Replayability as a term that Larian have thrown around is something that I'm a little concerned about...
Mainly because their idea of it seems to heavily involve the false replay value factor of forcibly locking out party members, and inciting you to replay the same content multiple times just to see all of your companions' stories; that is NOT replay value. It's a slog. It was a slog in DOS2, and if they do it again here, it will be an unpleasant slog here too. It's not a good method of creating replay value at all, because players are being required to replay 90% or more of repeat content with little to no variation, just to see that 10% that they arbitrarily weren't permitted to see the first time... and then to do it *again* for other companions (if we have 8 companions total, we'll have to do this a minimum of 3 time,s if they force character lockouts on us).
Some may respond that the game is so variable that it will feel greatly different, enough to feel fresh, regardless of what companions you take - but if that's the case then it would stand on its own anyway, and character lock-outs look and feel even more arbitrary and pointless.
Other games with more party companions than the party limit let you swap in and out and still progress the individual characters' stories as much or as little as you wish to - it lets you play the game the way you want to, without feeling like you're being punished for making a choice that they forced you to make... because that's how DOS2 felt; like large, important chunks the story were *Literally Always* missing, no matter what you did; like the game was punishing you for making a choice that it forced you to make, and then mocked you for making afterwards. I really, really, really do not want them to do the same thing again here.
I know this is a big tangential to the other topics being discussed here, but it is another element in the greater discussion of replayability, replay value, and what we can expect or hope for, so I wanted to bring it up...
This is what worries me and this is why I mentioned "too much" replayability. And like I always say: replayability should come from a plethora of possibilities a game can offer, not from arbitrarily locking content. Meaningfully different story paths/branching, character build options, companion variety, multitude of viable ways to solve problems, reactivity and dynamic world, just being a fun game... This is how you create good replayability. "You can't explore other characters' story acts because... you will have more replayability this way!" is bullshit.
I mean, I personally loved DOS2, but I didn't really feel like replaying it - but my parents, on the other hand, are about 500-700 hours into DOS2 by now, they love replaying it to the point where they never actually finished act 2 xD ... YEAH, YOU READ THAT RIGHT (I can't even imagine what they will be like when they get BG3, they've already ordered a 5e DnD rule book to read through
<3 ). It seriously doesn't matter when I call my father (yes, I am the type of person that calls my parents pretty much daily), he is almost always testing out a new and new setup and you can really hear how much thought and planning he has put into it. :'D
This paragraph made me smile.
Me too! I wish I could get my father back to gaming.
More replayablity there is, more players are still playing the game when expansion packs comes out = bigger sales.
Replayability is a selling point only among the vocal minority on the forums. The majority of players won't even finish the game once. These are statistical facts.
Yeah... also... what expansions? I'm not saying we're 100% not getting any, but what was the last expansion/paid DLC Larian did? (I think the only one to date was Flames of Vengeance back in 2010.) Perhaps BG3 has a better chance at add-ons, but I wouldn't take it for a fact just yet.
