I agree with that. BG3's cinematic nature is even kinda at odds with the systemic nature and relative freedom it tries to convey. Cinematics are "fixed", after all. Whereas genuinelly Immersive Sims Larian has admitted to being influenced by don't at all deal in cinematics except for in introductions or in between levels for reason.
I really disliked the jarring change of perspective, but even so, I feel if one really, really wants cinematics in their cRPG, they could be better implemented than they were in BG3. Constrains that they bring aren't that far off a traditional conversation window, and in spite of higher production cost no one can accuse Larian of not producing enough branching conversation paths (which is a common fear for higher production cRPGs). I think some bits work really well in BG3 - Goblin Camp being my go to example.
Too often though, it feels like Larian envisioned a more constrained, linear narrative to begin with, and than tries to deal with players braking the progression. I don't like it, because going "off script" feels like I am doing something wrong. I thought Larian games were at their best when they give players easy to understand, long term goal (break out of prison, kill three goblin leaders), as players are free to pick and choose content on the way, and accomplish goal in whatever way feels appropriate for their character.
Originally Posted by Sven_
Game writing is also inherently different to static medium writing. Which is why some of the best writers in gaming have actually been both designers and writers... think Tim Schafer, Peak Chris Avellone, maybe Ken Levine. That still seems rather a rarity. In particular when studios grew into blockbusting outlets, often times they would hire traditional writers. Even if those realize that games are different, somebody who's a designer as well as a writer usually still does better jobs. Somebody like that knows both design as well as writing inside out. And as such can fully explore both.
I also feel that once a dev team becomes of a certain size, they become simply too big to deliver a unified vision for the game. Game devs seems like a such a voliatile production process, that it must take a lot of effort and understanding on what other teams are working on to keep the whole thing coherent.
On a side note, Tim Cain made an interesting video about decline of Generalists.
