Baldur's Gate #BaldurGate: Siege of Dragonspear

[Mustawd]

SCL forums were pretty bad as well.

 

[DeepOcean]

Played some more, the game after the awful Baldur's Gate section gets a bit better, let you off the leash a bit but still limiting. You explore an open area after Baldur's game and finaly, for the first time, the game let you explore a decent sized map with even a nice two floor dungeon on it:

I did enjoy this dungeon and exploring the outside area but...
This dungeon was fun but it wasn't anything revolutionary, if you played Icewind Dale 1 and 2 and Baldur's Gate 2, you probably played better stuff than this, if you miss it, you won't have regrets. I suspect I liked this section because it has nothing to do with the main storyline and no new BeamDog character with "personality" shows up, thankfully, the dialogue is very sparse and you do some barely developed fetch quest for some generic dwarfs so there is no risk for you to find another "Generic Strong Woman Mary Sue".

I dunno if you guys did notice but there is an spot on the outside map with the name: "Baeloth's Black Pit to End all Black Pits." Well, I dunno why I spoiler it, but I dunno, if you are some hopeless no taste soul that probably think this is good, you are protected, imagine some godawful performance of the voice actor over it, enjoy:

Spoiler

Am I a tranny hater edgelord or is this just awful? Am I a jaded codexer that needs to realize it is 2016? Anyway... hmmm... that goblin shaman is a... woman and she is... pretty tough and don't take shit from no one... hmm am I imagining things or there is a certain pattern emerging?

Some extra screenshots for the GamerGate guys to have even more fun:

Spoiler

Oh Safana, I liked you so much better when you were mostly silent on BG 1.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Oh Safana, I liked you so much better when you were mostly silent

Misogynist!

BTW, I just posted a 1/10 review at metacritic. My 2nd review after Age of Decadence. I want to build up a number of helpful reviews there. Hopefully it will give more weight to bashing future shitty games.

 

[Shammy]

Ya know it's weird, the writing in this game ranges from average to complete dog shit and yet the exploration/dungeons are pretty fun. Encounter design could definitely be better with the exception of a few good fights, noticeably in Chapter 9. But then you get stuff like this and wonder what the fuck is going on:

Made it real big so you could see the detailing ya?

 

[Morality Games]

This is just a theory of mine, but...

- Beamdog has been talking about wanting to make BG3.
- Wizards of the Coast are supporting and working with them right now.
- Gaider moves to Beamdog.

It doesn't seem that far fetched in my mind. With the recent quotes from Amber together with this controversy, I don't see BG3 happening anytime soon. I'm just curious if Gaider would have moved to Beamdog if he had known about this. I'm also curious about the damage that this will cause Beamdog. There is no doubt that it will tarnish their reputation, but how much will it affect the sales? They did get a lot of publicity out of this.

I'm reasonably sure that if Gaider moved then Baldur's Gate III is already a sure thing regardless of how well Siege of Dragonspear sells or how it is received.

According to this reading, Siege of Dragonspear is a weird experiment in DLCs that exists mostly for the sake of training up the Beamdog crew to make Infinity Engine RPG-style content. I'm sure they wish the Metacritic reviews had been better, but it selling well would have always been a fluke.

The alternative is that Gaider doesn't really care whether he makes Baldur's Gate III or not, the same as that guy who works at Black Isle Studio.

 

[Celerity]

This thread would be infinitely improved if we learned Amber Scott was a call girl.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

After listening to Shanes podcast im not so sure if Amber is the source of all evil in this abomination. She doesnt come across as too bright or capable of leading the troops or imposing a vision on the team. And when she tells about her "promotion" to marketing i could swear i heard some regret in her voice. Anyway. Daigle mentions that being a small team meant that a lot of the employees wore several hats during the process, i think he even mentions being responsible for some of the writing. Of course this makes the situation even worse, since there is no easy identifiable source of evil. Lastly, actually calling 1 million sales within the realms of the possible is of course a sign of living in a slightly disconnected reality.

Also telling for the situation at Beamdog was the fact that Amber says they dont do crunchtime there, it is all easy going happy go lucky relaxed as shit all the time. I dont think such a company mentality works in current year, in any sector.

 

[raesha]

Ya know it's weird, the writing in this game ranges from average to complete dog shit and yet the exploration/dungeons are pretty fun. Encounter design could definitely be better with the exception of a few good fights, noticeably in Chapter 9. But then you get stuff like this and wonder what the fuck is going on:



Made it real big so you could see the detailing ya?

