Don't miss the latest Q&A with Trent Oster
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
http://kotaku.com/q-a-baldurs-gate-ii-enhanced-edition-took-a-lot-of-w-1507720763?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Twitter&utm_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow
Some quotes I've liked the most:
"We fixed a huge number of bugs in the original game, including inconsistencies such as trolls who did not die when struck by a fire-based attack. We added a true widescreen support mode which allowed the user to play the game at massive resolutions while keeping the clear fonts. In short, we've put a ton of work into the game and I encourage people to have a look back at the original to see how far we've come."
"From our perspective, an epic 100+ hours of adventure told in a rich rules system and built upon a great setting is worth a great deal more than $0.99. We put in the in-app purchases as a means for us not to make more money, but to drop the price point for the main game down to the $14.99 price point (the same game on PC is $24.99). With the volume of content between Baldur's Gate II, the included Throne of Bhaal and the new characters and their associated adventures I think we're delivering a huge value for the price, even with all the in-app purchases."
"We're definitely interested in working on Baldur's Gate 3. We've put a ton of work into the franchise and I think the reviews of our new content speak to how well we understand the games. Most reviews say how seamlessly our content fits into the original games. From a legal-hurdles standpoint, we need to get all the right people together in one spot and hammer out an agreement we can all succeed in. We're very happy with our working relationship with Wizards of the Coast and we want to keep that relationship going for a long time into the future."
"I'd also like to thank all the great people who interact with us daily on our Baldur's Gate forums. Without your assistance in the beta testing, localization and general feedback we wouldn't be able to make such a great series of games even better."
Yay, we love you too, Beamdog. And I 100% agree on your approach to this franchise.
Some quotes I've liked the most:
"We fixed a huge number of bugs in the original game, including inconsistencies such as trolls who did not die when struck by a fire-based attack. We added a true widescreen support mode which allowed the user to play the game at massive resolutions while keeping the clear fonts. In short, we've put a ton of work into the game and I encourage people to have a look back at the original to see how far we've come."
"From our perspective, an epic 100+ hours of adventure told in a rich rules system and built upon a great setting is worth a great deal more than $0.99. We put in the in-app purchases as a means for us not to make more money, but to drop the price point for the main game down to the $14.99 price point (the same game on PC is $24.99). With the volume of content between Baldur's Gate II, the included Throne of Bhaal and the new characters and their associated adventures I think we're delivering a huge value for the price, even with all the in-app purchases."
"We're definitely interested in working on Baldur's Gate 3. We've put a ton of work into the franchise and I think the reviews of our new content speak to how well we understand the games. Most reviews say how seamlessly our content fits into the original games. From a legal-hurdles standpoint, we need to get all the right people together in one spot and hammer out an agreement we can all succeed in. We're very happy with our working relationship with Wizards of the Coast and we want to keep that relationship going for a long time into the future."
"I'd also like to thank all the great people who interact with us daily on our Baldur's Gate forums. Without your assistance in the beta testing, localization and general feedback we wouldn't be able to make such a great series of games even better."
Yay, we love you too, Beamdog. And I 100% agree on your approach to this franchise.
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Comments
Really? Really?
Seriously, instead of focusing on the negatives it's better to think about we have a solid confirmation that BG3 is a real possibility and this fact is great. Moreover, don't you think the developer knows better what most of the problems are about? And he talked about IPad, not general BG2:EE bugs.
It's encouraging to hear about BG3 finally after the launch of enhanced editions. Before we knew only that it will be evaluated in time whether to develop a new game or not. Now we have some new information indeed.
As for whether this is indeed a "great" fact... I suppose that depends entirely on your experience with the EEs so far. It hasn't been universally pleasant. Knowing about a problem and addressing it are two very different things. The fact of the matter is that BG:EE's and BG2:EE's post-release cycles leave a lot to be desired, and if that's the level we can expect from future projects going forward? Caveat emptor.
(As an aside, I think it's pretty facetious to imply that bug reports are in any way exaggerated, or to cite "lots of reviews" commenting on seamless content integration when no such consensus exists. But that's market-speech, so I don't take it at face value anyway.)
AD&D2 isn't perfect for everyone, but I think it's pretty darned good. Just look at Dragon Age vs. Baldur's Gate. Both made by the same company, but one has amazing squad-based tactical combat while the other is just a total bore. IMO, they could do a whole lot worse than sticking with AD&D2.
