I cannot imagine them having left the game in EA for another year and a half. Firstly, before covid hit they had actually been aiming for a release even sooner than they have now, but the pandemic threw their plans into chaos and that changed. Secondly, releasing a game like this into early access five years before intended release seems like a really bad idea. Honestly, I think people were always overestimating Larian and their ability to tell stories. Is this the best they could have given us? I don't think so, I think a few months more would have given a more polished outcome. But wouldthat morepolished outcome have been significantly better? I don't think so. As I said, I think that you can see the cracks as earlyas act one and I think that many of those cracks were either present or at least signalled as far back as Early Access. I don't believe Larian could have given us the masterpiece story everyone was hoping for, I don't think they were ever capable of that. I think their idea of what that looks like just doesn't translate into a masterpiece. The things I think they could have done to really make a masterpiece would require them to go against a lot of their apparent instincts and preferences. Or maybe I'm just biased against Larian and their style. That's probably it.
