How about a new Baldur's Gate game?...possibly.....

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:03 pm

Paingod wrote:The Shadowy Figure failed his saving throw and the "Resurrection" spell backfired into "Summon Pissed IT Guy"

Not Nerdmodius! No!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:05 pm

Maybe the music is all we get.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:12 pm

GameBanshee is mentioning finding a logo for "Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition" on the dev's site, which is now also crashed.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:13 pm

I love when sites do these timer things, sometimes day, weeks or hours in advance. You have to think that somewhere up the managerial chain, some marketing director said to someone in IT: "OK, now are we SURE that we can handle the traffic when the countdown hits zero? Please triple check this. In fact, pretend that hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS of people will be jabbing the F5 key repeatedly on our site when this thing hits zero...CAN WE HANDLE THAT?"

Fitzy · Post by **Fitzy** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:16 pm

This site is claiming enhanced edition for PC.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:19 pm

Snipped from their site source:

We are Overhaul Games. since we got our start at Bioware we've made a few games, met a few friends, and now we're back working on the games we love. For years we've wanted to continue our journey on Baldur's Gate, and now after months negotiations we get to do just that.

We're located in Edmonton along fashionable Whyte Avenue, down the street from the original Bioware office. Right now we're hip deep in code and pixels making awesome, if you got something to say or would like to join the fun drop us a line at

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:22 pm

That would thrill me beyond belief, as long as "enhanced edition" doesn't mean "FPS" and/or "streamlined" to be more palatable for the console crowd.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:24 pm

Given that their last project was the MDK2 EE, I'm guessing it is just a tech upgrade, which would be fantastic.

Oh, and:

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:25 pm

Hrm.

How much more "enhanced" can they make it than what the modding communities have been doing for all these years, I wonder.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:26 pm

silverjon wrote:Hrm.

How much more "enhanced" can they make it than what the modding communities have been doing for all these years, I wonder.

32 bit graphics would be a nice start. Possibly replace the low res 2d sprites with either detailed 3d models or modern sprites from 3d models.

DD* · Post by DD* » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:26 pm

I hear it's a first-person shooter with RPG elements! Win!!

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:30 pm

Meh. I wouldn't mind a sequel even if done in the old engine. Not a huge fan of replaying content.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:31 pm

Jag wrote:Meh. I wouldn't mind a sequel even if done in the old engine. Not a huge fan of replaying content.

Well for me personally, it's been so long since I played it, and with my feeble, almost senile-like mind, it will seem new to me!

Wait, what are we talking about?

WPD · Post by **WPD** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:39 pm

DD* wrote:I hear it's a first-person shooter with RPG elements! Win!!

Specifically it is a cover-based shooter and reimagines the Forgotten Realms as a near future earth.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:53 pm

According to Trent Oster's Twitter feed:

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is going to have new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:10 pm

Smoove_B wrote:According to Trent Oster's Twitter feed:

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is going to have new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members

Interest rising....

I'm just glad I saved all my characters from when BG1&2 were released. I'm sure most people did.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:12 pm

Smoove_B wrote:According to Trent Oster's Twitter feed:

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is going to have new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members

It's going to have new content for Freespace 2?

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:22 pm

Was about to make a joke about them re-imagining BG as a Freespace-style space shooter.

Then I realized that I would absolutely buy the shit out of that. Minsc in space? Oh my, yes.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:30 pm

Why Boo is flying?!?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:27 pm

Well I was hoping for a part 3 so it would be a trilogy but if they update it to make it look great and have new content so i can play it without hassle on my modern system im happy. Well as long as it's cheap since I own them both and all addons already. Maybe they'll sell it on GoG for $10 a game with all addons included.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:34 pm

Probably not. Beamdog did the same type of upgrade for MDK back in 2010 and it was released through their own digital distribution platform. In terms of sales, it would make more sense for them to release it on their own as a way to maximize the profits. FWIW, MDK HD was retailing for $15 on their site. And MDK ain't no Baldur's Gate.

Zurai · Post by **Zurai** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:58 pm

All things considered, this is one of the better possible outcomes. I wonder just how enhanced this enhanced edition will be. Better sprites and smoother animations would go a long way, along with obvious and pretty much guaranteed stuff like supporting modern monitor resolutions.

