Agreed. Even though they share an engine and the 2nd Ed. mechanics, they are two totally different styles of RPGs. I"m probably in the minority that prefers the IWDs to the BGs.

Re-balancing the kits would be necessary. I played a Skald Bard in BG1 using TuTu and the +2 to attack and damage song was way OP'd in early and mid game.

In retrospect, It's more of a "Hey, this is actually something you can't get with mods, so that's cool" than an actual declaration from me that said feature is necessarily worth paying $20 for. Some of those BG2 kits are pretty gimped (See: Wizard Slayer, Cavalier), but I dunno, it could be fun to make a totally ridiculous party that functions in ways the original game wasn't designed to handle! (Just not $20 worth of fun. $5 on a steam sale however...)

Sigh. So they're going to muck up another classic in another moneygrabbing move? Nice.

I prefer to think about it optimistically.

This is probably coming to Steam, which will greatly invigorate the exposure to a new younger crowds beyond us grognards who have been playing it since release. It is a cashgrab, but if it generates enough interest (with BG:EE and BG2:EE) maybe was can actually hope for proper sequels? (BG3 and/or IWD3?) Remember I'm thinking optimistically here.

The Pillars of Eternity kickstarter showed there is still massive interest in an IE style game. Imagine the response a proper IE style BG3 or IWD3 would get.

Personally, I probably won't buy IWD:EE until it goes on sale. I've already got my box copy and GOG copy and I have no problem applying mods. But I can also see the appeal of a no fuss, plug and play Steam version with some modern improvements.

No, just no for BG3. The story has ended and it's best that way. I can't see how they would be able to continue the story without making it look stupid. Also, a sequel would just be a blatant cash in on the BG name. I don't want to see a sequel where all of a sudden "Abdel Adrian trips on a celestial stone in the heavens, falls down to Faerun, lands on his head and the concussion causes him to forget everything that happened in the last 2 games. But thats okay!!!!, because now our hero, Adbel Adrian fell in the middle of some battlefield where some generic DnD villian is doing stupid evil shit just for the sake of being stupid and evil and can save the sword coast all over again!!!" WOOT!!!

Also, neither is there any point in starting a game at level 40 with all the abilties gained in BG2:TOB. Just, where would you go from here?

Also, while I do prefer IWD over BG and would love to see another action oriented dungeon crawl with full party customization, lets do it in another place rather than the Spine of the World again. A game set in Kara-Tur would be nice.

No more sequels please, but an IE game with a different story (not written by P Athens of course) in a different part of Faerun with different heroes, yes please!!

There's always the possibility for making it a high powered planar campaign, not unlike NWN2 MotB; maybe the PC could be traveling the Planes while uncovering a plot to bring Bhaal back from the dead. But given how BG handled the Planes in BG2, I'm not sure how well that would go.

Of course it would be silly do to a DIRECT sequel to BG1 and 2 storyline using the same protaganist.

I guess what I envisioned, and what I meant when I said BG3 and IWD3 was an IE style Forgotten Realms CRPG with strong storytelling in the case of BG3 and hack n slash with full party customization in IWD3.

I fully agree with you on different locales though. As much as I love the Sword Coast and the Dale, there are so many more interesting locations that haven't been explored in Toril in CRPGs. (like Kara-Tur.)

I'm looking forward to Pillars of Eternity, and from what I've read the lore and world building seems to fairly robust. Still it can't compare with the sheer volume of materiel written about Forgotten Realms. This more than anything else makes Forgotten Realms seem more like a living breathing world rather than a background arena for your PC to level up in.

I'm very interested in playing this game, but if the price is the same as BG I & II EE, I don't think so. Hoping that there would be mods like BGs and Planescape Torment in the future.

I am kinda excited about this because I was having quite a bit of issues that made my game play very choppy and unresponsive. I spent alot of time trying to fix it and even if I could find a work around it wasn't perfect.

Its worth a look. I've been doing the beta test and its a lot of fun. Still has some issues to work out, but it definitely feels like a modern day Infinity Engine.

I wonder how they're going to do that in some cases. I mean, the jester bard kit's speciality is a confusing song - essentially the same as "The Siren's Yearning" song of the basic Icewind Dale bard. The same bard that can also use five other songs.
So there's not really anything speaking in favor of using a jester, if they're done exactly like in Baldur's Gate 2.

In general, I try to remain optimistic. While new spells and quests are nothing that wows me, I can see new classes and kits adding some diversity to yet another playthrough.

Definetly not a must-buy, but a wait and see, for me.

I'm eagerly awaiting for this one. I don't have the GOG version of Icewind Dale (and finished several times before on the disc version) so the Enhanced Edition would be cool... IF they don't change the spells animations, rebalance combat "alla BG" and don't screw the in-game movies... right, they should also not change the nature of a man, I mean, the game :P So no joinable NPCs or any of that. Basically, IWD "reworked" for new systems, new spells and kits don't hurt either, and an easy to use multiplayer platform is what I'm expecting. If they blew it, the originals are still available =)

So, its coming out on OCt 30th. Wow.

https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/524432839417536512

Will it launch on GOG?

Quote:

Trent Oster ‏Oct 21
@GOGcom we will launch on Beamdog, GOG and Steam. The mobile versions should be very close as well.