Well I heard, from completely unreliable, would lie to their own mother, sources, that the antagonist is a bhaalspawn that was somehow mummified, trapping some of Bhaal's taint on the material plane...
The mummy in question with the help of fellow n'oer do wells that include an Illithid Pirate, A Beholder Paladin and an educated slime plan an audacious trap to capture and destroy, CHARNAME, in a bold move to become gods themselves.
But how do you kill a god / such a powerful character?
And if doing so, will it not rip the fabric of reality?
And what of Imoen, does she not still carry the taint?
In case its unclear you're better off asking a brick about BG3 then you are this forum.
That being said I heard BG3 is going to be about Viconia in a latex cat suit as she goes around whipping everyone while running on 12 inch heels. I'm looking forward to it.
Cameron Tofer: "Baldur's Gate 3 has been our long term goal. We have a lot of things to put in place before such a project can be launched. So currently there is no such project but that's the one we want to do. Our thoughts have been that Enhanced Edition for BG 1 and 2 just make sense before there's any Baldur's Gate 3."
"We're totally thinking Kickstarter. It just makes so much sense and solves so many problems. I think what Brian [Fargo] is doing with Wasteland is very interesting."
Jason: Since the announcement of this release, there has been a lot of talk about a Baldur’s Gate 3. Is this in the works? Would you go the traditional publishing route, or use Kickstarter like so many other projects are now? Trent Oster: We want to do something, we’ve been calling it BG:Next internally. While we’d love to go the kickstarter route, our partners would have to support the choice. If we are unable to work out a deal to do a licensed BG:Next, we’ll definitely have a look at the kickstarter route.
Trent Later: "We've talked a bit with our partners about it, and they've kind of indicated a preference to not go with a Kickstarter route," he told me. "So we’d have to figure out some other mechanism for funding it, whether it's a standard publisher deal, or some other alternative financing. We’ll have to see."
For Overhaul, Oster says that "dealing with licensed properties, because there's a number of companies in the chain, is a little more difficult" on Kickstarter, but the drive to make a new Baldur's Gate hasn't changed. They're still "really interested," he told me, but also reiterated that it's not a sealed deal.
"Again, it’s kind of a wait-and-see," said Oster. "If Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is successful, the interest in the partners goes way up. If Enhanced Edition isn't that successful, the interest goes down. Gotta play it by ear and see how it goes."
The new game also won't necessarily pick up the pieces of the cancelled Baldur's Gate III. "Rather than calling it 'Baldur's Gate III' we've been calling it 'Baldur's Gate: Next' internally," he said. "We’re not totally sure what it’s gonna be, but it’s something we really want to do."
"We kind of call it Baldur's Gate Next," Trent Oster tells Eurogamer, "Baldur's Gate 3 would be a tough concept: the Throne of Bhaal expansion really ties up the Baldur's Gate storyline quite well and, barring a God of War 2 where you basically lose your god head and get smacked down to nothingness and have to start over, it would be really hard to follow up".
Oster confirms that Baldur's Gate Next would still be "a top-down, party-based, isometric RPG set in Dungeons & Dragons, keeping the core values of the Baldur's Gate franchise.
"It could be a Waterdeep," he added, "it could be another city in the Forgotten Realms."
The emphasis will still be on what Oster, Beamdog and Overhaul Games understand, however, and we won't be looking at huge 3D environments such as in Skyrim and Dragon Age.
Oster tells Eurogamer that he doesn't want to have to fire people by over-hiring for a project too ambitious for the team.
The Wizards of the Coast are still interested in pursuing a possible Baldur's Gate Next, however, which is rare for the notoriously hard-to-please D&D publisher.
"We've just got to talk to the Wizards of the Coast people," says Oster, "and figure out where they want us to go and what makes sense and see if we can get a deal done around it.
"It's pretty far off; we just had a really casual discussion about it and they were, 'You know what? Let's wait and see how the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition does, and if that does well that will prove that there's a good market for this and it's something we can definitely talk further about.'"
"Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition is on indefinite hold, as is the current patch,” said Trent Oster. “Baldur’s Gate III, we are still interested in the concept, but currently I’d say were very demoralized.”
