Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 remakes reportedly in development

Wizards of the Coast is returning to Baldur’s Gate. PC Gamer reports that Wizards of the Coast is developing remakes of Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, with Kevin Martens leading development. Martens was the co-lead designer of Baldur’s Gate 2 and most recently was assisting in the development of Exodus, Wizards’ upcoming AAA video game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a major success for Wizards of the Coast and a sequel game seems inevitable. However, Larian Studios opted to leave the franchise to pursue its own IP, and Wizards has yet to announce what studio, whether internal or external, would take over. A remake of the first two Baldur’s Gate games would likely be a stopgap of sorts to keep fans interested in the franchise while lining up Baldur’s Gate 4, although a lot of work would be needed to update the games for modern consoles and PCs. Remastered versions were already released for iOS and PC a decade ago.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Tieflings and Tieflings probably existed even though they were not talked about

There is already a tiefling companion in BG2 anyway (although they are from Sigil).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I was thinking more about goliaths

The lore for Goliaths is they have always been in the FR. There are a couple of Goliath settlements in RotFM, and they ain’t recently built.

 

[TheHand]

If they update the system to 5e, I’d definitely prefer turn based. To me, RTwP is fine for the simpler AD&D system, where there are fewer options, but I remember playing Pillars of Eternity and struggling with the real-time pause when all the characters started getting lots of abilities and special attacks. However, they should probably remove a lot of the trash fights (like swarms of gibberllings) in favor of fewer but more tactically interesting battles. Turn based combat against frequent, underwhelming foes starts to get tedious.

I think the real thing I’d miss would be some of the original voice actors, as I imagine they’d want to beef up the spoken dialog and bring it more in line with BG3. Matt Mercer did fine as Minsc in BG3, but to me Jim Cummings will always be that role (I was never sure why they replaced him as he still seems to be working).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Kids these days mostly want to play sexy tieflings and drow - I think if those options are covered then there’ll be no major issues. Drow could play interestingly, though - I recall 2E Faerun being less open-minded than the 5E version.

BG1/2 had a sexy drow companion (and Beamdog added another). But the reputation system used in the original games doesn't really stand up. It didn't really stand up at the time.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I rate the probability of this getting cancelled long before it gets released as 99.9%.

They would have had a better chance had they started out by remaking Icewind Dale (it's simpler) or Planescape: Torment (it's shorter).

 

[Pale Violet Light]

BG1/2 had a sexy drow companion (and Beamdog added another). But the reputation system used in the original games doesn't really stand up. It didn't really stand up at the time.

Ah yes; I was thinking more about the PC, but I guess Viconia should provoke more ire than she does. The conflation of morality and reputation in the original games is really not a winner; surely there were better options, even back then.

I rate the probability of this getting cancelled long before it gets released as 99.9%.

They would have had a better chance had they started out by remaking Icewind Dale (it's simpler) or Planescape: Torment (it's shorter).

Torment with good combat (or even just tolerable combat, or possibly no combat at all) would be a dream. Though one of the major things that an update to BG1 and 2 would offer would be the chance to introduce some of the reactivity (to race, class, stats, background etc) that we see in BG3 and other more modern cRPGs. Torment already has significant reactivity, and so gains less from the update.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I guess Viconia should provoke more ire than she does.

In BG1 some flaming fist attack on sight if she is in your party, and killing them can lead to cascade reputation collapse. The game is virtually unplayable once everyone attacks you on sight.

Jalhera complaining about having a high reputation always felt out of character.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

In BG1 some flaming fist attack on sight if she is in your party,

I don’t recall any specific interactions, other than the one accosting her in Peldvale, who can be dispatched with no loss of reputation

and killing them can lead to cascade reputation collapse. The game is virtually unplayable once everyone attacks you on sight.

Sure, but that’s only a mistake you make once.

Jalhera complaining about having a high reputation always felt out of character.

She’s the goodest neutral character I’ve even met. 2E alignment restrictions to blame, I guess.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure, but that’s only a mistake you make once.

It makes the whole reputation system useless though. You either keep it high, irrespective of alignment, and try to micromanage any evil companions, or you save and reload.

And if you upgrade to 5e, you have change self at 1st level anyway.

Chopping the whole thing out would constitute an upgrade.

 

[MarkB]

They would have to reuse some of the voice acting, especially for the villains. You're going to have a hard time replacing Kevin Michael Richardson or David Warner. And Jim Cummings Minsc can only be copied it can never be replicated

Unlikely - chances are, a remake for a modern audience won't be able to use any existing assets from the original game.

Can't use the voice lines because even for major characters you'll need to record a vastly greater number of lines in order to make them fully voiced with an expanded and more flexible dialogue system, and most of the original voice actors either aren't around/active anymore or would have trouble matching their old voices.

Can't use any visual assets because the whole thing will be overhauled in a modern 3D engine.

Can maybe use the music but would want more dynamic sound design and a greater repertoire of tunes.

Basically this would be a brand new game using adapted versions of the original game's plot and characters.