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

[Athelas]

That would presumably require actual creativity.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

aVENGER Any hints on the length of new game in hours?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Won't you be limited by the starting level of Shadows of Amn though? BG EE includes TotSC so characters should be level 6-7 when they end that. And you start BG II at level 7 by default. Sure you could start higher, say up till level 10 but more than that and there will be serious balance issues.

Why don't you make a side story with some other characters? Like Gorion before he was killed, or something.

You don't want these guys rebalanced BG2 encounters for higher starting level. Launching an expansion with little to no level progression is also not an option, I wonder what they are planning.

 

[Infinitron]

Tales of the Sword Coast was in fact an expansion that let you advance, for many classes, just one additional level.

Maybe that's too oldschool these days, though.

 

[pippin]

But I think it was clearly explained that most of your companions died because Irenicus was doing sadistic experiments on them? At least that was the story with the canon party. I do remember reading how Coran was included because a fan asked for it on their forums back in the day

 

[Mr Fantastic]

Tales of the Sword Coast was in fact an expansion that let you advance, for many classes, just one additional level.

Maybe that's too oldschool these days, though.

TotSC let players advance 1-2 levels, yes it depended on the class. However, aside from that the true bonus to that expansion, apart from the great dungeon, was the addition of new and much needed spells for Wizards.

Like I mentioned, 1-2 levels in the expansion would not be bad, but from the news brief I assumed an 'interquel' meant something major. I have no problem with a Trials of the Luremaster/TotSC type expansion, though I do hope it is cheap.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Do the guys making this have any actual decent games made previously? The only thing I've heard about them are those releases of the originals with a bit of tacked on extra content, which as far as I heard was less than stellar. Guess the reasonable thing to do is to expect something terrible, and in the off chance that they deliver something actually good be positively surprised.

 

[Weirdstuffinspace]

No. it will be shit like their shit remakes. Go fuck yourselves beamdog. Have fun dining with sawyer in hell for raping what isnt yours.

 

[Kem0sabe]

But I think it was clearly explained that most of your companions died because Irenicus was doing sadistic experiments on them? At least that was the story with the canon party. I do remember reading how Coran was included because a fan asked for it on their forums back in the day

I think you always start with minsc, jaheira, imoen in BG2 in the dungeon, so they would have to write around that...

Tales of the Sword Coast was in fact an expansion that let you advance, for many classes, just one additional level.

Maybe that's too oldschool these days, though.

I think your right, these days releasing an rpg with no level progression is nonsensical

 

[Dedup]

They could make the game about the party of bounty hunters hired by Irenicus to track down the Bhaalspawn and his/her companions. You could start off at low level and level up chasing the Bhaalspawn south until your party is strong enough to take them. That way you don't have to worry about charname gaining levels and unbalancing BG2EE.

 

[Kem0sabe]

They could make the game about the party of bounty hunters hired by Irenicus to track down the Bhaalspawn and his/her companions. You could start off at low level and level up chasing the Bhaalspawn south until your party is strong enough to take them. That way you don't have to worry about charname gaining levels and unbalancing BG2EE.

They said you could play the same character through all the games.

 

[Delterius]

They could always troll everyone and just say that Irenicus level drained your party permanently.

 

[Stelcio]

No. it will be shit like their shit remakes. Go fuck yourselves beamdog. Have fun dining with sawyer in hell for raping what isnt yours.

You're saying that raping what's yours is ok?

I think your right, these days releasing an rpg with no level progression is nonsensical

You mean like NEO Scavenger?

 

[Kem0sabe]

You're saying that raping what's yours is ok?


You mean like NEO Scavenger?

A 3d director was it? On a 2d isometric rpg hardly qualifies one for curator of the baldurs gate legacy, it's the same thing as saying Bethesda did good with the Fallout franchise because they bought it.

And I would hardly equate the level of skill complexity and player character builds and actions available in neo scavenger with the limited scope of character development in baldurs gate.

 

[Stelcio]

And I would hardly equate the level of skill complexity and player character builds and actions available in neo scavenger with the limited scope of character development in baldurs gate.

And I don't equate them, but you said "an rpg", not "next baldur's gate".

 

[Kem0sabe]

And I don't equate them, but you said "an rpg", not "next baldur's gate".

