I'd love some more NPC's as DLC for the existing games(a few power-gamey ones fighter dualed to mage @9 and maybe a f/c for teh evils); I still love 2nd edition dnd and the infinity engine! BG3 may have a new engine and set of rules however but I hope there continues to be added content for bg & bg2 ee's because they continue to be fiercely swell and nice.
Another of my vain hopes is something like ToEE style turn based combat for BG3 but with a way better written and voiced presentation but that 3.5 ruelset was extremely nice when it was actually turn based. I doubt it would ever happen lol... but I would encourage it strongly.
I just don't understand, and have never understood, why they have to reinvent the wheel every time they come out with a new game. The infinity engine works fine and unlike more recent engines is simple enough to program in that you would think they could churn out new stories at a minimal cost. Hell, you have people modding this game rather extensively as a hobby. If they paid people to do it, maybe even got a few English majors to write for them, they could make this old thing a platform for a whole series of modules - like NWN but professionally done and less silly/childish. If they want to add features, how about okay, here are a few more spells, and you can ride a horse now. But mainly stick to plot and characters - a D&D cRPG ought to be like a souped up interactive novel, and every game so far, even BG2, has fallen a little bit short of that. And who really cares a wink if it's a continuation of the BG plot? I hate to say it, but the BG plot was a bit trite and simplistic, and is only so beloved because of the quality of the infinity engine and the level of detail that went into BG2.
I now feel I should clarify just a little what I said above:
Unless we're talking about a prequel (which personally I would love but consider unlikely), I would expect the game to be set in the era of the Forgotten Realms that is current at the time of release--which is long after humans and half-elves from the original saga have passed.
There's no way that this story would be any sort of continuation of the BG I/BGII story, per se. It would presumably be about the legacy of that story hundreds of years in the future. Bhaal's essence did survive in the planes after ToB. Whatever happens next is basically up to the creativity of the developers and partners (not the least of which will be WotC). So the possibilities for story development is actually totally wide open.
The city of Baldur's Gate survived the Spellplague. In my view it's fine therefore to fit it into the story, if the developers so decide. Personally, I would love to see that for nostalgia's sake (in addition to the city being such a richly developed setting before, during, and after the cataclysmic Spellplague). But by all means, I would love to see the game also take us to as many locations as possible in the Realms. I'm not really up on what the Realms looks like post-Spellplague, but no doubt there are plenty of evocative locations.
@golingarf The infinity engine works, yes. But if you dabbled in it, you'd see it's very limited. This is why Overhaul had to redo a part of it to make their new GUI. I don't think they even have their own tools to edit the game and use the community's.
But I would also gladly play games that use it still. Many people still love 3d isometric games (see Pillars of Eternity). I think you're right, a new project would need good writers but also art/animation designers to 'enhance' the original IE experience.
I think a cool way of keeping your character in any possible BG3 is to make him / her the antagonist.
Perhaps he/she is a force for good but has stopped all murder in the realms... Monsters / villains go unpunished. War, even for just causes, cease. Those that can overpower rule by might treating everyone cruelly, giving no one an opportunity to fight back...
Or is bad and is encouraging murder in the realms... Everyone is murdering everyone else in a rampage of bloodlust!
Whatever...
Your new character has to face up to defeating this all powerful bhaalspawn / god, to bring back balance (not fully worked out this bit yet, just go with me here)
That way you have continuation and a new start.
Plus if you play BG3 from scratch and don't load in a previous save game, you can murder Abdel, as default, from the novels! Its a win win situation.
@Abel, omg I just looked up Pillars of Eternity. WotC is losing out on everything, aren't they? They certainly deserve to, though it will be sad to see D&D destroyed by a dozen shameless knockoffs.
I think a cool way of keeping your character in any possible BG3 is to make him / her the antagonist.
Perhaps he/she is a force for good but has stopped all murder in the realms... Monsters / villains go unpunished. War, even for just causes, cease. Those that can overpower rule by might treating everyone cruelly, giving no one an opportunity to fight back...
