In my humble opinion Baldur's Gate 3 should be a 2D isometric type game, just like BG and BG2 are. Project Eternity and Planescape Tides of Numenera have shown just how amazing this approach can look in the 2010s. And by taking a more simplistic approach to the visuals, the developer can devote the core of its development time to building a huge, immersive world, a rich and deep story and well fleshed out, memorable characters. In other words, this approach allows for BG3 to be developed in a way that honors BG and BG2.
We just have one small, *teeny-weeny* problem...!
Atari (and likely any larger publisher) would never let the game be developed this way. With them, the core of the budget would most likely go into pricey voice acting using big name actors, building a complex 3D engine where tons of time is spent making sure that we can see the fear in the orc's eye before he gets singed by a fireball spell. And with so much effort put on such details, things like game content, character development and a lot of other stuff is certain to get cut. Hell, if Neverwinter is any indication we may not even get all of the proper base classes included, but just a small subset. And almost certainly, the name Baldur's Gate 3 will be wholly undeserved and out of place on whatever final product is released.
So with that said, my personal view is that the best way to make Baldur's Gate 3 is to use the crowd funding model. Okay, sure, that means Beamdog doesn't get to call it Baldur's Gate 3 -- but really, what's in a name, right? It also means that the D&D ruleset & universe couldn't be used, but honestly, PC games made using this IP haven't been good quality since the Infinity Engine days (Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 are reasonable exception to this rule, granted, and Temple of Elemental Evil is excellent is many regards too, but lacking in many others). And the trend only seems to be getting worse.
I'd prefer to see Beamdog use the name recognition they are gaining with the BGEE project, and then create their own IP and engine to create a game that truly follows the tradition of Baldur's Gate and the Infinity Engine games. Obsidian and nXile have figured out that this is the way to go. I would love to see Beamdog go this route as well, rather than creating what I'm convinced would otherwise be a major disappointment with Atari at the helm.
My 2 copper. What do you all think?
EDIT - Updated post title to better reflect the content of my post
We just have one small, *teeny-weeny* problem...!
Atari (and likely any larger publisher) would never let the game be developed this way. With them, the core of the budget would most likely go into pricey voice acting using big name actors, building a complex 3D engine where tons of time is spent making sure that we can see the fear in the orc's eye before he gets singed by a fireball spell. And with so much effort put on such details, things like game content, character development and a lot of other stuff is certain to get cut. Hell, if Neverwinter is any indication we may not even get all of the proper base classes included, but just a small subset. And almost certainly, the name Baldur's Gate 3 will be wholly undeserved and out of place on whatever final product is released.
So with that said, my personal view is that the best way to make Baldur's Gate 3 is to use the crowd funding model. Okay, sure, that means Beamdog doesn't get to call it Baldur's Gate 3 -- but really, what's in a name, right? It also means that the D&D ruleset & universe couldn't be used, but honestly, PC games made using this IP haven't been good quality since the Infinity Engine days (Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 are reasonable exception to this rule, granted, and Temple of Elemental Evil is excellent is many regards too, but lacking in many others). And the trend only seems to be getting worse.
I'd prefer to see Beamdog use the name recognition they are gaining with the BGEE project, and then create their own IP and engine to create a game that truly follows the tradition of Baldur's Gate and the Infinity Engine games. Obsidian and nXile have figured out that this is the way to go. I would love to see Beamdog go this route as well, rather than creating what I'm convinced would otherwise be a major disappointment with Atari at the helm.
My 2 copper. What do you all think?
EDIT - Updated post title to better reflect the content of my post