Editorial Baldur's Gate is Game Developers' All-time Favorite

VentilatorOfDoom · Nov 9, 2011

Tags: Baldur's Gate; BioWare

Over 1000 game developers voted BG for their all-time favorite game, <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-08-game-devs-favourite-is-baldurs-gate" target="_blank">reports Eurogamer</a>.
 
<blockquote>
A 1000 developers have voted Baldur's Gate as their favourite all-time game, the World Gaming Executives network has announced.
 
BioWare's seminal RPG beat the Diablo series (second) and the Curse of Monkey Island series (third) to the crown.
 
Shadow of the Colossus (fourth), the Mass Effect series (fifth), Batman: Arkham Asylum (sixth), StarCraft (seventh), The Legend of Zelda (eighth), EverQuest (ninth) and Devil May Cry (10th) followed.
 
From 11 to 20, the list read: Tomb Raider series (11th), BioShock (12th), Metal Gear Solid (13th), World of Warcraft (14th), Deus Ex (15th), Super Mario series (16th), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (17th), Silent Hill (18th), Assassin's Creed (19th), Deadspace (20th).
</blockquote>
 
Weird list.
 
Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/105619-baldurs-gate-is-game-developers-all-time-favorite.html">Gamebanshee</a>

Wyrmlord · Nov 9, 2011

There is a special magazine for video game development company Executives alone?

It is a weird list, because 1000 people were polled. So you are going to have many different people with many different tastes all voting together, until the final product is least expected.

However, I am surprised that gaming executives have tastes not too far from the general gaming consumer. I imagine a GameSpot or GameSpy poll of their readers would not produce a list that looks any different.

Awor Szurkrarz · Nov 9, 2011

And you guys thought that they all love Fallout and PST and never funded making of such a game just because of money :lol:

?

Humanity has risen! · Nov 9, 2011

My take is that game developers are aging and are largely becoming jaded with gaming, so of course they will prefer more mainstream, streamlined title. You see this over and over when you ask developers what they favorite titles are. None of them tend to prefer games that are more complex/hardcore. One just has to remember Tim Cain picking Oblivion as his favorite RPG of the 2000s.

Davaris · Nov 9, 2011

Humanity has risen! said:
One just has to remember Tim Cain picking Oblivion as his favorite RPG of the 2000s.

You've never heard of politics?

Awor Szurkrarz · Nov 9, 2011

Why do you guys insist that he's saying it just because of politics?

Wunderpurps · Nov 9, 2011

When he posts as Prosper he can tell the truths. If he wants to be employed he has to be more politic in what he says as Tim Cain.

curry · Nov 9, 2011

Awor Szurkrarz said:
Why do you guys insist that he's saying it just because of politics?

Uhh. because it's true? :smug:

hanssolo · Nov 9, 2011

also:

Curse of Monkey Island series

GAMES INDUSTRY: 1997 - PRESENT!

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK

d1r · Nov 9, 2011

That was unexpected.

Rivmusique · Nov 9, 2011

I've played 10 out of those 20 top games/series, liked 4, loved 2 and pretty much hated the rest. Oh well, at least AAA developers come up with completely original ideas and don't just try to emulate what clicked with them and the reviewers right? ... Right?

juggernaut · Nov 9, 2011

Humanity has risen! said:
My take is that game developers are aging and are largely becoming jaded with gaming, so of course they will prefer more mainstream, streamlined title. You see this over and over when you ask developers what they favorite titles are. None of them tend to prefer games that are more complex/hardcore. One just has to remember Tim Cain picking Oblivion as his favorite RPG of the 2000s.

Hmm, my take was that this list makes developers look about 17 years old :/ Dead Space, Assassin's Creed, Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect in an ALL TIME list from adults? I was expecting some 80's arcade games or something from middle aged devs, maybe they are further down the list. Another thing I don't understand is why Bioshock keeps popping up in these things. I guess it was earth-shattering to someone whose first fps was Halo, but I (foolishly) expect more from people who should know better.
Lastly,

the Curse of Monkey Island series

Haba · Nov 9, 2011

Wyrmlord said:
However, I am surprised that gaming executives have tastes not too far from the general gaming consumer. I imagine a GameSpot or GameSpy poll of their readers would not produce a list that looks any different.

Oh you "imagine". I doubt that.

-Gamespy Top 8:
1)Doom
2)Half-Life
3)Warcraft II
4)Civilization II
5)Starcraft
6)Quake
7)Diablo
8)The Legend of Zelda

-Empire:
1)Super Mario World
2)Final Fantasy VII
3)World of Warcraft
4)Call of Duty 4
5)Civilization IV
6)Street Fighter II
7)Doom
8)Ocarina of Time

-Unikgamer:
1)Ocarina of Time
2)Mass Effect 2
3)Half-Life 2
4)Final Fantasy VII
5)Fallout 3
6)Super Mario World
7)Resident Evil 4
8)Portal

-Moby Games:
1)Tetris
2)Ocarina of Time
3)Soulcalibur
4)Super Mario Bros 3
5)Metroid Prime
6)Resident Evil 4
7)Twilight Princess
8)Super Mario Galaxy

-IGN:Editor's Choice
1)Super Mario Bros
2)Tetris
3)Civilization II
4)Ocarina of Time
5)Super Mario
6)Half-Life 2
7)Super Metroid
8)A Link to the Past

-IGN:Reader's Choice:
1)Ocarina of Time
2)Chrono Trigger
3)Soulcalibur
4)A Link to the Past
5)Snake Eater
6)Super Metroid
7)Goldeneye 007
8)Metal Gear Solid

