IWD, while musically and graphically better than BG, is really lacking in many areas. - Too many to warrant EE's. While the stories are ok, and the art being fantastic, IWD games are nothing more than a combat simulator for Inifinity Engine. That's all they ever have been, all they ever will be.
Baldur's Gate series have always delivered more content, more rp value and a hell of a lot more and better story, especially in BG2 where npc's become such an integral part of everything you do.
I feel that through out the process of the EEs we now have, it's been a matter of improving not only a limping game engine, but also to add more quality content. They have observed our response to the material they have given us, and now more than ever have an understanding of what we would like for the future.
The only natural step onwards is to make BG3 or a spiritual successor. They've wrangled Infinity engine, gained our trust and proven to us that they can make quality content on their own, while at the same time created a lot of buzz around the internet in every single rpg-interested community out there.
If anything, I think they've laid the ground work for what they need to push on with BG3 in a ripe and ready community which has been starved for a quality rpg for many, many years.
Many times in the past have we been shown promise of BG3, cancellations and shoddy successors to the BG series. Now is the time, and perhaps the last chance, to launch an ambitious and proper follow up to the greatest rpg's ever made.
I don't think they should make a Baldur's Gate III. Or at least they shouldn't name it Baldur's Gate III. ToB wrapped up the story for the series' protagonist, meaning they would obviously have to introduce a new one and to me it would be weird to make a direct sequel to the first two games when there's really not any room to directly continue the story.
I think if they wanted to make another game revolving around Baldur's Gate but not tied directly to the story of the first two games, they should title it Baldur's Gate: ________. Leave the 3/III out. Fallout 3 made this mistake.
They don't make games like they used to that is for sure. However I have NEVER played Icewind or Planescape and this would please me greatly now that these games are working for Intel cards.
i would like BG3, but unfortunately i don't believe any game company will be able to make a game that can like up to the hype of the title. Previously i might have thought Bioware might have been able to pull it off but after the ME3 ending debacle i don't trust them anymore
Icewind Dale feels completely empty, and more like a "Lets clear out a few dungeons with my silent party! " I tried to get into Planescape: Torment, but the graphics..... Back to Icewind Dale. Sure, the main story is more fleshed out, yet there are no breaks in the plot that allow you to go off and do your own thing. That free roam stops boredom from culminating into an exploding mass called quit and go back to Baldur's Gate, and then delete Icewind Dale - 2 months later. I have never went further than Upper Dorn's Deep.
It is quite hard to make me not finish a D&D based game. So far, Icewind Dale is the only RPG I have played beyond Torment that i have not completed.(Torment due to graphics that literally hurt my eyes and confusion)
So, there's a significant portion of Baldur's Gate where you can solve conflicts through talk or trickery, rather than killing the villain and all the monsters?
The only instance I can think of is the anticlimatic end of the Firkraag quest where he just allows you to leave, because he's extremely powerful.
The only problem I'd see with them making Baldur's Gate 3 would be the story... The Bhaalspawn's tale is over, let's not open it up and start writing more stuff...
And without the Bhaalspawn would it really be Baldur's Gate?
And for the Icewind Dale games, I would very much like a IWD2 EE... They seemed to have made the game just because of how well combat in the Infinity Engine works...
i reckon instead of a BG3, why not make a brand new game based on the Forgotten Realms world. Have a larger than normal map where you can travel between certain regions of the world visit different cities etc.
Beamdog can then periodically add in new paid DLC that unlocks different cities and kingdoms and have maybe a few more NPCs that can join you with new quests in the area etc. Eventually you could travel to Zhentil Keep or the city of Thay or even Halruaa and interact with the people in those places
Icewind Dale feels completely empty, and more like a "Lets clear out a few dungeons with my silent party! " I tried to get into Planescape: Torment, but the graphics.....
It is quite hard to make me not finish a D&D based game. So far, Icewind Dale is the only RPG I have played beyond Torment that i have not completed.(Torment due to graphics that literally hurt my eyes and confusion)
You can easily install a mod to get better resolution and avoid the character hugging feeling. Once you get that, the graphics are much better than BG2´s.
A PS:T EE would be a dream come true really, but only under one caveat. They must not introduce new characters, as each and every one of them in the vanilla game are there for a reason, and have impacts that may be diluted by the introduction of a bigger crowd.
I don't see why a Baldur's Gate 3 would have to focus on the Bhaalspawn. It could be like Neverwinter Nights 2 or Icewind Dale 2, both of which build from the previous stories without involving the heroes of the previous game.
It could be interesting to return to the Baldur's Gate area and get involved in a new adventure that still deals with some of the ramifications of the previous games - more tensions between Amn and Baldur's Gate, a Candlekeep recovering from having so many citizens killed and replaced by doppelgangers, Brage seeking redemption for his crimes, and so on.
