13 replies to this topic

[Dumuzii]

Just incase some of you guys missed this

http://baldursgate.com/

Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Overhaul Games are pleased to announce work has begun on the Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II.

https://twitter.com/#!/trentoster

character Import will still work. We're looking for new ways to attach the games

Any word on how the game looks compared to Baldur's Gate with widescreen mod right now? Same or different/better?
it will be better. We've got the code to rework the UI and rendering

BGEE will be all 2D. We're using the hardware for acceleration.

We would never change the music

We are not removing any content, just not going to 100% VO for new characters

bgee is 2nd Edition D&D. Our first rule is don't break the fun. Part of the appeal of BG was the depth of the rules system

We haven't changed the save game formats yet. Hopefully nothing comes up that forces that on us

We're using the latest code from BGII Thronw of Bhall as our base, so everything in BG II and ToB will be there + what we add

We're going to stay with the BG model of only voicing some of the content. We feel it allows for more in-depth writing.

We want #BG3 as well. #bgee is a part of the master plan.

We're very interested in supporting the modding community and hopefully kicking off even more mods[/indent]

We'll be rolling screens out in the future. Same place, Same time next week. Hopefully less server fires.

We take mods seriously. (I led NWN after all) mods both current and future are important. More announcements to come

Examples of the companies work:
http://www.beamdog.c...roducts/mdk2-hd

I am pretty goddamn excited

[phordicus]

I'm not. That he dares to boast that abortion of a game NWN tells me he's pretty clueless about its actual reception. Great toolset and networking; everything else -- plot, graphics, mechanics -- sucked ass. Mods and multi were the only reasons to install it, the complete opposite of BG/BG2.

I really don't understand the point. The game looks good as it is, so new rendering options is silly. Could the game look better? Of course, but nothing to get excited about. RPG enthusiasts are hardly graphics whores.

The real problem, as quite a few here can attest, is that IE is good for what it was, not is. Are they fixing all the scripting holes? Can they patch it better than Asc64? Write better AI than aVENGER/DavidW/SimDing0?

New content doesn't entice me, either. If Oster is anything like his former employer, new content will be railroaded quests full of fake C&C. Dare I mention yet more romances? I'd say there's more than enough of those already.

I'm curious about how they're going to avoid stepping on modder's toes with this. I'm also curious about legal ramifications since both Atari and WotC are involved.

Then there's the hype. From his twitter where someone asks: "Will you change the interface? I think the ruleset is fine, it's the interface that made it so goddamn complicated". I'm not sure what kind of mouthbreather found anything complicated -- nevermind the question sounds like a plant -- it just reinforces that it's going to be "streamlined" and made "accessible".

The only decent thing I'm hoping for out of this is a toolset.

P.S. Gaming forums are replete with new members touting this thing. The shills are already out in force.

[Indral]

Let's cut your pessimism to pieces and take care of it.

I'm not. That he dares to boast that abortion of a game NWN tells me he's pretty clueless about its actual reception. Great toolset and networking; everything else -- plot, graphics, mechanics -- sucked ass. Mods and multi were the only reasons to install it, the complete opposite of BG/BG2.

Firstly, when you make anything like NWN, you can then lecture people what to boast about and what not.
Fact is, NWN as a piece of software is immensely more accessible to modding and it would surely do IE games a lot of good if the same level of accessibility would be built into them.

I really don't understand the point. The game looks good as it is, so new rendering options is silly. Could the game look better? Of course, but nothing to get excited about. RPG enthusiasts are hardly graphics whores.

Why are new rendering options silly? RPG enthusiasts may not be graphics whore, but who doesn't love improvements, rendering optimizations?

The real problem, as quite a few here can attest, is that IE is good for what it was, not is. Are they fixing all the scripting holes? Can they patch it better than Asc64? Write better AI than aVENGER/DavidW/SimDing0?

Can they patch it better than Asc64? Seriously?
They have the source code. They don't need to PATCH it. Thay can easily make vast corrections and improvements to the engine.
You do have a point about AI, but if we get awful vanilla AI - the new moddability surely makes it easier to improve the AI afterwards - IF neccessary.

New content doesn't entice me, either. If Oster is anything like his former employer, new content will be railroaded quests full of fake C&C. Dare I mention yet more romances? I'd say there's more than enough of those already.

How can you even assume that a person is "like his former employer"? In facts, I'm led to believe he's nothing like that. Anyways, if your quests aren't fun, just play them through and carry on to custom, fan-made ones.

