BG3 release hype was due to straw-man advertising

[Kamiyama]

https://youtu.be/63le3y2kjlI

https://youtu.be/iWdZhKFtxKg

https://youtu.be/g87g2wNO9t0

It's all lies. However the youtubers behind this can claim innocence because they aren't making the arguments.

"Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a rockstar game!"

"Baldur's Gate 3 is a huge open world similar to Grand Theft Auto!"

"Baldur's Gate 3 sets a new industry standard for RPG's!"

All these youtubers are quoting someone else saying those things, and they themselves just talk about why it is or isn't true.

Which means you can't hold the youtubers accountable for the lie - despite the fact they are deliberately spreading that lie for financial gain (this is their job as youtubers). Instead it's always this "other dev" or "baldur's gate players say" or whatever.

But here's the thing - the claims are all lies. Any game developer worth their salt would never compare BG3 to a rockstar title. Anyone who plays games at all would know that Baldur's Gate 3 is not a huge open world, in fact it is a linear series of maps which you progress from one to the next in a sequence of acts. You can't just say "fark the sword coast" and go travel to Icewind Dale because it's not an open world. It's very linear.

Also an industry standard? Hell no! BG3 uses a similar top-down camera, party control, map, and similar game mechanics to previous Baldur's Gate entries. This is an old formula for RPG's and if I were to point at the industry standard for modern RPG's I would point at the Elder Scrolls series, which is still sitting fair and square as #1 in the industry as far as I'm concerned.

I would argue that many of us were influenced by the hype and that's why we made the purchase. We wanted to play this amazing game that all these people were raging about.

Except the rage was all fake. It was a straw-man used to drum up sales for Larian. This was a devious marketing campaign using psychology. The straw-man arguments were all lies and we were snookered into buying a very mediocre RPG.

I know I"m not the only one who watches youtube videos about the latest games before buying them. I bet a lot of other players were cheated by these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ youtubers who willfully spread all these lies.

♥♥♥♥ Asmongold. ♥♥♥♥ IGN. and especially ♥♥♥♥ this "LegacyKillaHD" guy.

Guess what? Every time they pull ♥♥♥♥ like this, people's wallets get harder to open. Next time youtube videos won't be good enough. Hype won't be good enough. It will be much harder to make a sale.

[Chaosolous]

Never believe the person selling the product.

You should have done more to make sure you wanted to play this though. Being unaware of what a game is in this day in age is only accomplished by willful ignorance.

There’s too many ways to get information for anyone to be caught off guard.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

Except the rage was all fake. It was a straw-man used to drum up sales for Larian. This was a devious marketing campaign using psychology. The straw-man arguments were all lies and we were snookered into buying a very mediocre RPG.

Well why did you buy a mediocre RPG instead of Baldur's Gate 3? That's your mistake

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

It's all lies.

[...]

"Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a rockstar game!"

I was unaware Rockstar was behind Larian. Thank you for opening my eyes.

[TapeWyrm]

OK

[fenrik07]

Can't relate, bought the game long before the hype properly began. Saw a trailer, read the Steam description and was sold, I like turn based rpgs, sue me haha.

[zero]

actually i'd argue the release hype was due to the several years of EA that showed how the game would fell upon release, giving people a good impression of what to expect.

but thats just me i suppose

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by Chaosolous:

Never believe the person selling the product.

You should have done more to make sure you wanted to play this though. Being unaware of what a game is in this day in age is only accomplished by willful ignorance.

There’s too many ways to get information for anyone to be caught off guard.

In this case it wasn't the person selling the product, it was youtubers who pretended to be giving their review of the game.

Do more to make sure you want to play the game? Watching videos of gameplay should be enough. But that's not possible when all the major youtubers are part of a conspiracy to drum up sales.

How much money did Larian pay for this viral marketing campaign? How many youtubers are in on it?

I guess next time I'll have to capture another gamer who bought the new game, and interrogate them in my basement?

Is that what we have to do now?

The fact is if you're going to youtube to watch gameplay videos before making a purchase, you're already going above and beyond a simple impulse buy. You're doing research.

But that doesn't work when the developers use a viral marketing campaign using psychological tricks like fake straw-man arguments.

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

Except the rage was all fake. It was a straw-man used to drum up sales for Larian. This was a devious marketing campaign using psychology. The straw-man arguments were all lies and we were snookered into buying a very mediocre RPG.

Well why did you buy a mediocre RPG instead of Baldur's Gate 3? That's your mistake

It is a mediocre RPG.

It is baffling that anyone here would think it's anything more than that.

There are great RPG"s. Elder Scrolls 4 and 5. Planescape Torment and Torment Tides of Numenara. The Shadowrun series. Neverwinter Nights.

