Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Pre-Release Thread

[Rivmusique]

That pic posted of the inventory from the stream reminded me:

At one point, a guy tried to equip a bow on a character wielding a sword and shield, still had to unequip shield before she could add the bow as another weapon set. This would be near the top of my "to change" list, I've never had a x + shield fighter/ranger/whatever based solely on this.

 

[DeepOcean]

Beamdog making a Baldur's Gate game that might turn decent with the collaboration of Chris Avellone... oh the irony.

You mean there was a decent BG-clone released early this year? I did not know that.

No, the last decent BG clone was BG 2, I'm more impressed with Beamdog. This thing might turn awful, we never know these days but at least they put people that don't hate BG on charge AND Beamdog got Avellone to teach them how to write, that already places them two steps ahead of Obsidian.

 

[Perkel]

Big question:

Why WotC allowed them to use 2nd edition for expansion pack ? Aren't they anal about this stuff ?

 

[Somberlain]

I don't know about WotC but it would have been incredibly retarded to make a BG interquel in the same engine but with different rule set.

 

[ArchAngel]

Big question:

Why WotC allowed them to use 2nd edition for expansion pack ? Aren't they anal about this stuff ?

Because Hasbro likes money and implementing a new rules system into old engine takes more time, money and bugs.

 

[Perkel]

Big question:

Why WotC allowed them to use 2nd edition for expansion pack ? Aren't they anal about this stuff ?

Because Hasbro likes money and implementing a new rules system into old engine takes more time, money and bugs.

yeah but they actively disallowed all use of their previous systems in many cases. For example there won't be anything planescape because they said fuck you to planescape universe. Even if you have money and they would earn money doing nothing they wouldn't allow it.

edit:

My assumption is that expansion pack to BG1EE was the only way to make it happen.
Hasbro probably wouldn't allow for stand alone game being sold as next part of BG saga.

 

[Trodat]

So this is like some weird LoL/Dota 2 situation where the WC (BG) modders are actually making the game trying to mimic the original...

 

[ArchAngel]

Big question:

Why WotC allowed them to use 2nd edition for expansion pack ? Aren't they anal about this stuff ?

Because Hasbro likes money and implementing a new rules system into old engine takes more time, money and bugs.

yeah but they actively disallowed all use of their previous systems in many cases. For example there won't be anything planescape because they said fuck you to planescape universe. Even if you have money and they would earn money doing nothing they wouldn't allow it.

edit:

My assumption is that expansion pack to BG1EE was the only way to make it happen.
Hasbro probably wouldn't allow for stand alone game being sold as next part of BG saga.

Because beamdog are working under standard publisher system. Whoever is in charge looked at low sales for PST and decided they don't want to invest money.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

My assumption is that expansion pack to BG1EE was the only way to make it happen.
Hasbro probably wouldn't allow for stand alone game being sold as next part of BG saga.

Probably, yes, they'd only allow 5e for future stand-alone games. Trent mentioned possibly working on 5e in the future and I guess the 'Legends of the Sword Coast' thing is the current 5e project.

When he first got the deal for BG:EE (Atari were still involved then, as well as WOTC) he mentioned his personal relationships at the various companies helping him get the deal done.

details

The deal was a bear simply because of the number of parties involved: Atari, Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, BioWare, EA and us (Beamdog). We managed to get the terms sorted quickly through great former relationships. It actually took longer for me to get through the wall at Atari and talk to the right people than it took to put the core deal together. I remember meeting the fellow who had shut me down for a few months at GDC once we had the deal underway. He offered, "You must hate me," when we met in person, to which I responded, "Not anymore."

I'm very happy to have had some great friends such as Richard Iwaniuk, Greg Zeschuk, and Ray Muzyka, who were exceptionally helpful in getting terms agreed to by the involved parties and signed off in a reasonable timeline. Richard was able to line up the key people on that end and quarterback the requirements. Derek French was also a great asset at BioWare, as he assisted us in our spelunking for code and art assets throughout the course of the development. (Key lesson here is without someone on the ground running a contract in each group, it just doesn't happen.)

