Not going woke. Not going broke...

[Shinimaru]

Back in the late 90s I was on my late teens and as far as video games went, I liked action games, platformers, fighting games and stuff like that... I was like most gamers back then. We wanted fast twitched skill based stuff that was like the arcade games we grew up on on the 80s and early nineties.

So one thing none of us would be checking for, nor getting hyped for, was a freaking turn based crpg!

Even the baldurs gate franchise didn't dare try to release a turn based game even though bg1 and bg2 were based on Dungeons and Dragons which is a turn based ttrpg.

No matter how good the mechanics of the game was, nobody would check for it if it was turned based. That's what it was back then...

Then out of nowhere... Final Fantasy 7!

This game blew ALL THE WAY UP. And took a dump on every other game of every other genre.

But it was turned based. How the hell did this happen?

Answer: Smart Marketing.

Instead of making commercials showcasing the moment to moment gameplay, and let's be honest, as good as the FF7 gameplay turned out to be, most of it wasn't exactly fun to watch someone else play... So instead of showing gameplay footage like most other games at the time did, FF7 showed nothing but it's over the top cutscenes.

Now the cutscenes were very nice and high quality for that time period, but they only actually represented like one to two percent of what a player would experience when they actually played the game.

This seems like a deceptive tactic, and it was. But not in a negative way. It got people to try a game they wouldn't normally try, and most people found out that they actually enjoyed the other 98% of the game to the point where the cutscenes became an afterthought to them.

What does all that have to do with Baldurs gate 3?

Answer: EVERYTHING!

We all know how good and indepth the gameplay of bg3 is, but "we", crpg fans and DND fans, are simply not the majority of video game fans.

There is a reason why there are endless FPS games and Action rpg games flooding the market these days. It's because those genres are most popular and therefore easier to market to a mass audience.

So to market BG3 to an audience it doesn't already have (who probably already bought the game anyway), the devs had to do something besides just say "hey check out our new turn based game that's based on DND", because people outside of those smaller fanbases simply would not care.

But they can't just do exactly what FF7 did back in the day, because high end cutscenes have become common, and people have become more wise to the tactic of wowing people with cutscene visuals to cover up gameplay that isn't nearly as amazing just to look at.

I'm sure the bg3 ads are cutscene heavy still, but that will not be enough to stand out these days.

So what can the devs do?

Answer: Woke, outrage, meme, culture.

Similar to ff7, the bg3 devs took features of the game that take up less than 1% of the total gameplay experience, catered it to "modern audiences" and pushed it to the forefront of their social media marketing campaign!

Superficial Gender fluid Identity options, LGBTQ romance scenes and even that bear "thing" are included in the game, but they are a miniscule part of the game and they are even optional so a player could play the game without even dealing with any of it.

But an online fuss, both positive and negative is still being made about that stuff now, and for the devs, that just equals more buzz than the game would have otherwise had.

It's a chess move. A smart one at that... For every person who now thinks this game is the LGBTQ game and attempts to take ownership of it as some type of tent pole, and for every person who now thinks this is some woke joke game and says they won't touch it...

There are going to be many many others who only noticed the game because of this buzz and may try it out, or look into it, and see what it really is,

which is a top notch rpg that focuses on a deep non-agenda driven, non-political, non-sexuality focused, dark fantasy story with deep fleshed out characters, insane dialogue depth, dopamine laced dice roll mechanics, ridiculously in depth, strategic build customization, and quality tactical turn based combat.

This isn't a case of the bg3 devs foolishly going woke then going broke... Nonono

This is a case of the "woke agenda" getting played so the bg3 devs get paid!

[katzenkrimis]

This wasn't planned by Larian.

It's such a nothing-burger that it should have remained that way.

The irrational keyboard army infiltrated another new release, made a mountain out of a molehill, and tried to bring the game down.

Just like they tried to disgrace FIFA 23, Hogwarts, and other games this year.

It's immaturity. Not a marketing strategy.

[Jon]

How did you write all that and at no point ask yourself "what am I doing"?
Of course its marketing.

[Starwight/ttv]

So an entire wall of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just to say you won't be getting the game?

Cool, we don't care.

[KingOfFriedChicken]

"going woke" while a dumb saying overall, is just the new term for their unapproval, some people will say its a phase it wont last, but as this stuff becomes normal people will stop shouting about it and the next thing will come up, when i was young "games where a padding fad" just like computers, they were not the future according to people who dislike change. then when they didn't go away they literally made up all sorts of reasons and excuses to try to get them to go away when they didn't. A big thing in my household was blaming the games for the demons that came into the house, they had evil printed directly into them..... no im not joking lol

When my mother found my copy of Diablo 3 she was so upset i brought the devil into the house, DIABLO DON'T YOU KNOW HOW THAT IS? seriously she fell for it hard same with Pokemon llol i was like you do know the premise of diablo is fighting and beating the diablo... she didn't care and threw it away, she didn't know all games were digital and i didn't need that disk rofl i still play diablo 3 sometimes
Either way i can assure you this criticism will pass and they will pick up a new torch so its best to just not engage to heavily say your piece and move on.

[Jeraluna]

Woke agenda, lol. Okay Alabama...

[SimranZenov]

You're just mad because you're a hater. Get over it kid...

Also, FF7 wasn't the first turn-based RPG to blow up... The FIRST final fantasy blew up. It was supposed to be their last game - hence "FINAL fantasy", but it turned out to be a major hit.

[cire87]

Whats the deal with all these walls of text lately , is it AI generated garbage or are people actually typing this stuff up

[vitokin]

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

So an entire wall of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just to say you won't be getting the game?

Cool, we don't care.

You care enough to reply

[MeatGolem]

That's a myth.

[Starwight/ttv]

Originally posted by vitokin:

Originally posted by Starwight/ttv:

So an entire wall of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ just to say you won't be getting the game?

Cool, we don't care.

You care enough to reply

WOW I replied to a post on a forum *GASP*

[Panic! At The Costco™]

isn't the OP just anti-woke virtue signalling

[Yojo0o]

Groovy

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Panic! At The Costco™:

isn't the OP just anti-woke virtue signalling

Vice signalling, per Lord Adorable.

[vitokin]

OP is a hero we need more heroes in this world

[Recjawjind]

This woke broke nonsense is just that, nonsense. Every time it's brought up.