Being a God is boring. Hacking and slashing your way through the pantheon is something no deity is generally capable of with Ao around to viciously maintain the status quo. Only an Edition change can bring any real upheaval.
New protagonist, new story, set in Baldur's Gate and the surrounding countryside. That's literally the only way Baldur's Gate 3 could ever be successful.
Being a God is boring. Hacking and slashing your way through the pantheon is something no deity is generally capable of with Ao around to viciously maintain the status quo. Only an Edition change can bring any real upheaval.
New protagonist, new story, set in Baldur's Gate and the surrounding countryside. That's literally the only way Baldur's Gate 3 could ever be successful.
Yup. BG is just a city's name after all. Would be kind of interesting to do a game the opposite of BG 1 -- i.e. you start out in the city of BG, then have to explore the countryside in the later half of the game.
Being a God is not boring, THIS is what they should be doing with Baldurs gate 3
You are the God of murder, but you guys forget there are COUNTLESS of other planes out there, hell they could even be trying to invade the current plane or whatever.
You could be travelling to other planes to encounter other races (or not for you lore loving buddies) but also towards other dimensions maybe? Possibilities are endless. Fighting other Gods from other planes in a big scale war baldurs gate style (comming onto the battlefield , killing a lot of mortals to finally encounter their favored champions, invade their realms to slaughter them and safeguard your own.
Make choices wether to plunge the universe in chaos, maintain the balance, or to bring the light upon the worlds and planes that lie beyond.
Make powerfull allies amongst the Gods, team up with Cyric, etc etc... As a God of this plane they could make you powerfull but there are still greater dangers out there.
Possibly insert lvl 10 spells for mages etc, (God like spells) to fight off the others. You can make this story whatever you like with it, travelling back or forth in time etc.... Enemies would be endless, allies, you could make up any story you would like.
Adding drow/vampire/etc in character select, im not a big lore knower of D&D but man, cmon, possibilities are endless, it could be a standoff of epic proportions if they approach it correctly.
You would feel so powerfull yet challenged at the same time!
These suggestions may sound cool at first, especially if youre unnecessarily attached to your protagonist after completing BG series... however, making a game where you start at level 20+ and start with super complex fights and 10 levels of spells is going to be an enormous turnoff for new players, or really and non-hardcore DnD/BG nerd.
Playing a "God of Murder" is so revolting to me, and the whole"god level" sort of game play is a turn off in its own right, I can't imagine even considering such a thing. They did make a more beneficent deity a possibility, which is good. But that sounds completely like the end of the story to me. And its clear from comments that a significant number of BG players feel similarly. Which means continuing the BG story would be of very limited appeal, even to current players.
The thing is, I love AD&D. I love starting new characters and new parties. I like the thrill of upgrading to plate armor and finding that first magic weapon. I am convinced that's what the AD&D system works best for. Although ToB was fun, it was way beyond the level of what drew me into the game and keeps me coming back. More than anything, I would love to see a new story, new adventure, for new characters. I think I'd be happiest if it was lower fantasy. Less magic, no messing with the gods, maybe one single dragon. It's important to me to be able to relate to the character, so a more human level is far more appealing to me.
It's not really a sequel if it isn't similar gameplay is it?
This is exactly what i am talking about, ofcourse new player might be drawn into the game line. But let them take a warrior, thief or any of those classes except druids, clerics or wizards who are "difficult" to play. I for one did not play the first two games just to be demoted to a lvl 1 wizard who can cast two spells and hides behind a rock. (By the way, baldurs gate 2 was a better succes then baldurs gate 1 overall. So my stomach would turn if i wouldnt be able to at least cast some spells, as to right clicking all the time or cast one or two spells. Lets be honest, for RP element you might roll a warrior, but not for the overall game experience, its just too simple to play with) I have played the neverwinter series, baldurs gate, D&D online, and the only one that came on top was Baldurs gate 2 and the throne of Baal. As a caster, casting time stop for the very first time was the most epic moment i ever had in these games and has let me search for more about the D&D universe. There are enough mods, or might be in the near future for low level characters if you so desperatly want another storyline or a new character in the making. Hell they should implement it in the game, your very own maker of areas and/or questline, with a cap that you cant put items in it according to the difficulty of your quest line.
