Baldur's Gate 3 Was Not an Anomaly - Rant!

[@WorthABuyreviews]

Sticking this comment as some people seem to think an "indie" company can not have investment or large number of employees which is totally not true. The crucial meaning of an indie company is a company that is NOT owned by either investors or a parent company, once this happens they lose crucial decision making such as when to release the product or what content to add. Larian are not owned by anyone, sure they have investors but Larian call all the shots which is why they were able to put the game back a few years as they were not happy with the direction. A publisher would never allow that to happen, it would have just been released and that would be that. Larian are probably an excellent example of a true indie success story.

[@mazza8576]

Well said Mack

[@therieri88]

Thats true. There is also other smaller Indiw companiew which have made big success. Like Supergiant (Hades).

[@YeetThyBaby]

Hey Mack how many shipments of bells are you ordering in preparation for skull and bones review when it allegedly comes out later this year?

[@singleplayersquad1]

Well said my friend. So many people don't know this

[@alfredong6850]

based. the only way game development should be: unsupervised, independent, self-sufficient

[@KMDxD]

In today's gaming industry, a finished game with tons of content that doesnt try to milk your wallet is indeed an anomaly.

[@RaXXha]

Yes, and for some reason the mainstream publishers and devs are trying to make us believe that that's the way it has to be.

[@darthraider450]

Final Fantasy VII Remake was definitely an anomaly, took 4 months for a “day 1” patch 😂

[@peteg1696]

It is insane to think if you make a good game people might just buy it

[@Barthoization]

Remember when games came in huge cardboard boxes with art on the back ? And with a thiick printed colour manual ( looking at you, flight unlimited ) And there was no patch, because the game was done. Pepperidge farm remembers.

[@itsDODGER]

Thing is it is not finished, i bet most ppl didnt even finish the game or got to the ACT 3 where the games most problems and issues appear especaily the very short abrupt lacklaster endings and nobody seems to call it out. Yeah the game is great and polished... like half of it, but act 3 is extremly bugged rushed and worst of all there are only 2 real endings and they all feel extremely unsatisfying in current state of things, where are those "thousands" ending variations i dont know, the game doesnt even have a simple epilogue and endings slides. I love the game dont get me wrong, but ACT 3 in its current state and lackluster endings really leave sour taste in your mouth and in no way they feel finished. A game that seemingly prides itself in the freedom and choices and consequences, at the very end actually doesnt have any real satisfying conclusion to the 100+ hours you invested in it wich is pretty bad imo for an RPG

[@GamingGrenade1]

Just when we think the industry can't sink any lower, big companies are now actively trying to diminish the hard word of smaller, more successful and highly praised studios who achieve what they were unable to do with more time, more staff and more resources

[@RaXXha]

Just the fact that someone tried to claim they managed to do all this only because they had loads of staff and loads of funding, something ALL AAA devs have even more of than Larian does. 😂

[@gdwnet]

@@RaXXhaWell said both of you. It's embarrasing that the games industry is actively making excuses as to why they - triple A studio - can't do good games. Mind you, it highlights just how cheap and nasty triple A is.

[@carbonstar9091]

Crab bucket mentality seems to be the rule of the day for all corners of society.

[@possum9009]

Sorry, I'm a bit out of the loop on this story. Which developers were complaining about BG3 and calling it an anomaly?

[@gdwnet]

@@possum9009Google "BG3 dev anomaly" and you can see the threads

[@Mates1500]

Some slight corrections - Divinity: Original Sin 1 already had co-op, and they were on the veil of bankruptcy with that game, not Original Sin 2, despite being quite successful on Kickstarter, reaching many stretch goals, and the founder Sven, put everything including his own house on the line while most of the belgian banks refused to give him any more money to finish the game without compromises. This man has some serious balls, and should be applauded for his heart and effort in the name of passion and integrity.

[@rightwing707]

AAA companies would love nothing more than us to believe that BG3 is an anomaly because they're terrified of the mere thought of going back to making feature complete games that aren't oozing micro-transactions, battle passes, loot boxes and literal gambling designed to target literal children. They want us to believe that they're these poor little companies making games that are "too expensive to make" because if people swallow their bullshit, they can keep churning out soulless cash grabs instead of putting in any actual work for the sake of quality. The backlash is a wonderful thing to witness and needs to keep going. The industry has been growing more and more rancid for the past two decades and I for one am sick of it. Fuck any AAA dev that argues that we should be happy to settle for shit.

[@JustIn-mu3nl]

I haven't bought a AAA game in close to 10 or so years, I'm sick of the shite.

[@theobell2002]

@@JustIn-mu3nl You are missing out on some good games then. lol

[@theobell2002]

@thebaddestman7865 Least bigoted gamer.

[@paranoyd70]

I couldn't agree more. The industry has become bloated & lazy, and it took a game like BG3 to make it obvious. So many gamers putting up with dried turd after dried turd (& even defending these companies that put out dried turds) and then a shining & polished silver coin emerges and the companies telling us to keep buying their dried turds telling us not to get used to shiny polished silver coins. And finally more gamers are waking up to this.

[@Perfidion]

If you look at the obscene profits generated by companies like EA, Ubisoft, and Activision/Blizzard due to the horrendous monetization of every fucking thing, the whole "games are too expensive to make" argument holds as much water as a cup made of toilet paper. They absolutely have the resources to compete with Larian. They're just greedy fuck-muppets.

[@Erinxh]

Well said Mack. Baldur's Gate 3 is not an anomaly, it's that our standards in the gaming industry have been lowered so much that the majority have forgotten how a proper game should look like.

[@michaelh878]

It is an anomaly if you choose trash games. If you ignore the scummiest publishers then getting a feature complete game is normal.

[@sobsag]

It IS an anomaly and anyone thinking otherwise is an ignorant naive fool.

[@Faeron1984]

THE WHOLE OF ACT 3 AND THE ENDING ARE UNFINISHED, THEY HAVE MILKED WALLETS, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT UR TALKING ABOUT?????

[@testoftimegaming5219]

ok Captain cap lock calm down

[@stevequincy388]

​@Faeron1984 How about you stop yelling? Turn off your caps lock, people might listen to you without the screeching in every comment.