Or is bad and is encouraging murder in the realms... Everyone is murdering everyone else in a rampage of bloodlust!
Whatever...
Your new character has to face up to defeating this all powerful bhaalspawn / god, to bring back balance (not fully worked out this bit yet, just go with me here)
That way you have continuation and a new start.
Plus if you play BG3 from scratch and don't load in a previous save game, you can murder Abdel, as default, from the novels! Its a win win situation.
But... That won't let place for the expansions that were planned? And the name should be changed or just named BG3: A new Apple like you've revealed to us?
Anyway I think that it will be cool to add another expansion for BG3... It will have to be named something like RoB, Rain of Broccoli... Sounds, scaring?
@Abel, omg I just looked up Pillars of Eternity. WotC is losing out on everything, aren't they? They certainly deserve to, though it will be sad to see D&D destroyed by a dozen shameless knockoffs.
I like to think that the true road to hell is paved with the footsteps of greedheads. It is always heart wrenching to watch the death of a beast so awesome as a dragon, but to see the ruin of its master, the shameless profiteers who killed it? That, my friends, is a sweeter kind of justice.
First of all the infinity Engine is a nightmare to work with. Ask any modder how hard it is to change the simplest things. A new game will require a new and more modular design.
Second any new D&D game will have to use the latest rules and be placed in the current timeline of the Realms, I've never seem TSR or WoTC open an exception to these rules. I have no idea what they have planned for the Realms in the new edition.
A BG3 would probably deal with the consequences of the death and eventually the return of Bhaal. I think it's unlikely it would directly continue Charname's story. We could always meet some of the elven NPCs though.
I think the Bhaalspawn saga is wrapped up, and the title Baldur's Gate isn't inexorably linked to the Bhaalspawn story, just look at the Dark Alliance series (regardless of your feelings about it) it used the same base title and world and built something totally new out of it.
So I think we can leave the Bhaalspawn story alone, and this is why I think they avoid using the word "BG3" and instead say "Next". I know for some people not having their character carry over may seem a deal breaker but at the same time I can understand how strange it would be for a D&D game to start you with a character level 30 - 40 where even naked you can punch any trash mob into bloody pulp. That being said I do hope we get to see a rise in the level & XP cap from BGII, though I admit I don't know what, if any, limits there are in actual D&D on character levels.
As far as setting, I'd love to see a Waterdeep, to be honest though I'm kind of a bit tired of the Sword Coast, I want to see something set somewhere else for a change, We've seen Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Amn... if you just played these games you wouldn't think there was anything east of them but take one look at the Forgotten Realms map and.... HOLY CRAP!
A new game will require a new and more modular design.
If that is true there really isn't a good reason to have beamdog make BG3. BD is *slow* at getting patches out -- if it took them a year to get the intel graphics working, just imagine how long it would take to create an entirely new engine. New engine means new bugs, new hardware requirements and so on. Besides the new engine talk reminds me of the NWN hype -- infinity stinks, its hard to program, reviewers hate 2D, 3D is the way to go, new engine will be more modular . . . and thus started the decline of Bioware.
I want a game that will run on my crappy laptop , I want a game with the rules that I know that I like and I don't want to wait five years for it.
Second any new D&D game will have to use the latest rules and be placed in the current timeline of the Realms,
While that is a good characterization of WOTC's attitude up until now, I'm not sure that is true anymore -- the new modules aren't rule specific, WOTC is reissuing the first and pre first ed material and I think WOTC are planning to remain ruleset neutral. If you like D&D next good, if not we still got stuff for yuh. Also, IWD didn't take place in the current timeline -- something like 200 years before the time of troubles, can't remember exactly when.
A BG3 would probably deal with the consequences of the death and eventually the return of Bhaal. I think it's unlikely it would directly continue Charname's story. We could always meet some of the elven NPCs though.
That could be fun -- I'd be happy with a game that started in Baldur's Gate, to focus on the scion of charname, to have something to do with Bhall or . . . whatever. I want a new, well-written infinity engine module.
