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Larian Studios Won't Make Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, Expansions, or Baldur's Gate 4

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
That's a very smart move. They need to build strong IP that they own now that they're a big player in the industry

Also, Hasbro must be a bitch to work with and probably would've asked an astronomycal fee after BG3's success.

Hasbro earned a ridiculously easy $90 million thanks to Larian Studios doing all the heavy lifting. I'm not surprised Sven Vincke isn't going to make that mistake another time.
 
What a fuck up all around. Wizards acting the cunt and that difficult to work for?

Half of the appeal of BG3 is the setting, Rivellon is a shit IP and that's coming from someone who's played all of Larians games.
 
What parts of the story and writing did you feel were subpar?
Pretty much all of it. It's very millennial, very arch humor, queer sex with animals, ha ha ha, but there's no genuine pathos or emotional impact at any point. Compare it to a game like Dragon Age Origins and you'll see just how far it comes up short.

It's a great game and I've spent hundreds of hours playing it but the story is simply not good, particularly for the genre.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Pretty much all of it. It's very millennial, very arch humor, queer sex with animals, ha ha ha, but there's no genuine pathos or emotional impact at any point.


8ef42cb606a666f7a8bdeeaebf253c07.jpg
 

Bridges

Member
Makes tons of sense. Baldurs Gate 3 is obviously massive but its success has very little to do with the IP. And now that the buzz is out there, whatever they do next will have "From the creators of Baldurs Gate 3" on it which is all they need to get people's attention. Take a stab at an original IP and save on the licensing costs. Larian seem like really smart people in an industry of trend chasers.

(Admittedly still haven't gotten to BG3 but I can't wait to finally sit down with it)
 
They are going to do an IP that they own. Wizards of the Coast got something like $60-80 million in licensing fees from Larian for BG3. Larian is not going to want to hand out that kind of money again.
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
While it kinda sucks specifically concerning BG3, considering how good they did I'm now hyped for whatever their next project is.
 

XXL

Member
I would love Baldur's Gate 4, but in all reality, whatever they make next is an instant day 1 full price purchase for me.
Music Video Throwing Money GIF

Larian gets my money. BG3 is one of the best games ever made as far as I'm concerned.
 

lmimmfn

Member
Far too much money left on the table, Hasbro will throw money at it.

BG3 was such a fantastic game, it shouldn't remain untapped.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Yeah wizards was trying to sell them the IP.

You can read between the lines that the partnership here doesn’t exist lol. Wizards likely trying to fuck them.

All good. Since owlcat can’t afford to do big crpgs just buy warhammer 40k rights and go make a better 40k game lol.

Me personally I’d love if they did a Diablo like game in their own universe. They would kill it.
Owlcat does a damn good job with their likely budget. Wrath was amazing and Rogue Trader is good and getting better.
 
Larian pulling a Jigga:

jay z GIF


They came. They saw. They Conquered.

It's definitely a disappointment, buy they are hyper aware that they can't develop BG3 again. And it's extremely smart.

Strikes me as the type of labor of love that you can't duplicate.

They also know life is short so why be the Baldurs Gate studio when they can pretty much do anything they want in the industry, with complete creative freedom.

I'd hate to be the studio that gets approached to do BG4...

Cheers Larian, y'all killed it.
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
not what i wanted to hear. I hope they are at least doing something new and not going back to Divinity series - if they're going to do that, then just stick with D&D which is a more enjoyable setting.
 

WitchHunter

Banned
Inside Raphael's house... there were a few portals to other realms. : DDD Looks like it has to be made by someone else. I'm wondering whether they license their engine out to other studios?!

DOS3 would be the way to go. That was a well made world.

What parts of the story and writing did you feel were subpar?
Which part of the writing was above sewer level after the latter part of act1?
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
I guess it was a nightmare for them internally to work on such a complex game and they don't wanna do it again, but... no expansion/s even?

855b59677b487bc34ab3dca1aa656508.gif
 
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Mozzarella

Member
Quite sad because i wanted more content from this legendary game.
But understandable because they respect and want to stick to their core game making model.
I hope they add little things like they did with the epilogue, so that the final edition is going to be even more legendary.

With that said though, i can't help but wonder in excitement about what upcoming game they are going to cook!

Was BG3 not a well-written game?
I think it was well written, the writing was fun, engaging and super reactive to the point that in my 2 playthroughs i have noticed a lot of different lines that i didn't see in the previous one, on top of that you have the amazing presentation and performances that boost the enjoyment and attachment even further.
Then you have the side quests and the many different choices you can do in them, all of the writing was made to complement that and it worked well, also the characters are great the highlight of the game if i dare say.
Writing in BG3 was great, there is a reason it won best writing awards in DICE and GDC and it getting nominated in TGA and BAFTA as well, video game writing is different from books and movies and BG3 does video game writing very well.
Coming from DOS2 i was skeptical about the writing in BG3 because Divinity games have mediocre writing, but they really stepped it up, the user says Dragon Age Origins, well i played that game and let me tell you while its good game (i like it) it doesnt even compare and since both games have a kind of generic main plot it make things even less significant.
Its hard for a dynamic RPG with emergent gameplay to feature well written and deep plot, because if its deep plot its going to be so complex that they will fall flat because of the choices and possibilities it may go, and if its well written then it must make concessions towards choices and plot depth, this is why most of these heavy choices emergent games favor to have a generic plot, it can act as a good carrier for the rest of the writing, it will act like an excuse to carry the quests, characters and game forward.
This is why most of the really well written RPG plots (plot = main story) are games that barely invest in game design, things like Witcher series, Planescape Torment, Disco Elysium and such.
 
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No, the story and writing were the worst parts.
I haven't played BG3 yet, but I'm curious, have you played Divinity: Original Sin II? If so, what did you think? I recently finished it and thought it was fantastic. More importantly the writing was some of the best I've encountered in a video game in recent memory. So that's why I'm a bit surprised to hear this. Same studio of course, but according to wikipedia these games had different writers.
 

Shut0wen

Member
Good. I would rather studios focus on new projects than big DLC's and expansions. Elden Ring is the perfect example. I loved that game, even though it was a bit long in the tooth by the end of it. I would rather get a new Fromsoftware game 12-18months sooner than a new Elden Ring expansion

Also, Larian doesnt own the Baldurs Gate IP. So, from a financial perspective its probably best to build a new IP from the ground up where they can make all the money and not split it up. I'm sure Larian would have done DLC if they owned the IP

Edit- Just looked up. Larian only made 90 million in revenue from BG3, WTF? The game has sold 10+ mill copies. That seems fucking awful
Wizarss of the coast mostly funded the title, all larian did was make there own engine and more then likely paid half the staffs wages
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I'll buy literally anything they put out Day 1 from now on.

Also, LMAO @ one of the highest rated games of all time, refusing any DLCs/Expacs and then completely moving on from the franchise. BG fans knew greatness, once.

And into something new. Industry execs said doing this is impossible. There's no money in it they say.
 

Hemingwayoffbase

Gold Member
In all seriousness, I bet every company that as a popular yet dormant IP has been knocking on Larian’s door begging to do for them what they did for Baldur’s Gate.

So the question is… what other big company has a massive IP just sitting around waiting to be revived?
 
Absolutely agree with them. BG3 is such a massive title, it has so many story elements, its insane to think of a sequel any time soon. They put it all in for BG3. Let it simmer for next 5 years and then consider working on a sequel. It will go down as a classic soon.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
There is a building somewhere, at some corner office, and there is a publishing exec, that has absolutely nothing to do with this IP, who is crying his eyes out just thinking of all the money left on the table from milking this IP for all its worth.
 
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