You can't be serious. No bloody way, mate.
1) Bethesda doesn't listen to player feedback at all and it shows - Larian has shown multiple documented instances of doing just that.
You must be referring to the ingenious BG3 features like Jump / Shove, projectiles and bottles that hit even when they miss, the ability to throw bottles twice as far as the arrow from Longbow can fly, and countless others. All of them having an overwhelming support from the community.
See this is an example of hyperbole. "They didn't do this one thing I wanted so they never listen to player feedback". For the record, I also wanted shove as an action - it didn't happen - but it doesn't change the fact that larian HAS responded to player feedback and made changes on a ton of occasions.
2) Larian and Bethesda have totally different marketing approaches - (Larian spent way less but was much more effective - it's actually a fascinating study of what good marketing looks like.) - Bethesda is going for a full brute-force approach, dominate every platform and control the message - very expensive, doesn't work that well because social media dominance is weak and outdated as a marketing approach.
You are completely (and possibly deliberately) missing the point here. Bethesda had no choice but to apply a borderline brainwashing amount of marketing because their new game introduces a completely new IP. Larian had an exact opposite of that - they piggybacked on a legendary, decades-old IP which they had nothing to do with when it was first introduced.
I mean, I think calling Starfield a "new" IP is pretty laughable. What? How is it a new IP? What new concepts is it introducing? Factions in future space humans and exploration? Totally derivative. Those guys spent at least a hundred million on a totally ineffective marketing campaign.
Ha, the opening story is just a "dollar store" version of Mass Effect. Magical MacGuffin with ancient knowledge that imparts knowledge - except they managed to make it an issue for which I had zero sense of urgency, nor care about because it wasn't tied to any crisis. *golf clap*. Starfield is like if they turned the color beige into a game. It's so bland and inoffensive that it swings all the way around to being offensive.
4) Bethesda is relying on modders to improve the game. Larian modders are adding additional content to the extent they currently can.
"Additional content" - as in, new locations / quests / dialogues? Or more magick items, as if we don't have them enough?
So far, one of the most requested mods (on this forum, at least) is the "No Larian Homebrew" one.
Yeah, the point is that modders for BG3 are not being leaned on to fix bugs. I am not sure what argument you are making here. A "No homebrew" or "core rules" mod would be "additional content" - that's not a bug.
6) Bethesda is VERY corporate with a LOT of hierarchies and are answerable to the market. Larian has a far more horizontal structure and is the company is primarily held by Swen and his Wife, and are not answerable to wall street.Oh, dear... While you are not wrong about Bethesda, I don't know what makes you to say that Larian has a horizontal structure. The company has somewhere between 300 and
450+ employees, depending on whom you ask. That's twice or thrice too much for an efficient horizontal structure. Ever heard about the Dunbar's number, or "Law of 150"?
Not to mention... when Swen postulated that "Shadowheart shalt hath the box", it resulted in immense cost overruns for company, but nobody around was brave enough to question / challenge his idea.
Horizontal structure, my arse... W. L. Gore & Associates has horizontal (or rather, lattice) structure - and it works great for them. At Larian, however? Looks more like "a tyranny of one" to me.
Larian Studios has 400+ employees at 6 locations.
Bethesda Softworks has 1,178 employees at 4 locations.
Both companies have a President that has ultimate say in decisions. The difference between Horizontal and Vertical is the layers of management between that president.
Again, I don't even know what argument you are making? Are you saying Bethesda is run by a democratic council of Elders? A unified hive mind? A sentient squirrel? No, I am pretty sure it's run by the "Human Milk Dud" called Todd Howard :P
7) Bethesda never fixes bugs. They leave it to the community to do it. Larian has a great track record of squashing bugs, even years after the game has come out.Yet you admit in the very same post, a bit above, that:
DOS2 had a fundamental problem with the "class system" that was essentially unfixable...[snip]
They tried a few band aids but there was just no fix - as the bone structure of the game was flawed.
While Larian's willingness to fix bugs is laudable, some of them are parts of the game's architecture. This is a failure on design level, and in case of Larian specifically, I suspect it has something to do with #6 in your list.
Yeah, I don't know what point you are making, it's a design flaw rooted in how the class system works - not a bug. It doesn't invalidate my point. Make better arguments.