And truthfully, I'd be just as happy to see someone else take on BG3. As much as I like BD business model they aren't very responsive to requests. Fans want new DLCs and new adventures -- but BD keeps working on porting to new platforms. Patches have to wait until the ports are finished. Critical threads get locked. I think the attitude towards complaints was summed up in the recent Q&A -- you want the game or you don't.
And that seem to be the culture -- if you don't like the game we will give your money back, if you do want the game why are you complaining about it? In contrast, both Bioware and Black Isle responded to complaints and responded quickly. Again, I've enjoyed the writing and I do like to see my money go to the guys that do the work *but* BD's tone deaf attitude towards complaints / requests doesn't inspire me to root for them.
Nothing against Beamdog but there is no way they can make a better game than BG2. Sometimes you have to leave things alone and I think BG and BG2 deserve to be left alone. They owe it to the Baldur's Gate series to not make BG3
right now I'am waiting for some new content for bgee and bg2ee, some free dlcs... UIs, some paid dlcs, npcs... I'am not sure betting on android and mac dev will generate that much money... anyway if overhaul feels like they can deliver a worthy bg3, (even with bg2ee graphics i dont mind) I support them.
@Abel, omg I just looked up Pillars of Eternity. WotC is losing out on everything, aren't they? They certainly deserve to, though it will be sad to see D&D destroyed by a dozen shameless knockoffs.
I have no idea why you think a computer game would ever ruin WotC. Now, WotC is going to be ruined, but it'll be by their own incompetence at making roleplaying games. Computer games will have nothing to do with it.
I'd like to see a game in Kara-Tur or Maztica, for instance.
Unfortunately, Maztica no longer exists. 4th Ed happened.
I'd like topretend 4th edition Realms never happenned @scriver
Pretty much the reason for my opinion that a BG III shouldn't happen. As has been mentioned before, a New D&D game would almost certainly come with a demand from WoTC that it take place in the current generation of Forgotten Realms, which would entail having to deal with that whole late 3.5-4.0 garbage that WoTC put the Realms through, like the spellplague and the destruction of most of the more exotic locales like Maztica and Mulhorand. Heck, even the much-beloved drow weren't left untouched, what with WoTC killing off the Drow pantheon and deciding to color-code good drow and bad drow. Now they are supposedly rolling back some of that nonsense, but they have at no point ever said that they were going to retcon 4th editions events from happening. So what we are going to get is likely going to just be some of the more egregious horrible story decisions covered up by more clumsy deus ex machinas. But most thigns won't change, the setting will still bear the scars of WoTCs horrible storytelling decisions. Hoping for Helm to come back? perhaps-if they are doing it with Bhaal, I'm sure it's possible. What about one of the lesser gods that got the axe, like Kiransalee or Horus-Re? Wouldn't hold my breath. Ditto for countries that got wiped off the map like Mulhorand, Unther. WoTC isn't going to raise those from the dead. And of course, the biggest problem to any sequel is that WoTC has decided that the Bhaalspawn died to fuel Bhaal's rebirth, so any sequel would almost certainly be directly involved with the PC's untimely and anticlimactic death.
Much better to focus entirely on a completely different time period and/or place and subject matter, but given WoTC's steadfast refusal to allow deviation from their storyline or revisiting earlier eras, I see this as unlikely.
I'd like topretend 4th edition Realms never happenned
So would the Cowled Wizards of the Coast, I'd wager, (in hindsight). I can only imagine the reaction of the authors responsible for the lore up until that point… Ed Greenwood, R.A. Salvatore, et al: "You want us to do WHAT?" WotC: *Casts Timestop* WotC: *Casts Maze* WotC: *Casts Imprisonment* Myriad FR authors: *Mazed Myriad FR authors: *Imprisoned* Myriad FR authors: "Grumble, grumble." Forgotten Realms: *Damage taken 1149* Forgotten Realms: *Death*
I'd like to see a game in Kara-Tur or Maztica, for instance.
Unfortunately, Maztica no longer exists. 4th Ed happened.
