Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 3 Pre-Release Thread [EARLY ACCESS RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Shrimp]

Yeah, I think Warcraft is a bigger culprit when you look at the whole picture. Even to this day fantasy character and armour design suffers from the aftershocks of WoW's massive impact.

 

[Cryomancer]

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

Wrong. Is wow. Before wow, we had Arx Fatalis magic system, ultima magic system, vancian magical system(...) after wow, everything copies the same cooldown based everyone gets spell at lv X magic and few games deviate for that norm. Vincke said many times that spell slots which exists on countless of games aren't intuitive. Even 4e took a lot of inspiration with wow.

Dragon Age, mainly DA2 and DA:I is one symptom. WoW is the disease.

This is not the first game in a series. If FIFA 2022 ends up being an american football game, you bet your ass FIFA fans will complain.

Will complain but continue purchasing... Everyone hated futuristic cod but nobody migrated to battlefield when activision keep producing futuristic...

I do it because this game will have a lasting impact on the baldurs gate name and community and will have a big impact on rpg gaming in general. All I have are my words, they're the only way I can express justice.

Also has a positive impact. more people will try BG2/1. Even if is the "enhanced" edition...

People stooping with "dos2 is modern bg" bs is a good impact IMO

 

[Gyor]

I still don't understand the mentality of people frequenting the threads on games they actively dislike/have no interest in. One really has to have a twisted mentality to do that. Imagine fans of FIFA frequenting Madden forums and complaining about how not soccer-like the game is. My only guilty pleasure in this regard are Star Citizen threads, but that's because those are separated into Roberts cultists vs. normal people.

I do it because this game will have a lasting impact on the baldurs gate name and community and will have a big impact on rpg gaming in general. All I have are my words, they're the only way I can express justice.

Still better than 99% of the other RPGs out there who either never take into account one's race, or have a very, very small number of references. Up until today basically only Arcanum and the Dragon Age series took the main character's race into serious consideration.

Dragon age origins is to blame for the downfall of western rpgs.

Agreed it will have lasting impact, were we disagree is that all of it will be good.

 

[Ontopoly]

Wrong. Is wow. Before wow, we had Arx Fatalis magic system, ultima magic system, vancian magical system(...) after wow, everything copies the same cooldown based everyone gets spell at lv X magic and few games deviate for that norm. Vincke said many times that spell slots which exists on countless of games aren't intuitive. Even 4e took a lot of inspiration with wow.

Dragon Age, mainly DA2 and DA:I is one symptom. WoW is the disease.

Alright. I'll amend my blog post about dragon age origins ruining everything with your opinion/PoV for the sake of my "Have no bias" pledge. I cannot, in good conscience, ignore what you said now that I know the opinion exists.

Dragon age origins is still decline and other aspects of it led to the downfall of the rpg industry, and that's mostly what I'm referring to when I say it led to the downfall of western rpgs. This just means I have to play WoW in order to write a blog post about that too. Stay tuned. Wow seems like a shit game though, but passion requires research.

 

[Cryomancer]

Wow seems like a shit game though, but passion requires research.

Link to your blog? About wow, I tried to play it in a private server only to test but got bored around lv 40 or 50. And was burning crusade expansion with 5x xp and found it too boring, repetitive and unimersive. The retail wow is another level of shitness. To have a notion, they got rid of the timid talent tree for loadout system, because everyone being a clone in a rpg only wearing different gear is the norm on mmos... If you hate DOS2 due stat stickie itemization, cooldowns and other boring mechanics, wow is another level of shitness. Mainly retail wow.

Is sad how nowdays, survival games like Conan Exiles has way more RPG on it than mainstream RPG's.

About BG3, I don't think that will sucks like modern BioWare/Blizzard/BUGthesda """""rpgs""""" but also don't think that will be good as BG1/2.

