Infinity Engine Games

[Bandit]

My suggestion would be to make more Infinity Engine games. The Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale series have been my favorite RPGs. I like the graphics, sceneries, the music - although, IWD2 could have used more music instead of just background noise for most of the game. The simplicity of these games is what really appealed to me.

Anyhow, just my two cents.

[Volourn]

Infinity Engine is dead. Dead, dead, dead. I'm sure Obsidian realizes this and won't bother trying to purchase the rights to use it from BIo anytime soon.

[Kaftan Barlast]

For once, agre with Volo we do.

[GhostofAnakin]

As fun as the games are, I'd think the engine is quite outdated, both in terms of pure graphics and in what the programmers can do with the engine.

[Darth insano]

it's better than the oddessy or neverwinter nights engine, because of the isometric view, which makes combat easier I give it 4 thumbs up!

[mkreku]

The sick thing is that the engine was never any good to begin with. Why anyone would want to touch it 5 years after it became outdated is beyond me.

[Bandit]

I actually liked the graphics and gameplay a lot better with the Infinity Engine than a lot games out there, Neverwinter Nights being one example. I'm not trying to say that Neverwinter Nights wasn't good - the graphics were nice. I was just making a suggestion for a game to be developed with an engine that got a lot of really good use out of it and a high level of customer satisfaction.

My two cents.

[Volourn]

"The sick thing is that the engine was never any good to begin with."

 

That's your opinion. An opinion shared by very few. Either way, the engine is dead nontheless.

[Diamond]

The sick thing is that the engine was never any good to begin with.

 

True.

[mkreku]

An opinion shared by very few.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you have any facts to back this statement with, or is it just another Volourn lie ©?

[Volourn]

"Do you have any facts to back this statement with, or is it just another Volourn lie

[Dragon Lord Jones]

the fact that the engine is dead still doesn't stop the fact that many a mod exist for the BG - IWD games, some actually are pretty good. just do a google search and I'm sure you'll find something out there to play using the IE.

 

I also believe some mods are still being made/ haven't checked in a long time, they may have been abandoned by now, maybe not.

[Sermon]

Well, the engine definitely showed its age and limitations by the time IWD2 was released and even I, a strong supporter of the IE, think that it shouldn't be used anymore. We got some really great games based on that engine, but it's definitely time to let it rest in peace.

 

And, let's face it, no developer in the world would nowadays go back to a 2D-only engine and design a game with it. I was one of the strongest supporters of the beautifully rendered 2D-backgrounds of the Infinity Engine, but now 3D is definitely on its way of catching up with 2D in terms of graphical details. 2 years ago I was still "2D all the way", as the 3D graphics back then were quality-wise still not on par with a detailled 2D backdrop, but ever since I've seen screenshots of games like "Age of Empires 3" I start to think that finally 3D-graphics are on a level nowadays where it finally makes sense to go for 3D instead of 2D.

[mkreku]

"Do you have any facts to back this statement with, or is it just another Volourn lie

[Volourn]

"So you mean a thread (which is started by one person, mind you) is proof that the IE was loved by the majority?"

 

You better read again. This thread is one ilustration. The success of the IE games is another. The fact that most people who have an opinion on the subject say they loved the engine.

 

Now, stop trolling and flaming, or you will be reported. Personal attacks are outlawed on this forum.

 

Enjoy.

[Tsel]

I loved the Infinity Engine and the games created using it, but like many others here that have already stated, the engine is way, way, way dead.

I believe the suggestion to keep using it is more out of nostalgia than a practical sense.

 

Tsel

[Bandit]

No, because one of the main staples of Dungeons and Dragons is a party-based campaign and the games from the Infinity Engine bring this about beautifully. To have a game carry the D&D tag and not have a party buildable as the result is contradictory, i.e., Neverwinter Nights. I've read about people playing the Baldur's Gate series with their one createable character. At least, however, there was an option to have a party as large as 6 with the Infinity Engine games. Hordes of the Underdark is almost semi-believeable as a D&D game when they added the option to have a total of 3 characters - the main character included.

The D&D games developed lately, in my opinion, haven't lived up to its Infinity Engine predecessors when it comes to a party-based game - as D&D games ought to be like.

[Nightblade]

^^

 

Agree.

 

I love the IE games.

 

 

N.

