I've read the FAQ, and...

Rompa

I'm not sure what's actually new and exciting in this game?

Most new features seem to revolve around the improved graphics and interface. I'm on a PC and have BG1 Tutu, as I'm sure many of you also do. The graphics were never an issue with this game for me. It has an amazing story all through the adventure. Are there any confirmed story changes or new plot twists? "Updated information coming soon." was all I could find regarding this. That is not currently a huge selling point for me when it comes to a game only weeks away from release.

The three new characters are by far the most exciting news, but there is/has been a large and active modding community for the games, who have created many wonderful and detailed NPC's, despite engine limitations. Is there really any difference between Beamdog and dedicated and talented modders in that regard?

I'm certainly not trying to bash or diminish anything here, and I'm more than certain that you have already answered similar questions in the past, but could someone please explain to me why there is a such a hype for this game, since I must have missed something?

Best Regards//

A new forum member

Lemernis

OP, honestly, you raise some valid points and questions. The two main disappointments I see with this project are that the game will not be re-rendered in HD (although it will probably look quite a bit nicer than the original), and that we won't have new content for existing NPCs.*

But we will have a game that should look noticeably better, now with a zoom function. We'll have an engine that is reworked and polished that runs stably on current operating systems and multiple platforms, such as iPads. And we will have some presumably excellent new content with 3 new romanceable NPCs and a new side adventure. (Hopefully we will have some function that officially supports the use of custom mods, i.e., a mod manager.) We can look forward to new content on a regular basis, such as new NPCs, kits, sidequests, etc., via DLC.

But I think more than anything, the reason to support BG:EE and BG2:EE is that if they succeed Beamdog has a shot at making BG3. This community wants to see a continuation of everything possible that made the BG series such a fantastic gaming experience.


* Edit: Beamdog will be allowed to write new dialogs for old NPCs with new ones in EE's new areas. But no further development for them other than that.

Caineth

I agree with Lemernis, it's certainly possible to play BG 1 & 2 just fine today as is, but supporting this project opens up a future where BG 3 or something similar still has a chance of being created, instead of yet-another FPS...

... or who am I kidding, we'll see many, many more FPS-titles being announced, but anyways, let's show the world that a classic RPG still has some value!

Tr_ond

The simple fact that old bugs have been fixed and that it supports wide screen and higher resolutions right out of the launcher is what got me to pre-order. I don`t want to have to read up on load priorities and mess around with mods for a day to be able to play it. Last time i did that i got bg1 in bg2 with green water.

Silverstar

Well the fact there's a new class, one I've always really liked and that hasn't been done properly in the CRPGs yet, is a good selling point for me. That means they can also add more classes/kits I should think and with the promise of DLC (companions, classes, areas/quests) and possible possiblity of sub-races, that's a lot of new replay value. And the game wasn't exactly lacking in that before. So some new stuff from the get-go and more new stuff to come. I guess if the new companions and extra side-adventure doesn't spark your interest you could wait till there's more DLC coming out.

Over 400 fixes also sounds good; yeah sure there's a lot of good fan patches/mods out there, but that's the thing, there's a lot of them and they're not all compatible I guess? A nice clean all-purpose package that will have support for some time to come is neat I think.

As for why there's hype for this game... heh. I hadn't heard of it until I accidently saw mention of it on wikipedia in the article of the original game. Haven't seen it advertised anywhere on the net, but then I haven't really been looking either.

There's no reason we should try convincing you in any way though. If you don't think it seems like there's enough of a difference to warrant the purchase then wait and see till they churn some more updates out. $20 isn't a big price to pay for a new smoother "tutu" though and like the others said, supporting the guys that may have a shot at making BGIII is a good thing

mch202

Also we will get a completly new GUI, improved journal , new art,music and cinematics and *No Loading Screens (!!!)*

Just got 2 cents poorer.. :-)

Shin

@Rompa You are indeed correct. The way I see it, the main advantage of BG:EE lies in its future potential for more extensive modding and the fact that it resurrects the BG series.

If you look only at the release day playing experience, then the payoff will depend. If you're the kind of player who likes to just boot up the game and start playing you should be better off, whereas if you're the kind who spends days browsing, selecting, installing and changing mods to get every last detail of the game down the way you feel you want it, then old modded BG will likely be superior to BG:EE for quite some time. But like I said, there's still the longterm potential.

And don't worry about coming off like you're bashing; threads that question and criticize are in most cases more useful than threads that are all about praise and back-patting.

kilroy_was_here

I think the primary sell (at least for me) is the fact that in incorporates hundreds of bugfixes that used to require installing various mods, into the main release. I don't remember the thread, but I've told the story on these forums before of the last time I played BG.

When I got to Beregost to recruit Branwen, somehow her statue form had 'died'. I couldn't use the stone to flesh scroll because she was dead and couldn't raise her because she was a statue. But if I started a new game and went directly to Beregost the statue was fine. There was some kind of quest trigger that killed the statue.

I knew one of the mods I installed was to blame, but which one? Was it the mod itself that was bad or just the install order? Or not one mod by itself but a bad combination of 2 or more mods? Hopefully with an improved base version problems like this can be avoided. Plus supposedly it will be easier for future mods because of various features being externalized.

Schneidend

Improved multiplayer, built in patches and fixes, native high resolutions, new items, new characters, new class, new soundsets, new quests, new UI, cleaned up coding for smoother gameplay and better mod support. Who cares if mods add some of those things? 90% of those mods are utter shit.

But, no, you're right. We should totally disregard all the stuff Overhaul is offering and make a thread about whether or not they're offering any stuff.

God I hate the Internet.

EnialusMeliamne

As a guy who infrequently posts, but who reads this forum everyday, I can honestly say I'm super stoked for this game (haven't ore-ordered yet...buying for the Mac). How does this relate to the post? I've got three character games going right now (Skald, ftr/thief, and Paladin), and all via tutu. I've got it tweaked out how I want, BUT, the ability to play a nicely re-done, debugged variant with sick resolutions on my Mac without the need to Bootcamp has me pretty excited, and the potential for much more in the weeks and months to come as well. That, plus all of the hard work these folks have put into it means I'll be buying my fifth iteration of the game without hesitation.

Lola

What I really (should) like about BG:EE is that I had to install a lot of mods to play like I wanted : Tutu or BGT, widescreen, Sword Coast Stratagems, different fixes... Each time it was a pain in the neck (not mentioning incompatibilities between mods). BG:EE will probably make everything easier.
One could consider that BG vanilla was good enough, but still... All these little things fixed with BG:EE really do count. And I'm not talking at all about the new characters (I don't really care about them)

Bjjorick

@lola it would be nice if they could have some of the difficulty mods installed and turned on/off with in the options/gameplay menu. Or you have to start a new game to play either way.

Would just be nice to have that built in for those who have played the game a dozen + times already

reedmilfam

What I am most looking forward to are:
1) Faster load times of areas/transitions
2) Widescreen without the avatars stretching to disproportionate means

As for mods, a common 'program' to start will make mods easier and presumably more stable. All wins, and it will run on my computer! I have the originals, the released 4-in one and nothing installs. I could buy it on GOG, but would rather get the modern version (most modern available). Don't come a knockin' on 18SEP, for the Sword Coast will be rockin'...

Fake_Sketch

BGEE has plenty of stuff: New chars, new kit, widescreen support and 9000000 fixes. I guess the main difference from mods is "the neat package" part, it makes things pretty easy.