I'm pretty sure that our kids and kids of our kids will play spiritual succesors of Baldur's gate. Maybe it won't be call like that but they'll know it. And maybe in a 50 years there will be another enhanced edition of full series in some extreme engine in the future.
How about you travel to the future, come back and tell us.
edit : more seriously, if you want a game to last a very long time at some point you will have to make it "Online" just with what happened with Fallout. We need some kind of devoted genius (he will probably be russian^^) to make"Baldur's Gate Online".
If you are dealing with AI, you need a constant input of new content (thanks to mods) or else it dies, period.
Though Baldur's Gate is now too old, graphically speaking, for a computer game, it still is very decent for a mobile/tablet game and as such it still has a long way to go before it fades.
Overall I think Baldur's Gate's visuals aged very well, if at all. Sure, there are some things in the game that look like they came from the last century (the character models and the original cinematics come to mind), but the area backgrounds—which are what you end up looking at a whole lot while playing the game—are as beautiful now as they were when the game was released.
Compare that with any 3D game that was released more than 10 years ago, which are more often than not rather difficult to look at now.
Though Baldur's Gate is now too old, graphically speaking, for a computer game, it still is very decent for a mobile/tablet game and as such it still has a long way to go before it fades.
Overall I think Baldur's Gate's visuals aged very well, if at all. Sure, there are some things in the game that look like they came from the last century (the character models and the original cinematics come to mind), but the area backgrounds—which are what you end up looking at a whole lot while playing the game—are as beautiful now as they were when the game was released.
Compare that with any 3D game that was released more than 10 years ago, which are more often than not rather difficult to look at now.
So much this.
Baldur's Gate (2D) still looks amazing today, those backgrounds are beautiful. Take a walk in the Government District or Temple District in Amn, very few games have that amount of details.
Neverwinter nights (3D) on the other hand, has aged very badly and looks much worse, even though it was released later.
I don't know, maybe it's just my rose-tinted glasses, but I like the less high-fantasyish, more classic artworkish appearance of BG1 backgrounds. BG1 exteriors almost have a model railroading look to them. I dig it.
A lot of BG1 and BG2 backgrounds suffer from the plastic-like look a lot of old games have. Older games with 3D graphics (2D in-game, but made from 3D models) don't have such detailed textures, and so they look a tad less realistic. I like the graphics, but they could be improved.
That said, Neverwinter nights never looked as good as BG.
In BG1's case in order to make so many areas they clearly just reused the trees, etc. So a lot of the areas end up looking (for lack of a better description) cut and pasty.
I suspect we are on Balder's Gate's last hurrah, with Siege of Dragonspear our likely final installment - to be fair, the story is done by the end of ToB, 15 years ago. While it would be nice to revisit that chapter with a little more free-roaming content, the focus on the end of the story is what it has to offer. Siege of Dragonspear gets to fill in the remaining blank of the continuity, and then we are done.
It does not need to mean the end for infinity engine games, although I am not sure there is enough enthusiasm to make them for a relatively small market, now that they are a long way from bleeding-edge marvels of computer game innovation.
However, technology (and health!) permitting, it is quite likely that I will still be playing in 15 years, thanks in no small part to the rejuvenation of the EE series. I suspect the biggest risk is legally staying on top of the tech evolution of hardware and OS over the next 15 years, as large IP owners tend to look unfavorably on unofficial ports. Unless BeamDog are still interested in providing patches in 15 years (almost certainly a sunk cost, never to be recovered) then I suspect it will be a game for only the dedicated few. 30-40 years after release though, that is not a bad place to be. If we look at other (non-interactive) forms of fiction, how many books, movies, and musical performances of a similar age hold our attention today? Elvis and The Beatles are still going strong, by reputation, as they were important acts that had a huge impact on how popular music evolved - their reputations will be spoken of for another 50 years or more I am sure, but I suspect they do not hit that many play-lists of folks born since 1980. Similarly, I have a fondness for old movies as they were a staple of BBC viewing in the 70s and 80s, but how many would choose a Chaplin film, a John Wayne western, or a Cary Grant or Doris Day rom-com today? A tiny minority of exceptional productions get an airing around special events, otherwise a few cult-movie enthusiasts who remember seeing these movies in their youth, when they were already past their prime, but still reasonably cheap to license for free-to-air TV. They don't hold up as well against more recent movies, if for no other reason than culturally, they are from a distant generation and no longer resonate with an audience the same.
