Larian's next game might be Neverwinter Nights 3

[Antimatter]

Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, waking up to the news about Tencent...

But tbh, Tencent has shares in Larian, and I think we all kinda benefited from that extra financial support Larian got for BG3.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1431899588324175873

 

[Cahir]

Well, seems that your theory collapsed.

https://www.ign.com/articles/larian...-gate-3-dlc-expansions-or-baldurs-gate-4?s=33

 

[shmity72]

Well, seems that your theory collapsed.

https://www.ign.com/articles/larian...-gate-3-dlc-expansions-or-baldurs-gate-4?s=33

yeah, so much money went to Hasbro just for the IP, and realistically it had very little to do with the success. I read this in the comments section. thank you Cahir. good stuff. good luck larian.

 

[Antimatter]

I think what happened wasn't actually planned. It's clear Larian were working on something D&D related. Just 1 (!) day ago a Hasbro rep said so.

https://www.gamesradar.com/hasbro-e...pports-larians-plan-to-take-the-time-we-need/

This confirms it even further:

Larian Started Work on Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, Then Canceled It: 'The Studio Was Elated' - IGN

After announcing that Larian Studios wouldn't be making Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, an expansion, or Baldur's Gate 4, director Swen Vincke revealed that Larian had actually begun work on planned downloadable content before ultimately deciding to cancel it because the team's heart wasn't in it.

www.ign.com

I would dare say it's related to royalties to WotC. I think Hasbro (and Wotc) are having real difficulties. And looking at all the speeches by Larian leadership, it's clear they're not supporting corporates & all.

Something must have happened recently, maybe even this or the previous week. It's not a normal situation when a Hasbro guy says: "We want a Larian game" and then a Larian guy says: "We do not want anything related to D&D" just less than 24 hours later.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

WoTC has always been a terrible game company, i have been saying that for years on DnD forums and I will say it again. So many examples but if this and their short-sighted greedy IP changes haven't convinced you then you should re-examine them.

 

[shmity72]

WoTC has always been a terrible game company, i have been saying that for years on DnD forums and I will say it again. So many examples but if this and their short-sighted greedy IP changes haven't convinced you then you should re-examine them.

Electronic Arts are the epitome of higher standards and sound business practices' well i mean when they made the original bard's tale they were...

 

[Black Elk]

Just read this stuff as well. I was in the camp that was pretty convinced they'd drop an expansion. I got an update to my shipping/tracking yesterday and thought it might mean new news coming down the pike lol.

Instead confirmation of my earlier suspicion during EA that they'd probably run the complete opposite direction at the earliest opportunity, since I don't think they were ever fully prepared for everything that catering to an Android's Dungeon fandom would entail hehe. I'm glad that they were finally able to say something, cause people were waiting in trepidation, even if its not the news I was hoping for.

It's bittersweet for me, obviously, as it does take the wind out the sails a bit, but I'll love that dog for all time!

BG3'll go down in the annals for me.

I hope their next title will bring them much success and new chapters equally rewarding.

I guess from here it's really up to the Mods to give it an afterlife now, so it'll be interesting to see where that all ends up, if anywhere.

For the Wizards, I think their coastal tower is on a real shaky foundation right now, cause they keep making some pretty questionable decisions with their golden goose. They always seem to do this same thing, shopping D&D around and splitting the playerbase in half precisely at the point when it looks as if things might be coming together. I'm sure Wizards would love to replicate the BG3 magic trick and flex and weigh in on it, but that's just not a thing they can pull off it seems.

People want that heart! The gold can follow after. Try to reverse it or rewind it back, peeps can tell and don't vibe. I'll be salty on it cause I think it had legs still. For other players who were perhaps less enthusiastic about Larian's approach, I'm sure they might breathe a sigh of relief, wondering who might be next up at bat for D&D.

