Preview Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Twitch Stream

[Infinitron]

Tags: Amber Scott; Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear; Beamdog; Phillip Daigle

Beamdog did an hour-long livestream of their upcoming Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear interquel expansion on Twitch last night, hosted by writer Amber Scott and lead designer Philip Daigle. The stream showcases an area called the "Underground River" which is being used by the Shining Lady's crusader army to deliver supplies to Dragonspear Castle, along with its surrounding outdoor environs. As they play, Amber and Phillip deliver various anecdotes about the expansion's development.

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From what I can tell from the stream, the game is going to be packed with all sorts of bizarre encounters, in true Forgotten Realms tradition. There's lots of companion interjections and even attribute checks, though Phillip is usually too distracted to do anything but run straight into combat, which seems like typical mid-level AD&D fare. It seems pretty fun, reminiscent of Icewind Dale 2 in its premise, but cheesier.

 

[l3loodAngel]

I looked at the video and I it remimded me how a more than a decade old game (talking about BG/BG2 rather than Beamdog's ideas...) can still be superior to new releases. Man, was it THAT HARD just to copy the good bits and skip the bad design decisions.

 

[Tito Anic]

^^

 

[Infinitron]

Design decisions like the repeated random rest encounters that take him five minutes to get past and the insanely long berzerk status effect that ruins the end of the stream?

 

[Volrath]

Design decisions like the repeated random rest encounters that take him five minutes to get past and the insanely long berzerk status effect that ruins the end of the stream?

Sounds like it's fun. What do you have against fun?

Obsidian should be ashamed because it looks like they've been schooled by a bunch of part time hacks.

 

[Infinitron]

Design decisions like the repeated random rest encounters that take him five minutes to get past and the insanely long berzerk status effect that ruins the end of the stream?

Sounds like it's fun. What do you have against fun?

*shrug* Watch the stream and tell me how fun that looks. Poor guy just wants to rest and the trash mobs just keep coming

Maps are kind of Wasteland 2-style linear too (felipepepe raged) but I don't care so much about that.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Obsidian should be ashamed because it looks like they've been schooled by a bunch of part time hacks.

They should've made a mod for BG2 instead of trying to make a full standalone game. They're just not there yet.

 

[Dorateen]

So... Icewind Dale beat up Baldur's Gate, and took their stuff.

 

[United Nations]

Looks better than I first expected.

 

[Infinitron]

Some more interesting tidbits from the stream:

The first outdoor map was actually created way back in 2012, when they thought this was going to be a $2 DLC for BG:EE. This game has been in on-and-off development for a very long time.

Of the four new companions, two have full-sized sidequests (the goblin shaman and the annoying gnome), one has a small sidequest (the archer lady) and the fourth one's sidequest was cut.

The UI in the stream is not final, and in fact they're using a version from a few weeks ago. The game's UI will be easily moddable.

Last year, they showed the game to Trent Oster and he said it was too linear. It felt more like Throne of Bhaal then. So then they had to make a bunch more maps which caused it to be delayed.

It has more complex background animations than the original IE games, because they've implemented a system that lets you embed .webm files in the backgrounds. Pretty nifty.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

Design decisions like the repeated random rest encounters that take him five minutes to get past and the insanely long berzerk status effect that ruins the end of the stream?

god forbid our in combat decision backfire at us. fuck that right? everything have to be perfectly balanced

and those repeated random rest encounters in caves took exactly fucking 120 seconds to resolve not 5 minutes you shilling faggot. maybe its supposed to remind you that sleeping in fucking caves 20 meters from enemies is not the best idea? dont waste your resources so you will not have to backtrack to camp or sleep in wilderness and take the risk

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

a system that lets you embed .webms in the backgrounds. Pretty nifty.

Lol. Yeah, if only every game could be a webm player. Awesome solutions.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Maps are kind of Wasteland 2-style linear too (felipepepe raged) but I don't care so much about that.

What do you care about, though. You never care about anything.

Infinitron, always above the needs of mere mortals, he and only he can understand the genius of the Sawyeristic church of unfun.

 

[Infinitron]

In this case it's the Fargoistic church of unfun.

