So do you really blame people for expecting to get a FINISHED game some time down the line? For me one thing doesn't contradict the other at all. I'm not saying this is an awful or a bad game now all of the sudden, but yes, I won't call it a masterpiece anymore when developers refuse to bring it to the finished state. I mean 'finished game' is definitely not the same as 'a different version of the game'.
Hmm... I am not blaming anyone, see no villains or heroes here. Just making an observation. In case it wasn't clear from previous posts let me clarify.
First of all, BG3 was finished when it released in 1.0 - that's what 1.0 is. Any problems it had on launch should be judged in terms of the finished product's quality, not its development state. I get that there is a lot of "release it now, fix it later" attitude happening in the last decade or so, but 1) it usually doesn't happen, 2) I don't think a game shouldn't be praised as a masterpiece, and penicle of the genre if it is in an unfinished state (may or may not apply to BG3) - in the best case scenario it's a game with a lot of potential. Also, I don't remember Larian promising to support BG3 extensively post launch, so to expect it is maybe not a stretch, but it is also not a given (and again, Larian did support BG3 for about a year now). Maybe it is just how I am, but I like to try to treat things as they are - I mean I rated one of my fav games in recent years (Disco Elysium) 3/5, because while I loved its initial half of the runtime, I found the latter half and ending to not land. I was trying less to criticise players, but to point out the clash between critical and player response, and the outrage that 2023 Best Game of the Year winner, is allegedly not finished. Two conclusions I can think of: either people reviewed and awarded the game for what they wished it would be, rather than it was, or the game isn't as unfinished as people claim.
On a side note, a game can still be "unfinished" and be a great game - Arcanum and Mascarades come to mind. But it's not like they launched to 10/10 acclaim, swept all major industry awards and only later people realised that the problems the game had when they played the released version were part of the game they played.
I also didn't imply that it is players fault that Larian isn't continuing development. Even if the player base was more critical, I am doubtful it would change Larian's decision. I just find the conflict between game's reception and announcement that it won't receive further updates after a years worth of support to be interesting. Sven addressed it directly, so I am sure it is not just few laud voices on this forum who are disappointed. Perhaps, I am just the one who still lives in early 2000s and doesn't take post-launch support as a given.
On a more positive note - let's see what patch 7 will bring. And while Larian said not to expect any new major content after that, they didn't discount technical support - so hopefully any major bugs and issues will continue being ironed out. Narrative and design challenges will be what they are.
