Interview Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Interview at Sorcerer's Place

[Marceror]

Professional voice acting (Mark Meer LOL); yeah, that's what us rpg enthusiasts have been clamoring for.

Ignoring the ludicrous parts of your post. I think even though I only created my account here a short time ago, there are plenty of folks around here who are smart enough to know I'm not Trent Oster.

Anyhow, have you not heard Gord Marriott as Dorn Il-Khan? The voice samples that have been shared are utterly fantastic. It's quality voice acting, to be sure.

No one cares if you are or aren't actually Trent, and people are also smart enough to notice you skipping over legitimate criticism just because of its rude outer coating.

Well, here's some advice for life. Learn how to remove the rude outer coating when you talk to another person and they might just be willing to engage in a thoughtful dialogue with you. Really, it's a worthy skillset to attain. As for your so-called legitimate criticism, why do you think I even care of or would be motivated to try to steer you away from your dislike of what Beamdog is doing? You're just another faceless voice in the mob who seems to think that because I provided some details about the game to someone, I must be trying to be an evangelist for Beamdog. Your ability to think objectively is highly in question. And no, I don't care if you think Trent Oster is the devil. Think whatever you like, sir.

Again, no one gives a shit about voice acting as part of a mediocre add-on. You're completely out of touch with this entire subject and lends credence that you are, in fact, a paid shill.

As said previously, feel free to eat my shorts.

 

[evdk]

I came to the Codex spouting unpopular opinions and was vulgarly insulted almost immediately

Well, I never.

EDIT: I think it should be perfectly obvious from even a cursory look at the forums, but while we indeed love RPGs, we cannot even agree on what RPGs actually are, so in lieu of that we settle for hating everything on principle. Really we do not even like one another that much, we just bond over shared loathing of the rest of the gaming populace. Fucking popamolers.

 

[Gord]

I came to the Codex spouting unpopular opinions and was vulgarly insulted almost immediately

Well, I never.

EDIT: I think it should be perfectly obvious from even a cursory look at the forums, but while we indeed love RPGs, we cannot even agree on what RPGs actually are, so in lieu of that we settle for hating everything on principle. Really we do not even like one another that much, we just bond over shared loathing of the rest of the gaming populace. Fucking popamolers.

This should really be on the starting page of the Codex.

 

[Marceror]

I came to the Codex spouting unpopular opinions and was vulgarly insulted almost immediately

Well, I never.

EDIT: I think it should be perfectly obvious from even a cursory look at the forums, but while we indeed love RPGs, we cannot even agree on what RPGs actually are, so in lieu of that we settle for hating everything on principle. Really we do not even like one another that much, we just bond over shared loathing of the rest of the gaming populace. Fucking popamolers.

This is bloody brilliant! This should be your mission statement! :D

 

[Average Manatee]

Okay, go ahead and flame me for not issuing the standard RPGCodex response.

Don't worry about that. I was just curious, actually, I haven't been following this and I could use a new airplane passtimer installed on my laptop for when I'm too tired to read. Did they actually call back the original voice-actors who did the main characters and npcs and added new content to the main quest and etc?

Also, are there new classes and sub-races? Or did they just transposed the extra stuff from BG2 into BG1?

Can anyone answer this? I couldn't find a faq or anything of the sort, and to tell the truth the website and interviews are incredibly ambiguous as to what they are actually doing. All you get is buzz like "OVER 400 IMPROVEMENTS!" but no listing as to what they are. I did find out that there is only one new kit("Blackguard") but couldn't figure out the rest.Will they be adding stuff such as what was contained in the "unfinished business" mods and else? Content that was originally there but later removed?

New interface, 3 new npcs, and two large new quests. Okay. What else?

Coincidentally, I think there are approximately 400 line item "improvements" in the BG fixpack.

If there were any other substantial additions you could be sure that they would be whoring them out as much as possible, you wouldn't need to go searching for them.

 

[quasimodo]

So for those of us who are don't care about voice acting and have played BG and its various mods numerous times over the years is there anything here worth getting excited over?

 

[Guido Fawkes]

So for those of us who are don't care about voice acting and have played BG and its various mods numerous times over the years is there anything here worth getting excited over?

Well, the two new large quests(one of which involves the main bhaalspawn storyline) sound pretty good.

Other than that I guess not. I don't think this adds up to be worth 20 bucks, except maybe if they add enough good stuff in the second EE and you want to play the entire trilogy.

 

[Average Manatee]

The only "feature" upgrade I can see that wasn't already done through mods is the multiplayer, and specifically the cross-device multiplayer. Otherwise the value is highly dubious considering that all 4 BG games/expansions can be had for the same or less. And if the over-blurred filth shown previously in the thread actually ends up in the final product I wouldn't play the game unless I was paid to.

