Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion So ARPG or Isometric turn based?

Which is why Original Sin games almost sank the company...

Oh wait...


On the contrary, a VERY large portion of BG3 fans are not fans of turn based games.

It's seen a lot that people mention that they like BG3 DESPITE it being a CRPG, a genre they have no interest in at all.


I think you're underestimating just how much BANK they got from BG3.

They literally went from a failing company (As DOS2 was considered a flop due to poor sales performance) into "Yeah, we're now developing multiple AAA games simultaneously"


Absolutely.

I've personally often lamented the fact that most AAA development (Or rather, publishers) have no balls to push the envelope. Instead of doing something new and exciting they're always stuck copying what already worked well before.

Then if I consider Swen himself, he's always given the impression that he wanted to make the games he wanted to make but was frustrated with the lack of success with Divinity that prevented him from doing so. With him seeking out the BG3 IP seemingly entirely due to its noteriety (Given statements about lack of interest in D&D, which is well reflected in the excessive homebrew the game utilizes).

With BG3's MASSIVE success, not only providing ridiculous funding but also making Larian's name well known... He now has his ideal platform for making the stuff HE wants to make, with a good chance of it being successful due to the large following the company now has.

Meanwhile, even if things go awry due to this happening to the Divinity series itself... Well, he already mentioned that after Divinity and the other game that's a brand new IP, that they will work on "Another Original Sin" title. So even if die hard CRPG Divinity fans are upset, they're going to get their new CRPG game eventually anyway.

Not really.
The only people complaining against the turn-based combat were a small minority of people who begurdged the fact it wasn't so in BG1 and 2.
Personally, even as a fan of the old Bioware titles, I found the passage to turn-based arguably the main NET improvement Larian introduced to the series.

What? No, it wasn't. DOS 2 was a massive hit and it sold almost 8 million copies in a genre where most of the competitors would be ecstatic selling few hundred thousands.
A lot of people who never cared about the BG series in the past (their loss, really) were thrilled about BG3 because "it was from the same studio that made DOS 2".

What? No.

There was TONS of feedback about how people weren't interested in CRPG's but gave BG3 a shot and ended up liking it.

It's how it managed to receive critical success despite CRPG's being an incredibly niche genre before BG3.


What are you going on about?

Larian, and Swen himself, has mentioned that DOS2 didn't perform as well as hoped.

Also plenty of people did not care about DOS2. Which is reflected in a bunch of the responses to the reveal of this new game, where people are mentioning they have never played a Divinity game at all.

Literally NEVER.
It was their first real big hit after DOS 1 did just fine.
I'll send you 50 bucks through a Paypal account of choice if you can find me the source of a direct quote about this.

I'm hoping for turned based personally.

It was Original Sin that saved it. That was their do or die game.

https://www.pcgamer.com/how-larian-studios-skirted-bankruptcy-before-making-divinity-original-sin/

And the success of DOS2 was the reason they eventually landed the deal with WOTC.



That said, action combat can also be interesting for sure. It's just that most developers opting for the action go the dumb combat route. Or as Bioware put it: "We want Call Of Duty's audience". RPG studios increasingly trying to make RPGs for people who don't actually like RPGs -- it's happened way back with Ultima already. https://www.filfre.net/2021/02/ultima-viii-or-how-to-destroy-a-gaming-franchise-in-one-easy-step/ This is a different time though with more games out on the market than ever before. It's about specialization. No less as your average modern triple-A game desperately trying to please everyone is an action adventure type of game with RPG elements... it's a market that's fully on cannibalizing itself. Whether you play the latest Final Fantasy, Ubisoft or Bioware game, they're all becoming a blur.

Hey Tuco, and Sven_

thank you so much (genuinely) for replying to Taril's strange responses and erroneous made up "facts" (I mean.... what on earth was Taril smoking?).

Point is, I didn't have to move a finger. I appreciate the assist.

Oh, and Taril: Paypal Sven_ those 50 bucks you promised to Tuco.

I think it's 75%-90% likely an ARPG.

This terrifies and excites me at the same time because ARPG can be great but the reactivity can be limited.

I'm huffing some weird fusion here but hear me out.... Action RPG with Gameplay similar to Eclipse Engine Games (KOTOR, DAO).

picture or it never happened.

I don't know of any interview with Swen in which he said anything like that. Furthermore, a role-playing game from a (at the time) relatively unknown and rather small developer like Larian (again: at the time), which (allegedly) sold around 8 million copies, is by no means a poor performance (disclaimer: of course, we don't know the company's cost structure and we don't know anything about the actual sales figures).

he never said he was frustrated with the lack of success.

He was frustrated with the publishers and the fact that their “business mindset” prevented him from developing the games he had envisioned.

Pretty sure Swen said that "Divinity always sell well", at least he said it once here (it's DOS1 documentary):

[video:youtube][/video]

To be honest, I got to know Larian Studio through Baldur's Gate 3. I was amazed by Baldur's imaginative turn based combat system, which allows players to adapt and plan a battle with a pause in time and unleash their creativity. Indeed, ARPG's expression is more dynamic, but CRPG's diversity and freedom of customization are more appealing to me. And I noticed that on the Internet in China, players prefer the form of crpg.

If the game ends up being turn=based combat, then it will be an easy call for me to pass on it (or at least wait until it is on sale dirt cheap to take a look at it).