That's a low bar to aim for when you have £200 million to spend. Maybe I should write to Disney and offer to make the next one for a hundred quid and a packet of fags? Couldn't do any worse.
Well Rian Johnson would at least be able to take the Forgotten Realms in a "bold new direction". At least that's what professional rotten tomato reviewers would tell me.
Unless there are EE versions of Knights of the Old Republic I & II projected I don't think Star Wars should be discussed here.
I cannot help but being disapointed with Baldur's Gate saga being fully over there are many lose ends.
Like who are the hooded figures at the end of SoA? Obviously not the hand, they don't quite fit. That's the question that bugger me the most, I'd love to see a major expansion of ToB or an interlude between SoA and ToB but that's going to be wishful thinking.
As long as they don't let Rian Johnson anywhere near it...can you imagine?
Really don't read this if you haven't seen the Last Jedi
Charname would be found living in a cave eating spiders having murdered one of their companions because they had thought about short changing a barkeeper.
You wouldn't need to learn spells, learning is a waste of time.
Two of your companions would up and charge off to the Athkatla (the City of Coin) and lecture the people in the Mithras about the evils of being rich, liberate the animals from the circus, ignore the children held by the slavers in the Copper Coronet, and then fall in love during the spare afternoon they had.
You would see the signposted evil "big bad Snark" having breakfast and then watch him die at teatime having learnt nothing whatsoever about him.
Nobody tells you anything or gives any quests because it's so much fun watching people floundering around not knowing what the hell is going on........... oh look, there's an explosion......and a fight over here....and a squirrel over there
Every wilderness scene is covered in a white substance that looks suspiciously like snow but is in fact salt, washing powder or cocaine (you have to taste it to find out though)
You'd start at level 30 in every class because you're a woman of course duh..........
Or CHARNAME could be a 10-year old born of a virgin mother (cue ominous music). He would wander into a pitched battle and try spinning because that's a good trick. Then, he'd sit down to tie his shoes and accidentally activate a wand in his pocket that would kill all the bad guys.
The quote from Trent Oster on the last page of this thread pretty much confirms that SOD was in fact, the last of the line. Any game using a new engine will have to use a new rule system and a new graphic system with a new art style and totally new gameplay. If it has the name Baldur's Gate in the title it's similarities will be in the title only. The spirit of these games being used in new game engines is always welcome. POE and TTON are two examples of this.
Personally, I am surprised that they have chosen to move on from the infinity engine entirely. I fully expected them to make a new series using a new engine but I had hopes that they would at least push out one more expansion for BG2/TOB. After all, most of their team is made up of Infinity engine modders and they spent the last 5 years upgrading the infinity engine for SOD. The only original game they have made so far is an infinity engine title. It seems like they are In the best position to do it but oh well. If Beamdog has decided not to then I doubt we will ever see a new infinity engine game that adds to the Baldur's Gate universe in an official capacity ever again. That being said, I am very grateful for the improvements they have made to the engine and SOD is truly a gift I never thought I would see. We were truly lucky to get something like this after all of these years and have it strike such a close balance with the original look and gameplay of the 1998 predecessors.
Beamdog should make an iwd 3. Just my 2 cents. Bg3? Seriously? You can one hit dragons by the end of 2! Bg 3 just has you going through the entire Parthenon wiping out gods left and right.
When I was in my 20’s and the bg series game out, I must have played them over and over again 20 times. I bought bg2 we the day it came out on mobile and still haven’t finished it. But iwd! I only finished iwd once when it originally came out and said “meh...it’s ok” but wow does it lend itself better to tablets. Must have played it 5 times since it was rereleased!
I always had the theory that the hooded figures at the end of SoA were those old tutors in Candlekeep and that they helped Charname to set all the Bhaal craziness in motion. And then things got out of control.
And I know I’ve said this before, but I reeaaally hoped that SoD would be about another bhaalspawn that realize that the prophecy isn’t about them. And then you get to decide how to go down in a blaze of glory.
