Game News Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Released

[ArchAngel]

I said it already in the other thread, but the biggest problem with introducing these ideas, is that they're never explored, only thrown in your face, which makes them out of place and ridiculous.

A D&D character who was born a male but has the mind of a female has many ways to become a physical female. The belt as mentioned, as well as plenty of other magical solutions. Even were such options out of the character's ability to obtain, there should at least be a mention, as opposed to acting as though this is our world and such a solution would never be acceptable.

Ah, but then the characters would be embracing cishet oppression by accepting the notion that gender identity is defined by the physical body and by transforming themselves to be in accordance with such a cruel, patriarchal notion. True diversity in gaming requires adding trans characters who have no desire to change their physical form, throw their identity in your face, and cannot be responded to negatively.

You can murder them on spot. That is ultimate negative response. Don't know why you are complaining.

 

[Archibald]

I thought that Codex would be happy about a game that allows to murder tranny without any negative consequences.

 

[ArchAngel]

I love what they have done with Siege of Dragonspear. I just finished BG2 last night for the first time and now I'm playing SoD without every playing BG1. Maybe after expansion I will play BG1 LOL. Along with patch 2 did BG2 EE received the same improvements as SoD? I mean improved AI, improved scripts, the HUD now indicates the ideal character to use with the current selected items and also it shows if the item is better or not.
The backgrounds is SoD are wonderful and also I love that most of the characters are voice acted.

Improved AI and difficulty is SoD only feature because it is hand crafted for each encounter.

 

[Zeriel]

This is exactly why I've been telling people to hold off on BG 2 for the last 15 years.

No need to jump the gun, wait for the inevitable Siege of Dragonspear: Enhanced Edition in 2031.

 

[FeelTheRads]

You can murder them on spot. That is ultimate negative response. Don't know why you are complaining.

No outcries yet about that? Because I feel that as soon as the next patch killing the tranny will get you hated by everyone all the way through BG2 and Throne of Bhaal.

 

[Fitz]

We all know that letting the player do something is a direct endorsal of that thing, like killing prostitutes in GTA, but SOD is presumably too oldschool for SJWs to be assblasted over, they can hardly read and only see some tiny sprite get hacked to giblets.

For plot reasons, Imoen leaves your party even if you import. You get Safana instead.

Not even going to torrent this then, Imoen is mai waifu.

 

[Shin]

Judging from https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/49718/patch-2-0-feedback-and-questions this post on the official forums, this expansion is a friggin mess.

Spoiler

First off, the UI and general look:
- Is there a way to remove the Borderlands-like outlines on my characters? When I first saw how everything looked, I was horrified - is this Baldur's Gate: Telltale Games Edition? Even after I've turned off sprite outlines, highlights and whatever else in an attempt to restore the old look, it's still different, the characters still have outlines and look blurry. Screenshots for comparison - old and new. Can't I simply have the 1.3. look back?
- I see that I can turn off the new selection circles (that make it look like there's something wrong with the perspective) which is nice. However, even when the "classic" ones are enabled, the circles and ground markers are different than before - I liked the nice and clean double-circles. Not a big thing, but can't I simply have the 1.3. circles back?
- Where is the rolling piece of parchment when you highlight an item or character? Now, there's some alien-looking neutral plain gray box instead. How could you have removed such an iconic thing? Can't I simply have my 1.3. rolling parchment back?
- Why were the clicking sounds, so characteristic to Baldur's Gate, removed from so many activities they were tied to for 20 years? Like right clicking an item to see its description or assigning stats during character creation? Can't I simply have my old clicking sounds back?
- Switched saved game order? For 20 years, the newest saves were on the bottom, now it's upside down. Why? Can't I simply have my 1.3. save order back?
- Minor thing - different font. It seems like my setup I've had in baldur.ini does not work, but I guess I could make it happen through editing baldur.lua? Can't I simply have my 1.3. font size back? Well, in this case, I think I just might! Too bad it's the most minor of my complaints.


