Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Baldur's Gate 4

I think I agree that I don't want a 4th installment of the series. Let's name it something else and have a brand new story. I'm frankly kinda tired of Bhaal and such. Let's have some stories about other things - maybe not even focused on the gods and like others have said, maybe not even the Sword Coast.

Can we have some video games about places NOT in any other games? One thing I really liked about Mask of the Betrayer was that it was about Rashemen and Thay and that whole region, and I liked how Storm of Zehyr was about Samargol (apologies if mispelled).

What about like the Beastlands or The Shaar Desolation region or Halruaa, or SOMETHING else. I mean, the Sword Coast is most popular, but it'd be nice to have some variety in story and setting.

Would I want Larian to develop it? Maybe. I guess it depends on how they finish with BG3. It's a great start, but it's not necessarily how you start that counts. It's how you finish. If they suck up the ending and I'm mad at it for ending poorly, I probably wouldn't want them to develop another Forgotten Realms game.

As of right now, I'm a bit nervous about them doing another Forgotten Realms game because there are so many NON-Forgotten Realms things in BG3. If the finished BG3 has respect for Forgotten Realms and they don't continue to disregard the source, sure. I'd love for them to make another Forgotten Realms game.

What do I mean?

Ceremorphosis. The main premise of the story. The ACTUAL process is considerably disregarded by BG3. They've created their own version of the steps of the process. More than one character says, "Day 1, memory and hair loss," or something similar. And they proceed to describe the process. Never once do they say, "Step 1. The tadpole eats your brain, immediately consuming your memories. Within a few hours, you're pretty much no longer you. You're dead. The tadpole has taken over your body. So the rest of the steps won't even matter to you. The only way to save a host is to kill them, crush or incinerate the tadpole, and then use True Resurrection to bring them back - or a similar spell like Reincarnate which will return you to being you just in a different body, reincarnated potentially as a different race, etc." Even Lae'zel doesn't say something like this, and she's an expert. Right?

Instead, they disregard the source material and make up their own version of it. And this isn't the only example, though I won't go into all the others I found so that I don't totally bog the thread down. The point is, if they're going to just disregard the source material, don't create another Forgotten Realms game. Just don't. Move on to something you can do whatever you want with without totally rewriting an already existing story and setting.

Death three becomed Skywalkers of this saga?

I don't know why, but ceremorphosis (turning into a flayer) doesn't seem all that interesting to me if it's done as a Bhaalspawn type transformation. The idea of maybe wrecking the game as a super OP Mind Flayer at some point in the Mid to Endgame as an Evil PC might have some initial charm, but I think it will wear a bit thin.

Instead I think they should rip off that 1990 movie The First Power, or that one flick where Denzel is a demon hunter, what was it called - Azazel or something? Anyhow, like that, where the PC is about to get chunked out of existence after a set-piece fight, and then the Daisy Worm reveals that it can save us, or at least our consciousness or our 'soul', but only if we give ourselves over to it completely. Like in an irrevocable decision that truly solidifies an Evil path with an Evil goal that has clear motivations, for an Evil PC. But then, instead of playing as a Mind Flayer, which seems a bit too obvious and predictable, the goal then becomes to continually find new hosts and take over the bodies of various hapless Companions or random NPCs in a sort of body/character jump campaign. To me that'd be way more Highlander/Kurgan with a twist, than what we ended up getting in Throne of Bhaal.

Basically where we become an Illythid themed doppelganger of sorts, in a nod to both BG1 and the Invasion of the Body Snatchers thing they've already been setting up here. Maybe not as the angle for the full game, but at least as a way to close out the EA and leave it with a bang. Sure it gives up a bit in terms of Charname/Tav as a totally unique show stealer, but also opens things up to have a lot of wicked fun with the material and assets that already exist. Like who we choose to take over and ruin, as a sort of aesthetic choice hehe.

To me that would be way more interesting than the Origins PC concept as some kind of game launch mode decision, because it provides a similar appeal of taking over someone else's set persona, but having a more in-game narrative rationale for how that all works and why it's happening, and also to really deliver on an Evil path like they teased at the start of the EA.

I'm not sure why, but I just really like the idea of a BG Where's Waldo that uses all the games Companions or NPCs as a potential way to riff on it, but also doing so in a way we haven't seen done before in a D&D game. I think a CRPG with a 100 or a even 1000 potential 'companions', has a novelty to it that 8-12 companions never could. They just need to find the right narrative way into the idea, and an execution that seems plausible or workable given the limitations of a computer game. I think the notion of us stealing the bodies and breaking the minds of our favored 'chosen' randoms, switching them out as we go along (sort of casually like the companions of BG1), is potentially interesting for a 'Role-Playing' game of this sort. Where we run into the wall of pre-definition that inherently limits CRPGs, at least there'd be a sort of tug-of-war push and pull about it, to gloss over the inconsistencies and make the limits there a bit more fuzzy so it has room to operate. Where we're not Origins per se, but rather the worm, or the dark passenger, hitchhiking and inhabiting/stealing the essences of the randos as we go.

That was just an idea for the Evil route, maybe the Good or Neutral path works a bit different for a similar crescendo, but building on that sort of concept for the Evil one- of the disembodied protagonist, who has to body jump, and take over other minds to stay alive and keep going. As a kind of compromise between what the writers want for their characters, and how the player chooses to rip these apart from the inside out lol. Could be fun, I'd think, and satisfying in a very different way than just curating our unique character from a range of pretty limited options.

