THE BLACK HOUND: Inside the Cancelled Baldur's Gate 3

[@LuckStat]

Hey thanks so much for watching, this was a big undertaking so if you liked what you saw consider subscribing and telling a friend! Roll for dexterity by clicking these special links linktr.ee/luckstat

[@SirDuncan13]

I never tire of hearing about obsidian's ability to persevere despite the universe seemingly be against their development efforts. Truly the genius game dev cockroach studio.

[@Indigo_Gaming]

Wow, beautifully executed, and I loved how you told TBH's story through visually relevant movie clips. You continue to impress me with your eye for detail and thorough research! Enjoy your break, man.

[@soniamaria-od8rn]

the black hound sounds like it would have been a incredibly dark and tragic story, truly amazing. shame we never got the chance to play it.

[@odinulveson9101]

BG4TBH maybe? If WotC can let Obsidian have at it and stay true and pure to to the BG3 originals/ first iterations concepts. Would buy!

[@DanishSegaGamer]

I think the next smart move for a DnD game would be to end the Baldur's Gate stories here and choose a new setting. Would love a game with the setting in Waterdeep

[@FlameQwert]

would love if wotc moved away from the sword coast at all but it's been a decade since they even bothered so eh

[@meetyouineveryplace]

@@FlameQwert imagine an Eberron game done in they style of Uncharted/Tomb Raider

[@MisterHanRPG]

I've always wondered what the region of Cormyr is like.

[@Pariahmary]

Blood wars rts seems like it writes itself

[@SalamiCellar]

Well we know there's no intention of a BG4 or with Larian working with DND again so I wouldn't count on another DND videogame of BG3 quality for a long time bubba

[@TKsh1]

I wish Obsidian would use Black Hound's story and themes more directly, because the entire game sound really interesting. They did an excellent work using the good parts of Van Buren design in New Vegas.

[@ANGRYWOLVERINE2060-ft2nc]

Might cause copywrite issues so they won't do that.

[@ByrneBlu]

Could be Baldurs Gate 4, I can see a wizards of the coast and Microsoft team up. Maybe blizzard? 🤔 but what I wanna see now is Icewind dale 3

[@jakerbakery]

The fact that we never saw a proper game release using the Jefferson Engine is absolutely criminal.

[@SirDuncan13]

Would be cool

[@aidnyan]

baldur's gate 3 simply gained power for every great video game dev who took a crack at it over the years

[@TheJiffy]

Jesus, the level of research that must've gone into this is astounding. Really paid off though, it was a really entertaining watch. I didn't see any footage, or catch you mentioning it, but I thought Champions of Norrath would've made an appearance in this video. Did you see it referenced during your research? I bloody loved that game.

[@LuckStat]

I didn't, at least not in connection with the black hound. I know Avellone worked on it and had a better relationship with Snowblind, but the problem with the research was it was very easy to look at every single project everyone worked on and try and connect it back to BG 3. I actually haven't played Chamions of Norrath so now I want to check it out

[@Eleven17Studios]

Dang, whoever got the gameplay footage must be really bad at old school CRPG's but great at naming party characters.

[@LuckStat]

Pizza Hut was a true hero of The Sword Coast

[@MarshmallowRadiation]

Neutral Good ending: Larian keeps making BG and other DnD games, riding their success to the end. Lawful Good ending: Obsidian gets the rights to make BG: The Black Hound, and Chris Avellone finally makes his next DnD masterpiece after so long. Chaotic Good ending: Owlcat Games gets the rights to make BG4, and makes a dark, daring, and bold sequel to Larian's lighthearted romp the same way Black Isle/Obsidian did with their own sequel games, keeping the legacy alive.

[@JBrandonMercer123]

Swen has already said that Larian is done with Baldur's Gate and D&D. They're working on two new projects for their own IP.