But recently discussed possibly using 5e in future:

We’re excited, looking at 5th Edition D&D. That’s awesome. Those guys are doing amazing stuff. You look at the art, it’s really strong. We have the best relationship with the D&D team. Our whole philosophy is, let’s just run an open development. You guys want to know what we’re working on? Here. Here’s the art database. Take a look. When we post something up, you can see it when we can see it. The end result is that we don’t have any panic fixes at the end of the project. Any fixes that are going to happen, they happen as soon as the artwork’s created and it’s still fresh in the artist’s mind. We can go in, twiddle it, and just progress. The team there is just awesome, amazing guys. I love working with them … just an amazing team.

 

[Infinitron]

RPS interview incoming: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/10/baldurs-gate-siege-of-dragonspear-expansion/

Siege of Dragonspear will also come with a quiverfull of extra features and interface improvements, including new a hardcore mode, an easier story mode, inventory highlights, cute little hit point bars hanging over characters and a whole lot more. At an elaborate evening reveal in Edmonton, Canada, Oster reminded players that they won’t have to turn any of these features on if they interfere with their purist tendencies. All these changes won’t just come with Dragonspear, they’ll be built into all the Enhanced Edition titles that Beamdog have been working on. In other words, Dragonspear isn’t just a new game, it also represents a series-wide update.

Beamdog say that the scale of Dragonspear means it will be much larger than the expansions made for Baldur’s Gate I and II, Tales of the Sword Coast and Throne of Bhaal, and writers Amber Scott and Andrew Foley reckon that over 500,000 words of dialogue, description and flavour text have wormed their way in. This is certainly going to be substantial.

Perhaps most importantly, Minsc is back, and the slightly unhinged ranger will be joined by many of the other most famous NPCs from the first Baldur’s Gate. Beamdog have recruited voice actor Jim Cummings and many of his colleagues to reprise their roles, as well as as Mass Effect composer Sam Hulick to provide instrument-based noise.

Oh, and if you’re as old and leathery as I am, the name “Dragonspear” may ring a bell or two with you. Dragonspear Castle was the subject of a Second Edition Dungeons & Dragons module way, way back in the day. Yes, says Scott, some inspiration has been taken, but there’s a lot here that’s new.

I’ll have much more to tell you about Siege of Dragonspear very soon, including choice words from writer Amber Scott and Beamdog co-founders Cameron Tofer and Trent Oster.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Because beamdog are working under standard publisher system. Whoever is in charge looked at low sales for PST and decided they don't want to invest money.

It would be a bigger job for them apparently as the code base is quite different.

If Icewind Dale is a brother or sister to the Baldur's Gate games in terms of code and gameplay differences, Icewind Dale II and Planescape: Torment are more like third cousins. You can see the lineage, but the changes are deep. At this point we haven't gone spelunking too deep into those changes, but we are aware of many differences which will drive up the effort to do our thing on those projects. We hope to do more spleunking once we finish up with the 1.3 Updates for Baldur's Gate: EE and Baldur's Gate II: EE and ship Icewind Dale: EE.

 

[agris]

Hey aVENGER, will the health bars be optional?

 

[Trodat]

Hey aVENGER, will the health bars be optional?

I'm not him but yeah they are optional, can't find the quote but there is one.

 

[Blackguard]

I'd like to be optimistic about this, but honestly the EE writing is some of the worst I've ever seen in a RPG. Being a huge BG fan though I know I can't force myself to just ignore this either. Prepare to be disappointed I guess.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Hey aVENGER, will the health bars be optional?

I'm not him but yeah they are optional, can't find the quote but there is one.

Yeah, they are. I caught that during the live stream.

 

[aVENGER]

Hey aVENGER, will the health bars be optional?

Yes, you can toggle health bars on/off from the Options menu.

 

[Talby]

Looking forward to some fanfiction level writing in this one.

 

[Delterius]

"Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist."

-Plutarch

Oh my, a whole new quote.

Anyway, this is all fairly interesting. If handled well, the choice of locales (from the siegeofdragonspear . com) could be very well intergrated into the saga.

