So they're remaking the greatest roleplaying games of all time, Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II.
News from the official site (http://www.baldursgate.com/news/2012/03/15/announcing-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition/).
Right now I'm totally like:
(http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/264/200/acb.jpg)
I own the Baldur's Gate series, except for the 2nd expansion. I played them hundreds of time, and it was very fun.
Funny thing is that game contributed a bunch to me learning english. Gogo Baldur's Gate.
Here's hoping they do the same for Planescape!
Definitely seconding that Limetom. Introducing me to Baldur's Gate was the only good thing my cousin ever did for me. It opened me up to RPGs, introduced me to D&D, which eventually lead me to making the greatest friends of my life (both in the real world, and here on the CBG). I think it was so instrumental to my interests that, if/when I get published, it's going in my "thank you" page.
Then again, reading the press release, I'm afraid of words like "re-forged version of the infinity engine" and "Atari". Here's hoping.
The absolute worst that can happen is they make a half-baked, stupid, buggy, crap version of a beloved classic which gamers promptly ignore - the original games are still there, undiminished.
The best case is that they usher in a new era of games modelling themselves on those old classics. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Skyrim, and Mass Effect is pretty cool too, but those old gems had something really special... it would be awesome if more RPGs would channel the BG era. Planescape: Torment and BG2 remain two of the best CRPGs ever made for my two cp.
How much do you reckon they'll actually be doing? I presumed they were only giving the graphics a boost and maybe fixing a few bugs.
That line of thought leads to a pivotal question: will they upgrade the version of D&D?!
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a 3.x upgrade, but a 4.0 would be terrifying. (although the storytelling is strong enough to support it, I guess. Still, that would be a very controversial move.)
They're redoing the graphics and adding new content (new NPCs with voice acting!) and stuff. I can't see it being full game price. Probably somewhere between what BG is now on GoG (10$) and new retail price (40-60$)
I figure they're probably taking something like the redone Monkey Island as their model.
Quote from: Superfluous Crow
How much do you reckon they'll actually be doing? I presumed they were only giving the graphics a boost and maybe fixing a few bugs.
That line of thought leads to a pivotal question: will they upgrade the version of D&D?!
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a 3.x upgrade, but a 4.0 would be terrifying. (although the storytelling is strong enough to support it, I guess. Still, that would be a very controversial move.)
According to what I could glean from the guy's tweets I got the following:
- It will still use AD&D rules.
- They'll be kicking some screenshots our way next week.
- The Infinity Enhanced engine is based on the latest Throne of Bhall codebase.
- There will be two core games released, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.
- BG:EE will include the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.
- BG2:EE will include the Throne of Bhaal expansion.
- The EE's will still utilize the 2d isometric style of the original games.
- There are eventual plans for a BG3 and the EE release is a part of the plan leading up to that.
- EE will of course work with all the latest hardware and plays nicely with Windows 7.
- The game will maintain the original voice acting style where only some things are voiced and others done with text to allow for more in-depth writing.
- There will be new characters with new voice actors.
- The old characters will still have their original voice overs.
- Multiplayer will be fixed to run smoothly on modern connections.
- For the time being the save game formats are still the same.
- They're trying to make sure that original mods for the games still work with the Extended Edition.
- The current plan is for a digital only release.
- They're keeping the original game music.
- They're altering the interface to make it more user friendly.
- Importing characters to BG2 from BG1 will still work.
- If you don't like the new content they're adding to the game you can ignore it and play the game classic style.
Hm. I'd be happier if they updated from 2E to 3.5 but perhaps that was expecting too much. At least they didn't go to 4E.
Yeah, it wouldn't make any sense for them to go 3.5 apart from the fact that some people are especially fond of that edition; frankly going 3.5 instead of 4E would be a bit of a slap in the face at Wizards, wouldn't you say? Most of the ugly stuff in 2E sprang from confusing and strange rules, but since CRPGs tend to obfuscate that stuff very well, it's not a big issue as far as I'm concerned.
There would be absolutely no sense in making it 3.5.
It would be upgrading it in a fashion, adding something to it to justify purchasing the new one. It wouldn't be change for the sake of change.
Hopefully they will let us level up Nalia and Imoen and other characters as we prefer instead of taking them as they join.
It would be upgrading, but it would be a rather arbitrary upgrade, i.e. why not upgrade to the current edition of d&d? I'd much rather see them add in new quests, characters, items, etc, personally.
I felt a bit limited by the character class/option choices in BG1/2... It's one reason I prefered IWD2 to BG2.
I admit some skepticism about how much new voice acting they will be able to put in to flesh out new quests and likeable characters, so I'd rather see them focus on the Technical aspects of the game to improve customization and the play experience, and perhaps add one or two mini-quests.