Might as well provide some context since I happen to read the baldur's gate subreddit once in a while, but that is a reference to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/3nw8ic/ive_been_telling_my_six_and_five_year_old_boys/

 

[Excidium II]

After listening to Shanes podcast im not so sure if Amber is the source of all evil in this abomination. She doesnt come across as too bright or capable of leading the troops or imposing a vision on the team. And when she tells about her "promotion" to marketing i could swear i heard some regret in her voice. Anyway. Daigle mentions that being a small team meant that a lot of the employees wore several hats during the process, i think he even mentions being responsible for some of the writing. Of course this makes the situation even worse, since there is no easy identifiable source of evil. Lastly, actually calling 1 million sales within the realms of the possible is of course a sign of living in a slightly disconnected reality.

Also telling for the situation at Beamdog was the fact that Amber says they dont do crunchtime there, it is all easy going happy go lucky relaxed as shit all the time. I dont think such a company mentality works in current year, in any sector.

Did you miss her post on the beamdog forums? She's confirmed as at least one source of evil. The other is also the producer, who is mainly responsible for the big mess on the internet. Philip obviously as lead of the project had to give the ok too.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Thats what i tried to point out, there are several people responsible for the atrocious writing.

 

[Excidium II]

Yeah, I edited more in. P. much everyone in the lead in what concerns the writing is guilty.

 

[imweasel]

I'm reasonably sure that if Gaider moved then Baldur's Gate III is already a sure thing regardless of how well Siege of Dragonspear sells or how it is received.

Gaider is working on Beamdog's new IP, which allegedly has nothing to do with D&D (i'm pretty sure it will have trannys though, lots of trannys).

I think we can pretty much forget BG3 from Beamdog. They fucked themselves really hard by pandering to SJWs who couldn't care less about games (especially not "classic style" RPGs). The bugs and awful to mediocre writing certainly didn't help either. Funnily enough Beamdog has been calling out to the SJW community and their tranny friends for "HALP", but they still didn't buy the game.

if we learned Amber Scott was a call girl.

Spoiler

 

[Prime Junta]

Also telling for the situation at Beamdog was the fact that Amber says they dont do crunchtime there, it is all easy going happy go lucky relaxed as shit all the time. I dont think such a company mentality works in current year, in any sector.

That's not true. Crunchtime just means you fucked up, usually in your estimates.

Where I work we're actively working to eliminate it, and where we've succeeded, all the metrics have improved dramatically -- productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, profitability.

 

[Excidium II]

What you work with?

 

[Dreaad]

I'm reasonably sure that if Gaider moved then Baldur's Gate III is already a sure thing regardless of how well Siege of Dragonspear sells or how it is received.

Gaider is working on Beamdog's new IP, which allegedly has nothing to do with D&D (i'm pretty sure it will have trannys though, lots of trannys).

I think we can pretty much forget BG3 from Beamdog. They fucked themselves really hard by pandering to SJWs who couldn't care less about games (especially not "classic style" RPGs). The bugs and awful to mediocre writing certainly didn't help either. Funnily enough Beamdog has been calling out to the SJW community and their tranny friends for "HALP", but they still didn't buy the game.

if we learned Amber Scott was a call girl.

Spoiler

Why do so many companies hire these weirdos? If I was looking for a writer, for anything, I sure as hell wouldn't pick the one who dresses like a teenager in their 30's. The fuck man. Just hire the person who looks normal and has a family, chances are 99% that they will be better than the person wearing a tiara.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

I'm reasonably sure that if Gaider moved then Baldur's Gate III is already a sure thing regardless of how well Siege of Dragonspear sells or how it is received.

Gaider is working on Beamdog's new IP, which allegedly has nothing to do with D&D (i'm pretty sure it will have trannys though, lots of trannys).

I think we can pretty much forget BG3 from Beamdog. They fucked themselves really hard by pandering to SJWs who couldn't care less about games (especially not "classic style" RPGs). The bugs and awful to mediocre writing certainly didn't help either. Funnily enough Beamdog has been calling out to the SJW community and their tranny friends for "HALP", but they still didn't buy the game.

