Baldur's Gate III & Neverwinter Nights II Under Development?

Post by **BuckGB** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:42 pm

http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/static/ ... pNloqY.php

Very interesting... think the post holds any validity?

Keshik · Post by **Keshik** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:54 pm

When questioned if it's an April's Fool joke, Grok responds with this:

"No April Fool's Joke.

We've got dozens of titles in all stages of development. We're currently talking with several top developers about creating the next generation of our strongest D&D RPGs. This really shouldn't be a surprise...lots of RPG goodness in the future from Atari.

Grok"

that does sound promising...though I'm not about to get my hopes up...

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 6:47 pm

Grok (aka web monkey)

Atari is the sole licensor of all D&D interactive properties. We could bring back Gold Box games if we were so inclined...and maybe we are...

Man, I loved those adventures.

My purpose here is simply to make sure you all understand that we're well aware of the importance and popularity of the franchise (meaning D&D ) to most of you. We've got some fantastic titles in our catalog and we are absolutely planning to do something with them.

The whos, whats, wheres and hows...well, that's what we'll be saving for a full-fledged announcement.

Grok

I'm not going to hold my breath....plus from reading the replies from that site, I would be scared to even put a game from Atari on my computer.

CM · Post by CM » Fri Apr 02, 2004 7:22 pm

TOEE was pathetic. There were some excellent parts, but over all pathetic. It was so bad that i gave it to a friend after paying 40 bucks for it. Atari doesnt have my vote. I wouldnt by another Atari game unless Gamebanshee gave it an excellent excellent review. Like a 9.5 out of 10.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:59 am

Somebody on that thread said it best:

gosh, maybe 'cause he, a representative of atari, announced two of the most anticipated titles of the year in the middle of a nonsense thread on the arse end of a game board.

we know vol has hung 'round game boards in the past. ever seen another publisher announce a title that way? maybe ask a few folks why it ain't never done that way.

And even ignoring the way it was "annouced", then I still don't trusts this much, the gameing industry is a volataile line of work where big changes are made daily. Games are annouced that are never released all the time.

Besides - I fear that roleplaying games (BG3 for instance - if it was true what were posted there) will go down the "action" path like they did with the original campaigns of NwN (HotU were better though) and SW:KotOR.

Focus in the gaming world, as I see it from my point of view and especially from established buisness - moves more and more towards the graphics, sounds and other technical areas and more away from solid gripping gameplay otherwise known as fluff. And these areas mean much work and thus the allocation of many ressources (manpower/time/money) - and therefore there is not as much money for the rest of the development fases.
A sad trend, but one I don't see broken unless some upstart company comes along and releases a great game (which then gets bought up and assimilated into the mainstream of developers

)

I still long back to some of the gameplay I played in the earlier days when graphics weren't so important, and as much as I would love to see a Baldurs Gate 3 and a Neverwinter Nights 2 - I will not hold my breath for them being annouced and actually released (big difference in that - Duke Nuke'em Forever?

). And even if that happens - I'd take it with a grain of salt because I fear the gameplay is out the window in some watered down "RP Lite" (SW:KotOR) because of the empahzisme on graphics and sounds.

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:02 am

Right...the modus operandi of Grok leaves much to be desired, to say the least. Uh huh. Whatever, Grok. Until I see it in a press release, *pbbbbt*

@Xandax: The trend as of late seems to be the bottom line. The meat and bones of the RPG format has been carved up in order to capture a part of the market that has traditionally stuck to the action genre. KoTOR seems to me to be yet another step in that inexorable direction, and an important one at that. It leaves hard core roleplayers rather unsatisfied, and action gamers with slight RPG leanings very happy. I played it on the Xbox; however, from what I hear regarding the PC version, it's not that much different.

IMO, the NWN collective has steadily been improving in nearly every regard since the original release...I am quite pleased with Hordes of the Underdark. It is a far cry beyond the original campaign.

We should remember that NWN is actually designed primarily to be the vehicle of D&Ders to play D&D without the need to roll dice, consult tables, etc, and in this capacity, NWN is great IMO. The Community Expansion Pack is quite nice...if you haven't DLed it yet, I highly recommend doing so.

