Most people could agree that sometimes the tiniest problems are just the most difficult to ignore. Like a pebble in your shoe. It’s hardly a serious problem, but good luck thinking about anything else until you manage to get rid of it. The same goes for RPGs. Although a broken quest or a stubborn crash are issues that need immediate attention, there are also some problems that don’t necessarily stop people from playing, but they can slowly and surely build people’s annoyance. However, no matter how much time has passed since the launch, some games keep paying attention to even the smallest imperfections.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a good example, as Larian is still cleaning up surprisingly minor problems three years after its release. The studio recently dropped another small hotfix, and while it addressed some other pressing issues as well, it also made beards slightly less patchy than they used to be. And although Larian doesn’t need to maintain a constant engagement loop with Baldur’s Gate 3, it is impressive that it’s still polishing details as small as this one. On the other hand, live-service RPGs that are way more dependent on keeping people around for years often choose to ignore similarly minor annoyances in favor of bigger updates. However, ignoring too many small problems may eventually be the exact reason people leave.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Shows Why the Small Fixes Still Matter After the Big Updates End
Unlike live-service RPGs, Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t really need to endlessly provide new seasons, events, or major improvements to keep players coming back every week. Moreover, the studio has been pretty clear about not wanting to tweak the game indefinitely, because doing so will prevent it from moving on to the next big thing. Although it was officially confirmed that Patch 8 would be the last update adding new content, outside of some minor bug fixes, this doesn’t mean that the game will suddenly stop taking care of its players.
And when it comes to Baldur’s Gate 3, live-service RPGs can only watch and learn. It’s true that studios simply cannot address every tiny complaint, but consistently putting off smaller fixes may eventually create a much bigger problem. While one minor flaw is easy to overlook, ten of them can quickly add up toward a significantly worse player experience. And what’s even worse, it leaves players with the impression that all the devs care about is the next big update, completely ignoring what may have been bothering users for months.
Live-Service Games Can Make Old Content Feel New Just by Fixing What Players Already Have
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Image via lizardphunk/Nexus Mods -
Image via lizardphunk/Nexus Mods -
Image by Larian Studios
A minor problem earns its name because encountering it once in a while isn’t a big deal for most people. If a menu takes a few extra seconds or an awkward glitch appears every time the in-game store opens, people usually don’t start strikes. However, since live-service games ask players to constantly return to the game, seeing that same issue ten times a day for years may cause even the most laid-back person’s patience to eventually run thin. Moreover, since the game is constantly being updated anyway, it’s hard for players not to start asking themselves why on Earth it’s so difficult to get a good quality-of-life update once in a while.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Moreover, fixing older annoyances can often make existing parts of the game feel like new additions without even having to build anything from scratch. Games like Destiny 2 have already proved this point. For example, when Bungie introduced its in-game Loadouts system, players could finally save their builds and switch between them with one click instead of putting everything together manually. This made the entire process a thousand times easier, not only for players but also for the devs, who later managed to even expand the system successfully by adding more slots.
Patch 8 was Baldur’s Gate 3‘s final major content update, but Larian continues to release smaller bug fixes.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Setting a Higher Bar for How Games Should Be Left Behind
Of course, Baldur’s Gate 3 fixing a patchy beard is probably not going to make every live-service game dev gather their colleagues for an urgent bug-fixing meeting. However, it could potentially make some studios reconsider the way they approach updates moving forward, raising the bar for how studios maintain their games. In any case, Larian has certainly raised some players’ expectations of what long-term support actually looks like.
This is especially important because, eventually, every game stops receiving regular updates, and whatever state the devs leave it in will be the version people may continue playing for another decade. That’s why cleaning up smaller imperfections at the right moment could mean a more polished final product for years to come. It’s also important to note that many players will discover these games long after their final major updates, too. In other words, it’s not only about keeping today’s players happy; it also guarantees a brighter future for the entire game. Baldur’s Gate 3 may already be enjoying its retirement, but at least Larian is making sure it does so with a decent beard.
- Released
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August 3, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
