If they can flush out ToB to what it was suppose to be, then yes.
Guessing that goes against their contractual limitations.
Though who gets to define what a bug is? Do they have to run major bug fixes by Atari? Some bugs are bad code, but some bugs were oversights due to time constraints.
Could one not argue that ToB not being flushed out as it was intended was an oversight due to time constraints and thus a bug...
Well, not to say that it would happen... but I'm a *HUGE* fan of the unofficial patch for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, frankly I couldn't play without it partly because of it re-adding cut content (IIRC some of it was just switching the code back on, the quest basically complete before it was 'cut')
What does that mean for ToB? Well... They seem to have a license to add some content... and it seems there's a fair idea of what's missing from ToB (actually the first I've heard of ToB being incomplete, but then I've never finished it)... So is it possible we might see at least some of this content brought back?
Possible? Yes...
Probable? .... takin' a rain-check on that one.
As for BGII:EE Ohhh hell yes... even though I still own a perfectly functional copy of SoA and ToB. Why?
It took a lot of time to get BG1 up to the level of BG:EE... BGII is much closer to that level already, that means more time on improvements and refinements.
Will there be bugs at release with more time for refinement?
Yes.
It's programing, in the real world, bugs happen, grow up.
The Ascension mod, written by Baldur's Gate developer David Gaider, already adds a lot (probably most) of what got cut from TOB in the original release.
It took a lot of time to get BG1 up to the level of BG:EE... BGII is much closer to that level already, that means more time on improvements and refinements.
Or simply less development time. I'd kind of bank on less up front money spent myself, but who knows?
BG2 with instant load, save and area transition? The possibility to go on with my savegame in computers using different screen resolutions without any problems loading the save? Count me in. I'm preordering as soon as it's available.
One thing that was in BG that BGII lacked was the additional wilderness areas to explore that had thier own groups of characters to fight and mini quests to do that didnt really tie into the main storyline. BGII is a superior game, no doubt, but I always found the lack of areas to explore rather more linear then BG.
No, I want more interesting contents, such as releasing some hard coded 2DA files, interesting 3.5 edition classes such as favored soul, spirit shaman with sorcerer like spell casting system for cleric and Druid spell casting classes, sorcerer joinable NPC.
None of the other rules follow the 3.5 edition so it would be hard to include the 3.5 classes and before you say it the monk didn't start in 3.5
Also if/when they do enhance BG2 and TOB I would like to see Imoen have more of an impact other than being a damsel in destress. Also once you find out what she is in the end I truly wondered why didn't it come up earlier in the games.
Spirit shaman and Divine soul (favored soul) do follow 3.5 edition rules, perhaps major difference is for example divine soul can choose up to 4 spells per day whereas in NWN2 spells are non replaceable.
It would be rather easy. The most critical file would be clskills.2da which controls spell books and spell casting type. So provided that a few hardcoded 2DA files are accessible to the user (and of course player can scroll down below Barbarian during class selection screen), one simply has to create a new class with cleric spell book and spell casting type 2 (called spell book in 2DA, parameter 2) as well as editing or creating 2DA files that control max spells per day and spells known. Turn undead button can simply be disabled like Inquisitor paladin kit. There are some miscellaneous abilities (such as DR against cold iron, energy resistance etc) which can be implemented into class ability 2DA file rather easily. Kinda same for spirit shaman.
About Imoen.... Unfortunately due to contractual limitation Overhaul cannot change Imoen (or any character in original TOB) in any way.
And... A few new areas and a few new npcs and a bit of modernisation and call it enhanced edition.... It feels not right for TOB... Surely feels right for the original BG but TOB kinda has very similar infinity engine maturity already... I recon Beamdog/Overhaul need to come up with something truly interesting and like things never seen before or never available before (i recon accessibility of hardcoded 2DA to modders as one strategy) to capture wider audience... They simply cannot rely on us nostalgic/loyal followers (there aren't many of us now... If you want proof, just look at the mod scene.... It's rather pathetic at the moment... I'm trying to help but there simply aren't enough people and interest to generate energy...)