You have a point

 

[Gragt]

Why did the Bhaalspawn go south?

Spoiler

To find the waterchip.

 

[Mr Fantastic]

Do the guys making this have any actual decent games made previously? The only thing I've heard about them are those releases of the originals with a bit of tacked on extra content, which as far as I heard was less than stellar. Guess the reasonable thing to do is to expect something terrible, and in the off chance that they deliver something actually good be positively surprised.

Icewind Dale EE is actually quite good. It is IWD + expansions remastered with higher resolution and many more spells from the BG series. Most importantly though, you can finally use all the BG II kits in IWD, making for lots of fun character and party options.

 

[Jaesun]

Did they balance those new spells for IWD?

 

[Blackguard]

Not sure why everybody is finding it so hard to think of what the plot of this interquel would be.

The Bhaalspawn left Baldur's Gate and travelled to the south. Why? Why did he have to leave? There's plenty of room for an interesting story there.

This is true, but I think it's actually more likely BG 1.5 will take place slightly north-east of BG. Boareskyr Bridge is there which is the place where Cyric killed Bhaal, and I'm pretty sure Beamdog has hinted that we will see that place in adventure y.

Also Beamdog could easily raise the xp to eg. 301k which would allow every class to gain 1-2 levels. I don't think that would really cause any balance problems in BG2 considering how fast you gain xp in that game anyway. Not to mention bg2 chapter 2 being so freeform anyway that even now you will visit the various places at vastly different power levels depending on how you prioritize them.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

This is true, but I think it's actually more likely BG 1.5 will take place slightly north-east of BG. Boareskyr Bridge is there which is the place where Cyric killed Bhaal, and I'm pretty sure Beamdog has hinted that we will see that place in adventure y.

I can confirm that they have indeed hinted this. There was a pic of Dragonspear castle that Beamdog released too, apparently it's near Boareskyr Bridge.

Also Beamdog could easily raise the xp to eg. 301k which would allow every class to gain 1-2 levels. I don't think that would really cause any balance problems in BG2 considering how fast you gain xp in that game anyway. Not to mention bg2 chapter 2 being so freeform anyway that even now you will visit the various places at vastly different power levels depending on how you prioritize them.

I think you're spot on, 301k would be a sweet spot. All classes would gain one level, except Druids would gain two.

 

[Mr Fantastic]

Did they balance those new spells for IWD?

There is no need to. The ruleset is based on AD&D from which the spells were drawn in the first place. The mage duel specific spells are not that useful in IWD though, at least I have not found them useful yet. Minute Meteors is cool though, just like it was in BG II. IWD also had it's own spells not found in BG series, such as the Druid specific spells. The level 20+ stuff from Throne of Bhaal is not included though, which is cool as it could be too powerful for IWD. Though it could be playable in HoF mode.

Aside from that there are a few quirks that were there in BG EE as well, like Shifters being quite powerful at level 1 in their lesser werewolf form, but nothing game breaking.

Oh and there is an IWD specific Kit, the priest of tempus that was much demanded, included. Priest of Helm is still more powerful though due to seeking sword.

 

[agris]

I'm also in the "IWD:EE is good" camp, though I'm still waiting for aVENGER's tactics/ascension-like mod for it..

 

[Karwelas]

I don't know why they don't make their own story. It would probably suck anyway, but what the fuck happend between BG1 and 2? You travel some days, nerdy-dark-emo wizard with his own sado-maso dungeon appear to ra - I mean take you to steal your god soul part. Preety much it.

Examples of good stories that can be make around Baldur's Gate spin-off: (Really, don't touch main story with their dirty hands. It is good enough now)
- You are another Bhallspawn that try to make your own way after BG1. You can preety much make even fucking Immortal ripoff and if you change it a bit and get very nice 'There can be only one Bhallspawn, FUCKER!' around others interesting bhallspawn characters without even touching the main story (they are in Amn/traveling around. Depend when you place the action)
- A non Bhallspawn character adventuring around Baldur's Gate. It is preety much title of the game. Why everything must be connected to the damn Bhall and his shitty childs.

 

[Nihiliste]

Seriously all these cunts are going to do is tarnish the BG name further. Trent was clearly given this IP as a Bioware double agent to shit on the classic games until future generations forget about them entirely.