Upon further consideration, I'd say $15 would be the minimum considering the amount of enhancements put into SoD, not to mention its length of play time.
TOB cost $29.99 back in 2000 when things cost about 1/3rd what they do now. The cost of games has only went up about $10 for tripple A games over the last 20 years so we are lucky in that regard. Considering the base game (BGEE) was already completed and is almost 20 years old it makes sense that it would cost between $15 and $20. This is larger than TOB and all of the content is new content so I would be happy to pay $30 and not surprised if it cost that. Given the economy and the fact that the engine is old and the team is much smaller than bioware I would think $20 could still be considered reasonable. If $20 seems like too much than you should probably stop playing games and start working harder. It costs $20+ for a large two topping pizza from pizza hut. I am pretty sure 60 hours of entertainment is worth the same amount at the very least.
I was very non-committal when I first commented on this but now I know that it's ticking all the boxes for me in terms of storyline linking BG1&2 I'll happily pay the same as whatever the going rate is for BGEE or BG2EE. As far as gameplay hours are concerned I feel that I get out what I put into it, doing numerous playthroughs with different charnames, party mixes etc.
Just off the top of my head I'd say 20ish is a fair amount assuming we get a decent amount of game play hours. I have a strong belief that the quality will be solid anyway, but I'm hoping there's enough quantity too.
well how i see it the EE games are competing against the non EE games and thus are artificially low (people still said the price was too high). however reprogramming and bug hunting full games with as much content as the IE games is not a tiny task, even if most content is reused. in fact the big draw of the EE games is that there is a new mod friendly engine that allows much more alterations and additions with less work, but just by remaking old games you don't see all of that. so right now beamdog needs a good influx of money to show the effort was worth it, and they need to show people that use mods just what can now be done.
so i'd say if it had 1/4 the content of bg:ee but managed to do what modders could only dream about previously, and that the content that was there was up to BG standards, then it would be easily worth $20. the main things i want from mods beamdog is contractually forbidden to do at this point (integrated BWP, with NPC project).
what i'd love to see them showcase is: better AI (modding community has really pushed the limits on such, but have huge hurdles to keep it from being perfect) random and dynamic quests (imagine if a stronghold gave quests based on what else had happened in game, and/or minor random quest sprung up in athkala to build up your gold meter instead of the same every playthrough). multiparty management (nothing major, it isn't a strategy game, but having another party go do 1 critical objective while you and some others complete another critical objective, instead of either doing both at your leisure or rushing to complete both). separation of alignment and reputation (Planescape: torment style, even if it doesn't copy it). sub races (actual sub races represented in the interface selection, not just sub races as extra races). extra classes with different mechanics and kits(seems like it is already in). in multiplayer being able to play a party NPC (like imoen for instance, and would go great with the multiparty management thing).
The way I pay for games is simple for me: I will look at the price and then read reviews and try to find an estimate of how long I would play that game. So I'd be willing to pay £1 for every hour of gameplay, so if it's a game that's 20 hours, I'd pay £20 and feel like I've got what I have paid for, but I would never go higher than around £25+ FOR ANY game. So I usually wait for the price to drop, I can't disagree with whatever price that the developers choose though (especially if it's a fantastic game), because after all, they need to earn a living too! I think, from what I've heard so far, this game should be around (if we're talking dollars here) $20-30. It's going to be a moderately big game. I already know that I *have* to get this game however, because I'm a massive fan of the franchise, so I'm bias at best
I am anticipating 50+ hours of gameplay, easily, on my first run-through (I am completionist and methodical). I'm only a little bit less completionist on subsequent run-throughs, so I'm already eyeballing 100+ hours of gameplay if the game is as good as Chris Avellone seems to believe. I hesitate to say how much I'm willing to pay for a game like that, and how much money I've wasted on games that didn't pan out (screw you, Diablo 3). Anyway, $20 or so is an easy price to pay for the gameplay I expect to sink into BG:SoD, and I would not shy away from a higher price either... I won't say how much higher. ^_~
Computer games are one of the cheapest hobbies anyone can have. I spent $20 on a big lunch yesterday and I had to eat again 4 hours later. Not to mention $60 on drinks and a taxi that evening.
