Baldur's Gate #BaldurGate: Siege of Dragonspear

[Lhynn]

I like how aVENGER still pops in the thread to solve tech issues or at least adress them, Like a lone janitor still cleaning the toilet as the entire building comes crumbling down.

 

[Azarkon]

This game is becoming the largest SJW war since Dragon Age Inquisition, and without the usual "new generation casual gamers" to back up the SJW side, since Baldur's Gate's fans are old school, the SJW side is losing, hard.

Was there any kind of war when DAI came out? At this point if you were angry by what they had in that game, you were really a noob. Besides, some sjws were angry that not everyone was bisexual. Legit angry, and more than the shitlords. To be honest, I remember the mini campaigns against The Witcher 3: Made of Rape to be more relevant among the sjw circles.

Dragon Age Inquisition was when the SJW issue became big in the CRPG world, from what I remember, due to the degree to which Bioware went to push SJW ideas. It was the first CRPG in which I, personally, could not simply ignore the SJW politics, because it was advertised and presented so heavily. That said, Dragon Age Inquisition is a bad game not because of SJW but in spite of it, and while I criticized the SJW in the game, specifically with respect to its effects on characters, I still believe that the bigger issues with it were the shit combat and story.

But that said, it feels as though this time, what we're getting with this game, is not even necessarily about the game itself, as much as it is about community anger that a line has been crossed. I imagine that a lot of Bioware's fans, disgusted with the direction that company was taking, saw hope in the new Baldur's Gate game, similar to how the Codex saw hope in Pillars of Eternity. But then when it, too, went down the SJW road, they're finally saying, "enough."

 

[Immortal]

I like how aVENGER still pops in the thread to solve tech issues or at least adress them, Like a lone janitor still cleaning the toilet as the entire building comes crumbling down.

 

[pippin]

This game is becoming the largest SJW war since Dragon Age Inquisition, and without the usual "new generation casual gamers" to back up the SJW side, since Baldur's Gate's fans are old school, the SJW side is losing, hard.

Was there any kind of war when DAI came out? At this point if you were angry by what they had in that game, you were really a noob. Besides, some sjws were angry that not everyone was bisexual. Legit angry, and more than the shitlords. To be honest, I remember the mini campaigns against The Witcher 3: Made of Rape to be more relevant among the sjw circles.

Dragon Age Inquisition was when the SJW issue became big in the CRPG world, from what I remember, due to the degree to which Bioware went to push SJW ideas. It was the first CRPG in which I, personally, could not simply ignore the SJW politics, because it was advertised and presented so heavily. That said, Dragon Age Inquisition is a bad game not because of SJW but in spite of it, and while I criticized the SJW in the game, specifically with respect to its effects on characters, I still believe that the bigger issues with it were the shit combat and story.

But that said, it feels as though this time, what we're getting with this game, is not even necessarily about the game itself, as much as it is about community anger that a line has been crossed. I imagine that a lot of Bioware's fans, disgusted with the direction that company was taking, saw hope in the new Baldur's Gate game, similar to how the Codex saw hope in Pillars of Eternity. But then when it, too, went down the SJW road, they're finally saying, "enough."

You weren't around when Dragon Age 2 was released then.

 

[Haba]

"expansion adds diversity"

Are those people fucking blind? Or just brain damaged? It's like appointing a coprophile as a chef. "This soup is O.K., but it definitely needs some shit in it!". Then wonder why the close-minded customers complain.

THE WHOLE GOD DAMN ISSUE IS THAT YOU TREAT DIVERSITY AS SOMETHING THAT ARBITRARILY NEEDS TO BE ADDED TO EVERYTHING.

IT. IS. NOT. AN. AUTOMATIC. POSITIVE. THING.

Just like soup doesn't become better if you add shit in it.

 

[Infinitron]

Fuck BG3, that would likely suck. For a while I was excited for NWN:EE, as it might reignite the modding scene, but I doubt they would want to learn an entirely new engine now and work with 5 billion modders to implement their improvements...

I think they plan to create a new IP. That's what Gaider and all these other ex-Bioware guys like Brent Knowles have joined for. I'm not sure if those plans are in any way impacted by the commercial success of BG:SoD or lack thereof - with the amount of big names already on board they might already have alternate funding sources.

 

[Space Insect]

Sometimes, I wish aVENGER didn't have to speak for Beamdog in this so we could hear his perspective on the events leading up to this debacle.

 

[Notorious]

Someone in their team said this looked good enough.

This is good:

Spoiler

Yes the comparison unfair but fuck you shit looks bad.

 

[Lhynn]

Fuck BG3, that would likely suck. For a while I was excited for NWN:EE, as it might reignite the modding scene, but I doubt they would want to learn an entirely new engine now and work with 5 billion modders to implement their improvements...

NWN: EE would be fucking amazing, theres a ton of hardcoded shit, and itd be great if we could get full access to modify the base game. It would allow you to add new clases, feats and spells to the base game, instead of having to modify it on a per module basis.
With any luck itd give most ex content creators a reason to come back, polish and update their great modules and give us a more stable version of the game.

That said, beamdog has proven they are too incompetent and ignorant to make any sort of improvement.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I think they plan to create a new IP. That's what Gaider and all these other ex-Bioware guys like Brent Knowles have joined for. I'm not sure if those plans are in any way impacted by the commercial success of BG:SoD or lack thereof - with the amount of big names already on board they might already have alternate funding sources.

New IP as in new IP in the DnD universe or new IP in not-DnD?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Fargo just retweeted that Venturebeat article, fortunately there's still time to add more trannies to BT3

 

[Infinitron]

I think they plan to create a new IP. That's what Gaider and all these other ex-Bioware guys like Brent Knowles have joined for. I'm not sure if those plans are in any way impacted by the commercial success of BG:SoD or lack thereof - with the amount of big names already on board they might already have alternate funding sources.