Stay faithful to the original to the maximum degree possible -- except for bug fixes and higher resolution artwork, of course. I don't need a further excuse to buy it.
And, please get the Android version on the market sooner after the PC version.
I wouldn't mind instant loading, a few new characters, (I enjoy the questlines) and some new content to explore and loot, but I'd happily settle for just the ability to play at my current resolution. My only real beef with BG2 was the lack of a decent thief-type character. Imoen is still decent but takes a long time to get back, Nalia DC'd too early to still be an effective thief, you end up losing Yoshimo and I don't like that multiclassed halfling whose name I forget. I usually ended up DCing my fighter to thief upon hitting level 9.
I hope it's not just the EE engine with BG2's story plugged into it.
More enhancements are a must. Not just things modders can enjoy, but EVERYONE can notice.
An example: Things like new legal multiclass options we were promised back with the original BG2 (It was all in the manual): Ranger/Mage, Druid/Mage, Druid/Ranger and Fighter/Mage/Druid...
I hope it's not just the EE engine with BG2's story plugged into it.
More enhancements are a must. Not just things modders can enjoy, but EVERYONE can notice.
An example: Things like new legal multiclass options we were promised back with the original BG2 (It was all in the manual): Ranger/Mage, Druid/Mage, Druid/Ranger and Fighter/Mage/Druid...
Gosh some people do hate the game.... And I have to say some are valid.... Like lack of mod... The game itself costing more than BG+BG2 at GoG.... Some of 'enhanced features' available for free like Tutu... And funny see how some people were proposing free steam keys... Now you still want free steam keys lol...
Some of us may need to stop burying our head in the sand and keep saying 'everything's alright'....
The fact is Steam has much bigger player/consumer base and thus may reflect truer opinion in regards to what general population (not a fanboy like us) thinks... And I could see even some (what I percieved as) seasoned BG players complaining in Steam forum...
And some of you might say 'so what let haters hate' but remember some of the criticism are fairly valid... And Overhaul DO need to sell many more copies for eventual BG3... Unless you guys don't mind paying like a hundred bucks for BG2EE... Note in market economy either company sells cheap stuff to many or expensive stuff to few to make good money... Like some medical and dental software costing 5 grand per computer... Not possible for game softwares in PC...
Back to the topic...
Keeping BG2EE like BGEE maybe fine for us but won't likely to be fine for the other communities (the world doesn't consist of just us)... Need some wow factor.... I was thinking releasing hardcoded 2DA might be sufficient but now I recon in addition to that Overhaul need much more than that....
And Guys... $19.99 is fairly steep for BGtutu with some improvements... During steam sales I got Darksiders 2 with complete DLCs,Batman Arkham City, Saint Row 3 with complete DLC pack for less than 10 bucks each... And this game doesn't offer multiplayer... No reason to buy now, might as well wait for inevitable steam sales... Now BG2EE is gonna make less money... Since many of player know it will eventually be released.... And if BG2EE is kinda like BGEE why pay full price might as well keep playing the current TOB until steam sale hits.... Heck, why bother even buying that in the first place since there won't be many mods...
So BG2EE need some wow factor to ensure people will have to buy... So unlike BGEE BG2EE is going to be much more challenging project....
Comments
If they can flush out ToB to what it was suppose to be, then yes.
Guessing that goes against their contractual limitations.
Though who gets to define what a bug is? Do they have to run major bug fixes by Atari? Some bugs are bad code, but some bugs were oversights due to time constraints.
Could one not argue that ToB not being flushed out as it was intended was an oversight due to time constraints and thus a bug...
What does that mean for ToB? Well... They seem to have a license to add some content... and it seems there's a fair idea of what's missing from ToB (actually the first I've heard of ToB being incomplete, but then I've never finished it)... So is it possible we might see at least some of this content brought back?
Possible? Yes...
Probable? .... takin' a rain-check on that one.
As for BGII:EE Ohhh hell yes... even though I still own a perfectly functional copy of SoA and ToB. Why?