I think a lot of the Early Access players had already decamped a while back, for parts unknown. I'll probably poke around just to watch the dust settle, as I tend to enjoy that, same as with the Partha pewters hehe. But since my interest was primarily that window on the game design it'll be fun to see what Larian does for the next thing. Guess we'll find out at some point lol.

Meantime, that was an incredible run!

Hats off for sure!

 

[Zaxares]

I think what happened wasn't actually planned. It's clear Larian were working on something D&D related. Just 1 (!) day ago a Hasbro rep said so.

https://www.gamesradar.com/hasbro-e...pports-larians-plan-to-take-the-time-we-need/

This confirms it even further:

Larian Started Work on Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, Then Canceled It: 'The Studio Was Elated' - IGN

After announcing that Larian Studios wouldn't be making Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, an expansion, or Baldur's Gate 4, director Swen Vincke revealed that Larian had actually begun work on planned downloadable content before ultimately deciding to cancel it because the team's heart wasn't in it.

www.ign.com

I would dare say it's related to royalties to WotC. I think Hasbro (and Wotc) are having real difficulties. And looking at all the speeches by Larian leadership, it's clear they're not supporting corporates & all.

Something must have happened recently, maybe even this or the previous week. It's not a normal situation when a Hasbro guy says: "We want a Larian game" and then a Larian guy says: "We do not want anything related to D&D" just less than 24 hours later.

There were some rumours (very unconfirmed, I should add) that WotC/Hasbro were heavily leaning on Larian to add in things like microtransactions for BG3 or additional content, and ultimately that was a red line for Larian. Because yeah, I agree that something must have gone very sour between Larian and WotC and quite recently too. Post BG3-release Swen and Larian seemed quite amenable to the idea of exploring more of BG3's world (even the epilogue seems to hint at this, that Tav and Co's adventures were not over. Why else would Withers go to such an extent to bring them all back together?), but it seems that there's too much bad blood between them now.

 

[Black Elk]

I had been hoping that all the feedback and telemetry they were gathering was going onto some colossal dry-erase board with more pipelines and flowcharts than a dungeon graphed out by Irenicus, like for the express purpose of translating a BG3 into a NWN3.

I don't know, but just some gigantor BG3 version of the Rosetta stone, which could then decrypt and lay it all out, whatever sorts of things might be needed to make an updated cinemascope version of Neverwinter using that kind of formula. That's what I was secretly hoping was going on, but it seems not to be the case hehe.

It's too bad really. I'm slightly annoyed that part of the big plan for BG3 wouldn't have been something like "OK, if BG3 is a run away success, then we lock down IWD3 and NWN3 off the strength of that initial success..." Maybe leverage it to somehow seize the Wizard's tower and swoop 'em all? That would have been so rad!

It's a silly fantasy, but just that idea that some rogue out-of-town Mages might waltz into the Wizards C suite and be like, "yeah there's a new Sorcerer in town now" and then we all get took back to school lol. Go Bayside, saved by the bell! Instead it was just like damn, everything fell apart and they closed the Max as well? Oh no!!! lol



Honestly, I was blown away by mainly the Goblins. Like the Goblins were just the best part of the whole thing. I thought to myself many times, 'wow, if the Goblins are this good, surely this game has legs!' Some real standouts and showstoppers there! I feel like Goblin Fezzerk could have been some sort of strategic shorthand there, perhaps from the dropdown emotive menu in Char creation? Bow and scrape and grovel I guess, just do whatever it takes to stay alive!

Alas I will miss the lvl 13-20 campaign where Lae'zel somehow takes Vlaakith's head and becomes Gith Magna Mater for the next age - standing 50 ft tall!

They could have gone anywhere with it. Like any of those portals from Razaminth's tower? or the chamber of doors in Hell? Or just fall into a whole'nother Underdark campaign with Minthara?! I'd have been on any of those in a heart beat!

Upside, at least I found that Jaheira portrait... That alone would have been worth the ticket price, but then I got a full game out of it too, so I guess that was solid hehe. Still though, I'm going to miss what might have been!

