Thanks for watching, what do you think of the state of the games industry? Think I'm too harsh or do you want to see changes? Thanks for helping me hit 500 subs, let's aim for that 1000!
TBH yes u did get a bit ranty in the end. I enjoyed more the break down of Larian's history. IMO it prob be better to splint into two vids. That said I agree with it all. D1,D2,D3 spent well over 1k hours or more. Not going to touch D4, it hurts like hell not to as some of the designs look very nice from what I have seen. Tho like BG3 I stayed away from over simulating on it before playing. I just can't do it. after DM "dont u guys have phones" fyi i played it on PC only, smashed it by day two and was unable to progress as T2 was co-op only. fk that. Diablo is single player first then co-op. Overwatch disaster. D2 Remaster tho well done in many ways has also gone astray. and wow became dead to me by CAT. played vanilla for the nostalgia but im too tired of paying monthly sub for something iv already played plus when it was OG it was novel and u justified the $30/month, now its tired and a rip off. I just cannot justify giving Bliz/Acta any more money. I even tried to get into PoE but found the constant changes and nerfs made it impossible to play. barely get to a section and start having fun when new expansion/season comes out and its all changed. Like u said, its all about keeping those cash cows happy not the players who made the IP popular. I hope BG3 stays true. If not then at least for now they r DRM free and I can just play any version of the game I want. /rant stop
I think a lot of the devs tried to make things they wanted to make that fans would like but little by little corporate greed forced them to make changes they didn't want to make and as time has gone on they have become desensitized to it and it's just the way things are done now and little by little they stopped questioning it.
10000000%. Mass Effect was my favorite franchise, but 3 was such a disappointment that it killed my enthusiasm not just for the series, but for gaming in general. I've found a few games that were good since then, but only a few that I've been excited for. And most of those were disappointing (looking at you Cyberpunk). BG3 has rekindled my passion for gaming in a way I haven't felt since 2012. I only pray that Larian doesn't succumb to the model that befalls so many great game devs - namely getting swallowed up by some large corporate publisher and losing their soul.
@@cryofpaine I find even good games tend not to be good till 20 patches later. Cyberpunk today is an example of that. It took 2 years for them to get close to the game it should have been at launch. While BG3 does need some work in Chapter 3. BG3 is better then 90% of games that come out.
I have a friend that worked at Bioware starting with Jade Empire all the way to the Mass Effect series. He stated that first EA was very hands off and was all about a quality game but then it started to change and it was all about pushing the content to maximize profit and that is why he left. And yes I am playing bg3 like dragon age, I am swapping out companions all the time just to hear the different banter they have while running around.
What hurts the worst knowing like all companies once beloved to me like Bungie Bioware Blizzard etc Larian will probably go down the same path and some new based studio will rise until they too get too successful and befome corporatized
Self-publishing allowed Larian to do marketing on their own terms, which eventually led to the bear clip going viral. A marketing agency contracted through the publisher almost certainly wouldn’t have used that as part of their strategy 😂. Larian admitted they had trouble figuring out the best way to market the game. This is a blessing for them, they saved money not having to pay for a traditional marketing agency to market their game.
My only regret with BG3 is that I don't have enough free time to start another playthrough after finishing my first after roughly 170h. Also no gamer expects an indie studio to deliver another BG3, we just want that you put the same amount of heart in it for your vision of the game you making as Larian did.
Same. 140 hours in with 2 different characters and I havent even finished the game yet. Got to act 3 with a character and then was curious to get to it again doing different choices and it was super worth it
I really enjoyed hearing about the early days of Larian. I had never heard of Larian until I heard about BG3. This story is heartwarming, and honestly, it's amazing to see a company respect their customer base. I haven't even played BG3 yet (waiting on PS5 release!), and I already want to know what they're going to do next. 😂
DOS series can recommend dipping into if you like BG3. Cinematics arent the same, but it is really good. Also, well balanced for older PCs, if you like.
I liked DoS and DoS 2 so much that I bought and played all their older games. Larian never lacked heart, it lacked founds but you could definitely see the spark in their games. And I love that they keept makimg the Divinity series despite all the dificulties they experienced. Now Divinity is great and hopefully it will keep getting greater.
Awesome video! I remember playing DOS2 in early access and it blows me away. I couldn't wait for the release. I also played BG3 at early access back in 2020 (I think) and now playing the full game, there are so much that's been added. Love this studio. Will be supporting them for whatever they release
You could reverse Bungie's argument right back on them. We expected games to be released in a playable state without the expectation of trying to sell us extra crap, or cut content. Publishers changed what we had expected in games. You started this. We are just going back to what was the normal for decades up until the bullcrap DLC greed that has overtaken modern video games for the past decade. I'm old, I've been gaming since the early 80s, and I remember games coming out completed. Publishers changed the normal, and we just want the normal back.
I feel ya man. I played as well during the late 80s, 90s and beyond. The truth is, BGIII as awesome as it is, shouldn't be the exception but the standard. Games should come with full bells and whistles, without the need for extra purchases. This rings especially true for single player games. Anyway, good that Larian shows that these kind of games ARE possible and that the game and the reactions on it show that this is what the consumers want. Now lets just hope the industry is listening.
Well said... We don't need every game to be BG3, but have the intent. Larian kicked and fought for so long to make great games that people supported. now, they can do whatever they want, and thanks for that. Other developers take note, this is how its done. The community will reward heart, even if you don't have Larian $$$ yet...
First of all, THANK YOU for speaking the truth in such a clear and level-headed manner. I couldn't agree more with what you said in this video. I've put over 500h in Baldurs Gate 3 including early access of course and I supported the studio since the release of Ego Draconis. I truly despise the whole "barking back" at Larian for doing incredible work. It only shows in what sad times we live in when someone convey them how it should be done through actions and determination, only to trash talk about it being anomaly and making it clear that these people have no desire to change to the better. It is truly saddening for me that developers at big companies are both victims and cause of the current state of gaming industry. I stumbled upon your channel by complete accident, searching yt video for Sven interview, and found this gem channel. You, sir, have my respect and my sub.
Yaaay, I don't subscribe often, but here I am, because of how comprehensive you make it clear, what was already on our minds. Hope your content is going to be noticed by millions for the years to come! :D
I came over from the hype & never played D&D & CRPG’S & I am so glad i did, the game is just wow…. in a class all its own , I learned the gsme mechanics from other youtube videos, as the combat is deeeep, & it can be intimidating to new players, but I didn’t give up & wow, what an experience, its not hype, if its that good & it truly is, doubtful, any other game developers could ever replicate this though unfortunately & although I hope its the standard, I doubt they can ever do it, the skill & love put into this game is obvious, even if you don’t like games or CRPG’S…. theirs nothing like it, but watch all the fakes that come after now. So happy for LarionStudio they deserved it & were very brave to go against the system, you have to respect, Authenticity. Funny u say 😂that,I do think it has to be WitchCraft, its just unheard of, does it have problems, yea, but it’s nothing compared to what u get, its as close to perfect, as I think you can get.