 

[SCO]

No.

They even 'enhanced' it by doing the 2nd most common thing that mods do, add npcs (and no doubt will also drop OP loot, which is the 1rst).

 

[Captain Shrek]

Well, I never.

love RPGs, we cannot even agree on what RPGs actually are.

As to that:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...at-constitutes-good-games.76382/#post-2282498

 

[taxalot]

This is pretty much the equivalent of George Lucas adding new segments to Citizen Kane, or Stephen King writing some additonal chapters to Les Miserables. It worked for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, it won't work here.

It's funny how this kind of shit is not acceptable for movies and books, but hey, it's perfectly okay for games.

 

[Black]

This is pretty much the equivalent of George Lucas adding new segments to Citizen Kane

No, this isn't even close.

 

[taxalot]

You're right. This is worse.

 

[thesheeep]

lol... 5/10.

Not too bad, but you spoiled it with the ending. It was just a bit over the top.

 

[Murk]

You Codexian's are a zany, mad-capped bunch. You masquerade as being RPG lovers, yet, when someone shows a bit of enthusiasm about an RPG development your first, and seemingly only inclination is to try and wipe the floor with them. What an ironic, bizarre existence you cats lead. Really more of a mob, than anything else.

Please don't lump all of us together. There's really... what, 2, 3 people who are pretty recent additions frothing a the mouth? Many of us don't like this EE project, for whatever reasons. I can tell you mine, but I'm not going to pretend to speak for others. If you find those people who are accusing you of being trent ostner to be ridiculous, it is because it is -- so you should do what al rational people should do, and ignore them.

As for "what is an RPG" let's just fucking drop that goddamn topic. We all come from different backgrounds in gaming and it is abundantly clear that when we define RPG we are incapable of removing our own history, bias, and shaping in that definition.

 

[waywardOne]

He isn't. Obviously not knowing what you're talking about has never stopped anyone here, but seriously, you're embarrassing yourself and suggesting that I'd let shills (paid or otherwise) conduct interviews on my site is personally offensive to me as well. Not that I care, just saying.

No idea who you are, and while SP is great for its content and longevity, there's really no reason to take your faceless word at any more value than your interviewers. Is this that infamous butthurt that gaming "journalists" have been in the news so much about lately? If you're going to stick your nose in other people's discussions, bring more than thin skin and demands that everyone just trust you and yours implicitly. I don't give a fuck what you're offended by. (And obviously you care enough to plead on his behalf.) I'd rather not have unnecessary nemeses, but if you want a mature discussion, do more than chime in with "what he said" and "how dare you."

I thought the idea of that actually being Trent was so ridiculous that no disclaimer was needed, but somehow I've underestimated (some of) the Codex's stupidity. OTOH, considering who gave it legitimate consideration, it fits perfectly.

Again, it's a for-profit NPC mod piggybacking on 12+ years of other people's free labor, being done by people who were, at best, peripheral to the originals. There's absolutely nothing above-average about the writing, the 'fixes', the graphics, etc. To act like there is is to defy credibility.

 

[Taluntain]

No idea who you are, [...]

I'm the guy reading your rants with amusement. It's been a slow entertainment day.

 

[Konjad]

I was excited about BG:EE and it was day 1 purchase for me... but damn, screenshots alone made me change my mind. First of all they are blurry and hurt my eyes, how the fuck is it possible to focus on something that blurry? Seriously, when I look at these screens I don't know what to do with my eyes, I automatically try to change their position and find a way to be able to focus them on the scenery, just like I always do IRL, except in BG:EE I can't find a spot where everything is clear, so my eyes move and move slightly to find it... and it's painful after a minute or two. Secondly scenery looks just a lot worse than in the original. What the fuck? You remove beautifully created landscapes and put some shit instead that looks like Neverwinter Nights on low details? How the... What in the... I'm confused o_O

 

[Brother None]

This is wonderful

Shacknews: Baldur's Gate was already a huge game. Each of those characters should add a total of 12 more hours of game play. That's a lot for a $20 price point. What was the reasoning behind pricing the game there and not higher?

Oster: We wanted to fix the price point at $10 for a stripped down version for the tablets and when we added all the content up $20 seemed a reasonable price to us. We believe in creating a good value product for our players and I think the low price will allow us to attract many more players than if we had gone too high. We also had to spec out the price early on in the process, before we had a real idea of how much work was involved. I think with the improvements we've made and are planning on still making this is going to be one of the gaming bargains of the decade.

Q: This game is so cheap! Why not make it more expensive?!