Perhaps in 3 they could alter the choices you make to become another deity, have your own cult of worshippers or whatever. But i LOVE the complexity of the game with all the spells, this is where it stands out to ALL rpgs out there similar in graphics or beyond that.
Because lets face it, we might play for different reasons, but getting back to lvl 1 is just a joke and spat upon the whole leveling thing in the first place, are you not curious about the other planes? Other Gods or whatever their imagination is possible to summon?
No lets just make a renewed version of it, start off at lvl 1 with better graphs maybe and some better colours, you sound like EA games no offence tho. It has been proven that doesnt work at all. We have some people on the forums who say nay, but people can't seem to think out of the box anymore. Maybe more lore (races, places whatever, new spells, weapons etc.) But most people here just want a reworked version? If you are truly fantasy fans, USE your imagination and fantasy to come up with new things, not reworked models, please...
I love the idea of the mythic/fantasy setting. I like armor, weapons, architecture and music. I like the idea of exploring the world, meeting interesting and fantastical creatures, and battling interesting and dangerous foes. I want the world and characters to feel alive and real. I am not interested in the god level stuff.
I would much rather start a new 1st level party. I want a new story. The old one is over.
I think they should make it so that the protagonist is now a God, and one of the other God's that was friends with Bhaal is kinda pissed, maybe has a grudge against Gorion or something, so he goes back in time before Gorion takes the bhaalspawn, kidnaps Gorion, puts him on a planet in direct view of Candlekeep, and proceeds to blow Candlekeep up while Gorion watches, creating an entirely alternate timeline, thereby the writers can do whatever they want with the story.
Well just my 2c but could easily have BG3 being the tale of a different Bhaalspawn, gaining a new perspective on events during that time.
Baldur's Gate is a big and important city in the Realms. How about something completely different, something even at a different time in history.
Well to me, wouldn't struggle a little to see why it would be called BG3 then. To me BG is the story of the Bhaalspawn, with the story 'ended' in ToB it makes sense to me to take a fresh angle at it, a story that shines new light on the Time of Troubles and the Bhaalspawn. For continuity you need not even play a Bhaalspawn yourself (thus explaining why you don't show up at the end of ToB) but another adventurer making a living during this tumultuous time, dealing with the chaos of the Bhaalspawn.
Because "Baldur's Gate" was a city before it was a computer game and anything set in that part of the Realms could carry that name! Uggh, no more Bhaalspawn!
A god game would be interesting, but would be a much different game than the others. Gods don't work like regular characters at all, so it just wouldn't really be a baldur's gate game. You would basically be a manager, getting an avatar, granting priest spells, directing your clergy, etc. Plus huge amounts of it would be in the planes, so different setting. The story of the bhaal spawn has reached a satisfactory conclusion for me. It would work almost better as a strategy game.
I think I'd rather have a whole new story. It would take place in the general region, and I'd assume revisit some some of the places later on in the timeline. Perhaps some characters from the series could pop up, since demihumans tend to be long lived. It would be neat if you could import your saves from BG1/2 and have impacts on the world, though, kind of like the Dragon Age games. Perhaps people would make reference to Bhaal reborn, or some other new good good, etc. Perhaps some areas are overrun by evil cultists of the new Bhaal and can fight or aid them, or you get aid from the knights of the new good god or could choose to oppose them. This way you feel like you're previous work left a lasting mark on the world, and get to see how it shaped things. It would definitely be tricky to pull off, but gives them a lot of freedom to work with a new story, while satisfying at least some of the wants of people who wanted more from their characters.
This is a fascinating question, and has set me thinking.
I agree with those who have already asserted that the story of your existing Charname is pretty much over at the end of ToB. A direct continuation is probably beyond the capacity of the ruleset (and perhaps also of the engine) to offer yet further development in levels beyond what you've already reached by then.
Yes, we could have a prequel set in the Time of Troubles with characters such as Gorion as your NPC companions, that's not a stupid idea.