[@StoneCloth]

@JBrandonMercer123 true, and the timing is great too based on what WOTC is doing to dnd. Glad Larian could get bg3 out with as little force fed wokeness as possible

[@ILoveEvadingTax]

Feels like we're missing a proper dark fantasy CRPG in the timeline, The Black Hound would have been very welcome, possibly out of place for the Baldur's Gate Franchise, though I appreciate their determination to make the kind of RPG experience they're loved for. Wouldn't really be surprised if the Disco Elysium writers had the concept in mind when they made their gaeme.

[@LoofaTroopa]

WOW! All I can say is that the production value of this is absolutely through the roof. What an incredible documentary about the game that never was.. kind of. Looking forward to watching more. I also love the amount of "studios" that started in some dudes basement or attic lol.

[@Ka0ziun]

With the mod developer tool coming out by next patch on BG3 one can hope a team with the passion and technical knowledge like those who made Fallout London would produce the sequel we needed ...!

[@HiHungryIamDad]

Another banger by Luck Stat! I'm not even a D&D fan but it's so cool to learn history from a culture I'm not familiar with

[@LuckStat]

Thanks, Dad!

[@AndrewTime9106]

I would have (and still would) play the crap out of a Star Wars action RPG in an updated snowblind engine! I also think this BG 3 sounds like the perfect stop-gap between those gaming eras, and am sad we never got to see it.

[@odinulveson9101]

Very insightful video! What could have been and they seemingly tried twice to get BG3TBH off the ground. But if they did, Larian might have done something else or not at all.. Hmm.. imagine if Obsidian gets to make BG 4 by WotC? 🤔 Heck, finally put the pure, original and authentic Black Hound concept finally to use if just for theck of it. I bet they would succed!

[@kzxkzxkzx]

BG3 is the best BG ever. Larian have outdone themselves here and I'm looking forward to no other PC game as much as the next RPG from Larian.

[@LuckStat]

Incredibly excited to see what they do next, too. Really hoping it's something sci-fi or post-apocalyptic

[@jons5478]

As a huge fan of the OG Baldurs Gate games, and somebody who Hated the Dark Alliance games and everything they stood for dumbing down and soiling the good name of BG into a simple mindless hack and slash. I always had this irrational proof-less thought that Dark Alliance had something to do with BG3 getting canceled. And 20 years later I can finally say I'm probably right. Fuck those games.

[@nicholasrova3698]

They were good games, just crap BG games. They were basically Diablo with Forgotten Realms paint. But they also had nothing to do with the originals beyond the naming convention which was a plus in my mind. I think BG3 would have been a lot better without any connection to the old games and was its own thing.

[@TheRealCaptainLavender]

No, they weren't. They were shit games even back then. The thing is that you didn't really care if you were playing a bad game. It was more about playing games with your friends at that point which is what the entire point of that game was. As a D&D game it sucks ass. As a hack and slash it sucks ass. There's games that did it better that came out years before in the same setting , Chronicles of mystara comes to mind. The only thing the dark Alliance games did for D&D in Baldur's Gate is relegate the property to the Dustbin for years and years.

[@jons5478]

@@TheRealCaptainLavender You get me.

[@nicholasrova3698]

@@TheRealCaptainLavender They weren't that bad dude. They weren't great either, they were solidly average, which was enough. Champions of Norath (or however you spell it) were very similar and better though. They weren't Diablo 2 or Dungeon Siege for sure, but they got the job done, which was to have fun.

[@korakys]

Your visual composition on this video was very good. And a lot of this info I didn't know.

[@Acesahn]

I think I would have preferred Black Hound. Sounds more mature and less silly. Then again the actual plot of BG3 was very dire too.

[@ryanc6682]

Love the video, however I don’t understand why the audio levels are so variable. Was trying to watch and fall asleep but the music when the voice was so loud. This is a problem with lots of videos like this, not just yours. I wish KZbin had a function baked into the app that allowed you to set a limit. Sorry to nitpick, great video thanks for making it.

