious and kind of kills any tension in the story as you know the Inquisitor literally won’t fail at anything after Haven. And that the whole “lead them or fall” tag line was a bunch of B.S. as the Inquisitor not only cannot fail, but cannot die. You can argue the Warden never fails, but the Warden personally builds their army from scratch and it isn’t just given to them. The Warden in basically all Origins is regarded as a fairly adept warrior/mage and is no slouch in combat. And unlike the Inquisitor the Warden CAN die to achieve their goals. Then there’s Hawke, who is not any where close to a Mary/Gary Sue. Hawke despite their fame and all their strength fails on multiple key occasions. By either watching 1 sibling die early. Failing to keep the 2nd sibling from dying/ the wardens/circle-templars. They save the city from the Qunari, but fail to save the viscount who kept Meredith and Orsino balanced. They couldn’t save their mother. And ultimately failed to prevent the Mage vs Templar shit show. Hawke was someone who gained wealth to provide for a family that was dropping like flies and who saved a city once, but failed at literally everything else. And then comes my largest issue with Inquisitions story. And that’s that the actual end to the Inquistor’s story was popped inside a DLC. Like the games REAL ending was a fuggin DLC… that was all kinds of wrong. And that’s not mentioning the companions. Who the vast majority were completely meh. In Origins all the companions were great and even DA2 most of them were pretty good. But for Inquisition I just couldn’t care about any of them really. Cole was kind of interesting and Dorian was likeable and Cassandra was Okay, but she had me intrigued from her appearance in DA2. But the rest I never could care about, no matter how much I tried they just couldn’t hold my interest. And the open world just seemed so unnecessary, just like the stupid war table that ran with real time countdowns which would just artificially inflate playtime. Both these were fine on my first playthrough when the game was at its most interesting, but on subsequent playthroughs it just made the game a massive slog and would usually leave me having to force my self to get to the finish. So yeah, don’t get me wrong despite my crapping on it, I DO like the game. But it will for ever leave a bad taste in my mouth. As it’s a good game, but it had the potential to be so much better than it was.
Dragon Age Origins was so good. So. Good. It was and remained to be my most played game on Steam, with hundreds of hours. It had all the potentials to be developed into even better games than BG3. Alas.
Great analysis on what was going on with these two particular studios although a brief mention to what else was happening in the background with CRPGs resurging in general in the 2010s wouldn't have gone amiss. A lot of groundwork was laid by Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Returns (2013), inXile's Wasteland 2 (2014) and 3 (2020), Torment (2017), Bard's Tale IV (2018), and Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity (2015) and PoE: II (2018). All of those were Kickstarter funded successes by smaller studios that helped establish that the demand for traditional CRPGs was still alive and well and were part of the overall trend that Larian both helped spur along and benefited from with Divinity: Original Sin I & II in 2014 and 2017 that made making Buldur's Gate 3 possible.
I am an MMO player who has basically only played online MMO's for decades now. Baldur's gate 3 has changed that. BG3 is so good that I don't really even need the internet any more. Sure it's not perfect and the performance of act 3 is actually unacceptable but BG3 deserves 100 percent of the praise it receives. I am all in for BG3, Larian Studios and all of their games and DLC. I am now working my way backwards from BG3 enjoying everything they have to offer and happily sending them lots of my money - they deserve it.
Bioware’s problem was abandoning their games to try and create something more massive, something more akin to other successful games rather than their own. Open worlds, dozens of repetitive quests, hours and hours of walking back and forth (Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda did that). Bioware’s games were never about that. They were about difficult and strategic combat, a good story, depth in relationships with companions, decision making. Instead of deepening these aspects and improving them, they worsened them in an attempt to be more like Elder Scrolls, ending up halfway. Larian knew how to deepen the strong points that set them apart (which were the same as Bioware’s) and gifted us with Baldur’s Gate 3. Today, no one is waiting for a new Mass Effect or a new Dragon Age. We want new games from Larian OR FROM OBSIDIAN (I hope Microsoft learns from EA’s mistakes and doesn’t ruin them too).
Obsidian is my second favorite studio, that im slightly concerned with Avowed, but im sure theyll come up with something great. I wonder what they could do with an AAA budget game
I'm currently playing BG3. It is a complex game that requires me to read BG3 wiki and many other sources just to understand how things work. Yet, it is so addicting. My gut tells me Larian will be the perfect studio for making Fallout sequel in the same format as FO1 & 2.
I will say something that I dont think I would ever say, and something people might get mad at, but, Baldur's Gate 3 is the sequal Dragon Age Origins never got.
As a game, I would say BG3 feels better bc it perfected the balance for making combat and play mechanics engaging without feeling overly complicated. But in terms of story/world-building, DAO was better, through no fault of Larian's. The DnD world is just a bit of a mess, while Thedas just feels like a true living, breathing universe that draws you into its story.
Fun Fact! NWN -still- has an active online community in the form of 'Persistent World' Servers (which are, to my mind, 'simply' small-scale, RP focused MMOs.)
larian turn based rpgs are not particularly rules complex, just google any of the pathfinder games for comparison but they do have a physics based system that is quite unique for the genre also let's not kid ourselves, bg3's ending at launch wasnt super different from having 3 colored space lasers lmao
A great point of Larian's success I don't see mention here or often is one of the biggest differences between Larian and other game studios is how they respond to customers. In early access of BG3 developers from Larian emailed ME twice to talk about what problems I saw with early access play. They respond to customers and CARE what we think and want above all other considerations. Sven is a D&D gamer first and it shows in everything he built.
The funny thing is I remember when I first saw Baldurs Gate 3 gameplay. When it was first revealed and I thought to my self that it looked like the Dragon Age 2 we never got. I'm glad Larian picked up where the good Bioware left off. I bought BG3 on release but honestly haven't played it. I know nothing about DND and even the character creator was too overwhelming. I'm sure I'll get to it some day but for now I'm happy to have supported Larian and their game.
