Before I launch into this, sorry for the huge post, and I want to thank the devs working on restoring this game, and adding enhancments, it brings back a lot of memories (especially the frustrating ones! I forgot how hard this game was!)
But I wanted to ask, as I have only seen rumors going around, how far are you currently (I have to stress currently) planning to go with enhancing the games from Black Isle? (Baldurs gate and Icewind dale most importantly.)
I understand you currently working on BG2EE, so that isn't the focus of my question, but Icewind dale and Icewind dale 2 - often the underrated sibling to baldurs gate, the series does have its own charm, and I would really like to know if you plan to work on it at all? And if so, will you only enhance part 1, or also part 2?
I am not only here to talk about remakes, but also possibilities - assuming you remake/restore Icewind dale 1+2, would you consider reworking the whole of icewind dale to 3.5 rules? (I realise this would be a much larger undertaking than adding the content from BG2 to BG1 - the systems are entirely different, ruleset 2 versus ruleset 3.0/3.5... They are so different it is almost like day and night.) However, the reason I am asking this now, is the idea of carrying over an IWD1 party to IWD2 is very attractive, and the 3.5 ruleset fits the style of IWD much better than Baldurs gate (Icewind dale being typically more hack and slash and linear than baldurs gate.)
Next question, relating to Baldurs gate 3 - What are your current plans for ruleset? I sounds as though you want to let players to carry thier progress over from BG2EE, which suggests ruleset 2? Just asking for clarification.
Another big question before I get carried away - which rulesets and games are you actually allowed to use? The way it currently seems, every new edition seems to cycle out the old ones - are they then open source for developers? Since I see neverwinter (officially supported by wizards of the coast IIRC) has moved on to 4th (something I greatly dislike) it begs the question, what is now fair game, and what is wizards going to let devs get away with?
And, a huuuge hypothetical, but if you were to work on IWD2 or even continue to IWD3, would you make attempts to add in things left out from the 3.0/3.5 rules? The original devs neglected to include certain important features, and left perks severely lacking. It might not be possible to update IWD2, but a fresh start with IWD3 would allow prestige classes, full integration of skills and feats, and much more things that werent possible with engines avialable at the time.
The last thing on my list of must mentions, to cap off a huge post, is if you make ANY new games, from scratch, fans of any of the games would love you a LOT if you worked hard to integrate modding deeply into the game. DnD was always intended to have all sorts of different DM's making adventures for all sorts of different players, and having a game designed to do exactly that... Imagine for a moment, thousands of DM's making fresh content for a game you have put so much work into.
Oh, and on the subject of creating new content, if you could let people craft thier own base classes/prestige classes/items, etc, there would be no end to what could be possible. And trust me, people want to be able to add content - take all the mods for BG1&2, and other games based on DnD like Neverwinter nights... People try to add thier own races, classes, adventures... But those games were NOT user friendly about it, and that discouraged so many people. See how few quality mods are out there that achieve anything apart from bugfixes or weapon packs or followers - adding brand new content is far beyond what most people can manage.
Just take a look at Bethesda as a point of reference - they made the effort to make thier game modder friendly, and it has payed off bigtime. Thousands of mods exist, doing any number of different things, from bugfixes to adding things most people never would have thought of - from gameplay overhauls to new textures, its open for modders to choose. And I can't imagine a single DnD fan who wouldn't love to create thier favorite adventure come to life on-screen, or even shared with hundreds of other players.
Oh, and for the love of god, please keep the top down interface - Neverwinter nights 2 was horrible to control from ANY of its choices, and Neverwinter nights 1 played like an MMO, hardly good for tactical positioning between several friends (and I have tried.) But then thats just my preference, the rest of my post is far more valid.
Oh, and thanks in advance to anyone who responds, any input is welcome, for myself (info, ideas, anything) and of course the devs would never say no to having information about how the fans feel about these ideas and issues... Right?