[@stresa1638]

Gaming companies are no longer gaming companies.. they are businesses that make games.. and there is a massive difference

[@retroarcadefan]

So true. They obviously don't play their own games because they would see the issues in them in a heartbeat.

[@adam7802]

It's the publishers more than anything else, most of these big game devs are owned by them and essentially do their bidding. The good news is we are possibly in the best era for indie games that's ever been with it being alot easier to get financial backing without the publishers, the Internet and development tools that are accessible to everyone.

[@anitachen90]

Why do you think the gaming industry is any different from other companies? It is all about the money and it always was and always will be ...

[@HarryDetective]

@@anitachen90for real, it’s naive to think otherwise.

[@GutnarmEVE]

they don't make games, they _commission_ financial success for their investors. and if the hamster wheels don't turn quick enough, or not in sync with the current mainstream market, the hamsters are fired and the wheel-owning sub-company is shut down

[@haru9709]

Baldur’s Gate 3 is pretty much using “the standard” back in the day of the 90s, just with modern graphics. It’s an “anomaly” in the sense that it was made by people who actually TRIED in “making a good game”, using a time when games were actually worth their money as the set bar. AAA is just trying to outdo each other at this point for “how far down can we go before customers start hesitating instead of being a Lemming?”

[@Runark79]

Its point and click..

[@chillhour6155]

So are first and 3rd person shooters

[@Wulfenburg]

Yes! I think of Baldur's Gate 3 as a modern Dragon Age Origins haha. Amazing quality and game p lay with a well written story and plenty of places to explore and quests to do. if Bioware was still a good company, BG3 is what the Dragon Age series would be now.

[@DarkRubicant]

@@Runark79 so is everything on computer you absolute troll.

[@domagojkersun9630]

Everybody should be thankful for Baldurs Gate 2 who was also created by Bioware. Sad fall from grace from once a big company.@@Wulfenburg

[@Marqan]

Larian's games in the genre: 2014 90% positive Divinity Original Sin 2015 89% positive Divinity Original Sin Enhance Edition 2017 95% positive Divinity Original Sin 2 (Definitive Edition) 2023 93% positive Baldur's Gate 3 That's not an anomaly, if anything that's regression to the mean.

[@DerTechadept]

a lot more impressive if you check out the older divinity games which were more clunky (but adequate) classic rpgs comparable in roughness to the first witcher game. And they improved with every game, every sequel tot the point where they are now which is simply amazing. Imagine what could be if EVERY studio were able (or rather wanted) to improve with each title... looking at you creative assembly

[@Qilue]

@@DerTechadept Creative Assembly's last decent game was Shogun 2, everything since has been mediocre.

[@DerTechadept]

@@Qilue more important: the sequels were sidesteps in terms of features and developments. Since medieval 2 we have seen more and more features scrapped, some new added in but never had the same amount of simulationist features. Everything has been more speradsheeding, more modifiers but never NEW or added features, like pop capacity, new ways to interarct with technology or even at the absolute base level of gamedevelopment: A new engine. We are afaik still using the same tech Napoleon used. And the only answer is cost effectiveness vs. the approach of actually making an as perfect product as possible. I know boardgames that have more in depth features than total war AND are easier to play

[@emceeunderdogrising]

Selective stats. On Steam BG3 is above DOS2. BG3 has a higher rating on most review sites. Metacritic has it at 96/100. Divinity is at 93/100. Where did you pull that stat from?

[@elmhurstenglish5938]

And yet, if experience in the genre is what makes them succeed...then why are most game series worse when they have more experience? e.g. Assassin's Creed now should be the pinnacle experience.

[@ObsidianAnt]

It's very simple. These companies don't have to make massive scale, open ended games that feature millions of options. They just need to make good games. Somehow, it's this part that so many companies are finding difficult.

[@kubabooba548]

It's about bleeding the player financially dry. Season passes, and DLCs. Hopefully BG3 will set the standard.

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

Indie companies understand this. But in all honesty, AAA isn't about giving you these large expansive games, they're cutting corners and giving us less content as every year goes by and a lot of what we do get is recycled, it's all about hiring behavioural psychologists so they you can try to hack players' dopamine receptors so they you can get them to empty their wallets for you.

[@seb2750]

omg Cmdr Ant is here!! o7

[@Denominus]

The average modern AAA game is a slot machine with a very flashy skin. If you've read some of the stuff Larian's CEO, Swen Vincke, has said and written over the years, you will see he oozes passion from the helm of company. He talks about what he is trying to achieve, the old school games he loved (Ultima 7, BG1/2 etc.) and aspires for Larian to try match and surpass. It must be incredibly refreshing to work for someone like that in the games industry, as opposed to working for the typical passionless salesmen.

[@gdgd5194]

Delusional

[@unahp.3751]

Larian is showing these AAA studios how lazy, entitled, and greedy they are.

[@alienfish8521]

Yep.

They're probably trying to buy Larian. And many will kick themselves that they didn't buy them when (and *if)* they had the opportunity.

[@LostHope84]

By making a slow paced, lazy game that looks like it was made 30 years ago? 😂

[@givenfool6169]

​@@LostHope84have you played it? You just might not be a fan of D&D. It's great for fans of the tabletop RPG genre

[@FloppyCDdrive]

They don't need to show the AAA studios. They know it. They need to/are showing the players.

[@superhappyfuntime5466]

In regards to AAA gaming: "Let them die!" ~ Cpt. James T. Kirk

[@SeraphArmaros]

""I've never trusted the AAA industry, and I never will. I could never forgive them for the death of gaming."

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

If only we just could, but there's still plenty of gullible twats who are overly eager to fork over their money, most of their money comes from whales to begin with and I wouldn't be surprised if they received government subsidies too.

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

@@SeraphArmaros Tbh, I don't really like corporations in general. They're all shit and all they produce is shit, regardless of industry.

[@woodbyte]

BG3 is the reckoning AAA deserves. It's far too late to save the big studios, but I hope Larian has inspired their AA peers to follow suit. Just make good games without micro transactions and you all have nothing to fear.

[@666stryder666]

Honestly never saw BG3 as an anomaly, but a reminder of what the standard use to be.

