Baldur's gate fame
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Do you think there will ever be a game as good as Baldur's gate?
I have been playing the series since year 2000 and tried many newer strategy RPGs without any comparison to Baldur's gate.
Neverwinter nights was good but lacked the replayability of Baldur's gate. I have conflicted feelings about dragon age which I think was spoiled by design for consoles. Temple of elemental evil was fun and very strategic however the complete lack of story was a disappointment. Divinity original sin was terrible in my opinion and despite all my experience playing RPGs seem too difficult.
I have been playing the series since year 2000 and tried many newer strategy RPGs without any comparison to Baldur's gate.
Neverwinter nights was good but lacked the replayability of Baldur's gate. I have conflicted feelings about dragon age which I think was spoiled by design for consoles. Temple of elemental evil was fun and very strategic however the complete lack of story was a disappointment. Divinity original sin was terrible in my opinion and despite all my experience playing RPGs seem too difficult.
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But given that BG is a combination of ideas and technologies all of which can evolve I think it as possible that a totally new mix of the old and the new could be developed using a combination of imagination, technology and (in the case of BG) mythology.
If you look at the component parts of BG there's nothing really 'new' there: Authors have been writing about imaginary lands peopled by creatures and gods from mythology for a century or more, games based on dice-based decision making and outcomes pre-date D&D as we know it by some years and computer games themselves have been around for decades.
The technology behind CRPGs can always advance and as long as the words 'Dungeons and Dragons' aren't used there's no need to confine a game to the Forgotten Realms, or even the D&D rule set. So it really comes down to getting together enough good writers, imagination and money to throw at a project that can be commercially viable - and I think commercial viability would be the limiting factor here.
If one were to capture each of those individual advantages in a single game you would, I believe have something better than the BG games.
The problem today IMO is that the commitment to a major commercial release that adheres to turn-of-the-millennium RPG principles is nonexistent. The popularity of MMORPGs and the demand for console releases taint mechanics and the core design. Today's players also come in with different expectations, and appealing to them for the sake of a greater return on investment means tossing some old school ideals out the window that will anger players who wanted something that felt more traditional. I even think a lot of the nerfing of cheesy items and tactics in the EE's is utter garbage based on stupid modern beliefs about "balance" and today's gamers' obsession with deriving self-esteem through comparing one's accomplishments with those of other gamers.
So, yeah, I think it will happen, but I wouldn't venture to guess when. There does seem to be a small (non-MMO) RPG revival occurring now, but for the moment the gems appear to be mostly low-budget kickstarter-type fare that lack the resources to be a fully realized, polished commercial release like the BGs were in their time.
Both Neverwinter Nights games are platforms. There are dozens of quality modules out there for both games, that put the original campaigns to shame.
After you have finished the campaigns, then the official shorter modules (DLC-likes), then the various masterpieces made by fans, you have the online servers that are still going strong today.
That's where the replaybility comes from.
I think I will start sending out some flyers...
I've been waiting, I am waiting, and I'll keep on waiting. And hoping.
I never got into neverwinter nights. I played fallout 1+2 but really disliked fallout 3 which became an fps.. Some first person games i thought okayish... tomb raider reboot, American mcgees Alice 1+2, but that's about it.... fps just ruins the overview of the game so i cant do much tactics. I'm spoiled by isometric
And of course more than 75% of people here are prejudiced/biased towards bg
Baldur's Gate 1&2, NWN2, and Dragon Age: Origins are my top contenders.
I seem to have this weird, "Not doing expansions thing."
It's not intentional but I still haven't finished Tob, MotB, or the DA:O expansion.
As far as games as a whole goes. Yes, it will be and has been surpassed. Dark Souls, my most played game in sheer hours. Gives me fantastic gameplay, a compelling world, and lovable characters. It delivers a lore that to be honest I'm more invested in and a setting that I enjoy exploring more. Objectively Dark Souls, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and a whole host of other games provide what BG has, better.
Then why do I keep coming back to the BG series?
I think its the sense of scale and optimism from these games. You can tell that everyone who worked on this game put their heart and soul into it. The massive world, the attention to detail, the fact that it feels like a real world that reacts to you rather than wait for you. It's a testament to how much of their heart and soul that the original Devs put into this game by the sheer fact that for a game that's nearly 20 goddamned years old we're still finding new things in it. When that happens you know you found something special. Something that was a one time thing. Something amazing.
So yeah, plenty of games have surpassed BG. But where BG stands; it is king of its own hill.
or that's what my not quite yet beaten dead inner romantic thinks. You could chalk this up to this mushroom being indoors to much do to the weather but, what do I care?
Unfortunately the PC controls are horrid and so I'm waiting either for a patch or a fan-mod to make the tactical cam more usable.
"Good" game for me is one that is made well. "Fun" is one that plays well. I've played games that are rather bad (flawed), but fun to play and I've played games that are rather opposite.
Baldur's Gate is pretty good and fun game. That's how I see it. The series has provided me plenty of fun, but there are flaws on design level (like, I wish some dialouge options could be as - or even more - situation/class depended as they are in Icewind Dale).
Following my definition, is there better game than Baldur's Gate? Probably yes. Is there more fun game? It depends purely on you.
Let's take a look.
Story - Torment
NPC - Torment
World - Torment
Alignment - Torment
Consequences - Torment
Dialogues - Torment
Combat - Baldur's Gate
Gameplay - Baldur's Gate
Replayability - Draw
Graphics - Better than BG1 and with high resolution mod it can compete with BG2.
I have played Baldur's Gate more than i have played Torment, but there is no doubt that Torment is the better game.