The funny thing about those publisher stories. Sometimes those guys and pushes are needed. Some developers get stuck throwing out ideas faster than they can build games, and without someone saying "no stop it, send it out now" they never make anything. It's a hard balance act, sometimes we get better products due to publisher interference, but sadly we all too often get tripe with no vision, no flavour and no soul.
A part of the foundation of their eventually success was that AAA RPG developers had largely left the market Larian was catering to with DOS1. DOS1 was part of the CRPG (Kickstarter) revival, in that they got additional funds from there also. Mostly fans who didn't have much choice anymore, as Bioware, Bethesda et all had gone to make much more streamlined and action-ish games than they used to make up until the early to mid 2000s. Naturally, to attract ever larger crowds of players far beyond their core audience. In fact, Larian themselves wanted to do a turn based combat game ever since their first Divinity. But publishers told them that wouldn't sell. With BG3, it's basically all come full circle. Not merely DID their vision sell. With BG3 they got an IP from way back nobody (including Bioware) had touched in twenty years and showcased that it even sells enough to support contemporary AAA production budgets.
I backed dos 1 and 2 on Kickstarter and new this was a must buy when it realeased. May even buy it for ps5 as well to play with a few friends that dont have pc.
This is bonkers to me right now. After over 400 hours I consider BG3 one of my favorite games of all time. But it took until watching your video for me to realize that I already loved their games way earlier. And I don't mean DOS 1 or 2. I tried both and they were good. What I mean is Divinitiy 2 (Ego Draconis). I played the hell out of that one when it first came out. And... and Larian made that??? My mind is a bit blown right now. It makes perfect sense, but holy hells, what a crazy thing to discover. I guess I loved Larian before it was cool lol (don't take me seriously, I'm just.. amazed right now...)
I remember playing Ego Draconis back in the day. Found it amazingly creative but it reached a point where I didn't have the drive left to finish it. Years later I peaked at D:OS and the second I used a rain spell to save a burning ship I was hooked. Took me after D:OS2 to connect Ego Draconis with the Divinity series (the word "Divinity" isn't really memorable), but to me it showed that the spark of genius was always there at Larian.
Great video. This whole “drama” was kind of interesting. The original sentiment of that devs first post was fine, although a bit unnecessary, sure you might get a couple online mouth breathers point to BG3 when some random small studio game comes out but normal reasonable people wouldn’t even make the comparison.
In the world where our Beloved studios like Blizz, Bethesda, Bungie Bioware and let’s add Rockstar; Larian is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have not given up hope on CDPR yet. However I do not see another Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls, worth its lineage, ever coming out
Thank you 🙏 for pointing out, these truths, more needs to be said, People, don’t you dare give a game company your money, if they don’t respect you, as a consumer, Like its very true, every word u said.
I bought DOS 1 and Dos 2 years ago and never played them but I knew they were good so I bought them. After BG3 they are going to the top of my backlog.
First of all, I love your video. Great vid, in depth. Love it. But to comment on what you say in the 20th minute and after. You (not you personally, but gamers in general) should really stop buying games with microtransactions at all. Don't buy them and complain about it, stop buying them. If you buy them these companies already have what they want, your money. These games exist because gamers keep buying them Gamers always choose their dopamine hit and gaming fix above principles, and those publishers know it! Im 38 and been gaming sinds I'm 2 years old and never bought a game with a store front in it or season passes out of principle, and I never felt there weren't great games to play. Never buy on day one, never pre purchase (why not save your money in your own ba k account? It's not you cannot buy it later), never buy promises, buy features... I became a huge fan of Larian as well, and it's funny.. They don't do anything new, they do what was standard in the 90s and early 2000s, Games always used to be full experiences and filled with tons of features back then.
It's all about the Q3 and Q4 earnings. I think I have more than 600 hours in COD: Modern Warfare 2... it was amazing. Modern Warfare 1 was a game changer for the genre (talking about the originals, but the new ones are good too). Each year they kept coming out with new versions and they were basically all the same game. I stopped buying them. This is also apparent with sport games and I've heard similar criticisms for FIFA. Why settle for millions when you can make billions? I love BG3 and Larian, however... For the next one, it will be hard for them to turn down that kind of money. In fact, it would be irresponsible. I know this isn't a popular opinion, but this is the inevitable flow that happens when the stakes change. Mission creep in military slang. Doing the right thing. However... it's not like a war you didn't ask for. You can speak with your wallet. Just don't buy the sub-par games. Also, just like everyone blasts Hollywood for making crappy movies, the reality is people are not watching the smaller good ones and they languish in obscurity until they get rediscovered years later. The silver lining is that there hasn't been a better time for indie developers since the early 80's when any game was basically indie,. Epic with the Unreal Engine has evened the playing field.
There was a time, before CP2077 was released, when we believed similar things about CDPR. But so far I have more faith in Larian to stay on the path that's good for gamers (and I hope that CDPR will find their way back too, at least CDPR hasn't yet gone down full micro transactions...)
Honestly battle passes, seasons, cosmetics aren't inherently a problem. Its when other things are compromised for them. It used to be you got a full game and then you got dlc. Now they have basically stripped away half of that and you get half a game that requires a season or battle pass to stand as an actual game. But its generally hollow content and thats the problem.
I'm with you there. I play a far bit of Path of Exile and have no problem with their cosmetic shop because it's the only way to support them, they don't charge full price for the game and my favourite thing about it is that it's the least invasive of any game I've ever played.
@Born_Reddy when it's done as a compliment it can be really cool. In poe you get play the entire game without buying skins. However, you realize at some point you look like you put together several trash cans to make up your armor lol. So yea the skins in the shop are appealing, but they aren't the focus and don't take away from the actual game. The opposite is very clear in games like lost ark. Trying to play that without spending money is an absolute chore. Which is sad because the combat in that game is great and there is so much potential there.
@chrislastname1994 true!! I really enjoyed lost arc until I hit the grind and you could feel where they intentionally put your experience second to entice you to spend money and it killed the experience for me from there
Weird when a company says we do not want additional purchases............has a community that will gladly pay for it.........just as a thank you for the studio. Elden Ring was the first game in decades that made me feel like I underpaid. BG3 is the second. Edit: My loyalty runs high.........so does my distrust. From and Larian are the only gaming studios that have my loyalty. I will always love survival games.........it's a totally different genre........and I dig if for what it is.