I'd like topretend 4th edition Realms never happenned @scriver
Pretty much the reason for my opinion that a BG III shouldn't happen. As has been mentioned before, a New D&D game would almost certainly come with a demand from WoTC that it take place in the current generation of Forgotten Realms, which would entail having to deal with that whole late 3.5-4.0 garbage that WoTC put the Realms through, like the spellplague and the destruction of most of the more exotic locales like Maztica and Mulhorand. Heck, even the much-beloved drow weren't left untouched, what with WoTC killing off the Drow pantheon and deciding to color-code good drow and bad drow. Now they are supposedly rolling back some of that nonsense, but they have at no point ever said that they were going to retcon 4th editions events from happening. So what we are going to get is likely going to just be some of the more egregious horrible story decisions covered up by more clumsy deus ex machinas. But most thigns won't change, the setting will still bear the scars of WoTCs horrible storytelling decisions. Hoping for Helm to come back? perhaps-if they are doing it with Bhaal, I'm sure it's possible. What about one of the lesser gods that got the axe, like Kiransalee or Horus-Re? Wouldn't hold my breath. Ditto for countries that got wiped off the map like Mulhorand, Unther. WoTC isn't going to raise those from the dead. And of course, the biggest problem to any sequel is that WoTC has decided that the Bhaalspawn died to fuel Bhaal's rebirth, so any sequel would almost certainly be directly involved with the PC's untimely and anticlimactic death.
Much better to focus entirely on a completely different time period and/or place and subject matter, but given WoTC's steadfast refusal to allow deviation from their storyline or revisiting earlier eras, I see this as unlikely.
I think it's finally time to forget the Forgotten Realms.
I don't play PnP AD&D, but I hate the 4th edition. It was like WotC trolled the community, particularly Baldur's Gate fans. You spend the entire series saving the Sword Coast, meeting and falling in love (not necessarily in a romantic sense) with the NPCs and the setting.
And then you discover how utterly futile your efforts were, since the entire world gets wrecked by a global catastrophe just a few years later, and realistically, all the spellcasters you've met are either dead or have been driven insane. I mean seriously?! WotC, you thought that was a good idea?
No, as far as I'm aware, 4th Edition didn't happen.
So if "BG Next" has to occur in the context of a post-spellplague world, then I'd rather they didn't associate the game with the Baldur's Gate series at all.
Forgive my ignorance, but could they not do a story-import system like what Mass Effect did? I don't know how these engines work so maybe that would be a HUGE pain, but it would kinda clear up any problems about establishing a "canon" CHARNAME. As for lifespan problems, at the end of ToB, CHARNAME is powerful enough to slap entire armies aside, and that's even without becoming a God. Even Elminster doesn't wanna try you. I think it's fair to say that CHARNAME can live however long they damn well please at that point. Though considering that even if you choose not to be a God you kinda become one anyway just by virtue of being so damn powerful, that would make a sequel involving the CHARNAME a massive stompfest. The only thing a sequel with CHARNAME would need is Neera though.
That's fine and dandy and all that The Sword Coast was left mostly intact (although Neverwinter certainly didn't survive intact). I doesn't change the fact that most of the spellcasters we knew would have died horribly in the Spellplague, Edwin, Xan, Neera, Quayle, Imoen, Aerie, Nalia etc. There's a good chance that most of them died in that mess. (BG II takes place in 1369, Spellplague is in 1385) (not to mention the PC him/herself who is canonically not a god and in fact, quite dead)
It doesn't change the fact that all of those exotic places that got nuked almost certainly won't be coming back. Many of the deities probably won't-many of them were killed off in the in the decade or so that led up to the Spellplague, and while WoTC may have voiced some regret over how badly the spellplague shenanigans went over, there has been barely anything touching on the purge of Forgotten Realms deities carried out prior to it that WoTC carried out to make the FR pantheon more compact. So Mask, Helm, the Dark Seldarine etc-not likely to come back. Likewise more 'minor' changes that were carried out that are likely to have been overshadowed by the Spellplague are unlikely to be changed. Thay had a coup and the Zulkirs are no more, Dambrath likewise is just another human barbarian nation. Yeah, BG itself might be more 'diverse' but the Realms as a whole....not so much.
