George Ziets interview

[WorstUsernameEver]

Didn't see it posted, and thought people here might be interested, the Codex has an interview with George Ziets.

 

You have on a few occasions mentioned Baldur's Gate 3 – how you'd love to work on it, as well as laying out ideas you have for it. Project Eternity may the closest we'll ever get in terms of a 'spiritual successor' to the series, and there's no direct continuation of Baldur's Gate in sight. Would you still consider Baldur's Gate 3 as your 'dream project', even with Project Eternity happening?

 

Absolutely. Well, it’s one of my dream projects, anyway. And I still think that a sequel to the BG series is a possibility. I have my own ideas about how the Bhaalspawn’s story could be continued in a divine-level campaign, which I’ve described on Formspring. Personally, I’d love to play (and work on) that game.

 

But if BG3 is ever made, it’s more likely that it won’t be a direct continuation of the Bhaalspawn story. When Obsidian briefly started work on BG3 in 2009, we were planning a narrative that took place some time after the Bhaalspawn crisis, and the main character was not the same as in the original series. I can’t say much more about it, but we discussed a number of ways to connect that narrative to the original series, and I think we could have found a clever way to make it work.

 

Hopefully a BG sequel would have at least some connection to the original games, apart from the location… though I’ve seen proposals that had nothing to do with the Bhaalspawn at all.

[kirottu]

George Ziets is the only exception to my only rule: "Never trust a person whose first name is longer than his surname."

[Arsene Lupin]

Huh. My rule is, "never trust a person whose first name and surname are alliteration."

 

....

 

Anyway, anyone have any links to Ziets' speculation on BG3? I've only seen a few very generalized, uncredited ideas for a potential sequel (all of which struck me as fairly bad). I'd be quite interested in what an actual designer has to say.

[Hormalakh]

check out gziet's formspring account. google is your friend.

[WDeranged]

Great interview, how I wish Ziets could have been put in charge of a real Elder Scrolls game, one thing I sorely missed in Skyrim was Michael Kirkbride's psychosexual alien weirdness.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Great interview, how I wish Ziets could have been put in charge of a real Elder Scrolls game, one thing I sorely missed in Skyrim was Michael Kirkbride's psychosexual alien weirdness.

Kirkbride's writing is awesome, but he sure could use being slapped and told "we're making a game bro, write stuff that doesn't end up in lore books".

[WDeranged]

I think he's a bit of a troubled genius, it was especially strange that he did nothing official for Skyrim considering that he was enthusiastic about the game and wrote most of what we knew about the setting.  His recent work is pushing the Elder Scrolls lore into space exploration and weird digital stuff so maybe his direction just doesn't fit in with Bethesda's idea of what TES is nowadays

Edited May 8, 2013 by WDeranged

[C2B]

I think he's a bit of a troubled genius, it was especially strange that he did nothing official for Skyrim considering that he was enthusiastic about the game and wrote most of what we knew about the setting.  His recent work is pushing the Elder Scrolls lore into space exploration and weird digital stuff so maybe his direction just doesn't fit in with Bethesda's idea of what TES is nowadays

 

First off he was at Zenimax Online, not the main TES team. Secondly, I don't think Skyrim was far into production when he left.

[WorstUsernameEver]

 

I think he's a bit of a troubled genius, it was especially strange that he did nothing official for Skyrim considering that he was enthusiastic about the game and wrote most of what we knew about the setting.  His recent work is pushing the Elder Scrolls lore into space exploration and weird digital stuff so maybe his direction just doesn't fit in with Bethesda's idea of what TES is nowadays

 

First off he was at Zenimax Online, not the main TES team. Secondly, I don't think Skyrim was far into production when he left.

 

? I think you're confusing Ziets with Kirkbride here.

[WDeranged]

 

I think he's a bit of a troubled genius, it was especially strange that he did nothing official for Skyrim considering that he was enthusiastic about the game and wrote most of what we knew about the setting.  His recent work is pushing the Elder Scrolls lore into space exploration and weird digital stuff so maybe his direction just doesn't fit in with Bethesda's idea of what TES is nowadays

 

First off he was at Zenimax Online, not the main TES team. Secondly, I don't think Skyrim was far into production when he left.

 

 

Yeah I was talking about Michael Kirkbride but I was too lazy to press the quote button.  I mentioned him because Ziets once said how much he liked Kirkbride's writing, in my perfect world they'd both be working on a proper Elder Scrolls game.

Edited May 8, 2013 by WDeranged

[mute688]

Anyway, anyone have any links to Ziets' speculation on BG3? I've only seen a few very generalized, uncredited ideas for a potential sequel (all of which struck me as fairly bad). I'd be quite interested in what an actual designer has to say.

 

http://www.formspring.me/GZiets/q/414930203056307948

[C2B]

 

 

I think he's a bit of a troubled genius, it was especially strange that he did nothing official for Skyrim considering that he was enthusiastic about the game and wrote most of what we knew about the setting.  His recent work is pushing the Elder Scrolls lore into space exploration and weird digital stuff so maybe his direction just doesn't fit in with Bethesda's idea of what TES is nowadays

 

First off he was at Zenimax Online, not the main TES team. Secondly, I don't think Skyrim was far into production when he left.

 

? I think you're confusing Ziets with Kirkbride here.

 

 

Yup. Teaches me to write deep in the nigh....

 

Wait, when did I write that?

 

What's happening?

Edited May 9, 2013 by C2B