Thanks, very nice video! While the whole point of BG3 being a complete game without microtransactions is nice, I think it begs the question why did BG3 suddenly become the focus of such discussion -- I mean there were a number of major games released this year that you could say the same thing about, and probably released in more of a polished state than BG3. (You could even argue that the decision to pull up the release date of BG3 to avoid Starfield is the kind of "bad publisher behavior" this view is against -- it clearly ended up releasing it with less polish than if they had taken that month to do the various fixes they have been pushing out. But it seems clear it was also the right decision to make, allowing them to have room from the Starfield release to have word of mouth spread the game.) I think a just as important aspect of publishers is how they impact the *kinds* of games released. And Larian provides a great example of this. Consider: - Divine Divinity not only had its name changed by the publisher, but I recall reading they originally wanted it to be turn-based but the publisher said no it had to be an ARPG because nobody is interested in turn-based RPGs anymore. - Divinity 2 is a 3D game because no publisher would fund an isometric game because nobody wanted to play those kinds of games anymore. - D:OS was Larian's chance to escape those publisher limitations, and build the game they always wanted to: a deep turn-based CRPG. And from that show that there actually are plenty of people who still want to play those kinds of games. And then from there I think the big magic of BG3 is Larian's continued evolution of that style of game, a style of game everyone just new had no mass appeal. First with the expanded edition they figured out how to efficiently do full voice acting for a rich CRPG, then in D:OS 2 they significantly evolved the writing and characters in the game, and further evolved all of that with BG3. So to me one of the thing that makes BG3 special is that it's the kind of game no publisher would have touched with a 10' pole, because they just look at what people are playing and don't see evidence there would be many who want to play that kind of game. But by being free of publishers, Larian was able to create something special that never would have happened otherwise. BG3 is a counter to the constant simplifying of CRPGs (combat becoming more action oriented, stories and dialogs becoming more streamlined to be more cinematic), showing that it is possible to have a cinematic games with wide appeal while also deepening the RPG elements to provide more options and possibilities.
Imagine a non-captured world, where all worthy projects (games included) are developed under supportive circumstances. In this world, studios like Larian are the norm, and games like BG3 could be celebrated more than once every decade or so. Eat them (the rich)!
Honestly Bethesda has never seemed too bad to me, Oh wait, I don't play fallout or ESO so I haven't had to deal with all the new micro transaction stuff. In fact I haven't played a game from them since Skyrim lol. I'll probably play starfield but its going to be awhile as I've got bg3 to keep me busy, plus it gives them time to patch, I do know them well enough to know day 1 is going to be buggy. A good video btw, though I do find all this anti large studio stuff to be a bit... (tiresome? old? non-nuanced?) to listen to when its talked about in general terms, Activision/blizzard sure plus quite a few others, but there are still (some) good publishers, AAA and AA developers (you did at least mention indys) out there making good games. The issue is a lot of good old classic studios who control many of our nostalgic IP's are the ones who have fallen to the dark side, so everyone gets mad at the industry as a whole, when in reality they might just need to let their favorite IPs go, at least until things change.
side note: first time on your channel, would consider subscribing for more content like this, but more specifically the first half of the video. I enjoy game/studio documentaries (which you kind of gave us a taste of), or more game retrospective/analysis videos. The news/commentary stuff is ok but a bit oversaturated lately, so I'm less interested in that unless you really go all in with more nuanced and deep analysis of industry stuff that I won't find elsewhere.
@Nightstalker565 thanks for the feedback, great to hear you liked this style of content. This has been my favourite video in terms if creating it and looking into the developer in more detail. Definitely going to be looking and doing more
@@Born_Reddy To bg3? No, larian is on a new level with this game. Positives: - rewarding level and item progression - nice loot spiral. - nice narratives inculding the main one with some epic and unexpected plot points. - the gameplay works and feels powerful. - exploration, secrets and none obvious side content are very engaging adding a lot of replay value - the strength of this game. - larian humor, narratives etc. which are also present in bg3. Negatives: - there's almost no choice and consequence within this game. - the gameplay while fun isnt complex. - there's a drop-off in quality after act 1 (act 1 is when doing everything ~60% of the game play-time). I didnt feel like it was siginificant, but many others did and there's some truth to it. - dont buy it for dragon gameplay. - graphics are dated. I would rate this game an 80. It is good, but not exceptional from an objective point of view. However, similar to the witcher 1, it has so much potential to be loved as it does some things really good and has a unique atmosphere to it.
Its cool to see how Larian ve been developing trough the years. Even Sven is growin, in DOS 1 and 2 he didnt want a Bard cause he didnt like it, thought that no one would want that (cause he didn), then, 2023 with BG3 he saw that he was wrong and how Bards are awesome... I actually liked more DOS1 and 2 than BG3, just because of the last acts. Seems that Larian is not very good in finishing their games but with BG3 was a really WTF. The beggining is so much better than the middle and the end, those years of EA sure helped but why didnt they make more players test before the full release? The final of BG3 is not a final, the game aint finished, its rushed like they did in the past :/ I feel that divinity is Larian children so they care more about it, even BG3 being an amazing game its clear that they ve rushed and cut a lot of things.
technically larian is actually not fully independent... tencent (chinese corporation) seems to have a 30% cut of the studio. though what the actual deal is there i'm not too sure about
True. BUT the majority stock holders are Swen and his significant other, so between her and Swen they have the final say and Tencent just provided helped out with some money and there for taking a cut of the profit but Larian still has full control.
Great video but just one correction. The game released a regular version and a deluxe version. As amazing as the game is and consumer friendly as it is, it's a fact that it was released with two price points (there's also the collectors edition you mentioned but im not counting that).Peace my dude
The deluxe edition was a gift for anyone who bought in in early access, for the price of the base game. But then people who didn't get in in EA complained that they couldn't get the deluxe edition.
@snowmanthe-jimmy2731 it doesn't matter if it was a gift for EA adoptors, as kind of Larian as that was. My point was that the game did in fact release at two separate price points and continues that way to this day (in fact, now there are three thanks to collectors edition but thats besides the point). This was a correction to a statement made in the video, which the creator took in good grace.
Also starfield is kind of a no brainer, buy 1 month of game pass for 10 bucks, it's almost definitely going to be worth that much just remember to cancel the subscription. If you really like it enough to play more than 1 month either buy it then or just get more game pass for 10 bucks. I know myself there is no way I'm going to spend 3-4+ months playing it so the cost is the game pass cost so long as I remember to cancel it again
Fucking A Men! I very much feel the need to vote with my wallet! If you played multiplayer games (local & some online) in or before the mid PS3/X360.....the shite that gets put out today doesn't hold a candle to it, let alone some of the single player stuff that's somehow filled with microtranscactions/live service shite now
It's not really fair to blame actual on the ground devs for the problems with games, its so unlikely to be their fault or choice some of the bad decisions or releases etc. But it also makes no difference at all from the customers point of view unless they are knowingly and intentionally donating money to a company rather than buying a product
Activision Blizzard just absolutely broke my heart with the absolute dumpster fire that was Warcraft III reforged. Honestly, the warcraft III community has been decimated, but still keep the streams and custom games going. Heck even implemented a community led ladder. Didn't even try Diablo 4. Not touching anything from Blizzard ever again.
Bethesda lost my trust, so I am not pre-ordering Starfield. I'll wait for the release and reviews. I'm fine waiting months for Starfield to get the patches I think it will need. Starfield will be a game I purchase and play, I'm about 95% sure of that. But I also don't trust Bethesda right now, so they need to re-earn that trust.
