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[LectureMaster]

Baldur's Gate 3 developer says the game isn't really a CRPG - in any sense of the word

According to one dev, it's neither just a 'computer' RPG or a 'classic' one

www.gamesradar.com

In an interview with By Design, Larian Studios’ publishing director Micheal Douse talked about the moniker, its implications, and the wider genre as a whole. When asked about how wide the CRPG market was, Douse responds that the team “never used the term CRPG in our campaigns for a reason.”

Douse has a few reasons for that omission. Firstly, is the fact that the game “plays very well on a PS5” and that an Xbox port is coming sometime this year. The developer’s previous game, Divinity Original Sin 2, also played “extremely well on an iPad Pro,” according to Douse, meaning these games “are no longer ‘computer RPGs.” In a factual sense, they’re console-mobile-computer-RPGs. Technically, the 'C' in CRPG does stand for computer - a way of differentiating them from tabletop RPGs - but in some circles, it's also thought to stand for 'classic'. But Douse says that's not right either: “If you consider CRPG to mean ‘classic’ RPG, I promise you that Baldur’s Gate 3 is not a classic RPG but a modern RPG,” Douse continues. “It has a lot of depth, but it’s doing things most RPGs aren’t able to do. The latter is a big reason for its perceived success.”

Surely, there are marketing fluffs regarding the wordings, but Larian is clearly doing a great job lowering the barrier to let new comers get into this game. They have the signature freedom and creativity of turn based combat, and the graphics are outstanding among others in the same genre while keeping that great sense of roleplay immersion and in depth story unfolding. There are numerous player reviews saying they never played a CRPG but got hooked on so immensely. In this sense, what Larian grows is not really the CRPG fanbase but their own fanbase.

 

[Fake]

 

[semiconscious]

no 'this's silly!' option?...

 

[LectureMaster]

no 'this's silly!' option?...

added.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Video games are video games even though the video part has been anachronistic for a while.

Just call things what they are based on their roots. Don't overcomplicate it.

 

[Guilty_AI]

checkmate

 

[bitbydeath]

That’s what CRPG stands for?
What a dumb term.

 

[Buggy Loop]

It has long changed to the widely accepted « classic » RPG definition, not the 80’s computer RPG. The fuck is he on.

Baldur’s Gate II on an iPad is still a cRPG, cmon now

 

[struggler_guts]

"Publishing director says"

 

[Danjin44]

That’s what CRPG stands for?
What a dumb term.

Computer Role Playing Game......Which I thought its suppose to mean.

 

[SirKicksalot]

>consoles and tablets are not computers

 

[Mister Wolf]

Everybody wanna be different.

 

[darrylgorn]

We're entering the spinal tap phase.

 

[Red5]

Tabletop RPG's like DnD, Shadowrun and BattleTech were all we nerds had, we called them RPG's not the full term, then came RPG's which you could play on computer like Wasteland on Commodore or MSDos so they separated the two with TRPG for traditional tabletop and CRPG for computer ones.

Baldur's Gate 3 is very much a CRPG despite what Douse says, because it adheres to tabletop rules, stats and dice roles for pretty much every encounter and outcome, it's a computerized tabletop RPG hence CRPG.

 

[EDMIX]

Larian like

 

[cireza]

Isn't it precisely like a Tabletop RPG ? Then it is a CRPG.

 

[Ronin_7]

>consoles and tablets are not computers

They absolutely are

Everything these days is a computer, it derived from Computers.

 

[Gambit2483]

"CRPG" is a dirty word for console casuals and they are about to release the game on Xbox series...of course it's not a CRPG!

 

[Majukun]

namnes of a genre stay over details, we call them metroidvania even if they are not from those two series, at the time we called every fps a doom-clone.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

It's CRPG. Are they ashamed of that term? Or do they think labeling it CRPG will scare potential customers?

 

[Sub_Level]

Its a Strand genre game.

 

[Robb]

Does it matter what he thinks it is? It is what it is. He can think it’s a platformer if he wants to for all I care.

 

[Shifty1897]

This is like when Japanese devs get bent out of shape for having their games called JRPGs.

It doesn't matter what the devs call their game, at the end of the day the customers and community are going to define the game how they want. Embrace it.

 

[64bitmodels]

BG3 takes many of its mechanics from previous games in the genre labeled CRPG, hence CRPG. I know it's on PS5, I know it's going to be on Xbox soon, I know it's on apple devices. But it's roots are still deeply ground in the personal computer from a gameplay standpoint.

