Early access was and is promising.

Well, good use of Google money, Larian. For those who forgot: Google promoted BG III as a title for their new project Stadia and supported Larian with moneys for that purpose. Larian also told how the Google money allowed them to increase their team size for this game compared to the Divinity games. Not Larians fault that Stadia folded before the game was finished.

Oh, I have no doubt it will be a good game, I just wish they didn't chose 5e as a core system - they obviously had to stick with DnD, so 3e would be much better choice, given how anemic 5e is.

Google is awesome :) the browser, the search engine, yt ect.
Plus they helped fund BG3 (I didn't even know).

Larian are fantastic though.
crpgs alone are rare enough, ones of this level of scope, and complexity..... you basically have to go back to old BG2 for.
(I have a soft spot for crpgs, and jrpgs, and devs that make them, are brilliant)

I have to say, this is my favorite kind of nonsense then. We need counterweights for the annual cash-in crowd and "release the same stuff with minuscule upgrades or different setting now and then" crowd. So many great RPG developers lost their way; we need new ones to pick up the slack. Larian deserves credit from other developers for lending the industry some much-needed quality and passion for their work. This whole thing reminds me of the buzz around The Witcher 3 release, where major publishers were ranting about how poor Polish salaries were in comparison (in this line of work, they're basically not), and a hundred other excuses as to why they couldn't adopt this format and philosophy in the West.

The thing is poland isnt even that poor, anymore.
Like the avg poor person in poland, has a higher standard of liveing than the avg poor person in the UK.
Most wouldn't think so, but its true. (granted the middle-upper class, and the rich in the UK are better off)

Yeah, this is the counterweight thats needed. Thats exactly my take on this.

I mean look at this:



Theres something oddly refreshing about seeing this sort of thing.

It's weird how people forgot about more than 3 endings in the RPG genre, it wasn't until AAA games came in full swing that we got the watered down 3 endings trope (good, evil, neutral), and seeing those 3 endings watered down considerably (like Mass Effect 3 for a prime example, or Skyrim's unfinished endings). 

Having more than 3 endings is great, because it gives the player more reason to keep playing (it's why Undertale having more endings and differences in it's story was more than a welcome change). 

From what I read, Larian estimates at least 18 full playthroughs to experience all content. This game is going to be so god tier.

I mean, I'm not saying that the game is not gonna be great, but I would like to point out that scope ≠ quality. We have seen many developers falling into that trap before thinking that "more" equals "better".

In this case, I don't think there's any other developer around right now that understand that notion better than these guys. Scope is only one of the reasons Larian's games are so loved (and reviewed).

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/divinity-original-sin-enhanced-edition

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/divinity-original-sin-ii---definitive-edition

Based on their previous two outings in the genre, and considering the 5-6 years of development time and the growth the studio has seen in resources and insights, I think it's safe to assume the game will be great. I would be genuinely surprised if this didn't plant its butt safely above the 90s limit on Metacritic as well. There's also the early access version with people pouring hundreds of hours into it, most of which say the same thing. Between Larian Studios and Owlcat Games, my CRPG itch is being scratched something fierce in the past few years. I'm actually replaying Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 right now to prepare for the third one, since someone finally worthy of it has been been able to continue the saga.

Just about my only complaint about BGIII in its current state is the rules system itself; I'm not a fan of D&D 5th edition at all (Pathfinder 2e is my jam). But I understand that they can't use the, now archaic, 3.5 system, or the 4th edition that everyone hated.

From where I'm standing, the noise from the other players in the industry is in and on itself a sign that Larian are about to release something special.