In addition to what @Catoblepas said. It is still generally depressing to be so brutally reminded of just how insignificant your actions were in the grand scheme of things.
Like I said, you probably saved thousands of lives, perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands. Heck let's be generous and say a few million were spared from the total ruination of the Sword Coast had Sarevok/Irenicus/Bhaal/Melissan's plans come to fruition.
But a few short years later, many millions are wiped out in a single global event. Entire countries, continents even, totally ruined, all due to the whims and actions of the gods...
I guess I am just uncomfortable with a setting where gods are so damned 'active', which makes your actions so insignificant, no matter what you do.
Gods also kinda lose their 'godliness', when they seem to rise and fall so easily...
Going back to the engine for a moment. They would not be using Infinity Engine for this game. Post BG, they developed an updated engine for IWD (that they adapted for use in NWN) called the Aurora Engine. It allowed for updated visuals, more monsters on screen (hence the hordes of monsters in some places in IWD), and other improvements. So I don't see why they couldn't modernize the Aurora Engine further and allow for more modulation and increased functionality.
EDIT: Also, on the note of the 3.5/4e debate, I'd be more than happy to wait for D&D next/5e before they developed BG Next. D&D Next is supposed to be the final edition, which they'll then continue to refine with errata and slight tweaks until they've perfected it anyways, so at least BG Next would be consistently up to date with regards to rules, instead of ppl going "THAC0? What's that?"
Why would it be hard for WotSC to accept or allow setting it immediately after the events in ToB?
If the money was pouring in and they were going from strength to strength, they should not change the business plan. However, if they are dying a slow death because they are not as creative as there competitors... Well they will need to change. Baldur's Gate is a successful brand.
WHY PUT BARRIERS PREVENTING THAT BRANDS GROWTH?
Any stockbroker would pour money into this brand as it is a sure fire hit. The real reason they did not want the kickstarter route, in my opinion, is they would be overrun with cash in mere minutes. They would then have to deal with all the pledge promises they had to put in to get the backing and I doubt they would need to do that many neat deals "Pledge $10 and we will send you a code to unlock a merchant that sells extra spiffy magic items for your character to use. Pledge $20 and you will be sent a code to download a secret area containing numerous dragons for your party to deafeat! Pledge $1000 and we will allow you to write your very own subquest and put in your own character." Yadda, yadda, yadda... *Anduin starts looking inside wallet... and then stares longingly at the computer*
Basically the majority on this thread saying WotSC will get in the way or demand the use of a certain edition are actually accusing WotSC of being run by morons who do not know how to make money when they have the ability to basically print it at will.
Unless I hear a WotSC representative appear on this thread and say.
"NO. We are completely inflexible and have lost our capacity for creativity"
Then, and only then, will I give up on the use of the 2Ed (and partially used 3Ed) ruleset as used by Baldur's Gate and the world it is set in.
*Anduin gets all huffy*
Sorry, I need to unwind, glad I got that off my chest...
Well, to be fair, I think there *is* a bit of evidence to suggest that WoTC is run, if not by 'morons' at least by folk who have a dim understanding of the communities desires and are slow and/or reluctant to act on what does come to their attention. Most importantly, they are very insistent that *their* canon be the only timeline allowed-you can see this in NWN2: MoTB. WoTC said no to the idea of players being able to destroy the Wall of the Faithless, even though they themselves didn't really do much with it in 4th edition. In a more directly relevant example, I seem to recall some mention that WoTC put their foot down on the notion of some of the more drastic changes that the EE devs could have made. Now I don't remember the specifics (I think it was on a thread on this site?) but from what I gathered this is why we can't have things like a quest option to save Montaron or Xzar etc, why none of the new romances are for the old characters...why we aren't getting a completely rewritten ToB... If WoTC is going to put their foot down on such small minutiae, I think it's not too much to expect that they'd keep to their Abdel Adrian dies/Bhaal returns ending to the BG Saga.
