Baldurs Gate 3 apparently in development (with evidence)

Gladius Legis · May 31, 2019

Zardnaar said:
Might finally get a good D&D game.

What was the last good one, Neverwinter Nights 2? (And even that one started out rough, it took patches and two great expansions to make it worthwhile.)

gyor · May 31, 2019

Gladius Legis said:
They'll probably start with mostly PHB stuff and then add the stuff from supplements in DLCs. Like the Neverwinter Nights games did (except with expansions instead of DLCs).

They might include the SCAG stuff, the elf, Tiefling,
Gnome, and Dwarf subraces, and Aasimar. But I could be wrong.

vecna00 · May 31, 2019

Enevhar Aldarion said:
No, that is what the Neverwinter MMO is for. It gets all the hardcover adventure content, so another game that does the same thing is very unlikely.

Hence the "more than likely won't be"

Enevhar Aldarion · May 31, 2019

This is from an article about the console releases of the older games:

"Tailored for a natural gameplay experience on consoles, these enhanced editions give longtime fans and newcomers alike the opportunity to play these critically acclaimed adventures from a golden age of RPGs in a whole new way. Beamdog has upgraded all of the above titles with native support for high-resolution widescreen displays, controls optimized for console controllers, new standalone content, new characters and classes, new voice sets, expanded character creation options, improved multiplayer functionality, redesigns of the UI and UX, bug fixes, balance changes and more."

I am interested in the part that I bolded.

For everyone interested in the older games being released on the current gen of consoles, here is that article:

https://www.skybound.com/games/beamdog/baldurs-planescape-neverwinter-console-release

Demetrios1453 · May 31, 2019

Enevhar Aldarion said:
This is from an article about the console releases of the older games:

"Tailored for a natural gameplay experience on consoles, these enhanced editions give longtime fans and newcomers alike the opportunity to play these critically acclaimed adventures from a golden age of RPGs in a whole new way. Beamdog has upgraded all of the above titles with native support for high-resolution widescreen displays, controls optimized for console controllers, new standalone content, new characters and classes, new voice sets, expanded character creation options, improved multiplayer functionality, redesigns of the UI and UX, bug fixes, balance changes and more."

I am interested in the part that I bolded.

For everyone interested in the older games being released on the current gen of consoles, here is that article:

https://www.skybound.com/games/beamdog/baldurs-planescape-neverwinter-console-release

The way I'm reading it, those will be the additions that Beamdog has already put into the enhanced versions.

Leatherhead · May 31, 2019

Prakriti said:
Interesting. I can't imagine playing these games on a controller, but their release is nothing if not good.

To be fair, the Switch comes with motion-control joycons so you can mimic a mouse from your couch, and a touchscreen for portable mode. A proper old-school video game controller is something you have to buy separately, if you even want such a thing anymore.

gyor · May 31, 2019

Zardnaar said:
D&D games are usually scaled down from the PHB.

This is mostly so you have a game to play. For example you can't scry, teleport in 2E games. Or you can only play one character in a story game. Revan in KoToR for example (it's d20 over D&D).

Restricting options often makes a better video game.

I doubt all the phb spells will make it

Agreed, some spells would require technology that doesn't exist yet. Like Major Illusion. But most PHB classes, races, would be do-able, with a few having to add a substitute feature for tech reasons.

MarkB · May 31, 2019

Derren said:
The implementation will certainly be interesting.

While Larian has done serious games in the past, the last few ones had a higher comedy ratio than what I would expect from a Baldurs Gate. Also the 5E settings will cause some problem. The lack of rewards is not really suitable for a video games and the time jump means that there is hardly any connection to the old Baldurs Gate, especially as Bhaal is back now, so everything was for naught anyway.

Well, Minsc is also back. Here's hoping he's a playable character.

And the reward levels in a videogame don't have to conform to the standard tabletop levels. For one thing, they can easily do away with bounded accuracy, and require higher-level weapons and armour to take on higher-level foes.

Demetrios1453 · May 31, 2019

gyor said:
Agreed, some spells would require technology that doesn't exist yet. Like Major Illusion. But most PHB classes, races, would be do-able, with a few having to add a substitute feature for tech reasons.

True, but each of them will take time to design, balance for gameplay, and implement. So I imagine that while we'll probably see a fairly wide array of options, likely much of the stuff from the PHB, they'll probably push some of the more esoteric and/or difficult-to-implement options to the inevitable expansions/sequels simply due to time constraints.

(That's not to say we'll only see PHB options at first - some classes, like ranger or sorcerer, could really use some post-PHB options)

SkateboardingRaptors · Jun 1, 2019

Heads up everyone...the logo at the Larian studio website now shows an animation that shows tentacles wrapping around the numerals. Mind flayers, kraken, I’m guessing there is more to come.