Baldur's Gate 3 and Neverwinter Nights 2 all-but-confirmed by Atari!

[Express]

Remember Atari are just Infogrames rebranded...

Infogrames was getting so much bad press that they bought Atari just to use the name

True, but neither brand name illicits much confidence in me.

 

[Wycen]

Baldurs Gate has built in continuance thanks to the idea you are offspring of a god, and in BG2 you yourself can get jiggy with some of the NPC's, not to mention in Throne of Bhaal Aerie the elf can give birth if you follow that romance path.

Of course, the timeline could have problems with that approach, not to mention I would guess the BG1 and 2 stories belong to Bioware, thus any new games have to revolve around something new.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I enjoy both the NWN & BG series, & I have different expectations from them both.

BG, as an old friend of mine once put it, has a bit of an Ultima feel: your PC is in the role of Avatar, & you gather Companions to help you complete your quests. It's a big storyline with a lot of investment in the character, & to a certain degree, control over character development.

NWN, OTOH, is a "hero & his/her sidekick(s)" sort of game--it's your PC, with 1 (maybe 2, if you've gone that far in-game) NPC followers that go through the quest. Though you have a little help in the game, it seems to be a bit tougher to endure. However, the big selling point with me isn't the original module, but the ability to create your own stuff & your own worlds--there's even a few persistent state worlds out there using NWN.

I'd definitely like to see a big story tie-in between BG3 & the previous releases of the game (perhaps the child of the Bhaalspawn, or even a new PC dealing with the mess left behind by the events of BG 1 & 2.

As for NWN2, well, I'd just hope it builds on what's there in NWN1, engine-wise (hopefully it even updates it to 3.5 mechanics/rules). I'd really hope it still allows for custom content & module design (heck, I hope it'd allow for easy creation of new races & classes).

 

[Dark Jezter]

AFGNCAAP's opinion on this matter is pretty similiar to mine.

I expect Baldur's Gate III to have...

• An epic storyline.
• NPCs that you actually grow attached to.
• A huge campaign with lots of optional subquests (BG2 took over 100 hours to complete if you did everything you possibly could, enough to keep even hardcore gamers busy for weeks).
• Fun gameplay.
• Focus on controlling an entire party of characters.
• A good implimentation of the 3.5e rules.

I expect NWN2 to have...

• A good storyline.
• Fun gameplay
• Custom content. The reason I've kept coming back to NWN over the last 2 years is because of the many high-quality user-made modules for NWN, such as Adam Miller's Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher campaigns, as well as Rick Burton's Paladin Trilogy.
• Great multiplayer features.
• Focus on controlling a single adventurer (with 1 or 2 henchmen).
• A good implimentation of the 3.5e rules.

I think that the biggest reason that many Baldur's Gate fans didn't like Neverwinter Nights was because they were expecting the game to be similar to Baldur's Gate except with a 3-D engine and implimentation of the 3e ruleset. But the two games are like apples and oranges; Baldur's Gate is a massive single player-oriented game that is very story-driven, while Neverwinter Nights was built around multiplayer support and user-end customizability (although the Hordes of the Underdark expansion pack did have a kickass storyline and characters). I love both games deeply, and have spent countless hours playing them.

 

[KenM]

If BG 3 does not have Minsc and Boo, then its not a BG game, IMO.

 

[Asmo]

Much as Dark Jezter I´ve played both games countless of hours and love them both deeply.
The only thing I really miss in NWN is a whole party, playing with only one henchman is simply not fun enough. When you could have both Deekin and Valen Shadowbreath (just to take an example) in the party the fun really started and the experience of the game deepened considerably in my opinion.


Asmo

 

[Avouz]

I think that the biggest reason that many Baldur's Gate fans didn't like Neverwinter Nights was because they were expecting the game to be similar to Baldur's Gate except with a 3-D engine and implimentation of the 3e ruleset. But the two games are like apples and oranges; Baldur's Gate is a massive single player-oriented game that is very story-driven, while Neverwinter Nights was built around multiplayer support and user-end customizability (although the Hordes of the Underdark expansion pack did have a kickass storyline and characters). I love both games deeply, and have spent countless hours playing them.

I'll have to admit I'm in the camp of folks who were disappointed that NWN did not implement some of the features of BG. While I grew to love NWN mostly due to its customization, I really missed the NPC party and the interaction with them that your PC could have. I'm hoping NWN2 corrects this and that BG3 retains it.

That may be asking too much, because I'm sure a BG level of interaction with NPCs would be very difficult to implement in the Aurora engine (or its successor.) Having made a mod or two for NWN, this isn't hard to imagine. Still, I'm going to be greedy here.

 

[Welverin]

As for the earilier points about how BG3 should have a different title because it won't continue the story of BG1 and BG2, sequels having little to no connection to the storylines of their predecessors is not an uncommon practice in the video game industry. Final Fantasy and Quake are just two franchises where the sequels have no storyline connection to the games that came before.

So every FR based game should be named Baldur's Gate? How about every D&D game? Just because Square and Id are stupid doesn't mean everyone else should be.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I didn't say anything of the sort. Don't put words in my mouth.

Also, calling id Software and SquareEnix stupid is mean and hurtful. Why, I'm sure the employees of those two companies will be crying all the way to the bank.

 

[Welverin]

I didn't say anything of the sort. Don't put words in my mouth.

I didn't, I asked a question.

This comes across as nothing but an attempt to cash in on a the name of a popular series, which is something I have a problem with.

Also, calling id Software and SquareEnix stupid is mean and hurtful. Why, I'm sure the employees of those two companies will be crying all the way to the bank.

I'm sure they will.