In the beginning there was Bauldur's Gate...

[I wish my name was Baggins]

Does anyone know of a full sequel of BG in the works...I heard from a guy who is at best semi-reliable that there will be a BGIII soon...If this is true then I would really like to know...

[andrewas]

Sorry, but its just not true. Bioware have stated that there will be *no* other infinity engine games after Icewind Dale 2 . And the plot for the baldurs gate series comes to a rather abrupt end in Throne of Bhaal - I dont know how much you already know so I wont spoil it here, but trust me when I say that its tricky to impossible to write a continuation.

However, there is a thread in the ToB forum on possible continuations for BG3, but if it happens at all it will be a 3rd party mod rather than an official release.

[Daggerthorn]

It's a pity there wont be a sequel, but as long as they continue making good RPG's, I don't really mind. 3d, isometric view...don't really care, I just love a good RPG with a nice story to it. What I do worry about though is them making RPG's for consoles. I despise consoles because it's a way of dumbing down games. It's good for the games company cause not much thought goes into them, they can churn out 1 a week, and piracy is a lot harder. But when I saw BG on the X-Box...I thought to myself: "how can you play an RPG with a joystick?".

People don't realise that if consoles take over as games machines...games will become a lot less original. Sort of like McDonalds. Eat a Big Mac in Paris, tastes exactly the same in Rome (that's true by the way, I tried it).

[andrewas]

Daggerthorn, two words:

Final Fantasy

Proof, if it were truly needed, that is the developer and not the machine that makes a game good or bad.

If consoles took over as games machines, theyd have to take over the PC share of the market, and the only way to do that is to make the kind of games PC gamers like. Which kind of eliminates the problem.

[pritchke]

If I were to do BGIII I would look to the past for the story of the game not the future.

[Sir Frank]

While I haven't play them myself, there are 2 game addapters, add ons, what ever. They make SoA and ToB play "Different" with different NCPs and wepons and plotlines. Major downloads of around 300megs each.

[Daggerthorn]

Andrewas, to be honest, the only Final Fantasy I tried (which was FF7) on the Playstation 1 I thought was absolutely rubbish (this is my opinion so I don't mean to offend anyone).
Reason I thought this, is basically because it was far far too linear for my liking. Another reason was the combat is/was (always in my opinion) ridiculously monotonous. Everyone face each other like some kind of bizzare dance then go in the middle (in turn), do some really cheesy, stupid moves...rinse and repeat. All this didn't help the fact I hate this Manga stuff in the first place...and some of the monsters which come right out of Pokemon. Mechanical dragon with plasma laser eyes and rocket breathing breath....hmmm...yeah ok. Oh and I nearly forgot. The thing that finally convinced me to trash the game: the chochobow (whatever they are called). Those kangaroo riding chicken things. Seriously though...can we even describe Final Fantasy as an RPG?

All this sums up the limitations of a console. They have to dumb the game down because for one thing you have processor limitations, hard disk limitations, memory limitations, graphics card limitation, video display limitations (TV's cannot match monitor resolutions).

A console can never replace a PC. Simple as that...

p.s. Not to mention flight sims which will never in a million years reach a console even more for the reasons I just laid down.

edited for typos

[ 01-02-2003, 09:35 PM: Message edited by: Daggerthorn ]

[Grungi]

ff7 is an amazing game, full of subquests and all sorts of little mini games which at the time were almost games in their own right, its linear insofar as you only have one main plot but non linear in that you can end up doing the final boss at level 40 or level 99, its a superb game, with a very good plot, at the time it came out it was one of the most non-linear games going, IMO its one of the best rpg games.

as for the console argument, consoles are aimed at the faster reflex type of game market, quick thrills, pcs are aimed at the more thoughtful approach, but obviously thats been changing alot recently, PC games will always have the edge in terms of flexibility over consoles till they become fully linked (which will likely happen in the next incarnation with some kind of data link and hdd on all consoles) mainly because you can download and create mods, updates and patches, consoles cant. The balance will be maintained for a long long while to come i think, esp as i know most people who have a PS2 also have a PC and a gamecube, i know someone with xbox as well as the other 3 + ps1 + n64 but hes got more money than sense [img]smile.gif[/img] i cant see consoles ever taking over as games machines, as remember its PCs who took over as games machines from consoles back in the day, back when you had the NES i had the old amstrad cpc 6128 which was a classic machine (better than a spectrum by a long way [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) it had better games, gameplay and graphics than the NES and was one of the first home machines to really start competing with consoles, every new generation of consoles that came out there was a new PC to not only rival it, but beat it, the best PCs even without optimisation have the capability to beat any console around today, and in terms of flexibility they are so far in front its not even a contest. That will definately change and with machines like the xbox etc its clearly heading that way fast, but its not going to stop people developing for PC for a long while i think.

[Grungi]

oh btw did you complete FF7? it starts off linear i must admit but by about level 30+ it gets a lot less linear thats for sure, best to only offer a game comparison if you have played it through at least to the final boss. Manga isnt my thing either, and the fight system was certainly different, but it worked once i got used to it, then i relished the sheer amount of different attacks i could pull off, did you ever attack with the 12 knights? or the world attack? (you chuck a planet at the opponent [img]smile.gif[/img] now that gotta hurt [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) the FMVs in the game were superb too and really helped to boost the plot. oh and yes its definately an rpg as Role Playing Game - its a game, you play a role, you solve puzzles, walk around, have levels, interact with npcs, etc, depends what you exactly define as an rpg.

to compare a game IMO you need to complete it first otherwise its not a fair comparison.

[Daggerthorn]

I got through about 70 per cent of the game....maybe more. The part where you leave the town on one of those chicken things. I gave up when I saw them...something about catching them and training them. Put me right off. I think I played it enough to get a fairly good idea as to what the rest would be like.
As I said before, consoles may be OKish when you're talking about making a BG type of game (though BG for the X-Box sounds really dumbed down and a hack-and-slash affair), but try making a flight sim...a console has it's limitations, that's for sure. Can it ever replace a PC as a games machine? Yes....but badly. In other words we, the consumer will be losing out (so what's new?).

The way you define an RPG just about includes every game out there, Grungi. Take Flight Simulator 2002. You play the role of a pilot, you fly people about, you interact with NPC's (flight traffic control, refuellers and other aircraft), you solve problems/puzzles with the "adventures" in the game.
For me an RPG is a game based around the D&D pen and paper games. Essential to an rpg would be choosing to play a role you want, not be forced into choosing one. Obviously I'm talking about race/class and not what you actually are in the plot of the game.

So tell me...why is Final Fantasy an RPG and Diablo not an RPG? They both are "not" rpg's in my opinion...though maybe Diablo is a bit nearer to an RPG than FF?