Skip to content

Seems SoD is surprisingly controversial. Would you still recommend purchasing it?

24567

Comments

  • Excalibur_2102Excalibur_2102 Member Posts: 351
    edited April 2016
    @Kitteh_On_A_Cloud and this is part of the whole problem with this mess. Misinformation. Things have been taken out of context, information skewed to meet certain peoples wants, and then when this misinformed (in some cases outright false) information meets the ears of potential buyers it puts them off. I'd implore you to check some of the critical reviews... Rockpapershotgun, gamespot, destructoid.. Even the mixed score reviews are still largely positive about the game as a whole.
  • uglyaardvarkuglyaardvark Member Posts: 22
    I would not recommend purchase until they get alot more bugs fixed, the controversy is a red herring.
  • jankieljankiel Member Posts: 127
    Oudyn said:

    Hey guys. Given money and time issues that cropped up recently, I have sadly not been able to buy or play Siege of Dragonspear. Just because I'm a giant murderlizard, doesn't mean I don't need entertainment too!

    All joking aside, I was planning on doing so soon, but it appears there is some sort of odd controversy surrounding a particular transgender character and a line from Minsc? Now, I love Minsc, as I do most of the characters in this series. It would be a shame to see them misrepresented. Nonetheless, I'll still have enough money to purchase the expansion rather soon.

    The controversy is overblown. On my first play I missed the trans character and didn't hear that line from Minsc. While I agree that the line was out of place it had zero impact on my expierience. SOD is solid, the new characters are fun. Go for it.
  • mf2112mf2112 Member, Moderator Posts: 1,919
    Downloading the 2.1 patch now, hopefully that will answer the issues and the "issues".
  • drawnacroldrawnacrol Member Posts: 253
    I bought it 5 mins after it was announced but I haven't finished my Baldurs Gate 1 playthrough yet. I'll wait until the main bugs are fixed and then download it. By then hopefully all the "controversy" will have died down.
  • BeowulfBeowulf Member Posts: 236
    I never even noticed the Minsc line - and I do not care at all about that- it is just two sides of nerds battling each other worse than officers in the command track in the rear ordering to be consulting on calls for fire. The silly Mizzenawaaaazenaaa character is a non-issue too. It is just a lame throw in for beamdog to salute Canada and their way of life.

    On the other hand Safina is rather a sullen brat in the new game and not a trollop tart that pleased all the fat 40 someting now white guys who recall with fondness her shameless man pandering flirting.

    I found the last 10-20 minutes a great bore overall with very unsatisfying chat choices that enraged my already angry fighter.

    It was looking really cool towards the middle with some open areas to go through ala BG1 but they the scope is small in truth even if there are some fun old style discovery delves and cellars.

    Anyway overall it is pretty good and worth the cash but the some of the writing is rather bland or too modern and does not cater to the ole fat guy of 1998 who played it with pride killing whole cities - you cant town kill in the game or you will get auto killed ala the Candle keep stater area. It might be funner if you just did a multiplayer game and avoided the 2 new abrasive female characters.
  • TheWhitefireTheWhitefire Member Posts: 119
    @Beowulf "It is just a lame throw in for beamdog to salute Canada and their way of life."

    Uh, what? First off, Beamdog is a Canadian company--I can literally drive there from my house. Second, what does that even mean? So a company acknowledges a marginalized group actually exists, and it's just a "throw in?" This is nonsensical at best, inflammatory at worst.

    Finally, I agree that the last 10-20 minutes were a bit of a slog. But then so were the Hell Trials, and literally most of Baldur's Gate 1's main storyline. I have to say the pacing of Dragonspear is much better than Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. Exploration is all fine and dandy, but I can't stand games where you have to march back through a dungeon just to get to the exit. That's why I hate dungeons without back doors--it's just padding, because back in the day having a game with "90 hours of playtime!" was a big selling point. They would just neglect to tell you that you spent 60 hours of that play time backtracking through wilderness. Baldur's Gate was particularly heinous in this regard.