I had a colleague in my gym which hated RPG's, for him, RPG is just a cartoonish graphics and same rotation cooldown spam/eternal grinding, he loved FPS BTW. I convinced him to play Fallout New Vegas and now, he played Fallout 1/2 and despite preferring new vegas, loves all fallout games(even FL4 which is the weakest). He still prefer post apocalyptic games over fantasy but also tested BG1/2 and liked.

And that is the main point which i disagree with you. The RPG is already destroyed and viewed as wow clone in 99% of places. BG3 will not have any negative impact on BG franchise or RPG genre because more decline than we already have is near impossible. If you are in the middle of Earth inner's core or in the deepest layer of the hell in forgotten realms, there is no way down...

 

[Ontopoly]

Link to your blog?

It's not out yet. Stay tuned. It's going to be big. I can't release a blog with only a few posts, it needs to have enough content to leave a mark on peoples minds. Imagine reading a blog and finding less than a dozen posts. That would be a major disappointment to the people that could have been my fans

And that is the main point which i disagree with you. The RPG is already destroyed and viewed as wow clone in 99% of places.

If you are in the middle of Earth inner's core or in the deepest layer of the hell in forgotten realms, there is no way down...

There's no way to go further down but Baldurs Gate 3 will not just bring itself and future games down, it will retroactively bring down all of Baldurs Gate just by association. larian is a plague and will ruin everything that comes in contact with anything that it comes into contact with. Imagine trying to recommend the Baldurs Gate series to your random co worker and he replies with "Yeah, I love larian games. baldurs gate 3 is amazing." Hearing that would break my heart, and I would lack the constitution to guide this random co worker into actual good RPGs.

 

[Mortmal]

I just hope that BG3 will be easily moddable... So people will mod crazy shit into it like shadow weave based magic for BG2:EE and IWD:EE and more 3.5e classes like Pale Masters being ported to a game in 2e and even better. 2e rules. I was of the opinion that 3.5e is the superior ruleset but when read some 2e books(never found a group to play, all rpg stores are closed where I live. Thanks corona-chan), changed my mind and think that 2e is the superior ruleset.

But just imagine if BG3 is easily moddable like NWN2. There are mods which adds classes like dread necromancer, makes spells more P&P like, fixing then, modules re making even BG1/2 campaigns. Imagine this level of mod friendly on BG3...

Because BG1/2 are hard to mod.

A massive critical and financial success just like the smash hits "Sword Coast Legends", "Neverwinter" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard"?

There is a huge difference. Larian has a much more mainstream renown/appeal. On Switch, DOS2 is one of the most popular games on switch. And Switch has the most "normie" playerbase.

Sadly, few portable RPG's has any depth. When you are in a treadmill, reading book or playing portable games can make this boring exercise more bearable. I own NWN:EE on my Android but is unplayable... I wish that Switch was less expensive in my country so I would buy.

--------------------

One thing that I don't get is Vincke worrying about things like spell slots. IDK how he thinks that it is unintuitive. I mean, POKEMON, a mobile children's game uses spell slots. Eg - 5 "casts" of Fire Blast per rest and max 4 "moves/spells" memorized. Dark Souls and other console RPG's like Suikoden and FF1 uses it too. And pokemon is a good example because is popular for 4 yo children and 40 yo competitive tournament gamers.

My dear viktor you are wasting your life , hoping for things that will never ever happen. But rejoice i am here to help you. What you really need is playing 2E D&D, and obviously if you lament BG3, wich is objectively massive incline, so much you cannot get what you really want . That is a real pen and paper group. Buy fantasy grounds, or use roll20, go to their discord, meet people ask for a 2E group, DM it whatever, someday one of your player will DM for you too. FG is especially good for it , they have lot of modules for it (buy it or go on the trove) . Character sheets are extremely complex and well done everything is automated, your table, saves, thaco etc. Ancient adventures are ported. It's fluid and a wonder to behold.It's not easy to get good groups but you need to step up and stop mourning like this everyday.You can even play by text if you are socially impaired.