[@arjun220]

Can you imagine if Ubisoft/EA/Blizzard made Baldur's Gate 3? :You want more spells? yup you can buy those on the cash shop. :You want more Class / Race? yup buy those on the cash shop.

[@stevesgaming7475]

Yes, sadly I can imagine just how they'd do it. ugghhh

[@nicholaslittlefield4424]

"And it will be released digital only for console and we will uninstall if we feel like it because fuck you"

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

They would attach some RNG mechanic to that too. "Upgrade your spells through lootboxes"

[@AngryKittens]

Well I can. They made Diablo IV. And it's the exact polar opposite of BG3. ✔A dev team that does NOT listen to their player base. A company that doesn't listen to the dev team OR the player base. ✔A 2x price tag. With a deluxe version that just adds a couple of cosmetics. ✔Microtransactions everywhere that cost an arm and a leg ($10 was the cheapest item in the store, IIRC). ✔An ingame currency that is different from ingame money, which is designed to only ever be bought at specific amounts, an amount that is never just exactly the price of the item you wished to buy (so you'll always need to exchange for more than you need). ✔Cosmetics which literally look 99% the same except one has a slightly more defined crease in it, or has a slightly shinier material (seriously) ✔Artificially slowed-down everything so the game feels longer. Slower XP gain. Slower ability cooldowns. Less enemies. Horses, especially, gallop like they're underwater, but are still hilariously faster than some builds who run like they have a permanent slowed debuff. ✔A linear quest system which is 100% fetch quests/go here quests, with zero nuance. You don't even need to understand what they say. Just go to the place marked on the map. ✔An Ubisoft-style map completionist/collectibles list. ✔The wonkiest balance ever, where devs basically punished people for having fun. So they nerfed everything that kind of worked. ✔A "season pass" for recolored enemies, with new game mechanics and items that literally DISAPPEAR once the season ends. There's no point playing them except for cosmetic unlocks. ✔A UI that is deliberately simplified for console compatibility. At the cost of usability. You are limited to six hotkeys. Just six, despite the dozens of abilities. And you can not remap them, forcing people to make exactly the same builds. ✔Repetitive endgame content just for a handful of "unqiue" items whose drop rates require you to play the game for maybe a year, if you're lucky. ✔Enemies that one-shot you from off-screen. ✔World "bosses" that can be defeated in 2 seconds flat. ✔An uberboss (recycled of course) that can not be defeated unless you picked the correct class at the start of the game. ✔An always-online requirement for a single player game. Servers which lag often, with predictable results. Oh, you were just one step from completing a high-level dungeon? Too bad, the server stopped responding for 5 seconds, and you wasted 3 hours of your life. When the servers go down (because they eventually will), you won't be able to play it ever again. Because you didn't actually own the game. You just "rented" it. ✔Only available on Blizzard's own platform, Battlenet. And yes I'm bitter. I fell for it and paid $90 for the game for nostalgia's sake. Because I've waited for a proper sequel to Diablo II for 20 years that is not on a cellphone. Now I won't buy any other Blizzard game ever again.

[@gregoryparisot6374]

American companies. It's all about money.

[@Cohen.the.Worrier]

The difference between really big and not so big companies is the extra layers and layers of managers, all of them well paid, selfish and utterly incompetent. And if somehow a decent person manages to invade their ranks, they're quickly driven out. I've worked for a smaller company that was very successful and then the owners decided to _become professional._ It was a very interesting social experiment but included a lot of sleepless nights. Within a year essential people were fired, resigned or sat at home with a burn out. Now seven years later they have twice the staff they had then and about the same turn over. But . . . they are professional. And their customers have become to hate their guts.

[@christianzilla]

Go on... tell us the name...

[@juliantheapostate8295]

Same here my friend. Financial services in my case

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

That idea is not limited to companies either. Bureaucracy makes everything worse and less efficient, just look at government, bureaucrats are legit just the absolutely most worthless scum on earth. They don't do anything, they contribute absolutely nothing, a bureaucrat's job is just to convince you that you need them when you really don't. Corporations suck, I actually think that whole type of company structure can be abolished and we'll be better off for it, because like clockwork, every time a company goes public it doesn't take very long to go to shit. I like smaller companies and I actually believe people should be encouraged more to start their own business rather than working and wasting their skills for some corporation, would also genuinely be good for the economy too.

[@jprice_]

@@TearThatRedFlagDown so I'm not a dummy for wanting to move to a smallest country possible?

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

@@jprice_ It's more about the size of government tbh. My country is small, but big government and essentially a Fascist system are still a problem.

[@ivojager2143]

Many big publishers, including the likes of EA and Ubisoft, inadvertently pushed their top talents away with uninspiring titles. Now, even if they wished, they couldn't craft exceptional games; the reservoir of talent has dried up. The passionate artists have been drawn to the allure of indie creations. Stripped of such spirited souls, their magic has faded. It's just business now.

[@Rietto]

Also the inhumane working conditions of most big gaming studios chews up and spits out their talent after a few years, to where the older, more experienced people leave and they just keep churning newbies into the mill. That's not how you build a culture of knowledge and experience.

[@ivojager2143]

Amen@@Rietto

[@tzovlask]

I had read a article and I was trying to find it, devs that worked at the aaa gaming studios went to larians studio and reported that the environment and culture was so completely different, it felt like they worked in games development for the first time. They spoke about the creative process and the dedication of making the best game they could rather than making selling game. I wish I saved it because it was so insightful!

[@brandonleblanc9561]

It's not an anomaly, nor should it be. It's the result of a hard work, passion, and wanting to deliver a proper gaming experience void of MTXs, paid DLCs, and battlepasses. AAA scumdevs trying to put a spin on it because they don't want to put the work in - why would they when clowns pay outrageous amounts for a skin

[@WorthABuyreviews]

Yeah it's about working with passion not just doing enough to get a pass.