    Anyways, OP, to answer your question... yes, it's absolutely worth it. Hell, people paid upwards of $60 for skyrim when it first game out, and it had bugs like mad. Apparently the new Fallout isn't much better. This'll only burn a hole in your pocket to the size of $22.00, and that's money well spent in my opinion.
  • BeowulfBeowulf Member Posts: 236
    Mr Whitefire, Canada has actual laws that protect those who identify differently from discrimination from those persons who would bar them from adopting / couple forming and so on. I choose to not be part of Canada although with my special skillzset having worked for nations all over the globe I have no doubt Canada would be glad to have me as their helpful citizen. Beamdog likewise follows these very post modern very post Thomist ideals so thus my Canada comment. Now if a UAE game company made a game where you could not get a quest from a women unless she was your wife or sister or daughter I would as well comment on this aspect of the game due to the UAE culture the UAE company has and say =

    "oh this UAE game company is mixing in thier UAE culture in the game it is not just about riding camels and getting loot - you can only get quests from women if you play a female character."

    In similar spirit Beamdog choose to not let me romance gruff wymyn Corwin archer because they wanted my male to see how diverse their ideals of love and romance are. Instead of two lasses pandering to my male I had 1 thief character and the other was left for a female plythrough should you want to indulge that alternate female female romance ideal. I am very egotistical and can never play a female character so in my self limiting way this aspect is a turn off to me. For others it is well and good if you want a modern style errr post modern style fantasy world.

    I am not going to condemn Beamdog for trying to be relative progressive open and inclusive and displaying the sorts of ideals they love in Canada. But, the buyer should know exactly wut he is getting. Thus my comment SoD is a product of Canada. This is not an accusation it is just a factual observation telling the buyer - if you do not like Canada values and blame Canada for something you do not like like well you can just go watch loops of Eric Cartmen and not play the game or play a UAE game instead. Although I think UAE games are all just lame ripoffs of US made shooters but you all shoot non-Islam persons instead.
  • clos4lifeclos4life Member Posts: 26
    I most definitely would recommend it. I don't like the trans character and I still think it's worth buying.
  • megamike15megamike15 Member Posts: 2,666

    Dude.

    You can have a one-handed sword equipped to your weapon slots.

    And a bow.

    AND a shield.

    ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

    Screw the controversy--that alone is reason enough to buy it!

    that was the 2.0 patch not sod.

  • NonnahswriterNonnahswriter Member Posts: 2,520

    Dude.

    You can have a one-handed sword equipped to your weapon slots.

    And a bow.

    AND a shield.

    ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

    Screw the controversy--that alone is reason enough to buy it!

    that was the 2.0 patch not sod.

    Which--surprise!--also applies to SoD.

    I don't see your point. :tongue:
  • GenderNihilismGirdleGenderNihilismGirdle Member Posts: 1,353

    I hope you enjoy what this game has to offer soon friend. I found it a lot of fun and a worthy addition to the Baldur's Gate series.

    What Diogenes said.
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    Seems like a lot of people here are minimizing the issue or condoning the fact that Beamdog tried to hamfist a political agenda into a game where it absolutely does not belong. Or can anyone explain me why Mizhena absolutely HAD to be trans? What does it add to her character other than a checkmark on the list of adding diverse sexual orientations? Sorry, but I absolutely do not agree that the original Baldur's Gate games were 'sexist'. I never thought of Jaheira as a 'nagging wife', for example. That is such a simplistic view on her character. And yes, I am basing myself here on quotes from news sources because I do not want to personally finance social justice bullcrap in a game I was anxious to see new content being created for. Besides, doesn't take away the fact that Scott still posted these words and thus acknowledged them. Why was the GamerGate joke added to Minsc's dialogue of all characters? Just because he's popular? I'm just trying to understand this mess, guys. And yes, living in a country which is going to shit because of political correctness and social justice bullshit has made me quite sensitive to things like these. Transgenders shouldn't be treated as a 'novelty' to modernise games, but as actual people and actual game characters with more to them than just their sexual orientation, doesn't matter whether they are minor characters or not, don't you think?
  • Excalibur_2102Excalibur_2102 Member Posts: 351
    Its not about minimising the issue or "condoning" anything.. Just to me, it isn't an issue at all, and I don't see a political agenda.. I see a character in a game with a few lines of dialogue explaining why she has the name she does, and that's just the way I choose to see it. Many people didn't even realise there was an issue until they finished playing the game and them came and saw the internet s**t storm. I agree about the characters such as Jaheira, but then everyone who has actually played the game have told me that she hasn't been changed at all, and is true to her BG character.

