Starfield vs Baldur's Gate 3

[wndrbr]

Todd Howard's magnum opus releases in two weeks, just a month after Baldur's Gate 3's massive success. Both are AAA rpgs, both directed by well known developers with histories of mainstream success. Which one will be a bigger success?

Things that worked against Baldur's Gate 3:
- it's a turn-based rpg;
- it's a sequel (in name only, but still) to a 20 yrs old game;
- it spent a long period of time in early access.

Things that worked in favor of Baldur's Gate 3:
- Divinity Original Sin 1-2 both sold really well;
- DnD is relatively popular among the normies due to Critical Role and the recent movie;
- Swen is wearing a suit of armor during the interviews, isn't he hecking quirky and cool???
- casual rpg players who grew up playing Dragon Age were starving for Bioware-like games where you can romance your party members;
- the meme magic of that gay bear made the game go viral even among the people who otherwise wouldn't have been interested in it.

Things that may work in favor of Starfield:
- it's the first proper Bethesda RPG since 2015;
- Todd Howard's charisma. "See that planet? You can land on it";
- the game looks crazy ambitious, so a lot of gamers will try checking it out just because it's basically "No Man's Sky, but with an actual content".

Things that aren't looking good:
- the game was in development for far too long. Fo4 was a massive success because Bethesda has managed to pull off a marketing blitzkrieg by releasing it just five months after the announcement while the hype was at its peak. The hype for Starfield has fizzled out after numerous delays;
- the days of Skyrim being the most famous RPG among the normies are long past, Bethesda is now associated with their outdated engine, funny bugs, and Fo76 being a technical disaster;
- scifi is less popular than high fantasy;
- the game just doesn't look quirky enough to generate memes and sell through viral marketing;
- there's no bestiality/alien sex scenes - and judging by Bethesda's previous games, modest fade to black is the best coomers can hope for when it comes to human companions;
- normies who never played an rpg before are now spoiled by BG3, they will **** on Starfield for not having those "le small details", not having barrelmancy, not having coop, not having cinematic dialogues, not having enough ***** characters, not having a diceroll for your every fart, etc etc;
- it's a bethesda rpg, so it's bound to have bugs. And given its open world structure (you can't just polish up the first act / first few areas of the game), the bugs will be apparent right from the get go and it will affect initial reviews;
- it won't be releasing on Playstation, which automatically reduces potential sales number by like 40%.

Todd bros... we got too cocky.

[The_Mask]

BG III has joined the 97+ club everywhere. (*barf*) So I doubt Starfield can match that in scores. But I'm pretty sure it will outsell BG III. It's the Todd effect.

[rusty_shackleford]

The one that's planning to release on consoles at launch and on consoles with more than 4 owners will be the one that sells more copies.
Starfield, made by a God-fearing righteous Anglo-American man, won't be anywhere near as degenerate as the eurotrash so media will hate it. Average people will love it, will cause Todd Howard to become an icon of the working American man.

[Segata]

I wouldn't be surprised if BG3 ends up with better sales numbers just because of the PS5 release.

[Lich]

Starfield will be the game of the generation (not necessarily good). BG3 is a flavor of the month/year game.

[Emphyrio]

Starfield is the one I want to play, but even I'm lukewarm on it. I thought Fallout 4 was OK yet most people hated it, and I don't mean "most people" like internet chuds who hate everything Bethesda makes anyway, I mean normies. Graphically Starfield doesn't look better than Fallout 4 at all, aesthetically it's much worse. The starfield name is also not known and there's apparently nothing interesting about the setting at all. I don't think that the zeitgeist is on its side.

[rusty_shackleford]

Starfield is the one I want to play, but even I'm lukewarm on it. I thought Fallout 4 was OK yet most people hated it, and I don't mean "most people" like internet chuds who hate everything Bethesda makes anyway, I mean normies. Graphically Starfield doesn't look better than Fallout 4 at all, aesthetically it's much worse. The starfield name is also not known and there's apparently nothing interesting about the setting at all. I don't think that the zeitgeist is on its side.