Regardless of how this post is recieved though, thanks again for the love you put into restoring BG, and I wish you the best with all future projects.
But I wanted to ask, as I have only seen rumors going around, how far are you currently (I have to stress currently) planning to go with enhancing the games from Black Isle? (Baldurs gate and Icewind dale most importantly.)
I understand you currently working on BG2EE, so that isn't the focus of my question, but Icewind dale and Icewind dale 2 - often the underrated sibling to baldurs gate, the series does have its own charm, and I would really like to know if you plan to work on it at all? And if so, will you only enhance part 1, or also part 2?
I am not only here to talk about remakes, but also possibilities - assuming you remake/restore Icewind dale 1+2, would you consider reworking the whole of icewind dale to 3.5 rules? (I realise this would be a much larger undertaking than adding the content from BG2 to BG1 - the systems are entirely different, ruleset 2 versus ruleset 3.0/3.5... They are so different it is almost like day and night.) However, the reason I am asking this now, is the idea of carrying over an IWD1 party to IWD2 is very attractive, and the 3.5 ruleset fits the style of IWD much better than Baldurs gate (Icewind dale being typically more hack and slash and linear than baldurs gate.)
Next question, relating to Baldurs gate 3 - What are your current plans for ruleset? I sounds as though you want to let players to carry thier progress over from BG2EE, which suggests ruleset 2? Just asking for clarification.
Another big question before I get carried away - which rulesets and games are you actually allowed to use? The way it currently seems, every new edition seems to cycle out the old ones - are they then open source for developers? Since I see neverwinter (officially supported by wizards of the coast IIRC) has moved on to 4th (something I greatly dislike) it begs the question, what is now fair game, and what is wizards going to let devs get away with?
And, a huuuge hypothetical, but if you were to work on IWD2 or even continue to IWD3, would you make attempts to add in things left out from the 3.0/3.5 rules? The original devs neglected to include certain important features, and left perks severely lacking. It might not be possible to update IWD2, but a fresh start with IWD3 would allow prestige classes, full integration of skills and feats, and much more things that werent possible with engines avialable at the time.
The last thing on my list of must mentions, to cap off a huge post, is if you make ANY new games, from scratch, fans of any of the games would love you a LOT if you worked hard to integrate modding deeply into the game. DnD was always intended to have all sorts of different DM's making adventures for all sorts of different players, and having a game designed to do exactly that... Imagine for a moment, thousands of DM's making fresh content for a game you have put so much work into.
Oh, and on the subject of creating new content, if you could let people craft thier own base classes/prestige classes/items, etc, there would be no end to what could be possible. And trust me, people want to be able to add content - take all the mods for BG1&2, and other games based on DnD like Neverwinter nights... People try to add thier own races, classes, adventures... But those games were NOT user friendly about it, and that discouraged so many people. See how few quality mods are out there that achieve anything apart from bugfixes or weapon packs or followers - adding brand new content is far beyond what most people can manage.
Just take a look at Bethesda as a point of reference - they made the effort to make thier game modder friendly, and it has payed off bigtime. Thousands of mods exist, doing any number of different things, from bugfixes to adding things most people never would have thought of - from gameplay overhauls to new textures, its open for modders to choose. And I can't imagine a single DnD fan who wouldn't love to create thier favorite adventure come to life on-screen, or even shared with hundreds of other players.
Oh, and for the love of god, please keep the top down interface - Neverwinter nights 2 was horrible to control from ANY of its choices, and Neverwinter nights 1 played like an MMO, hardly good for tactical positioning between several friends (and I have tried.) But then thats just my preference, the rest of my post is far more valid.
Oh, and thanks in advance to anyone who responds, any input is welcome, for myself (info, ideas, anything) and of course the devs would never say no to having information about how the fans feel about these ideas and issues... Right?
Regardless of how this post is recieved though, thanks again for the love you put into restoring BG, and I wish you the best with all future projects.