Classic RPGs including Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights are coming to consoles this...

Shawn Knight

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Something to look forward to: Baldur's Gate was largely credited with reviving the role-playing genre on the PC and inspiring a whole new wave of Dungeons & Dragons games. Later this year, you'll be able to experience them in the comfort of your living room on the big screen.

Skybound Games is partnering with Canadian video game publisher, developer and distributor Beamdog to bring classic roleplaying games to consoles.

Titles destined for console platforms in 2019 include Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate II, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights and Planescape: Torment. All will arrive as enhanced editions, we’re told, and will be sold both in retail stores and online through Skybound's website.

The majority of these six games were originally developed by BioWare and / or Black Isle Studios from 1998 on, the lone exception being Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear which came directly from Beamdog in 2016. The games have all previously been released on PC and mobile platforms as enhanced edition but this marks the first time they will appear on consoles.

Skybound said additional details including box contents and specific platform support will be unveiled in the coming months. In the meantime, a selection of Beamdog’s games will be on display at the Skybound Games booth at PAX East in Boston from March 28 through March 31.

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NWN alone had 36x quickslots (F1-F12 plus CTRL & Shift modifiers). How are you planning to dumb that down to fit that onto controllers?
 
The games were awesome but how about bringing the newer ones into consoles and stop trying to cash in on the old classics. Don't get me wrong, BG and IWD were truly awesome but I think they have been revived too many times already. Temple of Elemental Evil is an overseen one. NWN was really cool as well but for some reason I never did like the 1 + guardian over the multi class party.

Develop new things for console, please, enough with the republishing of things, don't become Hollywood (Yeah I'm talking to you Spiderman).
 
NWN alone had 36x quickslots (F1-F12 plus CTRL & Shift modifiers). How are you planning to dumb that down to fit that onto controllers?

Either they'll reduce the number of quickslots or add some crazy button press combinations.
 
NWN alone had 36x quickslots (F1-F12 plus CTRL & Shift modifiers). How are you planning to dumb that down to fit that onto controllers?
I invite you to take a look into Elite Dangerous ;) it takes a while to get into all the shortcuts if you are using a controller but it's completely doable.
 
NWN alone had 36x quickslots (F1-F12 plus CTRL & Shift modifiers). How are you planning to dumb that down to fit that onto controllers?

You still in 2010? Yet another "keyboard superior to controller" kind of guy. DS4 has a touchpad and more than enough buttpns, oh and as a plus, analog stick movement is objectively superior to WASD because it has more than 8 linear directions at always 100% speed.
 
I invite you to take a look into Elite Dangerous ;) it takes a while to get into all the shortcuts if you are using a controller but it's completely doable.
I have seen it (and am familiar with Elite games going all the way back to Elite Plus in 1991 which I happily played with a joystick instead of keyb / mouse). Unfortunately Baldur's Gate isn't a space simulator game naturally conducive to "joystick" style controls, and has about as much in common with Elite Dangerous for controls & gameplay as Planescape Torment does with Freelancer...

You still in 2010? Yet another "keyboard superior to controller" kind of guy.
Have you even played the games you're trying to "comment" on? There is no "WASD" FPS style controls in Baldur's Gate (1998), to "replicate" analogue sticks onto. They're point & click isometric RPG's with "designed for 2ft view distance" small UI elements (spell selection, spell targeting, formations, inventory, etc), tiny on screen characters (for aiming at), etc. I guess you also missed all the reasons why even all the post 2013 Enhanced Editions for BG, ID & NWN all lack controller support for PC too? ;)
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Baldur's_Gate:_Enhanced_Edition#Input_settings
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Icewind_Dale:_Enhanced_Edition#Input_settings
https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights:_Enhanced_Edition#Input_settings
 
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I dunno how they'll fit all those commands on a controller, maybe they'll "borrow" the technique FF14 uses
 
Yeah - I loved Baldurs Gate series but the inventory management got pretty tiresome - all the different types of potions, arrows etc - even on a PC with a keyboard and mouse. I wonder how well they will cope with that without changing the gameplay itself. I guess games like Oblivion and Witcher 3 coped with these issues reasonably enough so it can be done...
 
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