Atari to revisit Baldur's Gate

[Daehawk]

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/43310/Atari-to-Revist-Baldurs-Gate-Test-Drive

At an Atari press event, Phil Harrison revealed that his company will be putting out further installments in the Baldur's Gate and Test Drive series, albeit not for a while:

    Atari plans to revisit the likes of Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter Nights and Test Drive Unlimited, but not in the next 12 months.

    "You will hear more from these but not today, because we're focused on 2009," Infogrames president Phil Harrison told hacks assembled at a press event this afternoon.

[CeeKay]

Meh, they'll probably fuck it up.

[Kevin Grey]

At this point I would be concerned with Atari lasting long enough to bring those games to market. 

[Sarkus]

My fear is that they are going to "revisit" D&D via action games and not true RPG's.  Given that there are only so many RPG developers around, that's another concern.  Plus Atari's recent propensity to rush stuff out and not give the developers enough time to do things properly.

For all NWN2's issues, it's probably the only real D&D alternative for some time.

[Farscry]

My guess is that they'll bring out a BG: Dark Alliance 3. I don't see them dedicating the kind of support it would take to create a "real" Baldur's Gate 3.

And I'm fine with that. I'd like another Dark Alliance, and I'm looking at Dragon Age to be my real Baldur's Gate 3.

[Kevin Grey]

Given the relative success that more hardcore RPGs are experiencing this gen (Oblivion, Fallout, Mass Effect, The Witcher,  Fable 2 though that one is debatable I suppose etc) I can actually see Atari making an attempt to make it full on CRPG and not some sort of hack and slash ARPG. I would just be very concerned with whether they can execute though- as Sarkus notes, the available pool of experienced CRPG devs is very limited so it's hard to imagine that this won't be from a team relatively inexperienced in the genre. 

[ScubaV]

As far as I'm concerned the only interesting RPG's to come out in recent years have been from European developers.  Hopefully, they can get more support so that their rough around the edges gems become polished gems.

[Autistic Angel]

It's always possible that Atari could contract someone like Obsidian to do Baldur's Gate 3.  J.E. Sawyer was intimately involved in "Project Jefferson" before it was canned by Interplay, and has previously talked about converting it into a modified Aurora / Electron Engine game...but then, he's currently involved in that Aliens RPG.

-Autistic Angel

[Kevin Grey]

Yeah, I would think Obsidian would be the most likely candidates assuming they are still on good terms with Atari after NWN2 and it's expansions but they do have quite a bit on their plate. 

[Farscry]

With good project management support to keep them on track, along with leeway to finish the damn thing rather than Atari just shoving it incomplete out the door, I believe that Obsidian has it in them to craft a truly masterful crpg. However, I don't believe that Atari has it in them to let those conditions prevail.

[Kevin Grey]

With good project management support to keep them on track, along with leeway to finish the damn thing rather than Atari just shoving it incomplete out the door, I believe that Obsidian has it in them to craft a truly masterful crpg. However, I don't believe that Atari has it in them to let those conditions prevail.

I haven't really played it, but many seem to think that Mask of the Betrayer is one of the best CRPGs of the decade.  So it couild be that Obsidian and Atari have already done it once...

[the Nightbreeze]

Please don't let Atari rush the developer and screw it up
Please don't let Atari rush the developer and screw it up
Please don't let Atari rush the developer and screw it up

[CeeKay]

With good project management support to keep them on track, along with leeway to finish the damn thing rather than Atari just shoving it incomplete out the door, I believe that Obsidian has it in them to craft a truly masterful crpg. However, I don't believe that Atari has it in them to let those conditions prevail.

I haven't really played it, but many seem to think that Mask of the Betrayer is one of the best CRPGs of the decade.  So it couild be that Obsidian and Atari have already done it once...

there's definitely mixed opinions on MotB (worst game mechanic ever) but their latest expansion seems to be getting decent reviews.

[Farscry]

With good project management support to keep them on track, along with leeway to finish the damn thing rather than Atari just shoving it incomplete out the door, I believe that Obsidian has it in them to craft a truly masterful crpg. However, I don't believe that Atari has it in them to let those conditions prevail.

I haven't really played it, but many seem to think that Mask of the Betrayer is one of the best CRPGs of the decade.  So it couild be that Obsidian and Atari have already done it once...

I can't make a call on that one until I finally get to play it. I'm hoping it's as great as many say it is, despite the contentious game mechanic.

[Dan_Theman]

Just to be clear on the MotB game mechanic in question, there are mods out there which remove it in case you want to play without.

[CeeKay]

Just to be clear on the MotB game mechanic in question, there are mods out there which remove it in case you want to play without.

I'll have to look those up.  I tried the console commands and they always seemed to break the AI in my game.  Luckily I decided to restart NWN2 so I have a melee character built up for MotB to offset all the caster party members you get at the beginning of it.

[Farscry]

Just want to add to the conversation that I thought Test Drive Unlimited was awesome, and I really want to see a sequel with another interesting fully-open setting!

[Daehawk]

im in the camp that didn't like MotB. But i was also pretty burnt out on NWN2 by the time I got MotB. I had pushed myself to finish the OC and after about 10 hours of MotB I just couldn't take it anymore. I also didn't care for the soul eating part.

[Sarkus]

I also hated the soul-eater mechanic and thus shelved MotB for several months.  However I downloaded a mod to shut it off last summer and played through the module and was generally pretty happy with it.  SoZ, the new expansion, I'm still not sure about.

[coopasonic]

Just want to add to the conversation that I thought Test Drive Unlimited was awesome, and I really want to see a sequel with another interesting fully-open setting!

I'm in the small group that agrees.

[kronovan]

With the Canadian $ now hovering below 80 cents US and .6 euros, or more importantly at a level that makes game dev here very attractive again, I won't be surprised if a spin off studio comprised of ex-Bioware staff forms in the next year or so. If that occurs then a CRPG like Baldurs Gate or D&D could very well be the result of it.

[Turtle]

Well, one thing to realize is that Atari is practically under new management with a whole host of new execs.  This is likely one of their decisions, along with the decision to try and fix some of the issues in Alone in the Dark.

However, these new execs are still just execs and it remains to be seen if they'll really change the company, or just make the motions to try and raise stock.  Then there's the question of whether Atari has the money to do anything.  Oh, and despite the fixes AitD still turned out mediocre.

I'm willing to give Atari and a new Baldur's Gate a chance (even if it's an action rpg), but only enough to bother to read reviews and follow what games are coming out.  Otherwise, Atari can announce all they want but we'll see if the quality is there.