As for editions, all DnD is flawed in it's own (and sometimes the same) ways, though I prefer 3.5 (ToEE is a very good example of a 3.0 tactical combat game). It doesn't matter much to me, to be honest. 4th Ed would be all right with me as well as long as they ignored the setting lore. 5th Ed looks like a real mess so far, but if they do get the rights to make a BG3 then I thinks it's pretty likely that WotC will want it to promote their latest product.
You are being obtuse.
Mr Oster isn't referring to bugs in the game in general, he is referring to bugs with the iPad version which more often than not be fixed with a quick restart. He also isn't saying the game is bug free either.
Keep in mind that many of the BG2EE bugs they have squashed were in fact left overs from Bioware's crap patching process that was dealt with prior to the game even being released.
I don't mind a dev being called to the carpet on something that has been done wrong, or said wrong, but honestly this is not it man.
Otherwise, yeah, nothing new, and yeah, Beamdog & Overhaul are good at hammering bug, they just need quite a lot of time to do it
Though I must share my unexcitement with some others. I was VERY excited before BGEE came out. But really, it didn't come out as a revolution. So I wasn't much excited about the BG2EE release and I purchased it only recently. Now, I'm just neutral to whatever else Overhaul decides to produce. And I'll not commit before they actually finish something. Another quote from a well known game: 'This time, action must be louder than words!'.
Hmph, such unbased statements do really make me question the actual effort you put into your posts.
For the record, in Dragon Age: Origins and its expansions, mages are the single most broken thing in the entire game, they make better warriors than warriors, they absolutely break the game's combat systems through their sheer imbalancedness with absolutely broken combinations such as "Storm of the century" (which makes nearly every boss fight a joke, and actually every boss if you build upon entropic spells) and "Shattering" which will kill every single common class enemy in the game regardless of their health status. Combining 3 mages into one party make the game so laughably easy it is just not fun anymore.
Conclusion, if you want to bring a game in as an example, maybe you should try actually playing it first.
Good day...
Or not, take it as you will.
I have played the game and I definately see @Schneidend's points as valid. Obviously he has played the game before. Your perspective is obviously subjective - just like Schneidend's. You wont convince anyone with arguments such as "you obviously havent played it" - Why not stick to argumentation for your opinion, not what you think other people have done?
He's kidding right?
...Oh God, he's not...
Now, as for them *actually* fit into the original games? Eh, I still feel like Dorn is a DMPC, Neera's dialogue options left me confused since apparently what I said and what she heard were two different things, and I still remember BG1's new portraits looking absolutely nothing like the originals. Also the new voices had a weird echo'y effect.
While the new content isn't bad per say, it certainly doesn't seamlessly fit in.
That said, I don't think Overhaul have done a bad job at creating good content, I just disagree with the high-handed opinion that they seemingly hold that their content is deserving of praise upon the praise given to BG generally by virtue of the fact that it 'seamlessly ... fits into the original games'.
To hear that there are plans for a new Infinity Engine game is wonderful. To hear that it intends to bleed profit out of the namesake of the best D&D and RPG game of all time (my opinion) is no more exciting than the release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was.
(However, that's 'generally'. Minsc can be unique if he wants. Honestly, considering the baldness and the tattoo, I've always thought he came from Thayan stock.)
Simon and Garfunkel? Walking Dead references? And most egregiously, "Wild magic is wild."
Seriously? Are you kidding me? Each time I see something as heavy-handed as these I groan like its a reflex. If you're going to make a reference, keep it subtle - or, better yet - make it inventive instead of derivative.
I appreciate the EE's, I do, I love them. But I really don't want to see them writing anything else until they can get serious.
Really, "Defensive" mages are horribly broken in the game, and anyone with even the most basic knowledge of metagaming should be aware of that.
A Mage is only balanced in Dragon Age if you play them very very badly, which you likely do, since you self-admittedly do not exploit them to their fullest potential.
:<
Seriously now, I find it highly unsettling that such petty matters disturb you more than the obvious loathing held towards the developer.
Eventually rules must overcome logic and common sense, mustn't they?
Aside from that, LOL at complaining about references in the EE content of the game. The original content of the game has plenty of equally ham-handed references.
If Minsc was an EE character, people would be constantly complaining about how he doesn't fit in the setting, that the reference to Spelljammer was out of place and made no sense, that his humour wasn't funny and yes, that he violates lore by being bald. If Edwin was an EE character, there would be howls of outrage over how overpowered he is, how he's better than a charname mage, that his voice is incredibly annoying and that no sane person would ever take him in their party because he openly plots against you all the time.
People view the original content through rose-tinted lenses.
...
I've never considered that before. It makes great, perfect, wonderful sense.