But personally, I think early access is a good thing, especially for cRPG. Because it really helps studio and devs to find bugs or issues they would never have found by their own... Also helps them to improve or tweak gameplay mechanics according to players feedbacks.
I can see the potential of EA.
It's just that it also offers downsides to myself as a user.
Number 1: Being the whole thing in regards to vapourware... Games that go Early Access so they can be sold before they're finished and then never get completed because the developer just runs with the money.
I don't expect this to be the case for Solasta 2, given that Solasta 1 did infact exist as a game.
Number 2: The potential for major changes to occur that aren't necessarily my preference, leaving a bitterness for the final product due to liking a prior iteration.
This is something that crops up a lot when talking to people who played BG3 during EA. As the game went through a major story overhaul, as well as rewriting several characters (For the worse). So these people are often lamenting how much better the game was during EA with the original writing. Not interacting with a WIP means not having this issue as the only iteration experienced is the final one.
Number 3: I absolutely HATE my gameplay being halted by the wall that is "This feature is coming Soon
™. Please look forward to it"
I'm pretty confident BG3 early access really helps Larian to fix plenty of bugs and improve the game before the full release.
Aye. But EA also negatively impacted the overall game.
For a start, BG3 (Much like all other Larian games), had most of its development time put into the EA portion of the game. Meaning Act 1. Thus, the end result is this really polished and great Act 1 and then Acts 2 and 3 are an afterthought (Especially Act 3 which have all been unanimously trash)
Then there is how feedback impacted the game development;
- Indirect feedback, such as low numbers of players interacting with "Evil Route" or using Tadpoles lead to them ignoring the Evil Route and leaving it underdeveloped, whilst the entire writing around Tadpole usage was changed so they pose no harm (Devaluing the entire choice about whether to use them for more power or not, including all the various dialogue around them being dangerous)
- Direct feedback, such as how they listened to
[...] who wanted to have sex with Halsin, so they rushed and made him a companion and wrote him as a major sex pest so that he would easily be eager to have sex with the player character (And their love interest). Completely ignoring the rest of the fanbase who simply liked him being an upstanding Druid of Sylvanas and not a degenerate sex pest.
In terms of simply going after bugs... Much of the same results would occur from simply having beta tests rather than using the Early Access model. Especially for companies like Larian who don't need the funds from EA sales to allow them to continue to work on the game (For smaller developers with not so much money, EA makes more sense... Though relying on EA funds can lead to the aforementioned Vapourware situation...)
