No Baldur's Gate 3 for Now

Computer and Video Games points out one of those factually shaky listings has shown up on EBGames, listing Baldur's Gate 3, while HomeLAN Fed has the immediate clarification from Vivendi Universal Games/Interplay, who say: "For the record, Baldur's Gate 3 is not in development currently. There are no plans to develop Baldur's Gate 3 at this time."
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28.
 
Re: Morrowind
Jun 10, 2003, 21:11
28.
Re: Morrowind Jun 10, 2003, 21:11
Jun 10, 2003, 21:11
 
yep, it's true, if your rig can handle it, you can increase a view range slider all the way to max. BTW, thanks for the link for the map of Faerûn! Thats cool how you can click on any part of it to get a close up! (And thanks, Blue, for the û!)
-LordSteev

Supporter of the "Unleash the Fredster!!" Fan Club
27.
 
Re: Morrowind
Jun 10, 2003, 18:09
27.
Re: Morrowind Jun 10, 2003, 18:09
Jun 10, 2003, 18:09
 
I once saw morrowind but I didnt like the low visibility range. someone told me it can be increased. is that true?

I have given up on waiting for BIS to come back to their senses and do a real ArmA 2 successor.
Avatar 12928
26.
 
Morrowind
Jun 10, 2003, 16:17
26.
Morrowind Jun 10, 2003, 16:17
Jun 10, 2003, 16:17
 
and I'd shop around to see if some kind of "Gold" package

Last I heard there WAS going to be a Gold package with all three games (Morrowind, Tribunal and Bloodmoon) in it, I'm actually surprised it isn't released yet. Although I suppose they don't want it interfering with solo sales of the Bloodmoon expansion.

Morrowind isn't everyone's cup of tea. After the initial opening sequence, you find yourself in a village on the shore of a sea somewhere, with some vague directions about "go to Balmora and speak to yadda yadda". You, however, have no frigging clue where Balmora is, or just how insanely far away it is. You can easily spend several hundred hours just walking around without EVER going to Balmora.

While this is great, it also tends to put people off, as nin said. I, for one, am the kind of player who wants to see every nook and cranny, and for whom the completion of the auto map (ie, in Morrowind, every corner of the world is lit up to show that I've been there), is VITAL to my enjoyment of the game.
Forget about that. To do so in Morrowind means you'll be playing probably over a thousand hours. (especially at the insanely slow walking speed your character has).

If you like such open endedness, however, Morrowind is fantastic. You can play twelve different characters, and never set foot in the same area twice (if you ignore the main quest).

I would recommend it any day over NWN, which is a sham.

Creston


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25.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 15:30
25.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 15:30
Jun 10, 2003, 15:30
 
(stupid ascii for not including 'u' with a '^' over it)

û

For your copy and pasting pleasure
Stephen "Blue" Heaslip
Blue's News Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, El Presidente for Life
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24.
 
hehe.
Jun 10, 2003, 15:22
24.
hehe. Jun 10, 2003, 15:22
Jun 10, 2003, 15:22
 
so where are the l337 haxors who are going to pin this on m$ buying out bioware?

23.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 12:20
23.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 12:20
Jun 10, 2003, 12:20
 
here is a nice map of faerun:
http://apocalypse.cybergames.it/faerunMap.htm
there are also a few big JPG ones out there.

I have given up on waiting for BIS to come back to their senses and do a real ArmA 2 successor.
Avatar 12928
22.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 12:14
22.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 12:14
Jun 10, 2003, 12:14
 
Redeemer:
See if you can find a map of Faerun (stupid ascii for not including 'u' with a '^' over it) anywhere. The Baldur's Gate series are pretty faithful to it.

As big as they are, the Sword Coast is just a tiny portion of the Forgotten Realms.

21.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 12:12
21.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 12:12
Jun 10, 2003, 12:12
 
I find myself firing up Morrowind again for the expansions, but it's sort of a love/hate relationship. It's more system intensive than NWN (I'm really looking forward to Bloodmoon on my new bleeding-edge system)... I also found it to be a much, much deeper game. I've certainly played it *longer* than NWN.

Deeper even than BG2. In fact, I might consider it the deepest RPG I've played.

Because of this, it's easy to get lost. Also, there are sooo many possibilities, I'd strongly suggest you just pick something that sounds like fun. I wound up rolling a custom kajit fighter/thief, and she's now one of my most favorite characters in any game (similar to my Swashbuckler from BG2).

