I never played Icewind Dale, so I had to go off of a list of release dates, it only listed the enhanced addition, I didn't hear about it until after Neverwinter Nights 2, so from my nescient perspective on that one, it looked like a legit timeline.
However, there's still a story to be told.
Baldur's Gate comes out, gets some sales. Baldurs gate 2 comes out, and gets some sales as well, some go back and play BG I cuz they found it after BG2, increasing the sales for BG1. Neverwinter nights comes out, and it lands well with the community, NWN 2 comes out with mixed approval. If I remember correctly you are not playing the same character, you are just in the same part of the world. Also was NWN2 the switch to 3E or was that NWN? I personally felt 3E was much kewler, harder to balance for sure, but definitely kewler.
So that's 4 game titles, very widely proclaimed to be great games, by peeps that played them even if they complained about them at the time they were actually playing them, but I digress. The population of players stays about even. Bioware then drops the D&D ruleset, and creates Dragon Age, ends up with a blockbuster hit, receives 50% more sales then any previous title. Inquisition comes out, and boom the sales double.
Oh and lets be real honest here, the plot in Dragon Age is inferior to NWN(Opinion I know, but in my eyes isnt questionable). Where did this new population come from suddenly interested in playing these types of games? They had to be already there, a game they heard about or wanted to play hadn't come out yet from Bioware, obviously there was something holding them back.
The time in which they come out does play a factor, but there's a clear point of population growth in the genre where it spikes for Bioware, and its when that lead company making these games, drops the D&D ruleset entirely. Sorry for the kerfuffle with Icewind Dale.
So I ask, is the D&D Ruleset just that niche? Do people just not like it, or is there some mechanics that hold it back in a game setting from being widely accepted, and thus letting us get more of these games, that can be 80-90% true to life? The PnP seems to be surging, so obviously they have gotten that part right. Let us just remember that this is 5th, meaning 4 previous versions, and even those had revisions in and of themselves. 3E and 3.5 for example. It's not like some of us nerds haven't been trying to get people interested this whole time, I know I have.
Why had no-one made a game in the D&D ruleset for so long? Seven years is a long time in the gaming industry. Oh, and lets not forget that Pathfinder was released in 2018, and sold 200-300k, so the whole different times argument doesn't even really work.
I have to ask myself, why is a game/ruleset I like still seem to not be getting the audience it should be? I then ask myself what don't I like about the game, and enough to not want to play it? The only answer I can think of is this spellslot rest reset mechanic, that really is just annoying, ruins immersion cuz of having to use it all the time, and how much I appreciated games that didn't have that mechanic after playing with that mechanic. Everything else in the game that I don't care for is a hiccup, no game is perfect. For me the mechanic "that does not give me joy" is that one. It also seems to be the common denominator to all the other games out there.
As far as the comment about "You can stay immersed with magic, etc. in it, but cant for resting constantly?" yes I can because its about believing in the physics and reality of the world you are playing in. Sleeping every 0.5-2hrs is a bridge too far. It's like being immersed in a movie, and one of the characters breaks the 4th wall, when its not a 4th wall movie. Deadpool's universe includes our universe, in his reality, so that one is very interesting. Bad 4th wall breaks can be very jarring, even make you jump out of your skin, and then ruin the movie for you, or at least make you have to sink back into it. I've had this with books as well. This is the main reason Moby Dick is such a terrible book. Tell me the story Herman, and stop trying to tell me your very bad interpretation of marine biology. 1 page of story 20 pages on why "WHALES ARE FISH".
Also, Elder Scrolls was like the Yankees to Baldur's Gate/NWN Red Sox. Oblivion actually sold 9.5m, I double checked it. the sales reported was a "in the first year" one. I was a little tired when grabbing up the stats. The point about Oblivion being obsure was that even with their obscurity they had more success(much more than I originally thought). I played it sure, but when I'd bring it up to most people, no-one knew wtf I was talking about. Skyrim/ES Online are what really made it mainstream. Looking back on these numbers, it kills the "in the time these games were made" argument even more.
Last edited by Seiryu Suta; 30/01/21 05:12 PM.
