People keep pointing at Baldur’s Gate 3 like it rewrote the commercial reality of traditional CRPGs, But It didn’t, BG3 is a MASSIVE outlier due to the fact that It pulled in a ton of people who normally never touch the genre because of the D&D brand, high production values, solid multiplayer, cultural timing, and accessibility features, but That success does not change the underlying distribution of the genre.
Look at the next-best results and the numbers fall off a cliff: Divinity: Original Sin 2 was a genuine success for a CRPG but not a breakout hit and Most other modern CRPGs like Pathfinder sit significantly lower.
Publishers looking at risk and scale still see a relatively limited, dedicated audience for pure or near-pure versions of the genre
.Former BioWare staff often frame EA as simply not “getting” Dragon Age because it was “too niche, too backwards, too old-school.”which sucks but its Kinda true. Hell, Dragon Age: Origins itself needed, edgy marketing with heavy blood, sex and Marilyn Manson’s “This Is the New Shit” just to generate wider interest., Then the sequels systematically moved away from the CRPG genre:
DA2 shifted toward action combat, a voiced protagonist, and tighter scope. Inquisition went further into open-world action-RPG territory. Veilguard completed the pivot into a more conventional action-RPG.
BG3 proved the ceiling for a traditional approach can be extremely high when everything aligns but It did not prove that the genre stopped being niche or that every studio can (or should) expect those numbers from a single player CRPG
pulled in a ton of people who normally never touch the genre because of the D&D brand, high production values, solid multiplayer, cultural timing, and accessibility features,
And sloppy nasty sex, right? I feel like a lot of it was the sloppy nasty sex. The popularity of the bear sex startled me when it was announced.
One of my friends who didn’t play D&D asked me if there was anything about Wild Form sex in the rulebooks and I had to make her very sad when I told her “No, you usually don’t do that sort of thing normally”
I mean, the rules don’t say you can’t have sex with NPCs or party members while in wild shape.
Yeah, but I don’t cotton to Air Bud shit as the GM
Yeah, there are probably better TTRPG systems for horndogs even if the table is okay with banging.
It makes the rest of the table uncomfortable
You’ve made me sad too. And here I thought D&D was cool… fucking Hasbro…
Yeah, there’s plenty of ttrpgs where you can do that sort of thing
D&D operates in this space where as the only ttrpg with name recognition it claims to be more than what it actually is
Like, from the get go, D&D is a game about going into dangerous places, fighting monsters and cashing in for better gear so you can go into more dangerous places and fight bigger monsters
There’s lots of rules, but the ponderous nature of the game tended to lead people into playing with house rules or to ignore those rules
This is why 5th edition is just sold to people as imagination the game and Baldur’s Gate 3 (which is a very good game, no knocking on Larian) is just Divinity with a coating of the Forgotten Realms on it
If you want to fuck a bear, you gotta go into the wonderful world of indie ttrpgs
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any that involve bear fucking off the top of my head, but they’re out there, just waiting for noble perverts to start playing them
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any that involve bear fucking off the top of my head,
Honey Heist if you’re fucking weird about it.
clearly it’s time to update the book of erotic fantasy to 5e
I think you might have been oversold lol, it’s a 1-2 minute cutscene that requires you to play through 40 hours of tactics RPG first.
I wouldn’t fuck a bear, even if she did pass the Harkness Test. But I would literally sleep with a bear, as in sharing a bed and blanket for warmth, just for the snuggles. Bears are hug shaped… but then, I don’t need to say that on this website, do I… after all, it is “the bear site”, I assume we all like bears.
ⓘ This user is suspected of being a bear. Please report any suspawcious behaviour.
BG3 succeeded because of its massive budget and smoochable party members
OK, but when is Dark Heresy coming out?
Asking the real questions
I’m just hyped for the Kroot party member lol
“Inedible”? I’ll put that name to the test.
Dragon Age: Origins itself needed edgy marketing
I still remember when my buddy told me about dragon age origins before it came out; he literally said it’s like mass effect but for fantasy, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how a fantasy game could function as a cover shooter (how were the melee enemies trying to strike you? How were you supposed to strike them with melee from behind cover?), then I play the game and it’s wildly different than mass effect (I hated it at first)
I think BG3 succeeded because it was both a good game and had good marketing behind it. most crpgs even if theyre good games don’t get the marketing necessary for a wide release, so the nicheness of the genre becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I’d say Disco Elysium is also a CRPG and it did well. The genre is niche because most of the games in it are very complicated. Like I tried Wrath of the Righteous once and as I was having trouble understand how I should level up my character, the game throws a whole another army building game on top. If the games were more casual friendly the genre would be more popular.
The side games in Owlcat games are rough. I remember hating the fucking army manager in Wrath and the stupid kingdom game in Kingmaker. IIRC you can drop the difficulty on them to make it less annoying.
Do you have numbers on DSO2? I’m curious how well it actually did.
Most recent I can find is around 7.5 million as of 2024 (7 years post-release) while BG3 had sold 15 million at the same time (1 year post-release).
Personally speaking, I did show up for the D&D and the sex but genuinely I keep replaying it for the engaging combat gameplay. I’m probably gonna play other CRPGs once I’m done torturing BG3 to death