However, one way to have a what-happened-next continuation would be to have a new Charname who is a follower of the Bhaalspawn who ascended to godhood, set just a couple of years after ToB. Gods in the Forgotten Realms need followers, priests, paladins (or perhaps blackguards if evil), mercenaries, and so on. So you could be one of those. Your old Charname from BG1/2 (or a default for new players or those who previous Charname declined ascension) could make cameo appearances at various critical moments, as your sponsor and protector. Gods are often jealous, so with a new god having ascended, there's likely to be quite a lot of trouble between his followers and those of older gods, so that provides you with a lot of opponents. The Bhaalspawn who ascended was a hero to Beregost, Nashkel and Baldur's Gate, so his followers should be strong there and relatively unmolested, but in the lands beyond they might be in trouble. Thus your main objective could be to prevent some atrocity against your god's followers being perpetrated by followers of the opposing gods. Since Cyric was the god temporarily minding Bhaal's portfolio before the ascension of the Bhaalspawn, he's probably the main opposed god.
I think Charname should start in Baldur's Gate at level 1 with some starter quests around the city, and then we could finally see what lies further north along the Sword Coast, leaving BG by the Black Dragon Gate. Thus the geography of the campaign should be exploring and fighting northwards towards Waterdeep. Look at this map: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_maps/FRposterLarge_150.jpg. Looks like some pretty interesting terrain between BG and Waterdeep: Fields of the Dead, Troll Hills, Warlock's Crypt (should be a good dungeon in there), Trollbark Forest, Dragonspear Castle (in which canon has both an Underdark entrance and a shakily-sealed planar portal), Misty Forest, Lizard Marsh, the town of Daggerford, Ardeep Forest, Waterdeep. Side-trips within plausible range to the town of Soubar, Forest of Wyrms, Serpent Hills, High Moor, the town of Secomber, and maybe the town of Loudwater, Unicorn Run, Star Mounts and Kryptgarden Forest. Loads of scope in all that for meeting plenty of our favourite monsters! In fact, probably enough scope for a two-parter, like BG1+2: BG3 could be BG to Dragonspear Castle ending around level 10-12, BG4 could be Dragonspear Castle to Waterdeep ending around level 20-25. (No higher than that, else your god might start worrying about the security of his own seat!)
A first-part main plot could be that some mad miscreant (logically the Chief Priest of Cyric) is trying to unlock the seals on the planar portal in Dragonspear Castle to unleash a demonic horde against your god's followers, so you've got to find out about this (by gradually piecing together various abnormal events), and then get there and stop him. A second-part main plot could be that someone unknown (but presumably an agent for Cyric) has subverted or impersonated one of the secret Lords of Waterdeep and is misleading Waterdeep into vicious oppression of your god's followers, so you've got to find out who the Lords are and which one isn't what he seems (which is a useful hook for various tests and quests) and who is organising this conspiracy, and then put a stop to it.
Thus we'd have a game which more-or-less continues the existing story, but doesn't break the bounds of what already exists in the game engine and the program code, with loads of opportunity for new artwork and dungeons and so forth in locations which are already canon. We couldn't credibly bring back any NPCs from BG2 (except see below), because those who accompanied you to the end of ToB (which might be any of them) would now be too high-level, but some of the "lost" NPCs from BG1/BGee could now reappear late in the first part of the plot or early in the second part of the plot, where they could credibly be around the right level - so we could bring back Alora, Shar-Teel, Branwen, etc., since all this is set only 2 or 3 years later. And of course a variety of new NPCs! And we know from the epilogue to ToB that Imoen was sometimes seen with Khelben Blackstaff, who lived in Waterdeep, so (late in the second part of the plot when you're very high-level) we could credibly have a cameo by Imoen. Conceivably even joinable, although that's stretching a point because she'd have to be at least level 31 (to fit with what she could achieve at the end of ToB).
Well, I think it could be done and could work well, but YMMV.
I concur with what others have said that BG3 (or BG: Next, as Beamdog has been referring to it) should be a brand new adventure set somewhere in the Forgotten Realms.
