There in that studio, which we had forgotten. There did they toil, that we might remember. By endless nights they reclaim, which by day had been stolen. Far from themselves, it grew ever nearer. Our eyes once were blinded, and through them do we see. Our hands once were idle, now for them do we game. And now the world will listen. And now the world will see. And when the world remembers. That world shall cease to be. For when 9 and 9 meet 9, the depths of reason shall stir. When the seal of creation is broken, a voice like thunder shall sound, and thou shalt know- Larian has arrived! Which is all of the ominous sounding prophecy talk I can pick out of the top of my head from across gaming- all in my way of saying that they've done it- Larian has swept every single possible award show for gaming with the passing of the BAFTAS. They've united the unite-able. They've conquered the world. And now... Miraak will rise or... the spire of the Agito will appear in the sky or something. I dunno- the prophecy was rather vague on the consequences...
Yes- even the BAFTAS came around to celebrate the absolute majesty of Baldur's Gate 3 as a true example to the industry of what it could look like if we just rounded up all the creepy executives who exist only to prey on artists, put them all in a field and released them from our Pokémon parties so they can graze forever in the wild fields. (I assume that's what happens when you release a Pokemon... wait, so what happens if you release an egg? Do you just throw that defenceless child out in the wilds to fend for itself?) I get the feeling that the standard Larian has set today will be a beacon to which every major AAA game will be held to going forward, and to which I expect quite literally all of them to fail for at least the next 4 years. Which is fine, I suppose. Never hurts to have a goal to strive for. (Provided, of course, that the actual striving is really happening- ya know?)
The Award for Best Supporting actor went to the wonderful voice of Raphael, for a change, Andrew Wincott! (Best actor went to Miles' performer for Spider-Man 2; which makes me ever so curious about what the man gets up to in that game considering Miles was dull as dishwater in his debut game.) Best Narrative was given to Baldur's Gate 3- which is another aspect of the game that had gone unrespected until now, which is galling given the sheer amount of honestly unprecedented work that went into conceiving a narrative as malleable as BG3's! I can only think of one other game with a story so flexible that the player can literally attack it with a hammer and still bounce back on the critical path, and it's literally New Vegas- one of my favourite games ever made. Best music finally went to Borislav Slavov on Baldur's Gate 3- the unhinged composer behind the game's gut wrenchingly iconic combat tracks all the way up to it's sweetest ballads and the soaring epic themes inbetween. Recognition well deserved! Best game of course went to Baldur's Gate 3, no surprise there and so did player's choice in a rare showing of critical parity across the iron curtain. Consider Mr. Gorbachev shown up!
As I implied earlier, that gives BG3 the 'Game of the Year' recognition from the Golden Joysticks award, Keighley's Game Awards, the D.I.C.E awards, the Game Developer Choice Awards and now the BAFTAS. A harmony of achievement I can't remember happening before in gaming- and certainly not in an age of high quality games as packed as our current surroundings. There are none I can remember who have risen to such universal acclaim, not Elden Ring, not Breath of the Wild, none could be trusted in the world. But Baldur's Gate- Baldur's Gate you can trust! (Sorry, just remembered another speech I had to chuck in.) It kind of feels like one of those rare achievements like a boxer bringing all the titles from the various competitions under his name- only we never actually expected the entire critical world to ever agree on anything so no one built up the mystique and intrigue around this eventuality.
The question on the lips of everyone for a while now has been the precedent this will set, what will other studios learn from the way that Larian has succeeded doing the things that they do. Well the knee jerk was the utter rejection, the excuses and the complaints about how unrealistic it was to expect any of these other, much better funded, studios to achieve anything on the level of Baldur's Gate 3 because well... stop asking! Their kind even conjured some conspiracy about vast underground funding that Larian received from thin air. Literal fake news all to try and distance themselves from the reality that these might be the standards they are held to in the future. Even fear mongering about how the state of gaming at large might be jeopardised if people looked at their entertainment and said something along the lines of- "why am I paying $10 more for an infinitely worse experience than Larian can offer me?"
Personally I like to think of Baldur's Gate 3 as something more of an aspiration. It's not as though every landmark game in history has totally invalidated all others lacking the same ambition, they more initiate a steady phase out. If the games industry isn't willing to phase out what doesn't work in favour of what does, then it'll grow just as stale as the music industry. And no one wants to get as old and decrepit as them! Besides, can we really be sad about RPGs having raised standards? Most real RPGs already neatly slide towards Larian's way of doing things, and all the pseudo RPGs that stick on crappy ill-thought out skill trees because they thought that's what real games do- well, if they're made to look stupid then... oh well?
What Larian have proven most of all is that it can be done. You can be the company that treats it's employees right, works with the community and doesn't screw over anyone in the process- and you can be successful. That is the most terrifying prospect imaginable to a world held up, literally at it's foundations, by the belief that fairness is weakness and the weak always fail. Cut-throat business, screwing over your customers for a quick buck- that's just the price of being part of an industry and you need to accept that or shut up and step off! That is the free market telling you the way to run in this world, isn't it? And if it isn't? If living like that isn't a necessity to making quality games at the top level of your craft- then what does that say about them? What does that say about the producers who run their companies like sweat shops and discard those that speak up? What about those that defend such practices with their silence? What happens to their fragile inner sense of morality?
Larian are going to go quiet for a decent chunk of years as they move on to their next project, and in that time I wouldn't be surprised if we see some smaller studios try and follow in that path. To develop ethically, with staff treated well and players respected. As the bigger studios veer in an ever more anti-consumer manner, who knows where the markets may trend. Wouldn't it be crazy if the 'free market' started favouring cheaper, more creative experiences over the over-priced bloat fields churned out in the development mills? Wouldn't it be exciting if the bubble finally burst and the ball of pent up aggression collapsed around these institutional wastrels that have run this industry with an iron fist? And wouldn't it be sweet if this movement started simple, peaceably, in a little brook down by the river?
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