Baldur's Gate Larian is moving away from D&D, no BG3 DLC or BG4

[Eisen]

I wish they released Divine Divinity source code

 

[Old Hans]

Baldur's Gate 1 had very silly writing too, but there's just something that's incredibly off putting in BG3.

I think its because baldurs gate 1 was created by true D&D nerds that had a consistent tone, where baldurs gate 3 is all over the place. the writing feels way too contemporary. it doesnt help that every flaming fist I run into is some midget lady with modern danger hair

 

[Skinwalker]

Can't wait for Debile Debility: Debilian Shit 3

 

[HumanMaleFighter]

Baldur's Gate 1 had very silly writing too, but there's just something that's incredibly off putting in BG3.

I think its because baldurs gate 1 was created by true D&D nerds that had a consistent tone, where baldurs gate 3 is all over the place. the writing feels way too contemporary. it doesnt help that every flaming fist I run into is some midget lady with modern danger hair

There's something to be said for old 2D graphics: They give you an idea of what's happening, but if you want to visualize it in your mind's eye, you have to employ certain powers of imagination. So BG1 Flaming Fist look like whatever you think they look like, within certain loose constraints. (e.g., male human, gray plate armor, quarterstaff.)

That's no longer the case since NWN.

Fast forward to today, and it's all zesty homosexuals and BIPOCs with blue hair, and there's no way to imagine anything different. You can mod the game to taste, but that would be racist.

I didn't think that BG1's writing was all that silly, by the way. It wasn't necessarily sillier than the adventure guides and other source material at the time.

 

[Terenty]

Actually Ultima X sounds like a perfect fit. And it would generate the same amount of hype as BG3.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Baldur's Gate 1 had very silly writing too, but there's just something that's incredibly off putting in BG3.

I think its because baldurs gate 1 was created by true D&D nerds that had a consistent tone, where baldurs gate 3 is all over the place. the writing feels way too contemporary. it doesnt help that every flaming fist I run into is some midget lady with modern danger hair

I think there's a bit to this, but it's reflective of the huge tonal shift between AD&D 1E & 2E, compared to D&D 5E.

Like compare pretty much anything in BG1 including TotSC which is similar in level range to the content of BG3. The infestation of the tieflings and gith everywhere should be enough of a signpost. It's the Sword Coast, not Sigil.

 

[cvv]

Actually Ultima X sounds like a perfect fit. And it would generate the same amount of hype as BG3.

Not sure about that... never been an Ultima fan but AFAIK the last game that's widely considered great was VII and that came out in the early 1990s. It's so old many of the fans aren't even alive anymore lol. And since then all the Ultima associated games have been trash and everyone hated them.

Anyway from what Vincke said I gathered he wants to do original content next, not anything based on established IPs. Even though seeing Larian previous garbage I'd much rather see the opposite. Ultima would be way more preferable than going back to their goofy "sourcerers" nonsense.

 

[scytheavatar]

A new Ultima game would be an isekai game, that concept might have been cool in the 80s but would be considered cringed and unbearable nowadays. Just look at the reception to Forspoken.

 

[Skinwalker]

I think the foreskinpoken protagonist may have had a lot to do with that reception.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

A new Ultima game would be an isekai game, that concept might have been cool in the 80s but would be considered cringed and unbearable nowadays. Just look at the reception to Forspoken.

isekai is cool when it's Narnia (unironically)

 

[Lagole Gon]

Baldur's Gate 1 had very silly writing too, but there's just something that's incredibly off putting in BG3.

I think its because baldurs gate 1 was created by true D&D nerds that had a consistent tone, where baldurs gate 3 is all over the place. the writing feels way too contemporary. it doesnt help that every flaming fist I run into is some midget lady with modern danger hair

There's something to be said for old 2D graphics: They give you an idea of what's happening, but if you want to visualize it in your mind's eye, you have to employ certain powers of imagination. So BG1 Flaming Fist look like whatever you think they look like, within certain loose constraints.

Yes.
But...
If BG1 was made with modern technology by Bioware of that time... I don't think they would patch-in dong jiggle physics.
And I'm reasonablt sure they would not make a talk-with-dead dialogue where Cythandria tells you Sarevok likes being pegged in the ass (because something like this does happen in BG3 with Raphael).

 

[Lyric Suite]

Writing in BG3 feels like women comedy.