[@byroneveson]

The NWN engine was an idea stolen from my friend Steve Kress, back when Biowere was in Edmonton atop the Chapter's book store. We all lived ion Edmonton at the time and we loved the BG game. Steve had an idea for a game engine to act like a DM and fleshed out many ideas he would later share with and have stolen by, Bioware. When Steve got a lawyer, they sent him back his emails but had changed the dates in the headers, a feat the lawyer could not figure out and subsiquesntly adviced Steve that it would , at the time, take too much money and time to prove Bioware's nefarious practices. So Steve abandoned the process and voiwed to never play another Bioware game. If there is any justice, I hope one day someone with more brass than Steve's lawyer would look at this and get him the remuneration he deserves from this company.

[@RJMacReady1]

Ive loved larians work with the divinity games. However, I wouldve preferred that BG3 was left for obsidian, inxile or owlcat. Baldurs gate is a RTwP franchise in my head, and there are plenty of other turnbased games out there, BG3 didnt need to be another one.

[@MisterHanRPG]

Excellent work, you earned my subscription. That "old movie" footage from the Black Hound segment, was that an actual movie of some kind, or was it something to pitch the game with? I'm intrigued as to what that is.

[@LuckStat]

It's a handful of movies from the 80s and 90s that I picked to help give a visual for what I'm talking about, Excalibur mostly

[@MrGothicruler666]

Some of my favorite games came from this fracture.

[@Vodoriga]

Everything I just heard about The Black hound sounds more interesting than saving Baldur's Gate from "big evil brain" *sigh* we really lost a few generations of gems with interplays incompetence didn't we.

[@vMadMatt]

I feel like every Luck Stat video reminds me that I should probably play more CRPGs Also late to the party, but great work as always dude man

[@LuckStat]

Making this video had me feeling the same way to be fair Always appreciate the support, boss

[@salomonsaachz6823]

Excellent video, thank you. What is the title of the background music being played in chapter 2 ? Actually your whole bgm selection is pretty neat.

[@LuckStat]

Ankori & Ramon - Urban Tribe

[@nicklaserbeam]

This is a great video! Best summary of the Black Hound I've seen!

[@Drophinoia]

excellent. I've seen a few bad videos on this topic; yours may be the definitive take.

[@mura-e1i]

Thanks for the video, very cool explanation and narration

[@kfarbarata]

Dude I only wish they had get togheter, the 3rd act and the City itself is lame, bugged, empty... The 1 ~ 2 act are awesome and worth the game.

[@KarlKapo]

I know they worked on a NwN2 module called Black Hound, but it never was finished

[@Banefane]

Well, if anything comes close to the theme of guilt, it's the game Tyranny.

[@somerandomdude7785]

Had Larian never left BG3, they can repurpose The Black Hound for a potential DLC.

[@LuckStat]

I would've loved to see this as well. A new area, and get back in some of the writers as well (Larian previously worked with Chris Avellone on DOS2 if I remember right)

[@noirionC]

For a second there I thought I was watching Noclip. This is very good. :)

[@LuckStat]

The biggest compliment! Thank you so much

[@eveyweveydevey]

Holy shit Evan, what is that movie shown? It looks vibey af.

[@LuckStat]

It's like 4 or 5, "Excalibur," "The Beastmaster," "The Warrior and the Sorceress" and "The Sword and The Sorceress." I think there might've been one more, but most of it was Excalibur

[@Modenut]

Excellent work.

[@sleepwatcherrpsg1]

In pillars of eternity isn’t the inn at gilded vail called the black hound? Was that an Easter egg

[@LuckStat]

Yes it was!

[@saul3950]

Good video. Take my sub!

[@LuckStat]

Much appreciated!

[@WeaponxiD]

where are those videos from? movies?

[@ANGRYWOLVERINE2060-ft2nc]

I wonder is Sven Vincke was aware of this.

[@HansWurst1569]

Please give me the name of the VHS movie you used in the intro of the black hound. 6:43 - 7:55 !!

