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.

 

[...m...]

SOMEONE'S POISONING THE ORE!

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Heck, I demand every voice line remains untouched.

On this, I’m more aligned with you - the audio is absolutely fantastic. The companions’ personalities are so well outlined with just a handful of voiced lines. But not only that, the merchants and innkeepers and bit part NPCs are all amazing, as are the combat barks for the various enemies. I can’t see the word ogrillion without muttering “toime for some carnage” under my breath. Environmental audio was also great, and I think even better in the sequel - Athkatla feels like a living, breathing city.

 

[GreyLord]

If it's remade to be turn-based and 5e, I'll get it. If it's RTwP, I'll skip it altogether like I did when they were originally released.

I see a lot of people say things like this in the thread as if this is an either/or situation.

Why not just have both as options?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I see a lot of people say things like this in the thread as if this is an either/or situation.

Why not just have both as options?

Because you need to design the encounters differently. If you design for both, neither will be optimal.

 

[MarkB]

Because you need to design the encounters differently. If you design for both, neither will be optimal.

That, and character features will be hard to balance across both modes - some will be far more effective in one mode than the other. Simple example, area effects - these can be targeted far more precisely in turn-based combat than in RTWP.

 

[GreyLord]

Because you need to design the encounters differently. If you design for both, neither will be optimal.

We are of different opinions then.

They've done this with other games and they seemed to turn out just fine.

 

[Gladius Legis]

They've done this with other games and they seemed to turn out just fine.

Have they, though?

While I prefer the mechanics of the turn-based modes for the Pillars games in a vacuum, the games as a whole are a slog to play in those modes.

Even in Wrath of the Righteous, where you can freely switch between the two modes mid-combat, the encounter design and frequency are geared toward RTWP to the extreme. And even in RTWP the frequency of those battles is obnoxious to the point that it wrecks the pacing. And, again, I enjoy the turn-based mechanics more, but when putting that against a frequency of trash mobs that's obnoxious even compared to other RTWP games, it just isn't gonna work.

 

[jolt]

In RTWP, you can have lots of throwaway combat because they get resolved so quickly; oftentimes as quick as 5-10 seconds. In full turn based mode, those combats become tedious in the extreme. I can play either mode, but they have to be designed differently.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Even in Wrath of the Righteous, where you can freely switch between the two modes mid-combat, the encounter design and frequency are geared toward RTWP to the extreme.

Honestly I think the Owlcat games just have bad encounter design. The worst kind of pointless trash mobs, usually way above recommended CR, with a couple of stupid templates slapped on them. It’s a shame as I like so much else about their games.