Normies love FO4, you're insane.

[Emphyrio]

Starfield is the one I want to play, but even I'm lukewarm on it. I thought Fallout 4 was OK yet most people hated it, and I don't mean "most people" like internet chuds who hate everything Bethesda makes anyway, I mean normies. Graphically Starfield doesn't look better than Fallout 4 at all, aesthetically it's much worse. The starfield name is also not known and there's apparently nothing interesting about the setting at all. I don't think that the zeitgeist is on its side.

Normies love FO4, you're insane.

I recollect a Beth employee commenting on how badly FO4 was received. It has 57 userscore on metacritic.

[Shillitron]

- normies who never played an rpg before are now spoiled by BG3, they will **** on Starfield for not having those "le small details", not having barrelmancy, not having coop, not having cinematic dialogues, not having enough ***** characters, not having a diceroll for your every fart, etc etc;

Most normies will never experiment with barrelmancy and will probably hate Dice rolling RNG.

I don't think starfield will review as well as BG3. I think user score wise.. BG3 wins.
Sales wise, Starfield will completely eclipse it.

The First Person normie audience eclipses the Turn Based normie audience.
There are people out there who will only play COD + Starfield / GTA and nothing else. That level of normie is very hard to market dice rolling games to.


The problem is we will never know the outcome. Xbox Live will completely **** sales numbers up.

Starfield is the one I want to play, but even I'm lukewarm on it. I thought Fallout 4 was OK yet most people hated it, and I don't mean "most people" like internet chuds who hate everything Bethesda makes anyway, I mean normies. Graphically Starfield doesn't look better than Fallout 4 at all, aesthetically it's much worse. The starfield name is also not known and there's apparently nothing interesting about the setting at all. I don't think that the zeitgeist is on its side.

Normies love FO4, you're insane.

I recollect a Beth employee commenting on how badly FO4 was received. It has 57 userscore on metacritic.

This would make me very happy.. but I'd prefer a source. The only defeat I've ever seen Beth acknowledge was NylonbagGate

Starfield will be the game of the generation (not necessarily good). BG3 is a flavor of the month/year game.

Agreed. Larians underdog "good goy" status has brokered a lot of inflated love from fans..
But I am starting to see the winds shift as more and more people get to Act 3. Despite Rusty shilling, I think Act 3 is largely being accepted as a let down based on the marketting and Act 2 we all agree was basically a non-act that could of probably not existed at all.

BG3 will remain a fondly remembered game but it's not gonna be the redefining force everyone thought. Larian generally doesn't support their games much when it comes to DLC / Expansions / Feature growth. What you get is what you get.

[The_Mask]

Speaking of Fallout 4: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fallout_4_g ... ar_edition

[Shillitron]

Speaking of Fallout 4: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fallout_4_g ... ar_edition

That's what Cyberpunk looked like 2 months after release.

[Segata]

I recollect a Beth employee commenting on how badly FO4 was received. It has 57 userscore on metacritic.

The person registering to metacritic to leave a review is not a normie. Not a human either.

[Emphyrio]

Speaking of Fallout 4: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fallout_4_g ... ar_edition

That's what Cyberpunk looked like 2 months after release.

yeah a game from 2015 getting 75% off doesn't mean anything.

[The_Mask]

yeah a game from 2015 getting 75% off doesn't mean anything.

Not sure what your tone was when writing this post, but as far as marketing strategies go, it's actually a pretty good one. You put one of the last major titles you released, preferably one that has was received positively, on a major discount. This attracts attention to your company. People see you have another title coming up.

"Oh what title is it?"

"Starfield."

"What kind of game is it?"

And 20 minutes later another person walks away informed, and they paid for it.

Smart? Not smart? Up to you to decide. Marketing strat either way.

[Emphyrio]

Remembering how long it's been since Fallout 4 release, it's really depressing how mediocre and samey Starfield looks. More time has passed between Fallout 4 and Starfield (8 years) than between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 (7 years).