JS: Do you have any plans beyond Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition? Trent Oster: We like Dungeons and Dragons, and we want to keep working with Wizards of the Coast to bring more great D&D adventures to the fans of the Baldur's Gate series. We know the fans would love a Baldur's Gate III, and we'd love to bring it to them when the time is right. We also have a few things in the skunk works at the moment, so those should be fun to talk about when they make it out of the lab
Schreier: Last we spoke, you expressed interest in working on a Baldur's Gate 3 if everything worked out with 1 and 2. Is that still possible? What sort of legal hurdles would be involved there?
Trent Oster: We're definitely interested in working on Baldur's Gate 3. We've put a ton of work into the franchise and I think the reviews of our new content speak to how well we understand the games. Most reviews say how seamlessly our content fits into the original games. From a legal-hurdles standpoint, we need to get all the right people together in one spot and hammer out an agreement we can all succeed in. We're very happy with our working relationship with Wizards of the Coast and we want to keep that relationship going for a long time into the future.
So, it seems Overhaul always thought about making a new game in the BG series but wanted to see how they got on with BG:EE and BG2:EE before getting worried about BG3 (or BGNext). And now, after the enhanced editions were released, they are in fact planning to make an agreement with all the needed parties so that they can start working on the new project.
They haven't forgotten the legal hell Overhaul faced in the summer of 2013, so they'll try to be really cautious this time. It took Oster and his company a whole year to speak with all the rightholders only for to start working on BG:EE so it won't be easy this time too. But hopelly the experience of the summer of 2013 will be useful and will help to make all the parties more negotiable.
I still believe it would be better to start a new franchise of D&D cRPG's altogether. For instance, they could call it My Monster Girls Can't Be This Cute, or The Daily Life of Oozes. Just to name a few.
If this ever gets done, I will weep tears of joy...Then I'll wait to read the reviews before buying it to make sure it isn't going to be a terrible pile of suckage that ruins the fond memories of my childhood. And if it does suck, I'll weep bitter, bitter tears of sadness. But if it doesn't suck, I'll weep more tears of happiness. Many tears will be wept.
Edit: And @Necromancer I would so buy a game about Viconia as a cat-suited dominatrix with a whip.
"Baldur's Gate 3 would be a tough concept: the Throne of Bhaal expansion really ties up the Baldur's Gate storyline quite well and, barring a God of War 2 where you basically lose your god head and get smacked down to nothingness and have to start over, it would be really hard to follow up".
The end-game choices and alignment-related differences in endings to TOB would lead to such totally divergent futures that one would have to either scrap a couple of outcomes and arbitrarily pick a "canonical" ending from which to continue, or come up with some godawfully lame Marvel-esque "alternate realities" shtick to accommodate the ambiguity. Plus, unlike the jump from BG1 to BG2 where any disparities in the NPCs who were living, dead and in/out of the party could be explained by priestly resurrections etc, by the end of TOB, everyone is pretty much finally, conclusively dead or a significant cultural figure in Faerun (or both). So, it would be too weird for Jaheira, Imoen etc to make even brief cameo appearances in a new game due to their quantum state of simultaneously living/dead/shacked up with the Bhaalspawn/owning half the sword coast/whatever.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see a new Forgotten Realms set D'n'D game that truly carries on the legacy of Baldur's Gate, but to my mind the Bhaalspawn saga is done, finished. Setting the game somewhere like Waterdeep sounds cool, but I think it would need a brand new storyline, completely separate from the events of BG1 through TOB.
If they were to go with a direct connection to the BG series, the only way I can think to go is to set the game long, long after TOB, with the essence of Bhaal (it could be left ambiguous whether it was released during a deliberate ascent to godhood or following the death of a mortal Gorion's Ward) is at war with Cyric over the portfolio of Murder. As we pick up the storyline, the fallout from the Bhaal/Cyric conflict is causing havoc in the Realms - effectively threatening to instigate a new Time of Troubles. When the dark gods' forces clash, decimating the city of Waterdeep, a talented individual (our new CHARNAME) barely escapes alive and sets out to put an end to the war... for better or worse.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see a new Forgotten Realms set D'n'D game that truly carries on the legacy of Baldur's Gate, but to my mind the Bhaalspawn saga is done, finished.
