Early Access, good or bad?
I try to aboid EA titles. Often is seems that publishers want to save money on quality control and outsource QC to the players. If the game sells decent, they will fix bugs and continue to develope the game, if sales are bad, they jump ship.
I want to play BG3 at some point as I have similar found memories of BG1/2 and IWD1/2 but I don't see me playing the game anytime soon.
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Though it's hard to imagine Larian jumping ship on a project, given their reputation thus far.
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^ That is where I am.
EA == OMG, avoid like COVID-19
Larian == Take my moniez, nao!
I am going to wait and see what the game looks like, but I have hope that Larian will do a great job of it.
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They will deliver. Though I think it will be like DoS2 start will be polished and it will teeter towards the end.
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Along with Cyberpunk 2077 this is my most anticipated game. And I may wait to get Cyberpunk when I finally get a PS5. Haven't decided yet. So Baldur's Gate 3 may be my one big fall gaming purchase.
I absolutely loved the combat of Divinity Original Sin 2 but the goofy writing and forgettable world do nothing for me. So taking the DOS2 combat into a darker, more fleshed-out world like Baldur's Gate sounds absolutely awesome.
I played the hell out of all the old Infinity engine games, especially BG2.
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Funny, but for me that Baldur's Gate thing started about 1,5 hours ago, walking to delivery service in calm and warm autumn evening, and it was only 10 minutes away, but still that price of $1,28 for sealed copies is veeery good (without small delievery price).
Icewind Dale was here too for simular $0,64, although I don't know when I'll have some time to check this gems...
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I still have the original boxed versions of those games (and expansions), and they are still in my playlist. I have no idea how many times I have finished them, but I feel like doing another playthrough. )
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I've grown very disillusioned with early access. It seems like it originally started out as a way to get some needed funding for smaller indie devs while their game is in development, and for some valuable player input, but now it feels more like an easy way to get money for games that were never intended to be finished. You can't get your money back if the game is abandoned or cancelled afterall, so 100% of the risk is on us.
Of course, Larian has put out many other successful games so I don't really see BG3 as a risk, but I'm still going to wait and see.
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Indeed. Will wait for reviews and then also for it to 'evolve' during EA. Might get it in a year or so when it's 'done'.
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The EA systeam was born to help indie devs and low budget studios to realease their game while are in a early stage of development, the income generated by this kind of sales will help them to "survive" and finishd the game properly. Maybe im wrong but i did not see Larian Studios as one of this kind of devs/studios, also is they need more time to fisnished the game, why not just delay it.
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Larian isn't a small indie but they don't have any publisher to fund them. They had to crowdfund their previous games. They don't have any secondary revenues to help them postpone the release indefinitely.
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I have nothing against EA (or the theory of it at least) and if I was going to buy an EA title full price then I'd be much more comfortable with it coming from an established company like Larian. I can also see where this is the type of game that really would benefit from EA but as a player this is also the type of game I'm least likely to actually buy in EA.
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Hi Lugum
I am not one to buy games at such high prices,
There is no price displayed for me, do you see one ? I'm curious :-)
Regarding ealy access, I have mixed feelings. It really depends on the publisher / developper good will. Some early access games have been good experiences to me, nice to see the game grow up and finally launch in a well polished state. On the opposite, I've also seen blatant swindles, like the scumb*gs from ARK who released their work as a paid and expensive DLC while still in early access.
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Hi.
No, i read that on the discussion board it would to be (rumored) $60. On key reseller sites you can already buy keys at 55 euro, one does it for 47,3 euro (including fees) but from reviews of that site, the site seems a bit shady (bunch not getting their key, region locked or no refund, though some do get a working key, and thus a gamble i wouldn't take).
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Thanks ! I'll stay far away from the shady resellers. And probably from the game, as I'm not willing to pay a full AAA price for an early access game.
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I can't imagine any fan of RPGs getting baited into an incomplete experience for a genre that relies so heavily on aspect of completeness.