Baldurs Gate was always a good RPG, but it was never game-changing, or ever came close to "setting an industry standard"

Nor was it ever open world. Who were the devs comparing it to a rockstar title? These people are liars and are clearly just trying to drum up hype.

[Final★X]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

I know I"m not the only one who watches youtube videos about the latest games before buying them. I bet a lot of other players were cheated by these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ youtubers who willfully spread all these lies.

That's your flaw, I never do this . I can form my own opinion by trying the game out or watch it shortly on twitch to see if the game is interesting or not.

For BG3, I played it when it was on EA, played for about 25hours and and knew this game was going to be good from that point. And I'm sure many people who played EA like me felt the same way. So no the hype is not all lies as you described.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Well why did you buy a mediocre RPG instead of Baldur's Gate 3? That's your mistake

It is a mediocre RPG.

It is baffling that anyone here would think it's anything more than that.

There are great RPG"s. Elder Scrolls 4 and 5. Planescape Torment and Torment Tides of Numenara. The Shadowrun series. Neverwinter Nights.

Baldurs Gate was always a good RPG, but it was never game-changing, or ever came close to "setting an industry standard"

Nor was it ever open world. Who were the devs comparing it to a rockstar title? These people are liars and are clearly just trying to drum up hype.

Was not expecting Torment Tides of Numenara in the list there lol.

Anyway this is better than all those but PST

[TheMasterBlaster]

OP doesnt understand what a straw man argument is.

OP believes that because he doesn't like BG3, that all the marketing and videos are lies.

Nothing to see here.

[zero]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Well why did you buy a mediocre RPG instead of Baldur's Gate 3? That's your mistake

It is a mediocre RPG.

It is baffling that anyone here would think it's anything more than that.

There are great RPG"s. Elder Scrolls 4 and 5. Planescape Torment and Torment Tides of Numenara. The Shadowrun series. Neverwinter Nights.

Baldurs Gate was always a good RPG, but it was never game-breaking, or ever came close to "setting an industry standard"

Nor was it ever open world. Who were the devs comparing it to a rockstar title? These people are liars and are clearly just trying to drum up hype.

you find it mediocre, others do not, simple.

its doubly funny when you say there are great rpgs, and then you bring up elden scrolls 5, which is skyrim, the most white bread rpg out there.

a game doesn't need to be "game breaking" to be good, fundamentals are more important then breaking a mold.

it does what it does well, it stays true to the 5e experince, its one of the few D&D games out there in general, and it tells an interesting story.

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster:

OP doesnt understand what a straw man argument is.

OP believes that because he doesn't like BG3, that all the marketing and videos are lies.

Nothing to see here.

It's a fake argument being shoved in someone's face to try and trick you into debating a position you never intended to make in the first place.

Youtubers coming out comparing BG3 to a rockstar title, calling it a huge open world game, and setting a new industry standard, when it is completely mediocre and does none of those things is a straw-man. Who is making these claims? Nobody. But multiple youtubers are covering these false claims to drive up hype. It's a psychological tactic.

*official definition:
"informal fallacy of refuting an argument different from the one actually under discussion"

Exactly what these youtubers are doing. Talking about whether or not these false claims are true or not is straw man advertising. The claims are obviously false. No developer would compare BG3 to a rockstar game. That's just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[zero]

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

Originally posted by TheMasterBlaster:

OP doesnt understand what a straw man argument is.

OP believes that because he doesn't like BG3, that all the marketing and videos are lies.

Nothing to see here.

It's a fake argument being shoved in someone's face to try and trick you into debating a position you never intended to make in the first place.

Youtubers coming out comparing BG3 to a rockstar title, calling it a huge open world game, and setting a new industry standard, when it is completely mediocre and does none of those things is a straw-man. Who is making these claims? Nobody. But multiple youtubers are covering these false claims to drive up hype. It's a psychological tactic.

watch different youtubers then, there is literally thousands out there.

plus: they're making the claims, obviously.

dunno why they're comparing to rockstar though, rockstar games are kinda middling overall

[Kamiyama]

Originally posted by zero:

Originally posted by Kamiyama:

It's a fake argument being shoved in someone's face to try and trick you into debating a position you never intended to make in the first place.

Youtubers coming out comparing BG3 to a rockstar title, calling it a huge open world game, and setting a new industry standard, when it is completely mediocre and does none of those things is a straw-man. Who is making these claims? Nobody. But multiple youtubers are covering these false claims to drive up hype. It's a psychological tactic.

watch different youtubers then, there is literally thousands out there.

plus: they're making the claims, obviously.

dunno why they're comparing to rockstar though, rockstar games are kinda middling overall

IGN is a well-known gaming publication and Asmongold is one of the most well-known youtubers. Both have big followings. This was a major viral marketing campaign.