Baldur’s Gate 3 Has Caused Quite the Hubbub – Transcript
Iām starting to think we just like our fiery emotions. Redfall was terrible and everyoneās upset. Baldurās Gate 3 is amazing and everyoneās upset.
Thereās been a lot of spicy discourse over Baldurās Gate 3, and at the behest of my chief I went digging to see if there was anything of substance for a Cold Take. I inspected the scene of the crime at the website formerly known as āTwitter.com.ā I watched the IGN video to the point where I now see Destin Legarie in my dreams. I saw videos about that video and videos about those videos, and Iām here to end that cycle because, honestly, the only thing that kept popping up, as my IQ slowly depleted, is that Twitter is a horrible public platform for nuanced conversation and todayās gaming discourse is screaming over each other, loudly misinterpreting what the other person said instead of asking them directly what they meant. Who coulda known? The real takeaway is weāve skipped over conversation and gone straight to grandstanding, so I thought Iād have a crack at it tooāI do love me a good soapbox. Currently, the two camps are split. In one corner thereās people thinking BG3 is the current pinnacle of classic RPGs that no other game has a chance of a shot of a hope of touching for a while. The other corner takes offense to this statement and believes BG3 is where the standard should have been all along, anyone not trying to match Baldurās Gate 3 is scared and lazy.
It was a July like any other. Xalavier, a writer for Hypnospace Outlaw, El Paso Elsewhere, and the upcoming South Park game, said Baldurās Gate 3 is an amazing accomplishment of human engineering, but they wanted to preemptively realign peopleās expectations of RPGs moving forward. They were trying to explain that Baldurās Gate 3 is a virtually impossible standard to achieve. It had been in the oven since 2017, Larian Studios had plenty of practice making two games before this one, there was a 3 year Early Access period, over 400 developers all over the world were involved, and of course it had major brand recognition by using the Dungeons and Dragons license. Michael Jordanās best game should be celebrated, but not used against the other players or himself as a comparative norm. Not even Larian Studios themselves are trying this again. Theyāve already made comment that their next game will be smaller in scale, because you canāt have the Avengerās suiting up for every movie. Itās not feasible. And that was kind of taken out of context, or a different conversation was started up on top of it, to mean Tony Stark hates us. Developers donāt want to try to make good games anymore. Developers are afraid of Baldurās Gate 3ās success because that means they have to work harder now. If you donāt think Baldurās Gate 3 is the new standard then youāre okay with overpriced ports, microtransactions, and buggy day one releases.
I understand both sides. Everyone is frustrated because we want that game. I want that game that makes it feel like Christmas again. I want that game that makes it feel like Iām witnessing history in the making. I know what itās like to go through a lull. You want that something that reignites the passion and the vigor that makes you commit to this hobby over all other hobbies. You couldāve been collecting stamps, but instead youāre getting mad over internet opinions because it can feel at times as if youāre watching your favorite means of escapism get kicked and abused by the very people who swore to keep your best interests in mindā¦ especially in these most recent years thatās seen us go through a pandemic into a recession. The big games get more expensive and less complete for this reason or that. Yet they brag about record breaking profits while your studios go under and you get nickel and dimed. For some, it hasnāt felt like Christmas in a long time. Yet hereās a game that defies industry standards, from the substance to the price of admission. Of course you want more, and hearing someone tell you not to expect more can bring out the ugly. Thereās too many factors working against Baldurās Gate 3 for many studios to keep as their guiding star. As stated before, the cost of development is the first major turn off. There are dozens of Vampire Survivor clones being released as we speak because its development is incredibly fast and cheap relative to what it stands to make. BG3 is not a cherry bomb in the toilet, itās the Manhattan Project ā I am become debt, destroyer of credit scores. The genre doesnāt do it any favors either. A classical roleplaying game that lives on its mechanics, branching narratives, and emergent gameplay aspects eats up development time and money more than just about any other genre, otherwise youād see more free-to-play CRPGs popping up than battle royales. What I will concede is that this could be a trendsetter years from now once most of the workload can be lightened by advancements in technology. I understand Larian Studios is the giant whose shoulders we could stand on, but you still have to climb the giant.