Try it, you don't need do now DND to play. to be honest the game is Kinda easy in midium difficult, you don't need to optimize builds to finish it, or try hard it to be playable, just don't be stupid and like play a barbarian with high intelligence and you will be fine haha.
My advice is: Don't overthink it. D&D mechanics can be very overwhelming to learn - and even harder to memorize - but the game is pretty casual and forgiving of mistakes, and will even reward experimentation and creative solutions. Sometimes mistakes can even lead the plot in new directions you didn't expect.
Try it. On explorer difficulty you can really just ignore most of the technical aspects. Just keep in mind that in the earliest levels you're super squishy: there may be fights that you can better just avoid for a while in your first run until you have leveled up a bit more if you find you wipe. Don't be discouraged by people minmaxing stuff in their RUclips honour run tutorials!
The name should have told us all we had to know when it started. It’s like when someone tells you “I’m a nice guy!”. Nice people don’t need to tell you they are nice. There is nothing artistic about EA so they got to fake it and announce to the world so they get people to think they are something they aren’t
My fav pc game is Never winter nights 1, and all the expansions. Baldurs gate 3 reminds me so much of that game that's probably why I love it so much, but in my heart still belongs to never winter nights, I would have loved to see a remake of Never winter nights 1 game using the baldurs gate 3 graphics and game mechanics style but keeping the type of real time strategy never winter nights had. I actually prefer that it had more speed in action vs strategy.
I was done with Bioware after Dragon Age Origins, and Mass Effect. Both games were amazing, and the sequels dumbed them down, and got rid of everything that made them great, in and effort to increase market share and bring in new players.
I played the Divinity Original Sin II boardgame last weekend and it was really fun. we only played through the tutorial portion of the game because we were learning as we played. The board game is called Divinity Original Sin, but I call it DoS 2 because the characters you can play as are: Loshe, Ifan, Sebille & Fane. it is a 4 player game at maximum, just like the RPG. Beast and Red Prince are included with the game, but they aren't part of the original 4. the board game pretty much starts where the game starts, below deck on the ship. I wonder if the whole board game is like the game, surely not. it says on the box it takes an hour to play. It is one of those boardgames you can play 4 players or less, you can even play by yourself. 15:20 BG3 success is greater, but personally, I like DoS 2's gameplay better. I think it was a mistake on Bioware's part to not develop Knights of the Old Republic II themselves. I can only imagine the story if it was written by Bioware. However, Obsidian made a fantastic job and "Kreia" is probably one of the best written characters in an RPG ever.
IMO it has a lot to do with corporatization of the companies. Bioware was acquired by EA which was a studio, whom at the time was already undergoing corporatization (i.e. higher importance of making money off a "product" than actually making a game.)
Bioware "fell" when Bioware stopped being Bioware. They've long ago lost the original talented people that made the company what it was. So it's not really their "fall." So to speak. It's the shell that still has the name, and doesn't have the ability to leverage the legacy with new incumbant talent or any good new IP's. I'd also argue BG3 is first, not Baldur's Gate as the series. That was done canonically at the end of 2. Including DLC. It's Larian doing Larian. Which means it's Divinity Original Sin, with D&D 5e painted over it. It can still be a good to brilliant game, but it's always been mistitled as far as I was ever concerned. If it was actually a third installment of Baldur's Gate; it would've ALWAYS involved a Bhall spawn, and the story would be CENTERED around that. Even if it wasn't Abel. But then they'd also have to find a way to explain why a revived Bhall would even need to make one. Because they were all sacrificed as the origin of the Bhallspawn always entailed, to bring Daddy Not So Dearest back to life. They were always a free 1up to Bhall. It's not really a new IP; it's not even the actual IP that they advertised. Other than a tacked on last minute "Dark Urge" character, and a bare few mentions to try to twist in why that ham-fisted thing should exist in game.
Bg3 could easily have a different title - I agree on that. It seems that nowadays, it is close to impossinlr to make a game that is not a sequel or built up on already existing franchise
That's a good one! I thought about it as well, however when I checked Tencent appears to be that they don't have a voting right in Larian - so I believe it doesn't affects their independence. If they'll ever get a voting right... Well, I hope that doesn't happens.
ME3 had smooth action mechanics but the ending left me hating the fact I loved the game so much. DA Inquisition was unplayable and marked the death of BIOware. You hit the mark on the head my friend. Nice job on the video.
From the quality of the video, I thought I was watching a channel with a subscriber count of like 100,000-300,000. To see that you have _less than 200_, is a fucking scam. Subbed
So bioware went downhill after they were taken over by a big publisher (EA) and Larian went uphill when they found a way to fund a game without a publisher (Divinity original sin). Makes you think
Dragon Age has a really interesting lore mystery behind it...I feel so fuckin bad that it's an IP that will just get trashed on...I think its story alone is so enthralling to match that of Dead Space...Im happy for BG3...Bioware needs to follow its success because if Dredd Wolf fails...DA as we know it is done for....also if you havent seen the animated series...I highly recommend it, it's up there with Arcane
Morrigan and Shadowheart are equally awesome and geniously written characters. Tired of people pitting them against. I will romance both in every playthrough even on my deathbed. peace out.
The writing in BG3 has been way better than Larian's previous games, which were great mechanically but the story and characters never gripped me like in BG3. I hope they can continue with this level of story quality.
Larian: Makes a game where most players will never see even half of the cutscenes, because "A Lolth sworn Drow cleric would be able to say something else here, that resolves the whole issue. so we'll add that for 0.125% of players who picked that" Bioware: Makes a game where you can be good, evil, or pick the green ending, while EA cuts out the origin of their villains or some of the coolest party members because we need to sell DLC
While BioWare was flourishing in the 2000s, Larian was getting bent over the table by publishers and struggling to keep itself afloat. In the 2020s, Larian is flourishing while BioWare is being gutted by EA.