I'm not sure about the availability of character guides out there (check gamefaqs.com), but I've got a spreadsheet detailing all the character information, possible skills, which factions value which skills, how 'desired' the skills are, which factions play nice together, and a HUGE number of custom templates I put together that sound like fun. Drop me an e-mail if you'd like a copy or my opinion on essential skills.

Edit: you can get Morrowind, Tribunal, and Bloodmoon from EBWorld for $70+s&h.

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 12:15.
20.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 11:55
20.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 11:55
Jun 10, 2003, 11:55
 
Same here, I think BG1 was the best game of all time forme personaly, BG2 was great, but couldnt deliver the same sher size of BG1. You had to cross a couple of forests to reach the other town, the map was just so awesome, maybe it made some relation to Middle-Earth I dont know, but that game gave me best gaming experience to date.

19.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 11:39
19.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 11:39
Jun 10, 2003, 11:39
 
LordSteev:
Well, there's at least one place I disagree with you: IWD. Icewind Dale is a dungeon crawl, with the focus more on interesting and challenging combat (hence, Heart of Fury mode).

IWD is also vastly superior for multiplayer; the Baldur's Gate series was focused on one character, leaving everyone else feeling like supporting actors (...which they are). This distinction is significant, especially when playing with more than two players.

Don't get me wrong; I'd be thrilled if BG3 came along, or a similar story-based type of game.

I think Neverwinter Nights, in some way, suffered from being too multiplayer oriented. By restricted each player to one henchman, you significantly narrow the choices they have in a single game. IMHO, the focus was for two or more humans to make the journey together - which may or may not be what you intend.

I tend to play these games at least three times through (sometimes four) - twice by myself (once good, once evil), once with a friend (and sometimes again with more friends or a different party), so that's where my opinions/view come from.

18.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 10:24
18.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 10:24
Jun 10, 2003, 10:24
 
I agree too. tho, I liked BG1 better than BG2, just because you could go anywhere and find a lot more sidequests and places to explore, thus making it much more massive -> 5 CDs.
NWN is really boring. I bought it and played it for like 4 hours and stopped playing because of the stupid engine/view and other gameplay/story lacks. after a few months I tried to play it again because I wouldnt believe that a game from the same developer as BG would suck so much and stopped playing again after a day or so...

I have given up on waiting for BIS to come back to their senses and do a real ArmA 2 successor.
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17.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 10:02
nin
17.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 10:02
Jun 10, 2003, 10:02
nin
 
ES3 is very open ended, like BG2, but it's SO open ended it actually turned some people off.

If you're thinking of picking it up, there's 2 expansions available now, and I'd shop around to see if some kind of "Gold" package is in the works with all 3 (assuming you can wait).


Supporter of the "A happy fredster is a muted fredster" fanclub.

http://www.originaltrilogy.com/
16.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 09:57
16.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 09:57
Jun 10, 2003, 09:57
 
A question to all you BG2 fans out there since I'm also a BG2 fan:

I've been thinking about buying an RPG lately, and basically I see my choices as Neverwinter Nights or Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I can tell no one here likes NN, but what do people think of ES3?

15.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 08:14
15.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 08:14
Jun 10, 2003, 08:14
 
I enjoyed BG1 mainly because I missed the fun of the AD&D Gold Box games. Although, it was impossible to get into BG2. Right from the start I hated it. You spend all this time building up to the rank of God, then some random crazy guy throws you in a dungeon. The first couple areas were so damn boring, I couldn't stick with it. No BG3? Eh, too bad. Maybe Black Isle will make a Fallout 3. Or better yet, maybe they'll try a NEW game instead of pumping out so many god damn sequels.

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 08:14.
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14.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 03:17
14.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 03:17
Jun 10, 2003, 03:17
 
This is going to be a long post, cause I'll try to quote everyone and add my thoughts. If you have ADD, just skip to the parts that you recognize as yours.

I loved Baldur's Gate 2 on so many levels, one of the things I liked best was the character development and the whole storyline.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I had all three girls in my party at the same time for most of the game (Jahera, Airee, and Viconia) just to hear them fight over me!! I also thought the love interest things added a great touch, and really touched emotions in me that no computer game had in the past or since. Sure, it was a little corny, but the lines were delivered with such sincerity that you could overlook that. The personal touches that the dialog brought to the game really added to the overall immersion factor. I think you're probably right, it HAD to be a professional author/playwriter behind the scenes.