When I first watched that cut scene I thought that some ancient cult was planning an ancient ritual to raise Bhaal. It's too bad that Mellisan, being a priestess of Bhaal didn't use the essence of the five to resurrect Bhaal for the final showdown. It's an alternate ending I had always secretly hoped for after Beamdog stated their intention 5 or so years ago. An ancient sect of evil priests who had been pulling the strings all along. What actually happened to Alundo? Maybe some neat writing could be done with that. Maybe before making a choice to give up the power of a god you could get some revenge on Cyric as well or maybe get him to join you to help kill Bhaal. Of course you could always betray him and keep the essence for yourself and then fight him as well. I always imagined Bhaal would be a slayer form that was bigger than a dragon and a little more amped up then anything we had seen before. The ravager would be like the light version of it.
Oh well, I can't say the BG series isn't already the most epic game ever made so I'm not complaining. Sometimes I like to let my imagination run wild with all of the options that could have been used to expand this series both in gameplay and story though. Maybe Imoen could be captured by the cult and her essence taken out and you being the last Bhaal spawn would actually turn into Bhaal. Maybe the last battle would be your team fighting what used to be your main character. Every once in a while your character would dominate Bhaal and force him to expose his weakness for a short window that would allow for his destruction. If you played solo then you would have to cleanse yourself of Bhaal's taint by fighting him with your soul for domination over your body.
Fighting the armies of the five, taking a detour out of your pocket plane into hell itself to gain some allies for the final battle, opening up a new major city on the sword coast and doing missions to raise your own army.... So many possibilities.
Beamdog isn't what I thought it would be. If thought they would revive the timeless IE engine and start making "modules" from it. Why not recycle all the maps and make a new adventure that takes players from the frozen north to the deserts of the south? Now that the Bhalspawn story is done what about a story of some first level adventurers dealing with the aftermath?
I still think it's a good idea but I don't see any signs that this is the vision that Beamdog is following. I agree with @God that the sales numbers are important but I think those numbers are artificially low because gamergate sorts decided to throw a spanner in the works.
And I agree with @typo_tilly -- I'd like a BG2 expansion.
And to repeat myself. I'd like an entirely new IE game --*all* engines are buggy / limited in *some way*. PoE is much better looking than IE but it just doesn't feel the same and I'm guessing I'll think the same of the unreal engine version of IE . . .
Perhaps some other company / startup will pick up the EE engine and make it. If I had money I'd invest.
I'm with you man. Although I won't jump to say Beamdog isn't going to further develop for it (their recent job postings mention working on the Infinity Engine games still), but I definitely, definitely would love to see more campaigns and overall content in the Infinity Engine. While Pillars of Eternity and newer RPGs are more high res and have technically "superior" graphics, I actually prefer the look of the IE games more, as well as in terms of RPG mechanics and content for them. There's something about that isometric style that is just a joy for me to play (and I am not talking nostalgia here! I didn't grow up with the IE games) and that I just love.
I had the idea that they should open up the Infinity Engine to mods, i.e. make an easier to use mod tool so people can create their own campaigns. While NWN obviously is the go-to currently for that, it's still not IE, and for those who are heavily into the BG-style of RPG, 2nd Edition, etc. etc., it would be glorious. I'd love to play user campaigns in the Forgotten Realms, taking in new adventures along the Sword Coast and beyond. And eventually huge mods that combine several campaigns like the EET could be made, etc.. It would just be RPG heaven, IMO.
New content, doesn't have to be BG3, but new "stuff"- campaigns, tilesets, everything, in the Infinity Engine and I probably wouldn't play another RPG ever again.
If they make new modules to sell for the nwn toolset, that is all I want. But in all honesty, BD isn’t a big company. I am not sure how many employee there to make new content.
I’ve finally gotten into POE somewhat and am liking it – but not loving it like BG 1 / BG 2 and PST. At the same time, I’m playing IE games on the iPAD and still have a better “feel” about playing them. (I look forward to playing them more)
POE looks nicer and it seems that is should be more entertaining than the IE games. (lots of nice little convenience features etc)
When trying to come up with the differences for my opinion, I think it’s the “little things” – conversation quality , villain personalities, the small quests, the NPC banter, discovering little details I had not come across before …
I’m still evaluating my own feelings on the matter – but my initial assessment may be that – it’s not the engine that is the difference for me – but rather some small elements of “charm / magic” that made the 3 IE games I mentioned above very special.
I know this thread is a little old, but they could still bring the SOD companions over to BGII.
I wish... But they've already said they won't do it, it's up to the modders. A pity, really. I've had some good conversations in other threads about rescuing Caelar from hell.