I can tell you what it will be like: It's going to be a modernized Version of Skyrim in Space with A LOT of technical difficulties and problems on the tech side. Why? Because Bethesda "only" has Microsoft backing. It's to hard to employ some of the best guys in the industry to actually work on your tech to overhaul it (like for example Epic is doing it with UE5) before you start your project.
While I agree with 99% of this... I just can't get on board with thinking Fallout 76 was going to be anything like their other releases. They made it clear it was a different studio, using a single player engine for an MMO only game that had no NPCs. If you like Fallout why in the world would you be into this? I don't really have any reservations about buying Starfield... well, one... I might still be playing BG3 and haven't pre-ordered Starfield (since it is digital I don't have to worry about copies being gone... will buy once pre-loading can happen). Can I get burned? Yep... it could happen. But I still trust Bethesda to make a good single player RPG (even if their engine is looking pretty dated).
I'm slightly more trusting of starfield given Microsoft's acquisition. I think they'll want it polished and with the almost 12 month delay hoping that's been done!
@@disappointing8213 Well, responding from the future as well. I did end up pre-ordering Starfield and... I loved it! It pulled me away from playing BG3. Just went through Unity to NG+... kind of thinking I might break and go play BG3 to see the ending (maybe restart as Dark Urge). I am super excited for upcoming DLC and mods as well, but had a blast playing it vanilla as well.
Thoughts on Larian leaving and not doing dlc or BG4: Larian obviously left and didnt care for BG3 dlc or BG4. Probably due to how sh*t Wizards are to work with. Im glad we got BG3 and its a full complete game. Wizards Probably wanted to turn the franchise into a live service mess and Larian said f*ck off and left. I ordered a physical copy of BG3 deluxe edition on ps5 that hopefully should be arriving soon. But thats the last BG content i ever buy. Especially if larian isnt involved. Good riddance.
I was pretty disappointed they won't be continuing on to BG4 but i think you've nailed it. Larian are all about doing their thing without restrictions and they would have made enough bank to do that comfortably with BG3's success. I can't wait to see what they do next.
Hey there! for context, my point was that it's only Western Dev's making the complaints about Larian's success. The point being that you aren't seeing Bandai Namco (for example) crying about Larian setting expectations as it's solely Western Devs with the warped views of how to treat the consumer (and yes not all devs). I'll be sure to mind my clarification in future scripts!
This is preposterous. Who do these guys think they are? No battle pass? No skins or store at all? No currency to be purchased whatsoever? Im going to give them a piece of my mind.....hang on my quick save is done i have to finish this playthrough, but i promise i will get mad after i finish romancing shadowheart.
Expectation works both ways. You start charging more and more for micro transactions you release more buggy unfinished games the more fans expect it and the easier it is to make less effort and make more money. A boon for accounts but insulting for consumers
9:20 LOL and Bethesda done the complete opposite especially as of late. ;) No wonder their game turned out to be shit after being made in to mediocrity for broke boy pass on shit box. This company competently goes above and beyond ot make their games so damn good.
your rant against devs is abit out of place imo, you say it in the video itself... the publishers can be the ones who force a game out before its ready, also i doubt a dev would go work for blizzard, and be happy for working on a mobile game, but thats out of their control. xalaviers comments are weird, but he also put out videos talking about things that clear things up, larian took massive risks to get where they are, and build up a good reputation that alowed them to be in early acces and be funded for years. this simply cant be the norm for most studios. and again, i would not aim the attack towards devs, a lot of things are out of their control. recently CA trashed one of their projects called hyenas, millions of pounds in the trash, and a bunch of layoffs. thing is, this game would be dead on arival, so they made the right choice in trashing it, but who made the decision to force a studio known for strategy games to suddenly make a looter shooter? some higher up with a big hat, who wanted to get into the cookie jar. and the devs suffered for it, they worked on the game for years, it did not even get to release... and now a lot of people lost their job. i think the biggest issue these days is the sheer amount of greed, higher ups only care about the amount of money they can make, they dont have a vision to build something. baldurs gate 3 is a great succes, and swen is already thinking of other projects, he wants to make things. to end the rant... you say westren studios have developt an aptitude for squeezing the player of all posible revenue, but lets be honest the east is still ahead in that haha
Bro, your script is a mess. You keep jumping between several points back and effort. I admire the research you put into this video, but you may want to polish your script for future videos.
Thanks for watching, what do you think of the state of the games industry? Think I'm too harsh or do you want to see changes?
Thanks for helping me hit 500 subs, let's aim for that 1000!
TBH yes u did get a bit ranty in the end. I enjoyed more the break down of Larian's history. IMO it prob be better to splint into two vids. That said I agree with it all. D1,D2,D3 spent well over 1k hours or more. Not going to touch D4, it hurts like hell not to as some of the designs look very nice from what I have seen. Tho like BG3 I stayed away from over simulating on it before playing. I just can't do it. after DM "dont u guys have phones" fyi i played it on PC only, smashed it by day two and was unable to progress as T2 was co-op only. fk that. Diablo is single player first then co-op. Overwatch disaster. D2 Remaster tho well done in many ways has also gone astray. and wow became dead to me by CAT. played vanilla for the nostalgia but im too tired of paying monthly sub for something iv already played plus when it was OG it was novel and u justified the $30/month, now its tired and a rip off. I just cannot justify giving Bliz/Acta any more money. I even tried to get into PoE but found the constant changes and nerfs made it impossible to play. barely get to a section and start having fun when new expansion/season comes out and its all changed. Like u said, its all about keeping those cash cows happy not the players who made the IP popular. I hope BG3 stays true. If not then at least for now they r DRM free and I can just play any version of the game I want. /rant stop
@GuardianEngraving cheers I appreciate the feedback, I started thinking the same by the end of it haha.
I think a lot of the devs tried to make things they wanted to make that fans would like but little by little corporate greed forced them to make changes they didn't want to make and as time has gone on they have become desensitized to it and it's just the way things are done now and little by little they stopped questioning it.
I absolutely agree, the norm slowly shifted for them.
Larian feels like BioWare before their EA started showing. It feels a lot like the first Dragon Age game.
10000000%. Mass Effect was my favorite franchise, but 3 was such a disappointment that it killed my enthusiasm not just for the series, but for gaming in general. I've found a few games that were good since then, but only a few that I've been excited for. And most of those were disappointing (looking at you Cyberpunk). BG3 has rekindled my passion for gaming in a way I haven't felt since 2012. I only pray that Larian doesn't succumb to the model that befalls so many great game devs - namely getting swallowed up by some large corporate publisher and losing their soul.
@@cryofpaine I find even good games tend not to be good till 20 patches later. Cyberpunk today is an example of that. It took 2 years for them to get close to the game it should have been at launch. While BG3 does need some work in Chapter 3. BG3 is better then 90% of games that come out.
