Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Best games with longest EA!

2 years of BG3 EA now approaching! What were your favorite long timer EA games?

Mine:

Darkest Dungeon (1 year)
Dead Cell (1 year)
Kerbal Space program (2 years)
Starbound (3 years)
Factorio (4 years)

In my mind, BG3 is more in the "made during covid" than the "long timer EA game" category. I would imagine DoS2 would have stayed for a very long time in EA too if it was made during the same period.

Baldur's Gate 3 is my very first game that I play(ed) in an Early Access.

Prison Architect (5 years I think?)
Hades 1year 9 months (1 year in limited release on EGS, wide release on Steam for 9 months)
Invisible Inc. 1 year 8 months (11 months in limited release through Klei's website, another 9 months in wide release on Steam)

That said, I think BG3 has enherited more from Alpha builds for crowdfunded titles rather then a genuine Early Access release - games tailor made to be heavily replayable and easily updatable on regular basis. From what I understand it is quite similar to the way Larian handled their D:OSs alpha builds, and it reminds me most of my experience with Pillars Of Eternity2 alpha build experience - the lack of regular updates, seemingly lack of response to communicty concerns and a slice of a game that doesn't make for a good replayable experiece, as the game isn't being build for that approach. Really a testing experience, rather then a game that evolves over time.

Subnautica. Absolutely love that game, really immersive.

Dwarf Fortress takes the prize, I think. Been in development for two decades.

Kerbal Space Program, Factorio, and despite it being somewhat controversial, Ark: Survival Evolved are probably the best examples of games that were in EA a while that I enjoyed.

SCUM. Going on 4 years now in EA but still a lot of fun.

I like PoE2 a lot, but that's not what I meant. I am just not sure, if an RPG that relies heavily on handcrafted content can have truly enjoyable early access release the way other game mentioned have. I am also not trying to say that such release isn't beneficial for the game - it was for PoE2, and I am sure it is for BG3 as well.

But for quite some time games in Early Access have been products in themselves - and some worked better then others. All I am trying to say, is that I don't think cRPGs are a natural fit for this kind of release the way other genres are.

Star Citizen amazing fantastic! That was a joke never bought and it do not want to touch it. Full Release date? Perhaps maybe in your life time or your grandchildrens life time or never!

A more serious answer?
World of Warcraft MMO. I played it in the Beta. I played it over 3.5 years when released and most popular time was when Wrath of Lichking expansion was released with awesome PvE Raids and good PvP ! During this time Wrath of Lichking Expansion WOW MMO reached its record in popularity and despite only PC game (not supported consoles or mobile phones) it reached over 12 million active players.
WOW MMO is the only PC game I know for sure that I and my brother and my sister so all my siblings have played.
Eventually I got bored and quit it though and to much time sink for me.

I liked PoE2 a lot as well. I am excited for Avowed - but also sad they are moving away from the CRPG style genre.

I was hoping they would make a PoE3 and pay as much attention to turn-based as they did to RTWP... kind of like Owlcat did with Wrath of the Righteous.

Speaking of Owlcat - their games could use "more time in the oven" or a longer Early Access period to iron out the bugs. Because those games are almost always a disaster when they first launch.

What a disappointment that was.

This thread is like some sort of twisted virtue signaling.

Originally Posted by Count Turnipsome
<Starbound (3 years)>

<What a disappointment that was.>


Really? Its probably the only game right now I still can play 6 hours straight not noticing the sun rise...
Mind you, Ive got a boat load of mods including Franckin Universe, Arcana etc...

Is there ANY other pixel art/2D games out there with an open SPACE universe with bazillion of planet types (with FU installed...) to explore, day/night cycles with weather, moons, asteroid fields, black holes, crazy items, enemies, make you own ships (FU B.I.O.S) ride Mechs, go to other NPC ships, build bases, etc... etc... I have been playing for over 80 hours now, I am still discovering new stuff to do. Granted, if your looking for a Game of Thrones storytelling experience, thats not exactly what the game is about

Uh...ok then. Looking for conflict were there is none? I think your thinking way to hard. Relax.
So do you have a favorite EA game you would like to share ?

I actually forgot to mention Divinity Original Sin games. They were EA too and are one of my favorite games.

I'm firm believer of "Games should be good without mods" stance. With that in mind Starbound is kinda mediocre. Worlds are essentially just a recolors, nothing unique on them. I know there are lava, poison variety worlds, but they still don't have anything unique to them. I generally don't see the point of having millions of worlds if everything is the same.

At some point i remember races would have unique passives, but that was scrapped. Armor and weapons too. Chuclefish kinda gutted race/world uniqueness during the development.
I think Fraking Universe added all that back, but when i played Starbound it didn't exist. And now Terraria is simply better, even more so with mods.

These long EA periods of time make me wonder if the business model needs to be revamped? The long EA is essentially saying they can't do the massive job in one shot, which really is fine with me. So then lets formally break it into parts and release them one after another. AD&D used to do that with the adventure modules all the time ... I don't need to have a "save the cosmos" epic ending for every single installment. For example, the D-series started with D1 Descent into the Earth, then went to D2 Shrine of the Kuo-toa, and then D3 Vault of the Drow. Each module was standalone, but the story was continued into each successor. I guess Larian feels they have to compete with the blockbuster BG II, but I don't know, I think I'd be just as happy with a series of smaller adventure modules released as separate-but-linked games. Would that make it harder for NPC scripting? Maybe, but it seems like it would be basically the same as one big game broken into chapters anyways.

"Stare deep into the Mistshadow. Stare into it and know that knowledge is unknowable."

I don't think it would help anyone. Most titles that go for episodic release are story driven - games with little systemic depth and all about that story. And what I hear (never tried one myself) Telltale style games tend to get disappointing after first couple episodes.

For the BG3 to attempt it they would need to have systems down - and that means combat, as well as stuff like cinematics, AI, interactions outside combat. Those still are worked on, not just story content and maps.

Games of that size take years to finish. That just how it is. BG3 doesn't take much time for an AAA release, nor for an EA release. I am sure that once the game releases, we will be hoping that Larian would delay it for a bit longer anyway

I really don't like EA games that i've seen so far. They look like low budget or average at best. One exception was DOS:2, but it still was plagued by a horrible armor system, a very bad itemization and armor design progress, absent customization and even mind boggling design decisions that left the only good looking armors as NPC only.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, and DOS:2 was a great game, not with an extremely long EA true, but still. Long EA makes me extremely skeptical about the quality, or even about the "ceiling", a game can reach.