 

[Arvennios]

Pity, but I guess it's better to end on a high note.

 

[quaesta]

https://www.ign.com/articles/larian...ldurs-gate-3-dlc-expansions-or-baldurs-gate-4
No DLC nor sequel, they are going for something entirely new.

I'll give BG3 a shot solely because of how powerful this move is. Here you have a giant cash cow, and instead of milking it dry, you're gonna gamble it on a new IP. THIS is the kind of game developer I would spend money on.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

https://www.ign.com/articles/larian...ldurs-gate-3-dlc-expansions-or-baldurs-gate-4
No DLC nor sequel, they are going for something entirely new.

I'll give BG3 a shot solely because of how powerful this move is. Here you have a giant cash cow, and instead of milking it dry, you're gonna gamble it on a new IP. THIS is the kind of game developer I would spend money on.

Larian has more to lose than the opposite if they stay as the sort of in house WOTC developer like how Bioware did in the past. Even if they never reach the same profit and public recognition heights. If anything, I think Sven took this as an oppotunity to scratch an item off his nerd checklist.

 

[quaesta]

A new Ultima game would be an isekai game, that concept might have been cool in the 80s but would be considered cringed and unbearable nowadays. Just look at the reception to Forspoken.

Ultima's about you going in the game and saving the world, with your sprite being a tall dude with big, blonde, mullet hair. Forspoken is about some random cat burglar with generic/ugly hair.
Ultima has you piloting space ships, forming a religion, stopping a cult of said religion, yelling at the game because the moral system forces you to let enemies run away and negotiating peace with gargoyles. There isn't even God in Forspoken, no space ships, and not even a party to form.
Lord British is in Ultima. There isn't a single person, in the ENTIRE STAFF of Forspoken, that is even worth bringing up here. And I mean staff, not just cast (we got Hiroshi Iwasaki as the technical director, the same guy who programmed Sonic Unleashed)
That's the difference. To put it succinctly, Ultima's a game where you can talk enthusiastically about it, Forspoken is about a soap drama without the soap that nobody wants to talk about unless you shit on it.
In terms of iseakis as a whole, it's popular enough and in video games they work. RPGs already allow for people to self-insert anyways, having that layer in didn't deter Ultima (nor Nox's) success.

Larian has more to lose than the opposite if they stay as the sort of in house WOTC developer like how Bioware did in the past. Even if they never reach the same profit and public recognition heights. If anything, I think Sven took this as an oppotunity to scratch an item off his nerd checklist.

I haven't thought of it in that aspect (till I finish reading the thread). Still, I can't think of a lot of other video game developers who would jump at the chance, and as such, they get my respect. They did the right move, but it's still tempting to suck up on the BG license, and I'm proud they didn't.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

It's just that meetings with WOTC representatives probably ended up causing Vietnam flashbacks for Swen, back to the days when they had publishers to deal with (and having to name their game "Divine Divinity").

 

[Poseidon00]

Good, now we can get back to hardcore barrel stacking

 

[KeAShizuku]

Good, now we can get back to hardcore barrel stacking

I liked Ego Draconis. Dragons are cool- even cooler than pansexual bipoc elves.

 

[whydoibother]

I wish they released Divine Divinity source code

They had a publisher back then, not sure if they own the code.

 

[Eisen]

I wish they released Divine Divinity source code

They had a publisher back then, not sure if they own the code.

Their publisher called CDV is dead, although i imagine that the source code is riddled with proprietary software

 

[scytheavatar]

It makes perfect sense for Larian to release a Divine Divinity remake, porting the game into the Larian engine shouldn't be too much work yet it will be a big enough game to impress those who never played the original. They do not need to make too much changes but it would be a perfect opportunity to fix shit like the dumbass endgame.

 

[deama]

Nothing says "capitalism" like a company announcing it will never make a sequel to its only successful property

Larian probably made a billion dollars by this point, I mean how much more money you really need.

If I was Vincke I'd only make small, experimental games for the rest of my life. Or even better, nothing at all.

Yeah but that's boring.
You have nearly 1 billion dollars to fuck around with, and you do nothing with it?
Geeze, I got so many things I'd like to do if I had 1 billion, lots of crazy shit, lots of crazy games too.

 

[0wca]

 

[gurugeorge]

Hmm, someone mentioned Ultima ... Swen has said many times that Ultima 7 inspired him to make games.

I wonder ...