Last summer Philip Daigle commented that BG3, whenever it is released, will likely be consistent with the WotC FR campaign setting at that time and use the current D&D ruleset at that time. So I think it very likely that the game will somehow have tie-ins with the Sundering and use the D&D Next ruleset. I can't imagine that the game would not start at level 1.
But @Lemernis, if it doesn't have some BG connection, how would it be "BG3"? It could as easily be called IWD3, but more logically ought to be named as a new series after whichever locale is chosen. I think we need it to be something to do with what has gone before, i.e. not totally "brand new", else the name would be just plain misleading.
Not that I'm against a brand new series of Forgotten Realms adventures set in some other locale, in fact that'd be great, but I'm in favour of honest product names which make clear which games are connected to one another and which aren't.
The story could involve a descendant of the BG series protagonist, for example. It might even have something to do with Bhaal's essence trying to reassert itself yet again, although personally I think that plot element has probably been mined out.
But maybe there is something new that the whole BG series story set in motion that gets told.
Personally I'd prefer to have a closer connection to the existing story, which is why I wrote the long slab of text above suggesting a way of building a credible direct continuation. But fair enough, a new story set in BG city but generations later could still be called "BG".
Well, Philip was careful to use language like "if" BG3 gets made and then what it would "likely" be. But at least back last summer WotC wanted the game to be consistent with products Wizards has on the shelf whenever it happens. So that would seem to put it after the Spellplague for sure, and perhaps by then the Sundering might even be wrapped up as well. Depends on how long it takes to complete BG:EE2 and then BG: Next. But the devs will eventually speak to all this in due time, I reckon. Once they hammer it all out with various partners.
[Unrelated: Even clicking the Agree button by mistake tallies for one's own post?]
Hey what about my brand new idea about making BG3 as a connection between Bg1-Bg2, it is well known what happened after - during BG2, but what about those lacks in memories about events that happened between BG1-BG2 it could also serve as a connection those to parts:] Yeah I know it is so perfect that everybody will like it:]
@Gallowglass FYI Warlock's Crypt is where the Lich Larloch resides (from Larloch's Minor Drain infamy). Nasty place literally FULL of Liches, Demi-Liches, Vampires, and the like. Not to mention the oldest, most powerful Mage in all of Faerun.
It would be interesting if Larloch was the one making a play to become the God of Murder, striking when your PC is still weak. You COULD realistically create a 1-30 adventure with him as the final boss.
Being a God is not boring, THIS is what they should be doing with Baldurs gate 3
You are the God of murder, but you guys forget there are COUNTLESS of other planes out there, hell they could even be trying to invade the current plane or whatever.
You could be travelling to other planes to encounter other races (or not for you lore loving buddies) but also towards other dimensions maybe? Possibilities are endless. Fighting other Gods from other planes in a big scale war baldurs gate style (comming onto the battlefield , killing a lot of mortals to finally encounter their favored champions, invade their realms to slaughter them and safeguard your own.
Make choices wether to plunge the universe in chaos, maintain the balance, or to bring the light upon the worlds and planes that lie beyond.
Make powerfull allies amongst the Gods, team up with Cyric, etc etc... As a God of this plane they could make you powerfull but there are still greater dangers out there.
Possibly insert lvl 10 spells for mages etc, (God like spells) to fight off the others. You can make this story whatever you like with it, travelling back or forth in time etc.... Enemies would be endless, allies, you could make up any story you would like.
Adding drow/vampire/etc in character select, im not a big lore knower of D&D but man, cmon, possibilities are endless, it could be a standoff of epic proportions if they approach it correctly.
You would feel so powerfull yet challenged at the same time!
Wrong. The things that can actually challenge a god don't generally fight each other because they're on a cosmic scale where the risks are too great and the consequences too costly. D&D gods can do insane stuff, like creating +5 weapons with enchantments related to their portfolios or alter terrain in a 100 foot radius to suit their portfolios just by THINKING ABOUT IT. Very few things can even ponder the concept of challenging an entity like that, and the ones that do simply wouldn't want to because of the aforementioned risk involved. Further, Forgotten Realms deities are limited in their ability to make big power plays by Ao, who has to be outmaneuvered by things he has not read about on his crazy tablet of fate or whatever, which is next to impossible.