To be honest, IWD might have a much better plot than BG. I find BG to have a very cliched plot. It's fun and awesome, but it is very cliched. And that's totally fine. I just found IWD really boring to play because of the lack of companions. I've never been a fan of make-your-own-party games in any form.
To be honest I'm probably quite different from many here in that if I wanted a good DnD story I wouldn't go near Forgotten Realms with a 20 foot pole.
These things are really a matter of perspective... personally I don't enjoy Dragonlance stories (other than Chronicles and Time of the Twins). I find Forgotten Realms to be much better written and a more fleshed out world.
I don't see why a Baldur's Gate 3 would have to focus on the Bhaalspawn. It could be like Neverwinter Nights 2 or Icewind Dale 2, both of which build from the previous stories without involving the heroes of the previous game.
It could be interesting to return to the Baldur's Gate area and get involved in a new adventure that still deals with some of the ramifications of the previous games - more tensions between Amn and Baldur's Gate, a Candlekeep recovering from having so many citizens killed and replaced by doppelgangers, Brage seeking redemption for his crimes, and so on.
I like it! Use some former NPCs to further develop a sense of common history; Viconia, Kivan etc. But as you say, use a new protagonist.
I think the protagonist would need to be someone with divine heritage, or at least the bloodline/power of some other powerful entity; bastard half-breed son/daughter of Firkraag? This would allow progression into higher level combat later
I would like to see some more improvement over BG:EE and BG2:EE, then other Enhanced Editions before project BG3. Even thought If I'm not interested in Icewind Dale or Planescape: Torment as enhanced editions. That's because I think Overhaul doesn't have what it takest to make BG3 right now.
The BG3 project ought a be a big one, requiring a large budget.
No more remakes, please. All glitches, especially the useful ones, were removed from the enhanced editions. If they do the same to say, Icewind Dale 1, it would be really sad. Let's see something new. Baldur's Gate 3 sounds like a real plan...
I think it would be tough to do enhanced editions of the other Infinity Engine games.
Torment could be updated and given improved functionality, but the plot is so tight and everything that's there has such a purpose that I think adding new content like they did in Baldur's Gate would be tough.
Icewind Dale could get some optional areas, companions, and so on, but then it wouldn't be quite the same game anymore. I get the feeling that a lot of people like that game's bare bones feel.
Probably best to go with a new property in general or to look into Baldur's Gate 3.
There's literally nothing they can add to PS:T. It already looks gorgeous with the widescreen mod, its bugs have all been squashed, and no one except Chris Avellone could do the writing justice. They should just focus on the Icewind Dale series of games.
Bah, who cares about those things. I want my "The Turnip Tales: Jan Jansen's tales of mischief, love and adventure", about his glorious ascension from turnip peddler to inventor of Jan's Flasher Master Bruiser
If they could add some fun NPC's to the game with their own stories and interactions like is done in BG2 especially, I'd be all for a IWD:EE. I can't even play the game for long without using the NPC mod from the Pocket Plane Group. As others have said, far too much hack n slash. I'm more interested in the story and party interaction than I am in the combat.
-Gorgeous portraits -Great music -Beautiful UI -Many more voicesets -IWD2 uses 3E rules -Full party customization that makes sense story-wise -Locations far more beautiful than BG and many BG2 ones too -Option to replay the full game with the same party/items/levels but added difficulty -And it's closer to a PnP campaign than BG where you make a full party of average adventurers on an fun and interesting adventure, instead of playing a demi-god that can become a full god and it's all about him/her.
Oh and in IWD2, Paladins and Monks roleplay their classes. They refuse rewards. Others could think of more reasons.
Um, a few things here.
1. Personally i'd prefer 2E rules. I think 3E was a mistake, though this is highly subject opinion. 2. In what way didn't the party customization not make sense 'Story-Wise' in BG? If anything, it made more sense because you weren't creating a random set of party members, you actually met people along the way who joined. Not saying that full control over creating your party isn't a bonus, just your comment about 'Story-Wise' struck me as a little odd. 3. In any PnP game I ever played, I only created 1 character and struck out to adventure with other adventurers that I met along the way, almost exactly the way BG did it. So in what way is IWD closer to PnP than BG? 4. Paladins and Monks can role-play their classes in BG as well. it is just enforced programatically "If they are the party leader when the conversation fires". This is a nice touch, not (in my personal view) anything superior to BG.
