I agree that if full voice acting and mocap became the norm it would be bad for cRPGs - major movie studios made the move towards go big or go home a while back and it's meant that we get fewer good sci fi and fantasy movies. We either stunning spectacles like Dune or we get nothing. We small indie productions and we have big budget one but the middle of that continuum has gone away. That could happen to cRPGs
The AA gaming industry is, much like the mid-range budget Hollywood movie, already virtually non-existent.
Almost all of the CRPGs up until now have been smaller, indie titles. The only recent AA game I can think of is DOS2.
Indie titles will keep coming out regardless, but those aren’t usually my cup of tea, so if we get one or two decent AAA CRPGs, I’ll be very content.
By model all I meant was high budget CRPG. Nobody else tries to make these, and even BioWare has been moving away from them. Larian showed studio execs that these can be highly profitable, making them seem less risky.
Okay, fair enough. I still do not want developers to waste (yes, my subjective view) resources on such things as high-end graphics, cinematics, and full voice-acting, but I can certainly understand their draw for other people.
Ya, lots of CRPGs fan don’t prioritize the bells and whistles of high end production, which is fine. I actually don’t think that sort of stuff is necessary myself, but I do enjoy very good art direction and creative design, which for me is lacking in most indie games.
I think Larian’s art direction is a pretty mixed bag. A CRPG with FromSoft level art direction would be a dream
Come true.
