So they are going for the Bethesda solution, let the modders fix it, wonderful, just wonderful. Sigh, I hope this does not turn into Larian's Fallout 76 where they go from a must buy to never bother with.
No. This is not the same. They are going to make a polished, working, fun game for a very large audience of people. Most people will not need or want to mod the game. But then the modders will make alternatives to make the game suit various NICHE audiences. Bethesda releases shittily-made games that actually need FIXING, not just customizing for select player preferences. Larian is gonna release a perfectly solid title, but it just might have some design elements that various minority groups dislike, and those people can mod the game to fit their perfect vision.
As for people "crying out" for more surfaces, that's absolute nonsense. I spend several hours a day on this forum and the BG3 subreddit, and I've never seen ANYONE "cry out" for MORE surfaces. What a load of tripe.
As for Larian communicating with us about what feedback they're considering, I think it's a double-edged sword. There's a reason they're hesitant to do that. You'll notice that they basically said, "give us your feedback and we'll use it to make the game better" and NOT "give us your feedback, we'll talk to you about your feedback, and then we'll make the game better". The reason that developers, especially big ones with lots of money and reputation riding on the line, keep things vague and unspecific, or just don't say anything. That reason is that gamers are fucking insane.
If they say, "we notice people asking for a larger party" or "we notice that people are asking for a classic CRPG control scheme" or "we notice that people are asking for Disengage and Hide to be regular actions", 9999 people will take these statements as Promises From On High that those issues are going to be addressed, in exactly the way that they hope. If Larian says those things, and then chooses NOT to alter their game to suit those particular feedbacks, then 9999 people will come out of the woodwork screaming, "They LIED to us! They said they were gonna fix these issues! Larian are liars, liars, liars! How dare they!" If you've been paying any attention to Greater Internet Discourse in the online gaming community over the last decade or so, you know that I'm right.
It just makes the most sense for them to stay quiet about specific issues until they feel like they are likely to give people what they want on those issues, to avoid crazy people misconstruing their words and starting an internet shitfire.
Absolutely right and can not be stressed enough, the expectations some people in the forum have are riducolus.
I simply don’t get people why some gamers don’t feel like customers. When you buy a product/service with your own money, you are not supposed to feel like a random Joe walking in the Louvre and admiring Da Vinci’s Gioconda. I won’t stop you feeling this way be please don’t teach us how to behave like clients.
Larian is not making a F2P game, guys. Inside game data does not show client satisfaction level. Inside data only show how clients behave given certain pressure/temperature conditions. Of course you can claim that they have this unknown data regarding how the players feel concerning certain features in the game, yet you fail to show:
1-how it was taken 2-the results
Just to be more accurate: a subreddit meme with a map 100% covered in necrofire clearly isn’t the best way to get data.
Surely the sailiant point was that Larian are being cautious as to what feedback they comment on, if they comment at all. FOr all we know next patch introduces 6 party members, a new UI and sexy lingerie armour as per the big threads. Likelihood is they don't but continue to monitor and internally discuss and develop whilst polishing Act 1 and working on whatever is missing from the later Acts. Yes we are customers, but in EA we are also testers and as far as I am concerned I did not sign a contract giving me the right to scream blue murder until Larian acknowledges my often "think out loud" posts.
We are all providing feedback, what Larian chooses to do with that is entirely up to them. Sure, I would love it if they came in and went, bloody hell Riandor, you sound like you write fantasy (I do) and have fantastic ideas (I often don't), come work for us!! But I would equally be happy if they didn't even acknowledge my posts or anyone elses here and quietly got on with fixing the game. As long as it comes out with some of the items the community on here is in agreement on (more than not), then that's a win. If I don't like the game post release, or post patches, I will complain and not play and that will be dissapointing.
Sure, customer interaction is great, but it is often a two edged sword and as this forum alone is proof of, not everyone agrees with each other... which is great, but in that case a studio, or anyone, is often best sticking to their concepts, than trying to adapt anything that theiir customer base disagrees on.