Then there's the hype. From his twitter where someone asks: "Will you change the interface? I think the ruleset is fine, it's the interface that made it so goddamn complicated". I'm not sure what kind of mouthbreather found anything complicated -- nevermind the question sounds like a plant -- it just reinforces that it's going to be "streamlined" and made "accessible".

I fail to see how that one comment is relevant to anything here. Go discuss it with the person who posted it.
It surely doesn't reinforce any "streamlining", in the negative sense of the word.

The fact that there's will and a way to re-release and enhance the arguably best RPG of all times, WITHOUT switching to lame munchkin rules of 3rd and 4th editions is an encouraging fact.
After DAO, and Bethesda's bullshit games, I was starting to lose hope - but for me this is the best possible thing that could have happened to the genre.

[Galactygon]

This is very interesting. I wonder what new they will offer vs. any big world install. I also wonder whether to what extent will we modders influence their design decisions.

-Galactygon

[Yovaneth]

See the other thread here.

-Y-

Edited by Yovaneth, 16 March 2012 - 02:49 PM.

[Eric P.]

I'll speak up here as an RPG enthusiast who's a huge graphics whore *LOL* I've always found the vanilla BG2 graphics hideous lacking in smoothness of texture and detail. and too...IDK...cartoonish? I realize there's only so much that can be done, but I'd love to see the game with a smoother, more three-dimensional-looking look (high def?), but the scale might be such that not a lot of this could be achieved. I don't want to see it looking like typical 3D modeling, though, because that just looks artificial, too.

As for the rules system: fun? Someone considers 2nd Edition rules fun? I've always found 2nd Ed PnP rules to be awkward, and something of a stumbling point to good action flow and storytelling; the mechanics struck me as inconsistent. I'd vastly prefer to see the game overhauled to use 3.5e rules, but that's just me, and I know there are mods that implement various 3.x edition rules...

Which brings me to a concern: I wonder how the new edition will handle mods, and if there will be any need for modders to add or change any coding to ensure that the mods behave as they should.

I hope there will be enough "enhancements" to outweigh any drawbacks. That anyone has an interest in revisiting and breathing new life into the game is most impressive, so I look forward to seeing the progress and the eventual finished product

Edited by Eric P., 18 March 2012 - 09:12 AM.

[Rhaella]

I'm with you on 3.5 being preferable, but I think an overhaul of the rules system would pretty much break everything.

[Almateria]

Then there's the hype. From his twitter where someone asks: "Will you change the interface? I think the ruleset is fine, it's the interface that made it so goddamn complicated". I'm not sure what kind of mouthbreather found anything complicated -- nevermind the question sounds like a plant -- it just reinforces that it's going to be "streamlined" and made "accessible".

Jesus dude just chill out for a moment!
The interface was not complicated, just extremely clunky and unwieldy. You could've had over a hundred spells remembered and be able to only browse them 10 at time. And there were different buttons for every menu page on screen all the time. And you couldn't turn the dialogbox off, so the interface took 1/3 of the screen. It's seriously bad!

It really makes me sad that BGEE is going to be 2e, because it probably means there will never there will never be a proper CRPG using the 4e's awesome grid-based tactical combat.

[phordicus]

Jesus dude just chill out for a moment!

I'm very chill . I haven't even begun to balance the bewildering level of anticipation of the other side.

Btw, love your spell components mod. I might be bringing this up again in a few months.

[Daxs]

If people liked 3 so much, why is IWD2 not so popular?

[Rhaella]

Never played it, so I don't know. But there's a difference between liking the system in PnP and liking it as implemented in a computer game. Also, between not liking a game's system and not caring for its plot.

[berelinde]

If people liked 3 so much, why is IWD2 not so popular?

If IWD2 really is less popular than other IE games, it's probably lack of party interaction, not game mechanics that makes it that way. Just a hunch.

[Solaufein]

IWD2 was rushed. Lack of a good story, lack of areas to explore, it just seems like it was rushed to get some quick money by capitalizing on the IE name. I try to play the game through completion, I really do but I grow bored half way through. Its a shame too because I like the subraces and the kits that the game introduces.

[Ramiliez]

3 ed Rules: no way they are after quick cash from ipeople
Graphics: Common people they are stylish and they do have certain charm and that is much better than any empty 3D btw if i don't see "squares" graphics are good enough
Interface: I don't think that anything is actually wrong with BG2 interface except it doesn't scale with hight resolution spellbook could be better and cast spell too

I'm interested in two things how they will integrate new content and their changes to Infinity Engine and underlying stuff

Edited by Ramiliez, 28 March 2012 - 12:02 PM.