I'm not sure about the future of RPGs. We shall see.

Moonbiter · Post by **Moonbiter** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:59 am

This has to be bollocks. IMHO it also belongs firmly in the "Is Nothing Sacred?" category. After TOEE I miss another title from Atari like I miss genital warts.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 8:48 am

Originally posted by Moonbiter
This has to be bollocks. IMHO it also belongs firmly in the "Is Nothing Sacred?" category. After TOEE I miss another title from Atari like I miss genital warts.

But notice the popularity in the forums of TOEE.

When I gave a moderately thumbs-down review of it here, the very small group that takes part in another private forum barraged Buck with hate mail, arguing that I didn't know what I was talking about since it was the greatest CRPG ever done in all respects. I think they intimidated him, but I was more amused. It seems a company needs to only slap a label of "RPG" on a game these days and put out enormous hype in order to make players think it's the best thing they've played--even before it comes out.

Maybe we could save everybody time and create our own vaporware RPG--spend heavily on hype and sell it in advance, then let people return their non-existent copies.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 10:09 am

Thats much like my initial review of NWN (which I gave a score of 6.3 to, but didn't submit. In stead I waited about 6 months, and gave it another shot, at the behest of a couple people's requests, which I bumped it's score to around 8... Which I regret). For my initial review of the game, which I did on the side in the forums, I got attacked, both on the forums, and through my mail, simply because it was heresy to bash a Bioware RPG

araknid70 · Post by **araknid70** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 12:20 pm

If I remember correctly, it was BIS that produced the best RPGs (at least, in my opinion) - The BG series, PS:T, Fallout 1/2. Bioware-produced games have not come close in my opinion, like NWN, IWD/IWD2 and SW:KOTOR, regardless of the actual quality of the games. I don't see why Bioware games have to be treated as 'untrashable' (forgive the word invention).

Personally, I'm not sure whether the Bioware-only games were produced by the same people as the BIS products, but somehow I never associated Bioware with the word 'great'.

As for the main topic of this topic, regardless of the possibility of NWN2 or BG3 being produced, I must say that the Aurora engine is highly stunted, compared to the Infinity engine. People complain that the Infinity engine is old and outdated, using 2D graphics when everyone else uses 3D environments and graphical effects and all. When it comes down to it, however, I find playing BG2 mods more fun than playing NWN mods. Although many NWN mods are of very high quality (and as far as I have seen, more intelligent and mature than most BG2 mods available), the Aurora Engine just takes all the fun factor away, especially with the locked camera and lack of absolute party control. If a BG3 or NWN2 was really in development, I just hope that a 3D version of the Infinity Engine be implemented.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:02 pm

Black Isle and Bioware actually worked together to create the Baldur's Gate Series, as well as Planescape Torment.

Black ISle made IWD1/2 on their own. I'm not sure about the developers for Fallout, if it was joint or solo.

But anyway, Bioware has had better success, while Black Isle has shown that they focus a tad more on the action part of the RPG's, rather than the story.

KotOR is still a superior game when compared to IWD series, both story wise, and graphically.

That's not to say Black Isle sucked, because they were great.

Add to that Bioware's other successful ventures (MDK 2 for example), and future projects like Jade Empire.

By the way, the Aurora Engine is incredably outdated, as you mentioned, so cudos for that one

The views, though, aren't as locked as one might think. There is a camera hack out there, and Bioware has allowed for an open camera as well now.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:03 pm

With problem with assessing the relative success of BIS is that they were several different companies, at different times. The people who made what IMO is the best plotted, most intelligently written CRPG thus far, PS:T, never completed another game: they were assigned PS:T, but then that was swapped out for TORN; and in the end, Interplay decided it didn't like their attitude, and fired most of the creative team. The BIS that made IWD were a largely different group. They also received credit on several games simply as the legal RPG representative for Interplay, much as EA receives credit on the Maxis Sim games, without much if any involvement in the content. (In the case of EA, in fact, the company turned down the idea of the Sims, so Will Wright, the founding father of Maxis, set to work on a pre-alpha with his own funds.)