So I expect that the BG saga may be played still in 15 years, but it will be in small disconnected islands of old fanboys, remembering back in the day...
In a similar vein, I expect I would still be looking to play some variety of Civilization game, a Master of Orion or 2, and as long as I can authenticate the DRM, the Mass Effect trilogy. If I can ever get hold of a legitimate Day of the Tentacle, or a remake of Zac Mcraken vs. the Alien Mindbenders, even better! And that probably completes the set of classics I currently have (or seek) that I would still be wanting to replay 15 years from now. And I strongly suspect that Mass Effect will be long gone by then, with EA disabling the authentication servers (even if Windows can still handle those ancient DirectX APIs...)
Baldur's Gate have been played 15 years before BG:EE and it will be played 15 years after BG:EE as well. SoD will not have any effect at all on how much Baldur's Gate will be played in the future. Baldur's Gate does not have a small playerbase, it's a large playerbase for such an old game, it's very active and it's one of those games you return to once every year.
Beamdog gave us a way to get in touch with other players, and they did bring Baldur's Gate to the Ipad. But the majority of Baldur's Gate players were there before BG:EE, and if Beamdog had not made BG:EE, it would still have had a large playerbase. Baldur's Gate have an amazing fanbase because it's an amazing game, not because it got enhanced.
I'm very thankful to Beamdog for supporting this community and game, and they should not just have praise for a pair of very good enhancements, they should have praise for bringing us all together in one place.
And another factor that makes Baldur's Gate Immortal, is that there haven't been a better game. Even Mass Effect and Dragon Age couldn't compete with Baldur's Gate. So after 17-18 years, people haven't found a game that is equal/better to Baldur's Gate, so of course they return.
Before Baldur's Gate die, they have to create a CRPG better than it. It wasn't Mass Effect or Dragon Age that had accomplished this task yet. Could it be "Torment: Tides of Numenera"? Let's see.
Before Baldur's Gate die, they have to create a CRPG better than it. It wasn't Mass Effect or Dragon Age that had accomplished this task yet. Could it be "Torment: Tides of Numenera"? Let's see.
It will never happen.
The big developers don't have the passion, nor do they want to spend a lot of time on a game, and the time they do spend on it goes to graphics, movies and full voice over.
The small developers (kickstarters, etc) that have the passion and time for it, won't have the resources to create a game like Baldur's Gate.
It doesn't help that many of the games created today, also need to have a port for console. I can tell you right now that you will never find a game like Baldur's Gate that is also on a console.
It's a sad thing, but the way games are made today, you will never see another Baldur's Gate, just another witcher/mass effect with pretty graphics, full voices and a quest compass to hold your hand while the game slowly strokes your back and makes sure nothing is too difficult. Imagine a Lich, Beholder, Mind Flayer or Vampire battle today... People would be in full rage mode and it would be nerfed in the next patch.
PoE have been the closest thing so far, and it couldn't even get close to Baldur's Gate. Torment: Tides of Numenera will be set in a planescape setting, so it won't be your normal fantasy, and many people won't be playing it because of that.
Planescape Torment is a better game than Baldur's Gate, and it never got the recognition it deserved, because it wasn't your typical and mundane fantasy setting.
No game can live forever. But Baldur's Gate's influence is long-running. The world may not play BG when we are gone, but it will play games that have inherited BG's legacy.
Keep in mind that gaming is an infant artform, and doesn't really have all its traditions set in stone yet. Who's to say that in a few generations, a selection of classic games won't be revered by scholars of the medium like many classic films are today? I wouldn't put it past the realm of possibility for BG to become the Citizen Kane of gaming at some point. I don't know how likely that is, but I think it is possible.
