But of course the game still has to be broad and deep and long. I wouldn't like to play more like an adventure game and have lots of cutscenes, but not a good RPG with depth and mechanics and good class implementation.
As long as the game doesn't feel too much like a tunnel, it's all good.
And yet, this is what ultimately may happen. As argued, I think Larian had figured the same after completing BG3 too -- what with content being cut and the reactivity in Act 3 going down. Else, their next project may turn out to be like Cyberpunk 2077 (initial release state) -- and the games from CD Projekt aren't even as open as BG3, both inside of quests (which are completely linear in Witcher 3 anyways) as well as branching. There's so many individual dialogue cinematics in BG3 that you're never going to see simply by your choice in character, dialogue, NPCs still alive (or dead) -- or simply because a roll of a dice.
https://www.pcgamer.com/were-runnin...-lead-quest-designer-on-big-budget-rpgs/Pawel said they need to find a solution for "scalability of narrative: you want your story to be long, but also be broad, so we try to provide all the branches and choices and consequences." Doing that with their current tools requires an enormous budget. Disco Elysium, he pointed to as a contrast, was able to add narrative branches incredibly cheaply, thanks to the text-heavy, top-down presentation.
Maybe there will be technology that makes this easier in the future to still retain. Otherwise, the standards set even by older games will be harder and harder to retain, let alone trump. As it takes longer and longer (and more money) to marry cutting edge animations increasing in complexity with every new gen of hardware with a game spreading its wings and genuinelly branching out.
Former Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw said the primary challenge, to him, is controlling player expectations. "As soon as you're delivering something that starts to be cinematic, you then are essentially inviting comparison to the most cinematic things. So you are kind of keeping pace with Naughty Dog or Cyberpunk," he said.
