Review GameBanshee Reviews Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

It was just a gimmick to draw more traffic to Beamdog.

 

LOLL that intro. Thought I was watching a video on NewGrounds for a second there.

I don't think even Bethesda could've done a worse job with an enhanced edition.

 

There's a word for this: abomination.

 

So, they have to approve my comment on the youtube video? Insecure much?

 

I...don't see what's so bad about the intro. It's pretty much the same. It's unnecessary, I guess?

 

Everyone should make sure to watch the original video after seeing the new one lest the horror of it is eternally etched into your memory.

 

The way you guys feel about the new one is how I always felt about the old one. Old one is slightly less bad but it's also longer in its badness. Cinematics like this make it hard for me to even play games.

 

It's a really cheap intro, it uses around 12 simple art assets animated in After Effects... should take from 2-4 days do make, depending on how much Trent bitches about "making it perfect"... is way shorter than the original and don't show how despaired the other guy is, or how fearsome Sarevok is (the original had some nice audio effects that were removed)...

Also, they removed the Nietzsche quote; and that "Overhaul Games" logo DOES NOT BELONG THERE!

 

Well, despite all that subtext the original simply looks better, too.

 

I watched the original after that one, it's linked in the related videos. Apart from being a little shorter and the change in art style, I don't see much difference.

 

The original intro has not aged well technically but still convey a very nice dark mood.
I don't get the interest of the new intro : it's not better technically IMHO and didn't convey a pleasant atmosphere at all.
What a waste.

 

If you say so

edit: like I said, I think it's unnecessary. But the atmosphere isn't RUNIED FOREVER by having Sarevok giggle for five seconds instead of ten.

 

I hope it fails terribly to sell.

 

The original may look dated, but at least it has some atmosphere and feels genuinely sinister. And of course they cut the line about the guy alluding to the other Bhaalspawn. Still, at least the stiff, robotic animation of Sarevok in the original kind of helps to make him feel more menacing, and what about the details like him smashing the door and shoving the guy through the iron railings on the rooftop as he holds him dangling over the edge? As cliche as it is, it definitely made the original feel more powerful. At least it's something. If somebody hasn't played the original before, all they're going to get out of the remade intro is "I'm evil muahaha lol *throw*" And the way the logo eased in at the end just made me laugh.

I can't wait to see what they do with the BG2 intro, where they already have pre-existing 2D illustrations to compete with.

 

Have to agree with this review unfortunately, nothing much to add. The amount of bugs I've encountered has really put me off and if they were happy to release the game in this state, well... we'll see if all of it will ever get fixed. Personally, I'm going to put off replaying the game after a decade until/if all the EE bugs get fixed because the last thing I want is to spoil my fond memories by encountering any more bugs that didn't exist in the original.

 

Nah, it was always shit at its core.

It's like saying madonna is so much better than lady gaga. Madonna is just a better singer, everything she sings is still shit.

 

Too bad all that subtext and stuff the game hints at (Nietzsche quotes, etc.) doesn't really come across well at all in the game. The intro is a bit generic but kickstarts a mystery... then it's 50 hours of walking through forests and mines killing kobolds before you even see the name Sarevok. The game wouldn't even have a story to follow if it wasn't for the narrated dream sequences.

It's like somebody thought "hey, let's make a sweet intro!" and then ever followed up on it. It's not there for any story reason, it's just to be cool-looking.

 

But...that's exactly what you get that from the original. The ~30 extra seconds of the original are just used to show the guy panicking, being socked in the face and being shoved through the railing. How does that show more than "I'm evil muahaha lol *throw*?

That's on the new intro as well...unless the dead guy had an habit of opening doors by throwing himself at them really hard.

The guy mentions "there are others", which Sarevok (and the player) already knows given his boast about how he'll be "the last" and the guy will "go first".

 

CK, the world is black & white. Either you're with us, or with decline. Choose wisely.

 

The new intro definitely looks cheaply animated, but CG cinematics don't age well at all, so they both kind of look like shit. The only distinct advantage I see the original having visually is the blood flowing onto the logo, but maybe that's balanced out by how terrible that horned helmet is.

I don't think losing the Nietzsche quote was a bad idea. Since the original came out, I've seen that particular maxim quoted so many times that, by now, it's almost a cliche.