More specific UI stuff:
- Inventory is laggy and you can't use mouse scroll to scroll up/down when there are a lot of items on the ground. Instead there are pages. Why? Can't I simply have my old 1.3. inventory back?
- Dialogue window - again, no mouse scroll usage to simply scroll around. Instead, I have to now open the upper thingy and have another, small part of the chat window where I can use the mouse scroll. Why? It worked perfectly fine before! Can't I simply have my old 1.3. dialogue system back?
- The spell menus are so much worse. Being able to see the spells in a list, sorted by alphabetical order sounds like a nice, OPTIONAL thing to include, but to change the whole spellbook/cleric scroll feel and implement this horrendous looking, small row of icons of memorized spells just makes me wonder - why? Even such a basic thing as memorizing a spell requires more clicks now - it seems you can't simply click on a spell to have it memorized. Instead, you have to select it, then click "memorize" and only then it works. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but that doesn't seem like improving anything. Have fun switching many spells for different encounters/dungeons. Can't I simply have my 1.3. spell menus back? -- Edit here: actually, a single click works if you click on the spell ICON, but not on the spell NAME. Wow.
- Character info - I've seen that there are already threads about that, with polls indicating that most preferred the 1.3. look so I'm not going to go into it. But still - can't I simply have my 1.3. character info back?

Removal of lists:
- Am I to understand that the new, "improved" way to assign a custom portrait to a character is to click one by one through my list of 300+ portraits, instead of quickly scrolling through a list, looking for a specific NAME I made for a portrait I wanted to use? What sense does that make? Can't I simply have my 1.3. portait list back?
- Another list removed - while improting a character for a new game, the list of character files, with NAMES I remembered them by (as I was the one who made and named those files in the first place!) is now replaced by generic showcase of portaits with minimal info. What happened to the simple convenience of seeing file names - was it too easy to choose what character I wanted to import and so it was made into a challenge of its own? Can't I simply have my old 1.3. import list back?
- I really can't get over that. Is the intended way to have easy access to a portrait/import character is to name it like "zzz01" so it's the last one and thus, appearing as first when you scroll left while choosing a portrait? Just explaining that sounds convoluted beyond any necessity, especially compared to how easy it used to be for 20 years.


In general, it seems like most of those changes were forced. Completely unnecessary, but introduced so that "something's different". Change for the sake of change. Slightly different look of saved games + reversed order, zooming in and out when activating the minimap, different selection circles. Why, why, why?

I really appreciate the options to turn off things like health bars, journal pop-ups and other ridiculous "innovations", but that's not enough. The UI isn't "highly customizable", as it was described in some threads I've read. There are a few options, but most changes seem to be unrevertable.

It would be nice to enjoy some of the new features like the fixed "seletion sound upon failed banter" bug, achievements or easier weapon switching, but as it stands now, unless you wonderful people can provide me with some baldur.lua info or mods, I think the only thing left is to revert to 1.3. through the beta option on Steam and forget the new patch even happened. This isn't a satisfactory solution for the long term, however, so if there's any knowledge about the above topics anyone could share, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Goddayumn. I'll wait till someone unenhances SoD back to the regular engine. Can't understand how badly you can screw up shit like UI, WHEN THE UI WAS FUCKING FINE AND WORKING GREAT FOR OVER 15 YEARS.

even jesus weeps for this shit

 

[ArchAngel]

That is a post from an autistic person. I turned off highlight, black borders and health bars and the game looks and plays like BG1EE. New UI is mostly good, spell screen maybe has some irritating parts left.

 

[Dwarvophile]

I just have BGII can I play SoD with it ?

Apart from the UI, are people happy with it ?

 

[AwesomeButton]

I get angry just reading this. So happy I didn't buy it.

Yes, they released a UI that someone shitted all over, bugs of all kinds, but don't worry, the tranny NPCs are tested, voiced and working fine.

 

[ArchAngel]

I just have BGII can I play SoD with it ?

Apart from the UI, are people happy with it ?

You need BG1EE.

I am enjoying combat on Insane difficulty (with turned off extra damage) where enemy packs are bigger and their AI is better.

 

[Ninjerk]

I thought that Codex would be happy about a game that allows to murder tranny without any negative consequences.