I wonder if the new content will include some of the half-finished quests that got cut due to time constraints?

silvaril · Post by **silvaril** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:11 pm

Heya

Given that there was Fan effort to make the entire series work in a single engine, I am hoping that one of the end results of this is the ability to play the entire existing series ( 1 && 2 && add-ons et al ) through from scratch.

And if the engine update is sufficient, then I figure it might possibly be a lead in to a part 3 or something...

Although, it is also likely that the updated "engine" is merely the end result of porting the game to Tablets et al, and that backporting from that to PC's is just icing.

Skeptic · Post by **Skeptic** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:11 pm

Enhanced Edition of BG and BG2?

That was underwhelming...

silvaril · Post by **silvaril** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:16 pm

Heya

silvaril wrote:Given that there was Fan effort to make the entire series work in a single engine, I am hoping that one of the end results of this is the ability to play the entire existing series ( 1 && 2 && add-ons et al ) through from scratch.

Whelp, scratch that as they have confirmed that each of 1 & 2 is undergoing separate treatment, making it in my mind far more likely that these are tablet ports, with PC icing.

Jaymon · Post by **Jaymon** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:46 pm

Perhaps its going to be a full conversion using Skyrim engine. Good luck getting all 5 companions down the hallway.

Zurai · Post by **Zurai** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 3:35 am

It'd be awesome if it was a total conversion to the IWD2 engine. There's actually a mod that more-or-less converts BG2 to the IWD2 engine (Icewind Gate), but it's on hiatus and is still only about half implemented. It's playable, but very hack-y. You have to use cheat commands for some things, like starting at a level other than 1.

EDIT: Chance of that happening is 0%, of course. It'll still be 2nd edition rules. Which is kind of amusing considering how close we are to 5th edition.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:23 am

Well they are re-releasing the 1st edition books in April or May (can't remember now) so maybe they're on a retro kick

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:02 am

Zurai wrote:It'd be awesome if it was a total conversion to the IWD2 engine. There's actually a mod that more-or-less converts BG2 to the IWD2 engine (Icewind Gate), but it's on hiatus and is still only about half implemented. It's playable, but very hack-y. You have to use cheat commands for some things, like starting at a level other than 1.

EDIT: Chance of that happening is 0%, of course. It'll still be 2nd edition rules. Which is kind of amusing considering how close we are to 5th edition.

I wish they'd update the damn ruleset. I hate AD&D with a passion, and it's the main reason why I haven't replayed these games already. Even the imperfection of plain 3rd Edition would be a considerable improvement.

Skeptic · Post by **Skeptic** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 6:37 pm

TiLT wrote:
Zurai wrote:It'd be awesome if it was a total conversion to the IWD2 engine. There's actually a mod that more-or-less converts BG2 to the IWD2 engine (Icewind Gate), but it's on hiatus and is still only about half implemented. It's playable, but very hack-y. You have to use cheat commands for some things, like starting at a level other than 1.

EDIT: Chance of that happening is 0%, of course. It'll still be 2nd edition rules. Which is kind of amusing considering how close we are to 5th edition.
I wish they'd update the damn ruleset. I hate AD&D with a passion, and it's the main reason why I haven't replayed these games already. Even the imperfection of plain 3rd Edition would be a considerable improvement.

This +1.

AD&D was terrible from a game design standpoint. D&D itself is an awful game design but we tend to forgive it because it was the first attempt at a RPG.

Zurai · Post by **Zurai** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:01 pm

D&D's design is fine when you consider that it was originally intended to provide intra-campaign story to a wargame. In that sense, it's actually pretty good design. Feature creep isn't a design problem in this case (it's a problem, but not one with the basic game design).

If you want mechanics that focus as much or more on non-combat rules as on combat rules, you'll want to try other systems like Burning Wheel.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:07 pm

Zurai wrote:D&D's design is fine when you consider that it was originally intended to provide intra-campaign story to a wargame. In that sense, it's actually pretty good design. Feature creep isn't a design problem in this case (it's a problem, but not one with the basic game design).

If you want mechanics that focus as much or more on non-combat rules as on combat rules, you'll want to try other systems like Burning Wheel.