    As for whether mizhena could've had more to her, sure... But Trent has said they want to rectify this, as well as remove minsc's line referring to GG (which just for reference is an easter egg line that you only hear if you click on the character so many times.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,758

    Seems like a lot of people here are minimizing the issue or condoning the fact that Beamdog tried to hamfist a political agenda into a game where it absolutely does not belong. Or can anyone explain me why Mizhena absolutely HAD to be trans? What does it add to her character other than a checkmark on the list of adding diverse sexual orientations? Sorry, but I absolutely do not agree that the original Baldur's Gate games were 'sexist'. I never thought of Jaheira as a 'nagging wife', for example. That is such a simplistic view on her character. And yes, I am basing myself here on quotes from news sources because I do not want to personally finance social justice bullcrap in a game I was anxious to see new content being created for. Besides, doesn't take away the fact that Scott still posted these words and thus acknowledged them. Why was the GamerGate joke added to Minsc's dialogue of all characters? Just because he's popular? I'm just trying to understand this mess, guys. And yes, living in a country which is going to shit because of political correctness and social justice bullshit has made me quite sensitive to things like these. Transgenders shouldn't be treated as a 'novelty' to modernise games, but as actual people and actual game characters with more to them than just their sexual orientation, doesn't matter whether they are minor characters or not, don't you think?

    @Kitteh_On_A_Cloud If you haven't, read OP in https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/52379/trent-osters-interview-about-dragonspear-controversies#latest and https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/52705/more-on-mizhena-from-trent-oster#latest

    It should explain things a bit.
  • helmo1977helmo1977 Member Posts: 366
    Frankly, the "controversy" has been about two groups fighting each other for reasons only remotely related to the game. Because the game is not controversial. But some people are very thin skinned.
  • rapsam2003rapsam2003 Member Posts: 1,636

    Seems like a lot of people here are minimizing the issue or condoning the fact that Beamdog tried to hamfist a political agenda into a game where it absolutely does not belong.

    It's not an issue. Or rather, if it is an issue, it's so minor as to not matter.
  • KcoQuidamKcoQuidam Member Posts: 181

    Or can anyone explain me why Mizhena absolutely HAD to be trans?

    *Start thinking how stupid it will look if Beamdog have made all NPC transgender, except one who talk about the fact they didn't change their name, and a lot of angry people will come on the forum saying Beamdog try to "force agenda" by having put a cisgender character in the game and making them talking about it, and then try to blame the writer of the character for the harasment made by the other people*
  • ZansoZanso Member Posts: 139
    Short answer: Yes
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    edited April 2016
    So you would all say that the controversy is blown out of proportion? I'm really sorry if I sound confused or something. I have no problem with transgenders at all, as long as they aren't just included for some or the other SJW agenda, the impression of which I got from the reviews and articles I have been reading. Also, just like for many of you, the BG games mean a lot to me and are part of my fondest childhood memories, so I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to them being tampered with. That's all. I'm sorry if I worded myself poorly in my earlier comment. I just got the impression that Beamdog included a trans character just for the sake of novelty and 'modernising' the game. As some kind of checkmark on a list, you see. But if you guys who have played the game truly think it's someting minor, well then, maybe I should just see it for myself and play the game myself.
  • FrkunFrkun Member Posts: 52
    The problem is not a transgender character. The problem is everything. Bad design decisions, bad UI, bad dialogs, bad inmersion, bad progression.

    As far as I am reading, people is focusing too much in that character while you could pass through the game without talking to it. There are plenty of problems but the discusion is being moved to that npc, which is the least of the problems, if there is any.
Sign In or Register to comment.