On the Codex, she's more likely to be propositioned than killed.

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

I love what they have done with Siege of Dragonspear. I just finished BG2 last night for the first time and now I'm playing SoD without every playing BG1. Maybe after expansion I will play BG1 LOL. Along with patch 2 did BG2 EE received the same improvements as SoD? I mean improved AI, improved scripts, the HUD now indicates the ideal character to use with the current selected items and also it shows if the item is better or not.
The backgrounds is SoD are wonderful and also I love that most of the characters are voice acted.

Improved AI and difficulty is SoD only feature because it is hand crafted for each encounter.

About the difficulty I don't know : I entered a little in BG 1 and it seems that we can choose Story Mode or other difficulty setting.
The fact that we have black and white on pause makes things a lot easier. Several times I forgot I was in pause mode in BG.
Also in handy are the bag for gems and keys. Wonder if we get others for potions and such...
It seems a lot of people are mad because Beamdog uses the same assets as before but I think they did a terrific job of improving almost everything of the former IE games.

 

[ArchAngel]

I found a quest about a woman that was escaping from a abusive drunk husband and he fell and died. You can then choose to report her, ignore it or other options. She is not even guilty for it, kiddy level storytelling 3/10

 

[Morality Games]

Can't play either White March because of the insane load screen times, so I guess Beamdog just got upgraded.

 

[Johannes]

Reading about this makes me want to play BG2.

 

[ArchAngel]

You can murder them on spot. That is ultimate negative response. Don't know why you are complaining.

No outcries yet about that? Because I feel that as soon as the next patch killing the tranny will get you hated by everyone all the way through BG2 and Throne of Bhaal.

Well only problem is that character is your camp cleric and you lose cleric services if you kill that NPC.

 

[garren]

Hohoho.

 

[J_C]

Hohoho.

I thought the muddy, blurry graphics were improved in BG2EE, but then why does this look like shit?

 

[Outlander]

It really does look like someone actually smeared feces all over the screen.

 

[cherry blossom]

For anyone considering a GOG purchase of BG EE, there is a sale for Beamdog's EE versions of BG, BG2 & IWD (at 75%, 60% & 60% off respectively).

HOWEVER, when you go into the individual game pages, all titles are available at 85% off. That's 2.99$ for each title.

Possibly a glitch, so go get 'em before our resident GOG moles wake up to the fact.

 

[Gragt]

For anyone considering a GOG purchase of BG EE, there is a sale for Beamdog's EE versions of BG, BG2 & IWD (at 75%, 60% & 60% off respectively).

HOWEVER, when you go into the individual game pages, all titles are available at 85% off. That's 2.99$ for each title.

Possibly a glitch, so go get 'em before our resident GOG moles wake up to the fact.

The 85% discount is applied if you own the originals. It isn’t applied on the promo sale page but it is on the checkout page. Since it’s explain on the news page, it doesn’t look like an omission.

 

[Dwarvophile]

Hohoho.

What ? Now goblins ! After women ?! Now this is going too far !

Or not enough actually... After all antagonising traditionnal relations between minoritiess, religious or social, without questioning the essential, the only real balance of power, the vertical one, and without criticising the exploitations of the masses (the dwarves and the poors) by the aristocratic orders, this is a much too familiar bs ! I'm not an elitist, I usually have no problems with conformists, but they really get on my nerves when they pretend to be revolutionnary.

The bigger thing this "SJW" bs made me realise, is that in the end, there's such a thing as "dangerous idiots".

 

[Mustawd]

I thought that Codex would be happy about a game that allows to murder tranny without any negative consequences.

On the Codex, she's more likely to be propositioned than killed.

You are thinking of ladyboys. Please vote in the currently open poll, "How far would you go with a ladyboy", currently residing in GD. We need your response for research purposes.

Thanks!

 

[Florian Gheorghe]

Entar Silvershield has the most annoying voice. It reminds me of characters from that stupid game what's it called? Ow yes was it : Dragon Age Inquisition with everything politically correct With gays and black people, with Asians and interracial relations...