DA:O and ME were definitely Bioware's peak for me. DA:A had great characters but was a rushed mess, and DA:2 was like DA:A on steroids... the good AND the bad were amplified tenfold. I didn't *mind* DA:I, but it just didn't capture the magic of DA:O. none of the following games have met the "magic" standards of DA:O and ME. The only games that have come close to the wonder and magic of DA:O and ME, are DOS:2 and BG3. I still get goosebumps hearing the theme music from those four games. I STILL play all four of them often... though Bioware games require me to stuff around with Origin client, so I play them much less these days - I HATE that client.
just a minor nitpick at 7:30, Mass Effect 3 actually re-introduced a lot of RPG mechanics that were stripped away from Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 1 was heavily criticized for having really clunky UI and unintuitive RPG mechanics which is a lot of the reason Mass Effect 2 was so action focused, and I think Mass Effect 3's greatest strength was actually being able to find a great middle ground. The story and writing is where it falls flat compared to the rest of the series.
It's interesting that Larian practically only developed Divinity games until BG3. They've also made a ton of educational games but those don't really count
Great video! Leaving a comment to boost it. Any developer saying "Larian made a good game because they're lucky not to have a publisher" are clearly entitled and have no idea what the studio has been through since its creation. Cheers from Belgium
BG3 didn't scratch my Bioware itch. Larian play loose with characterization and there are no interesting moral choices in BG3, you're either cartoonishly evil or not. BG3's early access had a lot of interesting stuff going on but it was pretty much gone on launch.
i doubt man like sven who went through hell will give it all up for money now. dude kept his relationship and house on line to achieve his vision .. these kinda men are not purchasable with money.
6:30 "As they believed that by simplifying the combat and gameplay, more people would enjoy the game". No, they believed that more people would buy the game, and I hate that game developers think this.
The biggest impact to Bioware's downfall was being purchased by EA. The shorter development times with EA wanting their games to target more of the mainstream.
Thank you for being here! Here is my comparison between both studios and thoughts on their games. If you have any thoughts to share - I hope you will share them in the comments. If you feel like I deserve it - you're always welcome to subscribe! Thank you! 🙏
Cool vid, got a new sub
@@triplethtet6734 thank you so much!
Hello, at 9:30 “against” is missing a t
@@Therealonetruejoe oops 😅
Larian being independent is the key here.
Yup. Corporate owned studios have access to more resources but the tradeoff is that they're beholden to an entity that has to show increasing profits every year to please their shareholders.
I hate to say this, I truly do. But that’s right, especially in more creative industries like video games it seems to be better to have a privately owned company that’s run by one person or a small group rather than a publicly traded corporation that absolutely has to increase profits every quarter to appease shareholders.
Publishers and, above all, *shareholders* who run those kinds of companies from the shadows, are the very truly worst part of all of capitalism, especially in the creative world. They ruin everything they touch.
Well yeah Duh...
Independent*
*Except Chinese money
I miss the pre-EA Bioware so much.
Same here, their games used to be great
Star Wars KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1.
Ahh, the times when DLCs weren't a massive plague, things got really south with Dragon Age 2 and especially Mass Effect 3
The Citadel was while i won't say perfect, it was a nice send off for the squads.@Cappuccino_Bunny
EA is the cancer that destroys so many great studios. Only a short sighted fool would let them get a foot in the door.
@@Cappuccino_Rabbit Mass Effect 3 wasn't that bad. its ending may have been somewhat underwhelming, especially on launch, but the game was pretty great throughout. DA2 was kinda dookie, though.
EA is the grim reaper of game studios
Microsoft is knocking on your door.
More of a vampire because at least the grim reaper kills you instantly, Instead of slowly and painfully
What they did to Westwood with C&C series will never be forgotten.
Any major corporation really
EA is so anti-consumer the moment they bought the NFL franchise after how amazing NFL 2K5 and later could have been with NFL and gaming fans. But dumb NFL gamers continue to support EA games with Madden.
The true big difference is that Larian is privately owned and isn't on the 'make line go up every quarter' treadmill that Bioware was put onto once they were bought by a publicly traded company. By default a publicly traded company is always first and foremost concerned with making profits. That's why Larian can make a game where making the most money isn't the goal because they're not owned by a publicly traded corporation.
True. That makes them a very special company.
@@notsocasualYT They're indeed legendary world creators standing above almost everybody. I hope they never sell to a public corporation. This is where I'd be fine with nepo babies if they carried the Larian traditions forward.
Sadly, Tencent purchased 30% of Larian after BG3s success
@@AlyssMa7rin Yeah, that news isn't good but I'm going to trust Larian set up appropriate guard rails to prevent their meddling. 10c invests in lots of video game companies and I haven't heard of any undue influence stories about them so let's hope they stay quiet, passive investors.
It's not just the publicly traded company thing though. Because there are still studios that are big publicly traded corporations that still make good games - it's just that almost none of them are WESTERN studios. Capcom, Nintendo, SEGA . . . most of these companies are publicly traded and they still make and publish good games regularly.
So it's really a philosophical thing rather than a pure financial thing. *American* corporate mentality is the one which focuses on the "line must go up!" mentality above all else and ruthlessly pursuing this without caring about *how* it can be done. But obviously, not all companies are American, and it's in non-American gaming studios and companies that best seem to be able to keep this perspective these days it seems, whether that's Japanese companies or European, a common denominator is just that they're not North American.
Long may they last. However, when the day arrives that Sven leaves and the successors fall into the same trap as Bioware, history repeats itself. Heck, even EA once stood for quality and beloved games! (though I'm aging myself that I still remember them) There was LucasArts and Sierra and... the list goes on. You know the end is nigh when the 2 dreaded words crop up: "private" and "equity". That's when the vultures are diving their bloody beaks into the still-living body.
Don't forget Blizzard North
@@IguanaJoose Yes, indeed. A tragedy so sad, my mind must have refused to add it.
Old Bioware will always be influential to who I am as a person today and the way I view characters; I forgot that for a while, but BG3 reminded me of those great times.
