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Atari plans to revisit the likes of of D&D RPGs Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights, and open-world driver Test Drive Unlimited, but not in the next 12 months.
The news comes out of today’s Atari event in London.
Phil Harrison himself promised extensions to the much-loved franchises at the shindig.
Thanks, Eurogamer.
Viewing 10 responses
DaMan said:
Meh.
never liked D&D system based games.
patlike said:
Baldur’s Gate never really did it for me. It’s so wordy.
Hunam said:
If you didn’t run this site I’d kindly ask you to leave for that.
morriss said:
TDU was a great concept but poorly executed. Let’s hope Atari can do something with it.
Esha said:
Bioware (and likewise, Obsidian) have always been wordy, thinky games. The problem is today though is that only an infinitesimal amount of people actually have an iota of patience. I’ve introduced Fallout 3 to a number of people I know, and every one of them wanted to skip the dialogue and act like complete imbeciles.
“Where do I have to go?”
“The bloke you skipped the dialogue of just told you.”
“…this is stupid, do I get to shoot something soon?”
This leads to these sighs where I feel like I’m breathing with a World that’s observing culture and intellect in their death throes. These are slow, drawn out, old breaths.
And that was Fallout 3.
Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights were both on higher echelons of what could colloquially be considered as thinky and talky.
The problem here is that it’s not really going to be Baldur’s Gate or Neverwinter Nights without Bioware and Obsidian handling those games, not in anything but name. They’re probably going to be filled with steroid-pumped, mostly naked fantasy stereotypes mouthing prompt, succinct (in a bad way), and entirely cliched quotes.
That’s probably going to be the case because, as we even see here, these games are just too much for the gamer of today. It seems as though today’s gamer doesn’t want to be challenged; intellectually, morally, or philosophically. They just want a weapon placed in their hands (be it hammer or gun) and a monster to smash (be they Ork or Nazi).
So … yes. Old sighs.
Footnote: I wonder how many people bought Fallout 3 and felt conned, because it had guns, and guns usually mean that the person can turn their thought processes off and engage in some hearty slaughter. Yet instead of that, they had people talking to them and got really annoyed. Will Fallout 4 sell so well? I’m beginning to doubt that it will.
Footnote II: I can’t say I’m not a bit disappointed, pat.
morriss said:
No-one, otherwise there would be a backlash, which there isn’t. And everyone I know who played Fallout 3 loved it and played it how it was designed to be played.
Maybe it’s time to stop judging the whole world and its inhabitants based on a few Welsh people you know? Just an idea.
Whizzo said:
Christ if Pat thinks the Baldur’s Gate games were wordy, his head would have exploded with the awesome “Planescape:Torment”!
I don’t feel the BGs (er that sounds a bit odd) were all that wordy at all.
Vincent said:
Also… I’ve long felt that narrative heavy games have been shooting themselves in the foot by being too wordy. They have endless exposition. The writing itself is far too verbose. Little to no use is made of non-textual storytelling. It’s not just a case of “replacing words with shooting people”.
patlike said:
Hunam –
brennan40 said:
Right there with ya Morris.
The only thing that bothers me a bit is the push for first person views in *some* RPGs. But as long as they give me a top down view option like in NW2, I’m cool.