Review GameBanshee Reviews Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

sea · Dec 2, 2012

The death cinematic is the only new one I actually like.

Tigranes said:
BG1's story and writing kept itself simple, and that was all for the best. Not a single critical plot dialogue would last more than 5-6 rejoinders, unless you asked Gorion and his counterpart (the dying mage at the maze, I forget his name) anything and everything - and they were clearly meant to be exposition repositories. The Nashkel Mines, Cloakwood, etc. are all more about having an excuse to go dungeon romping with a 'boss' fight at the end, and the Iron Throne building is only marginally better with the talking heads on each floor as you go up. That's why the Chapter monologues and cutscenes were actually welcome, injecting much needed visualisation that, for its rarity and brevity, would be very effective at holding the game together.

As long as you took BG1/2/TOB's story at that level of pomp and seriousness I think it worked very well; I think TOB's problems had a lot more to do with (1) a reduced scope which made the 'travel to X then Y then Z' structure badly paced, (2) again, a reduced scope and the corpulent self-aggrandisation of a setting that any sequel suffers from that necessitated all the Solar-talking and dream sequences, etc; (3) the limitations of high-level D&D, though I enjoyed it and I think it's great we have one IE title that provides it.

It's funny because I can actually compare the game to Fallout in terms of narrative delivery: barebones story with a huge world to explore, and a plot you piece together on your own through exploration. The game does make things much more obvious (walk into town and character X says HEY YOU ARE AN ADVENTURER GO DO X) but the lack of direction is still pretty refreshing. I just wish they had set it up better and given you clearer reasons for actually wanting to solve the problems along the Sword Coast. It definitely captures the feel of being a band of adventurers out in the wilderness, far from civilization, but like I said, it feels at odds with the rest of the Bhaalspawn stuff.

Guido Fawkes · Dec 3, 2012

Have they announced anything about DLC content?

I'm expecting very lulzy "gay romance packs", "portrait packs", "+5 sword of ultra death" or something like that.

shihonage · Dec 4, 2012

Dat intro...:baby:

Moribund · Dec 4, 2012

Kahlis said:
ok

All right, now this one is truly bad compared to the original. I rather liked the original but this doesn't even make any sense.

Wyrmlord · Dec 4, 2012

Tigranes, I am not sure why you say BG1 kept its writing simple.

In BG1, everyone talks in such an extended, lecturing manner over the most trivial of things, that it is anything but simple.

That sculptor near Nashkel could have simply said, "A man called Greywolf is coming to kill me. Could you protect me while I finish my sculpture, which I can't leave unattended?" No, instead, he rambles on and on, almost like the coffin maker in Planescape: Torment.

Even the two men giving you directions to Friendly Arm just couldn't keep himself brief at all.

Grunker · Dec 4, 2012

There is a pretty fucking big difference between 'simple' and 'brief'.

Wyrmlord · Dec 4, 2012

Grunker said:
There is a pretty fucking big difference between 'simple' and 'brief'.

I disagree.

Mrowak · Dec 4, 2012

Grunker said:
There is a pretty fucking big difference between 'simple' and 'brief'.

Let's face it. The writing in BG1 was *simplistic*, bloated and pretty much bad.

Infinitron · Dec 4, 2012

I liked it. :oops:

EG · Dec 4, 2012

Wyrmlord said:
Tigranes, I am not sure why you say BG1 kept its writing simple.

In BG1, everyone talks in such an extended, lecturing manner over the most trivial of things, that it is anything but simple.

That sculptor near Nashkel could have simply said, "A man called Greywolf is coming to kill me. Could you protect me while I finish my sculpture, which I can't leave unattended?" No, instead, he rambles on and on, almost like the coffin maker in Planescape: Torment.

Even the two men giving you directions to Friendly Arm just couldn't keep himself brief at all.

Ah, the Bethesda School of Dialog. :lol:

Grunker · Dec 4, 2012

Infinitron said:
I liked it.

Wyrmlord · Dec 4, 2012

MMXI said:
Infinitron said:

sea According to MMXI, Baldur's Gate was trying to emulate a Gold Box-style "investigation" plot. Travel to troubled area, find the bad guys that are behind the troubles, defeat bad guys, discover written evidence leading you to next troubled area, and so on.

Click to expand...

