Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Are expectations too high?

I've seen both here and in articles GOTY being thrown around. I was just reading a rock, paper, shotgun piece that used the phrase "threads the needle" wrt TDU. There was that thing yesterday about not expecting this to set a new standard, because that would be beyond most shops' abilities.

With a handful of exceptions, nobody outside Larian has played anything other than EA, and even the folks who have gotten their hands on the real deal have only had a few hours to poke at it.

There just seems to be this assumption in the air that this is going to be everything Larian's marketing says it will. I sure hope it is, but this much pre-release praise feels eerily premature.

Contrary to other hyped games, we can already play early access so we can judge if the product will be worth our money. If you liked act 1, there is little reason to be afraid.

My fear is that game is going to be overhyped by people who haven't played the game and then community will have meltdown on something irrelevant.

I mean, doesn't that go without saying? 🤣

I think those of us who have played and enjoyed early access for all its flaws can feel reasonably confident that we'll have a blast with the full game, and that even if it's not perfect (and I don't expect it to be given its sheer size and ambition) we'll have hundreds of hours of fun with it.

Whether the game does enough to fully convert those who had deeper reservations I am less sure about. If I were in that camp I'd certainly be reserving judgement.

And what the wider gaming press and community, and the sorts of people who would be handing out GOTY accolades, will make of it I genuinely don't know. It does feel very much its own thing, and whether it'll break through more widely or get fantastic reviews everywhere I genuinely have no idea. My guess is that some reviewers will love it, and that sites that had it high up on their most anticipated games lists (like, iirc PC Gamer) will be similarly enthusiastic about the game itself, whereas others are going to be fixed more firmly on some of the other exciting games coming out this year. Certainly all the streamers/influencers I spoke to in Ghent seemed to love it, but then they'd been handpicked by Larian to attend the event and it's also one thing to by hyped when you're there in the thick of it and another for that to last until you get home and reflect more soberly.

I hope it does well just because I desperately want Larian to continue to invest in developing and expanding the game!

This community has been one, long, slow burning meltdown for three years. Welcome to the party, y’all.

That sounds similar to how a reactor is supposed to work