 

[felipepepe]

It would surely be amusing if Beamdog delivered a better nu-IE experience than Obsidian...

 

[Cadmus]

Will this make the game not-boring?

 

[eremita]

Sprites look like they've been updated. Much better now!

Design decisions like the repeated random rest encounters that take him five minutes to get past and the insanely long berzerk status effect that ruins the end of the stream?

This is not a bad design decision. The game might actually be bold enough to be punishing which sometimes manifests itself as frustration. For Example, in Storm of Zehir, unless you had high hide/move silently skills, you would be endlessly attacked by trash mobs and that obviously fucks up fun, challenge, pacing etc... Some would say: "What a shitty game!", but they would be wrong. The game's not shitty, it actually reflects your playstale, punishing you for being a stupid idiot. Hire a Ranger or GTFO! Same thing here. I'm glad I'm seeing this kind of approach actually...

 

[Infinitron]

Sprites look like they've been updated. Much better now!

Which ones, the PCs'? I don't think they've been changed: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...gonspear-interquel.96369/page-20#post-4020465

 

[eremita]

Sprites look like they've been updated. Much better now!

Which ones, the PCs'? I don't think they've been changed: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...gonspear-interquel.96369/page-20#post-4020465

Yep PC's. Really? I would swear they're sharper, outlined or something... Weird.

EDIT: Well that's what Avenger is saying in that thread.

 

[DeepOcean]

I looked at the video and I it remimded me how a more than a decade old game (talking about BG/BG2 rather than Beamdog's ideas...) can still be superior to new releases. Man, was it THAT HARD just to copy the good bits and skip the bad design decisions.

I think is a case of arrogance and a bit of ego that byte them on the ass. They assume they know what was wrong and what was right and go with it and just dismiss anyone that disagree, you know the "I'm a designer for 20 years on this industry, I know better than the guys that finished that game 20 times!" syndrome. See PoE, Sawyer tought it was unfair for new players to be expected to know the spells and their counters when you couldn't know before hand what you would need like the classic "Kangaxx uses Imprisioment, how could I know this to prepare before hand?" His conclusion was to fuck all the spells, create a nightmare to balance, create an overcomplicated system that makes the combat less transparent instead of more transparent for something that could be fixed by not placing a fucking Demilich with a ultra high level spell without any clue towards his nature on the middle of the starting town.

 

[Infinitron]

See PoE, Sawyer tought it was unfair for new players to be expected to know the spells and their counters when you couldn't know before hand what you would need

He doesn't want encounters to require specific spells and specific counters at all because that constrains ~roleplaying~. Unfairness is a secondary factor.

But I really recommend you guys take a look at the encounters in the stream before you crown SoD as the mage dueling and dragonslaying simulator you've been waiting for

 

[Irenaeus III]

I'm pumped for this game.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Sawyer certainly seems like the type to base design decisions on one encounter... see also how he was babbling some retarded nonsense about some PnP system (DnN?) because one of his players was crying that he couldn't be a great diplomat and fighter at the same time.
Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with having encounters like Kangaxx early. As opposed to what sawyerists tell you, that's what's actually fun. Not perfectly measured and tiered progression. That's the next-gen shit that ruins gaming.

He doesn't want encounters to require specific spells and specific counters at all because that constrains ~roleplaying~.

Yes, ~roleplaying~ being the ability to use anything against anything else. I get it.
I also don't remember needing anything specific for that encounter. Of course, in the retardo Sawyeristic next-gen game design if you don't win an encounter in the first try that's horrible and it means you need to have played DnD for 20 years to be able to do it.

But I really recommend you guys take a look at the encounters in the stream before you crown SoD as the mage dueling and dragonslaying simulator you've been waiting for

Weren't you loving Beamdog because how could you refuse the same game + free mods at double the price?

 

[Irenaeus III]

Woah, this Kangaxx dude sounds like a badass.

 

[Roguey]

Haha you guise wouldn't be praising Daigle like this if you knew more about him.

He follows a lot of more interesting characters on twitter as well. Par exemple, a certain someone with an insatiable lust for five guys. Additionally





You can't stop the goon invasion in role playing video games.

Scott follows some pretty funny accounts too, but hers aren't nearly as funny.