New BG2 remake in the works, according to gaming news sites
DinoDin
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https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-baldurs-gate-2-remake-is-apparently-in-development-with-the-original-co-lead-designer-returning/
Several other sites are reporting the same. Despite the title and where I put this, apparently the whole original saga is looking at getting a reboot. Wouldn't be the first classic game to get a second enhanced edition. Wondering what some old timers' thoughts are about it.
I'm definitely intrigued. However, I'm not sure what honestly needs to be added or improved to the games that the EE's don't already do? I'm curious if the EE content will even be used.
Nonetheless I'm cool with it, and one thing I would love would be any kind of "Tales of the Sword Coast" style add-ons, especially in the ToB section of the saga.
Several other sites are reporting the same. Despite the title and where I put this, apparently the whole original saga is looking at getting a reboot. Wouldn't be the first classic game to get a second enhanced edition. Wondering what some old timers' thoughts are about it.
I'm definitely intrigued. However, I'm not sure what honestly needs to be added or improved to the games that the EE's don't already do? I'm curious if the EE content will even be used.
Nonetheless I'm cool with it, and one thing I would love would be any kind of "Tales of the Sword Coast" style add-ons, especially in the ToB section of the saga.
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I wouldn't mind (exceptionaly) take the role of the greatest children saver.
If remakes are going to remind BG3, then i'm rather afraid.
But 2E is non-negotiable to me. Any change from that is completely dead in the water.
Yeah, looking back, I think I overlooked the word "remake" in the story. That indicates more than an enhanced edition, more than a remastering, with perhaps some adding quests or Unfinished Business type tweaks. And that unfortunately might mean an end to 2E rules and an end to real-time combat, in favor of turn-based and 5E. All of which makes me think such a game would not be worth my time. For me, 2E is also non-negotiable, as well as real-time.
I say this as someone who did greatly enjoy BG3, btw. Even with its flaws. However, it's just not as tactically/strategically rich as the original games. In fact, it's quite an easy game imo, even on the hardest difficulty.
Still holding out some hope. If the game could be something like a boost to Deadfire-level graphics, while keeping the underlying ruleset and gameplay, I'd be all for it. I don't think it's a "cashgrab" game, responding to the other commenter, however. I just don't think a title like this will end up making a lot of money, period.
But yeah, that won’t be *my* game. I can play the EE until the zombie apocalypse.
and i wonder if they might make some whacky hybrid 2nd edition/5th edition blend? because i cant see the BG2 remake just straight up being 5th edition because i dont know if that game would be properly balanced for it since 5th edition has a different play style than 2nd edition does
Jokes aside, I’m really wondering what direction this remake is supposed to take. In general, I am interested in the idea of a remake, even though, with the Enhanced Editions, we already have pretty much everything we need.
What I truly hope is that the remake includes Siege of Dragonspear. For me, it has become almost impossible to separate it from the overall story of Baldur’s Gate. It fills an important gap, and by now it feels like a natural part of the journey.
One thing I have always loved about the Baldur’s Gate saga is the ability to carry your character — and, in a way, your party — from Baldur’s Gate through Tales of the Sword Coast, then on to Baldur’s Gate II and Throne of Bhaal. That is exactly one of the things I love about pen-and-paper RPGs: your character and companions go through many adventures over time, growing with each chapter of the story.
I also loved that kind of continuity back in the day with games like the Pool of Radiance series, including the crossover with Hillsfar, and also with The Bard’s Tale series. That sense of a long, connected journey is something I really miss in many modern RPGs.
So how different will it be from the EE's? That is the real question.. they have to be significantly more modernized or there isn't really a market for it.
Since it isn't AAA, it likely won't be full 3D like BG3 - creating all that landmass will be too expensive, so we're likely getting something isometric.
They probably won't be using a unique engine, so which ones are likely to be used?
Unity is certainly an option, looking at Wasteland 3, Pillars of Eternity, Pathfinder and 40K: Rogue Trader.
Unity is a bit of a double edged sword for me.
I really don't like how they used it for Pathfinder.. it feels clunky and slow, worse performance than you'd expect.
But in Pillars 2 i think the Unity engine runs very, very well and it feels responsive.
Unreal Engine is the only likely alternative I can think of, but I honestly don't think that's a realistic target.
It is a much more demanding engine to both work in and optimize.
Unity also supports RtWP and fully turn based, so they can go either way on that.
I have a feeling it'll be TB, because RtWP just isn't very popular anymore.. sadly.
TB also needs far less trash mobs and encounters, because each encounter takes much longer and requiers much more interaction from the player.
Could they go to ARPG and have a Diablo'esque playstyle? I bet they could, it might be what they're going for.
If they don't care about nostalgia and are not making the remake for the fans and trying to make bank on "us" then they could be aiming for an entirely new audience and go that route.
In any case, I am pretty sure WoTC will want a 5E TB experience to benefit their core product.
But we have seen examples of the opposite in recent years, so it's impossible to predict with any real confidence.
I'll go out on a limb though, I'll just say it as I see it.