 

[Swen]

Imagine trying to recommend the Baldurs Gate series to your random co worker and he replies with "Yeah, I love larian games. baldurs gate 3 is amazing." Hearing that would break my heart, and I would lack the constitution to guide this random co worker into actual good RPGs.

"I..it would b break my heart"

Holy fuck you are one unstable, pathetic, emotional wreck.

And you can bet your ass people will now think about Larian when they talk about Baldur's Gate (a lot already do btw). BG III will be a commercial and critical success, can't wait to drink your tears with extra salt.

Lmfao at your shitty blog, this is 2020, nobody reads that shit, especially from a nobody like you. Maybe a couple of autists from rpgcodex will read it so they can laugh at you.

Just make some youtube videos if you want to bash my glorious gaming studio, more entertaining for us.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Link to your blog?

It's not out yet. Stay tuned. It's going to be big. I can't release a blog with only a few posts, it needs to have enough content to leave a mark on peoples minds. Imagine reading a blog and finding less than a dozen posts. That would be a major disappointment to the people that could have been my fans

And that is the main point which i disagree with you. The RPG is already destroyed and viewed as wow clone in 99% of places.

If you are in the middle of Earth inner's core or in the deepest layer of the hell in forgotten realms, there is no way down...

There's no way to go further down but Baldurs Gate 3 will not just bring itself and future games down, it will retroactively bring down all of Baldurs Gate just by association. larian is a plague and will ruin everything that comes in contact with anything that it comes into contact with. Imagine trying to recommend the Baldurs Gate series to your random co worker and he replies with "Yeah, I love larian games. baldurs gate 3 is amazing." Hearing that would break my heart, and I would lack the constitution to guide this random co worker into actual good RPGs.

Jesus, nostalgia retards are the most pathetic people on this board. I separate them into three sections.

1. The Lilura faction - Reeeee any change done post-1998 is non-authoritative, it's not the real game. Play it on a CRT monitor. Reeee...
2. The "This isn't BG" faction - Reeee this isn't Baldur's Gate, the game should be RTWP, should be 2D, should be in the Infinity Engine.... etc. etc. etc. Just making demands out of the gate, as if they were the fucking owners of the IP.
3. The "Anti-Larian" faction - Reee Larian Studios is a shit studio, it will ruin the immortal legacy of the game, BG will be retroactively worse reeee...

My recommendation? A long make-out session with a loaded shotgun.

 

[Ontopoly]

Lmfao at your shitty blog, this is 2020, nobody reads that shit, especially from a nobody like you. Maybe a couple of autists from rpgcodex will read it so they can laugh at you.

It will be authoritative. And ultimately a good product, unlike the shit the company your gimmick account claims to own puts out.

I separate them into three sections.

I'm all three of those. Why seperate? Can you honestly tell me most games aren't getting worse and more simple when you got swen the cult leader, who so many people now a days some how see as the king of RPGs, say shit like "we need to modernize; we need to simplify"?

The cult leader is a passionless hack and the Larian cultists are soulless shills who get mad and try to silence you everytime you bring up one of swen led larians many faults. They are incompetent and shouldn't work on anything. They definitely shouldn't be working on bg. Can you honestly tell me you think any Larian game is great? Or even playable?

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Lmfao at your shitty blog, this is 2020, nobody reads that shit, especially from a nobody like you. Maybe a couple of autists from rpgcodex will read it so they can laugh at you.

It will be authoritative. And ultimately a good product, unlike the shit the company your gimmick account claims to own puts out.

I separate them into three sections.

I'm all three of those. Why seperate? Can you honestly tell me most games aren't getting worse and more simple when you got swen the cult leader, who so many people now a days some how see as the king of RPGs, say shit like "we need to modernize; we need to simplify"?

The cult leader is a passionless hack and the Larian cultists are soulless shills who get mad and try to silence you everytime you bring up one of swen led larians many faults. They are incompetent and shouldn't work on anything. They definitely shouldn't be working on bg. Can you honestly tell me you think any Larian game is great? Or even playable?