[@HandleNameIsStupid]

I mean it's possible to like all games, AAA included. Implying people didn't work hard to make RDR2 is hilarious

[@happygofishing]

in my opinion its because the backgrounds of the programmers have changed. back in the 80s, 90s and 2000s (pre mass adoption of game engines like unity) most game devs would have been programmers that got started by learning c/c++/assembly and had a deep understanding of how memory worked, and other low level concepts. In contrast the average game dev today probably doesn't even consider himself a programmer and instead got their start fiddling with buttons and high level abstractions in unity engine/web development etc. this massive shift has basically caused a new wave of "programmers",(who growing up with overpowered and highly abstracted computers) basically have no idea how computers or optimization actually works, all they know is clicky click buttons in unity engine etc.

[@PeterD2S]

@@happygofishing That has nothing to do with anything. Making a good game isn't the same skill as making an efficient and academic computer program. What plagues the industry is companies being taken over by people who put in practice malicious business strategies, like providing a veiled gambling service to kids, or chopping up an otherwise full game into parts and selling them all separately for more money than one single full game sale.

[@happygofishing]

there certainly has been a drop in programming quality though. @@PeterD2S

[@RealPeoplePerson]

For every Larian Studios there are a hundred studios that died because one of their first few games didn't succeed even though people worked themselves to the bone, doing their very best to make a game that could succeed. The idea that BG3 isn't an exception is ludicrous. "Just work hard and the world will magically bend to your will and hand you success." Laughable.

[@cyberdemon7694]

That is fair, but by that logic the people with the actual means to make games shouldn't be making such dreck as they have for the past 15 or so years. The modern standard is just abysmal. It's definitely a huge risk for anyone to go and make a game dev studio and a game, because indeed if it doesn't sell then it will sink them. By the same token, companies like Activision, EA, Bethesda, Ubisoft etc. have no excuse. And yet they keep shoveling crap on the market every year. I blame the people for buying these games tbh, they wouldn't be so shite if they had standards. They too got no excuse. There's never been more information on any game coming out so readily available as now, and yet they go and reward total dreck constantly.

[@RealPeoplePerson]

@@cyberdemon7694 Why shouldn't they make such dreck? Activision etc. would make dog food if it would make them more money. The product and its quality is incidental to the operation. The owners don't care about games, and they wouldn't appoint anyone who does to run the companies. So talking about this whole thing as them failing to live up to their potential, screwing over their players etc. moves the discussion into a fantasy realm where these things are not inherent to the system. Instead of continuously getting angry and frustrated as a result, better to always have zero expectations on big business, and take any enjoyable product or useful service as a bonus. Of course, this doesn't exclude advocating for systemic change on the economic and political level.

[@patrickdoss25]

I work as a bartender/server and one day I overheard these 3 old guys I’d say in their 40-50s (none of them who looked like they’ve ever picked up a controller or sat down with a mouse and keyboard) and 1 of them was saying to the over two “hey you know what the next big industry you gotta invest in? Video-games!” And the other 2 were in disbelief and going “what? Nooo no way ! Video games?” And the first guy was like “oh yeah it’s the new market it’s a booming industry” and whatnot. So many greedy corporate hacks getting into the gaming industry just to make money.

[@Ozie1981]

The video game industry surpassed Hollywood for annual revenue 20 years ago. The bit about corporate overlords is spot on; the large production studios are not run by people who have any kind of passion for the industry. They’re run by Wall Street frat boys who want to apply group study formulas have spreadsheet circle jerks about what will extract the maximum amount of money from the intended audience. But video games are an art, and people who appreciate art can tell the difference between the real deal and a cash cow facsimile.

[@oneandonlyJonnySad]

You know who is an a anomaly? You Mack… you… keep it up.

[@mr.rattlebone4902]

Been watching Mack for ages. He's pretty much the only reviewer Id go to for a true opinion, even though he doesn't like the Souls series.

[@oneandonlyJonnySad]

@@mr.rattlebone4902 I almost NEVER agree with his reviews and STILL think he’s a fantastic reviewer.

[@wurzelbert84wucher5]

Because Mack isn't a sellout and not a communist leftist, this makes him really rare ;)

[@nickochioneantony9288]

​@@mr.rattlebone4902 and I agree with Mack, rolling around the floor like a complete prick is not as fun as it sounds. Perhaps you can also feel how 'safe' Mack went with his Elden Ring review. Call me a prick, but I played 2D sidescrolling games where every accurate input will give me an immediate advantage in the game (i.e. Megaman, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight), and those games are hard af. But somehow I don't get that kind of feeling when playing Soulslike, every boss has the same Swiping attack that will 2 hit KO, and overall its quite clunky on PC. That is what turning me off when playing Elden Ring, even though the content and game arts are GOTY material.

[@Lossaccepted]

A rant about Soulsborne games - I really like, and hate Elden Ring at the same time, the camera, keybinds and controls are dogshit, I hate guessing oh this prick does spinny shit three times in a row, oh this one can insta teleport/jump and one shot me, a swing should be in one motion, not slowly raising an arm for 4 secs and then swinging it in a millisecond especially for a giant monster. The quest and exploring system is strange for me, albeit I love exploring in RPGS egz. (fallout 1-2), you can figure out how to find or achieve something by having clues and using dialogue, but in ER if you don't know something you have shoot in the dark and guess or search it online.

[@iamnizorro9781]

So thankful I found your channel years ago! Thanks for providing interesting, entertaining and proper good content for all these years! And yes... this situation has proven itself to be quite the juicy bit. Many devs, not all, have some rotting takes on this game and what it means for the future of the industry.

[@FirebreathXIII]

When older games respect your time more than modern ones, for which you are nothing but a living, breathing wallet to have money extracted from... And then, BG3 happens. Respects your time, respects your money and provides you with a contemporary old-school experience. Gosh... this took me back.

[@BelterKJ]

It’s clear that hard work, soul, care and attention went into this, I’m looking forward to playing it later this year when I’m not busy.

[@necrozim]

Even working as a AAA dev myself, Larian studios is inspirational to me. I hope my directors look towards what they were able to create because its fucking outstanding compared to the surrounding landscape and it should become the new expected norm. I hope in within 5 years, its the new base level, but sadly i get the feeling im being a bit too hopeful.

[@mradamdavies]

I ALWAYS pay for indie games. I tend to pirate all AAA games now. I'm not even ashamed.

[@cyberdemon7694]

Ultimately it's the people who need to reward it. Not throw money at every generic looter shooter and open world trash game with microtransactions.

