Why was this game 6 years in development?

[Athaz]

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

[Exsoldier]

lfg for fun play through

[SnuffSaid]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by Hobocop:

It was in the Early Access box on the Store Page for years.

And at that point, that's not really Larian's problem any longer, is it?

Larian: Don't do this if you're not comfortable with it.
Some people (SP): Imma do it anyway.
SP: I didn't feel comfortable with it, didn't like the results, and it's all your fault!

I mean, at some point, SP have to take personal responsibility for their actions, don't they?

Uh, why would you assume I, or anybody else who complains about early access, bought this game during early access?

That would make me a hypocrite. I bought it at launch, when it was finished, like a sensible consumer, rather than being an unpaid beta tester and giving them so many millions before they put the work in that they can take as much time as they like.

Only time I've ever paid for early access is when an indie dev literally admitted they were struggling and needed it.

[Lunar Shower]

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

Originally posted by Naamtar:

I dunno crowd funding was for Divinity II before they were massive (Divinity II is what made them massive) and doing Early Access when you know your community is excited for your content and supports you seems like a no brainer - especially with how much they used the Early Access for player feedback to make adjustments to the game.

It's not always a bad thing.

DOS1 sold 2.5 million copies. I'm sorry, but I can't justify any excuse to crowdfund the sequel with those kind of numbers. DOS2 was an even bigger success and then we got early access here.

Nobody would tolerate early access from a triple A dev. They tolerated it from Larian because of the indie dev rep that they should have outgrown.

So, there's an issue with crowdfunding and early access now, especially when it comes from a successful studio?

Honestly, as far as video game purchases go, my crowdfunding of DOS2 was some of the best money I've ever spent considering how much I got back on it. I think I only spent $30 in total, and ended up getting the full game, PLUS DOS1 and its Enhanced edition in the long run. Value like that is hard to beat, and Larian IS one of the few studios that goes to show what a good and successful kickstarter can look like.

I can definitely understand those who have hesitations about buying into kickstarters in general, but a compan has every right to do it, and if they have a reputation like Larians, it's likely a good idea to boot, as seen with both DOS2 and BG3.

[Arconedas]

With the amount of content in the game i'm surprised it took only 6 years considering how small their development crew and studio is.

[Ikerfarkas]

You guys are so easily baited, jezus christ.

[SnuffSaid]

Originally posted by Lunar Shower:

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

DOS1 sold 2.5 million copies. I'm sorry, but I can't justify any excuse to crowdfund the sequel with those kind of numbers. DOS2 was an even bigger success and then we got early access here.

Nobody would tolerate early access from a triple A dev. They tolerated it from Larian because of the indie dev rep that they should have outgrown.

So, there's an issue with crowdfunding and early access now, especially when it comes from a successful studio?

Honestly, as far as video game purchases go, my crowdfunding of DOS2 was some of the best money I've ever spent considering how much I got back on it. I think I only spent $30 in total, and ended up getting the full game, PLUS DOS1 and its Enhanced edition in the long run. Value like that is hard to beat, and Larian IS one of the few studios that goes to show what a good and successful kickstarter can look like.

I can definitely understand those who have hesitations about buying into kickstarters in general, but a compan has every right to do it, and if they have a reputation like Larians, it's likely a good idea to boot, as seen with both DOS2 and BG3.

This issue has always been there. Players like me accepted crowdfunding and early access as a method to give indie devs who lack funds a shot. It's unethical for big rich companies to use it.

It's like sandbagging, if you do martial arts. That's where you turn up in a lower skill bracket and smoke everybody for a medal, when you should have been competing at a higher rank.

[Naamtar]

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Larian: Don't do this if you're not comfortable with it.
Some people (SP): Imma do it anyway.
SP: I didn't feel comfortable with it, didn't like the results, and it's all your fault!

I mean, at some point, SP have to take personal responsibility for their actions, don't they?

Uh, why would you assume I, or anybody else who complains about early access, bought this game during early access?

That would make me a hypocrite. I bought it at launch, when it was finished, like a sensible consumer, rather than being an unpaid beta tester and giving them so many millions before they put the work in that they can take as much time as they like.

Only time I've ever paid for early access is when an indie dev literally admitted they were struggling and needed it.

You would rather they seek funding from private investors that don't even play video games?

Like I don't understand your angle here further than being upset Larian aren't an indie dev studio but still maintain the good will from the playerbase that mostly only indie devs do.

People need to be paid for their work. The options to generate capital over a dev cycle to pay those salaries are pretty limited.

I don't see how using Early Access to do it with the fanbase is worse than letting private investors hold sway over your deadlines, artistic process, etc.

If anything private investors are a huge part of what's driving the bad side of the industry today.

[EvilDonut]

Because developers are incompetent pricks.

