That is a good question. I suppose a good story to me is a story where the stakes matter and the characters take the world with some hints of seriousness. The OG Baldur's Gate are good examples. Sure, some of the characters would make a joke here or there but the characters of that game took the world seriously and the stakes in that game mattered in the grand scheme of things. Not to say every story should be like this, especially if it is a satire. As C.S Lewis once stated; "Not every good story needs to have a point."
However, this is a sequel to a franchise that took itself seriously in the past. Other games based in the Forgotten Realms did as well. Sure, there are jokes to lighten the mood but the characters took the world seriously, the stakes mattered and the villain is intimating. Personally, from what I've seen, the writing feels very meta and immature. The characters all act like they are in on the joke. The world isn't taken seriously and the stakes, which should feel high, feel low. I know you said before that you feel that calling something Reddit is overused so I think a better thing to say is that this game, to me at least, feels like every other piece of entertainment that has been geared at adults for the past decade.
Ok, I understand where you're coming from. Thanks for answering that. My own standards differ quite a bit, but since this is not a book fag thread, I won't go into those details unless asked for it.
In regards to Baldur Gate 3, you may be right in the end, but since the game's not out yet and I only played the first Act for like 3-4h deep (albeit with multiple characters), we will have to postpone final judgement until such a time when we can definitively say if it's either based or r*ddit faggotry.
I am a snob so I prefer my games not to look like ass. Pixel indie superbased isn't an excuse to put the merest minimum into graphics, neither is quirky and whimsical and progressive.
You -can- make less realistic graphics work totally fine but it isn't easy. Boltgun and Cuphead are neither photorealistic 4k stuff, but they got their own style.
I am also worried that the plot will be all "remove parasite" instead of any well... adventure. Go to X, ask healer Y, rinse and repeat. It is like a story about getting the money to pay your rent.
Usually when you do this, its okey as the first act, but not the entire story. You want to gain something, to do a notable deed. It is what video games give you, the ability to do something you can never do in real life. Not running from doctor to doctor to get a brain tumor removed.
I'm also a graphics snob, so I get this. These dev assholes should be held to a certain standard and they should be slapped for trying to be cutesy with retro and pixelated graphics.
For the plot, the parasite is the impetus for which the party members band together and travel. I won't spoil stuff, but the more you try to cure yourself, the more you learn about it's peculiar circumstances and you get more and more involved in an over-arching story.
Have you played the early access? I haven't, but the marketing for Larian is always light hearted and jokey. DOS2 despite having very dark themes at times was very jovial leading up to its release.
They've also said that the game gets very dark, which I tend to believe. When I think "Larian Studios" I think Swen who is very publically a rather Jovial guy, but you look at something where he's more toned down like his recent interview on Dropped Frames and the way he acts doesn't give me the vibe he nor his studio are particularly interested in lighthearted storytelling where it doesn't work.
It's hard to do marketing with forced slavery, genocide, racism, cannibalism, child kidnapping and torture.
And yes, I'm telling you what I found in Early Access.
There are moments, where if you break from the "this is just a game" mindset and take a moment to consider, you end up thinking "you know, this is kind of fucked up what the hell". A quick example, that's early and very minor spoiler, is if you have Speak with Animals and you kill an Owlbear mother, you talk with the kid who says it's sad, then says it's hungry, then starts eating his dead mother. I honestly was like "wtf nigga". Imagine if that scene was marketed instead of le funny r*ddit bear sex.
