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400 points redbell | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.773s | source
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mastax ◴[] No.37023856[source]
I am a bit shocked by how popular this game is. All the signs were there, though.

- Their previous game Divinity: Original Sin 2 was critically acclaimed, very popular for a pretty hardcore CRPG, and had long legs.

- DnD has a lot of brand power and has been strongly in the zeitgeist for years.

- There's a big cohort of millennials who have strong nostalgia for Baldur's Gate and who have plenty of money to buy games (if not time to play them).

- The Early Access release for this game was wildly popular beyond the developer's expectations, and maintained interest for years.

I definitely underestimated the brand power of DnD and Baldur's Gate because they aren't very important to me, personally. But also there have been a load of really good CRPGs in recent years and there seemed to be a pretty low ceiling to how much interest they could get. Tyranny, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and a few others were amazing and beloved CRPG games but were lucky to have a tenth of the success of BG3. But those games were generally less accessible, mostly not multiplayer, and again lacked the brand power.

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flohofwoe ◴[] No.37023996[source]
> big cohort of millennials...

I feel slightly offended being thrown into the same pot as those weird millenials ;)

Absolutely everybody who owned a PC for gaming in the late 90's played BG1 and BG2, no matter the age. Video games are not just for teenagers you know.

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1. pixelpoet ◴[] No.37024386[source]
I'm about 40 and am usually grouped as a millennial (at least for the common purpose of blame, e.g. killing cinemas), though I somehow missed Baldur's Gate; played the hell out of the Ultima series though!
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2. torgian ◴[] No.37024506[source]
This is something I wish could come back. Ultima was a great series, and I even liked the trash heaps that were Ultima 8 and 9.

Unfortunately, EA still holds the rights. The new mmo-ish game that Garriet made is one I have not really dived into yet

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3. TillE ◴[] No.37026451[source]
The Ultimas were (mostly) wonderful, especially Ultima 7, but I don't think there's anything particularly valuable about the "IP".

It was really about Garriott exploring innovative ways in how to translate the tabletop RPG experience into a computer game. You don't need an Avatar or Britannia to pursue ideas like Ultima 4's virtue system or Ultima 7's interactivity.

4. lamontcg ◴[] No.37026596[source]
> played the hell out of the Ultima series though!

this is Wizardry III erasure.

(i'm a bit older and solidly GenX)