Comments
Figures.
Maybe I should write to Disney and offer to make the next one for a hundred quid and a packet of fags?
Couldn't do any worse.
Eh, it was still better than Rogue 1.
I cannot help but being disapointed with Baldur's Gate saga being fully over there are many lose ends.
Like who are the hooded figures at the end of SoA? Obviously not the hand, they don't quite fit. That's the question that bugger me the most, I'd love to see a major expansion of ToB or an interlude between SoA and ToB but that's going to be wishful thinking.
1) A prequel with the quest to save the children from Bhaal's Temple
2) An interlude between SoA and ToB
3) A Cyric-style quest of another CHARNAME trying to overthrone the Bhaalspawn.
Personally, I am surprised that they have chosen to move on from the infinity engine entirely. I fully expected them to make a new series using a new engine but I had hopes that they would at least push out one more expansion for BG2/TOB. After all, most of their team is made up of Infinity engine modders and they spent the last 5 years upgrading the infinity engine for SOD. The only original game they have made so far is an infinity engine title. It seems like they are In the best position to do it but oh well. If Beamdog has decided not to then I doubt we will ever see a new infinity engine game that adds to the Baldur's Gate universe in an official capacity ever again. That being said, I am very grateful for the improvements they have made to the engine and SOD is truly a gift I never thought I would see. We were truly lucky to get something like this after all of these years and have it strike such a close balance with the original look and gameplay of the 1998 predecessors.
Just my 2 cents.
Bg3? Seriously? You can one hit dragons by the end of 2!
Bg 3 just has you going through the entire Parthenon wiping out gods left and right.
When I was in my 20’s and the bg series game out, I must have played them over and over again 20 times.
I bought bg2 we the day it came out on mobile and still haven’t finished it.
But iwd!
I only finished iwd once when it originally came out and said “meh...it’s ok” but wow does it lend itself better to tablets. Must have played it 5 times since it was rereleased!
And I know I’ve said this before, but I reeaaally hoped that SoD would be about another bhaalspawn that realize that the prophecy isn’t about them. And then you get to decide how to go down in a blaze of glory.
Oh well, I can't say the BG series isn't already the most epic game ever made so I'm not complaining. Sometimes I like to let my imagination run wild with all of the options that could have been used to expand this series both in gameplay and story though. Maybe Imoen could be captured by the cult and her essence taken out and you being the last Bhaal spawn would actually turn into Bhaal. Maybe the last battle would be your team fighting what used to be your main character. Every once in a while your character would dominate Bhaal and force him to expose his weakness for a short window that would allow for his destruction. If you played solo then you would have to cleanse yourself of Bhaal's taint by fighting him with your soul for domination over your body.
Fighting the armies of the five, taking a detour out of your pocket plane into hell itself to gain some allies for the final battle, opening up a new major city on the sword coast and doing missions to raise your own army.... So many possibilities.
I had the idea that they should open up the Infinity Engine to mods, i.e. make an easier to use mod tool so people can create their own campaigns. While NWN obviously is the go-to currently for that, it's still not IE, and for those who are heavily into the BG-style of RPG, 2nd Edition, etc. etc., it would be glorious. I'd love to play user campaigns in the Forgotten Realms, taking in new adventures along the Sword Coast and beyond. And eventually huge mods that combine several campaigns like the EET could be made, etc.. It would just be RPG heaven, IMO.
New content, doesn't have to be BG3, but new "stuff"- campaigns, tilesets, everything, in the Infinity Engine and I probably wouldn't play another RPG ever again.
But in all honesty, BD isn’t a big company.
I am not sure how many employee there to make new content.
At the same time, I’m playing IE games on the iPAD and still have a better “feel” about playing them. (I look forward to playing them more)
POE looks nicer and it seems that is should be more entertaining than the IE games. (lots of nice little convenience features etc)
When trying to come up with the differences for my opinion, I think it’s the “little things” – conversation quality , villain personalities, the small quests, the NPC banter, discovering little details I had not come across before …
I’m still evaluating my own feelings on the matter – but my initial assessment may be that – it’s not the engine that is the difference for me – but rather some small elements of “charm / magic” that made the 3 IE games I mentioned above very special.
A pity, really. I've had some good conversations in other threads about rescuing Caelar from hell.