this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Always good to see someone in the industry push back on all of these shitty tactics the AAA publishers want to push.

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[–] [email protected] 167 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

I'm at 750 hours in this game which I spent $70 on. More games like this please. Even if they're multi years apart I'd rather play a game like BG3 that has immense replayability than some random looter shooter that is trying to mine my wallet using every dark pattern known to humanity.

[–] [email protected] 88 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I swore off buying 'new' games close to their release dates because I was sick of overpriced, unfinished games that are just trying to squeeze every cent out of me. Then BG3 came out and everyone raved how great it was, but I stuck to my principles and said I'd play it a year or so after its release. Then someone pointed out to me that the game plays well, has no charge for online play, doesn't have microtransactions, and is complete. So I bought it, figuring that this is the type of game we should be rewarding, and I've not been disappointed.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be entirely fair, BG3 has its share of bugs and act 3 is not as polished as the first two.

But still, it is by far the most polished AAA game I've seen in a long time, and very satisfying, too. So I'm ok with some roughness

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

In fairness, pretty much all games have some bugs, even far after launch. The issue is launching games that are clearly not finished.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't even care about the replayability. I can see myself at some point going for another run at BG3, but that's a big commitment and I think I'm going to play BG1 and 2 before then, and plenty of other games.

I care if it's an interesting and enjoyable experience. I'd gladly play another Outer Wilds, even though it's hardly replayable, because it was such a good and unique experience. I don't care to play yet another Assassin's Creed or whatever other garbage that isn't interesting after you've tried it once and also purposefully wastes your time with stuff that is not designed to improve the experience, only playtime.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I sometimes really don't like the "hours of entertainment" argument because it almost overvalues bloated experiences over tight ones.

I've played <=3 hour games that have left more impact than some 200 hour games

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would say 99% of the time if the game took 100+h to play and was a story focused game then it was a waste of time. BG3 is an exception here. From a quick search, RDR2 takes 50h and it isn't a short game. Would you watch a 100+h movie? Of course not. There's almost no way a well told story is taking that long, unless it's some kind of Immersive experience or something.

That said, plenty of non-story games will take much longer. If the focus is good gameplay, there's a near limitless amount of time it can take. If there's story interwoven, it could take any amount of time. I've put far more than 100h into a ton of indie games that do interesting things with their gameplay. You just don't see that experimentation coming from the AAA space normally because it's not guaranteed profit.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Would you watch a 100+h movie? Of course not.

People do binge watch TV series.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

True, but even then it'd have to be 100 episodes if every episode is 1h, which it usually isn't. That's be around 10 or more seasons, depending on the show. I can't think of a show with that many episodes off the top of my head. I'm sure it exists, but it's a hell of a lot. Game of Thrones is apparently 70h14m. If your story is taking more time to tell than GoT, it's probably taking too long.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

plenty of non-story games will take much longer

Yup. Satisfactory doesn't have much of a story (although it's still early access) but I think I'm cloae to 1,000 hours on it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I like the idea of Satisfactory, but I can't enjoy it for some reason. I've played too much Factorio and it has too many quality of life things that Satisfactory is missing. With the number of overhaul mods, there's no end to how much Factorio can be played either.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I bought it when the alpha was released.

Like two years of act 1 had me around 200 hours before it even released. Act 1 did seem bigger back then tho, the intro especially.

I've moved from PC to PS5 since and I'm definitely going to rebuy on PS5 eventually. It's the only game I still play on PC these days.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I have yet to play it, but I can't wait to get my hands on it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd happily pay, say, $10 for a dlc that adds actual content when the base game is absolutely solid or excellent. What I won't pay for is excessively expensive dlc or dlc that adds very little. I am also heavily unlikely to purchase any dlc that is poorly reviewed, even for a good game.

Shame things like that are so rare. Hoping BG3's success opens the doors again.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

FromSoft immediately springs to mind for DLC I'll happily throw cheddar at. They always add a hefty chunk of new weapons/armor, new areas to explore, and spicy new boss fights that fuck my shit up.

Heavily biased, they're one of my favorite developers, but definitely never regret throwing money at FromSoft crew.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

people generally dont have the time to go through an rpg, hence why rpgs in general are seen as niche in terms of overall sales as a genre. this includes mmos, where mmos were a lot more plentiful 2 or even a decade ago, compared to now.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tbh I really enjoy shorter games that are reasonably priced.

I probably only find the time to play 1-2 150+ hr game a year. The rest of my free time is spent socializing, dealing with shit like college, or playing shorter games that I can knock out in multiple 1-2 hour sessions within two weeks

I hate how so many games are demanding of your time today, or feed off that annoying FOMO feeling.

I'm happy that I know Baldurs gate will always be there and I'm really not going to miss out on anything important. Maybe I'll get to it next year lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

The campaign only takes like 40 hours maybe. 60 for your first run if you’re an explorer. I only have so much time in it because I want to see every cut scene and that takes multiple characters. You could definitely play BG3 in shorter sessions. It’s very slow paced if you want it to be.