Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Not BG4 or D&D

I would pay good $$ for a Larian Warhammer 40k game, even though I am not sure how they would write the weird morality of the setting, since the good/evil choices in BG3 are so black and white. But Owlcat's Rogue Trader has me frothing at the mouth for basically anyone to make another 40k crpg (though despite Rogue Trader's issues, I think that game sets a very high bar; absolutely love it).

Larian to Pathfinder 2e would seem to fit better as far as other IP's go, IMO. Or Warhammer Fantasy, which I'm not as familiar with yet but would obviously love to explore in a crpg.

Despite my criticisms of BG3, I would have loved to see another Larian game set in Cormyr or Planescape or another D&D setting, but I respect their decision to move on to something they're passionate about. Nobody creates their best work when they're burned out.

Also, I guess this statement is important:

I note he said WoTC not Hasbro. Drawing a line between the people they worked with and the larger corporation.

The buddhist call this a colorful truth.

He says right there "They've let us do our thing" and "this is because it's what's best for Larian"

People are extremely married to this conspiracy theory that WotC or Hasbro are villains in the BG3 development story and are the ones holding the game back somehow. When in reality Larian just doesn't want to make a crappy dlc just because their fans keep demanding them to.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think Swen is being nice and political for professional reasons here. It certainly doesn't rise to the level of conspiracy theory.

It's very unlikely. If Swen was actually ditching it due to Wizards of the Coast not being nice to him that he wouldn't have said anything. Historically when there's animosity between companies they don't talk about it at all or cite "creative differences" as the reason why. They almost never say "no actually we're good" publicly. Swen also says a lot of things that would be weird if he was just making the whole thing up. Things like how when he cancelled DLC plans his developers celebrated because they were more excited about the next project he wanted to do instead. That sort of thing would be very easy to debunk if an anonymous whistleblower came out later.

Additionally historically it's rare this happens in video game design. Like Bioware for example abandoned Wizards of the Coast and Lucasarts primarily because they wanted to make new IPs instead of hitching a ride on another company's ip. Which led to Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

I think it's much more likely that Swen was telling the truth and that Larian just didn't want to keep making D&D based rpgs. 5 years of BG3 was enough for them. And that they actually are working on something else. I think speculating on that is more interesting. He said for example it's not DOS3. I also personally don't think it's Divinity as that likely wouldn't make his team celebrate.

In my opinion there are three possibilities

1. They're working on an entirely new IP. Likely not a medieval fantasy game
2. They're working on another licensed sequel to a beloved rpg. Something like Arcanum or Vampire the Masquerade
3. Swen somehow managed to convince EA to sell him the Ultima IP and got Richard Garriott to license him Lord British.

It seems no matter what is being said by the Swen (or anyone else), if it's against WotC or Hasbro, then is has to be 100% true, if it's something more positive about them (even if it comes from the Larian CEO himself) it might just be for political reasons or a lie. Part of what makes this fandom annoying sometimes.

That's another very annoying thing is the fanbase seems to by default assume Wizards of the Coast is holding BG3/Larian back somehow and that they're an overall villain in the story of the game's development. There's no evidence to support this and a lot of counter evidence.

I first noticed it with the theory that Wizards of the Coast was the reason why BG3 didn't have official mod support. Even though the developers have said countless times it's coming. And now we're seeing the theory WotC blocked DLC plans and/or made too many demands of Larian that they went "I'm out". This is also false as Swen has stated on numerous occasions Wizards of the Coast basically let Larian do w/e with the game. They even reportedly got involved with helping Hasbro potentially sell the IP to another company which implies they're on much better terms than the fanbase suggests.

Never played Arcanum but just taking a quick glance it on Steam it looks like a perfect fit for Larian. "Magic and Technology coexisting in uneasy balance"

Personally I dislike the "tech" that appeared in both DOS2 and BG3 but I could see Larian having a lot of fun with a concept like that.

I thought the House of Healing had way too much of a Victorian era feel to it, maybe some kind of steampunk horror setting will appeal to them.