Considering that WotC just continued the saga in their own way with their first D&D Next adventure, I would say there's room to expand on the Bhaalspawn saga again. Probably not in a way that uses the main character from the previous game, but Bhaal is back in action and that opens up a lot of possibilities.
There's so much devs could creatively do with both 1) a pivotal tie-in to the city of Baldur's Gate, and, 2) whatever became of Bhaal's essence in the current era of the Realms that I don't see a problem designing another wonderful epic saga. The real challenge will be getting the various stakeholders together to agree on it!
Why must people continue with a plea for Baldur's Gate 3? The story is completely finished and was an epic saga! If you want more, play Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Dark Alliance, Demon Stone and Planescape.
I personally don't believe the team are ready for a full fledged game using the popularity of Baldur's Gate as their backbone, as it would be near impossible to beat. I do like the idea of doing a Waterdeep styled game, while playing Hordes of the Underdark I felt like there was a lot more to Waterdeep than the same buildings they used for Neverwinter. I'd personally like to see a story based around the Spellplague. It's a very interesting part of the Forgotten Realms lore and I wouldn't want anything completely made up for the sake of a game when you've got 40,000 (ish) years worth of lore to work with.
I think the team at Beamdog should not feel threatened or overwhelmed by the prospect of attempting BG3 @TethorilofLathander . They have had objections, they have had plaudits.
Overall, I feel the EE branding has been successful. However have the games been successful enough to be the cash cow to launch BG3? I don't know.
As for continuing the story... I have personally wrote five stories, purely for pleasure , about Boo's rise to power as the God of all Rodents, in detail Minsc diving into hell itself to return Dynhier to the land of the living, How CHARNAME battled the other gods for a portfolio he does not want, the journey taken by Aerie's great search for her parents/tribe/race and Imoen's Bhaal tainted offspring...
The story did not end.
This story never does.
Like the best stories, it will go on forever.
Until our imaginations fail us.
But until that dark day, when the sun fails to rise, and the stars leave the night bereft in their absence, the fire behind my eyes will shine golden and undimmed...
And in this precious time bequeathed to me...
My pen will write wonders...
...
...
...
Children you can start writing, remember your capital letters and full stops.
I think Cyric would be the perfect antagonist for a sequel. I don't see why you couldn't do a prequel though, I think it would be awesome to see a young Gorion.
Oh and also, there are other options besides the EE's for baldur's gate, but a 3rd game would have exclusivity and be (I think) more successful then the first 2.
Personally, I'd rather not have another BG game focused on the protagonist from the BG I+II games. Personally, I'd prefer if they didn't even mention the events of the BG saga. There are so many ways to play the game (good/evil, ascended to godhood, remained mortal etc) that I can almost guarantee that a sequel wouldn't account for all the possibilities and would stick us with a 'cannon' Bhaalspawn-and we all know who that is (Abdel Adrian). Personally I find it rather irritating when a followup to a game or game series dumps your character and puts some bland committee-approved canon protagonist in their place. "who is this person, they aren't my protagonist?!" I find myself thinking. It was disheartening to me when it happened to the KOTOR series in TOR, I wouldn't want a repeat of that happening to my Bhaalspawn. (particularly in light of WoTC's vision of the Canon Bhaalspawn).
I don't think that should exclude the possibility of anther D&D game, I just think it should keep a healthy distance from the BG Saga. As for when and where, there are plenty of places in Forgotten Realms where we haven't really had a game (much less a infinity engine one) Dambrath, Thay, Calimshan, Lantan, Maztica, Mulhorand, Unther etc. Plenty of exotic places that haven't been touched on in FR games yet that I think are deserving of their turn in the sun. However, since many of these places got nuked by 4th edition I'd definitely prefer a prospective D&D game to be set late-mid 3.5 or even earlier.