I can already imagine the people sliding around with their feet clipping through the floor.

► Show Spoiler

[The_Mask]

Pre-release Negative Nancy. Awwww...

<3

[maidenhaver]

Starfield can't outsell BG3.

[Emphyrio]

[maidenhaver]

It won't be catastrophic, either.

[KnightoftheWind]

Speaking of Fallout 4: https://www.gog.com/en/game/fallout_4_g ... ar_edition

****, this came out of nowhere. I did at one point want a DRM-free version of Fallout 4, and might get it just to play with American Krogan's eventual mod release....

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Starfield will be more commercially successful.

To the mainstream, it's being made by the same company that released Skyrim (and to a lesser extent, the new Fallout games), one of the most popular video games ever and is still an enduring name over a decade later due to its modding community.

It's Skyrim/New Fallout in space. A lot of people liked Skyrim and New Fallout, and chances and there is a good chance they might like Starfield too.

The game is not viewed through a top down/isometric camera which makes it much more appealing.

Cool factor in the customizeable spaceship.

Fills an untapped market (high production value game with a sci fi aesthetic), whereas there are several other games with the same D&D aesthetic as BG3. We know from Star Citizen and No Man's Sky that there is a lot of demand for these games that is not being met.

[General Reign]

So this is where we are....debating whether a Larian or Bethesda game is more crap.

Here are the highlights for Beth:

Dwellings can be acquired in all major cities, some by purchasing and others through quests
Some items will be considered contraband and need to be hidden on your ship using special modules to pass inspection
Faction quests are not mutually exclusive and can all be completed independently
There are up to 20 named characters that can join your crew, follow you around, and carry your stuff
Commit crimes and you can go to jail, pay a fine, or resist arrest
The mechs are in ruins and not usable
A fully nonlethal playthrough isn’t possible

OH BOY!

YOU CAN GO TO JAIL JUST LIKE IN MORROWIND!!!! WOW!

[maidenhaver]

Your pc can get arrested in Oblivion and Skyrim, and can either pass the time, and lose stats, or break out of jail with the lockpicks he smuggles in his colon. I'd like a lot more prison content, like a full guild questline, that lets me run the prison like I'm Al Capone, or stage a big uprising and overthrow the prison planet government. Skyrim did this in Markarth, if you get arrested you can join the Forsworn chieftan, but it was disappointingly shallow. I never played F3's expansions, but I think The Pitt did this with it's mq.

[wndrbr]

So this is where we are....debating whether a Larian or Bethesda game is more crap.

no, it's the sales/scores poll only.

[Goth-Girl-Supremacy]

By December the world will have forgotten BG3 released while All-American Male Todd Howard shows these Eurofucks how it's done.

[General Reign]

So this is where we are....debating whether a Larian or Bethesda game is more crap.

no, it's the sales/scores poll only.

By "we" I mean everyone online debating this at the moment not this thread just by itself and game developers crying because BG3 is big or something.

The answer for sure is Starfield will sell more because of consoles and console kids.

[wndrbr]

The answer for sure is Starfield will sell more because of consoles and console kids.

Starfield only releases on PC and Xbox. BG3, on the other hand, also releases on Playstation 5.

Interestingly enough, BG3's playstation release date is the same as Starfield's pc&xbox one - September 6th. Swen wants to steal Todd's thunder.

[rusty_shackleford]

BG3, on the other hand, also releases on Playstation 5.

A console owned by 7 people.

[Segata]

BG3, on the other hand, also releases on Playstation 5.

A console owned by 7 people.

That will be 7 copies more than what Starfield on Xbox will sell.

[wndrbr]

BG3, on the other hand, also releases on Playstation 5.

A console owned by 7 people.

nothing prevents Swen from announcing BG3 for Switch or any other pastgen platforms. Starfield, on the other hand, cannot leave Microsoft ecosystem.