...and abandoned the IP after the transfer failed. No, they didn't care for DnD, they only wanted to help Hasbro out of unconditional love. Makes sense

It wasn't a full IP sell it was essentially negotiating some licensing agreement with Tencent
https://www.enworld.org/threads/no-hasbro-is-not-selling-d-d.702378/

We don't exactly know why Larian was mentioned in the rumors that they were involved with the negotiations but regardless it doesn't appear like the rights sale was ever on the table.

I also question why Larian would abandon the IP altogether if they actually did plan on selling to Tencent. Which is a company I doubt would be better to work for than Hasbro.

lol

I know your take here is popular in some circles, but I personally don't think 3.5 was deep. It was complicated and bloated... but not deep. IMO 5e is the better system because it is simpler, and gets itself out of the way of playing the game.

I love the 3.5e derived pathfinder games from Owlcat, but they are great in spite of the system, not because of it.

A Larian Ultima would intrigue me. Ultima has been dead to me since IX, but prying it away from Garriot and giving it to Larian might make it sing again.

Ultima would have the additional benefit of the fact that the original dev killed it dead 25 years ago, so nobody would stress out over Larian screwing over the IP (it having been screwed over already).

Downside: nobody younger than gen-x (or maybe the oldest millenials) gives a shit about Ultima now.

That was the same situation Larian had with BG3 and that didn't stop Tiktok from becoming obsessed with it.

I find this decision very disappointing. While I don't question the arguments made by Larian, I remain convinced that games that achieve cult status are often those that continue to evolve in response to a passionate and engaged community. Obviously, to achieve this, you need a solid storyline, excellent writing, fluid rules and quality graphics. But Baldur's Gate 3 had all the necessary ingredients to be among the greatest RPGs, like its predecessors and titles like The Witcher 3.

Unfortunately, this decision risks making BG3 a very good stand alone instead of joining the ranks of iconic games. I hope for Larian that their future videogame will live up to expectations, because the fanbase of DD and Baldur's Gate 3 will be very attentive.

This decision, if true, is a real gamble, but it seems that the players' voices are not fully taken into account.

Ok, this is way more interesting than debating whether Hasbro is the pile of shitbags that everyone says they are.

I don't see EA letting go of Ultima as EA is where IP's go to die and they never seem interested in selling them back or to anyone else.

Sadly Paradox owns the entire White Wolf line including Vampire the Masquerade and they are currently focused on making Bloodlines 2 into utter trash.

Greyhawke, Planescape, Spelljammer, Dark Sun, That stupid vampire one, and Faerun are all Hasbro.

Arcanum is owned by Microsoft. Meh.

Then you can get more obscure with stuff like Trespasser and Dungeon Crawl Classics - both have an interesting "funnel" system where you start out as some sad little peasant.
https://tundalus.itch.io/trespasser

Dungeon Crawl Classics.
https://goodman-games.com/store/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/09/DCC_QSR_Free2.pdf

I could see EA selling it for two reasons
1. Larian has money and also is invested in it. Since Swen has said that Ultima 7 is his favorite rpg
2. They can't actually make a new Ultima game as they don't fully own the rights to the IP. Richard Garriot instituted a clause in his contract saying he owns the rights to all of the major characters from the IP like Lord British. This led to EA being forced to change the character into a woman when they tried making an Ultima mobile game. I could foresee him giving Larian permission however given how well liked BG3 was.
Paradox also licenses the IP out to indie studios no strings attached
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-...own-vampire-the-masquerade-game-sort-of-
Arcanum would be the most interesting as it's one of the best examples of a classic rpg that was completely abandoned and had no sequel.

Eh, if it was a nobody that was remaking Ultima then nobody but old fogies would care, but I think Larian will get attention no matter what it does.

As amazing as a sequel to Arcanum (or just a new game in the setting) will be, I highly doubt it'll pass the "modern standards" check.

Troika's games are much too obscure, for better or worse, otherwise people would be throwing a fit at how "problematic" their writing is and such. Looking at what Bloodlines 2 is shaping up as (and at Paradox's handling of the setting / ruleset), it's the most sanitized, inoffensive "dark" urban fantasy one can imagine.

It also seems like my rant was eaten by the forum spazzing out. Do Larian even care about the discussions here at this point, or has their attention shifted to the more "modern" platforms, and so the forum is mostly dead on a good day and very much dead otherwise?