[@necrozim]

@@cyberdemon7694 the more the non generic stuff succeeds, the more likely the moneymen will greenlight interesting things and the more we get to flex as developers.

[@badger4361]

I paid full price for BG3 and it's the best gaming money I've spent in years.

[@YeetThyBaby]

Ubisoft did even worse when Elden Ring came out, they were going as far as directly attacking the game and its devs.

[@hawken796]

The biggest anomaly was the fact that IGN actually had a great take, fucking IGN.

[@TranquillityOfficial]

Yeah this surprised me enough that I actually liked and commented on their video and said more of this please :)

[@igorthelight]

Who is IGN? Nope - never heard of them! ;-)

[@socratese5]

Great message Mack! And such a good example with Doomdark’s Revenge. Spread the word people, share this video and lets get a movement going letting game companies know we’re tired of their 💩

[@LUNATIC75]

Props for mentioning Mike Singleton. I lost myself in the Lords of Midnight world for a time. I don't buy a lot games these days and I do feel a bit sorry for kids growng up with the stuff they get served now. The greed is disgusting.

[@Purely4subs]

Rumour has it, Duracell offered to sponsor this video... but Mack told them to do one because he doesn't want to be associated with AAA

[@igorthelight]

xD

[@domagojkersun9630]

This game needs to win a GOTY to make a statement. I really hope it does.

[@stevesgaming7475]

I hope it does but tbh there's do many 'goty' awards these days that it's a bit meaningless. (I expect the Zelda game to get lots because of 'nintendo fanboys'.)

[@adam7802]

If starfield gets it instead and it is exactly what i think it will end up like I am simply refusing to accept it.

[@Sambhaid]

you need to hope that Starfield fails

[@lozg8887]

@@Sambhaid No, we need to hope that Starfield is good. Hope every game that comes out is good. Wishing for a game to fail is dumb. And if it did, we'd all be lamenting it as yet another modern gaming failure. I personally would rather just be playing a kickass space game.

[@dontaccoll]

​@@Sambhaidi hope starfield is good like it was rdr2. But the emotion and sense of magnificence that bg3 gives is not easily reachable. Once in a decade game

[@TomasZaruba92]

Another example could be Warhorse studios behind Kingdome Come. Indie studio without publisher created in my opinion an incredible game, let's see how they end up with a publisher behind their back now.

[@BadWolfPlays66]

I hated RPG/CRPG types. BG3 changed that. If more companies would do like Larian has done, more people like me would be playing them. Since I got this, I haven't played any of my other games. BG3 isn't an anomaly, it's a work of art and the folks at Larian should be very proud.

[@elmhurstenglish5938]

They can't even if they had the time, money, resources. When a great book comes out we never look at book authors and expect them to be better. We accept, not because of corporate involvement, that most authors are just mediocre at their craft. Great authors are rare. I used books authors as most of the reasoning used by them doesn't apply to books.

[@BadWolfPlays66]

@@elmhurstenglish5938 That's not true at all. These AAA devs have all that. They just want to spend as little as possible and then line their pockets.

[@elmhurstenglish5938]

@@BadWolfPlays66 They have all what? You think they're full of talent? Most devs aren't talented, just as most people are not talented in every line of work. That's just the reality of the world. As you said, it's a work of art....how many works of art do you know in any realm? They're rare. I'm saying even if they wanted to, they wouldn't be able to do it. There's no recipe to greatness.

[@BadWolfPlays66]

@@elmhurstenglish5938 The AAA companies have time, money and I'm sure some of their people have talent. But it doesn't matter. The corpos running the comanies only want money. It's all about filling their pockets. If an indie company like Larian can do it, they can also. They just refuse.

[@zampe75]

Hand on heart, in the last 3 months there have been a good 3 games in similar topics that have exceeded expectatios: Alliens Dark Descent, Jagged Alleance 3 and now Baldurs Gate 3.... None of them were marketing hype, at least as far as I could see around. It's just a shame that these first two didn't sell in larger numbers, they deserved it

[@TranquillityOfficial]

Great rant as always Mack. Keep up the great work.

[@Fantomas24ARM]

The best bg3 anomaly rant. The lazy developers just don't want to work as hard as Larian did.

[@Aircool212]

Divinity: Original Sin and it's sequel were brilliant games. I wondered how they would adapt the D&D rules, but they did it fantastically. I'm loving it.

[@Drragnorr]

the only difference between most of the AAA studios and Larian trully is, that Larian wants to make great games in first place, the others wants to make money in first place, to please shareholders and investors.

[@gdgd5194]

delusional

[@Drragnorr]

@@gdgd5194 no, reality. It is the same in every field not just games. I am not saying that those employed by corporations do not want to make great games. But their hands are simply tight. And so they are forced to make slot machines, pretty slot machines, but still slot machines. I can't imagine what It must be to come out with great idea for a game only to watch it be deformed and ruined, by the need for instant money gratification.

[@gdgd5194]

@@Drragnorr What you say is true but don't put Larian on pedestal. Same shit as the rest

[@Drragnorr]

@@gdgd5194 I comment on what transpired here and now. I am not afraid to call out Larian, if they steer the same direction in future. And I realize that nothing is that simple. There is always a risk involved in all the decisions. In the end It is about balance as everything and most AAA studios and their owners are way off balance.

[@gdgd5194]

​@@Drragnorr Most companies in general are.

[@greenneck5396]

Mac aggressively defending a game or a studio was not on my bingo card for 23 😂

[@joergbock1976]

The funny part: Baldur's Gate 3 had this quality from early access on. Sure there were bugs and a few stand-ins (e.g. for cutscenes) etc. but you saw very high quality and love shining through from the very start. And they kept working hard on the title for all early access users to see and play. It was so good, I stopped playing not to mess up my fun at release. Kept checking in from time to time (DLSS support added a lot of performance, hope they add FSR 2.2 too for others).

[@BGIANAKy]

Them calling it an anomaly is the biggest compliment. It made friends not interested in turn based video game buy the game.

