The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that BG3 is bad for RPGs.
Do you know what BG3 reminds me of? The chain stores from the movie Idiocracy which because of the ever lower average IQ started to sexualize their names more and more to attract customers. Carl’s Jr. Extra Big-Ass Fries Starbucks Exotic Coffee for Men
Thats basically what BG3 is, living from hype, graphics and sexual wish fulfillment, the Twilight of video games. Its story is pretty bland, not better and imo worse than the ones in other Rpgs, its mechanics are not well thought out like exchanging companions or handling of quest items. And I even go so far and say that the companions are some of the blandes and most boring rpg companions in recent times. That is, if you look at them from a RPG point of view. But compare them to the usual cast of harem visual novels and you will see a lot of similarities. The primary design factor for the companions in BG3 seems to have been to cover all the usual romantic and sexual fantasies a harem cast does. The shy girl, the Tsundere, the vulnerable (twilight vampire) you can fix, the romantic, ect. Larian even added bestiality to cover more ground.
Imo Laruan was fully aware and counting on that their main target group are people who not necessarily conform to the age rating of the game and whos first action is to remove all camp clothes because "Hehe, tiddies"
And the amount of success they had is very bad, both from a general philosophical point of view about the sorry state of human nature and because this will now be the template other RPGs will follow. Dumb it down and add more sex.
