JakobFel: I still preorder games by studios that I really love. I'll preorder just about any mainline game that CDPR or Bethesda Game Studios makes. I'm also planning to preorder Obsidian's upcoming game, Avowed, unless it ends up being completely different than what we're currently speculating. Oh, and The Outer Worlds 2. Additionally, provided that Larian doesn't do the early access model for the next Divinity game, that's also going to be a preorder/day 1 for me.
teceem: Why?
(a question not only aimed at you)
Not why those specific games; why pay the day 1 price for them?
ps. I'm not insinuating that there's anything wrong about it; I'm just curious about other people's motivation(s).
Ah fair point, I didn't even think to do that haha.
When it comes to CDPR, they (CD Projekt as a whole) are my favorite company in the industry right now and I've loved every game of theirs so far (haven't played The Witcher Monster Slayer yet because I don't use a smartphone) and I love their overall approach and ethic.
Bethesda Game Studios makes my favorite type of game; to this day, I uphold the belief that nobody has come close to replicating their formula, though many have tried. There's just some sort of quality to their games that lets the player truly
live in the game world, so that you don't feel like you're wasting time if you sit down and read a book or just stand in a tavern and listen to the music while eating some food. I'd say the closest anyone has ever come to replicating that formula would be Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 but even then, there are some aspects that discourage you from truly immersing yourself and playing as though you're living in the world. Even Fallout 76 enabled this sort of immersion and roleplay (albeit to a more social degree).
When it comes to Obsidian, for the most part, I love all of their games. There are a few I have zero interest in, such as Grounded (which sounds fun but not my type of game) or South Park: the Stick of Truth (I hate South Park) but I absolutely love Pillars of Eternity and I had a load of fun with The Outer Worlds. The rumors surrounding Avowed (many of which are credible) seem to imply that it's trying to take the Pillars of Eternity world of Eora and put it into a Skyrim-like first-person semi-sandbox RPG. Even if it ends up being more like The Outer Worlds in terms of gameplay, I'll still love it given how intriguing of a world Eora is, but if they throw sandbox gameplay and a proper open world into the mix, it could be my next favorite fantasy RPG. And as for TOW2, if it's anything like the first game, it'll be an insta-buy for me.
As for Larian, they're another studio where I love everything they make and as a company, they feel a lot more like a smaller scale CDPR in terms of their business practices and clear passion for the games they make. My only gripe with them is their early access model. I get why they do it but I have a hard time paying a full $60 for a game that is literally unfinished (and not in the way people often misuse that word) but also resets your progress every so often. That's the only reason I haven't bought BG3 yet, as much as I desperately want to. Even so, I have full faith that they'll complete the games unless money runs out, I just don't want to spend $60 if I'll have to restart a bunch of times until the game fully launches. If they were to go toward releasing the full game all at once, though, it's an instabuy, especially if it's in the Divinity series. Nothing against D&D (I do enjoy its CRPGs, though I haven't played the TTRPG version yet) but I love how Larian blends pretty epic storytelling and even some Biblical and religious metaphors with an insane sense of humor that feels appropriate for the world. Rivellon is such an interesting and unique fantasy setting and to this day, I think it has the coolest name for a fantasy world that I've ever heard.