While it would definitely be best for WoTC to start opening up older eras for games, and perhaps alternate continuities for folks who dislike developments like the Spellpllague, I'm not terribly optimistic for the chances. There just isn't really much of a precedent for this just yet.
should they or should they not commission a game that every single DandD player worldwide would at least strongly consider buying based on the artwork on the outside of the box alone. Baldurs Gate 3, Baldurs Gate freaking 3. I'd buy a box that smelled like it had a moldy peach inside of it if it said "baldurs gate 3" on the outside. Id spend 50 bucks on it. Baldurs gate 3. The game every person that played NWN for 15 minutes cried into the heavens for.
Comments
Another of my vain hopes is something like ToEE style turn based combat for BG3 but with a way better written and voiced presentation but that 3.5 ruelset was extremely nice when it was actually turn based. I doubt it would ever happen lol... but I would encourage it strongly.
Unless we're talking about a prequel (which personally I would love but consider unlikely), I would expect the game to be set in the era of the Forgotten Realms that is current at the time of release--which is long after humans and half-elves from the original saga have passed.
There's no way that this story would be any sort of continuation of the BG I/BGII story, per se. It would presumably be about the legacy of that story hundreds of years in the future. Bhaal's essence did survive in the planes after ToB. Whatever happens next is basically up to the creativity of the developers and partners (not the least of which will be WotC). So the possibilities for story development is actually totally wide open.
The city of Baldur's Gate survived the Spellplague. In my view it's fine therefore to fit it into the story, if the developers so decide. Personally, I would love to see that for nostalgia's sake (in addition to the city being such a richly developed setting before, during, and after the cataclysmic Spellplague). But by all means, I would love to see the game also take us to as many locations as possible in the Realms. I'm not really up on what the Realms looks like post-Spellplague, but no doubt there are plenty of evocative locations.
This is why Overhaul had to redo a part of it to make their new GUI. I don't think they even have their own tools to edit the game and use the community's.
But I would also gladly play games that use it still. Many people still love 3d isometric games (see Pillars of Eternity). I think you're right, a new project would need good writers but also art/animation designers to 'enhance' the original IE experience.
Perhaps he/she is a force for good but has stopped all murder in the realms... Monsters / villains go unpunished. War, even for just causes, cease. Those that can overpower rule by might treating everyone cruelly, giving no one an opportunity to fight back...
Or is bad and is encouraging murder in the realms... Everyone is murdering everyone else in a rampage of bloodlust!
Whatever...
Your new character has to face up to defeating this all powerful bhaalspawn / god, to bring back balance (not fully worked out this bit yet, just go with me here)
That way you have continuation and a new start.
Plus if you play BG3 from scratch and don't load in a previous save game, you can murder Abdel, as default, from the novels! Its a win win situation.
Anyway I think that it will be cool to add another expansion for BG3... It will have to be named something like RoB, Rain of Broccoli... Sounds, scaring?
Second any new D&D game will have to use the latest rules and be placed in the current timeline of the Realms, I've never seem TSR or WoTC open an exception to these rules. I have no idea what they have planned for the Realms in the new edition.
A BG3 would probably deal with the consequences of the death and eventually the return of Bhaal. I think it's unlikely it would directly continue Charname's story. We could always meet some of the elven NPCs though.
So I think we can leave the Bhaalspawn story alone, and this is why I think they avoid using the word "BG3" and instead say "Next". I know for some people not having their character carry over may seem a deal breaker but at the same time I can understand how strange it would be for a D&D game to start you with a character level 30 - 40 where even naked you can punch any trash mob into bloody pulp. That being said I do hope we get to see a rise in the level & XP cap from BGII, though I admit I don't know what, if any, limits there are in actual D&D on character levels.
As far as setting, I'd love to see a Waterdeep, to be honest though I'm kind of a bit tired of the Sword Coast, I want to see something set somewhere else for a change, We've seen Neverwinter, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Amn... if you just played these games you wouldn't think there was anything east of them but take one look at the Forgotten Realms map and.... HOLY CRAP!