Keep in mind that gaming is an infant artform, and doesn't really have all its traditions set in stone yet.
I'm not sure traditions will ever be set in stone. You see, gaming is a much more volatile artform than anything else that's come before because the experience is always reshaped and redefined by technology that evolves faster and faster.
The first videogame ever was made 65 years ago - and it took another 20 years or so for the media to break out of tech labs and into the market. After thinking about the long way gaming has come I wouldn't dare trying to paint a precise picture of how it'll be in another 65 years.
I wouldn't be surprised if by then people are able to fully immerse in virtual realities (Danger Room style). Or maybe things will soon become stagnant and everyone's going to be playing Call of Duty Part 77 and FIFA 2080 on the PS20. Who knows, right?
I wouldn't put it past the realm of possibility for BG to become the Citizen Kane of gaming at some point. I don't know how likely that is, but I think it is possible.
I'd say that's not very likely, unless we're talking only about its own genre. When it comes to cRPGs, the Baldur's Gate series is not only an undisputed classic, but one of the most influential titles ever. So much that in 2015, claiming your new game is "the spiritual sucessor to Baldur's Gate - this time for real" is still a successful marketing strategy (for pre-orders, at least). But that's certainly not the mainstream of gaming.
@topic of English. The first Bible ever published in english was by King James, and we can all see what confusion that caused...
English can become a language of it's own through different words, letters, and speach. All forms of communication is a communication withen it self. And I believe, the most powerfulest echo of all time is found in a word...
I'm not sure traditions will ever be set in stone. You see, gaming is a much more volatile artform than anything else that's come before because the experience is always reshaped and redefined by technology that evolves faster and faster.
The first videogame ever was made 65 years ago - and it took another 20 years or so for the media to break out of tech labs and into the market. After thinking about the long way gaming has come I wouldn't dare trying to paint a precise picture of how it'll be in another 65 years.
You're right, and tradition wasn't the right word for me to use here. What I should have said is that other media have established academia, while gaming does not. Well, not in the mainstream, at least. I don't see why gaming should be different in this respect to literature or film, and I think it is coming.
Baldur's Gate will not die in 15 years time. It will continue.
There is even a precedence.
Elite, a game that was released in 1982 on the BBC Micro is STILL going strong. It has gone through a lot of incarnations, is available on an amazingly varied number of formats, and the latest game in the series, Elite: Dangerous has recently been released. (And the later releases in this franchise were buggy... Sound familiar?)
Oolite is the name of a modified version of the original Elite, but still very much Elite (modified means in this case to run on modern machines). It has a huge modding community behind it. (Sound familiar... Although I reckon BG has a bigger modding community....)
Now to be honest, Oolite is freeware. Money is not being made.
But...
I bet most Oolite players has gone on to buy the later games...
So... Balder's Gate, 15 years in the future? I forsee similar.
A hardcore group of fanatics keeping the torch alive. Mods not only to run new exciting scenarios but to also make the game run on the vr 386 pentium quadracopter core mega master sega snes Sony Samsung apple phabooklet.
Perhaps no one directly making any money from it, but Baldur's Gate: Boo and the Chasm of Doom sure gets everyone excited... And the new players will want to start from the beginning.
...
Oddly, franchises that can continue in some forms are BIG business. James Bond, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Drizzt, Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, Beast Quest, Lord of the Rings... Winning formulas where the public want more and more and more.
I myself have every single transformer comic.
I must have started with one... Just one. LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!
I am not sure as to why people do not want to make money or promote the Forgotten Realm setting, the way BG does but BG3 would be a most anticipated game. Perhaps too big a game for Beamdog to handle (they are relatively small compared to EA for instance) because people will want a blockbuster.
...
Oh. The story arc is not complete. We do not know what happened after ascending or not in any detail, plus most postscripts of the NPCs point too adventures continuing...