@Gallowglass FYI Warlock's Crypt is where the Lich Larloch resides (from Larloch's Minor Drain infamy). Nasty place literally FULL of Liches, Demi-Liches, Vampires, and the like. Not to mention the oldest, most powerful Mage in all of Faerun.
Aha, yes, I knew I'd heard of it somewhere, but I didn't look it up to remind myself, which of course I should have done. Thanks for reminding me.
It would be interesting if Larloch was the one making a play to become the God of Murder, striking when your PC is still weak. You COULD realistically create a 1-30 adventure with him as the final boss.
Yes, and I reckon something like my outline above is a plausible way to do it which connects reasonably tidily to BG1+2, except of course omitting Warlock's Crypt in the first part when you'd be too weak, and instead going there right at the end for the final showdown. However, of course I don't doubt there are many other ways the plot could be constructed.
Certainly if it were a 1-30 adventure, then I think it would have to be a two-parter, BG3+4, because getting to level 30 in a sensible way would be too long for a one-part game. I assume everybody here would be in favour of the possibility of two new BG games instead of just one! I wonder if the devs are reading this, because I think we may be onto something here.
Yeah let's focus on fixing BG:EE bugs first and get BG2:EE rolling . In the meantime, a good idea for a sequel would be that you are a miniature child space hampster raised as an orphan by some mage in Gullykin, and, in the grand finale where you have to kill your brother, it turns out you are a child of Boo.
Yeah let's focus on fixing BG:EE bugs first and get BG2:EE rolling . In the meantime, a good idea for a sequel would be that you are a miniature child space hampster raised as an orphan by some mage in Gullykin, and, in the grand finale where you have to kill your brother, it turns out you are a child of Boo.
The Lord of Buttkicking shall perish But in his wake he shall spawn A score of miniature prodegy Chaos will be sown in their eyesockets So sayeth the wise Aluando
Comments
New protagonist, new story, set in Baldur's Gate and the surrounding countryside. That's literally the only way Baldur's Gate 3 could ever be successful.
You are the God of murder, but you guys forget there are COUNTLESS of other planes out there, hell they could even be trying to invade the current plane or whatever.
You could be travelling to other planes to encounter other races (or not for you lore loving buddies) but also towards other dimensions maybe? Possibilities are endless. Fighting other Gods from other planes in a big scale war baldurs gate style (comming onto the battlefield , killing a lot of mortals to finally encounter their favored champions, invade their realms to slaughter them and safeguard your own.
Make choices wether to plunge the universe in chaos, maintain the balance, or to bring the light upon the worlds and planes that lie beyond.
Make powerfull allies amongst the Gods, team up with Cyric, etc etc... As a God of this plane they could make you powerfull but there are still greater dangers out there.
Possibly insert lvl 10 spells for mages etc, (God like spells) to fight off the others. You can make this story whatever you like with it, travelling back or forth in time etc.... Enemies would be endless, allies, you could make up any story you would like.
Adding drow/vampire/etc in character select, im not a big lore knower of D&D but man, cmon, possibilities are endless, it could be a standoff of epic proportions if they approach it correctly.
You would feel so powerfull yet challenged at the same time!
The thing is, I love AD&D. I love starting new characters and new parties. I like the thrill of upgrading to plate armor and finding that first magic weapon. I am convinced that's what the AD&D system works best for. Although ToB was fun, it was way beyond the level of what drew me into the game and keeps me coming back.
More than anything, I would love to see a new story, new adventure, for new characters. I think I'd be happiest if it was lower fantasy. Less magic, no messing with the gods, maybe one single dragon. It's important to me to be able to relate to the character, so a more human level is far more appealing to me.
I for one did not play the first two games just to be demoted to a lvl 1 wizard who can cast two spells and hides behind a rock. (By the way, baldurs gate 2 was a better succes then baldurs gate 1 overall. So my stomach would turn if i wouldnt be able to at least cast some spells, as to right clicking all the time or cast one or two spells. Lets be honest, for RP element you might roll a warrior, but not for the overall game experience, its just too simple to play with)
I have played the neverwinter series, baldurs gate, D&D online, and the only one that came on top was Baldurs gate 2 and the throne of Baal. As a caster, casting time stop for the very first time was the most epic moment i ever had in these games and has let me search for more about the D&D universe. There are enough mods, or might be in the near future for low level characters if you so desperatly want another storyline or a new character in the making. Hell they should implement it in the game, your very own maker of areas and/or questline, with a cap that you cant put items in it according to the difficulty of your quest line.