I have a friend that worked at Bioware starting with Jade Empire all the way to the Mass Effect series. He stated that first EA was very hands off and was all about a quality game but then it started to change and it was all about pushing the content to maximize profit and that is why he left. And yes I am playing bg3 like dragon age, I am swapping out companions all the time just to hear the different banter they have while running around.
What hurts the worst knowing like all companies once beloved to me like Bungie Bioware Blizzard etc Larian will probably go down the same path and some new based studio will rise until they too get too successful and befome corporatized
That’s exactly what they are, and exactly where they wanted to be and the best place for them to take over
Self-publishing allowed Larian to do marketing on their own terms, which eventually led to the bear clip going viral. A marketing agency contracted through the publisher almost certainly wouldn’t have used that as part of their strategy 😂. Larian admitted they had trouble figuring out the best way to market the game. This is a blessing for them, they saved money not having to pay for a traditional marketing agency to market their game.
My only regret with BG3 is that I don't have enough free time to start another playthrough after finishing my first after roughly 170h.
Also no gamer expects an indie studio to deliver another BG3, we just want that you put the same amount of heart in it for your vision of the game you making as Larian did.
We can expect Larian to release a Definative Edition of BG3 in about a year. It will be free to everyone who owns a current version. Mark my words.
It's nuts to me that this is almost certainly 100% accurate
Bet on it. I bought DOS2 in early access, and that's what happened. It's what this company does. The gift that keeps on giving.
Was going to look into Larian as I am 150h in to BG3 and loving it. This vid has saved me maga time. Cheers mate.
Same. 140 hours in with 2 different characters and I havent even finished the game yet. Got to act 3 with a character and then was curious to get to it again doing different choices and it was super worth it
Don't spend your time, mind, or body on maga time, friend. :P
I really enjoyed hearing about the early days of Larian. I had never heard of Larian until I heard about BG3. This story is heartwarming, and honestly, it's amazing to see a company respect their customer base. I haven't even played BG3 yet (waiting on PS5 release!), and I already want to know what they're going to do next. 😂
Not long to wait on ps5 now! hope you love it!
DOS series can recommend dipping into if you like BG3. Cinematics arent the same, but it is really good. Also, well balanced for older PCs, if you like.
@@Born_ReddyI just saw your comment. ❤ And yep, definitely been loving it in PS5. I'm only in Act 1 because I keep making new characters. 😂
I liked DoS and DoS 2 so much that I bought and played all their older games. Larian never lacked heart, it lacked founds but you could definitely see the spark in their games. And I love that they keept makimg the Divinity series despite all the dificulties they experienced. Now Divinity is great and hopefully it will keep getting greater.
its amazing larian studios have declined being acquired. I will stand behind them simpy for that.
Awesome video! I remember playing DOS2 in early access and it blows me away. I couldn't wait for the release. I also played BG3 at early access back in 2020 (I think) and now playing the full game, there are so much that's been added. Love this studio. Will be supporting them for whatever they release
You could reverse Bungie's argument right back on them.
We expected games to be released in a playable state without the expectation of trying to sell us extra crap, or cut content.
Publishers changed what we had expected in games. You started this. We are just going back to what was the normal for decades up until the bullcrap DLC greed that has overtaken modern video games for the past decade. I'm old, I've been gaming since the early 80s, and I remember games coming out completed.
Publishers changed the normal, and we just want the normal back.
I feel ya man. I played as well during the late 80s, 90s and beyond. The truth is, BGIII as awesome as it is, shouldn't be the exception but the standard. Games should come with full bells and whistles, without the need for extra purchases. This rings especially true for single player games. Anyway, good that Larian shows that these kind of games ARE possible and that the game and the reactions on it show that this is what the consumers want. Now lets just hope the industry is listening.
great video! glad yt recomended, keep the work!
Well said... We don't need every game to be BG3, but have the intent. Larian kicked and fought for so long to make great games that people supported. now, they can do whatever they want, and thanks for that. Other developers take note, this is how its done. The community will reward heart, even if you don't have Larian $$$ yet...
First of all, THANK YOU for speaking the truth in such a clear and level-headed manner. I couldn't agree more with what you said in this video. I've put over 500h in Baldurs Gate 3 including early access of course and I supported the studio since the release of Ego Draconis. I truly despise the whole "barking back" at Larian for doing incredible work. It only shows in what sad times we live in when someone convey them how it should be done through actions and determination, only to trash talk about it being anomaly and making it clear that these people have no desire to change to the better. It is truly saddening for me that developers at big companies are both victims and cause of the current state of gaming industry.
I stumbled upon your channel by complete accident, searching yt video for Sven interview, and found this gem channel. You, sir, have my respect and my sub.
Thankyou for the kind words and the sub! really appreciate it and those are some god tier hours in BG3
Yaaay, I don't subscribe often, but here I am, because of how comprehensive you make it clear, what was already on our minds. Hope your content is going to be noticed by millions for the years to come! :D
Legend, thanks for the kind words!
Proud to be Belgian 🇧🇪 🎉
Great video. Well said.
Larian. What a great game, what a great team.
this is excellent! also: grats 500 subs! 1k next
Great video. Super interesting to hear about the background of Larian in detail!
Thanks mate, glad you liked it
Great video!
Girlfriend introduced me to Divinity Original Sin 2. No longer with her but my relationship with Larian is stronger than ever😍
Hahaha love this, Larian for life
You lost one love but gained another. Fair deal.
I came over from the hype & never played D&D & CRPG’S & I am so glad i did, the game is just wow…. in a class all its own , I learned the gsme mechanics from other youtube videos, as the combat is deeeep, & it can be intimidating to new players, but I didn’t give up & wow, what an experience, its not hype, if its that good & it truly is, doubtful, any other game developers could ever replicate this though unfortunately & although I hope its the standard, I doubt they can ever do it, the skill & love put into this game is obvious, even if you don’t like games or CRPG’S…. theirs nothing like it, but watch all the fakes that come after now. So happy for LarionStudio they deserved it & were very brave to go against the system, you have to respect, Authenticity. Funny u say 😂that,I do think it has to be WitchCraft, its just unheard of, does it have problems, yea, but it’s nothing compared to what u get, its as close to perfect, as I think you can get.
The funny thing about those publisher stories. Sometimes those guys and pushes are needed. Some developers get stuck throwing out ideas faster than they can build games, and without someone saying "no stop it, send it out now" they never make anything.
It's a hard balance act, sometimes we get better products due to publisher interference, but sadly we all too often get tripe with no vision, no flavour and no soul.
I love this take, I'd never thought about it that way. But sadly it is the tripe that gets out mostly
A part of the foundation of their eventually success was that AAA RPG developers had largely left the market Larian was catering to with DOS1. DOS1 was part of the CRPG (Kickstarter) revival, in that they got additional funds from there also. Mostly fans who didn't have much choice anymore, as Bioware, Bethesda et all had gone to make much more streamlined and action-ish games than they used to make up until the early to mid 2000s. Naturally, to attract ever larger crowds of players far beyond their core audience.