I don't have the new Elite, but it's not impossible that I'll get it. I remember the first couple of versions, and when I heard of its latest revival (heavily promoted where I am!), I was sufficiently curious that I've read the website for it. And yes, it's a much older franchise than BG and still commercially viable for major new releases.
Happy new year @everyone, anyway I working on a tank game http://chobi-glass.com/UnityWebPlayer/Demo_20_Ruins_Battle_A.html and I am torn also towards a Classic World of Warcraft Expansion and a Baldur's Gate Project of mine. Although I see a future of many marvels and delights in the next 20 or so years. I look to my roots, my grounding in all of the ebb and flow of fleeting trends that change like the seasons; always the same yet always new. I ask myself, was I planted by the off chance that my seeds simply fell into this place I that now call home by a precarious wind or was it by the grasp of its narrative gravity that pulled myself into this universe? As I sit contemplating my past twenty years I look ahead uncertain and wondering of how many new bold faces full of youth, vitality and wanting today will become the ghosts of tomorrow? I sit wondering as if circling around within a whirl pool above my head and I feel the waters of time both old and new flowing through my mind and I ask to myself where do we find memories? Are memories created or are they found? Are all of our memories taken from a collective reality or they given to us all by everyone collectively? I wonder how many more times Creeky Creekmore can clap and jive to the same old tunes that me and you have grown to love too while we sit gazing before the dawn into horizons bright and new, calling me and calling you.
A lot can happen in 15 years. Assuming we haven't wiped ourselves out before that time which, if you look at our track record over the previous years, is a very real possibility, then the BG series and BG-esque games should still be around.
People love a good story, it's been that way since cavemen times.
Felt that my point saying that Beamdog may not be big enough to write and make BG3 did not come across right.
Beamdog SHOULD and in my opinion, would be the only company I would TRUST to make a BG3.
... but it is a big risk.
For example, George Lucas made such a complete hash of the prequels, that he was forced, urged, celebrated for selling on the Star Wars franchise. Now everyone is going Star Wars crazy again.
BG3 could finish Beamdog or make it. I think it is that big.
A company like EA on the other hand could make a complete train wreck out of it and simply move on.
Sometimes licencing can be a major obstacle when the IP-owner is not clearly identifiable or not contactable.
However, if Beamdog (or whoever) wants to make BG3, then it's obvious where to go for a licence - the IP belongs to WotC. It's therefore just a matter of negotiating a mutually-acceptable deal ... which isn't necessarily easy (or even possible), but there shouldn't be any fundamental obstacle in law or principle.
Beamdog negotiated their way through a tougher licencing maze for BG1ee and BG2ee, when there were complications because Atari held some distribution rights in addition to the creative rights held by WotC. Even so, they got it done in the end, although some of us will remember that they had a hiatus and suspended development when Atari were going bankrupt.
Comments
edit : more seriously, if you want a game to last a very long time at some point you will have to make it "Online" just with what happened with Fallout. We need some kind of devoted genius (he will probably be russian^^) to make"Baldur's Gate Online".
If you are dealing with AI, you need a constant input of new content (thanks to mods) or else it dies, period.
Compare that with any 3D game that was released more than 10 years ago, which are more often than not rather difficult to look at now.
Baldur's Gate (2D) still looks amazing today, those backgrounds are beautiful. Take a walk in the Government District or Temple District in Amn, very few games have that amount of details.
Neverwinter nights (3D) on the other hand, has aged very badly and looks much worse, even though it was released later.
That said, Neverwinter nights never looked as good as BG.
It does not need to mean the end for infinity engine games, although I am not sure there is enough enthusiasm to make them for a relatively small market, now that they are a long way from bleeding-edge marvels of computer game innovation.