First of all, check the dictionary for the meaning of "authoritative" since you obviously have no idea.

Secondly, there is a dedicated hate thread for Baldur's Gate III - go and shit it up with your inane ramblings.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Jesus, nostalgia retards are the most pathetic people on this board. I separate them into three sections.

1. The Lilura faction - Reeeee any change done post-1998 is non-authoritative, it's not the real game. Play it on a CRT monitor. Reeee...
2. The "This isn't BG" faction - Reeee this isn't Baldur's Gate, the game should be RTWP, should be 2D, should be in the Infinity Engine.... etc. etc. etc. Just making demands out of the gate, as if they were the fucking owners of the IP.
3. The "Anti-Larian" faction - Reee Larian Studios is a shit studio, it will ruin the immortal legacy of the game, BG will be retroactively worse reeee...

My recommendation? A long make-out session with a loaded shotgun.

I don't think it's nostalgia, it's religious fanaticism. I suspect these people trying to fill vacuum of belief which was created after religions of old started fade into obscurity by constructing false idols and unachievable goals(instead of thinking like rational people), just like SJW fanatics do. They even use same tactics as SJW do - throw tantrum 24/7 to promote their ideals and picking easy targets to attack (a bit dehumanizing them before, so other people would be more indifferent to a fate unlucky person who got in a way of cult) while artificially inflating numbers of their members to look big and lure weak minded people (who follows majority all the time) into their fold. I mean there was religious sect called "The Final Fantasy House" that worshiped a game called Final Fantasy VII, so it's absolutely possible for BG fanbase to spawn a several cults full of idiots.
This thread is one big rite of passage/indoctrination into cult, it's a chance for any moron to show everyone that they side with "cool guys in town" and receive cred points for publicly sucking their dicks off in the name of their pathetic religion. I doubt that anyone from groups that you described even loves the games, "purity" of which they trying to defend from "evul Larian" ( and holy shit these idiots really believe that Larian is some kind of mythological Satan, while it's just company), because people who loves games actually trying to play them and not spend around 600 pages on Internet forum in hate fever towards game that not even released yet.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

Jesus, nostalgia retards are the most pathetic people on this board. I separate them into three sections.

1. The Lilura faction - Reeeee any change done post-1998 is non-authoritative, it's not the real game. Play it on a CRT monitor. Reeee...
2. The "This isn't BG" faction - Reeee this isn't Baldur's Gate, the game should be RTWP, should be 2D, should be in the Infinity Engine.... etc. etc. etc. Just making demands out of the gate, as if they were the fucking owners of the IP.
3. The "Anti-Larian" faction - Reee Larian Studios is a shit studio, it will ruin the immortal legacy of the game, BG will be retroactively worse reeee...

My recommendation? A long make-out session with a loaded shotgun.

I don't think it's nostalgia, it's religious fanaticism. I suspect these people trying to fill vacuum of belief which was created after religions of old started fade into obscurity by constructing false idols and unachievable goals(instead of thinking like rational people), just like SJW fanatics do. They even use same tactics as SJW do - throw tantrum 24/7 to promote their ideals and picking easy targets to attack (a bit dehumanizing them before, so other people would be more indifferent to a fate unlucky person who got in a way of cult) while artificially inflating numbers of their members to look big and lure weak minded people (who follows majority all the time) into their fold. I mean there was religious sect called "The Final Fantasy House" that worshiped a game called Final Fantasy VII, so it's absolutely possible for BG fanbase to spawn a several cults full of idiots.
This thread is one big rite of passage/indoctrination into cult, it's a chance for any moron to show everyone that they side with "cool guys in town" and receive cred points for publicly sucking their dicks off in the name of their pathetic religion. I doubt that anyone from groups that you described even loves the games, "purity" of which they trying to defend from "evul Larian" ( and holy shit these idiots really believe that Larian is some kind of mythological Satan, while it's just company), because people who loves games actually trying to play them and not spend around 600 pages on Internet forum in hate fever towards game that not even released yet.

