Atari buys Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment franchises

[Schadenfroh]

Text

Atari has agreed to purchase all rights that Interplay had on licensing games based on the Dungeons and Dragons franchise (One of Interplay's most popular games in the 1990s was the D&D themed RPG Baldur's Gate, developed by BioWare).

First off, I despise Atari for their treatment of developers (see Ossian Studios, Stefan Gagne, etc.), but Interplay does not have the finances to do anything with them right now. Maybe we will see a Baldur's Gate 3 or an Icewind Dale 3 in the future from one of Atari's third party developers (hopefully Obsidian Entertainment). I assume that this includes PlaneScape: Torment (possibly the best RPG ever made) as well, but I doubt an publisher would fund a sequel with the same gameplay as the original due to the lackluster sales.

 

[Zenoth]

It would be interesting to see Baldur's Gate III, I think Diablo III can use some competition, but BioWare should develop it.

 

[s44]

Bio's never going to work with Atari again.

I bet BG3 will happen, though in the 4E-era Realms and having nothing to do with the BG/BG2 story (which is totally finished in ToB).

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
It would be interesting to see Baldur's Gate III, I think Diablo III can use some competition, but BioWare should develop it.

BG3 shouldn't compete with diablo save for the RPG moniker.

BG2. what a story, what characters.... best RPG to date (aside from PS:T, which so many love, but I haven't played through)

 

[Bateluer]

A PS:T sequel without following the same deep gameplay as the original is not a sequel, its an insult.

I don't care if Atari wants to make IWD sequels, but I'd stay away from Torment and probably BG as well.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Oh dear, this can't be good. A dying company sends its unholy garlic-baked tendrils out and drags some franchises down with it.

 

[TheVrolok]

BG3 is a wet dream of mine.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
A PS:T sequel without following the same deep gameplay as the original is not a sequel, its an insult.

I don't care if Atari wants to make IWD sequels, but I'd stay away from Torment and probably BG as well.

But why would they waste time making IWD sequels when they can make PST and BG sequels? Admit it, that's a complete waste of $$$, the only thing you can hope for is Obsidian does the sequel and does a semi decent job on it.

 

[9mak9]

they cannot have a sequel to PS:T and BG. PS:T was beyond amazing and was a singular story with no sequel. They could never put a sequel on it. BG was a trilogy with an ending to the story. Leave those 2 names to be and if you want to create another game/story then you can use the BG/IWD forgetten realms setting and create something new. Just don't make another one because it will ruin epicness of the game.

i would love to see another PS:T but they really cannot exceeds my expectations on it. They could use similar aspects of both games and create another team based RPG which I would love to play

 

[Schadenfroh]

But why would they waste time making IWD sequels when they can make PST and BG sequels?

IWD sold better than PS:T. Only a few of us (myself included) want story driven RPGs that focus on plot, dialog, and character development like PS:T. BG sold better than both, but most people (especially console gamers) these days want action RPG / FPS hybrids like Oblivion / Mass Effect or third person shooters with stats / levels masquerading as RPGs like the Diablo clones. That being said, I hope for the best:beer:

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

But why would they waste time making IWD sequels when they can make PST and BG sequels?

IWD sold better than PS:T. Only a few of us (myself included) want story driven RPGs that focus on plot, dialog, and character development like PS:T. BG sold better than both, but most people (especially console gamers) these days want action RPG / FPS hybrids like Oblivion / Mass Effect or third person shooters with stats / levels masquerading as RPGs like the Diablo clones. That being said, I hope for the best:beer:

I would rather see another IWD/BG type game then another Diablo clone hack and slash(there is a difference between them).

I hope we do see BG3 game but with the same quality standard as before,as to PT that's going to be more or less mission impossible for Atari to pull that one off.
One thing is for sure its getting harder to find a quality RPG with depth and longtivity,most ones nowadays fall short on either aspect.

 

[ProfJohn]

Considering the MASSIVE amounts of fan created content for BG2 a sequel to it would seem to make the most business sense.

I just hope they make a story and character driven game with real party interaction and the ability to have a party larger than 3 at a time ala NWN.

BG2 is the only game in which I felt like the NPCs were real people. With the possible exception of the lead female in KOTOR.

 

[imported_protoz]

Obsidian could do Planescape: Torment justice if they were given the time to do it right. Their last expansion Mask of the Betrayer was pretty awesome and quite a few ex-Black Isle guys are still there. They might be too tied up with their new title, Aliens RPG, and a 3rd expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2 though.

 

[Vehemence]

Damn I love myself some IWD.

 

[Juddog]

BG 2 was awesome... but it concluded the story pretty well with Throne of Baal + the various fixpacks.

I'm still in the middle of playing BG2 right now actually.

Character build: Kensai / Thief dual class. Use any item ability allowed me to put on gauntlets of extraordinary specialization, combined with Black Dragon Scale +6 for armor... he is a total combat beast. The black dragon scale doesn't hamper his thiefly abilities in any way. Combine Kai ability with the backstab from the front for 5x damage, and he straight up slaughters right now (weapons are flail of ages combined with the hammer that gives 25 strength).

BG2 was just awesome that way, so many quests, items, and builds you can play with, replayability rating would have to be 8/10. If they simply remade the BG series in full 3d and very good graphics (including BG1 + expansion, along with BG2 + expansion) then I would straight up buy it today.

I find it funny that they made a game so good that the user community is still making mods for it and that people are still playing it this much later after it came out.

 

[you2]

I woudln't mind seeing these games as they are but with an updated modern graphic engine and a few bugs here and there fixed.

I actually liked both IWD and BG2 (did not like BG1 as much).