I per-ordered BG3 (EA) and am playing and the one thing that I realized is how tiring/exhausting it is to play this type of turn based games!
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So I say, Larian STOP making these type of games, its 2023, move to a open world "normal" type game, have companions, give them each AI that the player can tune and build a open world RPG, you have the story telling talent, heck, you even have the IP, you could use the worlds of DOS or DOS II to expend upon or create/buy a new IP, there are thousands of fantasy books written every year!
But I'm kind of tired of playing these turn based games, yes I will play BG3 but I wont be playing non stop like Cyberpunk 2077 or the Witcher 3 from years ago (on PS4)
With Starfield and other games coming out, BG3 maybe a game on my "to paly" list instead of "currently playing", yes, Larian Studios got my money but............
I strongly disagree with your sentiment, but I will do my best to respectfully explain why.
First of all you are asking for Larian to stop making certain type of a game, and switch to a completely different genre of games. Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher3 are not cRPGs. They are hardly RPGs. Those are Rockstar/Ubisoft inspired open world action games with some light RPG elemenents. Not that this is wrong to like them (I thought Witcher3 was brilliant) but those are just different type of games. Might as well suggest for Larian to make an online hero shooter, cause those are popular.
Yes there is completely different pace and cadence to games you describe, and I might pick one over another depending what I am in a mood for. What you describe tiring/exhausting I call engaging. Sure, Cyberpunk and Witcher and stuff are easier to "play" as they don't require much thought - just following a dotted line, clicking couple times instead of combat, completely one tast after another. But it is also pretty empty. I played Cyberpunk for the first time two months ago, and aside from some cutscenes I struggle to remember much about the title. Similar with Witcher3. Using Ubisoft formula, they are build around shallow, repetitive activities, which trigger satisfaction from completing another task on the list, but nothing much more than that - no interesting choices to make, no unique experiences. On the other hand, I know every nook and cranny of BG3 map (same with Elden Ring) - those are just different kind of titles, engaging players in different ways. There was an interesting
Extra Punctuation around this subject not so long ago.
More importantly we have a lot of those. I have endless open-world games sitting on my drive untouched. Haven't touch Assassin's Creed title since Blackflag. Still have Shadow of War to play. There is still one Spiderman game to play.
Actual cRPGs are far and few inbetween, and no one with as much budget as BG3 has. I understand how it could not be your cup of tea, especially if you are interested in narrative only, and see gameplay as obstacle between cutscenes, rather than core of the experience, but even though I have many issues with how Larian does things, it would a shame to have them join the pile of homogenized open world games. We just have too many of those.
As someone who plays a lot of RPGs, I must say that turn-based is far more relaxing than it's real-time alternatives. Try playing PoEs or Pathfinder and keep a track of what is going on, as all actors move at the same time, and multiple rolls are being made all the time, by everyone. Now, that can be ehxausting!
You are excited about Starfield - that's good! I am not. I found Oblivion, Fallout3 and Skyrim to be extremely repetitive and forgettable, and I expect to not think much about Starfield as well. So you have release you are excited about, and we have ours.
Have you ever played DOS or DOS II? Why do you think early on and maybe even now, BG3 was/is refereed to as DOS III?
Here is the thing - there are many kind of turn based games. UFO: Enemy Unknown is fundamentally a different game than FiraXCOM, Into the Breach is fundamentally different than those, Invisible Inc. is also different, and so is D:OS1&2, BG3 and D&D etc.
When people call BG3 "D:OSIII" it is not because it is also turn-based, it is because it inherited campaign structure and many fundamental design ideas that were part of D:OS1&2 but are alien to D&D system. If Larian would done what you suggest it would be "D&D theme AssCreed", which would be a much further departure from the inspiration than what we have now.