I felt the same with BG3. It made me want to replay older Bioware titles
BG3 filled the void Dragon Age Origins left fifteen years ago, when I closed the game for the final time.
I spent 700+ hours in Baldur's Gate. I have barely any interest in DA4.
I feel exactly the same!
I know it's a bit of a personal thing, but I would say Dragon Age II and Dragon Age Inquisition are just as amazing in their own ways, but as beat for beat sequels that you are looking for out of Origins they are not, but that doesn't make them any less amazing imo.
@@mrmoviemanic1 As long as you had a good time - it's all that matters.
@@notsocasualYT True mate.
If Larian was owned by EA they would consider those 700 hours "severely undermonetized" because they werent shoving a MTX shop in front of your face the whole time or pushing some 'live-service' bullshit
Rarely you see someone doing this accurate observations about what happened. All of this doesnt apply only to bioware, simplifying games to make them easier and therefore more appealing to non-nerdish masses, was the wrong path, BG3 proves it pretty well.
It wasn’t just “non-nerdish masses” as BioWare openly fell into the same trap as so many other developers of that era: “we want the call of duty audience”
I agree with that, looks like is true that a game for all is a game for no one.
The trick isn't to dumb down your game so it's easier for more people to play - the trick is to make the game engaging enough that more players want to learn how to play it.
Basically the moment you hear that any company no matter what industry was purchased by a private equity firm, you know that it’s about to go through some serious trouble. The desperate drive to maximize profits at all costs eventually leads the company to eat itself alive and whatever’s left is sold for spare parts.
And the suits who thinks video games are for losers
Not to mention they will borrow heavily against the company to raise profits for shareholders without regard to long term financial viability. Even if absolutely nothing else changed in regards to management, employees, work output, or real profits the debt taken on will bury them sooner rather than later.
I bet you have no clue what a private equity firm actually does for the company.
The entire business strategy for a private equity firm is to seek out firms with alot of potential that need funding to get the cogs spinning. They can also restructure the organisation and ask to take positions on the board of directors.
Eventually, the goal is to sell the shares to a higher price than what they bought them for, and also making money from fees and the like. It is litterally a long term investment, and firms that seek private equity funds are probably in financial or some other trouble to begin with.
Larian chose not to be greedy and actually made timeless game! It’s a must have game for any gamer ❤
I hope they keep making great games!
3 game award shows and a total of 17 awards with all 3 game award shows winning Game Of The Year. Hell of a success story.
Larian Studios should stay independent no matter what & they deserve every bits of supports by gamers.
Bioware is what got me into gaming, First KOTOR (I was too young for OG Baldurs Gate. Watching the fall from grace has been so sad, and I am so thankful for Larian and BG3, finally have that feeling of wonder I did when I first stepped into KOTOR and Dragon Age: Origins
Agree, no game gave me the same feel for a long time!
BG 1 was the first RPG I ever played. I wasn't even fluent in English back then, and yet I remember the experience fondly. After the Enhanced Edition was released I played it again, and found so much I've missed the first time, just because of the language barrier. It was a wonderful experience, and the people who were involved in it's making deserves credit for making something that great - and laying the foundation for Larian to build on with BG3... Even if the studio itself is but a shell of it's former self.
KOTOR 1&2 was and is the GOAT of series
My dude , jade empire was so damn fun ! I remember being young and starting over several dozen times just to make sure I choose the “right” fighting style for myself hahah
It's kinda of sad that we never got a sequel. Such a different game!
Jade Empire was awesome.
bioware died when they sold themselves to ea its not hard to understand and if it was to save the company there are so many other better choices
It was dire straits situation. They've even sold their Aurora engine to at the time completely unknown CD Project to try staying independent, but it wasn't enough. Absolute killer was the fact that they didn't own IP for their best selling games and EA locked rights on Star Wars games for long time period.
Bioware die because of the capitalism risk oh yeah they need to be restricted by political correctness.
Damn, Swen is absolutely crazy for continuing with his game studio after the very serious fails and lackluster results that they had in the past -- I don't know how he managed to keep together, much less keep it up. Thankfully his passion for the craft and confidence on the potential of their projects are on another level, 'cause BG3 was the major wake-up call that the game industry needed (hopefully driving a serious shift on its standards and practices) and, above anything else, just an exception piece of genuine art...
His story is very motivational 😅
glad youtube recommended me this. this is so well made. huge respect for making such a high quality video🙌💯
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
5:00 Yup, I also think that DAO was BioWare's peak, and it makes extra sense to me now, knowing that it was the last thing that started development before EA acquired it and ran them into the ground.
Thank you for watching! Unfortunately, it is what it it...
You forgot about the divinity 2 dlc 'flames of vengeance' which was released together with a re-release of divinity 2 called 'the dragon knight saga'. Which is what ultimately saved them (as they did get to finish that game after all). I loved it by the way, still do. It's larian's hidden gem. There is so much atmosphere there, even more so than in baldurs gate 3 in my opinion.
Bioware is an example of why profit seeking is short sighted.
It feels like in the west, mid size developer scene only now begins to recover after 08.
I'm 315 hours into Baldur's Gate 3, and I'm not stopping anytime soon. I've finished it once, gotten halfway on a handful of other playthroughs, and played around with mods, played co-op with friends. The best damn game I've seen in years
Awesome! Im glad to hear youre having a blast
Like Bane in Dark knights said…..”Victory has defeated you”
That's a good analogy
Wow I really was not expecting such a great video when clicking on this. Poor larian, they just got let down with financials and publishers again and again, where they only needed time and money to make proper games.
Thank you so much! They have a great motivational story. I'm glad everything worked out.
Larian Studios really gets it; they stick to what they believe in and always put gamers first. That's why they've got such a loyal fan base. Basically, they just have to announce a new game, and boom, we're all over it, no fancy ads needed. They save a ton of money on marketing just by making awesome games. On the flip side, you've got those other studios and publisher that just rush games out to hit sales targets, cutting corners and ending up with games that disappoint. They end up blowing loads of cash on marketing just to make those games seem worth it.