In fact, Larian themselves wanted to do a turn based combat game ever since their first Divinity. But publishers told them that wouldn't sell. With BG3, it's basically all come full circle. Not merely DID their vision sell. With BG3 they got an IP from way back nobody (including Bioware) had touched in twenty years and showcased that it even sells enough to support contemporary AAA production budgets.
I backed dos 1 and 2 on Kickstarter and new this was a must buy when it realeased. May even buy it for ps5 as well to play with a few friends that dont have pc.
This is bonkers to me right now. After over 400 hours I consider BG3 one of my favorite games of all time. But it took until watching your video for me to realize that I already loved their games way earlier. And I don't mean DOS 1 or 2. I tried both and they were good. What I mean is Divinitiy 2 (Ego Draconis). I played the hell out of that one when it first came out. And... and Larian made that??? My mind is a bit blown right now. It makes perfect sense, but holy hells, what a crazy thing to discover. I guess I loved Larian before it was cool lol (don't take me seriously, I'm just.. amazed right now...)
Love that it's come full circle for you haha
I remember playing Ego Draconis back in the day. Found it amazingly creative but it reached a point where I didn't have the drive left to finish it. Years later I peaked at D:OS and the second I used a rain spell to save a burning ship I was hooked. Took me after D:OS2 to connect Ego Draconis with the Divinity series (the word "Divinity" isn't really memorable), but to me it showed that the spark of genius was always there at Larian.
I've played through ego draconis maybe 4 and some half times. Act 1 is clearly the most well realized, but it has much to offer after too.
Great video. This whole “drama” was kind of interesting. The original sentiment of that devs first post was fine, although a bit unnecessary, sure you might get a couple online mouth breathers point to BG3 when some random small studio game comes out but normal reasonable people wouldn’t even make the comparison.
In the world where our Beloved studios like Blizz, Bethesda, Bungie Bioware and let’s add Rockstar; Larian is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have not given up hope on CDPR yet.
However I do not see another Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls, worth its lineage, ever coming out
Thank you 🙏 for pointing out, these truths, more needs to be said, People, don’t you dare give a game company your money, if they don’t respect you, as a consumer, Like its very true, every word u said.
Amen! Thankyou for the comments. I really appreciate it
More please
nice vid. i think youre spot on about why other devs are scared rn
Truthful from the beginning till the end and share the same opinion!
Cheers mate!
I bought DOS 1 and Dos 2 years ago and never played them but I knew they were good so I bought them. After BG3 they are going to the top of my backlog.
I hope you have since played them, they are both fantastic.
It's not just Western gaming. People always forget about the Genshin Impacts of Eastern gaming
So true!
Larian and GGG my favorite game devs.
Absolutely!!
First of all, I love your video. Great vid, in depth. Love it. But to comment on what you say in the 20th minute and after.
You (not you personally, but gamers in general) should really stop buying games with microtransactions at all. Don't buy them and complain about it, stop buying them. If you buy them these companies already have what they want, your money. These games exist because gamers keep buying them
Gamers always choose their dopamine hit and gaming fix above principles, and those publishers know it!
Im 38 and been gaming sinds I'm 2 years old and never bought a game with a store front in it or season passes out of principle, and I never felt there weren't great games to play. Never buy on day one, never pre purchase (why not save your money in your own ba k account? It's not you cannot buy it later), never buy promises, buy features...
I became a huge fan of Larian as well, and it's funny.. They don't do anything new, they do what was standard in the 90s and early 2000s, Games always used to be full experiences and filled with tons of features back then.
It's all about the Q3 and Q4 earnings. I think I have more than 600 hours in COD: Modern Warfare 2... it was amazing. Modern Warfare 1 was a game changer for the genre (talking about the originals, but the new ones are good too). Each year they kept coming out with new versions and they were basically all the same game. I stopped buying them. This is also apparent with sport games and I've heard similar criticisms for FIFA.
Why settle for millions when you can make billions? I love BG3 and Larian, however... For the next one, it will be hard for them to turn down that kind of money. In fact, it would be irresponsible.
I know this isn't a popular opinion, but this is the inevitable flow that happens when the stakes change. Mission creep in military slang. Doing the right thing.
However... it's not like a war you didn't ask for. You can speak with your wallet. Just don't buy the sub-par games. Also, just like everyone blasts Hollywood for making crappy movies, the reality is people are not watching the smaller good ones and they languish in obscurity until they get rediscovered years later.
The silver lining is that there hasn't been a better time for indie developers since the early 80's when any game was basically indie,.
Epic with the Unreal Engine has evened the playing field.
love it if someone tel the true .... great video m8
There was a time, before CP2077 was released, when we believed similar things about CDPR.
But so far I have more faith in Larian to stay on the path that's good for gamers (and I hope that CDPR will find their way back too, at least CDPR hasn't yet gone down full micro transactions...)
Honestly battle passes, seasons, cosmetics aren't inherently a problem. Its when other things are compromised for them. It used to be you got a full game and then you got dlc. Now they have basically stripped away half of that and you get half a game that requires a season or battle pass to stand as an actual game. But its generally hollow content and thats the problem.
I'm with you there. I play a far bit of Path of Exile and have no problem with their cosmetic shop because it's the only way to support them, they don't charge full price for the game and my favourite thing about it is that it's the least invasive of any game I've ever played.
@Born_Reddy when it's done as a compliment it can be really cool. In poe you get play the entire game without buying skins. However, you realize at some point you look like you put together several trash cans to make up your armor lol. So yea the skins in the shop are appealing, but they aren't the focus and don't take away from the actual game.
The opposite is very clear in games like lost ark. Trying to play that without spending money is an absolute chore. Which is sad because the combat in that game is great and there is so much potential there.
@chrislastname1994 true!! I really enjoyed lost arc until I hit the grind and you could feel where they intentionally put your experience second to entice you to spend money and it killed the experience for me from there
Weird when a company says we do not want additional purchases............has a community that will gladly pay for it.........just as a thank you for the studio. Elden Ring was the first game in decades that made me feel like I underpaid. BG3 is the second. Edit: My loyalty runs high.........so does my distrust. From and Larian are the only gaming studios that have my loyalty. I will always love survival games.........it's a totally different genre........and I dig if for what it is.
Thanks, very nice video! While the whole point of BG3 being a complete game without microtransactions is nice, I think it begs the question why did BG3 suddenly become the focus of such discussion -- I mean there were a number of major games released this year that you could say the same thing about, and probably released in more of a polished state than BG3.
(You could even argue that the decision to pull up the release date of BG3 to avoid Starfield is the kind of "bad publisher behavior" this view is against -- it clearly ended up releasing it with less polish than if they had taken that month to do the various fixes they have been pushing out. But it seems clear it was also the right decision to make, allowing them to have room from the Starfield release to have word of mouth spread the game.)
