Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Starfield is lame - Bg3 is going to win GOTY - Taking bets.

To add to Fylimar, if we are going to criticise Bethesda here, we might consider doing it in a way that is constructive to Larian’s work, like mistakes Starfield made that we would like Larian to avoid (like facial animations and loading screen simulation).

GOTY in which publication? In whose opinion? Everyone and their dog has a GOTY pick, it's not some holy title ordained by the video game gods. It's ok to like one game more than another game, but that's just your opinion and someone else can have a different one. Calm down.

It's also lazy. So lazy. I'm not sure whether they tried to do procedural generation and failed (but the attempt ate up most of their dev time), or if they've really lost all passion and ambition for game making. Leaning towards the latter, which really doesn't bode well for TESVI.

Usually when people talk about GotY, they are talking about the Video Game Awards, just as how when people talk about best picture, they are talking about the Oscars.

I disagree.

I think it would be bad form for Larian to post something bad about another game, but we're all consumers here. And this is a more than fitting topic, considering current speculation about who is going to win GotY. Being that Starfield has been known as sort of *the* competition, comparisons are not only inevitable, but warranted.

It's also tangentially about the future of the gaming industry as a whole, and that requires a level of critical language.

Hi folks, just weighing in to say that discussing the relative merits of BG3 and Starfield here is fine, as long as it doesn’t get heated. Which probably means no “bashing” of any game, as that tends to lead to rows in a way that offering a critique or expressing our preferences in a constructive way doesn’t.

And it definitely means no insults or stereotyping of other forum members or their attitudes on the basis of nationality or anything else. No more of that please.

This is overly dramatic here. As I said, go to the Bethesda forum to let them know, what you think, tehy could do better, like we do here with BG3. And if you want to discuss if the one or the other game made become GOTY, that can be done in a much more tasteful manner.

Clearly Bethesda doesn't care about what their own fans think nor do they take any feedback or Starfield wouldn't have the issues it does. I mean, they literally took aspects of Skyrim people loved and then made it so you can't do that anymore*

I would invite you to stop gatekeeping respectful criticism. No-one is being hyperbolic, or abusive to Bethesda or it's dev's - we are listing criticisms with the game that players who have played it have with it. It's disappointing frankly that you choose to characterize that as "bashing" and I would further invite you to define what you actually mean by that. Given my history of taking issue when people crossed a line from "helpful criticism" to "outright abuse" on this forum I have managed to create a clear definition of what "bashing" is and maybe you need to do the same.

Also, maybe play the game first and get a sense for what people mean with the criticism they have. Also what does "tasteful" mean? Could you define that? Also why should I be held to account on your definition of tasteful?

*Likely some modder will fix some of this though thankfully.

By all means, do what you want. I just think, it is not good form, to talk crap about a game behind the back of the people who made it. I don't go in a Star Trek forum and complain about Star Wars. But hey, you do you, I said my piece, I suspect this thread will closed soon anyway.
And I don't need to play the game - it will probably be the same case as with every game: some people like it, some don't. Look around in this forum, how divers the opinions about BG3 are. And if I ever play the game and I have critisizm, I'm sure, I'll find the Bethesda forum for that.

I guess I am at a loss for how you "talk crap about a game 'behind' the back of the people who made it" when:

1) This is a public forum
2) I am not targeting the devs at all.

The criticism of Starfield is secondary to Larian and Bg3 winning GOTY, which is what this forum post is mainly about.

If it's ok with you i'd like to return to that topic. It's fair game for us to point out where Bg3 succeeded and Starfield failed - just fyi - if that's an issue for you then you are welcome to simply not contribute.

Nevermind, it's not worth it

Also, Blackheifer, bring down the aggression, you're turning every comment into an aggressive remark. It's very difficult to have a conversation with "WELL, WHAT SHOULD WE DO HUMMMMMM??" types of comments.

I'm going to be honest: I think the "new standard" that BG3 supposedly set has far more to do with what some people on the internet wish it would represent than anything to do with the quality of the game, and while I like the game I flat out do not think it deserves GOTY, not even close. BG3, while being very fun in the areas that were polished during EA, quickly runs into some glaring problems later in the game. And while Larian's writing has improved to the point where companion characters are now charming, it's still *very* mediocre in terms of overall plot. And there's a LOT of bugs, some of them downright inexcusable imo.

When it's good, it's very good. When it's bad, it's very, very bad. Hopefully patches and updates will smooth things out. (Though they're not going to repair the writing quality.) Tbh, I kind of wonder what people see in it that's so revolutionary or "standard-setting." To be blunt, in many ways it compares rather disfavorably to games I remember playing 15-odd years ago. Thinking of Dragon Age: Origins, specifically. In its moments of greatest polish, BG3 outshines that game. But DAO is in many ways more consistent.

In my case, it all comes down to managing expectations. As someone who played all Bethesda games since Morrowind (except F76), I know exactly what I can, and should, expect from them - which is a great deal of exploration, underwhelming main story, fun (at times) side quests, fantastic environmental storytelling, no impact of your choices on what's happening in the story and dull NPCs.

If I get that, I'm perfectly fine with it. I know I'm probably in minority, but I really liked Fallout 3 and 4, not for the good story (which IMO was in both cases better than what Bethesda offered in Oblivion and Skyrim), but for the sheer joy of exploration.

I obviously haven't played it yes, but if Starfield is able to offer the same enjoyment I had while playing Fallout 4, it would be all I need from this game.

There's a big difference on the number of concurrent players on Steam from what I can tell, unless I'm missing something.

BG3 hit a top of 875,343.

Starfield reached 269,177.

Currently, as of this moment, BG3 has 363,030 players, which is still above the all time opening peak of Starfield.

As I tend to follow streamers, I noticed an initial rush by many of them to play Starfield, but that balloon deflated fast. I've been reading less than positive commentary about the game.

I'm not sure what a successful launch for a game is supposed to look like, but this doesn't feel like it qualifies. I get the impression that Starfield is dead in the water when it comes to GotY.

Thats because Starfield is also on consoles and gamepass. They reported that they had 1 million concurrent players over all platforms.

How do you suspect that compares to BG3 across all platforms?

Considering BG3 only released on PC and one month later on PS5 you cant really compare it.
But Starfield is far from a flop just because its players are more distributed compared to BG3.

Yeah, I'm not convinced. Looking at the reviews and streams, it feels like a flop. I wouldn't have used that word, but now I can't get it out of my head. It perfectly describes the sensation I'm getting from Starfield.

I don't think I have any bias at play. I'm entirely neutral about Starfield. It's just, when I make an effort to feel the pulse, it beats weak.

I mean, look man. I don't play Starfield and don't plan on ever playing it. But "I'm getting a vibe that it's a flop" is a pretty weak argument.