But why? Arguably, the only thing missing from bg1/2 enhanced editions are controller support, other then that they’re perfectly playable.
I mean, if you can handle 2e, which many people can’t.
You could definitely make 2e a little more user friendly by skipping THAC0 and just having big numbers be better like everything else.
I find this trend of remaking a popular game in the middle of the franchise, then expanding from there in both directions to be a little annoying. Baldur’s Gate and BG2 make a lot more sense when played in chronological order.
They can dangle the original co-lead designer in front of me all they want, my faith in Hasbro doing something good with this is almost zero. Also David Warner has unfortunately passed, and nobody else could ever deliver a better Irenicus, so I don’t know how they’ll deal with that problem (assuming they want the game fully voiced now). Please don’t let it be AI David Warner acting from the grave. Also please get Jim Cummings back, I believe he’s still working and I don’t want another Matt Mercer Minsc.
Baldur’s Gate 2 is an amazing game, and in one sense I would want it to reach more players. But I also kind of… don’t want it fucked with. Maybe I’m just grumpy and stuck in the past. A more elegant ruleset than 2E and a more intuitive gameplay style than real-time-with-pause would be great. I just fear that everything else (ie: the parts that actually matter) will suffer.
But line must go up, I guess. After the success of BG3 it was only a matter of time.
The delivery of Irenicus was so good that every time Irenicus wasn’t on screen, I was asking, “Where’s Irenicus?”
I could pick almost anything he ever said in the game honestly, but this line always stuck with me. I’ll spoiler tag it just in case since it’s a pivotal moment.
spoiler for a 25-year old classic
I cannot be caged.
I cannot be controlled.
The line that stuck with me most was where he picked a random-ass woman, briefly told her life story, and then said, “and now she’s dead”, and killed her in an instant. All-time great villain.
Your pick is probably an objectively better call (and better scene), I just remember being in awe the first time I saw that scene as a kid and really feeling how powerful Irenicus was. As if it wasn’t already apparent enough from the opening, where his delivery is equally dripping with similar nonchalant disdain at these flies who think they can lay a finger on him.
I wish BG3 had an antagonist half as strong as him. Maybe it’s just me but the super spooky gigabrain of doom was just not it.
BG3 has plenty of other strengths over its predecessors. It’s just not its main villain. Gortash and Thorm were both great, but our attention was divided amongst several antagonists rather than how much of the spotlight Irenicus got.
Ketheric was good, in general I felt like Act 2 was where the game peaked for me. I didn’t really feel like Gortash was all that great of a villain honestly, although part of it may be that he got introduced so late. And Orin was absolute dogwater so that didn’t help the impression of Act 3 for me.
I feel like they needed a stronger throughline antagonist, even the big brain is introduced very late. Maybe doing something with the Emperor instead of “not all Mind Flayers are evil, actually! Hey, would you like to fuck one?” would have been better for me, I don’t know.
But I think an Elder Brain is just inherently less compelling as an antagonist than something more human, and I’m not really sure how to get around that.
My favorite is the monologue set that begins with “Life… is strength. This is not to be contested…”
It would be a challenge to pull off without lower level caps under 5e.
I’m not interested in reliving the past.
Hhmm, hopefully this will be good.