I think a just as important aspect of publishers is how they impact the *kinds* of games released. And Larian provides a great example of this. Consider:
- Divine Divinity not only had its name changed by the publisher, but I recall reading they originally wanted it to be turn-based but the publisher said no it had to be an ARPG because nobody is interested in turn-based RPGs anymore.
- Divinity 2 is a 3D game because no publisher would fund an isometric game because nobody wanted to play those kinds of games anymore.
- D:OS was Larian's chance to escape those publisher limitations, and build the game they always wanted to: a deep turn-based CRPG. And from that show that there actually are plenty of people who still want to play those kinds of games.
And then from there I think the big magic of BG3 is Larian's continued evolution of that style of game, a style of game everyone just new had no mass appeal. First with the expanded edition they figured out how to efficiently do full voice acting for a rich CRPG, then in D:OS 2 they significantly evolved the writing and characters in the game, and further evolved all of that with BG3.
So to me one of the thing that makes BG3 special is that it's the kind of game no publisher would have touched with a 10' pole, because they just look at what people are playing and don't see evidence there would be many who want to play that kind of game. But by being free of publishers, Larian was able to create something special that never would have happened otherwise.
BG3 is a counter to the constant simplifying of CRPGs (combat becoming more action oriented, stories and dialogs becoming more streamlined to be more cinematic), showing that it is possible to have a cinematic games with wide appeal while also deepening the RPG elements to provide more options and possibilities.
I love this breakdown my man. Really appreciate it
@@Born_Reddy Thanks! Btw, the Dungeons & Dragons channel just put up an interview with Swen where he gives his view of this.
Imagine a non-captured world, where all worthy projects (games included) are developed under supportive circumstances. In this world, studios like Larian are the norm, and games like BG3 could be celebrated more than once every decade or so.
Eat them (the rich)!
Last year, Elden Ring. This year BG3. Hopefully the gamer population catches on and stops falling for the BS of big micro transaction traps.
Honestly Bethesda has never seemed too bad to me, Oh wait, I don't play fallout or ESO so I haven't had to deal with all the new micro transaction stuff. In fact I haven't played a game from them since Skyrim lol. I'll probably play starfield but its going to be awhile as I've got bg3 to keep me busy, plus it gives them time to patch, I do know them well enough to know day 1 is going to be buggy.
A good video btw, though I do find all this anti large studio stuff to be a bit... (tiresome? old? non-nuanced?) to listen to when its talked about in general terms, Activision/blizzard sure plus quite a few others, but there are still (some) good publishers, AAA and AA developers (you did at least mention indys) out there making good games. The issue is a lot of good old classic studios who control many of our nostalgic IP's are the ones who have fallen to the dark side, so everyone gets mad at the industry as a whole, when in reality they might just need to let their favorite IPs go, at least until things change.
side note: first time on your channel, would consider subscribing for more content like this, but more specifically the first half of the video. I enjoy game/studio documentaries (which you kind of gave us a taste of), or more game retrospective/analysis videos. The news/commentary stuff is ok but a bit oversaturated lately, so I'm less interested in that unless you really go all in with more nuanced and deep analysis of industry stuff that I won't find elsewhere.
@Nightstalker565 thanks for the feedback, great to hear you liked this style of content. This has been my favourite video in terms if creating it and looking into the developer in more detail. Definitely going to be looking and doing more
Divinity 2 ego draconis was really good. Favourite game of my childhood.
I've never touched it, I was stuck as a console kid in my early days. Think it would hold up in any way?
@@Born_Reddy To bg3? No, larian is on a new level with this game.
Positives:
- rewarding level and item progression - nice loot spiral.
- nice narratives inculding the main one with some epic and unexpected plot points.
- the gameplay works and feels powerful.
- exploration, secrets and none obvious side content are very engaging adding a lot of replay value - the strength of this game.
- larian humor, narratives etc. which are also present in bg3.
Negatives:
- there's almost no choice and consequence within this game.
- the gameplay while fun isnt complex.
- there's a drop-off in quality after act 1 (act 1 is when doing everything ~60% of the game play-time). I didnt feel like it was siginificant, but many others did and there's some truth to it.
- dont buy it for dragon gameplay.
- graphics are dated.
I would rate this game an 80. It is good, but not exceptional from an objective point of view. However, similar to the witcher 1, it has so much potential to be loved as it does some things really good and has a unique atmosphere to it.
Divine Divinity (2002)
Beyond Divinity (2004)
Divinity II: Ego Draconis (2010)
Divinity: Dragon Commander (2013)
Divinity: Original Sin (2014)
Divinity: Original Sin 2 (2017)
Baldur’s Gate 3
Good video. But this could probably broken up into 2 videos. Sounds like you are wrapping up the video half way through.
Thanks for the feedback! The second half definitely got away from me 😅
Its cool to see how Larian ve been developing trough the years. Even Sven is growin, in DOS 1 and 2 he didnt want a Bard cause he didnt like it, thought that no one would want that (cause he didn), then, 2023 with BG3 he saw that he was wrong and how Bards are awesome... I actually liked more DOS1 and 2 than BG3, just because of the last acts. Seems that Larian is not very good in finishing their games but with BG3 was a really WTF. The beggining is so much better than the middle and the end, those years of EA sure helped but why didnt they make more players test before the full release? The final of BG3 is not a final, the game aint finished, its rushed like they did in the past :/ I feel that divinity is Larian children so they care more about it, even BG3 being an amazing game its clear that they ve rushed and cut a lot of things.
I enjoyed BG'3 end but I agree their first acts always seem better to me too.
New king of rpg's
technically larian is actually not fully independent... tencent (chinese corporation) seems to have a 30% cut of the studio. though what the actual deal is there i'm not too sure about
Ooh cheers I didn't know this!
True.
BUT the majority stock holders are Swen and his significant other, so between her and Swen they have the final say and Tencent just provided helped out with some money and there for taking a cut of the profit but Larian still has full control.
Great video but just one correction. The game released a regular version and a deluxe version. As amazing as the game is and consumer friendly as it is, it's a fact that it was released with two price points (there's also the collectors edition you mentioned but im not counting that).Peace my dude
Thanks mate, appreciate the feedback!
The deluxe edition was a gift for anyone who bought in in early access, for the price of the base game. But then people who didn't get in in EA complained that they couldn't get the deluxe edition.
@snowmanthe-jimmy2731 it doesn't matter if it was a gift for EA adoptors, as kind of Larian as that was. My point was that the game did in fact release at two separate price points and continues that way to this day (in fact, now there are three thanks to collectors edition but thats besides the point). This was a correction to a statement made in the video, which the creator took in good grace.
Also starfield is kind of a no brainer, buy 1 month of game pass for 10 bucks, it's almost definitely going to be worth that much just remember to cancel the subscription. If you really like it enough to play more than 1 month either buy it then or just get more game pass for 10 bucks. I know myself there is no way I'm going to spend 3-4+ months playing it so the cost is the game pass cost so long as I remember to cancel it again
love larian studios
Reading that whiny comment from one of D4 devs made me want to throw up. Some of them have no shame.