Perhaps in 3 they could alter the choices you make to become another deity, have your own cult of worshippers or whatever. But i LOVE the complexity of the game with all the spells, this is where it stands out to ALL rpgs out there similar in graphics or beyond that.
Because lets face it, we might play for different reasons, but getting back to lvl 1 is just a joke and spat upon the whole leveling thing in the first place, are you not curious about the other planes? Other Gods or whatever their imagination is possible to summon?
No lets just make a renewed version of it, start off at lvl 1 with better graphs maybe and some better colours, you sound like EA games no offence tho. It has been proven that doesnt work at all. We have some people on the forums who say nay, but people can't seem to think out of the box anymore. Maybe more lore (races, places whatever, new spells, weapons etc.) But most people here just want a reworked version? If you are truly fantasy fans, USE your imagination and fantasy to come up with new things, not reworked models, please...
Sorry for the long wall of text.
I would much rather start a new 1st level party. I want a new story. The old one is over.
I think I'd rather have a whole new story. It would take place in the general region, and I'd assume revisit some some of the places later on in the timeline. Perhaps some characters from the series could pop up, since demihumans tend to be long lived. It would be neat if you could import your saves from BG1/2 and have impacts on the world, though, kind of like the Dragon Age games. Perhaps people would make reference to Bhaal reborn, or some other new good good, etc. Perhaps some areas are overrun by evil cultists of the new Bhaal and can fight or aid them, or you get aid from the knights of the new good god or could choose to oppose them. This way you feel like you're previous work left a lasting mark on the world, and get to see how it shaped things. It would definitely be tricky to pull off, but gives them a lot of freedom to work with a new story, while satisfying at least some of the wants of people who wanted more from their characters.
I agree with those who have already asserted that the story of your existing Charname is pretty much over at the end of ToB. A direct continuation is probably beyond the capacity of the ruleset (and perhaps also of the engine) to offer yet further development in levels beyond what you've already reached by then.
Yes, we could have a prequel set in the Time of Troubles with characters such as Gorion as your NPC companions, that's not a stupid idea.
However, one way to have a what-happened-next continuation would be to have a new Charname who is a follower of the Bhaalspawn who ascended to godhood, set just a couple of years after ToB. Gods in the Forgotten Realms need followers, priests, paladins (or perhaps blackguards if evil), mercenaries, and so on. So you could be one of those. Your old Charname from BG1/2 (or a default for new players or those who previous Charname declined ascension) could make cameo appearances at various critical moments, as your sponsor and protector. Gods are often jealous, so with a new god having ascended, there's likely to be quite a lot of trouble between his followers and those of older gods, so that provides you with a lot of opponents. The Bhaalspawn who ascended was a hero to Beregost, Nashkel and Baldur's Gate, so his followers should be strong there and relatively unmolested, but in the lands beyond they might be in trouble. Thus your main objective could be to prevent some atrocity against your god's followers being perpetrated by followers of the opposing gods. Since Cyric was the god temporarily minding Bhaal's portfolio before the ascension of the Bhaalspawn, he's probably the main opposed god.
I think Charname should start in Baldur's Gate at level 1 with some starter quests around the city, and then we could finally see what lies further north along the Sword Coast, leaving BG by the Black Dragon Gate. Thus the geography of the campaign should be exploring and fighting northwards towards Waterdeep. Look at this map: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_maps/FRposterLarge_150.jpg. Looks like some pretty interesting terrain between BG and Waterdeep: Fields of the Dead, Troll Hills, Warlock's Crypt (should be a good dungeon in there), Trollbark Forest, Dragonspear Castle (in which canon has both an Underdark entrance and a shakily-sealed planar portal), Misty Forest, Lizard Marsh, the town of Daggerford, Ardeep Forest, Waterdeep. Side-trips within plausible range to the town of Soubar, Forest of Wyrms, Serpent Hills, High Moor, the town of Secomber, and maybe the town of Loudwater, Unicorn Run, Star Mounts and Kryptgarden Forest. Loads of scope in all that for meeting plenty of our favourite monsters! In fact, probably enough scope for a two-parter, like BG1+2: BG3 could be BG to Dragonspear Castle ending around level 10-12, BG4 could be Dragonspear Castle to Waterdeep ending around level 20-25. (No higher than that, else your god might start worrying about the security of his own seat!)