They made the first act good so that they would attract players to buy the game, then did the other 2 like garbage. It's a theft.

[Menagerie]

Originally posted by Athaz:

I read somewhere that it had around the clock development cycle across different studios and time zones. Why did it take 6 years to finish?

Since a lot of people are giving you a hard time, some actual thoughts:

1. They rewrote large sections of the script and had to redo the related animations and plotlines partway through production. This means they essentially had to remake and re-record voice for large sections of the game as well which means scheduling working actors to return to studio.

2. In that time period they at the very least worked on the Definitive Edition of Divinity: Original Sin II, restoring plotlines that were cut at first and continuing to work on bugs in the original release. They may have moved staff from that project to this one, starting with a smaller staff.

3. Larian doesn't believe in "crunch" the way that most AAA studios do. In interview they said that prior to release they had to work a little overtime but nobody was losing weekends or having to sleep in the office. This is a big departure from most modern AAA studios.

4. This was a licensed product. Depending on the terms of that license, any changes to system or plot may have had to go back through WotC for approval. Considering #1, there may have been a lag time before they could start working on the reproduction for this reason as well as a longer startup time as they established the changes they made to the 5e base systems, got original plot approval, and got their art concepts approved for each canon race.

5. 6 years really isn't a strange dev cycle for a large game. What makes BG3 amazing in this case is that Larian isn't Actiblizzard or EA and that they had the resources to support a large dev cycle without resorting to a heavy microtransaction model after rushing out a base game. That's literally what's upsetting the industry.
A studio smaller than the "Big guys" (though not small or indie by any means) produced a more complete game with more content in ways that they've been saying for years wasn't possibly as a major justification for their exploitative business models. It's not perfect by any means, but it's a level above the initial release of games like Cyberpunk without resorting to things like crunch.

[SnuffSaid]

Originally posted by Naamtar:

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

Uh, why would you assume I, or anybody else who complains about early access, bought this game during early access?

That would make me a hypocrite. I bought it at launch, when it was finished, like a sensible consumer, rather than being an unpaid beta tester and giving them so many millions before they put the work in that they can take as much time as they like.

Only time I've ever paid for early access is when an indie dev literally admitted they were struggling and needed it.

You would rather they seek funding from private investors that don't even play video games?

Like I don't understand your angle here further than being upset Larian aren't an indie dev studio but still maintain the good will from the playerbase that mostly only indie devs do.

People need to be paid for their work. The options to generate capital over a dev cycle to pay those salaries are pretty limited.

I don't see how using Early Access to do it with the fanbase is worse than letting private investors hold sway over your deadlines, artistic process, etc.

If anything private investors are a huge part of what's driving the bad side of the industry today.

Uh, no, I'd rather they used the mountain of money their previous games made them.

[Naamtar]

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

Originally posted by Naamtar:

You would rather they seek funding from private investors that don't even play video games?

Like I don't understand your angle here further than being upset Larian aren't an indie dev studio but still maintain the good will from the playerbase that mostly only indie devs do.

People need to be paid for their work. The options to generate capital over a dev cycle to pay those salaries are pretty limited.

I don't see how using Early Access to do it with the fanbase is worse than letting private investors hold sway over your deadlines, artistic process, etc.

If anything private investors are a huge part of what's driving the bad side of the industry today.

Uh, no, I'd rather they used the mountain of money their previous games made them.

How much capital did they have when all was said and done from previous titles to invest in this dev cycle, and how much did this dev cycle cost them in it's entirety - to include licensing the IP?

[Menagerie]

Originally posted by Arconedas:

With the amount of content in the game i'm surprised it took only 6 years considering how small their development crew and studio is.

Ummm... they have 600 employees and publicly stated that they had over 400 working on this title. They aren't small.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

This issue has always been there. Players like me accepted crowdfunding and early access as a method to give indie devs who lack funds a shot. It's unethical for big rich companies to use it.

It's like sandbagging, if you do martial arts. That's where you turn up in a lower skill bracket and smoke everybody for a medal, when you should have been competing at a higher rank.

Thing is as long as they're open about the situation, isn't it up to consumers to decide if they approve or not?

If Ubisoft launches a Kickstarter, I'm not likely to join in but I won't tell anyone else what they can or cannot do with their money. As long as they're open about the situation, I don't see the problem.

[ANDY JHONSON QUISPE HUAMANI]

Yeah what about the 17 000 endings, there are only 2 afaik.

[The Seraph of Tomorrow]

Originally posted by Luke Skywalker:

the bear sex scene took alot of work. they had to hire intimacy coordinators and real actual bears to figure it out.

Honestly the amount of money that the Larian devs shoveled into their pockets through "business expenses"and down the drain is genuinely impressive.