Fucking A Men! I very much feel the need to vote with my wallet! If you played multiplayer games (local & some online) in or before the mid PS3/X360.....the shite that gets put out today doesn't hold a candle to it, let alone some of the single player stuff that's somehow filled with microtranscactions/live service shite now
More like "vinka" with the stress on "vin"
It's not really fair to blame actual on the ground devs for the problems with games, its so unlikely to be their fault or choice some of the bad decisions or releases etc. But it also makes no difference at all from the customers point of view unless they are knowingly and intentionally donating money to a company rather than buying a product
Activision Blizzard just absolutely broke my heart with the absolute dumpster fire that was Warcraft III reforged. Honestly, the warcraft III community has been decimated, but still keep the streams and custom games going. Heck even implemented a community led ladder. Didn't even try Diablo 4. Not touching anything from Blizzard ever again.
Bethesda lost my trust, so I am not pre-ordering Starfield. I'll wait for the release and reviews. I'm fine waiting months for Starfield to get the patches I think it will need.
Starfield will be a game I purchase and play, I'm about 95% sure of that. But I also don't trust Bethesda right now, so they need to re-earn that trust.
I can tell you what it will be like: It's going to be a modernized Version of Skyrim in Space with A LOT of technical difficulties and problems on the tech side.
Why? Because Bethesda "only" has Microsoft backing. It's to hard to employ some of the best guys in the industry to actually work on your tech to overhaul it (like for example Epic is doing it with UE5) before you start your project.
This was the correct choice starfield for the most part was boring and uninspired. The ship builder was cool tho give them props on that.
Man Dragon age 4 has to atleast be as good as bg3.
I have hope, they've struggled recently but I really want to see that series come back to glory
PS: "The B Team": Bungie, Blizzard and Bethesda... Triple-B Games?
Oh God it's the B curse...Bioware nuuuu
CDPR take notes.
While I agree with 99% of this... I just can't get on board with thinking Fallout 76 was going to be anything like their other releases. They made it clear it was a different studio, using a single player engine for an MMO only game that had no NPCs. If you like Fallout why in the world would you be into this? I don't really have any reservations about buying Starfield... well, one... I might still be playing BG3 and haven't pre-ordered Starfield (since it is digital I don't have to worry about copies being gone... will buy once pre-loading can happen). Can I get burned? Yep... it could happen. But I still trust Bethesda to make a good single player RPG (even if their engine is looking pretty dated).
I'm slightly more trusting of starfield given Microsoft's acquisition. I think they'll want it polished and with the almost 12 month delay hoping that's been done!
@@Born_Reddy It would be a death knell for Microsoft if not (well XBox, not MSFT at large), they have a lot riding on this. If it goes well though.
@@seanmahoney2671from the future here. It wasn’t as good as Skyrim. It was significantly worse
@@disappointing8213 Well, responding from the future as well. I did end up pre-ordering Starfield and... I loved it! It pulled me away from playing BG3. Just went through Unity to NG+... kind of thinking I might break and go play BG3 to see the ending (maybe restart as Dark Urge). I am super excited for upcoming DLC and mods as well, but had a blast playing it vanilla as well.
Thoughts on Larian leaving and not doing dlc or BG4:
Larian obviously left and didnt care for BG3 dlc or BG4. Probably due to how sh*t Wizards are to work with. Im glad we got BG3 and its a full complete game. Wizards Probably wanted to turn the franchise into a live service mess and Larian said f*ck off and left. I ordered a physical copy of BG3 deluxe edition on ps5 that hopefully should be arriving soon. But thats the last BG content i ever buy. Especially if larian isnt involved. Good riddance.
I was pretty disappointed they won't be continuing on to BG4 but i think you've nailed it. Larian are all about doing their thing without restrictions and they would have made enough bank to do that comfortably with BG3's success. I can't wait to see what they do next.
I’m not playing any F’ing games on my phone
You do realize that Larian is a "western" studio, right?
When you say western I assume you are talking about US studios. And AAA ones at that.
Hey there! for context, my point was that it's only Western Dev's making the complaints about Larian's success. The point being that you aren't seeing Bandai Namco (for example) crying about Larian setting expectations as it's solely Western Devs with the warped views of how to treat the consumer (and yes not all devs). I'll be sure to mind my clarification in future scripts!
This is preposterous. Who do these guys think they are? No battle pass? No skins or store at all? No currency to be purchased whatsoever? Im going to give them a piece of my mind.....hang on my quick save is done i have to finish this playthrough, but i promise i will get mad after i finish romancing shadowheart.
Expectation works both ways. You start charging more and more for micro transactions you release more buggy unfinished games the more fans expect it and the easier it is to make less effort and make more money. A boon for accounts but insulting for consumers
Diablo? no Path of Exile 2
I'm hyped as hell for poe2
So successful, it blew your hairline away.
9:20 LOL and Bethesda done the complete opposite especially as of late. ;) No wonder their game turned out to be shit after being made in to mediocrity for broke boy pass on shit box. This company competently goes above and beyond ot make their games so damn good.
your rant against devs is abit out of place imo, you say it in the video itself... the publishers can be the ones who force a game out before its ready, also i doubt a dev would go work for blizzard, and be happy for working on a mobile game, but thats out of their control. xalaviers comments are weird, but he also put out videos talking about things that clear things up, larian took massive risks to get where they are, and build up a good reputation that alowed them to be in early acces and be funded for years. this simply cant be the norm for most studios. and again, i would not aim the attack towards devs, a lot of things are out of their control. recently CA trashed one of their projects called hyenas, millions of pounds in the trash, and a bunch of layoffs. thing is, this game would be dead on arival, so they made the right choice in trashing it, but who made the decision to force a studio known for strategy games to suddenly make a looter shooter? some higher up with a big hat, who wanted to get into the cookie jar. and the devs suffered for it, they worked on the game for years, it did not even get to release... and now a lot of people lost their job. i think the biggest issue these days is the sheer amount of greed, higher ups only care about the amount of money they can make, they dont have a vision to build something. baldurs gate 3 is a great succes, and swen is already thinking of other projects, he wants to make things. to end the rant... you say westren studios have developt an aptitude for squeezing the player of all posible revenue, but lets be honest the east is still ahead in that haha
Bro, your script is a mess. You keep jumping between several points back and effort.
I admire the research you put into this video, but you may want to polish your script for future videos.
Thanks mate, appreciate the honest feedback. Definitely something I'll take onboard
Nasty disguising yet another ranty, cynical angry-gamer video as a video praising Larian.
Thanks for the comment! it all helps promote my rants, see you in the next one
ill start buying their games before they are done to help fund them and give feedback on early access. they have earned my trust
Almost the only dev I'd trust with that these days!
They have had my trust back with divinity 2. And have not broken it at all, and even exceeded it by a mile.