I've noticed this at the time Siege of Dragonspear came out, where people went absolutely mad over the "ruination" of Safana, a character who has something along the lines of 5 conversations within the entire game, and was so forgettable she was killed in the sequel without so much as recognising as, hinting that even within canon she was never within our party (similar to Faldorn or Quayle). "Is she this much of a beloved character?" I thought to myself, and started looking up various walkthroughs/playthroughs/forums. In my investigation I found literally one person who had her in his party. At that point I realised that the vast majority of people criticising the game aren't even fans of the series, or are simply shitposting for the fun of it.

 

[Ontopoly]

First of all, check the dictionary for the meaning of "authoritative" since you obviously have no idea.

I could sit here and try to convince you but I think releasing the blog will be all the proof needed and will do a great job at convincing you instead

Secondly, there is a dedicated hate thread for Baldur's Gate III - go and shit it up with your inane ramblings.

The message needs to be spread. This is prime ground for fence sitters and the ignorant. Everybody in my bg3 hate thread is already aware of everything I'm saying.

 

[Joseph Stalin]

First of all, check the dictionary for the meaning of "authoritative" since you obviously have no idea.

I could sit here and try to convince you but I think releasing the blog will be all the proof needed and will do a great job at convincing you instead

Secondly, there is a dedicated hate thread for Baldur's Gate III - go and shit it up with your inane ramblings.

The message needs to be spread. This is prime ground for fence sitters and the ignorant. Everybody in my bg3 hate thread is already aware of everything I'm saying.

The only thing this will achieve is even more people putting you into the ignore list. You're literally creating a hugbox for yourself. Stop.

 

[Thac0]

2. The "This isn't BG" faction - Reeee this isn't Baldur's Gate, the game should be RTWP, should be 2D, should be in the Infinity Engine.... etc. etc. etc. Just making demands out of the gate, as if they were the fucking owners of the IP.

These are the ones that annoy me the most. Baldurs Gate was an imperfect adaption of the DnD rulesystem. Yes it was still a fun game, due to a number of factors like cool premise and above average writing, as well as good loot. But a Baldurs Gate 3 should not strive to emulate the outdated attempts to emulate Dungeons and Dragons, it should go straight to the source and emulate Dungeons and Dragons. BG 3 being turnbased is a blessing, not a curse.

 

[Goldschmidt]

. Yes it was still a fun game, due to a number of factors like cool premise and above average writing, as well as good loot.

Who cares about writing in a video game? If it is serviceable, it is good enough. Baldur's Gate 2 has phenomenal gameplay and is even ranked 3rd place on the fuckin codex (bunch of Bioware haters). That is the reason why it is a great game.

But a Baldurs Gate 3 should not strive to emulate the outdated attempts to emulate Dungeons and Dragons, it should go straight to the source and emulate Dungeons and Dragons. BG 3 being turnbased is a blessing, not a curse.

This turnbased faggotry gotta stop; If you want to play turn-based shit so much, play Bard's Tale 4, Operencia: The Stolen Sun, .... in these games it is somewhat fun to do combat turn based. Baldur's Gate 3 should have used the system from Dragon Age Origins.

 

[Cryomancer]

What you really need is playing 2E D&D

You are right. However, there is a huge problem. My English to talk is even worse to write. And honestly, I prefer to play in a table. There is a RPG shop in downtown here with even rental DMs.

And you can bet your ass people will now think about Larian when they talk about Baldur's Gate (a lot already do btw). BG III will be a commercial and critical success, can't wait to drink your tears with extra salt.