LordSteev - I 100% agree

Perhaps you'd like to join my Fan Club? No dues, you just have to write "Im a supporter of the "Unleash the Fredster!!" Fan Club in your sig.

While I can't think of any way that the Baldur's Gate story could be reopened in any plausible way, it is still kinda sad to think that in all likelihood, Bioware will never again produce an RPG of such quality and scope.

Amen, Creston. I can't think of any role playing game that has spent as much time on story and content, along with great game play, than BG2. I too have high hopes for KoTOR, but the fact that it's a cross-platform release for consoles scares me somewhat. Say what you will about consoles, most console gamers aren't as mature as PC gamers, and content gets dumbed down for them. I have a PS2, and bought Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance for it because it had the name Baldurs Gate in it. It was almost a third person hack'n'slash with jumping puzzles. Built on a rail. Even so, I STILL have high hopes for KoTOR, because at least it's coming to PC and it's from a very talented group of individuals. Keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

LordSteev, awesome post, I totally agree with you. I hated NWN for the same reasons.

Thank you! Please see Fan Club Information above. Yep, neverwinter nights (no caps for crap) had so many flaws, at least to me, that it couldn't hold a candle to BG. Not just the engine, but even the story was only average, and some of the reasons for doing the side quests were just plain stupid. And the voice acting!! That Paladin chick Arabella or whatever her name was, god, every time I heard her go of in her imperialistic tone, I just wanted to bludgen her with a cudgel, lol..

On that note i completed BG2, but only by cheating. I dont know wether it was me but it seemed every time i entered a battle (And im not kidding here) i would get hit by a confusion spell or some sort and then have to reload and specifically targets those that i know would be casting the spells and even then it was 50/50.

Yea, the confusion spells were VERY annoying, especially early in the game when your saves weren't high yet and your clerics didn't have the right spells to counter. A few things to make it more bearable: If your characters have high wisdom scores, they have a better chance to resist mind spells. I found that I had to play with both Airee and Viconia in my party, just to have enough "clear thought" spells to cast on my fighters before sending them in against mages. Dispell Magic works wonders, too. One place that was super frustrating early in the game was at some little runt house you had to clear out in the docks area. You go in the house, it's a small room, and the two mages would start casting confusion right away. Archers work great against spellcasters, and so did Jahera's Insect Swarm, but that took a long time to get with her.

That's why I was pretty stoked to see the new Greyhawk game that Troika is developing. Really looking forward to that one.

Hahaha, the Temple of Elemental Evil! Just gotta love that name! I've got high hopes for this one, too. Troika has never put out crap. I'm looking forward to the turn-based play, too, esp. since they say that all the monsters will take their turns at the same time to speed it up some. I like turn based games, too, but for some reason, I really liked the way Baldurs Gate handled things. Heck, I hit the space bar so often in those later, hairy battles, that it might as well have been turn based! ToEE is the highest RPG currently on my looking forward to list, followed by Lionheart and KoTOR. Not to mention Vampire-Bloodlines, but that one is going to take a lot longer than the ones mentioned. And if you count Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 as roleplaying games, well, hehe, good time to be a gamer!

It saddened me when I heard BG3 would not be developed. I did not play NWN or IWD, my loyalitites to the BG series are that strong. No, I will not play a BG game on a console either. I love BG/BG2, I can only hope beyond hope a BG3 will come.

It saddened me, too. I don't think your missing anything by skipping NWN, but that's just my opinion. As far as Icewind Dale, it's like a poor man's Baldur's Gate. Not anywhere near as much or as good of a story, but the same game engine, and even more enemies. Very challenging. One thing I'll say, is that while the Baldur's Gate series just kept getting better and better, the Icewind Dale series did the opposite. IceWind Dale 1 was actually a very fun game. It's expansion pack was short and not quite up to the quality of the original. IWD 2, while offering some unique character classes, didn't really captivate me at all compared to the first one.

Whew, ok, I'm done!


EDIT: Whoops! Guess not!


On a different note, I have to agree with all the NWN vs. BG comparisons. I found the NWN campaign (even when played co-op with my wife) tremendously dull. I've played some decent user mods, but the engine itself drives me crazy, from the sameness resulting from a tileset driven schema to the obnoxious henchman code. NWN felt very much like BG-lite.