-Game Informer:
1)The Legend of Zelda
2)Super Mario Bros
3)Tetris
4)GTA III
5)Half-Life 2
6)Doom
7)Metroid
8)Final Fantasy VI

-E.G.M.:
1)Super Mario Bros
2)Pac-Man
3)Street Fighter II
4)Tetris
5)The Legend of Zelda
6)Super Mario
7)Space Invaders
8)Ocarina of Time

-Old-Wizard:
1)A Link to the Past
2)Super Mario Bros
3)Chrono Trigger
4)Super Metroid
5)Symphony of the Night
6)Final Fantasy VI
7)Secret of Mana
8)Super Mario Kart

-Guiness World Records:
1)Super Mario Kart
2)Tetris
3)GTA III
4)Super Mario World
5)Ocarina of Time
6)Halo
7)Resident Evil IV
8)Final Fantasy XII

-Gamerankings:
1)Ocarina of Time
2)Super Mario Galaxy
3)Super Mario Galaxy 2
4)GTA IV
5)Soulcalibur
6)Uncharted 2
7)Metroid Prime
8)Tekken 3

-Metacritic:
1)GTA IV
2)Super Mario Galaxy
3)Super Mario Galaxy 2
4)GTA III
5)Half-Life 2
6)Bioshock
7)Uncharted 2
8)Metroid Prime

Unkillable Cat · Nov 9, 2011

Rivmusique said:
I've played 10 out of those 20 top games/series, liked 4, loved 2 and pretty much hated the rest. Oh well, at least AAA developers come up with completely original ideas and don't just try to emulate what clicked with them and the reviewers right? ... Right?

I can't even name that many. I can, with a stretch, name 7.

Yeah, "all time" polls are retarded, film at 11.

commie · Nov 9, 2011

Awor Szurkrarz said:
And you guys thought that they all love Fallout and PST and never funded making of such a game just because of money ?

Well they like Baldur's Gate which for all its creakiness actually is a RPG based on ancient PnP rules, so why don't they make more like it with obvious improvements of course? TOEE isn't radically different in presentation and style after all, so if all the dev's were making a game like this I'm sure there'd be room for more TOEE style offshoots.

I'd say most of the older PC devs picked BG as they are from that era of influence, with the newer ones picking the crap on offer these days. That's the big tragedy here, that Mass Effect, CoD and Bioshock feature prominently as developer favs. With such influences there can be no bright future.

commie · Nov 9, 2011

double post....DOH.

Awor Szurkrarz · Nov 9, 2011

commie said:
Awor Szurkrarz said:

And you guys thought that they all love Fallout and PST and never funded making of such a game just because of money ?

Click to expand...

Well they like Baldur's Gate which for all its creakiness actually is a RPG based on ancient PnP rules, so why don't they make more like it with obvious improvements of course? TOEE isn't radically different in presentation and style after all, so if all the dev's were making a game like this I'm sure there'd be room for more ToEE style offshoots.

Baldur's Gate is the game which started the whole "TB is outdated" madness. ToEE was attacked for not being RTwP.
Baldur's Gate a linear epic storyfag game, while ToEE has the whole mutliple endings and multiple paths things going on.
Baldur's Gate has lots of pre-made "companions", while ToEE is about creating one's own party (though it's quite playable when played like Baldur's Gate).
Baldur's Gate has very limited stat influence on dialogue options while ToEE has a full Fallout-style stat-based dialogue.

They are very different as games.

And to be honest, despite the mechanical shittiness of BG and it general backwardness, I kinda managed to get into it back then after getting access to a character editor. It has nice atmosphere and the whole child of a bad god thing was original enough at that time.
When it comes to ToEE, I admire its mechanics and general design, but I never found it really engaging. My basic reaction to ToEE is - damn... Hommlet again? No thanks.
I think that Troika really missed some important people from the Fallout team.

Roguey · Nov 9, 2011

Over 1000 developers are wrong. The list is at least halfway solid though.

commie said:
Well they like Baldur's Gate which for all its creakiness actually is a RPG based on ancient PnP rules, so why don't they make more like it with obvious improvements of course?

Same answer as always, they don't make games for themselves.

PorkaMorka · Nov 9, 2011

Re: Baldur's Gate is Game Developers' All-time Favorite

It's not entirely clear from the article, but I think they are combining votes for BG1 and BG2 in that result. Notice that a lot of other full series are listed.

This would make a lot more sense. Baldur's gate is kind of boring and empty, but BG2 is one of the best RPGs ever made and it hit the sweet spot of being able to appeal to both serious RPG fans and casualfags.

TOEE looks similar, but TOEE is spoiled by constant amateur design errors. The difference in quality control and craftsmanship between TOEE and BG2 is night and day, despite TOEE having better mechanics.

TOEE devs just copied a P&P module, without properly adjusting it to the format. Only a rookie DM would do that, but these professional game designers did it. Hommlet is literally 3 hours of tedium on an unspoiled playthrough, in a game that is supposedly a dungeon crawler. What a recipe for turning people off!

Meanwhile, in BG2 a lot more attention was paid to pacing things out properly and things generally move along very smoothly.

I could keep going but I need to leave.

sgc_meltdown · Nov 9, 2011

I think it's a mistake to assume that all the people polled are fellow veteran hobbyists who have followed gaming from hallowed 80s and remember installing from diskettes fondly or whatever

they could very well be BA dudes who kinda dig some halo and madden once in a while with their bros

a lot of the top games are games for people who didn't like games so I can't say I'm very surprised