[@LuckStat]

It's 4 different ones, "Excalibur," "The Beastmaster," "The Warrior and the Sorceress" and "The Sword and The Sorceress." Most of it is Excalibur

[@BeingOfVibes]

you got alot of info about kotor 2 development misconstrued i understand its not a main focus of the video but bioware didnt pass on kotor 2 they were told that they needed to make kotor 2 in 9 months or something like that before christmas and bioware said that they cant make a satisfying sequel to the story they were building in that amount of time, to which the publisher responded by firing bioware and handing it off to obsidian and obsidian used old assets to make kotor 2 and still cut out like 40% of the stuff they worked on cuz they didnt take time. ultimately proving biowares point that you can't make a satisfying sequel in 9 months.

[@LuckStat]

Fair play, for sure, appreciate the feedback. I’m planing on covering BioWare next year, but will admit I didn’t burrow super deep on them in that period. I’ve honestly heard both on BioWare and KOTOR 2 (fired and turned down), but did know they were unhappy with the timescale offered and wanted to move away from big licenses going forward so negotiations broke down. But yeah, while I like KOTOR 2, its constraints are super obvious, it’s definitely rough around the edges.

[@OverlordNader]

Before I start watching the video, are there any BG3 spoilers in here? I'm being extra careful

[@LuckStat]

Nothing beyond the first 6ish hours in the footage (mostly the mindflayer ship, early camp interactions and the emerald grove) and only talk about its higher level connections to BioWares work and how Larian got the license. If you want absolutely nothing at all, completely blind, footage of the game starts at 22:22

[@OverlordNader]

@@LuckStat Thank you~

[@takkik282]

Anyone know the name of the movie with the red wizard ?

[@LuckStat]

Sorceress from 1982

[@takkik282]

@@LuckStat thx!

[@danielfenton9742]

fallout 3 looks so much like project zomboid

[@adam_roman]

I'm a simple man. I see Luck Stat upload, I drop everything and listen.

Reasons BG3 succeeded: - Good and simple system - Good writing, story, and Voice acting (no political forced messaging dribble) - Choices mattered This is literally all any RPG needs to succeed. And its exceptionally rare to have happen, especially these days the stories and writing are usually garbage.

[@Shannovian]

Is Baldur's Gate 3 a hugely reactive game? My experience with it is that it isn't. I remember I did a run where my character was completely nude for the whole time and not one person mentioned it. You can wholesale slaughter people in the streets of Baldur's Gate and no one will have a reaction at all, let alone vilify you for wanton murder of innocent people. It arbitrarily locks you into things, selectively choosing when and how that reactivity can be applied with things like invisible walls preventing you from reaching areas that you should be able to. You might not have had the option to stack jump modifiers to clear the map in a turn, but at least the original Baldur's Gates noticed when you went on murder sprees. Good companions would revile you, Evil companions would (mostly) revel in the slaughter and the game would dispatch bounty hunters to kill you. The game control where you go very tightly, forces you to jump through certain narrative hoops and just generally doesn't respect the player very much at all. I'd say it's less reactive than a lot of games while providing a sandbox to base the game's mechanics in.

[@nicholasrova3698]

It's reactive in certain ways far more than other games... but in others weirdly not. The original BG games were more linear, but I don't mind that since the story and characters overall were a lot better. I like BG3, but it's not a great BG game. And in certain ways (the ones you mentioned) the old games were more reactive, just not in a typical modern 'choices matter' way.

[@roleplayenthusiast]

It would have been far better than what we got. I won it once and stopped playing. They kept updating endings and such but I do not feel like trying it again.

[@Brrrrr527]

People like yall are so annoying the story sounds really interesting and I would have liked to see it release as well but we got is also pretty great, mf's like you can't be content with anything

[@sonic064]

Larian BG3 is a good game but... is 5e goofines and meh plots design game. While Obsiadian BG3 probably it would be more Adnd seriously and darker game.