I've been reading this board pretty much since it started and I am quite surprised at the level of negativity toward BG3 here at this board. I find that amazing considering how little that anyone knows about it. I'll admit there isn't much to be optimistic about either; but we don't know enough yet to be.

And I don't understand the mindset that "a prequel = lousy story, period". Or that "it will be another NWN", or "3D will suck". These statement may very well be true, but how can we know?
The most I can say at the moment is "I hope it will be good, it has potential, but I'm not holding my breath".
Do you guys know something I don't about BG3 that helps you make such decisions?

Sequels do not mean lousy stories, 3D doesn't suck, but here's the killer word: Atari.

Ah. . . good point. That *is* one reason to be doubtful.

I don't know anything about Atari games. At least I don't think so. The last atari games I played were back in the 80's :p What has given Atari a bad name?

NWN, ToEE, their dogged support of either rushing games out when they're not finished or dumbing them down to sell more copies. That's a start.

I am suspicious of Atari after ToEE. It had some really great points to it (great combat, looked fantastic etc etc) but was frustrating on many levels. It made what could have been, with more time, a great game merely a passable game. I guess this is what is makng people doubt BG3.

Oh yeah, I did try out TOEE but couldn't finish it. I tried it again when I got sp2, but then I couldn't pick up items so I just gave up. I think what made that game bad was

- poor dialog/voice acting
- slow downs when you click on the map. It's like they forget to make the path finding in a seperate thread as it just locked the entire game up for a bit, even on very fast machines
- items not having the right descriptions like in the bg series, unless I never got far enough to see them
- annoying town quests.. very boring
- kind of hard with mediocre parties at the beginning.

I never really did get very far in it.

The killer for me was all the broken quests; meeting someone for the first time and having a dialogue option telling them details that I have never come across before and have *no* idea who or what they mean.

In the end it is an unfinished dungeon crawl, with no character or personality.

Hmmm, I patched ToEE with the second patch and didn't get any problems until the end game with the "Enlarge" spell. Granted, the town quests were better, but you can just skip them and have a harder and possibly more fun game ahead of you.

I beat ToEE 3 times and I can honestly say it's quite good, it just needs some mods or extra scenarios; I love the combat.

I don't mind some discussion of ToEE since it relates to Atari's fitness to control the project. Just a word of caution not to let ToEE itself take over the thread entirely.

Anyway, yeah, the fact that its Atari is scaring a lot of people.

On the other hand, any developer that signs on for it is going to know that there's a tall order to fill. The very reason for slapping the name 'Baldur's Gate 3' onto it in the first place is to sell it to the established audience that loved the first two games. The developer should be well aware of fan expectations, immersive environment, well thought out NPCS, engaging storyline, or whatever. If anybody in Atari's boardroom has half a brain, they'll listen to what the developer has to tell them. Or so I hope.

I say wait and see. I'm still hopeful.

Just wondering, I have been playing BG2/TOB since it came out..... love it. Didn't like NWN gave it to my brother. Do you guys Think BG3 is going to have the interaction with the players like BG2? If not I guess I have BG2

I have three words against ATARI:
Enter the Matrix

I really doubtful from this game, but no for the 3D graphics or the prequel history (it´s the most cool feature for me), but Atari reaaally scare me.

ATARI...

Always
Tacky
And
Rarely
Inspiring

nuff said!

/me tries to be optimistic, but has disturbing flash backs from wasting too much money on NWN... urrrggghhh *side-show-bob shudder*

Regardless of what people thought of NWN (which isn't much around here I see) at the very least it was a stable, complete, well supported product. The OC was poorly received, but HoTU was much, much better (and that was due to fan input, and the developers listening); how much ATARI had to do with that is another question. I think that most of the positives can be credited to Bioware, and not ATARI.

If the BG3 developers show the same support and willingness to listen to the player community as NWN, maybe the ATARI Curse could be overcome.

It takes these things to make a good game, and you need all of them:

1. Support from the publisher
2. A talented, creative and disciplined team
3. Rediculous amount of money to ensure that schedule slips can be made if necessary
4. Time. Make sure you take as long as you need and no less.
5. Listen to the people that will play the game, but use your knowledge and experience over feedback when you know your right.

