Larian is an unusual case. It's indie but it's huge. They aren't funded by or marketing through a bigger publishing company so IMO that's still indie. But they're hundreds of people so not really small, and BG3 can by all means be considered a AAA game because the difference in quality and scale is indistinguishable from AAA published games.
It baffles me how anyone can stand to preorder any game with the market being so oversaturated. There are SO MANY great games on a constant $20 or less sale rotation you'll probably never have a chance to play if you're a full-time working adult. I'm worried about grabbing a highly acclaimed title that's been out for 5 years before it fades into obscurity, and I have to stumble upon a shout-out 3 years later to be reminded of its existence. Not about some stupid launch skin bonus, or OST mp3s you'll never click open.
"Choose" isn't really an accurate term to use in your comment though, is it? Obviously high-realism AAA game graphics are going to come with a high budget outside the realm of possibility for the average indie dev, unless they have some super talented people with a passion for the project working for cheap.
A lot of us are willing to make this concession or adjust expectations for an experience that has great gameplay, soundtrack, story, etc. as easily as reading subtitles to enjoy a foreign film. The imagination can do plenty of the heavy lifting.
Just saw a YouTube vid showcasing a whole damn multiplayer mod. A whole squad rolling up on the area with floating user tags. It looked fun as hell.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon! It's on steam sale for $12 reg version, but I bought the Hero Edition for $14. It has two extra job classes and something else I've forgotten. I'm 4 hours in and it's been a LOT of character and plot set up while just scratching the surface of their turn-based combat. The story is pretty good so far and full of Japan's particular brand of uncanny fringe humor that I'm expecting to snowball as time goes on.
The 3rd act of MGS2 hits like a sledgehammer after so much light hearted, self-parodying, comfortably familiar heroic espionage. The story has aged so well. It invokes that eerie 4th wall break feeling that Psycho Mantis delivered, but on a prolonged and more meaningful scale.
Added it as it was growing up. We had a simple post support before, then tried a different spiral support but it was weak. This thing is sturdy and getting the job done. It really takes two hands to effectively manipulate it, so it helped to have my wife holding the plant upright.
Here's a close up of some perforated foliage
It's about 4ft or a little taller at this point, and has been a bit of a pain in the ass keeping up right. This cool spiral support has been serving pretty well, but has needed a few readjustments as it grows. We keep it out on the north-facing front porch where it's well shaded all day long with the help of big front yard tree.
The bar is apparently low these days.
"They released it almost bug free!" is the new "AAA devs announced there will be no micro transactions!" Gamers as a group are basically abused spouses.
Didn’t think I would have to explain that.
You didn't. You just repeated what the other guy said in different words, haha. I think he's looking for a little more detail. It's an 11yo console and we're not all Nintendo historians.
Yeah, it's the not buying it.
Wish more people realized this, and realized it's a bipartisan practice too.