I think they've got it figured out pretty well. It's obvious that a fall from godhood is the only way to continue the BG series. There's nowhere left to go.
Of course we want to be able to import our characters to a new game, but that's just not practical at this point. Not unless Ao comes out and smacks us down to a level 1 for being too powerful. Better to build a new story elsewhere. Like ancient Netheril. FLOATING CITIES!!!
"Again, it’s kind of a wait-and-see," said Oster. "If Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is successful, the interest in the partners goes way up. If Enhanced Edition isn't that successful, the interest goes down. Gotta play it by ear and see how it goes."
This is what I want to know. Do they consider the enhanced editions successful?
I think they've got it figured out pretty well. It's obvious that a fall from godhood is the only way to continue the BG series. There's nowhere left to go.
Of course we want to be able to import our characters to a new game, but that's just not practical at this point. Not unless Ao comes out and smacks us down to a level 1 for being too powerful. Better to build a new story elsewhere. Like ancient Netheril. FLOATING CITIES!!!
Floating Cities? I've had enough with Columbia in Bioshock Infinite... Anyway I support that idea, I would like to see a PS:T-like-BG, more SciFi, more lore about the Lower Planes and some insane stuff in the middle like a rocket propelled grenade in a shoe.
"Baldur's Gate 3 would be a tough concept: the Throne of Bhaal expansion really ties up the Baldur's Gate storyline quite well and, barring a God of War 2 where you basically lose your god head and get smacked down to nothingness and have to start over, it would be really hard to follow up".
The end-game choices and alignment-related differences in endings to TOB would lead to such totally divergent futures that one would have to either scrap a couple of outcomes and arbitrarily pick a "canonical" ending from which to continue, or come up with some godawfully lame Marvel-esque "alternate realities" shtick to accommodate the ambiguity. Plus, unlike the jump from BG1 to BG2 where any disparities in the NPCs who were living, dead and in/out of the party could be explained by priestly resurrections etc, by the end of TOB, everyone is pretty much finally, conclusively dead or a significant cultural figure in Faerun (or both). So, it would be too weird for Jaheira, Imoen etc to make even brief cameo appearances in a new game due to their quantum state of simultaneously living/dead/shacked up with the Bhaalspawn/owning half the sword coast/whatever.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see a new Forgotten Realms set D'n'D game that truly carries on the legacy of Baldur's Gate, but to my mind the Bhaalspawn saga is done, finished. Setting the game somewhere like Waterdeep sounds cool, but I think it would need a brand new storyline, completely separate from the events of BG1 through TOB.
If they were to go with a direct connection to the BG series, the only way I can think to go is to set the game long, long after TOB, with the essence of Bhaal (it could be left ambiguous whether it was released during a deliberate ascent to godhood or following the death of a mortal Gorion's Ward) is at war with Cyric over the portfolio of Murder. As we pick up the storyline, the fallout from the Bhaal/Cyric conflict is causing havoc in the Realms - effectively threatening to instigate a new Time of Troubles. When the dark gods' forces clash, decimating the city of Waterdeep, a talented individual (our new CHARNAME) barely escapes alive and sets out to put an end to the war... for better or worse.
Hey look at that, maybe it could work
I was kinda hoping BG3 would be the adventure of the character's kid rather than the character himself...
A game following the chosen could be another potential avenue. Imagine a party consisting of Drizzt, Elminster, Erevis Cale and Cadderly. You could fight entire flights of dragons, instead of just one in a lair.
Really though, regardless of who we'd play as. I (unfortunately) have very high expectations for the main antagonist, who has to live up to Sarevok and Irenicus's "legacy." Because I mean protagonist's back story aside, I love me a BA bad guy (ie Darth Vader, Joker and Bane, the Devil/Satan in a lot of different works, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Lord Sauron, Lex Luthor, etc...)
How about a prequel from the Irenicus perspective? Torn between his love and elvish nature and Bodhi's lust for power and the corresponding temptations?
I was kinda hoping BG3 would be the adventure of the character's kid rather than the character himself...