I have no clue what we'll get in BG3, but I don't mind the idea of Larian doing a sequel, provided they deliver with BG3. I think I'd be kind of disappointed if we don't get a part 4, because that'll mean it didn't really land or seem worth it, even to the developer, which definitely isn't what I want for this one.

OMG! So true! So sick of Luke, Leia, Han, etc. Give me new SW characters and story. I don't want anymore stories about the original characters. New villains, etc.

Same with Forgotten Realms. No more Drizzt and Elminster. And frankly, although I like BG3 characters, let them have their single story and move on with someone else's. We don't need to carry our characters (and the origin characters) over to a sequel.

Larian Studios is now making the game engine supporting D&D 5E rules so it's very likely they will continue to produce more D&D games after BG3.

Since BG 3 will be level capped at about level 12 or so it's not unlikely there will be an expansion or two after BG 3 using the same characters you had in BG 3. Maybe the final expansion will let your characters get all the way to level 20.

BG 4 (or another independent game story) will probably depend on how well BG 3 and its expansions sell.

Larian Studios probably have a contract with Wizards of the Coast to produce a certain amount of D&D games using the WotC license. This deal could probably be extended if WotC are happy with the games being produced. So there is definitely a chance we will see Larian Studios producing DnD games for quite a few years. I think I read somewhere that Larian Studios had a contract for making up to 5 DnD games using the WotC license, but I may be wrong.

As a rule of thumb i think we could expect one expansion a year after the release of BG 3 and maybe another the year after that again. Then maybe BG 4 4-5 years or so from the release of BG 3.

I wish they could come out faster, too, but we have to be patient.

I don't mind them making more D&D games. I would just prefer a non-Forgotten Realms setting. Then they can do what they want with the lore and story and I'd be perfectly fine with it. I wouldn't even mind them creating a bunch of their own rules and such because it's their own D&D world.

Like Solasta. He created their own world and a few of their own monsters, and it works. They even had their own version of phase spiders and other funky spiders nobody complained. Why? It was their own world and their own established storyline and monsters.

When you create a story in an already established world, you need to fully respect the story that's already been created. That's just my opinion, and I think it's a lot of people's opinions since a lot of people tend to get really upset when that rule is not obeyed.

Does Cormyr still exist in 5e?

I would appreciate a Forgotten Realms game that took place in Cormyr and the Dalelands.

I'm somewhat nostalgic for the old setting as I remember it, with Zhentil Keep and Fzoul and such.

"NO!" as in "NO!...no more."

Still around and making some very bad poetry, apparently.

ouch.

Aww, speaking of which. The cutscene got better. Still quite clunky, but Ralf has now some presence.

Completely agree.

I disagree. I love that BG3 is based on 5e. Much simpler and less homework. A lot of earlier versions were like homework. Lots of math and record keeping.

I seriously do hope Larian will do more D&D games. Even if they did more Forgotten Realms but stayed more true to the source - still hoping they surprise people on BG3 and nail it in the end.

You felt the need to do math and record keeping in BG1 & 2?

Bzzt...wrong: THAC0 is a cakewalk (keep in mind that you are speaking to an arithmetic-averse geek here). As for 2e in particular? It didn't last eleven years by being a shoddy system.

You may be thinking of 3e/3.5e; I love that system for the fond memories it has bequeathed me, but I'll admit it did feature a plethora of modifiers.

P.S. Were you aware that 5e borrowed quite a bit from 2e?

There is so much less homework to do in a computer game though. Hardly any, really. One of the great benefits of computer games is that the computer gets to handle the lion's share for you.

Personally, I find the 5e ruleset in BG III to be rather sub-par. Bare-bones to the point that Larian is making all these houserules and gimmicky magical items to spice up the gameplay.

Some form of the 3.x ruleset would be vastly preferable, IMO. One thing I really miss about it is that the weapons and armor were much more diverse and interesting. That adds a whole level of flexibility to the game.

For my part, I wouldn't mind seeing more Larian D&D games. But no more BG. Nostalgia for the original Saga, the setting, characters etc drew me in like a Siren's call, but the reunion has been....bittersweet. The 5e Realms is not the Realms I fell in love with, the 5e ruleset is not one I prefer, and while a fun game with a lot of good things to say about it, BGIII just doesn't capture the feel of those old games to me.

Good idea.
Larian has their own style, so it may have been better to use a new setting instead of an existing one.
Well, BG1+2 are very popular, as were DOS1+2, so they created a mix of both to sell it to both fan groups.
I am not a big fan of this idea. When you use an existing setting you should use the rules of the setting.

suggestion (not 100% serious )
The next game is DnD Divinity 4
They create a DnD game (well, as much as BG3 is DnD) in the Rivallon setting.
Let my elven paladin smite those black ring cultists and my imp bard inspires the lizard man cleric of (name of lizard god).

I think the most interesting question as it relates to Larian and Baldur's Gate in general is... can they get away from Baldur's Gate after Baldur's Gate 3?

They have hired on a massive amount of people. Is Divinity a big enough franchise to justify the type of budget and workforce that Baldur's Gate 3 has?

A game set in Waterdeep would be awesome. It is a city that has received extreme detailing in the FR literature so there would be so much you could do with it. And Khelben "The Blackstaff" is my all-time favorite FR character, and his life is largely set in Waterdeep.

However, ...
This would be what I'd want as well: a game set as far away from the Sword Coast/Neverwinter/Icewind Dale as possible. There are just soooooo many fantastic locales in the Realms that would make for an awesome game. Personally, I would love a game set around the longstanding contest of wills between Thay and Aglarond, especially since the Simbul is my second-favorite FR character.