It took a lot of time to get BG1 up to the level of BG:EE... BGII is much closer to that level already, that means more time on improvements and refinements.
Will there be bugs at release with more time for refinement?
Yes.
It's programing, in the real world, bugs happen, grow up.
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Divine_Soul_(3.5e_Class)
http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Spirit_Shaman_(3.5e_Class)
And from infinity engine point of view....
It would be rather easy. The most critical file would be clskills.2da which controls spell books and spell casting type.
So provided that a few hardcoded 2DA files are accessible to the user (and of course player can scroll down below Barbarian during class selection screen), one simply has to create a new class with cleric spell book and spell casting type 2 (called spell book in 2DA, parameter 2) as well as editing or creating 2DA files that control max spells per day and spells known. Turn undead button can simply be disabled like Inquisitor paladin kit. There are some miscellaneous abilities (such as DR against cold iron, energy resistance etc) which can be implemented into class ability 2DA file rather easily. Kinda same for spirit shaman.
About Imoen.... Unfortunately due to contractual limitation Overhaul cannot change Imoen (or any character in original TOB) in any way.
And... A few new areas and a few new npcs and a bit of modernisation and call it enhanced edition.... It feels not right for TOB... Surely feels right for the original BG but TOB kinda has very similar infinity engine maturity already... I recon Beamdog/Overhaul need to come up with something truly interesting and like things never seen before or never available before (i recon accessibility of hardcoded 2DA to modders as one strategy) to capture wider audience... They simply cannot rely on us nostalgic/loyal followers (there aren't many of us now... If you want proof, just look at the mod scene.... It's rather pathetic at the moment... I'm trying to help but there simply aren't enough people and interest to generate energy...)
And, please get the Android version on the market sooner after the PC version.
More enhancements are a must. Not just things modders can enjoy, but EVERYONE can notice.
An example:
Things like new legal multiclass options we were promised back with the original BG2 (It was all in the manual): Ranger/Mage, Druid/Mage, Druid/Ranger and Fighter/Mage/Druid...
Went to Steam forum and read the 'haters' thread (http://steamcommunity.com/app/228280/discussions/).
Gosh some people do hate the game.... And I have to say some are valid.... Like lack of mod... The game itself costing more than BG+BG2 at GoG.... Some of 'enhanced features' available for free like Tutu...
And funny see how some people were proposing free steam keys... Now you still want free steam keys lol...
Some of us may need to stop burying our head in the sand and keep saying 'everything's alright'....
The fact is Steam has much bigger player/consumer base and thus may reflect truer opinion in regards to what general population (not a fanboy like us) thinks... And I could see even some (what I percieved as) seasoned BG players complaining in Steam forum...
And some of you might say 'so what let haters hate' but remember some of the criticism are fairly valid... And Overhaul DO need to sell many more copies for eventual BG3... Unless you guys don't mind paying like a hundred bucks for BG2EE... Note in market economy either company sells cheap stuff to many or expensive stuff to few to make good money... Like some medical and dental software costing 5 grand per computer... Not possible for game softwares in PC...
Back to the topic...
Keeping BG2EE like BGEE maybe fine for us but won't likely to be fine for the other communities (the world doesn't consist of just us)... Need some wow factor.... I was thinking releasing hardcoded 2DA might be sufficient but now I recon in addition to that Overhaul need much more than that....
And Guys... $19.99 is fairly steep for BGtutu with some improvements... During steam sales I got Darksiders 2 with complete DLCs,Batman Arkham City, Saint Row 3 with complete DLC pack for less than 10 bucks each... And this game doesn't offer multiplayer... No reason to buy now, might as well wait for inevitable steam sales... Now BG2EE is gonna make less money... Since many of player know it will eventually be released.... And if BG2EE is kinda like BGEE why pay full price might as well keep playing the current TOB until steam sale hits.... Heck, why bother even buying that in the first place since there won't be many mods...
So BG2EE need some wow factor to ensure people will have to buy... So unlike BGEE BG2EE is going to be much more challenging project....