I agree, the engine is WAY too clunky, and the haphazard and boring 3d environments dont help, but hurt the overall experience. I wanted to kill my henchman. Slowly. The only thing I would contest is that by calling it BG lite, you do a disservice to Baldur's Gate! ;)

O.K. Carpel Tunnel syndrome, here I come!

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 03:32.
-LordSteev

Supporter of the "Unleash the Fredster!!" Fan Club
13.
 
Re: Baldurs Gate 2 Best Game Ever
Jun 10, 2003, 03:06
13.
Re: Baldurs Gate 2 Best Game Ever Jun 10, 2003, 03:06
Jun 10, 2003, 03:06
 
Part of the deal made between Interplay and Bioware following their split was that Interplay kept the rights to the Baldur's Gate name and brand. So far, this has resulted in the Dark Alliance series. [As a side note, this is why you won't see Bioware leveraging the BG brand themselves, and also why Imoen did not show up in NWN... as part of the BG series, she became the property of Interplay.] Unofficially, it appears that BIS (Black Isle Studios) has been working on BG 3 since the cancellation of Torn, under the codename "Jefferson."

However, at some point during BIS' development of BG 3, (which supposedly had an entirely new storyline, and was not a continuation of the Bhaalspawn saga), Interplay lost the rights to the Forgotten Realms license. The BG name with no FR license == no game. As a result, Jefferson (BG3), has been put on hold. BIS is moving on with their other projects, (Fallout 3?), until the licensing mess can get cleared up, if it ever is.

None of this (except that a project code named Jefferson has been put on hold) is official, naturally.

On a different note, I have to agree with all the NWN vs. BG comparisons. I found the NWN campaign (even when played co-op with my wife) tremendously dull. I've played some decent user mods, but the engine itself drives me crazy, from the sameness resulting from a tileset driven schema to the obnoxious henchman code. NWN felt very much like BG-lite.

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 03:13.
12.
 
BG3
Jun 10, 2003, 03:01
12.
BG3 Jun 10, 2003, 03:01
Jun 10, 2003, 03:01
 
im sure they will make BG3 eventually. they have too many fans not too. and i also enjoy the BG graphics engine and i would buy a game made with it. IWD and NWN are fun but the BG series is the best!

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 03:01.
11.
 
Baldurs Gate 2 Best Game Ever
Jun 10, 2003, 02:33
11.
Baldurs Gate 2 Best Game Ever Jun 10, 2003, 02:33
Jun 10, 2003, 02:33
 
Bladurs Gate 2 is my favorite game. It all started with Fallout and Fallout 2. I bought Baldurs Gate and was thrilled. I bought the expansion and BG2 and the BG2 expansion. I heard that another BG title would not happen. But they would be fools for not making a third. It saddened me when I heard BG3 would not be developed. I did not play NWN or IWD, my loyalitites to the BG series are that strong. No, I will not play a BG game on a console either. I love BG/BG2, I can only hope beyond hope a BG3 will come. Even if I have to take it to the grave.

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10.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 02:09
10.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 02:09
Jun 10, 2003, 02:09
 
dont know wether it was me but it seemed every time i entered a battle (And im not kidding here) i would get hit by a confusion spell or some sort

Nope, that wasn't just you. It was a well documented feature / bug of Baldur's Gate 2, and it drove absolutely everyone conkers. They fixed it, sort of, in the last patch, and in the Throne of Bhaal add-on, so that spellcasters didn't throw the mental series of spells so often anymore.

Creston


Avatar 15604
9.
 
Re: Too Bad
Jun 10, 2003, 00:58
9.
Re: Too Bad Jun 10, 2003, 00:58
Jun 10, 2003, 00:58
 
I agree as well. However, I'm not a huge fan of real-time D&D games, even with the option to pause.
I like seeing the nuts and bolts.. the dice rolls, who hit for how much, etc.
With the Infinity Engine games, at least in the end games, the combats got so hairy and over the top that it was just about impossible to keep up with the action. IWD2 for example, was like that.
I'd really like to see a Pools of Radiance-type game, with turn based combat and generally more true to the rules. (without the horrible bugs and general suckiness of that particular game of course).
That's why I was pretty stoked to see the new Greyhawk game that Troika is developing. Really looking forward to that one.

This comment was edited on Jun 10, 00:59.
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