The Sundering has launched...

[Morrus]

Yes the Bhaal symbol.
And while it predates Baldurs Gate, as far as I know, there was no specific link between Bladurs Gate and Bhaal & his symbol before the video game. Correct me when I am wrong.
But now the complete city map of Baldurs Gate is plastered over with Bhaal symbols.

That's it? That's the complaint?

It was Bioware putting TSR's symbol of TSR's Bhaal and TSR's Baldur's Gate together in TSR's Forgotten Realms using TSR's D&D rules that was the only important part? Not any of the rest of it?

Coincidence? Certainly not.

I don't think anybody has ever claimed that marketing happens by coincidence.

 

[Derren]

That's it
It was Bioware putting TSR's symbol of TSR's Bhaal and TSR's Baldur's Gate together in TSR's Forgotten Realms using TSR's D&D rules that was the only important part? Not any of the rest of it?

And whats your point here? That those things are the reason for the success of the video game which would have tanked if it had used a different license or something created by Bioware or that because TSR once invented those two things there is no problem using them for marketing reasons by clearly invoking a connection to games they did not created and till now hardly acknowledge?

I think you are vastly overestimating the contributions of D&D to the success of the Baldurs Gate video games. When the first game came out there was no competition on the market. No matter the license, RPG players would have bought as long as it was good (which it was). It was probably the first time many people even heard of D&D so the license did nothing for them to advertise the game.

 

[Morrus]

I think you are vastly overestimating the contributions of D&D to the success of the Baldurs Gate video games.

I don't think I am. That would require me to estimate the contributions of D&D to the success of the Baldurs Gate video games, which I haven't done. I haven't even commented on the success of the BG video games; it's not relevant to my point.

What I HAVE commented on is your assertion that WotC is ripping off a video game, when it's clearly using its own IP and using it as it is meant to be used.

Whether or not you find that to your taste is another matter entirely.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I can think of plenty of reasons not to like the Sundering that has nothing to do with successful video games.

For instance, apparently Mystra's back. I think WotC messed up a lot of things with 4e's version of the Realms, but killing off Mystra was one of the bright spots. And now it's being reverted.

 

[billd91]

I remember it quite differently.
The first game was bought because it was a RPG in a time where this genre was thought dead. And the second one was bought because it was Baldurs Gate (franchise) and Black Island/Bioware. That fame followed them to Neverwinter, Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
Some people might have bought them because of D&D, but no one credited WotC with the success of the games.

I suspect you're the oddball on this one. I'd bet the D&D license sold Baldur's Gate just like it sold the SSI gold box games, since Bioware was the unknown at the time. Sure, their success with it may have brought them their own well-deserved fans, but their D&D license got them into the public eye.

I'm not sure the D&D owners don't deserve some credit for the success of the games. Do you think they'd have been equally successful if they had been built on completely original IP and not a widely known licensed property? Bioware built its rep bringing licensed IP to market and doing it well.

 

[Derren]

What I HAVE commented on is your assertion that WotC is ripping off a video game

They are not "ripping off" a video game, at least as far as we know. In the end it remains to be seen when they release the story/module for the Sundering.
What they are doing is that they are using the fame of a product they had hardly any contributions to (no meaningful ones in my eyes) which they also have ignored for 15 years to now promote their own stuff because they apparently don't think their stuff is good enough or because they ran out of ideas.

 

[Morrus]

What they are doing is that they are using the fame of a product they had hardly any contributions to (no meaningful ones in my eyes) which they also have ignored for 15 years to now promote their own stuff because they apparently don't think their stuff is good enough or because they ran out of ideas.

Yeah, so you keep saying. Do you need me to disagree yet again, or can we take it as read?

 

[YRUSirius]

The D&D game and the Forgotten Realms setting obviously had a big influence on the developers of Baldur's Gate. They were inspired by it, so they were directly inspired by TSR/WotC. There's somewhere a quote about it on the internet, how they were all big D&D and realms fans etc.

The game is dripping with Realmslore. Take your old Grey Box and read the entries of Baldur's Gate and its surroundings. The team at Bioware faithfully recreated the whole western Sword Coast, right down to that famous NPC smith and that NPC hedge wizard in Beregost. Please, do me a favor, and read it.

WotC has all the rights to use its IP to its fullest potential, especially as it introduced so many new faces to the setting (me included).

-YRUSirius

 

[Derren]

Yeah, so you keep saying. Do you need me to disagree yet again, or can we take it as read?

And what exactly will you disagree with?
That WotC is using Baldurs Gate to promote the Sundering?
That they ignored the video games so far with only devoting maybe a few sentences in a single book to it if at all?
That WotC did not actively participate in making the Baldurs Gate video games?
That it is bad style to use a product someone else made and you ignored for 15 years to promote your product does look a bit desperate?

Your entire point to me seems to be that just because Baldurs Gate used the D&D license WotC deserves a big part of the credit for the game and using it to promote the Sundering does in no way bad style and does not mean that WotC does not believe in the power of the FR brand any more or have run out of ideas how to promote the Sundering to attract customers any better.

If that is your point, I simply think differently. And that the Sundering seems to be one giant retcon reinforces me in that believe.

 

[YRUSirius]

What they are doing is that they are using the fame of a product they had hardly any contributions to (no meaningful ones in my eyes)

It was TSR's own friggin rulessystem and setting, how much more can you contribute?

-YRUSirius