From ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ to ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ to the same-day drop of ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ and ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder,’ 2023 has been a fantastic year for gamers. But where does it stand historically in the GOAT gaming year debate?
I’d even say the genre never died, just became a little more niche. I think the ARPG kind of dominated there for a bit, but CRPGs still existed. The time between Baldur’s Gate 2 and Dragon Age: Origins was only 9 years. There were several games between those games that I quite enjoyed (Arcanum, Fallout Tactics, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and more). I realize that wasn’t your argument at all, just wanted to add a little more weight to what you were getting across
I haven’t played DA:O to know if it counted, but I do know it was at least trying to tap into that lineage a bit. I was mostly going from NWN/KOTOR-ish to the Kickstarter boom that birthed Shadowrun, Wasteland, and Torment successors, among others.
I’d even say the genre never died, just became a little more niche. I think the ARPG kind of dominated there for a bit, but CRPGs still existed. The time between Baldur’s Gate 2 and Dragon Age: Origins was only 9 years. There were several games between those games that I quite enjoyed (Arcanum, Fallout Tactics, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and more). I realize that wasn’t your argument at all, just wanted to add a little more weight to what you were getting across
I haven’t played DA:O to know if it counted, but I do know it was at least trying to tap into that lineage a bit. I was mostly going from NWN/KOTOR-ish to the Kickstarter boom that birthed Shadowrun, Wasteland, and Torment successors, among others.
DA:O was touted as the spiritual successor to BG2 at the time, so totally was. And yeah, there was a little lull, but there were still games in there.