[@dinoslayerreviews]

This was a great video. I'm in my early twenties, and seeing you put some perspective on how getting on with the job with no excuses, along with talent, can get you to where you want to be. Or a place similar to that. Life is full of unexpected turns. But all throughout this video i was feeling happy that I'm doing as much as I can right now to achieve my eventual goal of being a librarian.

[@uhhhpvp4691]

I find it sad that a finished game releasing with all features is called an anomaly when this was the standard 20 years ago.

[@Ceabrus74]

I've seen this in every hobby of mine, my school years, each job, and in my current career. It's no surprise it's also prevalent in the gaming industry. The passion less and talentless will always attempt to hold down those capable of something special. They're not jealous of the success of others, they're afraid their shortcomings will become obvious to everyone.

[@elmhurstenglish5938]

Yep, the reality is most people are average at their job. That's just life. Not everyone can be great. They say if they had the time, money, resources like Larian they could do the same...yet, look at authors of books (free of corporate involvement), are all book authors great because one was? No. Most are average. They need to accept, and we do too, (excuses or no excuses) most games will be average.

[@callaway86]

One of the most important videos you've made, I was waiting for this one on pins and needles.

[@cybergun01]

The problem is most AAA companies only have a love for making money, and not making games that they love

[@alexandrequintin1434]

3d Artist here with ex Larian employees friends. I've learned through them that the company is a huge junior artist farm and have a strong core of few senior artist. My friend told me they were overworked badly, juniors panicking they could not keep up the pace / overcome technical issues and seniors where overwhelmed as they had to mentor the juniors while keeping on time with their own tasks. I'm not downgrading the game by any mean, but I wanted people to realize what it truly costed to the ones who made this game happen. I hope this industry finds a good balance quickly. I do agree AAA Studios now tend to be lazy, but I certainly find small, competitive studios, toxic as well.

[@eliasD4]

Diablo 4 was my most anticipated game this year. I played it for a few weeks and got so bored. It started to feel like a chore to play. I was disappointed in myself that I gave blizzard yet another chance. Since then I have been trying countless games to play but nothing grabbed me. Then i got told to play BG3. I didn't even research it, I was so tired of shit that i purchased bg3 on a whim. I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game this much. It's been years!

[@coolersmoke]

Mentioning Mike Singleton and Doomdark's Revenge reminds me of playing Elite on the BBC Micro back in 1984. Teenage students David Braben and Ian Bell were given a £1,000 advance by Acornsoft. They wrote the game in two years, in *assembly language*. Elite had 8 galaxies with 256 planets each (Braben & Bell originally planned for 210 _trillion_ galaxies but Acornsoft baulked at the concept) , all procedurally generated within ground-breaking wireframe visuals, and all running on an 8-bit machine with 32 Kilobytes of RAM. I bought the disk version for £5.95. The box set came on a 360KB floppy disk along with a 64-page full-colour manual and a novella called "The Dark Wheel". Those were indeed the days..

[@kalizto303]

I am so pleased you mentioned Mike Singleton and his two classics, Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge. Like you, I played both of them on the C64 and I played them to death. I think using Mike and these games as an example is spot on as those two titles were not the standard at the time but they helped raise the bar. It sounds like the DEV's that are whingeing about Baldur's Gate 3 are not prepared to meet the challenge and raise their own standards, it's like they've capitulated creatively and I think that's slightly worrying for future game development outside of the Indie sphere.....Luxor The Moon Prince forever...!!!

[@stevesgaming7475]

I still play LoM and DR on my Spectrum to this day, superb games! :)

[@Mockingbird7504]

I am almost 40. Both my husband and I are gamers. Recently, we thought that we are falling out of the target demographic because games seemed so terrible. Plotwise, gameplaywise, art style wise. Man, this Fortnite art style is so annoying when it is everywhere. We thought that maybe they are made for younger people who think differently. Baldur's gate showed us that no. They are just shitty games. And BG is a good one, like ones we are used to. I think that even though we have like 3-4 releases per week now across all platforms, the amount of good games still stayed the same - like maybe 3-4 per year. And this year we got BG 😊

[@MintFinkeldove]

Well said brother. I've been a fan of Larian studios for years. They made a gem here.

[@igorthelight]

THewy should Remaster Divine Divinity - it's pretty hard to run it on modern PCs xD

[@gentlesirpancakebottoms6692]

Totally agree. Baldur's Gate 3 is a great game! But this "anomaly" is just a more user friendly 90s game but with modern 3d graphics and voice acting for every character. This "anomaly" used to be the norm.

[@FloppyCDdrive]

KCD was one of those games too. A small studio with big ambitions and no money. And they delivered a fantastic Game. Even if more nishe then BG3. Games/Studios like these still exist.

[@tylermcnamara8794]

There is a part of me that understands developers who see something like BG3 and they really wish they could do that, but they are completely demoralized about the state of the industry because they work for cartoonishly-greedy corporations. Unfortunately, some of the most talented developers in gaming are legitimately stuck working at studios where the publisher is king, not the developer. Larian worked for themselves and made something they could be proud of. The overwhelming majority of AAA studios, on the other hand, are ruled by major corporations & publishers. And where Larian is ruled by passion, the others are ruled by profit. Passion-focused culture creates trends, demands risk-taking, and builds authentic reputation that pays ten-fold (it's a creativity fountain); profit-focused cultures copy trends, play it safe, and build houses for executives that only care about getting paid now (it's literally bureaucracy manifest).

[@GarethRWhite]

Didn't Tencent heavily invest in Larian? I guess we can't call them indie anymore.

[@RezaQin]

Tencent owns 30 percent of Larian stock. Make of that what you will.

[@underleft]

Shh, you're ruining the hate porn boner. Larian cares about money just like every other developer. What's funny is DOS2 is pretty much the same game but the industry didn't jerk itself off over that game.