FWIW though, props to aVENGER for sticking around despite all the love everywhere. Best of wishes.

 

[agris]

I wonder if the engine update will natively support scrolling of the kits and races, so we can get past 9 (?). This is one of the last ToBex features that fans have been asking for since the beginning.

 

[abnaxus]

 

[Keldryn]

Looks pretty good, but the timing isn't great for me. I'm nearing the end of my BG:EE playthrough (iPad), and I don't want to wait until the end of the year to continue my game. I'll save it for my next run, or else I could just import my BG1 save and pretend it's a flashback.

 

[Immortal]

It seems weird that we are going north to DragonSpear Castle when Athkatla is South of Baldurs Gate.

Not a huge issue, the plot could be anything.. look at MOTB, we go from Sword Coast to Rashemen because reasons and it turned out pretty good. Just weird.. Pretty sure the starting plot for BG 2 was you are ambushed by assassins south of Baldurs Gate and captured or something along those lines - I guess that is retconned?

Beamdog say that the scale of Dragonspear means it will be much larger than the expansions made for Baldur’s Gate I and II, Tales of the Sword Coast and Throne of Bhaal, and writers Amber Scott and Andrew Foley reckon that over 500,000 words of dialogue, description and flavour text have wormed their way in. This is certainly going to be substantial.

The game being longer then Tales of the Sword Coast is now supposed to mean Substantial?

You mean they are selling us a "full game" that is slightly longer then a 1 village fluff expansion with a werewolf island and a mega dungeon?! Wow such substance!
Guessing it's gonna have a full game price tag too.

I want to love this game Beamdog but could you guys at least -pretend- this isn't a cash out off PoE hype?

 

[ArchAngel]

It seems weird that we are going north to DragonSpear Castle when Athkatla is South of Baldurs Gate.

Not a huge issue, the plot could be anything.. look at MOTB, we go from Sword Coast to Rashemen because reasons and it turned out pretty good. Just weird.. Pretty sure the starting plot for BG 2 was you are ambushed by assassins south of Baldurs Gate and captured or something along those lines - I guess that is retconned?

Beamdog say that the scale of Dragonspear means it will be much larger than the expansions made for Baldur’s Gate I and II, Tales of the Sword Coast and Throne of Bhaal, and writers Amber Scott and Andrew Foley reckon that over 500,000 words of dialogue, description and flavour text have wormed their way in. This is certainly going to be substantial.

The game being longer then Tales of the Sword Coast is now supposed to mean Substantial?

You mean they are selling us a "full game" that is slightly longer then a 1 village fluff expansion with a werewolf island and a mega dungeon?! Wow such substance!
Guessing it's gonna have a full game price tag too.

I want to love this game Beamdog but could you guys at least -pretend- this isn't a cash out off PoE hype?

They said bigger than ToB and ToSC combined, at least that is how I understood it. They said over 25h if you are mostly doing main quest only. Trent said on stream that he is over 30h in and he did 2/3 of the game and he is not a slow player.

 

[Immortal]

They said bigger than ToB and ToSC combined, at least that is how I understood it. They said over 25h if you are mostly doing main quest only. Trent said on stream that he is over 30h in and he did 2/3 of the game and he is not a slow player.

If that's the case then fine - I didn't read it that way. Maybe I am just too cynical about anything related to WotC these days.

EDIT:
The game could still be shit depending what I am doing for those 30 - 40 hours. I just won't jump to conclusions if it's confirmed to not be a quick buck release.

We will never get a good 4e video game that plays like X-Com.

At the risk of being put on ignore / being called a grognard. Asking for a Good Game in 4E is an oxymoron. 4E is complete shit and the lore that came with it ruined my favourite fantasy setting AKA my childhood.

 

[Spectacle]

BG3 with 5E rules? Proper d&d like BG1 and 2 instead of MMO popamole rules like Sword Coast Legends? Yes please!!


I'm also sad there will probably never be a proper 4E crpg. But 4E would never work in real time anyway so it's irrelevant to a BG sequel..