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.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

On the topic of voice lines, as far as I know in BG3 the actors movements in their voice lines were mo-capped, which adds greatly the whole thing and would require all the voice lines and a lot of the cut scenes to be redone.
Games like Solasta do not use motion capture but then would the engine be up to a BG 4?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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

Which is harder than using a new plot and characters!

Games like Solasta do not use motion capture but then would the engine be up to a BG 4?

The Solasta engine is lacking in a lot of the under-the-hood features that allow complex storytelling. But you don't need to use mo-cap acting and wiz bang 3D graphics to make a good modern CPRG. PFWotW has it's flaws, but I would say that the use of isometric graphics and lack of mo cap acting are not amongst them.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Which is harder than using a new plot and characters!

The Solasta engine is lacking in a lot of the under-the-hood features that allow complex storytelling. But you don't need to use mo-cap acting and wiz bang 3D graphics to make a good modern CPRG. PFWotW has it's flaws, but I would say that the use of isometric graphics and lack of mo cap acting are not amongst them.

What in this context do you mean by "isometric" are not all modern rpgs "isometric"?

My point about Solasta is that, there would be little point in a remake at this level, or rather is there any point in remaking BG 1 and 2 if not as part of a development cycle toward an eventual BG 4.
How many hours in the original games? I do not expect that any remake would be beat for beat.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

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.

I remember having to throw on a cursed helmet of reverse alignment to keep the evil dwarf in my party because he was getting pissed off that I was completing too many sidequests and raising my reknown.

 

[MarkB]

I remember having to throw on a cursed helmet of reverse alignment to keep the evil dwarf in my party because he was getting pissed off that I was completing too many sidequests and raising my reknown.

It got annoying when we reached the point where Jaheira was doing that. Sorry, am I not being neutral enough for your druidic sensibilities?

 

[Seramus]

PFWotW has it's flaws, but

I know this is a typo, but I read this in the voice of the "Mawwiage" guy from Princess Bride.

"Wath of the Wighteous!"

 

[Gladius Legis]

But you don't need to use mo-cap acting and wiz bang 3D graphics to make a good modern CPRG. PFWotW has it's flaws, but I would say that the use of isometric graphics and lack of mo cap acting are not amongst them.

To make a quality modern CRPG in the still rather niche style of older CRPGs? No, of course not.

To make a game that will win over a significant proportion of the now more than 20 million people who bought and played BG3? Yeah, you actually do kinda need that. Fairly or not, BG3 raised expectations for its series in that regard.

At the end of the day, WOTR's presentation is basically "prettier BG 1 and 2." Nothing wrong with that per se, but if you're attempting to snag a large percentage of BG3's audience, "prettier BG 1 and 2" isn't gonna cut it. WOTR's last reported number was that it crossed 1 million in 2023, which is 2 years after its release (it might be closer to 2 million now though Owlcat hasn't announced anything there as far as I could find). And BG2's total sales numbers, combining original release and Enhanced edition, were roughly 2.5 million as of its last reported totals in 2020. BG2 might be closer to 3 million now, if you're projecting generously. But in either case, with BG2 and WOTR (to say nothing of CRPGs that don't have anything close to even their numbers), you're looking at a very small fraction of BG3's total audience number.

 

[gban007]

To make a quality modern CRPG in the still rather niche style of older CRPGs? No, of course not.

To make a game that will win over a significant proportion of the now more than 20 million people who bought and played BG3? Yeah, you actually do kinda need that. Fairly or not, BG3 raised expectations for its series in that regard.

At the end of the day, WOTR's presentation is basically "prettier BG 1 and 2." Nothing wrong with that per se, but if you're attempting to snag a large percentage of BG3's audience, "prettier BG 1 and 2" isn't gonna cut it. WOTR's last reported number was that it crossed 1 million in 2023, which is 2 years after its release (it might be closer to 2 million now though Owlcat hasn't announced anything there as far as I could find). And BG2's total sales numbers, combining original release and Enhanced edition, were roughly 2.5 million as of its last reported totals in 2020. BG2 might be closer to 3 million now, if you're projecting generously. But in either case, with BG2 and WOTR (to say nothing of CRPGs that don't have anything close to even their numbers), you're looking at a very small fraction of BG3's total audience number.

I dont think it changes the overall point. As BG3 any way you cut it has sold a lot more than BG1 / BG2. But apparently in 2007 Bioware had advised BG2 had sold over 2 million. Now by then sales would have slowed, though various digital re-releases would have helped even before Enhanced Edition. Enhanced Edition harder to pin down, with apparent estimates of 400k on Steam alone. Add that together and other platform availability these days, I dont think 3 million is a stretch. The optimistic side of me would put it between 3 and 4 million. But a not insignificant amount would be likes of me with I think 4 different copies of BG2 - the original, a combined edition on GoG, Enhanced Edition on steam and Enhanced Edition on Switch.
Nonetheless, still a lot less than BG3, and I think BG3 had good local multiplsuer functionality to allow for more players than sales too.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm still undecided what I'd do when these release. On the one hand, I'm happy with the current enhanced editions and can (and do) still play them (same with icewind dale, recently completed a solo playthrough with a fighter/wizard dual-class). Since it's a remake I assume it'll be made with the story of the originals with 5.5 as the base rule set and I'm not super keen on that. I'd be less likely to buy if it is turn-based only but if it has optional turn-based/real time then that would be fine.

 

[wicked cool]

What in solasta 2 isn’t complex compared to Bg3

Which is harder than using a new plot and characters!

The Solasta engine is lacking in a lot of the under-the-hood features that allow complex storytelling. But you don't need to use mo-cap acting and wiz bang 3D graphics to make a good modern CPRG. PFWotW has its flaws, but I would say that the use of isometric graphics and lack of mo cap acting are not amongst th

Which is harder than using a new plot and characters!

The Solasta engine is lacking in a lot of the under-the-hood features that allow complex storytelling. But you don't need to use mo-cap acting and wiz bang 3D graphics to make a good modern CPRG. PFWotW has it's flaws, but I would say that the use of isometric graphics and lack of mo cap acting are not amongst them.

What do you mean the solasta 2 engine can’t do. Now solasta 2 is fairly new but in some ways it can be mentioned in the same conversation as bg3. Solasta 2 is this tiny team and yet
-right now character creation is better than divinity 2 and Bg3 and its early
-crawling . Bg3 didn’t have that. I’m actually suprised this little studio is pulling this off
-monsters are doing things that shock me. In Bg3 there’s 1 scene in act 1 where you can convince some rothes to help you defeat duergar. Solasta 2 does this better in multiple spots
-plot seems complicated
-random encounters-Bg3 has no random encounters. Not a single 1. Yes it has a million ways to solve a problem but that’s because of the team not the engine
-solasta 1 had swimming

I would be astounded if bg2 can be redone in that way