[@Phil_597]

@@RezaQin Makes no difference to me. I already think BG3 is creatively bankrupt, written and acted about as bad as Rings of Power, has tasteless kitschy design and does nothing but stroke narcissistic players' egos. The solipsism was just insufferable. You're a nobody and yet everyone and everything is praising you and revolving around you. Sexually attracted to you and hitting on you. Obsessively your sworn enemy at first sight. Not knowing you for long at all yet somehow seeing your true virtues despite you having done nothing or so little that it could be just an act. I refunded before I knew it's partially funding the genocidal CCP.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

When it hits 51%, what you say is true

[@unstableordinance]

@@Phil_597 Loved that comment, posting here for another comparison about the original baldurs gate to this one from another comment: Baldur's Gate was developed at just the right time: at that point, D&D was still mostly inspired by/based on literature and fairy tales/mythology...as opposed to films and video games. Also, computing technology was advanced enough to develop a wide world, but not so advanced that graphical feats (including CGI) distracted from the story. Finally, the zeitgeist was entirely different; games were designed to be games.

[@Weaponsandstuff93]

Same reason Morrowind was so polished for a Bethesda game, if it didn't sell well they went bankrupt, then with later games they have so much money they just do the "That'll do, fan mods will fix it." attitude.

[@gamesmaster1060]

Tencent own 30 percent of larian

[@Andrew-ww1nz]

Always enjoy your videos mate. Bg3 is amazing! Shame on other AAA developers

[@TheBigMeetch]

Mac is wrong, it's not AAA devs saying this. He's repeating false info online. Google the tweets right now for yourself and look at who these people are. They're marketing people and random indie devs. It's just noise and this is a mountain out of a molehill.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

@@TheBigMeetch he is wrong on everything i agree it wasnt an anomaly it was another unfinished mediocre game its not finished it was beta tested for years by beta testers who paid full price and it still have game breaking bugs on release and broken quests and they released a patch but that patch caused crashes so they rolled it back breaking the save games and they rushed the game to release it ahead of starfield so it wont have to compete with it and they cut content such as the upper town which was found in the games files. People need to stop praising this game its not complete nor it has so much content, every game has a ton of content and bugs just like this one, being better than mediocre doesnt mean much.

[@Vurt72]

it's sad if the bar is that low. no npc schedules, not even day/night cycles like any modern RPG. not saying the rest is bad (didn'y play it yet). Ultima 7 (Larians main inspiration for their first game) had this and more, 32 years ago.

[@MrKamaboko]

its not so much low talent or lazy, the REAL issue is that shit like EA, Blizzard, etc... are GREEDY

[@gdgd5194]

EA and "Blizzard etc" are not greedy. Dumb gamers are and they buy that shit. You are exploited as much as you let them :)

[@pauperslament3467]

What's fucked up is Publishers/Developers are patenting game mechanics, actively stiffling any reasonable form of competition and advancements. It was bad enough the giants buying up the great game properties and shelving them. Now we won't be able to see interesting game mechanics populate the industry. The industry needs death by hellfire.

[@Asaski09]

Not a new thing either, Namco had a patent on loading screen minigames which ran for about 15 years

[@Warkip]

You know how there are a lot of videos about how games are not fun anymore and they were a lot more fun back when you were a kid? Bg3 proves this is not the case, because im instantly addicted to this game and it proves you can still have that much fun with video games, if only there are good video games to play

[@azidanovalkran6433]

I remember Elite... That was way ahead of its time back then.

[@stevegee8010]

The difference between Larian Studios and the AAA developers is just two words... "That'll do."

[@Yakito666]

Are you going to pretend that Larion didn't say the same shit when they released a messy Act 3 with cut content and bugs? Come on.

[@stevegee8010]

@@Yakito666 There must have been genuine reasons. They wouldn't have worked years over the schedule if they were about 'that'll do', especially as an indie company who could release it any time they wanted.

[@Yakito666]

@@stevegee8010 So they get a free pass for the shit that all big gaming companies pull?

[@Badhero4]

I pretty much only spend my money on Indie games nowadays and seeing these responses from AAA devs is just making sure that I continue do to that.

[@poot111111]

This needs to be spread far and wide !!!

[@NorthernWhisper]

Larian is not entirelt independent, and they have the budget and employee count of a AAA studio. It is indie by some definitions but like, barely indie. III instead of AAA, I guess.

[@sethwhite4635]

Devs aren’t lazy, their managers are greedy. Spending time making good games means less profit. Spending time making storefronts means more profit.

[@TearThatRedFlagDown]

Exactly, it's the managers who are the problem. In fact, the whole corporate/publicly traded model is the issue here. I often think that we could probably abolish corporations and the public trading of companies and we'd be better off for it.

[@LucidVisions]

It’s a weird one. For me the AAA space needs to improve drastically there is absolutely no doubting that. But I see Baldurs Gate 3 as honestly a piece of art that is so hard to replicate. Like a great film or album or novel. Just because a studio has multiple facets doesn’t mean that can be copied, there’s talent and experience to consider. Again I need to make it clear though the AAA space, the Ubisoft’s and EA’s of the world have been abysmal.

[@sittingdingo1]

We finally get a game of the Quality we Deserve making proper meaningful use of today's pc tech. I will support nothing less moving forward

[@igorthelight]

"making proper meaningful use of today's pc tech" - I would be more careful with that statement: * It does not use more that 6 cores of CPU (watch Digital Foundary's video about third act of BG3) * It doesn't have any type of Ray Tracing at all Game itself is VERY good tho!

[@CarlWheatley-wi2cl]

Spot on. A studio carefully mastering their craft over many years is being portrayed as some kind of fluke where various factors just 'happen' to come together to make an anomaly. Forget the dedication, forget the passion, forget the hard work, forget the forging of a very high skill set, forget the astute retention and aquisition of staff, forget the careful management of budget and priority, forget the openess to engage with the fanbase and the feedback through a HUGE early access window. Ps. Thanks for that memory trip to Lords of Midnight haha. I'd completely forgotten about that but I can still FEEL those keys on the ZXSpecrum48k "ding ding".

[@Noblenoob1]

That Doom dark game sounds super cool.

[@RobVespa]

Thank you for using your platform to talk sense. I hope others listen. You know, listen to what they (should) already know. It's disheartening. I wish there was a list so that I could avoid projects worked on by everyone who jumped on this toxic bandwagon of awful losers who were upset because talented competent people worked hard and created something nice. Those ugly squeaky wheels deserve to fail. Harsh, eh? Is it? No. It's not. People need to be held accountable, even if they themselves are delusional. If karma existed, which it doesn't, that'd be it. Edit: You did misreport something, and it's very sad to discuss... and that's that some of the voices that chose to behave like unhealthy maroon losers belonged to indie devs, some of whom are fairly well-known... and that behavior will be remembered. Well, it should be. Again, accountability. I'd never want to work with or support someone like that. Never.