A first-part main plot could be that some mad miscreant (logically the Chief Priest of Cyric) is trying to unlock the seals on the planar portal in Dragonspear Castle to unleash a demonic horde against your god's followers, so you've got to find out about this (by gradually piecing together various abnormal events), and then get there and stop him. A second-part main plot could be that someone unknown (but presumably an agent for Cyric) has subverted or impersonated one of the secret Lords of Waterdeep and is misleading Waterdeep into vicious oppression of your god's followers, so you've got to find out who the Lords are and which one isn't what he seems (which is a useful hook for various tests and quests) and who is organising this conspiracy, and then put a stop to it.
Thus we'd have a game which more-or-less continues the existing story, but doesn't break the bounds of what already exists in the game engine and the program code, with loads of opportunity for new artwork and dungeons and so forth in locations which are already canon. We couldn't credibly bring back any NPCs from BG2 (except see below), because those who accompanied you to the end of ToB (which might be any of them) would now be too high-level, but some of the "lost" NPCs from BG1/BGee could now reappear late in the first part of the plot or early in the second part of the plot, where they could credibly be around the right level - so we could bring back Alora, Shar-Teel, Branwen, etc., since all this is set only 2 or 3 years later. And of course a variety of new NPCs! And we know from the epilogue to ToB that Imoen was sometimes seen with Khelben Blackstaff, who lived in Waterdeep, so (late in the second part of the plot when you're very high-level) we could credibly have a cameo by Imoen. Conceivably even joinable, although that's stretching a point because she'd have to be at least level 31 (to fit with what she could achieve at the end of ToB).
Well, I think it could be done and could work well, but YMMV.
Last summer Philip Daigle commented that BG3, whenever it is released, will likely be consistent with the WotC FR campaign setting at that time and use the current D&D ruleset at that time. So I think it very likely that the game will somehow have tie-ins with the Sundering and use the D&D Next ruleset. I can't imagine that the game would not start at level 1.
Not that I'm against a brand new series of Forgotten Realms adventures set in some other locale, in fact that'd be great, but I'm in favour of honest product names which make clear which games are connected to one another and which aren't.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/41198
The story could involve a descendant of the BG series protagonist, for example. It might even have something to do with Bhaal's essence trying to reassert itself yet again, although personally I think that plot element has probably been mined out.
But maybe there is something new that the whole BG series story set in motion that gets told.
Personally I'd prefer to have a closer connection to the existing story, which is why I wrote the long slab of text above suggesting a way of building a credible direct continuation. But fair enough, a new story set in BG city but generations later could still be called "BG".
Wait, it's going to have some connection to the events in 4th edition.
WITCH!!! HEATHEN!!!
[Unrelated: Even clicking the Agree button by mistake tallies for one's own post?]
Yeah I know it is so perfect that everybody will like it:]
It would be interesting if Larloch was the one making a play to become the God of Murder, striking when your PC is still weak. You COULD realistically create a 1-30 adventure with him as the final boss.
Certainly if it were a 1-30 adventure, then I think it would have to be a two-parter, BG3+4, because getting to level 30 in a sensible way would be too long for a one-part game. I assume everybody here would be in favour of the possibility of two new BG games instead of just one! I wonder if the devs are reading this, because I think we may be onto something here.
But in his wake he shall spawn
A score of miniature prodegy
Chaos will be sown in their eyesockets
So sayeth the wise Aluando
-Relational to BG1 and BG2 in setting and gameplay.
-Not too linear.
-And for the love of ... PLEASE BETA TEST before releasing.
That is all.