I get where your coming from and agree that the game tried to do to much, but the fault for this is more on the gaming community than on Larian. Gamers ask today for vast game designs and often forget that a simpler design can give more game.
The base story is solid and feels like something right out of the Forgotten Realms. ( I KNOW Ed Greenwood and DMed in the Realms for decades, the story line is very well done) A few of the companion backstories are excellent and drive the story forward well. The reach issues of the game come in trying to please everyone all the time. The game mechanics, in my opinion, where hampered enough by 5E and then where further nerfed by some of the house rule choices made by Larian due to gamers not wanting "deeper" play. Things were too simplified. The same with story, instead of embracing the traditional good vs evil dichotomy, they instead, again from community pressure, tried to work everything in shades of grey. In the whole relationship system they again caved to the 12 year old boy mentality and where focused on sexual partners and not having the opportunity to develop relationships without a sexual component. Deep friendships would have made way more sense and offered way more content. Even the fact they spent time on sexual anatomy in character creation instead of a more robust creator for body type and facials, shows caving to an adolescent mentality in the game.
Larian did create a modern masterpiece, of that there is no doubt. However even that is a bit sad when you realize that compared to older RPGs, once you take off the visual polish and fancy cut scenes, it is just middle to the pack at best. Compared to modern games it is amazing, shows how far we have let developers fall without holding them accountable.
Last edited by Zentu; 23/08/23 12:54 PM.