It basically was. You can see a huge shift between Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II in terms of the player character's importance to the plot. Yes, you were tied to it in Baldur's Gate, but that only became apparent near the end of the game and for most of it you were just investigating the truth behind the problems plaguing the area. Very low key stuff that slowly escalates. Even the mix between set encounters and random encounters was kind of close to many of the Gold Box games. It had its own charm I guess. It's just a whole let less EPIC and a whole lot less about the CHOSEN ONE with a whole lot less PERSONAL DRAMA than anything BioWare (and most other RPG developers) did afterwards. Removing the stuff about being a bhaalspawn, it would have made for an excellent Gold Box adventure.

Come to think of it, the Twisted Rune plotline (never completed) in BG2 was in the manner of this investigative style.

You start by investigating slavers, and find their connection to magicians.

You then investigate the murders and skinning in the Bridge District. There, again, you find some assistance being given by magicians of the Rune.

You find a note to be given to a man in Umar Hills. Probe him enough and he says the Rune will take care of you.

And eventually, you stumble across the portal to the Rune headquarters in Athkatla.

Of course, that's not how it actually happens, but it seems like it also builds on trying to probe deeper into problems plagueing a particular area.

Grunker · Dec 4, 2012

^I think that quest is completed either in SimDing0's Quest Pack or in Unfinished Business.

Roguey · Dec 4, 2012

That's fan fiction then, the Twisted Rune was never intended to be more than what it was.
http://social.bioware.com/profile.forum/forum/1/topic/13/index/7637945/4

Lukas Kristjanson said:
Twisted Rune: We mined the setting for every useable tidbit we could find, as the size of the game shows, and some got more extensive treatment than others. The Rune Assassins mentioned can be seen to allude to something larger, but sometimes that allusion is itself the goal. Wrap up every little detail and even a world that big can seem small. So yes, they were up to stuff, but no, there is no plot detailing it.

waywardOne · Dec 5, 2012

Honestly, people who need everything wrapped up in a bow at the end are idiots. The world/setting/story is far more interesting when questions remain unanswered. I'll go further and say that one thing that really intrigued me was whether (or how much) anyone on the Council (of Six? Eight? w/e) was directly involved with the slavers. Having those loose ends gives me the feeling that there's more without spelling it out for me one letter at a time.

I love simding0 but that's one thing I wish he'd never touched.

Awor Szurkrarz · Dec 5, 2012

Is simding0 still active? I remember him being a funny guy.

Grunker · Dec 5, 2012

Awor Szurkrarz said:
Is simding0 still active? I remember him being a funny guy.

Nah. The airtight 'tone'-security at Spellhold et. al. drove him out. He was active on Pocketplane for a while, but as far as I know, he's gone now.

MetalCraze · Dec 10, 2012

You know that when something is getting Enhanced Edition it will be a grand rape.

Also remember - Beamdog is planning DLCs. More shit quality content to ruin the game for money - how can anyone refuse?

And then they will get to Baldur's Gate 2...

How long before Fallout gets enhanced?

tuluse · Dec 10, 2012

Clockwork Knight said:
Infinitron said:

Refresh your memory.

Click to expand...

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.

Here's why there is so much butt hurt:

The new intro is worse than the old one. It doesn't matter if it's 99% as good. It would still be 1% worse.

So, if you accept the new one is worse (it doesn't matter how little the difference is), then you realize they are charging money for something that is worse and calling it an "enhanced edition". The cynicism is off the scales even for the modern game industry. They literally could have taken the old animation fucking resized it using windows movie maker and had a better product. This is ridiculous.

Wyrmlord · Dec 10, 2012

MetalCraze said:
How long before Fallout gets enhanced?

They might introduce dialogue banter and romances with Ian.

Love will be expressed through weapons on Burst mode.

Morkar Left · Dec 10, 2012

Wyrmlord said:
MetalCraze said:

How long before Fallout gets enhanced?

Click to expand...

They might introduce dialogue banter and romances with Ian.

Love will be expressed through weapons on Burst mode.

I don't think they will stop there. They will not further rest till the combat is realtime with ~~pause~~ vats. It will still be inferior to F3 but at least it will make it playable and shows how fallout was really meant to be played. Finally you can feel the tension real time shooting provides and run away from Ians uzi bursts. It's gonna be awesome!

Rahdulan · Apr 20, 2013

This gonna be good.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/04...-feature-350000-words-more-than-the-original/

Did you Like Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition? I did. If you agree you probably already know that Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition is currently being worked on at Overhaul Games. What you possibly didn’t yet know is the sheer size of the additional content that the remake will bring.

Producer and Writer Phillip Daigle revealed on his personal Twitter account that the team wrote 350,000 words for of new content, and they’re going to try to get some of those many lines voiced.