I want a game that will run on my crappy laptop , I want a game with the rules that I know that I like and I don't want to wait five years for it. While that is a good characterization of WOTC's attitude up until now, I'm not sure that is true anymore -- the new modules aren't rule specific, WOTC is reissuing the first and pre first ed material and I think WOTC are planning to remain ruleset neutral. If you like D&D next good, if not we still got stuff for yuh. Also, IWD didn't take place in the current timeline -- something like 200 years before the time of troubles, can't remember exactly when.
That could be fun -- I'd be happy with a game that started in Baldur's Gate, to focus on the scion of charname, to have something to do with Bhall or . . . whatever. I want a new, well-written infinity engine module.
And truthfully, I'd be just as happy to see someone else take on BG3. As much as I like BD business model they aren't very responsive to requests. Fans want new DLCs and new adventures -- but BD keeps working on porting to new platforms. Patches have to wait until the ports are finished. Critical threads get locked. I think the attitude towards complaints was summed up in the recent Q&A -- you want the game or you don't.
And that seem to be the culture -- if you don't like the game we will give your money back, if you do want the game why are you complaining about it? In contrast, both Bioware and Black Isle responded to complaints and responded quickly. Again, I've enjoyed the writing and I do like to see my money go to the guys that do the work *but* BD's tone deaf attitude towards complaints / requests doesn't inspire me to root for them.
Nothing against Beamdog but there is no way they can make a better game than BG2. Sometimes you have to leave things alone and I think BG and BG2 deserve to be left alone. They owe it to the Baldur's Gate series to not make BG3
anyway if overhaul feels like they can deliver a worthy bg3, (even with bg2ee graphics i dont mind) I support them.
I'd like topretend 4th edition Realms never happenned @scriver
Pretty much the reason for my opinion that a BG III shouldn't happen. As has been mentioned before, a New D&D game would almost certainly come with a demand from WoTC that it take place in the current generation of Forgotten Realms, which would entail having to deal with that whole late 3.5-4.0 garbage that WoTC put the Realms through, like the spellplague and the destruction of most of the more exotic locales like Maztica and Mulhorand. Heck, even the much-beloved drow weren't left untouched, what with WoTC killing off the Drow pantheon and deciding to color-code good drow and bad drow. Now they are supposedly rolling back some of that nonsense, but they have at no point ever said that they were going to retcon 4th editions events from happening. So what we are going to get is likely going to just be some of the more egregious horrible story decisions covered up by more clumsy deus ex machinas. But most thigns won't change, the setting will still bear the scars of WoTCs horrible storytelling decisions. Hoping for Helm to come back? perhaps-if they are doing it with Bhaal, I'm sure it's possible. What about one of the lesser gods that got the axe, like Kiransalee or Horus-Re? Wouldn't hold my breath. Ditto for countries that got wiped off the map like Mulhorand, Unther. WoTC isn't going to raise those from the dead. And of course, the biggest problem to any sequel is that WoTC has decided that the Bhaalspawn died to fuel Bhaal's rebirth, so any sequel would almost certainly be directly involved with the PC's untimely and anticlimactic death.
Much better to focus entirely on a completely different time period and/or place and subject matter, but given WoTC's steadfast refusal to allow deviation from their storyline or revisiting earlier eras, I see this as unlikely.
Ed Greenwood, R.A. Salvatore, et al: "You want us to do WHAT?"
WotC: *Casts Timestop*
WotC: *Casts Maze*
WotC: *Casts Imprisonment*
Myriad FR authors: *Mazed
Myriad FR authors: *Imprisoned*
Myriad FR authors: "Grumble, grumble."
Forgotten Realms: *Damage taken 1149*
Forgotten Realms: *Death*
Much better to focus entirely on a completely different time period and/or place and subject matter, but given WoTC's steadfast refusal to allow deviation from their storyline or revisiting earlier eras, I see this as unlikely.
I think it's finally time to forget the Forgotten Realms.
And then you discover how utterly futile your efforts were, since the entire world gets wrecked by a global catastrophe just a few years later, and realistically, all the spellcasters you've met are either dead or have been driven insane. I mean seriously?! WotC, you thought that was a good idea?
