Baldur's Gate 4 Isn't Next For Larian; Something Bigger Is Coming | Spot On | Gamespot
Baldur's Gate 4 Isn't Next For Larian; Something Bigger Is Coming | Spot On | Gamespot
This is a really good interview. tl;dw is...
- their next game was going to be D&D, but they changed course and are doing something else now
- Vincke has a vision for "the one RPG to rule them all", and each of their past three RPGs is a step closer to it
- the next game is not going to be that master vision but one step closer toward it, with their previous 3 RPGs proving out emergent design/multiplayer, story and consequence, and personal stories/performance capture, respectively
- Vincke would like to have this next game done in 3 years compared to BG3's 6 year development cycle, but realistically expects 4 years, as long as there isn't something like COVID-19 or a war in Ukraine to impede their progress
Yeah Wizards of the Coast isn’t the same company as when they signed the deal for BG3.
Smart of them to ditch the sinking ship that is D&D.
Sinking ship or not, word was that Wizards' cut of BG3 was over $90M. $100M was the entire production cost of Baldur's Gate 3. If you could fund an entire other massive video game for the cost of what you paid your partner for licensing, I'm sure anyone would be rethinking that deal. At this point, they don't need the D&D license any more than BioWare needed the Star Wars license after KOTOR.
They do ~6B a year and clear about a billion, so that's actually like 10% of their profit which is a lot for a company that big -- wow!
Yeah, I've been moving over to Call of Cthulhu with my tabletop group. I find it far more enjoyable when the players are more careful about dying or worse.
Something Bigger Is Coming
Baldur's Gate 5?
The search for Baldur's Gate 4.
Builders Gate: the Flamethrower!
(The kids really like this one)
They could get on with BG3 = DOS3 thing and just go ahead with Divinity: Original Sin 4 for their next title.
How It Feels To Chew 5 Gum, The Experience.
Baldur's Gate 360
Baldur's Fence
I really like the way that he thinks, with each game being a way to learn new systems / implement new tools / increase the studio's knowledge and skill. Such a great way to take on projects - it ensures that each game brings something new to the table, and it puts you in an even better position to tackle the next project.
My only request for the next game is: please don't have it start with the player imprisoned on a ship and for the ship to be attacked by monsters so the player can use the chance to escape into a deadly situation only to be rescued at the last second by an unknown powerful being before waking up on a beach. Twice is enough, thanks.
What if you're imprisoned on a cart and attacked by a dragon? Or just released from prison on a boat and dropped off in a swampy beach town? The fantasy RPG genre requires starting as a convict or prisoner, you see.
I disagree, and now think Larian should start every game like this. Next Divinity? Pirate ship. Games Workshop has them make a game? Escape from a Citadel.
Every Tad says “ah shit, here we go again…”
They could turn that into a running theme, like how every Elder Scrolls protagonist is a prisoner to start with...
But Divinity already has a long history and so does Baldur's Gate so...ehh, doesn't fit in quite as well. Maybe with a new IP they make it a tradition for.
As long as my journey starts on a beach, I don't care what came before.
What's the other game? Because if it's not Arcanum we have a 3rd.
I'm, like, oof? History repeating itself much?
There was this little RPG company, BioWare, that made this little known game called... uh... Baldur's Gate or something. Then they made Baldur's Gate II. And all was fine. And then they said "you know what, we should do something really cool and innovative and creative!" ...And they did! They made Neverwinter Nights. And Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro was a real drag in the process, wanting them so many compliance meetings regarding the content and canon and game mechanics. So Bioware was like "OK this is the absolute last time we work with this kind of nitpickers, we'll create our own fantasy RPG setting and system." ...and that's how Dragon Age came about.
WotC/Hasbro isn't any easier to work with these days, that's for sure. Except this time, even the tabletop fans know that.
Hopefully Larian gets to eventually make the epicest dream game they can and, uh, not get bought out by EA or something.
Kinda backwards with Larian as they already made original IPs before BG3. Which were critical hits already.
The divinity games definitely felt inspired by DND. I've even been able to convince friends (including some who don't play video games at all) to pick it up because of how similar it feels to tabletop. Larian was a natural choice for BG3 and I'm convinced that was part of the vision with their early work
Next one ditches all the filler and just goes straight to shagging a series of elves, demons, were-bears, cthulhus, etc. One after another, there are so many cthulhus to shag and you are the chosen one.
They're making high budget Corruption of Champions (or Trials in Tainted Space.) Yes, CoC or TiTS.
Spelljammer maybe?
Divinity 2 mechanics > BG3 even though BG3 is obviously the ultimate masterpiece. Pumped to see what they do
If we are taking about battle mechanics I hope they come up with a new system all together. I think both the OS2 and BG3/DnD mechanics were serviceable, and it was fun to play out fights. But neither was much of a challenge and fights didn't often feel like unique puzzles.