They actually do have great and modern marketing - just direct social media communication that is so much better than traditional ads
This whole dynamic seems almost like the favourite oldest child and the redheaded second child. The first constantly being told how good they are, how talented, how amazing. They get complacent. They get dependent. They get used to putting in minimum effort and being praised.
The younger child has to struggle and overcome, but by doing this they become stronger, independent and self-sufficient. The oldest becomes a methhead and the younger becomes a doctor.
Okay the metaphor may be far fetched but I can’t help but feel that it applies.
That was an interesting analogy. Let's hope the oldest one will eventually sober up 😅
To me, BioWare died after Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 (even though i still enjoy ME3 and damn the multiplayer was pretty good). And it just got worse with Andromeda and Inquisition onwards
I am skeptical about the next Mass Effect, because not only i'm sure the new writers have no idea how to continue the story, but they'll surely slap Andromeda lore into it
I really hope we might be wrong about their next games, but I'm skeptical.
That's how it sounds by them potentially reverting back to Shepards story for both fan service reasons + lack of content. It's made me lose faith.
I actually have friends who are writers trying to shift from the film industry to the video game industry after the strikes so there's not a shortage of writing talent just whatever they're doing with it. And whatever is happening with Dragon Age is just...ugh.
Oh andromeda lore is already confirmed. ME is finished
How did BioWare fall and Larian now suddenly winning every award and event?
Larian cares and is independent... BioWare sold it's soul to EA.
BioWare didn’t intend to sell to EA.
While everyone treats both Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition as the black sheep of the franchise, I for one, enjoyed both Dragon 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition the same way I enjoyed Dragon Age Origins and Baldur’s Gate 3. At least those games allowed me to play out my escapist fiction as I explore the setting of each game, romance some characters, fight the monsters and experience the story of each game. I do hope that Dragon Age Dread Wolf will be good in its own right.
DA2 had it's flaws but at least tried something new with the time skips and a defined protagonist but one you could shape the personality of.
DAI went for the most bland and faceless approach to a protagonist and a world that was entirely empty and dull (outside the DLCs). NPC interaction was largely with your party or at special events. While DAO had a a world full of interesting NPCs with story, personality and quests DAI was "collect these items". It also had the most generic and hackneyed fantasy plot, ancient dark lord awakens.
It wasn't bad but wasn't in the same league as DAO or BG3 for story or immersive world.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! At the end of the day, that's what matters. I really do hope Dread Wolf will come out well, but I'm quite skeptical about it.
@@101MantI looooved Dragon Age Inquisition. Only game I have ever gotten all achievements on.
There’s a lot of depth and personality and way more detail than most people think as many people never escape the Hinterlands and judge the whole game based off that zone. It was so satisfying immersing in the world and they did a great job making an open world Thedas
@CreativeUsernameEh
I’m happy you enjoyed it, but personally I find it to be by far the weakest Dragon Age title. It’s still a good game, but I just can’t place it higher than the first 2.
DA2 had its glaring issues, but I found the story great and the characters/companions were fairly solid. Even Hawke as a set protagonist wasn’t much of an issue.
Inquisition though, the story just felt weak and it shat all over what DA2 had been building. DA2 ends with a massive mage Vs Templar shit storm that seemed like it would change the world, only for Inquisition to essentially turn it into a barely relevant side plot that boils down to you picking a side to be fodder in your army.
And the main Villain was a recycled DA2 DLC bad guy… the moment Corypheus was revealed as the bad guy it was a MASSIVE let down. But it wasn’t the end of the world.
For the early game it was amazing everything up to Haven I loved especially that final battle which sees the inquisitor go face to face with Corypheus for the first time in What seemed like a guaranteed suicidal attempt to save everyone else. Up until this early point in the game I was loving it, it was tense the stakes seemed high and the situation seemed almost hopeless.
And combine that with all the games promo stuff harping the tag line of “lead them or fall” and so by this point I was psyched. If the game kept this dire tone all the way through it would have been epic.
Buuuut instead we then gets Leliana’s glee club moment right after on the side of a mountain and everything went downhill from there…
The Inquisitor is given an army, a fortress and for the rest of the game proceeds to curb stomp anything that stands in their way. They literally physically go into the fade and only lose 1 person in the process… they’re also apparently this godly warrior/mage despite having no real backstory that would indicate anything like that. They’re either a minor noble before or a mercenary, but either way they’d don’t have any real fighting or combat rep. But can go toe to toe with some of the strongest creatures around.
The Inquisitor ends up basically being 100% a Gary/Mary Sue, which isn’t as obvious on your first playthrough, but subsequent play throughs it’s obvious and kind of kills any tension in the story as you know the Inquisitor literally won’t fail at anything after Haven.
And that the whole “lead them or fall” tag line was a bunch of B.S. as the Inquisitor not only cannot fail, but cannot die.
You can argue the Warden never fails, but the Warden personally builds their army from scratch and it isn’t just given to them. The Warden in basically all Origins is regarded as a fairly adept warrior/mage and is no slouch in combat.
And unlike the Inquisitor the Warden CAN die to achieve their goals.
Then there’s Hawke, who is not any where close to a Mary/Gary Sue. Hawke despite their fame and all their strength fails on multiple key occasions.
By either watching 1 sibling die early. Failing to keep the 2nd sibling from dying/ the wardens/circle-templars.
They save the city from the Qunari, but fail to save the viscount who kept Meredith and Orsino balanced.
They couldn’t save their mother.
And ultimately failed to prevent the Mage vs Templar shit show.
Hawke was someone who gained wealth to provide for a family that was dropping like flies and who saved a city once, but failed at literally everything else.
And then comes my largest issue with Inquisitions story. And that’s that the actual end to the Inquistor’s story was popped inside a DLC. Like the games REAL ending was a fuggin DLC… that was all kinds of wrong.