However, technology (and health!) permitting, it is quite likely that I will still be playing in 15 years, thanks in no small part to the rejuvenation of the EE series. I suspect the biggest risk is legally staying on top of the tech evolution of hardware and OS over the next 15 years, as large IP owners tend to look unfavorably on unofficial ports. Unless BeamDog are still interested in providing patches in 15 years (almost certainly a sunk cost, never to be recovered) then I suspect it will be a game for only the dedicated few. 30-40 years after release though, that is not a bad place to be. If we look at other (non-interactive) forms of fiction, how many books, movies, and musical performances of a similar age hold our attention today? Elvis and The Beatles are still going strong, by reputation, as they were important acts that had a huge impact on how popular music evolved - their reputations will be spoken of for another 50 years or more I am sure, but I suspect they do not hit that many play-lists of folks born since 1980. Similarly, I have a fondness for old movies as they were a staple of BBC viewing in the 70s and 80s, but how many would choose a Chaplin film, a John Wayne western, or a Cary Grant or Doris Day rom-com today? A tiny minority of exceptional productions get an airing around special events, otherwise a few cult-movie enthusiasts who remember seeing these movies in their youth, when they were already past their prime, but still reasonably cheap to license for free-to-air TV. They don't hold up as well against more recent movies, if for no other reason than culturally, they are from a distant generation and no longer resonate with an audience the same.
So I expect that the BG saga may be played still in 15 years, but it will be in small disconnected islands of old fanboys, remembering back in the day...
In a similar vein, I expect I would still be looking to play some variety of Civilization game, a Master of Orion or 2, and as long as I can authenticate the DRM, the Mass Effect trilogy. If I can ever get hold of a legitimate Day of the Tentacle, or a remake of Zac Mcraken vs. the Alien Mindbenders, even better! And that probably completes the set of classics I currently have (or seek) that I would still be wanting to replay 15 years from now. And I strongly suspect that Mass Effect will be long gone by then, with EA disabling the authentication servers (even if Windows can still handle those ancient DirectX APIs...)
Beamdog gave us a way to get in touch with other players, and they did bring Baldur's Gate to the Ipad. But the majority of Baldur's Gate players were there before BG:EE, and if Beamdog had not made BG:EE, it would still have had a large playerbase. Baldur's Gate have an amazing fanbase because it's an amazing game, not because it got enhanced.
I'm very thankful to Beamdog for supporting this community and game, and they should not just have praise for a pair of very good enhancements, they should have praise for bringing us all together in one place.
And another factor that makes Baldur's Gate Immortal, is that there haven't been a better game. Even Mass Effect and Dragon Age couldn't compete with Baldur's Gate. So after 17-18 years, people haven't found a game that is equal/better to Baldur's Gate, so of course they return.
The big developers don't have the passion, nor do they want to spend a lot of time on a game, and the time they do spend on it goes to graphics, movies and full voice over.
The small developers (kickstarters, etc) that have the passion and time for it, won't have the resources to create a game like Baldur's Gate.
It doesn't help that many of the games created today, also need to have a port for console. I can tell you right now that you will never find a game like Baldur's Gate that is also on a console.
It's a sad thing, but the way games are made today, you will never see another Baldur's Gate, just another witcher/mass effect with pretty graphics, full voices and a quest compass to hold your hand while the game slowly strokes your back and makes sure nothing is too difficult. Imagine a Lich, Beholder, Mind Flayer or Vampire battle today... People would be in full rage mode and it would be nerfed in the next patch.
PoE have been the closest thing so far, and it couldn't even get close to Baldur's Gate. Torment: Tides of Numenera will be set in a planescape setting, so it won't be your normal fantasy, and many people won't be playing it because of that.
Planescape Torment is a better game than Baldur's Gate, and it never got the recognition it deserved, because it wasn't your typical and mundane fantasy setting.
The first videogame ever was made 65 years ago - and it took another 20 years or so for the media to break out of tech labs and into the market. After thinking about the long way gaming has come I wouldn't dare trying to paint a precise picture of how it'll be in another 65 years.
I wouldn't be surprised if by then people are able to fully immerse in virtual realities (Danger Room style). Or maybe things will soon become stagnant and everyone's going to be playing Call of Duty Part 77 and FIFA 2080 on the PS20. Who knows, right? I'd say that's not very likely, unless we're talking only about its own genre. When it comes to cRPGs, the Baldur's Gate series is not only an undisputed classic, but one of the most influential titles ever. So much that in 2015, claiming your new game is "the spiritual sucessor to Baldur's Gate - this time for real" is still a successful marketing strategy (for pre-orders, at least). But that's certainly not the mainstream of gaming.
