Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General BG 1&2 Remake

Because it's expected. Today's games, people kinda expect more voice acting so they don't have to read so much. Imagine BG3 with much less voice acting. Imagine the closeups, mouths moving with just text.

But that would have to mean that they would have to add some more content, right?
After all, if nothing is done with the content of the game, the sound materials from the original game should be enough for you.

No thanks. Don't care at all for many BG3 "features" and also don't care for Larian's engine. Bad enough they've D:OS-ified BG3 you want them to do that to the original games? That's bordering on heresy.

There are two big (fantastic) fanmade mods for that remade the first BG1 game and the first IWD game in the Aurora engine for NWN2.

They picked the original resources of the games (videos, voices etc) because they got the permits and stuff. They used the same dialogue trees of the original.

And they still got a lot of flak because they weren´t faithful or because they didn´t changed much, even it was a fanmade free work... I do not think you can make a remake that pleases all people XD I think many people want the remake to fit the one they have in their head, not the game as it was in the first place.

I forgot about Tales of the Sword Coast.
And personally I like SoD so would include it. It helps bridge the two games and in a proper remake would make things smooth.

I always thought that there were two massive problems with these mods. And that's precisely that they are based on the NWN 1 and NWN2 engine.
Why the hell would I even want to play them over the original, which had better... Well, everything, more or less.

I'm not sure what challenge you guys speaking about. You take the same mechanics, same story, same everything and add 3d graphics on top of it. With maybe a few UI/ obvious tweaks. Like you can't use F5 to save even in EE for some reason etc.

I don't think bothering with removing the "arrow managing system " of BG2 etc is worth it. Just leave it alone like everything else.

Wondering if that's something Larian considers after releasing BG3?

Completely different engine, and then putting it in 3D may require even more mechanical changes or additions.

Then theres the challenge of animating all those characters, adding voice acting for voices that don't work too well, and in general trying to faithfully adapt it with likely not having access to the sourcecode, cause many old projects have had the sourcecode thrown out long ago.

I think they got the original documentation of the project from wizards of the coast + BG:EE is a thing too for the source code. Although not sure they would need Infinity Engine code for Divinity 4.0.

Altough yeah, I see what you mean now by " remaking' the original voice overs. With the " CInematic" approach it could be a lot of work in the end.
You're right it wouln't be just a " remake the map and re-adapt the scripts" kind of scenario. There's definitely more to it.


I'm really surprised by the answers in the thread too. I guess the " BG2 " crowd went back home for the most part.

To play the game with a more modern multiplayer mode than the original, mostly....but that was a long time ago, and now you have the Beamdog´s EE versions of the original saga so...

An official remake of the two games would generate so much negative hype that the project would probably stop before it even began, if we look at the behavior around BG3 its apparent that you can't please everybody. Now if you poke and prod around peoples nostalgia its only amplified.
Let the classics rest. They are still awesome at face value.

Yeah but that's my point pretty much. Like BG3 has to be something new , appeal to new public to pay for itself while trying to please the old one.
The remake idea would be totally only for old people ;')

But Idk. Maybe you're right.

I'm not a particularly nostalgic/sentimental person. When I declare my fondness about an old title is because I think it still holds up on its own merits and not because I tie it to my childhood, adolescence or whatever.
I was already above 20 and past my military service when when BG1 and 2 released, after all.

This is to say: I'd take any competent remake of the originals with a big smile and without one ounce of worry about how "they are not the real thing".

That said, they SHOULD be remakes that leverage what was good about the originals and not betray it.
Frankly I'd pay good money even just for an hi-res/high-framerate version of the originals with everything else left mostly untouched.

But pushing the hypothesis a bit beyond that in terms of ambitions, I'd say: BG2 with BG3 assets, creature models, character models, etc? Yes, please.
Conversely, a new BG2 with the Larian toilet chain (and more in general the convoluted control scheme tied to it). camera and inventory management could go to fuck off beyond the asteroid belt as far as I'm concerned.
COntroversial compromise: I'd be absolutely fine with making the combat turn-based, on the other hand. But I know many here will scream at the mere act of reading this sentence.

Yeah The RTwP subject kinda comes to mind then on even more legit basis. Fun fact, if you go back to bioware forums from pre-baldudrs gate release people were whining that it's gonna be RTwP and not Turn based.

Maybe just implementing both would be a thing then. Personnally I just want to show BG2 to friends who can't get over the old graphics and character models. I know it's not a problem for everyone but it is for some and when you tell someone " just pick up the armour from that crate " and they are like " yeah, I'm looking inside the crate. Which pixels are the armour?" then you realize how badly BG2 can look for modern players

I would much rather they payed homage to BG1 and BG2 and their respective expansions in the upcoming games, be it through established lore or through cleverly designed encounters e.g. Minsc coming back or the seemingly small character of Faldorn having influence over the shadow druids after all these years
If done in moderation and with taste, which Larian is doing so far, it validates and gives importance to the previous games much more than a remake ever could.
Its a tricky subject, I'd probably support the project if it ever became reality but I don't want anyone to soil the memories, no matter how annoying THAC0 and the rest of the glaring issues with 2nd edition are.

Honestly ... i believe that this is often the only way to make good remaster. :-/

Nostalgia is a funny thing, sort of a filter which preserves the good stuff and suppresses the not so good. I am playing BGII-EE right now and I am enjoying it ... but not because I want to play the exact same game again, but because I have the DLTCEP software which allows me to access and change the game files via the Override folder. I have made a few new items, new spells, *.2DA table adjustments, and some modified creatures, and it is a lot of fun to see how these all work out during play. Plus you can use James Ohlen's new voice set, which is pretty good! Is there a "BG Keeper" gamefile editor out for BG III yet? The old 2D graphics are fine. In fact, after a few minutes of play with any game, I get used to whatever graphic engine is running, and the "wow factor" quickly goes away with only occasional exceptions.

Valid for RE2, not for RE3, the remake has less content than the orignal.

I don't think it is possible to deny that RE1 remake is better than the original. Same for Shadow of the Colossus.

I would be surprised if Larian could keep the same art direction of the original. It is not just modern assets and graphics, I don't think Larian gets it.

It is amazing how they were able to keep the same art direction in FF7/RE2R.