No, as far as I'm aware, 4th Edition didn't happen.
So if "BG Next" has to occur in the context of a post-spellplague world, then I'd rather they didn't associate the game with the Baldur's Gate series at all.
As for lifespan problems, at the end of ToB, CHARNAME is powerful enough to slap entire armies aside, and that's even without becoming a God. Even Elminster doesn't wanna try you. I think it's fair to say that CHARNAME can live however long they damn well please at that point. Though considering that even if you choose not to be a God you kinda become one anyway just by virtue of being so damn powerful, that would make a sequel involving the CHARNAME a massive stompfest.
The only thing a sequel with CHARNAME would need is Neera though.
Edit: Can't agree with that enough
It doesn't change the fact that all of those exotic places that got nuked almost certainly won't be coming back. Many of the deities probably won't-many of them were killed off in the in the decade or so that led up to the Spellplague, and while WoTC may have voiced some regret over how badly the spellplague shenanigans went over, there has been barely anything touching on the purge of Forgotten Realms deities carried out prior to it that WoTC carried out to make the FR pantheon more compact. So Mask, Helm, the Dark Seldarine etc-not likely to come back. Likewise more 'minor' changes that were carried out that are likely to have been overshadowed by the Spellplague are unlikely to be changed. Thay had a coup and the Zulkirs are no more, Dambrath likewise is just another human barbarian nation. Yeah, BG itself might be more 'diverse' but the Realms as a whole....not so much.
Like I said, you probably saved thousands of lives, perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands. Heck let's be generous and say a few million were spared from the total ruination of the Sword Coast had Sarevok/Irenicus/Bhaal/Melissan's plans come to fruition.
But a few short years later, many millions are wiped out in a single global event. Entire countries, continents even, totally ruined, all due to the whims and actions of the gods...
I guess I am just uncomfortable with a setting where gods are so damned 'active', which makes your actions so insignificant, no matter what you do.
Gods also kinda lose their 'godliness', when they seem to rise and fall so easily...
EDIT: Also, on the note of the 3.5/4e debate, I'd be more than happy to wait for D&D next/5e before they developed BG Next. D&D Next is supposed to be the final edition, which they'll then continue to refine with errata and slight tweaks until they've perfected it anyways, so at least BG Next would be consistently up to date with regards to rules, instead of ppl going "THAC0? What's that?"
If the money was pouring in and they were going from strength to strength, they should not change the business plan. However, if they are dying a slow death because they are not as creative as there competitors... Well they will need to change. Baldur's Gate is a successful brand.
WHY PUT BARRIERS PREVENTING THAT BRANDS GROWTH?
Any stockbroker would pour money into this brand as it is a sure fire hit. The real reason they did not want the kickstarter route, in my opinion, is they would be overrun with cash in mere minutes. They would then have to deal with all the pledge promises they had to put in to get the backing and I doubt they would need to do that many neat deals "Pledge $10 and we will send you a code to unlock a merchant that sells extra spiffy magic items for your character to use. Pledge $20 and you will be sent a code to download a secret area containing numerous dragons for your party to deafeat! Pledge $1000 and we will allow you to write your very own subquest and put in your own character." Yadda, yadda, yadda... *Anduin starts looking inside wallet... and then stares longingly at the computer*
Basically the majority on this thread saying WotSC will get in the way or demand the use of a certain edition are actually accusing WotSC of being run by morons who do not know how to make money when they have the ability to basically print it at will.
Unless I hear a WotSC representative appear on this thread and say.
"NO. We are completely inflexible and have lost our capacity for creativity"
Then, and only then, will I give up on the use of the 2Ed (and partially used 3Ed) ruleset as used by Baldur's Gate and the world it is set in.
*Anduin gets all huffy*
Sorry, I need to unwind, glad I got that off my chest...
*Anduin's bandages begin to unwind*
While it would definitely be best for WoTC to start opening up older eras for games, and perhaps alternate continuities for folks who dislike developments like the Spellpllague, I'm not terribly optimistic for the chances. There just isn't really much of a precedent for this just yet.