Many people are still playing Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s the kind of game you could do countless runs through and still find new stuff, especially if you love experimenting with builds and playing with the Origin characters.
However, many are asking “What next?” Unfortunately, Larian Studios has confirmed it’s not doing any story DLC for Baldur’s Gate 3, nor is it working on the sequel, which is a task that will be undertaken by a new team.
Expectations are high for Baldur’s Gate 4, but there are other entries in the series that are in dire need of a remake.
Modern fans might be enthralled by the story of Tav, but what about the characters who started it all?
Baldur’s Gate 1 needs a remake
Baldur’s Gate 1 is the perfect example of a game that’s important to the history of the medium and especially the RPG genre, but isn’t that fun to play.
There are a few reasons for this; chief among them is the D&D rules used as the basis for the gameplay. Baldur’s Gate uses the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, which is the second edition of the game, while Baldur’s Gate 3 uses the modern fifth edition rules.
AD&D is far more complicated, unintuitive, and unbalanced than its forebears. There’s a reason the manual for Baldur’s Gate 1 was practically a reprint of the AD&D Player’s Handbook, as you need a crash course in the rules before you can start playing.
This is the edition where spellcasters tend to die in one hit, where your armor score gets lower the better it is, and where specific class/race combos weren’t allowed for no good reason.
The balance is heavily tipped in the enemy’s favor, with monsters likely one-shotting your group during early encounters. This isn’t helped by the game’s first story dungeon, the Nashkel Mines, being one of the worst in video game history, with constant traps and Kobold Archers waiting to snipe you as soon as the Fog of War is peeled back.
Once you get your head around the baffling AD&D rules, you then have to contend with everything else. For one thing, most of the overworld maps and dungeons are boring as hell. Prepare to see lots of natural caves, green fields, and forests, with barely anything interesting to distinguish them from each other.
The story and the quests carry the game, but they’re bogged down by everything else. The developers deserve all of the praise in the world for so faithfully adapting AD&D into a video game, but that commitment drags down the experience rather than elevating it.
Baldur’s Gate 2 just needs fresh rules & visuals
Baldur’s Gate 2 is one of the best video games ever made, even with the shackles of the ancient visuals and outdated AD&D ruleset. If you haven’t played it, you should, as a modern remaster is available. Just skip the first game and jump into it.
That being said, if Baldur’s Gate 1 is getting a remake, then it’s natural to do the same for the sequel. All Baldur’s Gate 2 needs is modern visuals and an adaptation to the D&D 5E rules. The story and characters should be kept as intact as possible, as they’re the reason people still love the game, even after all these years.
Where Baldur’s Gate 1 had drab and repetitive environments, its sequel had otherworldly and unique locations wherever you went. Nearly every quest was well thought out and had powerful magic items as rewards rather than junk that you didn’t need.
A remake could also flesh out the Throne of Bhaal expansion, which was a bit lacking in the final release, as the Bhaalspawn Crisis could practically make up a full third game with a little extra content.
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A new version of Baldur’s Gate 2 that updates the romances to extend to all character types, dumped the antiquated AD&D rules, and threw in some QoL improvements could make for an epic video game, one that rivals Baldur’s Gate 3.
Can you adapt Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 to D&D 5E’s rules & timeline?
Here’s the important question — can you adapt Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 in the first place?
It’s no small feat to swap everything from the AD&D rules to D&D 5E. You essentially need to change every aspect of the gameplay experience, from the monsters you encounter to the items you find. It would be a massive task.
You also need to factor in progress. D&D 5E rules only go to level 20, while Baldur’s Gate 2 and Throne of Bhaal went way beyond that. Even if the remake of Throne of Bhaal extended to level 20, it would completely change how everything is balanced.
Then there’s the thorny issue of the timeline, especially if you want to stick to it. For those unaware of D&D lore, Baldur’s Gate 3 takes place a century after the events of the first games because D&D did a time-skip in the previous edition.
This means that certain elements of the game from the D&D 5E era didn’t exist when Baldur’s Gate 1 occurred. These include the Dragonborn race, who didn’t appear until later.
It would be relatively simple to retcon these elements, but it’s another thing that needs to be considered, as including things like the Warlock class, playable Tieflings, and the existence of Dragonborn would change aspects of the setting.
To remake Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 using D&D 5E rules would be a monumental task, as it wouldn’t be as simple as a straight adaptation of the story and characters into a 3D environment. You’d be making something very different.
However, these lore and rules changes wouldn’t affect the core story and world, which drew fans to the games in the first place.
Remakes of the older Baldur’s Gate could elevate some of the greatest games of all time, making them palatable to a modern audience and fixing some of the issues that were present over twenty years ago.
With Baldur’s Gate 3 being such a huge hit, it’s time to show the newcomers why people were clamoring for a sequel in the first place. Hasbro needs to find a studio that’s willing to gather a party and venture back to the past and give the Bhaalspawn Saga the retelling it badly deserves.
Wait, does Icewind Dale also need a remake?
No. 3D visuals and the D&D 5E rules can’t improve that game.
(Because it’s already perfect.)