New IP as in new IP in the DnD universe or new IP in not-DnD?

Not-DnD. See RPGamer interview with Daigle: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/dnd/bgenh/bgenhsodint.html

 

[Mustawd]

More "journos" https://archive.is/vvk9o

Baldur’s Gate’s expansion adds diversity, and of course some people hate it
Jeff Grubb April 4, 2016 12:51 PM
Tags: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Beamdog

Above: Kill the mages! They're probably fans of social justice!
Image Credit: Beamdog
Last week, a gaming classic received an impressive new expansion, but its progressive take on certain characters is making some fans angry.
Last week, developer Beamdog released the Siege of Dragonspear expansion for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, and some gamers are angry that it features a transgendered cleric as well as three-dimensional women characters. You can read about some of these themes in our positive review for the add-on, which is the first new content for the original Baldur’s Gate since 1999. But some fans of that original game are furious that Beamdog would expand the beloved role-playing world to feature more inclusive writing and characterizations, this has led to dozens of heated threads on Baldur’s Gate’s forums and a deluge of negative user scores on the review-aggregation site Metacritic and the Steam PC gaming portal.
The studio has spent the last several years updating the old Baldur’s Gate games, and it is now transitioning that into building new entries in the series. This is a niche business in the $99.3 billion gaming industry, and it’s one that could implode for Beamdog if a wave of hatred from reactionaries is able to successfully portray Siege of Dragonspear as a terrible game.
GamesBeat reached out to Beamdog, which is preparing a statement as of publication time.
The criticisms from the enraged on Steam and Metacritic primarily focus on two aspects of Dragonspear. Mizhena is a transgendered person, and the beloved ranger character Minsc makes a joke about the hate group GamerGate. The joke is a reference to the motto of GamerGate: “actually, it’s about ethics in games journalism.” Instead, Minsc says it is about ethics in adventuring.
That’s it.
But this has led to 142 people posting negative user reviews for the expansion on Metacritic. The vast majority of those have a score of “zero.” This has led to a 3.6 average out of 10. We’ve seen mobs use Metacritic and Steam reviews in the past to punish a game they don’t like.
In the reviews and the posts on the message boards, you’ll find some common themes. People hate that “SJWs” have “gotten their hands on” the Baldur’s Gate franchise. SJW stands for “social justice warrior,” and it is a pejorative term that some circles on the Internet use to describe people who push for political correctness. Some claim they are not fans of “poor” writing, but others are more direct:
“Can the transgender character please be removed so my daughter [can play],” reads one post on Steam. “I live in Turkey and our society frowns upon non-binary sexual relations and genders. Once, my daughter saw a transgender person (male to female) and asked me about the whole situation. It wasn’t easy to explain everything. She chuckled every time I tried to sound serious about the situation.”
Poor guy. He had to talk to his daughter about a serious issue.

I love the lack of cultural sensitivity these people show. The Turk guy has a legitimate concern, and the author decides to make fun of him and imply he doesn't want to talk to his daughter about stuff that he never expected to be in a game.

It's like they're only interested in the diversity that interests them. How shocking.

 

[Immortal]

It would allow you to add new clases, feats and spells to the base game, instead of having to modify it on a per module basis.

This can be done already as long as everyone agrees on a 2da format... Like they did in NWN2 PRC pack..
Lessons Learned and all that.

 

[pippin]

If I remember correctly, they planned SoD to be "their" BG3, this was way back then though, and I can be remember this incorrectly. They couldn't release it like that because Wizards wouldn't allow them to release a new game using an old ruleset.

 

[Infinitron]

If I remember correctly, they planned SoD to be "their" BG3, this was way back then though, and I can be remember this incorrectly. They couldn't release it like that because Wizards wouldn't allow them to release a new game using an old ruleset.

No, you have it backwards. SoD was originally meant to be a 2 hour DLC but its scope gradually expanded over the years to what we ended up getting.

 

[oldmanpaco]

A two hour DLC for $.99 sounds nice.

To bad things didn't work out.

 

[Immortal]

I would love to have heard aVENGER 's opinion unfiltered even if he called me a piece of shit.
It won't happen though - damage control ect ect

Beamdog is preparing a statement as we speak.

No doubt blaming KiA for all their problems.

 

[Excidium II]

Someone in their team said this looked good enough.

This is good:

Spoiler

Yes the comparison unfair but fuck you shit looks bad.

The original BG maps look better than the EE stuff. Bright and sharp.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Yes referring to that Turkish guy was low, althoug having read the thread on Steam this guy may just be a world class troll of codexian magnificence, but than again he could be legit.

 

[vortex]

Could you tell me in short what is this fuss about? The responses are many and text is overwhelming across the web. I don't understand situation and I don't have all the time to read it through.

 

[pippin]

Could you tell me in short what is this fuss about? The responses are many and text is overwhelming across the web. I don't understand situation and I don't have all the time to read it through.

They wanted to make a Baldur's Gate campaign everyone loved.
They rolled a 1.

 

[Immortal]

Could you tell me in short what is this fuss about? The responses are many and text is overwhelming across the web. I don't understand situation and I don't have all the time to read it through.

They wanted to make a Baldur's Gate campaign everyone loved.
They rolled a 1.

And now the DM is kicking all the players out of his house, smearing feces on the walls and setting fire to the curtains.

 

[Excidium II]

Could you tell me in short what is this fuss about? The responses are many and text is overwhelming across the web. I don't understand situation and I don't have all the time to read it through.

jews

 

[Kem0sabe]

Could you tell me in short what is this fuss about? The responses are many and text is overwhelming across the web. I don't understand situation and I don't have all the time to read it through.

Spoiler