This already happens to other games as well. When we talk about fallout, over 99% of people will assume FL 3 / FL 4. To talk with FL 1/2, we have to say "CLASSIC fallout". With neverwinter, how many people think on generic wow clone and how many people think on neverwinter nights 1/2 or even the AOL from 1991? I don't see it as a problem, because RPG franchises being butchered is already a thing which we expect. If i would get mad for every franchise being butchered, it would lead me to insanity.

However, I believe that Pathfinder Wrath of The Righteous will be a greater commercial success? Sure, it will sell about 40~70% of BG3. However, the game is being made on Russia. US$1M on Russia can do far more than US$1M on Western Europe. And PF:WoTR already raised more money than dos2 on kickstarter. Relative to the budget, PF will be more profitable. In metacritic is different. Game journalists will hate PF:WoTR as they hate anything with depth.

------------------------------

When people accept that RPG's already declined to the deepest layer of the nine hells, they will stop being butthurt about more decline coming. Because more decline is impossible.

My first RPG was Might & Magic VII - For Blood and Honor. After playing other mid 90s and earlier 00s games on my childhood, i was expecting that in the future, RPG's would have projectile physics for ranged attacks and spells, scenario destruction, a advanced AI to act like TT NPCs, far more spell effects than any game that i've played, thousands of story paths created by a advanced AI and...

• Instead of in depth ballistics for projectiles and spells, we got a lot of ranged attacks that can only hit the enemy at around 15m
• Instead of realistic armor, most RPG's has armor that looks like something from a bizarre carnival parade on Brazil
• Instead of scenario destruction, we got bullet sponge enemies/PCs, taking out all tension of the combat;
• Instead of the advanced AI, we got awful dialog wheels and linearity
• Most cool spell effects are being removed, on Piranha Bytes games, on BUGthesda games, etc.
• Instead of RPG's being immersive living breathing world to explore, most modern RPG's fell more like a boring work with a lot of mechanics that makes no sense like cooldowns

Seriously. Only by not having dialog wheels, Larian games are a "incline" in relation to modern RPG's.

1. The Lilura faction - Reeeee any change done post-1998 is non-authoritative, it's not the real game. Play it on a CRT monitor. Reeee...

There is a HUGE difference. Lilura hate even modern games which tries to be old school like. EG - Pathfinder Kingmaker. Most of the Codex has nothing against this games.

Hell, even DOS2. DOS2 appears on CODEX LIST of most played.

Baldurs Gate was an imperfect adaption of the DnD rulesystem. Yes it was still a fun game, due to a number of factors like cool premise and above average writing, as well as good loot. But a Baldurs Gate 3 should not strive to emulate the outdated attempts to emulate Dungeons and Dragons, it should go straight to the source and emulate Dungeons and Dragons. BG 3 being turnbased is a blessing, not a curse.

Imperfect adaptation of a amazing ruleset(2e) >>>> perfect adaptation of 5e.

Anyway, IMAGINE the hate if Larian was making a complete butchering of 5e rules like Sword Coast Legends... I was one of the guys who hated most Larian and now is neutral about BG3. Instead of I hate it comments, maybe Laria

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

I love BG1 and 2 as much as anyone else, but this obsessive hatred for the “marring” of the series is pathetically retarded.

Even if BG3 was TERRIBLE, it wouldn’t change anything about BG 1 and 2.

It’s sort of like the Star Wars sequels. In my opinion, they are absolutely awful movies. Massive shits on the established characters and lore. Does that ruin all of Star Wars? No. They’re just bad movies.

So if BG3 were bad, it doesn’t take away from BG1&2. Another example is Ultima IX. I have never seen anyone praise that game, and yet somehow Ultima is still regarded as one of the greatest role-playing game series of all time.

 

[Dodo1610]

Early Access news soon?

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

I love BG1 and 2 as much as anyone else, but this obsessive hatred for the “marring” of the series is pathetically retarded.

Even if BG3 was TERRIBLE, it wouldn’t change anything about BG 1 and 2.

It’s sort of like the Star Wars sequels. In my opinion, they are absolutely awful movies. Massive shits on the established characters and lore. Does that ruin all of Star Wars? No. They’re just bad movies.

