Will Baldur's Gate Die In 15 Years?
WithinAmnesia
Member Posts: 961
I am wondering if Baldur's Gate will be dead in 15 years. What do you personally think? Is it an immortal classic or is it just a popular old game? Will thousands still play Baldur's Gate in 2050? Realistically is Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition the last release of Baldur's Gate? The game will die eventually, it is inevitable; but when and why?
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BG has books? Are they any good?
I mean, our predictions can only be so precise.
It's a pity video games overall are still in their infancy compared to films/tv series and literature. I hope at some point in time they will be taken as seriously as storytelling mediums by society. It's getting better, but there are still some hurdles.
This is analogous to saying 'Because I read a really shoddy Harelquin Romance, I am justified in saying that Shakespeare must be crap too'. Much of this WILL change in a generation or two, which will allow games to be considered 'Classic', in the sense that some great 19th century literature has been canonized. Not every writer is really 'canon', nor all the work of a given writer, but the real standouts will, well, stand out. Note, many authors really popular during their life are later on forgotten/ignored, while some that were not popularly celebrated enter canon.
Critical Theory WILL get its claws into gaming... it already has, at least with feminism.
Trent has stated that he thinks BG3 will happen in the next 20 years (happens at around 19 min in the interview). So here's hoping.
Besides having to live up to the combat of Baldur's Gate 2 you also have to live up to how people remember how good the story, dialogue/characters, or gameplay was.
So I guess we will see if it ever happens.
But overall without Baldur's Gate 3 I don't see the series surviving another 15 years. Its then no surprise that Minsc and Boo seem to have already expanded themselves to other media
I know myself: I'll be playing BG 1 and 2 even in 40 years.
You know, there's nothing better than to load your old save and continue multiplayer game with your wife and kids and grandkids when you're on your retirement.
The great thing is that in their young eyes, that shit is cool for being so rudimentory and basic. Even if only one in 10 000 of the new generations will get addicted to nerdy old stuff, it'll be enough to keep a small community alive, thus prolonging the life of "classics" a couple of generations.
And as for the Shakespear comparison above, I wonder though, how many has actually read Shakespear? Not that many nowadays. Everyone knows about him (or them, as some suggest), of his works etc, but few actually read them. Perhaps it'll be the same with some games, they are taught in class as classical works, but few actually take the time to read them?
I don't think I personally will play BG in 15 years, but if/when I get kids, I will show them what I did as a kid, just like my father did with me (he played with wooden cars, hehe.. ). Maybe they will enjoy it in between their sessions of being neurally integrated into the matrix, or whatever is coming in the future.
But then I am someone who loves to re-read books and re-watch films I have enjoyed and see something new or just enjoy re-immerse myself in it's narrative, setting and characters once again, letting the narrative inspire, challenge or effect me once again with it's world-view, message and presentations of themes via it's narrative. I love old movies just as much (and often better than many) modern movies and find to many current novel and films attempts to be 'dark, gritty and realistic' leads to stories often enough anything but full of characters sucked of any humanity or human depth, meaning or complexity, offering no real reflection on deeper issues or allowing engagement of different views, and in the end in attempting to edgy ends up endorsing, upholding and reinforcing the current consumerism nihilistic worldview completely. But I'm quite biased over such things and I've gone way off track, but interactive games that have the impact like BG2 will always have their audience (particularly if they still offer something current games don't on the whole).
And as long as it has a dedicated fan base it will be kept alive (Ultima games are still being kept alive in this way, such as the development of the Exult engine to run Ultima 7 and it's expansion Serpent Isle on, or a similar provision for Daggerfall I came across).
As for BG3 I have always wondered what it would be since the story dominating the game series is that of Gorian's Ward and the Bhaalspawn crisis etc, all of which are wrapped up in Throne of Bhaal. Would it just be a game in the style of BG but largely unconnected to the original game and story except for perhaps a token throw-away point? And if so would it really be BG3 in any real sense besides the name? I don't know, though something I would enjoy is seeing Throne of Bhaal expanded into a full game sized adventure on the same scale as SoA to be a true full third installment to the trilogy to match BG 1 and BG2: SoA.
Computer games are, like many other pursuits, like classical music--the great ones will persist as new generations discover them (or they are renewed onto more modern platforms like the EEs and like what inExile is doing with WL2 and BT4). The others--Temple of Elemental Evil, Myst, etc--fall into obscurity relatively quickly and will be replayed or remembered only by a few.
People are still playing and modding BG, BG2, and IWD nearly 15 years after their initial releases. That's a pretty good sign that the games will be around for another 15 years.
For myself, I will continue to play and enjoy BG as long as technology allows. And that's a big qualifier. Computers and operating systems are constantly developing. I also continued to play and enjoy the Gold Box games until the technology became too big a burden for my little pea brain. It is no longer worth the effort to learn emulators and all. If someday, some more ambitious nerd than I figures out a way to update that program so it will painlessly run on a modern system, I will buy it.
The same may happen with BG. For now, thanks to Beamdog, it runs painlessly on modern systems. If that is no longer true at some point; say Windows 11 or iOS 9.75 breaks the system and Beamdog is no longer around it may spell the end of BG for many of us.
The thing that's hard to predict is if it will somehow gain true classic status and be valued even by new, younger gamers. It might. By most counts its bigger and better written than most current content. But younger gamers often don't seem to appreciate a system that is actually challenging and may require reloads during one's learning period. So it could go either way.
That technology or "shift" aspect effects other mediums too, but differently. Older "classic" movies often have primitive visual effects, older stage style acting (more emotive, less natural) and of course black and white. This all makes it hard to predict how certain "classics" will even play with a newer audience. For every "Dracula" or "Sound of Music" there are many, many more like "House of Dracula", "South Pacific" or "Birth of a Nation" that just don't play as well with a modern audience.
Literature is less influenced by technology, but cultural and language shifts can be just as alarming. Even Shakespeare, most of us don't really follow Elizabethan English so well anymore. Of course these works often endure for longer. But I think to really have broad appeal now, even The Bard would need to be updated (or translated to modern English!). Which then begs the question; is it even the same thing anymore?
That may be an issue we'll face one of these days; when is an update, or EE, or whatever not even BG anymore?
Also, don't underestimate the power and dedication of modders. My wife found a Pool of Radiance mod for the NWN engine (is that Aurora? she would know)--the entire game is there, from Podol Plaza all the way to Valjevo Castle. I haven't played it but one of these days I may try it just to see how it works.