D&D General Should BG4 be a new story or continue on from BG3's story?

[Necropolitan]

I feel like the Origin characters had their storylines wrapped up pretty well and had enough interesting options that a future plot making a single one canon would leave too many people unsatisfied.

So I'd say at most mention them in a way that would only rule out the worst endings for them.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

It is better to start from zero with new characters, but allowing space for possible cameos.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I actually liked that BG2 had some characters like Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc, Viconia and Edwin carry over from BG1, though Jaheira and Minsc were hardly that significant in BG3 compared to the other companions.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I feel that origin characters are very much a Larian thing, they were in DOS2 and I expect them to be in Divinity. I would expect BG4 to return to the original pattern and have a player made protagonist and feature a mix of returning characters as companions along with some new ones, with other former companions cameoing as NPCs.

Several of the BG3 origin characters could potentially return as major villains, but you have the issue of respecting their choices in BG3.

One thing I think very unlikely is creating a party - that was an Icewind Dale thing. Baldur’s Gate’s thing is create a main and recruit a party from a pool of pregens. Which means “none of the above” is my answer.

 

[Xeviat]

I said no, create your whole party, but that's not exactly what I mean. I don't like "origin characters", that feels like larian's thing. Bg1 and 2 style please: make your character, plus there are NPCs that could join you.

 

[Burnside]

One of BG3’s major strengths was how player choice could radically change the fates of the origin characters and the ending of the game. There is no way a direct sequel could honor the diversity of outcomes, and creating a single canonical ending for BG3 would cause a LOT of internet rage and is a no-win scenario. It pretty much has to be a fresh start with new characters and references to past events in broad ways.

 

[aiouh]

I feel like adding 2-3 auxilliary characters in Act 2 and 3 that don't have any central stories like Jhoira and Minsc in BG3 is the Goldilocks Zone.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

They can reuse the cast of voice actors freely, but I really think the story of our characters is mostly done and they don't need another world-saving adventure in their life.
They could reappear as guest characters, I suppose, but even then, that might make your personal favorite play-through non-canon for that game, so maybe it's best with "Weird Events with Mind Flayers happened a few years ago, but most don't even realize how close we were to end of existence as we knew it, and how much thanks we owe to some group of heroes."

 

[TwoSix]

BG3 Cameos only.

Single story main character that's customizable. (Like the BG3 Dark Urge.) No storyless Tav, no playing companion characters as the main (Origin characters). That's a Larian thing, and as someone who played all the Origin characters in BG3, it was one of the weaker aspects of the game (since they didn't have the space to really differentiate their storylines.)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I voted "No BG4" simply because there are a million other places to build great CRPGs in the FR.

It can still be a BG game and not be set in Baldur's Gate. BG2 and Throne of Bhaal don't take place anywhere near Baldur's Gate, so it's not without precedent.