And that’s not mentioning the companions. Who the vast majority were completely meh. In Origins all the companions were great and even DA2 most of them were pretty good.
But for Inquisition I just couldn’t care about any of them really. Cole was kind of interesting and Dorian was likeable and Cassandra was Okay, but she had me intrigued from her appearance in DA2. But the rest I never could care about, no matter how much I tried they just couldn’t hold my interest.
And the open world just seemed so unnecessary, just like the stupid war table that ran with real time countdowns which would just artificially inflate playtime. Both these were fine on my first playthrough when the game was at its most interesting, but on subsequent playthroughs it just made the game a massive slog and would usually leave me having to force my self to get to the finish.
So yeah, don’t get me wrong despite my crapping on it, I DO like the game. But it will for ever leave a bad taste in my mouth. As it’s a good game, but it had the potential to be so much better than it was.
It's so humbling to see where Larian came from... I have so much respect for them. They feel like the people's studio
I hope the algorithm keeps blessing you. They gave you me
Thank you for being here!
Dragon Age Origins was so good. So. Good. It was and remained to be my most played game on Steam, with hundreds of hours. It had all the potentials to be developed into even better games than BG3.
Alas.
It is an amazing game. One of my favorite games ever.
never heard of a publisher rushing a game and it working out. why do they still release games that are clearly not ready
And they keep on doing it over and over again...
The spirit of old Bioware now rests with Larian
Great analysis on what was going on with these two particular studios although a brief mention to what else was happening in the background with CRPGs resurging in general in the 2010s wouldn't have gone amiss. A lot of groundwork was laid by Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Returns (2013), inXile's Wasteland 2 (2014) and 3 (2020), Torment (2017), Bard's Tale IV (2018), and Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity (2015) and PoE: II (2018). All of those were Kickstarter funded successes by smaller studios that helped establish that the demand for traditional CRPGs was still alive and well and were part of the overall trend that Larian both helped spur along and benefited from with Divinity: Original Sin I & II in 2014 and 2017 that made making Buldur's Gate 3 possible.
Thanks for the suggestion. I thought originally to mention it, but I think this movement deserves a separate video. (so much was going on there!)
Bioware used to be incredible, now they are a joke. I am just happy that Larian is becoming what Bioware used to be.
We are very lucky that we've got Larian
I am an MMO player who has basically only played online MMO's for decades now. Baldur's gate 3 has changed that. BG3 is so good that I don't really even need the internet any more. Sure it's not perfect and the performance of act 3 is actually unacceptable but BG3 deserves 100 percent of the praise it receives. I am all in for BG3, Larian Studios and all of their games and DLC. I am now working my way backwards from BG3 enjoying everything they have to offer and happily sending them lots of my money - they deserve it.
Im glad you decided to give it a try! Have fun!
Bioware’s problem was abandoning their games to try and create something more massive, something more akin to other successful games rather than their own. Open worlds, dozens of repetitive quests, hours and hours of walking back and forth (Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect Andromeda did that). Bioware’s games were never about that. They were about difficult and strategic combat, a good story, depth in relationships with companions, decision making. Instead of deepening these aspects and improving them, they worsened them in an attempt to be more like Elder Scrolls, ending up halfway. Larian knew how to deepen the strong points that set them apart (which were the same as Bioware’s) and gifted us with Baldur’s Gate 3.
Today, no one is waiting for a new Mass Effect or a new Dragon Age. We want new games from Larian OR FROM OBSIDIAN (I hope Microsoft learns from EA’s mistakes and doesn’t ruin them too).
Obsidian is my second favorite studio, that im slightly concerned with Avowed, but im sure theyll come up with something great. I wonder what they could do with an AAA budget game
I'm currently playing BG3. It is a complex game that requires me to read BG3 wiki and many other sources just to understand how things work. Yet, it is so addicting.
My gut tells me Larian will be the perfect studio for making Fallout sequel in the same format as FO1 & 2.
Really great documentary. I am impressed both by the resilience of Larian and the effectiveness of your comparison between the two studios.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for watching
I will say something that I dont think I would ever say, and something people might get mad at, but, Baldur's Gate 3 is the sequal Dragon Age Origins never got.
I kinda off share the same feeling, but I think will be more like accurately calling it a "spiritual succesor"
@@notsocasualYTI think thats a better way to describe it yes, which is hilarious, as DAO was a loveletter and spiritual successor to BG1 and 2!
@@astralaris8712 They made a strange full circle 😅
As a game, I would say BG3 feels better bc it perfected the balance for making combat and play mechanics engaging without feeling overly complicated. But in terms of story/world-building, DAO was better, through no fault of Larian's. The DnD world is just a bit of a mess, while Thedas just feels like a true living, breathing universe that draws you into its story.
Really great video!!! I appreciate the time and effort put in to make the video!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this comment.
Wow this is a video of great quality, well researched and well presented, I hope your channel grows to reflect your effort and ability
Thank you so much! I hope I'll be able to keep up!
Really good video, i dont often leave comments but i think you deaerve a community worthy of the quality video you produced!
Thank you for being here! I really appreciate it!
Hopefully this gains traction - I can tell care and effort went into this. W upload 🤟
Thank you a lot! I really apreaciate it.
@@notsocasualYTlooks like it’s picking up a day later! Knew it was gonna do well 🎉
@@Wisdomv3 Never imagined it! 🎉
Fun Fact! NWN -still- has an active online community in the form of 'Persistent World' Servers (which are, to my mind, 'simply' small-scale, RP focused MMOs.)
That's amazing! It used to be quite popular back then
larian turn based rpgs are not particularly rules complex, just google any of the pathfinder games for comparison
but they do have a physics based system that is quite unique for the genre
also let's not kid ourselves, bg3's ending at launch wasnt super different from having 3 colored space lasers lmao
I grew up playing BG1, 2, Icewind Dale and Planescape, so much fun. Forever in my heart and mind.