That's exactly what I was suggesting... I wasn't suggesting that the CHARNAME of BG1 through TOB be resurrected in the form of a new character, I was suggesting that our new protagonist be someone somehow caught up in a war between cults of Bhaal and Cyric, a war that takes place long after CHARNAME has (ambiguously, we don't need to know which) died or ascended to godhood. The Bhaal/Cyric war would be triggered by the events of TOB, but sufficiently removed from those events by time and geography that the precise nature of those events can be kept vague.
As for the new protagonist being a descendant of the original CHARNAME, that's another thing that could be kept vague. A male CHARNAME could potentially have fathered offspring during his quest, but canonically, BG1 through TOB takes a few months and certainly doesn't include a period of several months in which a female CHARNAME could have given birth, even if she immediately dumped the kid on the doorstep of the nearest temple. However, there were many other Bhaalspawn of assorted races who could well have had multiple offspring pre-TOB, so by the time BG3 takes place a few generations later, there are probably hundreds of men, dwarves and elves with some degree of Bhaalspawn in their bloodline. So, if the new protagonist is alluded to as having "Bhaal's blood in his/her ancestry" without a specific ancestor being named, people can RP being the granddaughter of Sarevok or Imoen or whoever... even Abazigal if they roll Dragon Disciple.
I've bought 3 copies of bg from this site to support it. I'd go all out for bg 3. D&D has a new edition coming out and Baldurs Gate could showcase it. I think the new system would be awesome to see in even an infinity game.
Comments
The mummy in question with the help of fellow n'oer do wells that include an Illithid Pirate, A Beholder Paladin and an educated slime plan an audacious trap to capture and destroy, CHARNAME, in a bold move to become gods themselves.
But how do you kill a god / such a powerful character?
And if doing so, will it not rip the fabric of reality?
And what of Imoen, does she not still carry the taint?
All will be revealed...
By someone who actually knows...
That being said I heard BG3 is going to be about Viconia in a latex cat suit as she goes around whipping everyone while running on 12 inch heels. I'm looking forward to it.
...
So you keeping quiet about it... I see... I see...
A wall of silence...
But... ITS WHAT YOU HAVEN'T SAID ! ! !
That is something we can build on...
I think we should interrogate other building materials until we get something more concrete...
...And this was in 2003.
March 2012
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition/1220929p1.html
Cameron Tofer: "Baldur's Gate 3 has been our long term goal. We have a lot of things to put in place before such a project can be launched. So currently there is no such project but that's the one we want to do. Our thoughts have been that Enhanced Edition for BG 1 and 2 just make sense before there's any Baldur's Gate 3."
"We're totally thinking Kickstarter. It just makes so much sense and solves so many problems. I think what Brian [Fargo] is doing with Wasteland is very interesting."
November 2012
http://1morecastle.com/2012/11/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-a-trent-oster-interview/
Jason: Since the announcement of this release, there has been a lot of talk about a Baldur’s Gate 3. Is this in the works? Would you go the traditional publishing route, or use Kickstarter like so many other projects are now?
Trent Oster: We want to do something, we’ve been calling it BG:Next internally. While we’d love to go the kickstarter route, our partners would have to support the choice. If we are unable to work out a deal to do a licensed BG:Next, we’ll definitely have a look at the kickstarter route.
Later in November 2012
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/11/16/baldurs-gate-next-kickstarter/
Trent Later: "We've talked a bit with our partners about it, and they've kind of indicated a preference to not go with a Kickstarter route," he told me. "So we’d have to figure out some other mechanism for funding it, whether it's a standard publisher deal, or some other alternative financing. We’ll have to see."
For Overhaul, Oster says that "dealing with licensed properties, because there's a number of companies in the chain, is a little more difficult" on Kickstarter, but the drive to make a new Baldur's Gate hasn't changed. They're still "really interested," he told me, but also reiterated that it's not a sealed deal.
"Again, it’s kind of a wait-and-see," said Oster. "If Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is successful, the interest in the partners goes way up. If Enhanced Edition isn't that successful, the interest goes down. Gotta play it by ear and see how it goes."