I don't want to turn this into an edition war, but it's got to be said:

My problem with AD&D isn't that it's combat focused. That has always been (and still is) the focus of D&D. The problem with AD&D is that it's bloated beyond recognition, is anything but internally consistent, and can make anyone's brain hurt when trying to understand concepts like dual classing, exceptional strength scores and THAC0. Turns out that most people who fondly remember that system seem to recall only rules that were patched in much later or their own houserules. 3rd Edition is far, far from perfect, but it took a giant leap towards providing a consistent system with rules that actually seem to make some sense, archaic and convoluted though they may be.

Zurai · Post by **Zurai** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:06 pm

I wasn't commenting on AD&D in specific. I was responding to Skeptic's comment that D&D in general is badly designed.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:57 pm

I love AD&D, especially second edition, but I have no delusions about its design. The non-combat aspects were tacked on, and just barely, and I still shudder at the memory of trying to teach all those people how the internal logic worked:

Me: "Saving throws you roll over, so you need a low score. A 17 sucks. You have to roll under an ability score to make a test based on that. A 17 is great. THAC0 is your attack ability. You want it low to get a good attack. A 17 sucks. Armor class is your defensive ability. You want it low, because low AC means high armor. A -10 is much, much more than a 7, obviously. To attack you subtract your target's AC from your THAC0 and try to roll over it. Now, do you have all that straight?"

New player: "Which side is up on the triangle one?"

Now, Pathfinder/D&D 3x:

Me: "High is good. Roll a 20 and add whatever the + next to the score is."

New player: "Oh, that's easy. Which side is up on the triangle one?"

Zurai · Post by **Zurai** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:34 pm

Incidentally, I really recommend barrel-style d4s rather than caltrop/pyramid-style ones. Not only will you avoid taking hit point damage if you accidentally step on them, they also roll much better.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:36 pm

Zurai wrote:Incidentally, I really recommend barrel-style d4s rather than caltrop/pyramid-style ones. Not only will you avoid taking hit point damage if you accidentally step on them, they also roll much better.

You'll pry my awkward pyramids from my cold, dead fingers. There are traditions to maintain.

Sarkus · Post by **Sarkus** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:15 pm

You geezers and your jokes about dice!

Nowdays we just use our Iphone apps to generate the numbers . . . .

Grundbegriff · Post by **Grundbegriff** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:38 pm

Chaz wrote:Was about to make a joke about them re-imagining BG as a Freespace-style space shooter. Then I realized that I would absolutely buy the shit out of that. Minsc in space? Oh my, yes.

"Go for the rear deflectors, Boo!"

Skeptic · Post by **Skeptic** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:02 am

Zurai wrote:I wasn't commenting on AD&D in specific. I was responding to Skeptic's comment that D&D in general is badly designed.

And no amount of rationalizations about it being tacked onto a wargaming system changes this. There is no way one can successfully argue that D&D's design was "good" by any stretch of the imagination. Logically inconsistent is logically inconsistent and bloated is bloated. The THAC0/A.C. system(where lower/negative values are better than positive higher values...thankfully changed in 3rd ed., but which also = 'harder to be hit' rather than 'resists damage better', etc.), the way thieves abilities used percentile/D100 system but combat used d20, dwarves detecting traps underground used d6 and some other abilities used D8 or D4 or what have you. Then there is the infamous and retarded 'Fire and forget' magic system, hit points being nonsensically and inconsistently defined and increasing with level-ups, the whole 'save throw' system(I mean the whole thing is just a travesty of design!).

D&D is just a mess. 3.0 and 3.5 were a major improvement and corrected some of these problems but still...

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:13 am

Well, hitpoints is an abstraction to how resistant you are to the damage when you're hit and since D&D is an *heroic* fantasy game, having a character able to shrug off ridiculous amounts of damage is sort of what they were going for. There are lots of systems that handle combat more realistically if that's what you want; Ilike those every now and then, but when I'm playing an rpg for fun I'd rather be a badass rather than terrified of dying every time I try to do something. That's more due to the fact that my play time is soooo limited now that I don't want to spend most of it rolling up new characters than anythi

I do agree that the D&D ruleset shouldn't be used for a real time CRPG...there are much better uses of the CPU's processing power than handling a ruleset meant for turn based table top play.