Well in all honesty, I hope for the industry moving away from simplifying games because of consoles. The UI of so many games have been ruined because of consoles, open areas have been turned into instanced areas because of consoles, graphics are held back because of consoles (though I personally don't care about graphics), etc. Larian didn't specifically state what it was that made it impossible for their ambitions to be achieved (and act 3 to be BUTCHERED so), but it's not hard to guess that it was consoles and hand-held devices.
This thread is about BG3 so it's unlikely that it will move from 5e, but my God did 5e dumb down the RPG aspects! If this game was still using the skill and perk system in D:OS2, the gameplay would have been amazing. Same about dumbing down things from AP to the 5e system. We had SO MUCH freedom of action when playing D:OS2 Lone Wolf. I can understand why, from a business standpoint, BG3 would use 5e, but moving on - Even in the D&D world there are systems better suited for videogames - older editions, specifically. They are much more complex and the only reason WOTC moved away from the complexity was because they wanted to reduce the amount of dice-throws and calculations needed. This is no problem for videogames. Then there's Pathfinder, or why not just good ol' D:OS2?
I'm still hoping we get this for BG3, but if not BG3 then maybe D:OS3: DM mode with better mod support. Some games (like Grim Dawn) literally give you access to the same tool that was used to create the game. Now that's modding power! You know all those people still playing Neverwinter Nights 1 because it has an absolutely amazing DM mode? Those people could be playing BG3, you know. Just saying
"AI" could be used in next-gen games, it's rather good at some things already. I'll leave it to the devs to decide what they could use it for, but there's surely uses for such systems. If nothing else, modders could use them to create VO for their new content. Joshua Graham reading the Art of War went incredibly well, and that was a free model! Free AI conversations don't work right now without oversight, but I imagine there could be a faction / character that would (because of story reasons - in BG3, maybe an old automaton or golem?) be entirely driven by AI (is that too much of a pain to implement? I dunno, but would be cool to investigate). One thing I'd love to see AI used for is generating maps. This would be an immense help to modders creating new areas.
I'd also look back to the past a bit for the evolution - why did RPGs stop using If-Then automatic actions like Dragon Age: Origins had? If (HP) < (40%) then (use) (Greater Health Potion). Those were great, especially for companions in "AI mode". What happened to BG1/2 Scripts for followers? In BG3, we could have maybe just have a "eh, you do it" button where we let the script/AI play the turn if we don't need precise control that turn (you know, those turns where you stand still and shoot a regular arrow from up high).
If done right (it's so easy to fail with this), I'd love to see mounts and support groups for BG3/4. "Henchmen", draft horses, carriages, guards or why not a magical equivalent of all of that (floating disk, animated items / equipment, etc). Want to build a small "village" around your adventuring group? Go ahead. Rather use magic to create your safe and cozy camp sites? Go ahead. Or maybe you just want to have an army of undead following you wherever you go - either way, I'd really like to see camps expanded. Player housing could be a thing (I'm honestly not into it, but I know a lot of people want it).
BG3 is quite... barren of useful items. Crafting isn't in the game unfortunately (no alchemy doesn't count). I mean come on, we don't even need empty bottles for our potions? No alchemy kit? Anyway, I'd love to see containers being filled with more kinds of items that actually have uses. Give Rope some uses, for one LOL. I can't believe we never need rope. Even Divinity 1 and 2 had uses for ropes in encounters! But if we get player housing or something similar, we could craft furniture and stuff.