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Are you considering backers who funded D:OS, D:OS2, PoE, PoE2, Wasteland2, Wasteland3, T:ToN etc.and prevented many of the last remaining old school RPG development studios' bankruptcy as baited into an incomplete experience since there were alpha access and beta access as backer rewards or are you saying they aren't a true fan of RPGs?
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I don't really think there's any "true fan" of anything. I wouldn't even put that into the discussion.
But a kickstarting a project's different from buying an existing unfinished product. I also am pretty sure that early access to those games never served the player other than quenching their thirst for the product, rather than giving them an actually good and quality product. People can do what they want of course. Just that getting a third of a full experience with all of the bad side effects with literally not a single other positive to the product itself serves no one but the publisher who's getting money and perhaps initial publicity.
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Thing is most publishers aren't interested in investing on old school RPGs. Hence the need to crowdfund then and early access now. There isn't a publisher who will get any money from early access of BG3, if there was any publisher to fund BG3's development Larian wouldn't need early access in the first place.
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Or rather the publisher would force the game out while still on alpha/beta and call it retail then killing all chances of ever patching it up. And people would imagine that's a full experience compared to being able to take part in the development in games that often have replay value for couple runs. So paying for EA now means you will lose absolutely nothing since you can replay it later when expansions come out etc.
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Normally, I have mixed feelings about EA since so many of them end up canceled or remain uncompleted for years. Here, though, I think it will be a good thing. Larian is not doing this in order to fund the project like so many early access projects; they are doing it to get user feedback. Considering that they have already made changes to the game based on customer feedback to their various demonstrations, I think they genuinely just want to test how aspects of the game work with actual players rather than just the development team. As a studio, they've always been quite responsive to fan feedback of their projects. They were pretty clear in their press releases that you shouldn't buy the EA version of the game unless you don't mind bugs and want to be part of the development process.
Personally, I'll probably wait for the full release but that is because I really like experiencing the stories of RPGs as a finished product. But I can see how getting the chance to help shape the game could be appealing, especially with IP as beloved as BG.
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Early Access can be a good or bad thing depending on who is developing the game. Larian Studios has a good record of delivering quality games. I think WotC put their IP in very good hands.
What it comes down to is what type of experience you are looking for. If you want to help shape the game, bug test etc. etc. then get the game in early access, if not then wait for the release.
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If i remember correctly, both Divinity Original Sin games were released in Early Access, initially. Add to that the fact that Larian supported them for many years, releasing patches and ironing the bugs, long after the official release. Which is a better practice than what the triple A publishers and studios are offering currently.
While i am not fond on the Early Access method (too many abused it), i have quite a bit of confidence in Larian to deliver what they promise.
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This EA is probably about player input and it won't be abandoned because LARIAN studios :) Plus buying the rights to do game in D&D settings cost money :P
I will not buy it now I will wait for some bundle in a few years probably but I already have about 5 chars in my mind that I will play and finish the game with just like with Baldur's Gate I and II and before that I will play Baldur's Gate I EE and II EE just to make a char that you could not make before because there were no half-orcs in BGI that you could import to BGII :P
I think BG III will be fun as I'm mostly experienced in Advanced D&D and D&D 3.0 and D&D 3.5 and I wanted to give D&D 5.0 a try :)
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Hype is never good.
Neither is early access.
Even worse? EA.
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Zero expectations. Didn't like any of Larian games, and BG3 looks just like another Divinity with BG3 label stamped on it.
Definitely not buying it now and probably not buying it at all.
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I am not one to buy games at such high prices, it might very well be that my last real big purchase on a game could have been Baldur's Gate 2 about 20-25 years ago, going to the store through a long long barren trip through snow, cold, ice, oh okay there was a little bit of snow, and it was only 5 minutes away, but still. :p
And i liked them, spend many nights on it, Icewind Dale also, although never finished when you lose a 20 hour save and don't want to go back then.
I tried replaying the remastered versions, but i couldn't enjoy it as i did back then, still this kinda tugs at my shirt and gives a wink at me, promising a good night.
What are your expactations of this game? Maybe once it's out we can share our experiences.
Early Access can mean they want player input, so good, but often EA tend to be abandoned, so bad.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_3/ $60
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