Thatās not to let Johnny Triple-A slither away without learning a reasonable lesson or two. Baldurās Gate 3 is a complete game, with no microtransactions, being sold for $60. It was developed without outside influence because the studio didnāt want their vision skewed by money owed to publishers or stockholders. Larian Studios isnāt even beholden to Wizards of the Coast because they paid for the Dungeons and Dragons license out of pocket. Leave developers alone. Itās wild to think that the people who made game development their lifeās work know more about developing a video game than executives and algorithms. Hell, I think it would be even worse if Triple-A did try to copy BG3. At best, youād end up with games featuring the most comical features pushed too far out of context. Every dialogue option should lead to fornication. Letās buy more licenses because Gollumās failure was a fluke. The people want genitalia customization. And at worst, you could get publishers trying to force a clone with less people, more crunch, and more microtransactionsā¦and it wouldnāt even be good. Letās be honest. There is no game worth the inhumane treatment of another human being, and especially NOT the games weāve been getting lately.
I believe every Triple-A game asking for $60 or $70 should be in working condition on release date without any essential microtransactions. Personally, I donāt care if a game lets you swipe a credit card for a skin that doesnāt impact gameplay whatsoever. I know some people are into that. Thatās my minimum standard, and if we want to have that conversation then letās have that conversation.Ā Whatās more concerning is the game industry has gotten into a state where weāve stopped recognizing the monolithic outliers for what they are, because we are so fed up with all the nonsense. I canāt think of any bigger sign of respect for a game than other developers coming out to say what Larian Studios did is impressive and near impossible, yet somehow thatās turned into calling those developers lazy and scared. So which is it? Baldurās Gate 3 can not be legendary and common. Let it have some time to taste the sun and the glory before itās relegated to being the bare minimum. And letās have those conversations. What is the minimum standard for a video game? What are the minimum expectations? What have we been getting? Why are we so upset? Letās talk it out. You want amazing games. I want amazing games. They canāt all be amazing. Thatās the fact of the matter. And thatās not through lack of trying. The developers donāt hate you. Sometimes everything just lines up and you deliver the game of the century. But a lot of the big games could stand to be better than what weāre getting. I get it. No one is defending buggy releases and microtransactions, and it does feel like something has to give.
In a sense I feel Iāve already talked about this topic at length through my other Cold Takes. This is what happens when good isnāt good enough and greatness feels obligated. Iāve talked about the many failings of business executives, data-driven design, and how the ire of gamers has been turned into a farcical blame game. If anything, we, the people who enjoy gaming, need to get better at talking to one another about our frustrations and our expectations and redirect that energy towards the people that matter instead of exploding on ourselves. I am anticipating a lot of people saying āyou must be new here.ā I did just come off my freshman year into games media. Maybe I am naive. As much as it is tempting to write-off all the discourse as rage-baiting algorithm driven drivel, I think people are angry, repressed, and they have a lot to get off their chest, but at the end of the day these are all opinions after all. Far be it from me to deny someone an asinine opinion on the internet. Where else are we supposed to put āem?
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Sebastian Ruiz joined The Escapist in June 2021, but has been failing his way up the video game industry for years. He went from being a voice actor, whose most notable credit is Felicia Day mistaking him for Matt Mercer in the game Vaporum, to a video editor with a ten-year Smite addiction, to a content creator for the aforementioned Hi-Rez MOBA, before focusing his attention on game development and getting into freelance QA. With a lack of direction, Sebastian sought out The Escapist as a place to work with like-minded individuals and fuel his ambitions. While he enjoys dabbling in all kinds of games to expand his horizons, even the worst roguelikes can get his attention.
Published: Aug 28, 2023 11:10 am