sorry if I don't take as models some of the worst games ever made with the D&D license, only because by your warped metrics anything else is "outdated" (despise a lot of these games being actually more recent than the ones you mentioned). I'll taka a new Temple of Elemental Evil over the pile of trash that both the NWN 1 SP and NWN2 were.
So NWN1 EE has from 500k to 1m owners according to steamspy, the ratings on Steam is 88% with 4k reviews. Also NWN is always listed together with BG among the best DnD games. It is outdated today, but so is BG, and NWN was actually quite successful despite being so different compared to classic isometric rpgs, unlike PoE, which was successful only because of nostalgia (both PoE2 and Tyranny flopped so hard Obsidian stopped making old school isometric rpgs).
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Your point doesn't even stand on its own legs, given that it's not even written on stone that 4 players should play with just 4 characters
If some players play with 1 character and others with 2 it makes things clunky and unfair in a TB game. Also once again you ignore that many players only want to play with 1 character. Divinity OS was a breakthrough title for many RPG players because it allowed people who prefer controlling only one character to play a party based game and enjoy it. Lone Wolf mechanics and ability to play solo PC with friends who also play solo PCs in multiplayer was a major selling point for many players.
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that the game should be particularly tuned to set the challenge for six, to begin with.
So your suggestion is to allow 6 person party and tune the challenge for 4? That makes no sense.
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I'm sorry, but who cares of what YOU want? The point is that one approach suggested here allows to satisfy multiple demographics while yours wouldn't.
Except it the other way. You completely ignore people who prefer smaller parties and playing solo, you don't even try to understand them. Divinity OS was enjoyable for people who shun large party games, for many it was their first party-based RPG they could actually play and have fun, compared to games like PoE that are geared towards a very specific demographics that can't sustain big budget games. There is a reason why old school RPGs don't sell as much and tend to flop hard, despite all the love and effort developers put into them.
Originally Posted by Tuco
I never even said half of the things you are allegedly objecting to (never called Sawyer a god of RPG design, but if nothing else he understands his systems)
His systems are real-time and his best games are FPS/RPG hybrids. He understand them. He doesn't understand TB RPGs. Therefore his opinion on how to make a good TB game is largely irrelevent.
Originally Posted by Tuco
This entire thing is literally a load of "making poor nonsensical excuses to rabidly defend the status quo, no matter what". I'd be ready to bet you wouldn't even care if Larian suddenly declared that six characters as mandatory for everyone would be the new standard. Maybe even praise them for it, just because "it's their vision" or something. You are just unhealthily invested on defending whatever decision they already made.
Please refrain from projecting here, I just state my opinion about what's more fun for me and people like me. I don't care about making another copy of Baldur Gates 2 that will fail to attract anyone but a small group of old school RPG fans, I want a game that will be at least as good a Divinity Original Sin 2 was. A small party was one of it's advantages and there is no real reason to change it.