I think Trent mentions in an older interview that there were 3 big projects Beamdog was working on, Siege being one. I suspect that BG3 and a possible new IP are the other ones. With wotc still supporting (although that may be token) we probably still cant rule out BG3. And looking at the Beamdog forums, other companies may think twice before calling for help from FF and assorted loonies..."Help" they did, like a swarm of locusts, devouring all sanity and scorching the earth to a crisp, scaring away legitimate oldschool BG fans for life. Beamdog lost that part of the market permanently i guess.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Why do so many companies hire these weirdos? If I was looking for a writer, for anything, I sure as hell wouldn't pick the one who dresses like a teenager in their 30's. The fuck man. Just hire the person who looks normal and has a family, chances are 99% that they will be better than the person wearing a tiara.

Those creative type eh?

According to the podcast she was recommended by a friend of a friend of Daigle. or something to that effect.

I guess a company like Beamdog doesnt recruit on skill or track record, but on world view and twitter status.

 

[Excidium II]

I guess a company like Beamdog doesnt recruit on skill or track record, but on world view and twitter status.

She wrote a bunch of Pathfinder shit, they probably thought good enough for BG expansion.

 

[Shin]

They should hire some aryan brotherhood type right wing blockhead or conservative nutjob to balance out the writing team. The path of the Sawyer speaks of balance, does it not?

 

[Prime Junta]

What you work with?

Software products and services. The kind of stuff you find in big organisations like hospitals, government, finance, etc. Nothing the Codex would find remotely interesting.

 

[Mustawd]

I do. I work in finance.

What kind of software?

 

[Excidium II]

What you work with?

Software products and services. The kind of stuff you find in big organisations like hospitals, government, finance, etc. Nothing the Codex would find remotely interesting.

I do, it's my field too.

Custom software is obviously very susceptible to crunch time, so how did you manage to reach this heavenly enviroment?

 

[Mustawd]

After listening to Shanes podcast im not so sure if Amber is the source of all evil in this abomination. She doesnt come across as too bright or capable of leading the troops or imposing a vision on the team. And when she tells about her "promotion" to marketing i could swear i heard some regret in her voice. Anyway. Daigle mentions that being a small team meant that a lot of the employees wore several hats during the process, i think he even mentions being responsible for some of the writing. Of course this makes the situation even worse, since there is no easy identifiable source of evil. Lastly, actually calling 1 million sales within the realms of the possible is of course a sign of living in a slightly disconnected reality.

Also telling for the situation at Beamdog was the fact that Amber says they dont do crunchtime there, it is all easy going happy go lucky relaxed as shit all the time. I dont think such a company mentality works in current year, in any sector.

I never thought she was the source of all the shitty writing I had heard about. I just think she was the lightning rod for a lot of people's butthurt. I know she was for mine, anyways.

Regardless, I can imagine it's mortifying to be the center of attention like she is right now. I mean in the webcasts you can tell she is really passionate about BG and the setting and all that. She just made some bad decisions in how she implemented it all. One could also argue her whole attitude was kind of shitty in a product that really needed to be commercially viable. In that sense she really sucked as a marketing rep.

However, I do agree with a lot of people that say that her superiors kind of put her in a position to fail.

 

[Excidium II]

After listening to Shanes podcast im not so sure if Amber is the source of all evil in this abomination. She doesnt come across as too bright or capable of leading the troops or imposing a vision on the team. And when she tells about her "promotion" to marketing i could swear i heard some regret in her voice. Anyway. Daigle mentions that being a small team meant that a lot of the employees wore several hats during the process, i think he even mentions being responsible for some of the writing. Of course this makes the situation even worse, since there is no easy identifiable source of evil. Lastly, actually calling 1 million sales within the realms of the possible is of course a sign of living in a slightly disconnected reality.

Also telling for the situation at Beamdog was the fact that Amber says they dont do crunchtime there, it is all easy going happy go lucky relaxed as shit all the time. I dont think such a company mentality works in current year, in any sector.

I never thought she was the source of all the shitty writing I had heard about. I just think she was the lightning rod for a lot of people's butthurt. I know she was for mine, anyways.

Regardless, I can imagine it's mortifying to be the center of attention like she is right now. I mean in the webcasts you can tell she is really passionate about BG and the setting and all that. She just made some bad decisions in how she implemented it all. One could also argue her whole attitude was kind of shitty in a product that really needed to be commercially viable. In that sense she really sucked as a marketing rep.

However, I do agree with a lot of people that say that her superiors kind of put her in a position to fail.

She dug her own grave with that post. Let us not forget:

 

[Excidium II]

"not reflective of the real world" is still a funny justification with how often SJWs like to use "it's a ficticious world bla bla bla" to support whatever nonsense they want to shoehorn into games.

Not to mention her real world seems to be limited to San Francisco or some other degenerated place.