We don't literally classify types of RPG, they are simply just labels that describe the style of gameplay they use. Hence why Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes are JRPGs even if their developers are from the west, they play like older JPRGs.

 

[EDMIX]

BG3 takes many of its mechanics from previous games in the genre labeled CRPG, hence CRPG. I know it's on PS5, I know it's going to be on Xbox soon, I know it's on apple devices. But it's roots are still deeply ground in the personal computer from a gameplay standpoint.

We don't literally classify types of RPG, they are simply just labels that describe the style of gameplay they use. Hence why Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes are JRPGs even if their developers are from the west, they play like older JPRGs.

Beat me to it.

yea if the C just means like computer, its sorta moot. By default most are that. Even if they mean sorta like top down stuff, this game is that anyway lol

Bout to double dip down dat fucking RIVER!

Baldur's Gate 3 (Multi-Language) for PlayStation 5

Baldur's Gate 3 (Multi-Language) for PlayStation 5Online multiplayer for up to four players - allows you to combine your forces in combat, and split your party to follow your own quests and agendas. Concoct the perfect plan together… or introduce an element of chaos when your friends least...

www.play-asia.com

 

[64bitmodels]

I'd call it a GRPG myself.

GOAT
Role
Playing
Game

 

[Lunarorbit]

I play wasteland 3 on my ps5 but it's definitely a crpg

So is bg3. It's OK that it's a crpg. It's done a great job and should embrace it's identity

 

[BlackTron]

Sounds like they just don't want to call it a CRPG because they want to differentiate it from what came before. Because it's more accessible, on more platforms, with better graphics, we need to call it something else so it doesn't get lumped in with well...games of the same genre. They expect people who don't usually play CRPGs to play this so they're trying to speak a different (cough, baser) language to them.

 

[Gaelyon]

So because it's also on consoles it's not a CRPG ? Fine let's call it a Console Role Playing Game. Oh wait..

 

[The Cockatrice]

Theres always going to be that one special dev. He calls it modern but theres nothing modern about it unless this is his first rpg ever played. The gameplay and its rulesets are prolly older than this dev. Story choices? We had those ages ago as well, hell, even Dragon Age Origins had some impressive story choices, sure BG3 is prolly the best in that regard but again, nothing modern about it. It's a crpg no matter what any dumbass says.

 

[Skifi28]

checkmate

What the hell is a Boa Trauma? Drama? I must have missed that specific quest. What a shame, I love snakes.

 

[EDMIX]

Theres always going to be that one special dev. He calls it modern but theres nothing modern about it unless this is his first rpg ever played. The gameplay and its rulesets are prolly older than this dev. Story choices? We had those ages ago as well, hell, even Dragon Age Origins had some impressive story choices, sure BG3 is prolly the best in that regard but again, nothing modern about it. It's a crpg no matter what any dumbass says.

This 1000x

I hate when someone tries to call something a completely different thing, yet fails to even support why it would be called something different.

If TacoBell out here telling us what they sell isn't Tacos, we don't give a shit what they are trying to force, if that shit got ground beef in a tortilla shell ...fuck I'm suppose to call it? lol

 

[Closer]

This game is also not a RPG because you are not playing a role in it, you're playing some character role in the game that has some predefined path for you to unroll the story, so it's a SCPGAVN.

 

[64bitmodels]

if that shit got ground beef in a tortilla shell ...fuck I'm suppose to call it? lol

to be fair if you got a meal that is legit just beef and a tortilla shell... that's not a fucking taco that's terrible food.

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

What a waste of words.

 

[Guilty_AI]

What the hell is a Boa Trauma? Drama? I must have missed that specific quest. What a shame, I love snakes.

"Good plot". The tag equivalent on english steam is "Story rich"

 

[Punished Miku]

"CRPG" is a dirty word for console casuals and they are about to release the game on Xbox series...of course it's not a CRPG!

Exactly. Pre-orders must be low.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

This strikes me of the, "Actually we thought you were insulting us by calling it JRPGs 20 years ago," nonsense. It's the name of the damn genera, deal with it.

 

[LectureMaster]

checkmate

Those are user defined tags, can be hilarious at times.

 

[Evil Calvin]

CRPG. Computer (or console...now..) Role Playing Game. It's a role playing game in the greatest example of what an RPG should be. Much more than most games these days (some even say Zelda TOTK is an RPG).

 

[Neilg]

My impression of the term computer role playing game was that it is to distinguish it from a pen and paper / real life RPG - and that it is a software based simulation of the same kind of game.
In that respect, it's the most crpg ever made.