Larian Is The Best Game Developer In The World

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

I'm going to qualify this statement with a few caveats.

• I have plenty of criticisms of BG3

• Among them are the poor encounter design.

• Larian relies far too heavily on 'gimmicks' - things like explosive barrels, or anything that lets you 'one shot' half of the encounter.

• There's far too many consumables in this game - potions of every kind, scrolls that anyone can use, bombs, special arrows, etc.

• Magic items are doled out far too frequently.

• Larian doesn't respect the 'spirit' of bounded accuracy when they introduce a plethora of new status effects such as Wet, Momentum, Lightning Charges, Reeling, Radiating Orb, Arcane Acutity, etc. which aren't part of the 5e rules (I couldn't possibly provide an exhaustive list here, as there are far too many).

• Encounters are often designed to TPK your party - unless you choose to exploit such 'gimmicks'.

• The story is extremely heavy handed and linear - many "choices" you make lead to exactly the same conclusion regardless of what you choose, and the entire game is built along a linear plotline.

• The Hireling system sucks. There's no reason why Larian couldn't have just given us empty slots to build new Hirelings any way we choose. This was deliberate.

• Can't roll for our ability scores, not even in Custom Mode.

• There's no level editor.

• There are very few subclass options for most classes, and some of the most popular were left out.

• The "chain" party system is one of the most complained about aspects of the game and Larian left it unchanged.

• Switching between party members during dialog is clumsy and stupid.

In spite of all these things, BG3 is still the most engrossing game I've played in more than 15 years, and Larian is still the best game studio in the world.

If anything, this just goes to show how far our standards have fallen because of the likes of Bioware, CDPR, Activision-Blizzard, EA, etc.

BG3 should be a lot better than it is - mods prove this. But because we're so used to the shovelware being fed us, we have much lower standards for gaming today than we did 30 yrs ago.

Technology continues to improve. Graphics continue to improve.

Human creativity does not.

BG3 may be the best game in over a decade, but it could have been so much better if ppl actually took pride in their craft instead of just chasing a buck.

[Sistermatic™]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

BG3 should be a lot better than it is - mods prove this.

I balked at this.

Mods aren't proof of any kind of development deficit, they're a consequence of not being able to develop to infinity, something that is both technically and financially impossible.

It's far more accurate to say mods exist to fill gaps imagined by different players, all with their own expectations and play-styles.

[Simbolic]

CD Projekt Red are pretty damn good. If they teamed up they could make one hell of a game.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by Simbolic:

CD Projekt Red are pretty damn good. If they teamed up they could make one hell of a game.

CDPR is garbage.

[Sistermatic™]

Originally posted by Simbolic:

CD Projekt Red are pretty damn good. If they teamed up they could make one hell of a game.

I'd have CDPR, Naughty Dog, Square Enix and maybe Rockstar in there. I mean, Larian is good but not GOAT or anything.

[Tussin The Goat]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

Originally posted by Simbolic:

CD Projekt Red are pretty damn good. If they teamed up they could make one hell of a game.

CDPR is garbage.

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

CDPR is garbage.

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

It's really one of the worst games of all time.

[Яeplicant]

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

CDPR is garbage.

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

It's really just a fancy take on GTA at the end of the day.

[Eminem]

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

but it could have been so much better if ppl actually took pride in their craft instead of just chasing a buck.

did you just rage quit bruh?

[Tussin The Goat]

Originally posted by Яeplicant:

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

It's really just a fancy take on GTA at the end of the day.

You can lazily say that about just about any game. Cyberpunk does things that GTA doesn't do.

[Ghost]

- Any encounters in particular you think are poorly designed? Why so?

- When the various effects affect everyone equally and are available to everyone, that's pretty in touch with the 'spirit' of bonded accuracy.
Some of the item set things can become powerful, but not that powerful, and they typically require to whole set to make any meaningful difference.

- Haven't had any issues with any 'TPK designed encounters'. Things like trying to fight the Gith patrol at too early a level, when they are very heavily telegraphed that fighting is a bad idea, are entirely a skill issue.

- What stories don't to that in your opinion?

- There is in fact a level editor. It took less than a week for modders to unlock the toolkit.

- There are a lot of complaints about the chain system, but they all seem pretty big nothing-burgers. What would you replace the chain system with?
---

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

It's really one of the worst games of all time.