However, it being an expansion just this nagging feeling it should be ever so slightly cheaper than the game itself, and with 20 for the Baldur's Gate EE and Baldur's Gate 2 EE... Something on the 10 to 15 range would seem reasonable... 20 at most to match the price of the EE games.
However, it being an expansion just this nagging feeling it should be ever so slightly cheaper than the game itself, and with 20 for the Baldur's Gate EE and Baldur's Gate 2 EE... Something on the 10 to 15 range would seem reasonable... 20 at most to match the price of the EE games.
However, it being an expansion just this nagging feeling it should be ever so slightly cheaper than the game itself, and with 20 for the Baldur's Gate EE and Baldur's Gate 2 EE... Something on the 10 to 15 range would seem reasonable... 20 at most to match the price of the EE games.
if it has just as much content as some of the more expansive mods, then i'd easily agree with you. unfortunately we don't know what level of content it has, as the amount of hours it should take is hardly a good indicator of its quality. if they really show what their new and improved IE can do then i'd double whatever amount i'd pay for the content otherwise, just to support the team and their mission.
I didn't realise this thread started so long ago. But my thoughts are: Beamdog already copped so much flak for charging $20 for BG:EE because they "didn't do anything" in some people's eyes. Here we have all new areas, new characters, new items, new dialogues, new UI, new music (presumably).. I think it's well worth $20, considering how many hours I'm likely to get out of playing it (honestly, who is only going to play through once???).
It costs me more than that just to see a movie once at the cinema, and that is usually less than 2 hours entertainment to boot. (Needless to say, I don't see a lot of movies a the cinema.. i spend on games instead .
if it has just as much content as some of the more expansive mods, then i'd easily agree with you. unfortunately we don't know what level of content it has, as the amount of hours it should take is hardly a good indicator of its quality. if they really show what their new and improved IE can do then i'd double whatever amount i'd pay for the content otherwise, just to support the team and their mission.
Regardless of the quantity or quality of content, I have to agree with wubble. It's pretty much industry standard for expansions to be half to maybe just a little more than half of the base game. It's really rare for an expansion to be the same price as that of the base game.
The only time I've seen expansions the same price as the base game is in MMOs. For single player games such as Baldur's Gate, I've never seen an expansion cost the same amount as the base game.
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As far as gameplay hours are concerned I feel that I get out what I put into it, doing numerous playthroughs with different charnames, party mixes etc.
so i'd say if it had 1/4 the content of bg:ee but managed to do what modders could only dream about previously, and that the content that was there was up to BG standards, then it would be easily worth $20. the main things i want from mods beamdog is contractually forbidden to do at this point (integrated BWP, with NPC project).
what i'd love to see them showcase is:
better AI (modding community has really pushed the limits on such, but have huge hurdles to keep it from being perfect)
random and dynamic quests (imagine if a stronghold gave quests based on what else had happened in game, and/or minor random quest sprung up in athkala to build up your gold meter instead of the same every playthrough).
multiparty management (nothing major, it isn't a strategy game, but having another party go do 1 critical objective while you and some others complete another critical objective, instead of either doing both at your leisure or rushing to complete both).
separation of alignment and reputation (Planescape: torment style, even if it doesn't copy it).
sub races (actual sub races represented in the interface selection, not just sub races as extra races).
extra classes with different mechanics and kits(seems like it is already in).
in multiplayer being able to play a party NPC (like imoen for instance, and would go great with the multiparty management thing).
Computer games are one of the cheapest hobbies anyone can have. I spent $20 on a big lunch yesterday and I had to eat again 4 hours later. Not to mention $60 on drinks and a taxi that evening.
However, it being an expansion just this nagging feeling it should be ever so slightly cheaper than the game itself, and with 20 for the Baldur's Gate EE and Baldur's Gate 2 EE... Something on the 10 to 15 range would seem reasonable... 20 at most to match the price of the EE games.
It costs me more than that just to see a movie once at the cinema, and that is usually less than 2 hours entertainment to boot. (Needless to say, I don't see a lot of movies a the cinema.. i spend on games instead
The only time I've seen expansions the same price as the base game is in MMOs. For single player games such as Baldur's Gate, I've never seen an expansion cost the same amount as the base game.
So, SoD won't be a simple expansion for BGEE, it will rather be an expansion for BG1 as a story.