1. Does community interaction and involvement make the game that much better? Is there a chance it could actually hurt the game? I am not in game development, so I am curious how much people think player feedback will impact the final product.
I can’t think how it could hurt it - especially as Larian doesn’t seem to give in to too many community requests (and I don’t think I have seen anyone complaining that any of the changes that Larian made, made the game worse.
Every game should go through rigorous testing - that means developing playable builds like those in EA, be it for showcases or in-house test sessions. Did EA consume more Larian’s resources then such closed testing sessions? Possible - at the same time testers paid full price to participate. Reception to BG3 has been mostly positive. I can imagine it impacting sales negatively when the game is released.
2. Based on player feedback and wanting to keep some things, even in the early part of the game, a surprise - how much do you think the full release of the game will actually differ from Early Access?
I expect for it to be noticeable. Larian said they will keep things to themselves for 1.0 release, and by Larian’s reputation I expect it won’t feel like playing another EA build. In general though, I don’t expect for any underlying issues that I have with BG3 to disappear.
3. Do you think it will ruin the experience of the game and thus overall reviews/player perception when it comes out due to burn out or "bad experiences" during Early Access? As an example if you look on a lot of review sites there seems to be a ton of negativity because people don't "get" Early Access... or on forums people are posting about having played through Early Access ten times already and wanting more.
Considering how little we have in EA, I think 1.0 will be an attractive proposition - we have seen relatively little of both story and gameplay. Even if someone got burned out on EA, I don’t see why they wouldn’t return to it.
4. Isn't 2+ years of Early Access a long time to have a half baked version of the game out in public? Is it going to kill the hype for the full blown release of the game or do you think marketing and word of mouth can get people hyped up again?
Why would it make a difference if the game is in EA for a year or two? Sure, waiting can be agonising, but it hardly matters once the game is complete. It’s better for the game to be half-baked now, so it can dazzle reviewers and audience once it is ready. “BG3 was great 2 years ago, but look at it now!†Is a far better headline then: “the game that is well documented to be good has released.†If BG3 EA was poorly released, then sure, but that was never the case.