They made Icewind Dale semi 3E. The only good thing it does is give you more control over customizing your character, but you can customize a lot with kits and equipment anyway.
I really hope they put the kits into BG1. Playing BG1 with the BG2 Engine would be great for that. Also, Barbarians, Monks, and Sorcerers from level 1 ...
That's what I mean; If they were going to change the rules, they would make it current. Regardless of what system I like best or would want to see, making it a different flavor of outdated just wouldn't make sense.
Also, doesn't Kenzer Company own the rights to AD&D now?
(http://0.tqn.com/d/webtrends/1/6/H/A/-/-/megusta.png)
Me gusta.
That is all.
M.
It will also be on iPad for under $10.
If only I could has ipadz :(
:<
M.
Steerpike will like this, if BGEE and BG2EE are succesfull they're going to make PlaneScape: Torment EE!
The interview I saw said they want to do that and that they would also like to make things like Planescape Torment 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 but sales have to be really good. They had to fight just to get the rights to do this.
What I would like to see is for them to make an isometric engine where we can make adventures-- like NWN's toolkit environment but in 2D... 2D allows more easily done adventure designing possibilities than 3D does.
Yes!
Quote from: Ninja D!
The interview I saw said they want to do that and that they would also like to make things like Planescape Torment 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 but sales have to be really good. They had to fight just to get the rights to do this.
I find it hard to imagine how a sequel to Torment would make any sense (not that things like that have stopped sequels being made before). As far as Baldur's Gate is concerned, I never played Throne of Bhaal, but the end of BG2 leaves the idea open a bit more.
All this said, I dug out my copy of Torment the other day, and started playing it again for the nostalgia. When I played through that the first time, I never appreciated how intellectual it is, what with the ideologies of the different factions, and the ability to choose between them, not to mention the underpinnings of playing an immortal trying to build a new identity from scratch, and the search to discover oneself.
The Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games never really finished, either. The entire franchise is sort of depressing that way.
Quote from: Seraphine_Harmonium
I never played Throne of Bhaal, but the end of BG2 leaves the idea open a bit more.
ToB is not just a tacked-on expansion, it continues the central metaplot of the BG games all the way to it's conclusion. While there are two alternate ways for the story to end there, neither of them would make a good starting point for further sequels.
So, I've been scanning this thread, but I'm unclear on what game system they plan to use for the remake. I'm sure I just missed it--they're not actually going to use AD&D again, are they?
Wait, I was pretty sure they said initially that the enhanced edition releases were actually mostly meant as a precursor to the development of a BG3, implying that the development of the EE games were more teasers than stand-alone releases?
ooc: all signs point to "Yes, they are going to be using the AD&D engine again". I can imagine converting everything to another system would be quite a tremendous programming overhaul and possibly catastrophic to the (somewhat) finely tuned balance of the original. Plus, you'd end up with an enraged audience of grognards. Later releases would probably use a newer edition, I imagine.
There will be no changing of the system. A BG3 could happen if this sells really well but it might not.
As awesome as the prospect of a BG3 is, I don't think the team behind 1 and 2 will be behind BG3, so despite the brand, I'm not getting my hopes up that it will be as good or better than the first two. Except hearing that they're keeping the second edition ruleset is a step in the right direction.
Apparently a lot of that team is with this company, working on the Enhanced Edition...so it is possible.
When you say really well is that characterizing a hope or is there a certain profit margin that you think could net BG 3? I ask because books in the RPG business often have their content expanded on through sequels and tie-ins if they do well, where as I don't know if that's how video games model decisions except in he broadest economic sense.
To be honest, the use of AD&D as a game system is a turn off. I didn't love it tabletop--though I had fun memories with it--but I feel it's just not well suited as the base system for a video game. For that matter, no D&D system is really a great fit, but I think 3rd or 4th fit video games better.
IMO stuff like THAC0 actually work better on a computer. I could possibly see 3e on a computer (though it doesn't need a computer as much) but not 4e.
as much as I have railed against THAC0 and the strange AC system that comes with it, I think changing the BG series to another edition would border on heresy. That -10 AC or the 1 THAC0 was a beautiful thing to see...
I played 2E DnD and I still have difficulty understanding the AC/Attack numbers. For whatever reason, even though it shouldn't be, it was non-intuitive. Nomadic is right that THAC0 makes more sense on a computer, but it's still unnecessarily complicated.
At least 2E DnD didn't have the tables of 1E... or at least so many.
This all serves to remind me that I really want to run a game using the older D&D rules. I remember playing BG / NWN before I'd gotten into tabletops and not having the slightest clue what was going on.
M.
4E would be perfect for a turn based tactical game.