Maybe someone somehow gets the band back together again? Who could say

I've got a Bard - her name is Brevity!

Never quite made it there though. She'll just be waiting in the wings I suppose hehe.

Also I really wanted the Scratch Origin! Maybe someone can still pull that off? Like doesn't even need words really...

Spoiler

Good times! Done deal!

ps. speaking of portraits check these out...!!!

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www.artstation.com

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www.artstation.com

 

[Black Elk]

"Heya! It's me, Imoen!"

Sorta lol

I guess I'll never get to see that Dream Team realized. Like if Minsc & Boo can get turned to stone for 100 yrs and nobody misses a beat, why not?

 

[Antimatter]

Hasbro wants to make another Baldur's Gate sequel but it's early days yet: 'We certainly hope that it's not another 25 years'

The latest News,/news,,news, breaking news, comment, reviews and features from the experts at PC Gamer

www.pcgamer.com

"We're now talking to lots of partners and being approached by a lot of partners who are embracing the challenge of, what does the future of the Baldur's Gate franchise look like?" says Evans [ senior vice president of Digital Strategy and Licensing for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast ]. "So we certainly hope that it's not another 25 years, as it was from Baldur's Gate 2 to 3, before we answer that. But we're going to take our time and find the right partner, the right approach, and the right product that could represent the future of Baldur's Gate. We take that very, very seriously, as we do with all of our decisions around our portfolio. We don't rush into decisions as to who to partner with on products or what products we should be considering."

This confirms my old point that "Baldur's Gate", no matter how much fans of original BG1&2 wanted, is just a trademark, and also a symbol of a highly successful videogame setting up new standards. BG3 managed to follow BG2 from this perspective, so there will be an attempt to create BG4.

"Larian created a much loved cast of characters, who were even celebrated by their nominations, the voice actors behind them and the talent behind them was celebrated at the [BAFTAS]," he says. "And they are now essentially part of D&D canon."

So the question is, what happens to them from here?

"I think it's too early to express specifics and I think that there's a much bigger question about how we approach Baldur's Gate in the future," says Evans. "But I would like to think that all of those characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products.

Jaheira was good in BG3, but I wasn't happy about Minsc in BG3. At this point, it feels VERY weird to imagine, say, Lae'zel, Shadowheart or Astarion in a different game created by different developers and whose personalities are written by different writers.

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

God forbid they should create an original IP.

Edit: I haven't played BG3 (yet), but I'm truly sorry for all of you that have fallen in love with it. It sucks that there won't be any more content or a follow up game from Larian.

 

[Black Elk]

I'm incapable of summarizing my thoughts, except perhaps in this instance... heheh

 

[Sylvus Moonbow]

Have yet to even finish BG3, getting to Act 2 and have left it there for the time being. The first Act was a lot of fun though, and from a number of YT videos I have seen, there are a plethora of ways to get through Act 1 by role playing. So much meat and ways to come to a resolution, it is nice for a change to see a game simply stand on its own without the need for DLC.

But like Bioware did, Larian is also stepping away from the Dungeons and Dragons IP which is certainly a good thing if Hasbro/WOTC is interested in season passes or in-game micro transactions. Larian mined the gold and presented it with polish and success, which truly does make one wonder what caused them to break this partnership off.

 

[JustKneller]

God forbid they should create an original IP.

I know, right? The thing is, I think that doing something "original" is now too risky for a large company with millions on the line. They have to play it safe with an established IP, but then things like this happen.

if Hasbro/WOTC is interested in season passes or in-game micro transactions

People are kinda blowing up in ttrpg circles over this. Everyone kinda figured that, once Hasbro was in the mix, the franchise would take a turn for the douche. But it still comes as a shock. I think there are going to be some obstacles porting D&D to other mediums. And, even for table games, people have been more likely to explore alternatives. OSR is still going strong and there's already a ton of TSR material out there if you know where to look.