[@Doctor_Sax]

I hope Larian gets rich so they can make the next great game to leave the industry in a panic. Raise the bar to the Moon!

[@MantleAkita]

How to make Baldurs Gate 3. Love, passion and the dedication to create an amazing game! Having Swen helps too, a massive nerd who loves what he does. An that's what triple A is missing. They have none of those, instead faceless shareholders and investors with thier fingers in every jar to see which company can make them the most money the quickest.

[@utrak]

Man... I hadn't seen the whole mind flayer ship cutscene before now. Sickkkk!

[@UlpianHeritor]

I was waiting for you to make this video, Mack. This “controversy” between developers and consumers has rocked the gaming world and knowing your stance on similar matters from previous videos, I was surprised that you didn't chime in sooner.

[@lawrencestanley8989]

I played Baldur's Gate 3, and I hated it as much as I hated Divinity 2. Personally, I don't get the hype.

[@domagojkersun9630]

For me same goes for the Witcher 3. Overrated action "RPG".

[@mikiggs]

I played the first divinity OS but didn't really get into it. So I quit playing it in the first town. Now I heard about this game getting a lot of praise so I had to try it. So far it has been the best RPG I have ever played. Or at least as good as playing Skyrim for the first time. It has also surpassed my favorite pillars of eternity games. The character detail and world building is on another level in this game. No other game has as much detail what's in the game. Maybe you need to give it more time.

[@lawrencestanley8989]

@@mikiggs I just don't think it's my genre, I just don't get it; the game doesn't make any sense to me.

[@austins88]

Wait till he finds out who funded Baldurs Gate 3.

[@ohara9965]

This feels like one of the most important points Mack has ever made.

[@mirrorblade6268]

Yeah, i hope this woke, non stop fruity, pathetic, cringe reddit humour parade does not become standard in games.

[@charmingpeasant9834]

It sadly has been the standard for quite a few years by this point.

[@The_Noticer.]

Best rpg in 10 years? Where every dialogue option is flavor text, the third act isnt finished and all companions are horny, flaming homosexuals? Bit of a stretch, fam.

[@neodarkomega]

[@VeraldoAncodini]

But it's not a good game, it's a woke POS. Why aren't you telling people how bad the later acts are? or how many bugs and issues the game still has?

[@vallejomach6721]

Doesn't fit the narrative.

[@1101-f6z]

I wanna make a AAA Mod for BG3. -Base game only has Human fighter unlocked and you can only use one companion at a time. -Act 2 and 3 will be DLC and re-rolls are 1 dollar but you can only buy a 25 pack at time. -You also can't equip Legendary gear unless you paid for the season pass. etc...

[@firechilduk]

Doomdark's revenge, wow never thought I would be reminded of that gem from my speccy and commodore days as kid, yet here I am a gamer still an absolutely loving what they have done with the full release of BG3. It fully deserves all the praise for being the first game I can remember feeling somewhat close to the tabletop D+D experience of my youth.

[@ArChalypz]

The fact that fans and other devs are even bickering over this says more then enough for me. The shitfest that we call the gaming industry nowadays needed a good wake-up.

[@gdgd5194]

So true, monkeys these days love everything that is marketed. 90% marketing, 10% game and they love it. BG3 is below average game, I can not even be bothered to finish it. Brain dead repetitive fest where you have to wait looking at idle screen more than you spend time controlling your units. Its only strong point that attracts is making choices that "matter". And that "matter" part is understood only by zombie fans because I haven't seen any depth in this game after finishing 70% of it.

[@barrybrown7305]

"You can have the gameplay but we can't give you sound". Please don't give them more ideas....

[@luizarthurbrito]

man, I swear if I had some more time in my life, I'd buy this game. I bought divinity 2 back when it came out, I had just finished college and I had way more time than I do today, since I didn't have a real real job, and even then, I could't find the time to finish the game, even though I loved it. I can only imagine bardur's gate 3 would demand a shit ton of time to be played properly, which I haven't had since my fist two years of college.

[@gdgd5194]

BG3 is very clunky compared to DOS2. Most of fights I spent watching enemies move or just stay idle for some reason and then do my actions in under a second. It's a very annoying time sink unless you have lots of patience and love characters/story.

[@luizarthurbrito]

@@gdgd5194 yeah, that's why I won't buy this game. At least for now. I definitely don't enough have free time to waste it on that.

[@Tkozuh]

Very well said. Let s hope developers are taking notes from Larian. I loved DOS and DOS2 and love BG3 even more. Great games, great studio. I hope they stay that way and dont get corrupted.

[@Cam882000]

Well said, the gamers will support these indies as they are the future. Unfortunately, the Triple A appeal to the youngsters who don't even know what a Kilobyte is! And they think the shite they churn out is the standard of gaming. That's what they're young memories are made up of, is micro-tranactions, not killing a daemon from a jumping shot with no aid from the computer, not a green turtle shell sniper down Wario Road, not hiding in the toilets pointing in the corner - hoping the opponent doesn't know where you are weilding a golden gun. Hats off to you indies! you keep make these games memorable and a part of the next gens standard of gaming.

[@muffinman9207]

I knew this would be good just based on the previous Larian Divinity Games. The big AAA studios have gone the way of Hollywood now and are creatively bankrupt. Thanks for the Lord's of Midnight content, such good memories. I spent so many hours on those games, till my Speccy was literally red hot!!!🙂

[@pilouuuu]

Developers trying to find excuses for their laziness and greediness. When they're charging $70 for crappy unfinished games, it's no surprise they would attack a passionate studio like Larian.

[@jagerhunter7717]

Mac that's why I love your videos. You call people out on their bullshit. All these greedy developers have been spouting this nonsense since the release of BG3 and we all know the truth is most if them are just passionless, lazy, greedy, and just want to suck as much money out of us as they can.

[@jesperburns]

Also, with funding, I think they mean that this is self published. Whereas most other developers have publishers breathing down their neck.