All games launch with bugs. Not necessarily game-breaking bugs, but bugs nonetheless.
There is simply no way developers can account for every tiny potential conflict in their code. So thank god for the internet and that fixing them post-launch is a concept.
Compared to a lot of Triple-A games out there, it is polished.
It’s a pretty big game with a lot of variations. And as i said; It just got it’s first patch and more are coming.
It took Bethesda about 12 years before they got around to fixing the “Games for Windows Live” thing in Fallout 3. Which literally made the game unplayable. That was a problem.
I’m sure they’ll get Wyll fixed for you, if he hasn’t already been in this patch.
But now I’m intrigued… If you don’t think you’re setting the bar high, what games are you comparing BG3 to that were that bug free at launch?
The worst part is that it wouldn’t be that hard to “up” the level of Bethesda games. More focus on the writing, both story and characters would go a long way.
Dropping the whole “It’s one big world, no transitions.” goal. Make cities huge, with transitions and fill them with stuff and people. More “inhabited biomes” so to speak.
Choice & Consequence. Having different paths the players can go down. Locking players out of certain content and areas because of their choice, isn’t a bad thing. It just encourages multiple playthroughs. As well as adding multiple ways to dealing with a problem.
Not forcing motivation or character upon the player. The “chasing after a loved one” motivation in Fallout is terrible. And being a ‘shiny superman’ in both TES and Fallout is boring. We need more grey-area to move around in.
There’s clearly more that could be added to the list. But these four points alone would elevate their games to a more passable grade.
I honestly haven’t seen anyone write about ‘how bug free’ the games is.
Most of the praise I see usually revolves around it being a complete game, a big game, nonexistent microtransactions, the characters, the story, the freedom, even how pretty it is. But not that it’s bug free.
Because it’s definitely not without bugs. Hell, there’s a lot of small details that could do with tune-up. And some got addressed in this patch. And I’m looking forward to Patch 2 as it’s supposed to improve load-time, which would be very nice indeed.
Oh no, there’s absolutely effort put into the graphics. It’s just everything else that’s missing.
The overall writing and direction in Bethesda’s games is piss poor as they haven’t prioritized it in some time. Even TES suffers from this. But I guess that’s more about the crowd they’re trying to appeal to.
It’s all cool if you like Bethesdas version of the Fallout world. But not everyone else subscribes to it.
And for reasons that are quite valid. As Beth’ has deviated far from the roots of the franchise.
In my personal opinion, I think what irks me the most is that all of Bethesdas missteps are fairly easily fixable. They just seem to refuse to do so for some reason.
A bit more focus on the overall writing would go a long way and wouldn’t have to interfere with the gameplay in the least for people who don’t care. It’s an intricate part of world-building for those that do enjoy it and serves to drive the player forward. Also helps the ‘suspension of disbelief’ and all that.
They don’t need to reach the heights of the old CRPG makers of the 90’s. Just make sure your “Antagonist” has a proper response when you put in an option to ask him Why he’s doing what he’s doing, you know? Stuff like that. As well as maybe not retconning the timeline of the universe just to fit an inconsequential quest-line and then recon it again in the next game… Stick to the established lore.
Secondly: Better implementation of a few new/borrowed features, like base building, that might fit the game. Instead of haphazardly throwing everything currently trending at the wall in the hope that some of it sticks. Take one thing and do it proper, otherwise just don’t do it at all.
Then there’s the Radiant-Quests in F4. This is just a poor excuse so as to not bother with making actual side-quests. There is a limit to how far they can execute their motto of “Keep it simple, stupid.” This is one of those limits.
There’s probably a couple of other things I’m forgetting. But I feel these little changes would help elevate Beth’ just a bit out of the meme-pit they’re currently in.