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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9682361" data-attributes="member: 18">True but not an accessible or naturalistic kind of tactics like BG3 has (and actually like DOS1 rather had). Instead DOS2 had really bizarre systems for protection, incredibly steep level/equipment/enemy scaling (far, far steeper than BG3 or DOS1), and very game-y systems that required gaming these game-y systems (and/or just barrelmancy). And I think that's part of what kept it from doing better, and why an awful lot of people played a few hours in, thought "cool but not for me" and gave up.It's fine to like that, note, I know I like some weird-as-hell games - but the issue I am really pointing to is that it was weird and counterintuitive (especially the armour/magic shielding system), which is antithetical to accessibility. There are a lot of games (not just videogames, either) which technically have "complex" tactics but ones which are deeply unaccessible and off-putting.I was going to say "Swen is wrong to think gameplay like this will sell better than BG3's gameplay", but I don't know if he actually does think that!See, Swen is pretty canny. He has personal preferences, and they're pretty strong, but he's not an idiot nor a business idiot (unlike, say, Todd Howard, who is absolutely a "<a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/" target="_blank">business idiot</a>", one of the biggest in the games industry). I strongly suspect he loved that stuff in DOS2, but I also suspect he knows an awful lot of people didn't, and that it would limit a future game to go that way.Likewise, whilst he loves Rivellon's crapsack world stuff, I'm not sure he'd push for a similar setting in future.This is a man so canny that despite DOS2 doing well, he removed the long-time Larian lead writer (who he is surely friends with), and replaced him with two incredibly well-chosen non-videogame writers (but also managed to keep the old guy on, just under them, so clearly diplomatic too!). I should not underestimate him on this!Honestly I'm really hoping Larian is doing something SF - either their own take on a post-apocalypse setting or a grunge-y Firefly/Farscape space deal. I think they'd do a ton better with that than generic fantasy.</blockquote>

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