The Divinity: Original Sin board game took 6 years to make because Larian was determined to do right by the series

simple@lemm.ee to Games@lemmy.world – 159 points –
The Divinity: Original Sin board game took 6 years to make because Larian was determined to do right by the series: 'We're not going to do a piss poor job with a game that's part of an IP that we care about'
pcgamer.com
18

Larian is the new CDProjectktRed. And by that I mean they are projected to be a perfect, infallible, manifestation of developer perfection that gamers will worship and praise blindly until Larian proves themselves to be mere mortals by making a mistake.

Their future mistakes notwithstanding, I can still appreciate the good work they're doing now.

Thankfully I’ve loved them for like a decade now so. It’s okay if they topple I saw them rise 😆

This is true if you ignore that their history starts in the 90s with some pretty average games, not in 2017...

I‘m starting to get the impression people build them up precisely to watch them fall and kick them down. It‘s in our DNA, I‘m afraid. I mean the praise they get for the most mundane claims (and often they are just that) is ridiculous to the point they‘re becoming the developer version of the life of Brian. And deep down we‘re already anticipating to watch them bleed out at a cross.

same with naughty dog 😂 I'm waiting for Insomniac to screw up next (hopefully not)

"by making a mistake"

Is a bit of a understatement I'd say.

Except the Witcher games consistently failed to live up to expectations

I think they are the next cdpr in the sense that they are AA

In what bizzaro world did the witcher series fail to live up to expectations? The first one was a masterclass of atmosphere and had zero expectations, the second were just fine and the third one still is the gold standard for quest design in open world games.

Third had a pretty buggy launch

1-2 were just buggy and full of jank

Buggy like most ambitious open world games, but still perfectly playable. It certainly lived up to expectations, it was one of the most praised games of its time, more than what I've seen about BG3. Granted I don't follow the industry as closely as I did back then.

Just because you didn't like 1 and 2 doesn't mean they didn't live up to expectations. CDPR was nobody before witcher 1 and a small studio before 2, so I really don't get how they didn't live up to expectations for those two games.

Making things with quality often takes more time, but almost always pays off in the long run. It's important to me in my own work. Companies that do it earn my respect, and my business.

So, is it good?

I have it but I haven't even taken it out of shrink-wrap because I'm a terrible boardgamer. I'll let you know in five years once my frosthaven campaign wraps up

I’ll let you know in five years once my frosthaven campaign wraps up

Frosthaven?! Playing that would imply that I got around to finishing Gloomhaven with my friends.

What's it going to do? Flip over and burst into flames?