The new game also won't necessarily pick up the pieces of the cancelled Baldur's Gate III. "Rather than calling it 'Baldur's Gate III' we've been calling it 'Baldur's Gate: Next' internally," he said. "We’re not totally sure what it’s gonna be, but it’s something we really want to do."
December 2012
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1727903/baldurs_gate_3_could_happen_just_not_like_you_expected.html
"We kind of call it Baldur's Gate Next," Trent Oster tells Eurogamer, "Baldur's Gate 3 would be a tough concept: the Throne of Bhaal expansion really ties up the Baldur's Gate storyline quite well and, barring a God of War 2 where you basically lose your god head and get smacked down to nothingness and have to start over, it would be really hard to follow up".
Oster confirms that Baldur's Gate Next would still be "a top-down, party-based, isometric RPG set in Dungeons & Dragons, keeping the core values of the Baldur's Gate franchise.
"It could be a Waterdeep," he added, "it could be another city in the Forgotten Realms."
The emphasis will still be on what Oster, Beamdog and Overhaul Games understand, however, and we won't be looking at huge 3D environments such as in Skyrim and Dragon Age.
Oster tells Eurogamer that he doesn't want to have to fire people by over-hiring for a project too ambitious for the team.
The Wizards of the Coast are still interested in pursuing a possible Baldur's Gate Next, however, which is rare for the notoriously hard-to-please D&D publisher.
"We've just got to talk to the Wizards of the Coast people," says Oster, "and figure out where they want us to go and what makes sense and see if we can get a deal done around it.
"It's pretty far off; we just had a really casual discussion about it and they were, 'You know what? Let's wait and see how the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition does, and if that does well that will prove that there's a good market for this and it's something we can definitely talk further about.'"
June 2013
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/24/beamdog-hoping-for-baldurs-gate-iii-despite-legal-hell/
"Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition is on indefinite hold, as is the current patch,” said Trent Oster. “Baldur’s Gate III, we are still interested in the concept, but currently I’d say were very demoralized.”
October 2013
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dnd/bg2ee/bg2eeint.html
JS: Do you have any plans beyond Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition?
Trent Oster: We like Dungeons and Dragons, and we want to keep working with Wizards of the Coast to bring more great D&D adventures to the fans of the Baldur's Gate series. We know the fans would love a Baldur's Gate III, and we'd love to bring it to them when the time is right. We also have a few things in the skunk works at the moment, so those should be fun to talk about when they make it out of the lab
January 2013
http://kotaku.com/q-a-baldurs-gate-ii-enhanced-edition-took-a-lot-of-w-1507720763
Schreier: Last we spoke, you expressed interest in working on a Baldur's Gate 3 if everything worked out with 1 and 2. Is that still possible? What sort of legal hurdles would be involved there?
Trent Oster: We're definitely interested in working on Baldur's Gate 3. We've put a ton of work into the franchise and I think the reviews of our new content speak to how well we understand the games. Most reviews say how seamlessly our content fits into the original games. From a legal-hurdles standpoint, we need to get all the right people together in one spot and hammer out an agreement we can all succeed in. We're very happy with our working relationship with Wizards of the Coast and we want to keep that relationship going for a long time into the future.
So, it seems Overhaul always thought about making a new game in the BG series but wanted to see how they got on with BG:EE and BG2:EE before getting worried about BG3 (or BGNext). And now, after the enhanced editions were released, they are in fact planning to make an agreement with all the needed parties so that they can start working on the new project.
They haven't forgotten the legal hell Overhaul faced in the summer of 2013, so they'll try to be really cautious this time. It took Oster and his company a whole year to speak with all the rightholders only for to start working on BG:EE so it won't be easy this time too. But hopelly the experience of the summer of 2013 will be useful and will help to make all the parties more negotiable.
Edit: And @Necromancer I would so buy a game about Viconia as a cat-suited dominatrix with a whip.
Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see a new Forgotten Realms set D'n'D game that truly carries on the legacy of Baldur's Gate, but to my mind the Bhaalspawn saga is done, finished. Setting the game somewhere like Waterdeep sounds cool, but I think it would need a brand new storyline, completely separate from the events of BG1 through TOB.