Why? It had a pretty terrible release, that much is true.

[guard65]

why is all that matters in games is cinemas and flash and flair. i have yet to see a single game that has a descent back-end ever in the industry. since the bar is so low who can not reach it. yes that is a jab at all game programmer.

[Яeplicant]

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Originally posted by Яeplicant:

It's really just a fancy take on GTA at the end of the day.

You can lazily say that about just about any game. Cyberpunk does things that GTA doesn't do.

You mean, mixing the immersive sim aspect of Deus Ex and the open world structure of GTA together to create "something new"? Then again, even Witcher started out as rather basic and took it's time to get to where Witcher 3 was.

For now, writing is still their strongest suit, which is what I'm always looking foward to. Gameplay doesn't really matter to me, honestly.

But overall, the gameplay loop, the mission structure, mechanics... All of them were at the end of the day pretty basic. I loved my smart guns, though.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Tussin The Goat:

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

CDPR is garbage.

Garbage take. Cyberpunk is an all time great.

I could not agree more.

Originally posted by Pan Darius Cassandra:

Larian Is The Best Game Developer In The World
I'm going to qualify this statement with a few caveats.

• I have plenty of criticisms of BG3

• Among them are the poor encounter design.

• Larian relies far too heavily on 'gimmicks' - things like explosive barrels, or anything that lets you 'one shot' half of the encounter.

• There's far too many consumables in this game - potions of every kind, scrolls that anyone can use, bombs, special arrows, etc.

• Magic items are doled out far too frequently.

• Larian doesn't respect the 'spirit' of bounded accuracy when they introduce a plethora of new status effects such as Wet, Momentum, Lightning Charges, Reeling, Radiating Orb, Arcane Acutity, etc. which aren't part of the 5e rules (I couldn't possibly provide an exhaustive list here, as there are far too many).

• Encounters are often designed to TPK your party - unless you choose to exploit such 'gimmicks'.

• The story is extremely heavy handed and linear - many "choices" you make lead to exactly the same conclusion regardless of what you choose, and the entire game is built along a linear plotline.

• The Hireling system sucks. There's no reason why Larian couldn't have just given us empty slots to build new Hirelings any way we choose. This was deliberate.

• Can't roll for our ability scores, not even in Custom Mode.

• There's no level editor.

• There are very few subclass options for most classes, and some of the most popular were left out.

• The "chain" party system is one of the most complained about aspects of the game and Larian left it unchanged.

• Switching between party members during dialog is clumsy and stupid.

In spite of all these things, BG3 is still the most engrossing game I've played in more than 15 years, and Larian is still the best game studio in the world.

If anything, this just goes to show how far our standards have fallen because of the likes of Bioware, CDPR, Activision-Blizzard, EA, etc.

BG3 should be a lot better than it is - mods prove this. But because we're so used to the shovelware being fed us, we have much lower standards for gaming today than we did 30 yrs ago.

Technology continues to improve. Graphics continue to improve.

Human creativity does not.

BG3 may be the best game in over a decade, but it could have been so much better if ppl actually took pride in their craft instead of just chasing a buck.

Your statement as faulty: as in it will only last until it is not the fact anymore.

Best you can learn from the game industry: never belief in the game studio and what it represents, but in the people behind it. You got big names like Blizzard exactly falling because of the people who made the stuff great are no longer there for obvious managements reasons.

Larian Studios has shown us players NOTHING NEW in regards that great artists can create great stuff.

Larian Studios only shown the rest of the game industry something the game industry is supposed to know: it is about creating art, not creating money which leads to long lasting success. Anything less than art is correctly called out by parents as "addictions", ironically.

[Detective Costeau]

I'm not at all sure "best game developer in the world" is a meaningful category.
So, for instance, if you compare Larian to an indie developer that makes small $15 games with 5 people, how do you usefully evaluate which is the 'better' developer?

As for 'could be better', this is basically just saying "I would like the game better if it were different" which is probably true, but you're confusing your preferences with objective quality. Half the things you'd want would make it worse for other people.

[Caedo]

One high selling title does not make them the best in the world, yes the game sold well, but it is not that great of a game, they used an existing IP with a huge universe behind it, adapted it to a modern engine with modern graphics, it still falls short in so many areas.

Agreed cyberpunk is certainly a game of the year title.