That's really about it. The rest is details.

Well, not to be overly negative, but look at what happened to the Fallout sequel, that was in development at Interplay at the same time as BG 3. They slapped the name on a game that didn't make much effort to follow canon, and even had the nerve to insult the fans in the end credits ("thanks for the laughs, duckandcover.com" or something like that). I surely hope for more respect for the BG series from the current developers.

Are you talking about Fallout:BOS? Because Fallout 3 is nowhere near release.

Nope. I don't think there will be a Fallout 3. I don't even think there will be a BG 3.

BG III will happen but from what I have read here I am leaning towards siding with the real DnDers here. I played NWN and it follows the DND rules JUST fine. But apparently you guys expect nothing less than prefection. Well lemme tell ya, a meaty combo of wishful thinking and negativity isn't gonna getcha anywhere... But I agree Atari DOES have a history of butchering popular titles to make money. A super corporation no? I am starting to fear for Baldur's Gate's individuality now, for it will be sacrificed to make a bunch of corporate goons a fat pay check. *sigh* such was the fate of the series as soon as black isle died... BG 3 will be the end of it all, as well as fallout and torment... I wonder though what the diffrence between NWN 2 and BG 3 will be... Hmm intresting MOST intresting :)

Don't know about the difference between nwn2 and bg3 will be.. But. They both have one thing in common for sure. They're both not being developed by bioware.

If the BG3 developers show the same support and willingness to listen to the player community as NWN, maybe the ATARI Curse could be overcome. LOL :D That Curse is permanent, you know.
We haven't heard from this game in over a year now, so i really doubt that we will ever see it :eek:

Dark Slayer: Fallout 3 in pre-production at Bethesda presently. Unsurprisingly, there's plenty of pessimism about that as well.

There has so far been absolutely no reason for us to believe that Atari is capable of delivering something good. They haven't even announced a developer. Hell, they might not even be making the game.
But all cast your minds back to a certain comment involving seeing the fear in an orc's eye...

Any optimism I had had pretty much been eroded. Nine months since my original post and I have not heard one thing about this game. I know games have a long development cycle, but I would have thought we would have heard something -anything, even "Yes, we are still making it, but we can't tell you anything about it yet- by now. It does not look good for us seeing either a good or a bad version of BG3. :rolleyes:

I don't expect much from Atari. Especially not a bugless product or great support.

I am willing to give them a chance. It they listen to their client/customers they will know how to go about developing BG3. Regardless of how they go about the game if it is produce I believe a majority of us will purchase the game. I for one am definitely going to buy BG3 just to see what it will be about.

^ Now now, since when has any developer ever done *that*? They'd much rather make what they think we'd like, rather than what we tell them we'd like.

At the moment, I am listening to the Baldur's Gate soundtrack and recalling the area graphics associated with particular tracks, the dialogues, the subtle plots of the completely unrelated but in no way out of place side-quests, and I'm wondering if it as at all possible for any currently active developer to best this. Atari's clique? Oh dear. I'm rolling my eyes as I'm writing this sentence. As for what Aikanaro wrote above, if Atari cares so much for customers that it doesn't give a damn about patches and blocks the devs' patching efforts just because it doesn't care (Troika devs needed permission to publish patches for ToEE), it's surely going to start listening to what we like. :rolleyes: And what they think we like is surely not as important as what will bring the most cash the soonest.

After ToEE and NWN, I am really not expecting much from ATARI

Right now I actually doubt there will be a BG3. If any thing BG3 was TOB. If they do release a BG3 it will not be in any shape or form comparable to the current BG series. For one simple reason if BG3 is release it will use 3E rules and not 2E rules, which is why many of us enjoyed BG series. Not to mention the stories, plots, character interaction, etc... To much went into the BG saga that it will be hard to actually match what we all enjoyed now for almost 5 years. I will give Atari a chance to prove themselves if they are up to the task. If BG3 is to be released I do expect quite a bit out of the game and I know I am not the only one with this expectation.

Maybe Atari is going back to the original game designers they had back when they first started as a fledgling gaming company. ;)

kuemper would that be back in the days of PacMan?

Um, closer to Combat and Adventure. :)