A great point of Larian's success I don't see mention here or often is one of the biggest differences between Larian and other game studios is how they respond to customers. In early access of BG3 developers from Larian emailed ME twice to talk about what problems I saw with early access play. They respond to customers and CARE what we think and want above all other considerations. Sven is a D&D gamer first and it shows in everything he built.
The funny thing is I remember when I first saw Baldurs Gate 3 gameplay. When it was first revealed and I thought to my self that it looked like the Dragon Age 2 we never got. I'm glad Larian picked up where the good Bioware left off. I bought BG3 on release but honestly haven't played it. I know nothing about DND and even the character creator was too overwhelming. I'm sure I'll get to it some day but for now I'm happy to have supported Larian and their game.
It is worth a try!
Try it, you don't need do now DND to play. to be honest the game is Kinda easy in midium difficult, you don't need to optimize builds to finish it, or try hard it to be playable, just don't be stupid and like play a barbarian with high intelligence and you will be fine haha.
My advice is: Don't overthink it. D&D mechanics can be very overwhelming to learn - and even harder to memorize - but the game is pretty casual and forgiving of mistakes, and will even reward experimentation and creative solutions. Sometimes mistakes can even lead the plot in new directions you didn't expect.
Try it. On explorer difficulty you can really just ignore most of the technical aspects. Just keep in mind that in the earliest levels you're super squishy: there may be fights that you can better just avoid for a while in your first run until you have leveled up a bit more if you find you wipe. Don't be discouraged by people minmaxing stuff in their RUclips honour run tutorials!
Where did Bioware go wrong? Two words: Electronic Arts
The name should have told us all we had to know when it started. It’s like when someone tells you “I’m a nice guy!”. Nice people don’t need to tell you they are nice. There is nothing artistic about EA so they got to fake it and announce to the world so they get people to think they are something they aren’t
My fav pc game is Never winter nights 1, and all the expansions. Baldurs gate 3 reminds me so much of that game that's probably why I love it so much, but in my heart still belongs to never winter nights, I would have loved to see a remake of Never winter nights 1 game using the baldurs gate 3 graphics and game mechanics style but keeping the type of real time strategy never winter nights had. I actually prefer that it had more speed in action vs strategy.
Have you played pillars of eternity? It might sceatch the same itch as neverwinter
@@notsocasualYT I haven't played that, but my pc is really old now I doubt it will work lol thanks anyway I'll at least check it out on youtube.
@@deusvlad2.083 I don't think the first one is very demanding, but it might be up your alley if you like Neverwinter Nights!
@@notsocasualYT ok thanks m8
Great videos, it's good to see your channel is growing -Keep it up!
Thank you so much!
God this is so sad. Bioware is the reason I am obsessed with video games.
It is. At least weve got Larian now.
@@notsocasualYT Bioware is not dead yet stfu fool
Never played turn based Rpg games like baldurs gate 3 now im hooked...hoping for new Dlc there so much to do in Baldurs gate
I was done with Bioware after Dragon Age Origins, and Mass Effect. Both games were amazing, and the sequels dumbed them down, and got rid of everything that made them great, in and effort to increase market share and bring in new players.
Same here, however who knows, maybe one day...
I will definitely watch this video later! This is QUALITY!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
I played the Divinity Original Sin II boardgame last weekend and it was really fun. we only played through the tutorial portion of the game because we were learning as we played. The board game is called Divinity Original Sin, but I call it DoS 2 because the characters you can play as are: Loshe, Ifan, Sebille & Fane. it is a 4 player game at maximum, just like the RPG. Beast and Red Prince are included with the game, but they aren't part of the original 4. the board game pretty much starts where the game starts, below deck on the ship. I wonder if the whole board game is like the game, surely not. it says on the box it takes an hour to play. It is one of those boardgames you can play 4 players or less, you can even play by yourself.
15:20 BG3 success is greater, but personally, I like DoS 2's gameplay better.
I think it was a mistake on Bioware's part to not develop Knights of the Old Republic II themselves. I can only imagine the story if it was written by Bioware. However, Obsidian made a fantastic job and "Kreia" is probably one of the best written characters in an RPG ever.
Dragon Age Origins is still one of my favorite gaming experiences ever
It is a great game!
IMO it has a lot to do with corporatization of the companies. Bioware was acquired by EA which was a studio, whom at the time was already undergoing corporatization (i.e. higher importance of making money off a "product" than actually making a game.)
I love your editing. Keep it up.
Thank you for watching!
Laren made something comprehensive, confusing, fascinating, and something that can poke my brain. It is, gud.
Honestly bg3 feels like the spiritual successor of the original dragons age. I loved dragon age but the only good one was the first one.
DAO was awesome.
10 years from now:
Baldur's Gate: Andromeda
I hope not! 😅
😂😅
I can’t wait!
I still love Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, and Knights of the Old Republic. They will always stay in my library.
Theyre great games!
DA Origins remains the GOAT for me because my laptop can't run BG3
I'm sorry to hear that! Regards of that, DAO is still awesome.
What an amazing video, great production and way of presenting it, hope your channel grows to match the high quality of this video!
Thank you so much for being here, and I'm glad you liked it! I hope I'll be able to keep up 😅
Bioware "fell" when Bioware stopped being Bioware. They've long ago lost the original talented people that made the company what it was. So it's not really their "fall." So to speak. It's the shell that still has the name, and doesn't have the ability to leverage the legacy with new incumbant talent or any good new IP's. I'd also argue BG3 is first, not Baldur's Gate as the series. That was done canonically at the end of 2. Including DLC. It's Larian doing Larian. Which means it's Divinity Original Sin, with D&D 5e painted over it. It can still be a good to brilliant game, but it's always been mistitled as far as I was ever concerned. If it was actually a third installment of Baldur's Gate; it would've ALWAYS involved a Bhall spawn, and the story would be CENTERED around that. Even if it wasn't Abel. But then they'd also have to find a way to explain why a revived Bhall would even need to make one. Because they were all sacrificed as the origin of the Bhallspawn always entailed, to bring Daddy Not So Dearest back to life. They were always a free 1up to Bhall. It's not really a new IP; it's not even the actual IP that they advertised. Other than a tacked on last minute "Dark Urge" character, and a bare few mentions to try to twist in why that ham-fisted thing should exist in game.
