[day 138] my first outside pearl! weird to draw her with a mouth. this particular wonderful pearl belongs to @weatheredcopper !! give them some love :)
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Wonder if Larian's games could have been better if like, at least 20% of content from them had been cut.
Listen, listen, before you say anything - I love Larian and their mentality. This team is making incredible games, and the amount of creative energy that is poured into each of their releases is incredible. Playing their games is a joy, and hilarious and amazing.
But, but.
There can be too much of a good thing. And I don't think Larian's ever learned that...
Do you know the average percentage of players that actually finish the main story in games? 30-40% if we look at achievements across different platforms. That is 60-70% of players who never saw the end of the main story.
I've been replaying DOS2, and it's a Joy to play through, however the 'joke' that tutorial level takes about 10-15, maybe even 20 hours to complete is...not a joke. There is beauty in hiding some content, so that only the dedicated players find it, but this doesn't exactly work for RPG systems that heavily depend on level&equipment of your player characters, now does it. This basically forces players to clear out the entire map to be able to progress the story further, and while the tactical aspect of this game is big, I doubt your average player can use it to beat difficulty&enemy level curve.
I had a big DOS2 phase before, my last memories of the game are Beast's quest (BEST COMPANION WHY IS NOONE TALKING ABOUT HIM) in Arx, soo I've been somewhere very near the end of the game. I never finished it because I was frustrated with a lack of direction for the main story for a long time, and Arx was the point where I jumped games.
So yeah, I believe cutting at least 20% of content from each of the acts of that game would have helped keep the main story in focus, plus the time to complete the game might have been more affordable.
Another thing is, from the documentaries on DOS2 development, and with the Larian saying that BG3 production took the studio much closer to the edge of closing, Larian seem to have a systematic problem of forever chasing their ambitions without really caring about their costs. DOS2 development was described as 'trying to build a plane as it is taking off', a lot of features for the game have been added last minute, and BG3 release players are sort of in the same boat. So yeah, some content cutting would have helped out the studio themselves quite a lot, or let them have more time for quality testing and polish.
tldr: I believe Larians are amazing but also head over heels in their production, their games are huge and the nature of their rpg mechanics forces player to play through everything,or never finish the main story, plus the studio have a history of releasing arguably unfinished games*, so I believe they should consider cutting content for future releases both for the studio's sake and to improve the player experience
*don't @ me, DOS2 and BG3 were arguably unfinished on release. That said, Larian's 'unfinished' and Average Game Industry 'Unfinished' are very different instances, I meant that Larian clearly would have benefitted for some polish time before release
btw why the Hell are there built-in Larian-approved player modifications for the games, however Turning Them On is a crime that disables achievements??? Larian, my guys, why.
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I think the reason none of us are able to start the alurlssrin scene is because you need to be PartneredWithMinthara when we’re blocked at DatingMinthara.
Because once you have the scene where she asks to get into your mind and learns what you think of her, it’s written DatingMinthara. But for the alurlssrin it’s written PartneredWithMinthara. And like the game clearly shows it's a different state, even with other characters.
But i don’t see a dialogue where you start to be partnered with minthara. Even if you refuse someone for her it’s written PartneredWithMinthara already!!
Because like for Astarion the passage from dating to partnered feels clear, it’s when he tells you he was manipulating you but felt in love.
And also like the Gift of vengeance must happen before Orin because after she just had this dialogue where she feels empty about it
Conclusion: i hate the patch notes. The one about Minthara's kiss tells us nothing and also you can't even kiss her??? IS THE GIFT OF VENGEANCE A REAL PHYSICAL GIFT??
Im tired, i am angry
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SPLATFEST IDEA
Evil vs neutral vs good
AAAAAAA THESE ARE SO GOOD?? WHAT EVEN ??
WAIT BUT LIKE WHY CAN I SEE THIS
shiver would be like "oh were bandits so of course im team evil" and big man would point out that they do it for a goood reason and so that would put him on team good. and frye would 100% be too indecisive to pick after all that and would be neutral
ALSO SIDE NOTE FRYE LOOKS SO GOOD IN WHITE????
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