"Up to four hours of additional gameplay"

Jack03

My main concern about BG:EE is only these lies about the length of the new characters's quests:

- Dorn: 3 encounters - 30 minutes
- Neera: 2 encounters (maybe 3 ?) - 40 minutes (maximum)
- Don't know for the Monk

Seriously, guys.

ajwz

Yeah, I would say that 4 hours per character was a bit of an overstatement. Maybe an hour for each.

tyl998

Black Pits counts?

elminster

Yea they overstated on the new content, especially the characters. Though the new items are nice.

leyshjonoe

The monk's would be by far the longest, though there are no claims on length for him. They write "up to" four hours, "over" six for the black pits.

Maybe they're including all interactions with them? Conversations? I agree though, and black pits was, with just my first play at least, more like 3-4 hours.

Oxford_Guy

I don't care, the new NPCs are fun, especially Dorn :-)

Aranthys

Well, if you do read the conversations, and count the fact that you have to move around, yeah, you get up to 4 hours split across all 3 character's quests.

Things I was actually a bit disatisfied about was the fact that there are :
1 - No banters between the new characters and the old ones
2 - The new characters do not "step up" and answer when you're having a conversation. These characters are simply very basic, BG1-like NPCs. Wish they made them more BG2-like.
3 - The new zones, tied to the character, could have had some more content not tied to the quest itself (For Rasaad : Having some event with the trolls & saving a merchant, or an additional cave with a small dungeon made of icy creatures... and so on) I found them to be only focused on the event tied to the NPC, where they could have made some great additional quets / events

Mitchell

@Aranthys I agree that those things are disappointing, but I bet that Beamdog would have included more interaction if they could. Their contract was fairly restrictive, which basically said that they had to leave the original game unchanged besides very minor bug fixes and the like, and could only add new content. So I think that's the reason the new NPCs don't interact with the old.

On the plus side, I reckon that that will be added to the BG1 NPC Project. It's a shame that it has to be done through a third party mod, but it sounds like Beamdog really got shafted by that contract.

leyshjonoe

@Aranthys I've had banter between new characters and old ones. Viconia and Rasaad comes to mind immediately, but I think I've had others. It's slightly disconcerting having his voice and only getting text from her I've read about Ajantis and Dorn going for each other when you try to have them in the party and something about Neera and one of the other NPC mages. I think Dorn tells you not to trust someone in the party at one point and them responding, and it *can* be one of the old NPCs.

FrozenCells

Jack03 said:

My main concern about BG:EE is only these lies about the length of the new characters's quests:

- Dorn: 3 encounters - 30 minutes
- Neera: 2 encounters (maybe 3 ?) - 40 minutes (maximum)
- Don't know for the Monk

Seriously, guys.

Just to round out your list, Rasaad's took me about 30-40minutes. You didn't miss much. How they got the figure of up to 4 hours for each character I have no idea, none of the BG2 NPC quests took very long either and 4 hours is more what I would say for something like Durlag's Tower or whatever which is quite big. Definitely misleading.

Aranthys

leyshjonoe said:

@Aranthys I've had banter between new characters and old ones. Viconia and Rasaad comes to mind immediately, but I think I've had others. It's slightly disconcerting having his voice and only getting text from her I've read about Ajantis and Dorn going for each other when you try to have them in the party and something about Neera and one of the other NPC mages. I think Dorn tells you not to trust someone in the party at one point and them responding, and it *can* be one of the old NPCs.

I've finished the game with the following party :

Imoen
Khalid
Jaheira
Neera
Rasaad

Never had a single banter between these characters. And I pretty much ran through the whole game.
The only time Khalid said something, was when Rasaad quest started in baldur's gate, after fighting the monks and figuring that there's something to do in Cloud Peaks.

Aranthys

Mitchell said:

@Aranthys I agree that those things are disappointing, but I bet that Beamdog would have included more interaction if they could. Their contract was fairly restrictive, which basically said that they had to leave the original game unchanged besides very minor bug fixes and the like, and could only add new content. So I think that's the reason the new NPCs don't interact with the old.

On the plus side, I reckon that that will be added to the BG1 NPC Project. It's a shame that it has to be done through a third party mod, but it sounds like Beamdog really got shafted by that contract.

Yep, maybe. Still, with the success they got, I hope their hand won't be tied as much for BGF2:EE, and that they'll have the right to expand BG:EE a bit

MikePXP

Mitchell said:

Their contract was fairly restrictive, which basically said that they had to leave the original game unchanged besides very minor bug fixes and the like, and could only add new content. So I think that's the reason the new NPCs don't interact with the old.

On the plus side, I reckon that that will be added to the BG1 NPC Project. It's a shame that it has to be done through a third party mod, but it sounds like Beamdog really got shafted by that contract.

You have seen the contract? Is it available for public viewing or are you a member of the team or something.
I keep seeing references to the contract and I would like to have a look at it too. Thanks.

Ken

30-60 Minutes extra for each character max imho. But it doesn't sound as good as 4 hours now does it?

Rasaad had the most interesting quest. Dorn is the most interesting new npc, and Neera had some potential, but it seems I'm already at the end of her quest in the Cloakwood mines. And her quest where stupidly easy.

That is actually my main problem with these new characters. The new enemies/quest we face are all around 100-300 xp worth! I need some real challenge! Lvl 12 enemies, some epic moments.

Instead of alot of weak enemies that I could easily rush through without any planning ahead.

BG:EE - Easy Edition

DukeGr

It depends when you start doing these quests. If you are between levels 1-4 it will take abit longer but not so much.

As for me, neera's quest took me 20min, rashaad quest in cloud peaks 30min and i assume dorn's quest which i havent done yet is about the same. So all in all i believe its more like 1 hour and a half of new content in total.