If they were to go with a direct connection to the BG series, the only way I can think to go is to set the game long, long after TOB, with the essence of Bhaal (it could be left ambiguous whether it was released during a deliberate ascent to godhood or following the death of a mortal Gorion's Ward) is at war with Cyric over the portfolio of Murder. As we pick up the storyline, the fallout from the Bhaal/Cyric conflict is causing havoc in the Realms - effectively threatening to instigate a new Time of Troubles. When the dark gods' forces clash, decimating the city of Waterdeep, a talented individual (our new CHARNAME) barely escapes alive and sets out to put an end to the war... for better or worse.
Hey look at that, maybe it could work
I personally don't believe the team are ready for a full fledged game using the popularity of Baldur's Gate as their backbone, as it would be near impossible to beat. I do like the idea of doing a Waterdeep styled game, while playing Hordes of the Underdark I felt like there was a lot more to Waterdeep than the same buildings they used for Neverwinter. I'd personally like to see a story based around the Spellplague. It's a very interesting part of the Forgotten Realms lore and I wouldn't want anything completely made up for the sake of a game when you've got 40,000 (ish) years worth of lore to work with.
Overall, I feel the EE branding has been successful. However have the games been successful enough to be the cash cow to launch BG3? I don't know.
As for continuing the story... I have personally wrote five stories, purely for pleasure , about Boo's rise to power as the God of all Rodents, in detail Minsc diving into hell itself to return Dynhier to the land of the living, How CHARNAME battled the other gods for a portfolio he does not want, the journey taken by Aerie's great search for her parents/tribe/race and Imoen's Bhaal tainted offspring...
The story did not end.
This story never does.
Like the best stories, it will go on forever.
Until our imaginations fail us.
But until that dark day, when the sun fails to rise, and the stars leave the night bereft in their absence, the fire behind my eyes will shine golden and undimmed...
And in this precious time bequeathed to me...
My pen will write wonders...
...
...
...
Children you can start writing, remember your capital letters and full stops.
I don't think that should exclude the possibility of anther D&D game, I just think it should keep a healthy distance from the BG Saga. As for when and where, there are plenty of places in Forgotten Realms where we haven't really had a game (much less a infinity engine one) Dambrath, Thay, Calimshan, Lantan, Maztica, Mulhorand, Unther etc. Plenty of exotic places that haven't been touched on in FR games yet that I think are deserving of their turn in the sun. However, since many of these places got nuked by 4th edition I'd definitely prefer a prospective D&D game to be set late-mid 3.5 or even earlier.
Of course we want to be able to import our characters to a new game, but that's just not practical at this point. Not unless Ao comes out and smacks us down to a level 1 for being too powerful. Better to build a new story elsewhere. Like ancient Netheril. FLOATING CITIES!!!
Anyway I support that idea, I would like to see a PS:T-like-BG, more SciFi, more lore about the Lower Planes and some insane stuff in the middle like a rocket propelled grenade in a shoe.
Really though, regardless of who we'd play as. I (unfortunately) have very high expectations for the main antagonist, who has to live up to Sarevok and Irenicus's "legacy." Because I mean protagonist's back story aside, I love me a BA bad guy (ie Darth Vader, Joker and Bane, the Devil/Satan in a lot of different works, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Lord Sauron, Lex Luthor, etc...)
As for the new protagonist being a descendant of the original CHARNAME, that's another thing that could be kept vague. A male CHARNAME could potentially have fathered offspring during his quest, but canonically, BG1 through TOB takes a few months and certainly doesn't include a period of several months in which a female CHARNAME could have given birth, even if she immediately dumped the kid on the doorstep of the nearest temple. However, there were many other Bhaalspawn of assorted races who could well have had multiple offspring pre-TOB, so by the time BG3 takes place a few generations later, there are probably hundreds of men, dwarves and elves with some degree of Bhaalspawn in their bloodline. So, if the new protagonist is alluded to as having "Bhaal's blood in his/her ancestry" without a specific ancestor being named, people can RP being the granddaughter of Sarevok or Imoen or whoever... even Abazigal if they roll Dragon Disciple.