Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Swen On Fan Expectations For Baldur's Gate 3

I sort of see the point, though IMHO games, sequels and pretty much everything should use names and drop the numbering scheme as implies so many things, many of which are contradictory. Is it a continuation, a rehash, in the spirit of, the next book rather than the next chapter (which is what I sort of meant by continuation)...? Giving it a name might help stop those preconceptions. I tend to adapt after that initial "but that's not what I was expecting" but I can rant about it in the meantime. Then again, no matter what it's called you will get people who will assume and then object forever, e.g. TES:IV Oblivion being lambasted for not being TES:III Morrowind Part II in spite of the fact that it never said it was going to be and the name didn't imply anything other than it being the next Elder Scrolls game.

I'm also thinking that Larian's numbering scheme is... well, it's its own thing. Divinity 2 is really Divinity 3 given that it was the third in the series, and also chronologically; and is it called Divinity 2 or Divinity II or Ego Draconis or Dragon Knight Saga? Then there's the also often overlooked Dragon Commander, which is also part of the franchise and arguably part of the series depending on how you define "series" and classify Dragon Commander, though chronologically it suddenly deviates. And Original Sin which is therefore sort of Divinity 5 except that it's positioned between DC and DD in terms of when it happened, so maybe Divinity -1, or Divinity 0 depending on one's opinion of such things. And let's not get started on Divinity Original Sin II which is not Divinity 2, it's Divinity 6, unless we're going by chronology with DD being the first so it's... I dunno, I've lost track. What it before or after BD? If it was before, maybe it really is Divinity 2, which would make Divinity 2 Divinity 4. My head hurts.

That run-down gave me a good giggle, Vometia! Thank you. It's funny because it's true.

Yup, we're pretty much on the same page. I think numbering is ok, and even necessary, for certain types of games where the new game is just a new iteration of the previous games, for example Civilization. Maybe also Final Fantasy. Imagine trying to keep track of which game is which if FF did not have numbers? But for the classic RPG genre in particular, where making the (largely) same game again is generally avoided, numbering should therefore also be avoided, the only exception being for games that are literally direct sequels.

Precisely! As far as I could tell from the video clip, no one was holding a gun to Swen's head forcing him to speak on BG3. I am merely reacting to something he said that came across as disrespectful to me.


Look, if you don't think there's anything wrong or iffy with the way his statement on fan expectations was worded then, by all means, carry on. Next time have Swen say "over 75% of our fans have an IQ score that is lower than 100". Heck, why not put it on a billboard so people driving by can marvel at the astute observation. It may very well be a factually correct statement but self-evidently pointing that out would make Larian a ridiculous company that is begging people to boycott its products.


That sounds like an appeal to the majority. Am I to understand Larian wants to be more like EA, Activision, Blizzard and the lot? Unless I am mistaken you take pride in being an independent (self-made) studio. Regardless, it's not the lack of new info that is bothering me but the implication that fans are somehow disrupting the development process, which you assure us is not the case. I would like to believe you but because of the aforementioned dearth it's hard to get confirmation so I'll just have to wait and see.


Okay, that's a fair point. If you follow the original hyperlink you will see that IGN has tagged and headlined the article as being related to BG3. You could argue it's clickbait in a way.

I'm glad we're on the same page here. Personally, I believe you can hold true to the "feel and play" of the original games while taking creative risks. We're just here to remind people the franchise is already well-established and doesn't warrant a radical shift in direction or design. That is what struggling IPs are supposed to do. Also, for the sake of your health and well-being, prithee don't get too worked up or lose sleep over BG3's development. It's not worth it.

I'm more than happy for there to be another Baldur's Gate game, but given the statements from the team and their previous work I assume it'll be more like "Divinity : Forgotten Realms" with all that entails. I'll play it regardless, most likely, but it's not going to be satisfying to people who actually wanted something resembling Baldur's Gate.

