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.

 

[Lupher]

My biggest wish for these remakes would be to have them updated to either 5e or 5.5e. If they do that, I can easily do either turn based or real time. Ideally, I'd prefer turn based, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me

 

[Pale Violet Light]

meticulously craft encounter maps and the spacing/positioning of enemies like you can in a true turn-based CRPG like Baldur's Gate 3 or Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

BG3 I’ll give you -the encounter design is a highlight. But Rogue Trader is absolutely riddled with poorly-designed encounters and trash mobs. And turn-based trash mobs are just the worst. One of the major things preventing me from replaying: I liked the story a lot but the thought of another random encounter in the warp gives me PTSD.

 

[CF07]

Well yeah, you get to the extreme strength scores and there is a definite gap in damage output, but I've never really felt like it was necessary to have those bonuses to succeed in the TSR editions. Unlike 3e where ability modifier has much more impact on success (I believe it is baked into the maths) you can easily get by without an average strength score in 2e.

I don't know that it was, but it was definitely notable in a game where one character had it and the other didn't. I think a lot of it is due to the way to hit is calculated. Those static bonuses really count for connecting and that's a big deal with the modifier applying to both attack and damage. Overall 3E an onward made stats matter a lot more. I think they maybe didn't matter enough in previous editions. To me the 13-15 +1, 16-17 +2, and 18 +3 from BECMI is about right.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't know that it was, but it was definitely notable in a game where one character had it and the other didn't. I think a lot of it is due to the way to hit is calculated. Those static bonuses really count for connecting and that's a big deal with the modifier applying to both attack and damage. Overall 3E an onward made stats matter a lot more. I think they maybe didn't matter enough in previous editions. To me the 13-15 +1, 16-17 +2, and 18 +3 from BECMI is about right.

I do like the BECMI stat adjustments. They provide smaller bonuses than 3e onwards so don't affext the math as much, and they aren't as complicated as ADnD in that you can easily work out the modifiers in BECMI whereas in ADnD, you always have to look up the ability score charts to figure out all the numbers.

 

[jarablue]

I don't know but playing Baldurs Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2 without pause seems fun as hell. Like a real adventure with sweat. I am down for this! Please do them their justice!

 

[jarablue]

Play with no pause! Make us sweat like a real adventure. It might be the kid in me but I am looking forward to these!

 

[CF07]

BG3 I’ll give you -the encounter design is a highlight. But Rogue Trader is absolutely riddled with poorly-designed encounters and trash mobs. And turn-based trash mobs are just the worst. One of the major things preventing me from replaying: I liked the story a lot but the thought of another random encounter in the warp gives me PTSD.

The turn based aspect of Rogue Trader drove me nuts... I bailed on it quickly.

 

[CF07]

I don't know but playing Baldurs Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2 without pause seems fun as hell. Like a real adventure with sweat. I am down for this! Please do them their justice!

It's be very hard to pull off things like casting or potion use but there is something to be said for the chaos of it versus pure turn based combat.

 

[CF07]

I do like the BECMI stat adjustments. They provide smaller bonuses than 3e onwards so don't affext the math as much, and they aren't as complicated as ADnD in that you can easily work out the modifiers in BECMI whereas in ADnD, you always have to look up the ability score charts to figure out all the numbers.

100%. Our house rules smoothed them out and made them more like BECMI but yeah by the book they were whack.

 

[MGibster]

If its a faithful reproduction with just an updated UI, sure. Otherwise, pass. Make something new and see if it succeeds on its own merits.

What's a faithful reproduction? I'm thinking of something like the Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho in 1998 which was pretty much a shot-for-shot recreation of the original 1960 classic. Nobody but Gus Van Sant wanted that.