[Feargus Urquhart]

You probably won't seen anymore IE games. It's unfortunate in many ways, because I do think there is a hole left by them. I really enjoyed the strategic play, which is one of the reasons I got Interplay to sign up the original BG.

 

The problem is that the game style is pretty much PC only and the engine is 2D. Both of those things together would pretty much get you laughed out of any publisher's conference room if you pitched that kind of game to them.

 

We do kick the idea around here every once in a while about making a game like those that were made with the IE, but we are pretty sure we would have to fund it ourselves if we did.

[Gorth]

You take paypal ? :)"

[MaxSkywalker]

Infinity Engine is dead. Dead, dead, dead. I'm sure Obsidian realizes this and won't bother trying to purchase the rights to use it from BIo anytime soon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well... Elder Scorlls IV is coming out. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I belive it is called. It will be an "infinity engine".

[GhostofAnakin]

You take paypal ?  "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hypothetically, I wonder how many total "donations" it would cost to make such a game on the IE engine. "

 

*fishes around his pocket for quarters*

[Judge Hades]

You probably won't seen anymore IE games.  It's unfortunate in many ways, because I do think there is a hole left by them.  I really enjoyed the strategic play, which is one of the reasons I got Interplay to sign up the original BG.

 

The problem is that the game style is pretty much PC only and the engine is 2D.  Both of those things together would pretty much get you laughed out of any publisher's conference room if you pitched that kind of game to them.

 

We do kick the idea around here every once in a while about making a game like those that were made with the IE, but we are pretty sure we would have to fund it ourselves if we did.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think you guys were on the right track at Black Isle with the Jefferson engine. From the pics I saw it was indeed a fully 3D engine but had the look of the Infinity Engine games. If you guys could make an Infinity Engine styled game using all the updated bits of 3D technology with a radial menu system I think you could make a CRPG that will be viable for the PC and console. Just a thought.

[Sermon]

You probably won't seen anymore IE games.  It's unfortunate in many ways, because I do think there is a hole left by them.  I really enjoyed the strategic play, which is one of the reasons I got Interplay to sign up the original BG.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I couldn't agree more. It's a shame that it didn't work out, but there were a few IE-style games that looked promising. Not really wanting to comment on the overall quality of the game I must say that I liked Troika's "Temple of Elemental Evil" engine, which nicely combined beautifully rendered 2D-backgrounds with 3D-characters and I could definitely have lived with a few more games based on that engine.

 

The problem is that the game style is pretty much PC only and the engine is 2D.  Both of those things together would pretty much get you laughed out of any publisher's conference room if you pitched that kind of game to them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I can understand the 2D/3D aspect, especially now that 3D games start to come out that really are on par graphics-wise with the quality of good 2D-graphics. Two years ago I really didn't yet see the necessity to go 3D, because 3D didn't look that good back then. That is fortunately changing now. As for the aspect of PC-only-gameplay, I don't see what would be wrong with that, but more on that below.

 

We do kick the idea around here every once in a while about making a game like those that were made with the IE, but we are pretty sure we would have to fund it ourselves if we did.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is there really no market for games like these anymore? I highly doubt it. I, for one, am really getting tired of all these console-ish RPG's that invade the PC market these days. It really pains me to see that all we PC-RPGamers get these days are half-baked conversions of console RPG's and RPG's that are being developed with consoles in mind, with their watered down/dumbed down rulesets and action-oriented, gamepad-friendly gameplay. Especially if you think about what a PC is really capable of. These games aren't really RPG's anymore. They are (in most cases) a dumbed- and watered-down genre mish-mash that tries to appeal to the widest audience possible. In no way am I critizising you guys at Obsidian here, because you catered, in order to survive on the market, to what the market and the publisher demands, but KOTOR2 is to a certain extent really no exception to that trend.

 

Maybe it takes another game like Baldur's Gate (IMO not the best of the IE titles, but definitely the game that breathed life back into a then dead genre) or Fallout to end this console-friendly RPG-trend, something that caters to the hardcore-fans in order to revive the proper CRPG.

[kirottu]

I think you guys were on the right track at Black Isle with the Jefferson engine.  From the pics I saw it was indeed a fully 3D engine but had the look of the Infinity Engine games.  If you guys could make an Infinity Engine styled game using all the updated bits of 3D technology with a radial menu system I think you could make a CRPG that will be viable for the PC and console.  Just a thought.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I agree.