Corvino

Doing Neera's quest at level 4, about the time I finished the Nashkel Mines was actually quite tricky. Most of it was killing goblins, big whoop, but the final encounter was tough. The Thayvian bodyguards (think that's what they're called) went straight for Neera every time and had good enough saves that sleep and horror, my 2 CC spells at that level didn't really touch them.

Admittedly they're cake if you put off the quests a bit as I did with Rasaad and Dorn. Level 7 + gear will get through each one in less than an hour (total).

LordsDarkKnight185

Wasn't the originial Baldur's Gate tagged as like a 40-hour game? (I know BG2 was tagged a 60-hour game) And we have people blowing through it in a day or two? JUST sayin' look at perspective. >.>

Oxford_Guy

LordsDarkKnight185 said:

Wasn't the originial Baldur's Gate tagged as like a 40-hour game? (I know BG2 was tagged a 60-hour game) And we have people blowing through it in a day or two? JUST sayin' look at perspective. >.>

It takes me *months* to finish Baldur's Gate, but I like to savour it

Corvino

I think @cheesebelly managed a timed game in a day coming up to an announcement timer. That is dedication (and a little madness).

Alesthes

Aranthys said:

leyshjonoe said:

@Aranthys I've had banter between new characters and old ones. Viconia and Rasaad comes to mind immediately, but I think I've had others. It's slightly disconcerting having his voice and only getting text from her I've read about Ajantis and Dorn going for each other when you try to have them in the party and something about Neera and one of the other NPC mages. I think Dorn tells you not to trust someone in the party at one point and them responding, and it *can* be one of the old NPCs.

I've finished the game with the following party :

Imoen
Khalid
Jaheira
Neera
Rasaad

Never had a single banter between these characters. And I pretty much ran through the whole game.
The only time Khalid said something, was when Rasaad quest started in baldur's gate, after fighting the monks and figuring that there's something to do in Cloud Peaks.

It's common knowledge and experience that they do HAVE banter between old and new NPCs. Maybe you were extremely unlucky with your party composition? I don't know.

Aranthys

LordsDarkKnight185 said:

Wasn't the originial Baldur's Gate tagged as like a 40-hour game? (I know BG2 was tagged a 60-hour game) And we have people blowing through it in a day or two? JUST sayin' look at perspective. >.>

If you do all quests & visit all places, even if you know the game, it takes about 40 hours, yes. (Depending on party composition and usage of cheese) ... but one can blow through the game very fast if they know the game mechanics IE : Levelling alone fast, then having the NPC join for example)

What bothers us, is that even if you're just running "basically", it takes far from 4 hours to run the "additional Neera quests". (3 battles if I'm not mistaken : One when you encounter her, one later on, and finally the last one in "Goblin City" )

Cheesebelly

People misread the number amount. It's not the QUEST which is quantified, is the character entirely - meaning even dialogues with the PC and interactions with other party members. It's not as simple as putting a quest on the line people.

That said, to confirm what @Corvino said - yup, I've been able to, not 100%, but around 90% the entirety of Baldur's Gate 1 in 24 hours of real life (but theoretically I played around 6-10 hours at best).

I usually skip all the quests in Baldur's Gate because you can easily lose plenty of time finding who to return a dagger to (although did the most important things with big rewards).

But then again I'm a very very fast player, as I mostly noticed in Dragon Age Origins - while people around me needed 100+ hours to 100% the game, I 100% it on Nightmare difficulty in 25-35 hours. Really, it comes to the affinity one has with one game. I remember back in the days, it required me weeks to complete a single act in Diablo 2, then it went to a single day... today, I could easily beat all five acts on Normal in one day.

Overall, I believe Baldur's Gate length is of 80-100 hours, but keep in mind - DIALOGUES. If you know dialogues by heart, there's no need reading them. If you don't, you will read them! I noticed this difference in my Let's Plays of BG1 and BG2 - BG1, without reading, took me 16 hours. Baldur's Gate 2, with reading (and voice acting if I might add) already lasts 21 hours I believe - and I'm not one third done.


Edit : also, I play on 60 frames.

Jack03

Herm.

So, admit that their quests takes one hour, 3 hours of dialogues for each characters ? I don't think.

TJ_Hooker

LordsDarkKnight185 said:

Wasn't the originial Baldur's Gate tagged as like a 40-hour game? (I know BG2 was tagged a 60-hour game) And we have people blowing through it in a day or two? JUST sayin' look at perspective. >.>

I think this is kind of comparing apples and oranges. The people who blow through BG1 and 2 in no time are the ones who have already played it a hundred times and know exactly what to do and where to go. They are far from the average player. With regards to the new content, you have people playing it for the first time, who probably aren't trying to do speed runs or anything, and yet they still finish way faster than the amount of time advertised.

Note that I haven't played through the extra content myself, I'm just going on what people have said on this thread.

VittordeVitto

ajwz said:

Yeah, I would say that 4 hours per character was a bit of an overstatement. Maybe an hour for each.

Its like the "400 improvements" thing.

They fixed the bug with the boxes wich were too hard to pick. Since there were 40 boxes on that situatiun, they count as 40 improvements, lol

Pantalion

I would say it definitely takes me at least four hours to level each of the new characters up from level 1 to level 7, and have a play experience with a monk, wild mage or blackguard in my party with the tactical variance that introduces. Not all extra playtime comes from having new quests, nor does it have to be hugely different from the game experience that already exists.

MurrayConfederacy

Since when have game devs/publishers ever told the truth about the length of their games? For example Skyrim main quest was supposed to be 20 hours yet there were people finishing it in 4 or 6 (speedrunners in 2) hours.