A: Oh man I know, but we locked in too early. But man, bargain of the century!

That's right Shacknews, that's what people were really looking to question about EE, why is it SO DAMN CHEAP
(it isn't)

 

[hoverdog]

Professional voice acting (Mark Meer LOL); yeah, that's what us rpg enthusiasts have been clamoring for.

Ignoring the ludicrous parts of your post. I think even though I only created my account here a short time ago, there are plenty of folks around here who are smart enough to know I'm not Trent Oster.

Anyhow, have you not heard Gord Marriott as Dorn Il-Khan? The voice samples that have been shared are utterly fantastic. It's quality voice acting, to be sure.

No one cares if you are or aren't actually Trent, and people are also smart enough to notice you skipping over legitimate criticism just because of its rude outer coating.

Well, here's some advice for life. Learn how to remove the rude outer coating when you talk to another person and they might just be willing to engage in a thoughtful dialogue with you. Really, it's a worthy skillset to attain. As for your so-called legitimate criticism, why do you think I even care of or would be motivated to try to steer you away from your dislike of what Beamdog is doing? You're just another faceless voice in the mob who seems to think that because I provided some details about the game to someone, I must be trying to be an evangelist for Beamdog. Your ability to think objectively is highly in question. And no, I don't care if you think Trent Oster is the devil. Think whatever you like, sir.

Again, no one gives a shit about voice acting as part of a mediocre add-on. You're completely out of touch with this entire subject and lends credence that you are, in fact, a paid shill.

As said previously, feel free to eat my shorts.

fucking advertisement plants.

 

[A user named cat]

 

[hoverdog]

 

[A user named cat]

 

[thesheeep]

Again, it's a for-profit NPC mod piggybacking on 12+ years of other people's free labor, being done by people who were, at best, peripheral to the originals. There's absolutely nothing above-average about the writing, the 'fixes', the graphics, etc. To act like there is is to defy credibility.

Wow, you obviously don't have even the slightest clue what work it is to "inherit" a fucked up code base (and I'm 100% convinced that 99% of all games form that time have a fucked up code base) and re-write it to separate the actual gameplay code from the interface, then create a completely new interface that is easy to adjust for cross-platform (PC/tablets, I mean).
And that is only one of the many things they did.

For me, the EE is pretty good thing, not primarily for the new content, which is nice, but for the technical advancements.

 

[Dexter]

I was excited about BG:EE and it was day 1 purchase for me... but damn, screenshots alone made me change my mind. First of all they are blurry and hurt my eyes, how the fuck is it possible to focus on something that blurry? Seriously, when I look at these screens I don't know what to do with my eyes, I automatically try to change their position and find a way to be able to focus them on the scenery, just like I always do IRL, except in BG:EE I can't find a spot where everything is clear, so my eyes move and move slightly to find it... and it's painful after a minute or two. Secondly scenery looks just a lot worse than in the original. What the fuck? You remove beautifully created landscapes and put some shit instead that looks like Neverwinter Nights on low details? How the... What in the... I'm confused o_O

Believe me I was surprised too, they had a winning formula, just take Baldur's Gate, an award-winning game still beloved by a great many people: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-08-game-devs-favourite-is-baldurs-gate , make it HD, maybe add some fixes and rake in the dough. Instead they decided to screw it up in every way they can, first they couldn't get the art since apparently it "doesn't exist" anymore, following that they introduced the amazing blur-filter and that fucking retarded interface and their entire new content with even more multi-species and multi-gender romances and some sort of arena that's supposed to last for hours or whatever, all of it sounds like it's custom-designed to rape the legacy of the game.

This was one of the screenshots of an area they had designed themselves:

Their new in-game map, that first appeared in this article: http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/baldur-s-gate-enhanced-edition-everything-we-know
and had like 4-5 spelling mistakes pretty much sums up their entire development of this "Enhanced Edition"

Since it brought them bad PR they suddenly decided to make it disappear and pretend like the guy doing it doesn't exist, they even deleted the thread talking about it: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4832/updated-version-of-baldurs-gate-map/p1

It's like a bunch of children got handed a Pissaro and they decided to take their paintbrushes and paint all over it because they know they can make it better...

Or that woman who tried to restore that century old Spanish fresco: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/botched-ecce-homo-painting

 

[SCO]

Yeah talk about an almost unscrewable scenario; they just had to make some tweaks, add their stupid NPCs, add their extra content (which sounded nice) and make sure it ran on tablets and they still screwed it up! They couldnt even keep their deadlines! oh well, I guess I will just look foward till someone does a mod for the game to run on tablets and hope it sells at it should...