Yeah -- I just mean their ability to make a system for video games is better than paper adaptation
I enjoyed BG3 more than any game since Witcher: Wild Hunt. Do you think Divinity 2 would be for me? I am looking for a new long play game.
yes
If you are going to play Divinity 2, start with Divinity 1
They both have differences in mechanics, but play about the same. The only main difference is that Divinity is only 2 player, while Divinity 2 is 4 player like BG3
Also, the mechanics of both Divinity games are build around it being video games. Meaning it is a better experience. In comparison with BG3, which was build as a TTRPG and only converted to a video game.
The only things I miss with Divinity are the cutscenes. Otherwise they would be as perfect (or even better) than BG3.
Yes. I personally prefer the combat of Divinity 2, but overall they are very, very similar games
Half life 3?
It’ll be legally distinct Double Quarter Life 3
Brilliant. It would allow for having HL3 while also not forcing Valve to make a 3rd thing.
Sick, looking forward to Lord of the Rings 4
Bro!
Bladurs door 1
warhammer pls
Praying for a new Kotor
No. I love the KOTOR games and hate Larian's turn-based combat gameplay.
Please PLEASE fix the inventory mechanics/design
I wonder if Larian does something new with the Disco Elysium folks (since in that PMG video they were mentioned) instead of more Divinity.
Pathfinder please!
I hope their “one RPG to rule them all” will be a Divinity game!
I'm hoping for Sci-Fi and the next Mass Effect.
Have they ever done Sci-Fi? Also now that they are well known in the mainstream it would make a lot of sense to make another game using their own IP, would it not?
How about Rifts TTRPG as a computer game?
Fantasy ✅ Sci Fi✅ Many different life forms to bang✅
Heh has there ever been a palladium rpg system in a video game? Really I'm curious, I loved their IPs (ahhh Robotech) and some neat ideas that weren't other IPs but the system left a lot to be desired. To be fair I never played much of them but recall reading rifts, superhero one and Robotech game books back in the 90s a lot.
I don't think there has, I only played a few times but it always seemed like such a rich story and setting for adventures. A world magically ripped apart by the billions of lives extinguished instantly in nuclear fire. Dimensional Beings crossing into the world, from dragons to vampires to leyline walkers.
GURPS fantasy roleplay CRPG.
Cyberpunk cyberpunk cyberpunk please please please
I know Lemmy hates it, but I really think AI could play a core part in the future of multiple choice RPGs.
I’m not saying let it be free and build the entire game, but if you train a model to be a certain character and add limitations so it doesn’t go too wild, then that could be massive imo.
Still have a human storyline and imagination behind the game, but use AI like the tool it is for certain parts.
Seriously? You play a game like Baldur's Gate 3 and your first thought was "damn, this game could really benefit from having less handcrafted, professionally written dialogue"
I speak to enough dipshits at work spewing word salad, this is what I wanted with my escapism, people who follow the fucking conversation not some AI bot resume filling buzzwords about the plot.
In the future I think it’s a really viable option to create more immersive and interactive games. The technology is pretty far away though, not to mention I don’t think most machines could handle the load while also running a game. It’s at best a dream right now, but a pretty interesting idea for 15 years from now.
Not less handcrafted, but AI enhanced on top of the already excellent written dialogue.
If I want my entire BG3 gameplay to be about grilled cheese, then I would be able to when talking to every NPC while still getting the excellent story about mindflayers. The cheese is just on top.
Unless I see major advancements in the technology, I think AI will be a great tool in the toolbelt for developers operating on lower budgets, but Baldur's Gate 3 is going to have people expecting the best from Larian's games going forward, and that's going to mean human writing and human performances. I think without those major advancements in the technology, it's going to come off as lesser quality.
I agree, I just think those major advancements will happen.
AI isn’t going to be the answer for everything, but I think it will have a massive impact on video games, in both positive and negative ways.
No doubt some companies are going to be putting out absolute dogshit AI games.
I have used AI to RP some stuff (don't ask), and while the higher end models, and even the better self hosted models are really good at answering in a way that makes sense and works in context, it is pretty hard to make them do anything, new, interesting, or unexpected, without prompting it specifically.
Nothing that I've seen playing around with LLMs makes me think that a well-written work of fiction could be improved by including them, unless there is a significant leap in capability.
And this is ignoring all the discussion about LLMs and copyright/stolen content.
I think AI Dungeon proved that you could have a great Gen AI-driven campaign experience, but the novelty wore out really fast after it was used up as streamer bait and the ethical considerations are just too much of a risk.
If nobody could be bothered to make the thing, I can't be bothered to play with the thing.
100% the future. Like has anyone put all the billion pages of lore from TES into a GPT finetune? Surely that would make better dialogue than HALT! for the 900000000 time right?
If I can't make transgendered characters they are dead to me