Bg3 could easily have a different title - I agree on that. It seems that nowadays, it is close to impossinlr to make a game that is not a sequel or built up on already existing franchise
i was thinking today about how DA: origins has so much in common with BG3 and see this vid lol, clear vid mate
Thanks! That thought was what gave me the initial idea 😅
awesome video mate, keep it up
Thank you so much. I'll try my best!
Well... You missed one thing. At which point did Tencent aquire significant portion of Larian?
That's a good one! I thought about it as well, however when I checked Tencent appears to be that they don't have a voting right in Larian - so I believe it doesn't affects their independence. If they'll ever get a voting right... Well, I hope that doesn't happens.
The answer is Electronic Arts
ME3 had smooth action mechanics but the ending left me hating the fact I loved the game so much. DA Inquisition was unplayable and marked the death of BIOware. You hit the mark on the head my friend. Nice job on the video.
I felt the same about DAI ans ME3. Thank you so much for this comment, im glad you liked it!
From the quality of the video, I thought I was watching a channel with a subscriber count of like 100,000-300,000. To see that you have _less than 200_, is a fucking scam. Subbed
Thank you so much, I appreciate it
So bioware went downhill after they were taken over by a big publisher (EA) and Larian went uphill when they found a way to fund a game without a publisher (Divinity original sin). Makes you think
Seems like having a publisher can ruin many studios
Thank you for the informative and well presented video
Thank you for watching!
Short answer: EA
I’m subscribing love your quality
Thank you!
Dragon Age has a really interesting lore mystery behind it...I feel so fuckin bad that it's an IP that will just get trashed on...I think its story alone is so enthralling to match that of Dead Space...Im happy for BG3...Bioware needs to follow its success because if Dredd Wolf fails...DA as we know it is done for....also if you havent seen the animated series...I highly recommend it, it's up there with Arcane
Morrigan and Shadowheart are equally awesome and geniously written characters. Tired of people pitting them against. I will romance both in every playthrough even on my deathbed. peace out.
The writing in BG3 has been way better than Larian's previous games, which were great mechanically but the story and characters never gripped me like in BG3. I hope they can continue with this level of story quality.
Larian: Makes a game where most players will never see even half of the cutscenes, because "A Lolth sworn Drow cleric would be able to say something else here, that resolves the whole issue. so we'll add that for 0.125% of players who picked that"
Bioware: Makes a game where you can be good, evil, or pick the green ending, while EA cuts out the origin of their villains or some of the coolest party members because we need to sell DLC
Larian are the top RPG devs now
They are indeed!
New Bioware can be summed up with their own marketing saying, push a button something awesome happens, button awesome.
Morrigan walk so Shadowheart could run.
R.I.P Dragon Age.
While BioWare was flourishing in the 2000s, Larian was getting bent over the table by publishers and struggling to keep itself afloat. In the 2020s, Larian is flourishing while BioWare is being gutted by EA.
Hopefully Bioware will find a way out.
DA:O and ME were definitely Bioware's peak for me. DA:A had great characters but was a rushed mess, and DA:2 was like DA:A on steroids... the good AND the bad were amplified tenfold. I didn't *mind* DA:I, but it just didn't capture the magic of DA:O. none of the following games have met the "magic" standards of DA:O and ME.
The only games that have come close to the wonder and magic of DA:O and ME, are DOS:2 and BG3. I still get goosebumps hearing the theme music from those four games. I STILL play all four of them often... though Bioware games require me to stuff around with Origin client, so I play them much less these days - I HATE that client.
They used to make great games.
just a minor nitpick at 7:30, Mass Effect 3 actually re-introduced a lot of RPG mechanics that were stripped away from Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 1 was heavily criticized for having really clunky UI and unintuitive RPG mechanics which is a lot of the reason Mass Effect 2 was so action focused, and I think Mass Effect 3's greatest strength was actually being able to find a great middle ground. The story and writing is where it falls flat compared to the rest of the series.
Amazing production, even had a tear in my eye when you told swen´s story, very well done brother x)
Thank you so much! Is quite a crazy story, so many years to finally succeed!
It's interesting that Larian practically only developed Divinity games until BG3. They've also made a ton of educational games but those don't really count
Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins will be always in my heart. But after those... it went downhill since Mass Effect 3 dissapointing ending.
I feel exactly the same.
Great video! Leaving a comment to boost it.
Any developer saying "Larian made a good game because they're lucky not to have a publisher" are clearly entitled and have no idea what the studio has been through since its creation.
Cheers from Belgium
I'm glad you liked it! Thanks. Larian's work is really impressive.
BG3 didn't scratch my Bioware itch. Larian play loose with characterization and there are no interesting moral choices in BG3, you're either cartoonishly evil or not. BG3's early access had a lot of interesting stuff going on but it was pretty much gone on launch.
So their closest call was not because of any incompetence but by being fucked by the publisher? Why doesn't that surprise me..?
Sad but true. I'm glad they made it trough
lets hope larian wont go greedy mode and lose it all
i doubt man like sven who went through hell will give it all up for money now. dude kept his relationship and house on line to achieve his vision .. these kinda men are not purchasable with money.
Selling to EA and the owners of the studios leaving, always equals downfall.
6:30 "As they believed that by simplifying the combat and gameplay, more people would enjoy the game". No, they believed that more people would buy the game, and I hate that game developers think this.
The biggest impact to Bioware's downfall was being purchased by EA. The shorter development times with EA wanting their games to target more of the mainstream.
Looks like it. Sad but true
DA:I is one of if not the least deserving of GOTY ever. 2014 must have been an awful year, I wasnt gaming much in that era for a reason.