Engine: Unity
Ruleset: 5E
Mechanic: Turn Based
Voice acting: No re-use for old recordings and instead a budget VO studio (I know, it'd be sacrilege.. but still think it's the case)
Art style comparison: Pillars of Eternity 2
Resolution aim: UI perfectly adapted to 1080 and 1440P, with 4K support. Possible 21:9 support, but i have doubts
They could make it 5th Ed. But they would probably have to completely rewrite the encounters. Basically they would have to make a new game almost entirely from scratch, imo. Essentially using the old games as a kind of outline for the new game. You could repeat the spirit of certain encounters. You'd still probably fight some of the same named villains and all, but the dungeon design, encounter design, etc, would be completely different. For example, you could have a Nashkel mines full of kobolds and Mulahey at the end of it all. But it might not have the exact composition of kobolds, won't be the same layout, might not have the randomly inserted spiders or ghouls, etc.
In fact, if they do lean on 5E and TB (which i agree is most likely) it will be critical to redesign everything. You'll have to build the game around fewer but more meaningful combat encounters, for example.
@deadinside believe me I have thought about such things! Obviously the tech isn’t completely there yet. And I used to parse it (in my own fertile imagination) as having the Star Trek Holodeck. And I’m mostly happy with where the EEs are at. But my fantasy… “computer, give me all nine Gold Box games in the Infinity EE game engine.” I will know I’m in heaven.
SoD was an exception to the rule, but everything already either follow current ruleset, either are genre-shifted out to receive the full ruleset (I'm looking at you, D&D Dark Alliance).
And let us also not forget the bastardization PST received through the 5e book.
I wouldn't make such an outdated prediction as @Khyron made though (which screams ~2021 to me). In-house engines are still used (alright, the example which comes to my mind is Media.Vision) and Godot got a wave of interest after Unity's 2023 licensing kerfuffle. Also, a good amount of the UE4/UE5 asset pipeline bastardizations were introduced to decrease the entry level. The practicality of that latter even has an SRD/OGL example with Solasta 2.
Either way, the engine choice will be dictated by the expertise of the devteam/studio involved with the project, but there's no announcement on that front yet.
Also, the only way I can imagine an IE-accurate remaster could work would be if they'd grab BD's EE engine, carve out everything from it which involves rendering/art handling and offload that to a modern engine as a renderer in a Nightdive/Oblivion/C&C Remaster fashion, but I doubt that's the plan. So yeah, this will get bastardized pmuch.
I will die on the Unity hill.
I may well be proven wrong, wouldn't be the first time.
But unless the studio has an available engine or deep experience with UE, then Unity is the logical choice.
Godot.. it's not like they're gonna make a 2D pixelgraphics game.
It's not gonna be a indie project
In addition, what really carries these games is the great modding community, which the new re-release won't accomodate or replace in any way shape or form, and the unique 2e Ruleset which I personally find more enjoyable than modern 5e. And make no mistake here, the game will be in 5e, which is an acquired taste. Regarding the former, I actually think that this is ultimately bad news. Next generation of players might miss out on all the great modder passion the games had acquired over the years in favour of Graphics Whoring and Voice Acting of the remake - if they have resources for that. If it's just Enhanced Edition 2.0, then I guess it's not an issue - it will lose it's original charm and lack of content and solid AI will just pivot players back to originals (I hope) - but if they have resources to throw away, I fear that this could upset the new flow of players. On top of that that's a cadre of new potential modders that won't show up to continue the tapestry. Of course I may be wrong here, and I will be the first concede that I really hope that I am, but if not, it's basically stealing players for an already established product and taking away from future of the community.
All in all, this is bad news. It would have been much better if popularity of BG3 ended here, and allowed some curious folks to explore original games, rather than ignore them and jump into poorly made 5e. Frankly, I cross my fingers that this is another Warcraft 3 Reforged (Refunded), if only so that new players come to Enhanced Editions and perhaps even get inspired to make mods. And I stress about mods because at the end of the day, while this game in it's original state is fun, it's the all the cool new toys that modders have added over the years that push Baldurs Gate series into S+ tier that no other game has managed to upset. SCS, Tweaks, awesome NPC mods, new adventures and modules.
While I agree that mods kept BG relevant for many years, and thus is part of what made the EE's happen I feel they now play a much smaller role.
Before EE, you couldn't play BG1 with higher resolution without importing the content into the BG2 engine - which in my opinion is the most important mod we have ever had. Bgtutu and WeiDU carried BG for a long time.. along with a myriad of other contributions from modders, but from a technical standpoint those two stand out for me.
I think today the EE's stand very well on their own, distribution networks like Steam ensure you can have a trickle of income for many years.
If this remake does happen, i truly hope they drop everything but the story and characters.
Make it 5E, entirely different engine, rebuild all encounters, new portraits, the whole shebang.
Voice acting is extremely delicate.. I really want them to keep it, on the other hand how Bioware solved it with partial VO is a bit weird and probably won't be kept for a modern audience.
I don't see myself spending dosh on a half baked remake.
Either go all in or not at all.
EE has been done and doesn't need another one.
I am very grateful for the EEs and technically I think Beamdog have squeezed all there is from the engine
The remake has to be technically very much more modern or there isn't really any point to it.
I don't expect to be able to find "that tree" or "that stone" or "those two houses at the south eastern part of Athkathla".
A strong general likeness I do expect, but not an exact copy.
It’s funny to me already how whenever someone asks what I’m playing lately, I say “Baldur’s Gate, one and two, not three”. So one day, I might have to add “not the remake!”
A profusion of variations! It’s like a car, sure it’s a Challenger… But what year? What engine? Is it a wide body?