They sold far more units of this game then they expected, and if they can deliver the game they promised, this studio will be certain to rise, but if they fail, those customers, the new ones, will be very hard to win back. Larian won't be ruined, but they will find it hard to find another sponsor like WotC, and they will find it difficult to expand their customer base, because they will have failed to deliver a product with iconic status that they assured their customers (and sponsor) they could deliver.
The way I see it, there are actually 2 questions here:
- 1. How long it will take? This one is pretty simple, and affects, well, everyone.
- 2. Which direction will be taken? Or, what the final product will look like?
If Larian will persist in following Mr. Wincke's vision and create what could essentially be called D:OS reskin, a DnD game which isn't really DnD, with barrelmancy fun, surfaces fun, know-it-all wizards fun and classless classes fun, then I sincerely hope people will realise that Larian is a one-trick pony, and as such should "stick to the chicken". They can make a Herculean effort and release a well-polished game quickly, but for me (and I hope some others, too) it doesn't really matter how bug-free the product is, if I don't like it.
Personally, I will wait and see until release. Thankfully, GOG has a very generous refund policy, which allows to request a refund during the entire EA period and within the first month after full release, no matter how long the game was in EA. Wincke said he isn't going to bow to other's rules, and is going to make the game his way. Well, neither do I.