But I do agree that IWD has definite playability and is worth the time. It is however more of a flat dungeon crawl rather than the more engaging 'Story' that BG has. Not to say one is superior to the other, just that they scratch a different itch for me. If I am in the mood for story, BG. If I am in the mood for dungeon crawl, IWD. Nuff said. Sorry for the Wot!
Comments
IWD, while musically and graphically better than BG, is really lacking in many areas. - Too many to warrant EE's.
While the stories are ok, and the art being fantastic, IWD games are nothing more than a combat simulator for Inifinity Engine. That's all they ever have been, all they ever will be.
Baldur's Gate series have always delivered more content, more rp value and a hell of a lot more and better story, especially in BG2 where npc's become such an integral part of everything you do.
I feel that through out the process of the EEs we now have, it's been a matter of improving not only a limping game engine, but also to add more quality content. They have observed our response to the material they have given us, and now more than ever have an understanding of what we would like for the future.
The only natural step onwards is to make BG3 or a spiritual successor.
They've wrangled Infinity engine, gained our trust and proven to us that they can make quality content on their own, while at the same time created a lot of buzz around the internet in every single rpg-interested community out there.
If anything, I think they've laid the ground work for what they need to push on with BG3 in a ripe and ready community which has been starved for a quality rpg for many, many years.
Many times in the past have we been shown promise of BG3, cancellations and shoddy successors to the BG series. Now is the time, and perhaps the last chance, to launch an ambitious and proper follow up to the greatest rpg's ever made.
I think if they wanted to make another game revolving around Baldur's Gate but not tied directly to the story of the first two games, they should title it Baldur's Gate: ________. Leave the 3/III out. Fallout 3 made this mistake.
Back to Icewind Dale. Sure, the main story is more fleshed out, yet there are no breaks in the plot that allow you to go off and do your own thing. That free roam stops boredom from culminating into an exploding mass called quit and go back to Baldur's Gate, and then delete Icewind Dale - 2 months later. I have never went further than Upper Dorn's Deep.
It is quite hard to make me not finish a D&D based game. So far, Icewind Dale is the only RPG I have played beyond Torment that i have not completed.(Torment due to graphics that literally hurt my eyes and confusion)
The only instance I can think of is the anticlimatic end of the Firkraag quest where he just allows you to leave, because he's extremely powerful.
And without the Bhaalspawn would it really be Baldur's Gate?
And for the Icewind Dale games, I would very much like a IWD2 EE... They seemed to have made the game just because of how well combat in the Infinity Engine works...
Beamdog can then periodically add in new paid DLC that unlocks different cities and kingdoms and have maybe a few more NPCs that can join you with new quests in the area etc. Eventually you could travel to Zhentil Keep or the city of Thay or even Halruaa and interact with the people in those places
They have done very well in making Baldur's Gate perform better but most of their original content seems like poorly tacked-on mods.
It could be interesting to return to the Baldur's Gate area and get involved in a new adventure that still deals with some of the ramifications of the previous games - more tensions between Amn and Baldur's Gate, a Candlekeep recovering from having so many citizens killed and replaced by doppelgangers, Brage seeking redemption for his crimes, and so on.
I think the protagonist would need to be someone with divine heritage, or at least the bloodline/power of some other powerful entity; bastard half-breed son/daughter of Firkraag? This would allow progression into higher level combat later
The BG3 project ought a be a big one, requiring a large budget.
Torment could be updated and given improved functionality, but the plot is so tight and everything that's there has such a purpose that I think adding new content like they did in Baldur's Gate would be tough.
Icewind Dale could get some optional areas, companions, and so on, but then it wouldn't be quite the same game anymore. I get the feeling that a lot of people like that game's bare bones feel.
Probably best to go with a new property in general or to look into Baldur's Gate 3.
1. Personally i'd prefer 2E rules. I think 3E was a mistake, though this is highly subject opinion.
2. In what way didn't the party customization not make sense 'Story-Wise' in BG? If anything, it made more sense because you weren't creating a random set of party members, you actually met people along the way who joined. Not saying that full control over creating your party isn't a bonus, just your comment about 'Story-Wise' struck me as a little odd.
3. In any PnP game I ever played, I only created 1 character and struck out to adventure with other adventurers that I met along the way, almost exactly the way BG did it. So in what way is IWD closer to PnP than BG?
4. Paladins and Monks can role-play their classes in BG as well. it is just enforced programatically "If they are the party leader when the conversation fires". This is a nice touch, not (in my personal view) anything superior to BG.
But I do agree that IWD has definite playability and is worth the time. It is however more of a flat dungeon crawl rather than the more engaging 'Story' that BG has. Not to say one is superior to the other, just that they scratch a different itch for me. If I am in the mood for story, BG. If I am in the mood for dungeon crawl, IWD. Nuff said. Sorry for the Wot!