No wait... we can go on to fight Bhaal himself now! OK. OK. Make a BG3!
English can become a language of it's own through different words, letters, and speach. All forms of communication is a communication withen it self. And I believe, the most powerfulest echo of all time is found in a word...
OK, getting just alittle bit off topic here...
Baldur's Gate will not die in 15 years time. It will continue.
There is even a precedence.
Elite, a game that was released in 1982 on the BBC Micro is STILL going strong. It has gone through a lot of incarnations, is available on an amazingly varied number of formats, and the latest game in the series, Elite: Dangerous has recently been released. (And the later releases in this franchise were buggy... Sound familiar?)
Oolite is the name of a modified version of the original Elite, but still very much Elite (modified means in this case to run on modern machines). It has a huge modding community behind it. (Sound familiar... Although I reckon BG has a bigger modding community....)
Now to be honest, Oolite is freeware. Money is not being made.
But...
I bet most Oolite players has gone on to buy the later games...
So... Balder's Gate, 15 years in the future? I forsee similar.
A hardcore group of fanatics keeping the torch alive. Mods not only to run new exciting scenarios but to also make the game run on the vr 386 pentium quadracopter core mega master sega snes Sony Samsung apple phabooklet.
Perhaps no one directly making any money from it, but Baldur's Gate: Boo and the Chasm of Doom sure gets everyone excited... And the new players will want to start from the beginning.
...
Oddly, franchises that can continue in some forms are BIG business. James Bond, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Drizzt, Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, Beast Quest, Lord of the Rings... Winning formulas where the public want more and more and more.
I myself have every single transformer comic.
I must have started with one... Just one. LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!
I am not sure as to why people do not want to make money or promote the Forgotten Realm setting, the way BG does but BG3 would be a most anticipated game. Perhaps too big a game for Beamdog to handle (they are relatively small compared to EA for instance) because people will want a blockbuster.
...
Oh. The story arc is not complete. We do not know what happened after ascending or not in any detail, plus most postscripts of the NPCs point too adventures continuing...
I don't have the new Elite, but it's not impossible that I'll get it. I remember the first couple of versions, and when I heard of its latest revival (heavily promoted where I am!), I was sufficiently curious that I've read the website for it. And yes, it's a much older franchise than BG and still commercially viable for major new releases.
So who knows, BG might also last a long time yet.
People love a good story, it's been that way since cavemen times.
edit: spelling
Beamdog SHOULD and in my opinion, would be the only company I would TRUST to make a BG3.
... but it is a big risk.
For example, George Lucas made such a complete hash of the prequels, that he was forced, urged, celebrated for selling on the Star Wars franchise. Now everyone is going Star Wars crazy again.
BG3 could finish Beamdog or make it. I think it is that big.
A company like EA on the other hand could make a complete train wreck out of it and simply move on.
@Anduin if not BG3 than some spiritual succesor like PoE, Divinity: Original sin and upcoming Numenera.
Also, it would be nice to Kickstart the idea.
Maybe, Baldur's gate 3 is not possible due to licence. I know that some years back there was a problem with Planescape Torment licence.
...
Still, if you own the license. Would you want to watch it grow old and die... or reinvigorate it?
...
Somethings are beyond my comprehension @brus .
However, if Beamdog (or whoever) wants to make BG3, then it's obvious where to go for a licence - the IP belongs to WotC. It's therefore just a matter of negotiating a mutually-acceptable deal ... which isn't necessarily easy (or even possible), but there shouldn't be any fundamental obstacle in law or principle.
Beamdog negotiated their way through a tougher licencing maze for BG1ee and BG2ee, when there were complications because Atari held some distribution rights in addition to the creative rights held by WotC. Even so, they got it done in the end, although some of us will remember that they had a hiatus and suspended development when Atari were going bankrupt.