I'm personally enjoying the game a lot. I'm at the beginning of Act 3 and haven't encountered that many bugs so far, although I heard it can get rough towards the end. Hopefully I don't softlock. Otherwise it's been a great experience.
Most of the other reviews so far have been pretty negative. I feel this forum is slipping towards the 4chan consensus of "everything that's popular sucks, the only things that don't suck are too obscure to really talk about due to their low playercount or because they're 20+ years old at this point".
everything that's popular sucks, the only things that don't suck are too obscure to really talk about due to their low playercount or because they're 20+ years old at this point
There's a lot of truth to it, though. Something very popular will almost always be optimized for sufficient-mass-appeal-to-sell rather than sufficient-niche-appeal-to-earn-glowing-reviews-from-internet-contrarians.
Some works might be like that, but I feel this sentiment is often misused by contrarians to reason backwards without providing evidence. How is BG3 "optimized for mass appeal to sell"? I grant maybe the ubiquitous horniness goes towards that, but what about the gameplay? This game severely punishes mistakes, which isn't something I'd say an average normie consumer is really looking for.
A reputed franchise from 20 years ago when gaming was a niche hobby enjoyed by a fraction of todays potential audience.
Not sure this would be the first franchise I‘d revive when looking for mass appeal.
That being said, it’s probably a well-known franchise within the niche of CRPG fans … which is sizeable, but still not huge (especially since it probably is still very PC-focused … while these games are released on consoles nowadays, they are still mostly created for and played with with mouse and keyboard).
Not sure this would be the first franchise I‘d revive when looking for mass appeal.
It, uh, took them 20 years to revive it?
Interestingly, of my friends playing the game at the moment, all of the pc gamers have moved on, while my console gaming friends are still fairly addicted to bg3. Anecdata, I know, but it also makes sense to me. The existence of a console port is proof of mass appeal and I assume wotc wouldn't have given the baldurs gate license to spiderweb software, even though every crpg player knows Vogel has mastered the formula, because no normie has ever heard of them and they wouldn't make beaucoup bucks.
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
...
I'm personally enjoying the game a lot. I'm at the beginning of Act 3 and haven't encountered that many bugs so far, although I heard it can get rough towards the end. Hopefully I don't softlock. Otherwise it's been a great experience.
Most of the other reviews so far have been pretty negative. I feel this forum is slipping towards the 4chan consensus of "everything that's popular sucks, the only things that don't suck are too obscure to really talk about due to their low playercount or because they're 20+ years old at this point".
There's a lot of truth to it, though. Something very popular will almost always be optimized for sufficient-mass-appeal-to-sell rather than sufficient-niche-appeal-to-earn-glowing-reviews-from-internet-contrarians.
Some works might be like that, but I feel this sentiment is often misused by contrarians to reason backwards without providing evidence. How is BG3 "optimized for mass appeal to sell"? I grant maybe the ubiquitous horniness goes towards that, but what about the gameplay? This game severely punishes mistakes, which isn't something I'd say an average normie consumer is really looking for.
Reviving a reputed franchise + Horniness? I'm honestly not speaking specifically of BG3 here - I'd need to have played it!
A reputed franchise from 20 years ago when gaming was a niche hobby enjoyed by a fraction of todays potential audience.
Not sure this would be the first franchise I‘d revive when looking for mass appeal.
That being said, it’s probably a well-known franchise within the niche of CRPG fans … which is sizeable, but still not huge (especially since it probably is still very PC-focused … while these games are released on consoles nowadays, they are still mostly created for and played with with mouse and keyboard).
It, uh, took them 20 years to revive it?
Interestingly, of my friends playing the game at the moment, all of the pc gamers have moved on, while my console gaming friends are still fairly addicted to bg3. Anecdata, I know, but it also makes sense to me. The existence of a console port is proof of mass appeal and I assume wotc wouldn't have given the baldurs gate license to spiderweb software, even though every crpg player knows Vogel has mastered the formula, because no normie has ever heard of them and they wouldn't make beaucoup bucks.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link