Not really caring that much about BG3. I'm quite convinced it'll be a lousy D:OS-esque game pretending to be a BG game. If I'm right, no problem because right now I have a ton of awesome games available to (re)play, from already released games like PoE1 and 2, P:K, BG 1 and 2 EE, IwD EE, DA:I, TW3, Disco Elysium, etc., to games coming in the future such as Realms Beyond, Solasta, Black Geyser, Dark Eye: Book of Heroes, the second Pathfinder game, at least two new games from Obsidian, DA 4, the next Witcher game, Starfield from Bethesda, and on and on. So no shortage of great games for me to play. And if I'm wrong about BG3, I don't have any ego invested in any of these debates so I will happily admit I was wrong and go play the game. It's all a win-win as far as I am concerned.

If you have any conviction that there is something wrong with the statement, why do you feel the need to repeatedly mischaracterized it?



Describing reality accurately is not an appeal to anything, except maybe common sense.


If the entire entertainment industry follows the same general pattern of releasing information leading up to release, pointing out that 3 specific companies do the same thing and somehow this means Larian wants to be more like those companies is ridiculous.

Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Divinity 2, Dragon Commander, D:OS, D:OS 2.
Guess how information was released for each of those games.



It is, though more with the development process than the game itself. The answers to the BG3 questions was information about the design process and scope.

Marketing is not Evil.
Man im alos starved for information. I admit, larian probably threw out the announcement a bit too fast.
But if game developing is taking its time, you cant release footage too early, if you do, people will get hyped, then it doesnt release and they forget about it.

Yeah tripple A studios do that, everyone does. The only people that dont do this is Kickstarter projects, because they cannot.

I felt the same way about Beyond Divinity, but by the time Divinity 2 came around I had developed more of a zen attitude.


Under ideal circumstances waiting may have been better, but then it would not have been included in the Stadia announcement, and there were already rumours of the game's development and a previous leak (though a third hand source, so it didn't gain much traction at the time) that was starting to get more corroboration. I don't know how long it could have been delayed before there would be nothing left to announce.

Yeah, my feeling is that this is why they had to announce it when they did: because it was going to be announced for them. A friend of mine was asking about "is Larian doing a new Baldur's Gate?" before any announcement had been made and the games press were already gearing up to make a noise about it, apparently.

Ah yes the Leak from the Spanish site wasnt it?
I remember that beeing posted to 4chan.
Or was that the one where they dog into the site of the teaser and figured out it was BG3 from the filenames?

Nope, the original leak 2018 came from a user on the RPG Codex. The Baldurs Gate File on the Larian website before E3 was also fist discovered there afaik.

No, it's absolutely not evil, although it is a tool that speaks volumes of its wielder. I beg you to consider the following: If your marketing addresses a widely dispersed global audience, do you base it on the assumption that everyone has exactly the same definition of low, high, good, bad, small, big, short, long etc.? Marketing is supposed to reveal information about your product, not obfuscate it.

Marketing is supposed to instill interrest in the product and sell it.
So i think theyre doing pretty well on taht front

There is a logical fallacy called "Appeal to Common Sense" too. Obviously what is common sense to you may not be common sense to anyone else. Semantics aside, industry standards aren't exactly high as far as video game development but luckily there have been efforts by some stellar individuals to raise the bar. For instance, some developers keep a development diary letting fans know what features they can look forward to. It boils down to making development less of a black box and engaging your audience in a way that piques their interest.

It really isn't supposed to reveal information. It can reveal some new information, which surely could empower it's actual purpose, which is to obtain public interest and hopefully intent to buy said product. Though there is no rule or requirement for marketing to have to / suppose to reveal something new any time marketing takes place. Neither does showing more of what the viewer already know obfuscate anything.

Have you ever watched a movie trailer? If it reveals too much, isn't it then a bad trailer for basically showing you the movie beforehand? No, the trailer is to build up hype and interest. And often just simply to let potential audiences know that it's coming soon™.

Yeah, they're knocking it out of the park. *cough*

Yep. Det sjunde inseglet is one of my favorites and the trailer for it shows you a few scenes that take place right before the ending. It was released to critical claim and is considered by many to be a world classic.