So if BG3 were bad, it doesn’t take away from BG1&2. Another example is Ultima IX. I have never seen anyone praise that game, and yet somehow Ultima is still regarded as one of the greatest role-playing game series of all time.

If you are a soulless consumer faggot, yes.

 

[Raghar]

BG2 was turn based. I wonder why so many people are forgetting about that.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

I love BG1 and 2 as much as anyone else, but this obsessive hatred for the “marring” of the series is pathetically retarded.

Even if BG3 was TERRIBLE, it wouldn’t change anything about BG 1 and 2.

It’s sort of like the Star Wars sequels. In my opinion, they are absolutely awful movies. Massive shits on the established characters and lore. Does that ruin all of Star Wars? No. They’re just bad movies.

So if BG3 were bad, it doesn’t take away from BG1&2. Another example is Ultima IX. I have never seen anyone praise that game, and yet somehow Ultima is still regarded as one of the greatest role-playing game series of all time.

If you are a soulless consumer faggot, yes.

Not sure what consuming has to do with what I said.

If you don't like the direction that BG3 is taking, don't play it. No matter what it is, it cannot ruin BG 1 and 2.

 

[Peachcurl]

I love BG1 and 2 as much as anyone else, but this obsessive hatred for the “marring” of the series is pathetically retarded.

Even if BG3 was TERRIBLE, it wouldn’t change anything about BG 1 and 2.

It’s sort of like the Star Wars sequels. In my opinion, they are absolutely awful movies. Massive shits on the established characters and lore. Does that ruin all of Star Wars? No. They’re just bad movies.

So if BG3 were bad, it doesn’t take away from BG1&2. Another example is Ultima IX. I have never seen anyone praise that game, and yet somehow Ultima is still regarded as one of the greatest role-playing game series of all time.

I can certainly see your point, and it's definitely true when you look back on BG1&2.
But there are things where BG3 may actually have influence on more than just it's own reception: future entries in the series. A 'bad' BG3 may either kill further entries in the series (assuming that 'we' want future entries, and assuming that BG3 is a commercial failure) or it may lead to even more poor entries (if BG3 is a commercial success).

Admittedly, this is all very hypothetical based on our current state of knowledge.

 

[Lilliput McHammersmith]

I love BG1 and 2 as much as anyone else, but this obsessive hatred for the “marring” of the series is pathetically retarded.

Even if BG3 was TERRIBLE, it wouldn’t change anything about BG 1 and 2.

It’s sort of like the Star Wars sequels. In my opinion, they are absolutely awful movies. Massive shits on the established characters and lore. Does that ruin all of Star Wars? No. They’re just bad movies.

So if BG3 were bad, it doesn’t take away from BG1&2. Another example is Ultima IX. I have never seen anyone praise that game, and yet somehow Ultima is still regarded as one of the greatest role-playing game series of all time.

I can certainly see your point, and it's definitely true when you look back on BG1&2.
But there are things where BG3 may actually have influence on more than just it's own reception: future entries in the series. A 'bad' BG3 may either kill further entries in the series (assuming that 'we' want future entries, and assuming that BG3 is a commercial failure) or it may lead to even more poor entries (if BG3 is a commercial success).

Admittedly, this is all very hypothetical based on our current state of knowledge.

True, it will certainly have an impact on the future of the series. But, seeing as it's been dead in the water for the last 20 years, whether there are more games or not, won't really change anything about the series from 1998-2001.

Also, lest we forget, Siege of Dragonspear was universally panned, and hated by fans, and yet, we are getting a brand new game, with completely different combat.

This is like saying Fallout 3 killed Fallout. While FO3 is an abomination, Fallout was already long dead by the time it came out. And it came out much closer to Fallout 2's release date than BG3 will to BG2's. Futhermore, the disgrace of FO3 does not damage FO1 and FO2.