Trent Oster Interview at Sorcerer's Place

mch202

I just came across this, its from yesterday:

http://www.sorcerers.net/Main/Articles/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-interview.php

8. SP: There’s been talk of DLC being released post launch. How many DLCs ideally would you like to see released for BG:EE?

Oster: I'd like to see a lot of DLC released post-launch. The Sword Coast is a great location for adventure and BG:EE offers a very fun type of tactical gameplay which cannot be had anywhere else. Our plan is to do at least one expansion-pack scale add-on and see how the market responds. If people like what we're doing and buy the DLC, we'll make more.

9. SP: What sort of ideas do you have in mind for the DLC? New missions? New companions? New graphical enhancements? Other?

Oster: Yes, all of the above. I think we can do smaller DLC in the form of new companions, new assets and larger DLC in the form of full blown adventures.



I like the Idea of "expansion-pack scale add-on"!

Shin

Not bad, more useful than most interviews.

Kirkor

I wonder what "New graphical enhancements?" mean?

reedmilfam

Adventure Y is probably involved, but I hope they won't end there. Seriously, I'd love to see more places to poke into and new things to find. Ideally, something under the Gnoll Fortress, perhaps some caves in the far east (talking BG 1 here) and some questing with the southern XP bags (I mean 'open adventure areas').

Bercon

But does BG:EE engine support add-ons on the fly? I've had bad experiences when installing mods and playing with old save games.

If you have to start from scratch every time you install something new, how is that going to sell?

revaar

I remember there being a hint dropped a while back about sub races. That could be pretty cool, as would aasimars and tieflings.

mch202

Bercon said:

But does BG:EE engine support add-ons on the fly? I've had bad experiences when installing mods and playing with old save games.

If you have to start from scratch every time you install something new, how is that going to sell?

I believe they didnt clean the code for nothing, Im sure the game is more optimized for add-ons than before. Also when you installed Tales Of The Sword Coast you didnt have to start the game all over again, And I believe it will be the same with any further adventure expansion.

And even if you do have to start all over, it will only add to the replayability of the game, which is one of the aspects that made this game so great.

Kirkor said:

I wonder what "New graphical enhancements?" mean?

Improved Weather Effects is one of the enhancements that I can think of, they have said it will go post-ship.

ajwz

Fuck yeah expansion packs!

Kristie83

Expansion packs are great! I wouldn't mind buying one at all. But, is ALL of the DLC going to cost? I thought that some of these things would just come in the form of updates. Particularly the things that were originally intended to go in, then got moved to post-release.

Grieg

Bercon said:

But does BG:EE engine support add-ons on the fly? I've had bad experiences when installing mods and playing with old save games.

TrentOster said:

It will work if you save a game in a DLC area and load on a device that doesn't have DLC. We'd like to get paid, but we don't break games.

So therefor I believe that installation/removing of additions will be much improved.

mch202

Kristie83 said:

Expansion packs are great! I wouldn't mind buying one at all. But, is ALL of the DLC going to cost? I thought that some of these things would just come in the form of updates. Particularly the things that were originally intended to go in, then got moved to post-release.

Phillip Daigle said before that there will be more free DLC than paid DLC, so no worries.

Mechalibur

Hmm, so according to that interview, it looks like Dorn's personal quest involves a lot of bloodshed.

This should be fun.

Kristie83

mch202 said:

Kristie83 said:

Expansion packs are great! I wouldn't mind buying one at all. But, is ALL of the DLC going to cost? I thought that some of these things would just come in the form of updates. Particularly the things that were originally intended to go in, then got moved to post-release.

Phillip Daigle said before that there will be more free DLC than paid DLC, so no worries.

Well, that makes me a little more hopeful. I really don't like the idea of small DLCs, I'd much rather pay for a nice big expansion. I've gone on a major rant-fest in this thread:

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/6561/expansion-packs-or-dlc#latest

ChurchOfBoo

Bring it.

Can I just give them my credit card number?

Maybe a 'Kickstarter' thing for added content? I'd pay in advance.

Eudaemonium

I bet 'Adventure Y' will be the Expansion-sized content. Would be really awesome to see sub-races/aasimar/tieflings as well as a new character or two, but BG1 has a lot of characters already, so maybe best to save them for BG2 (like an evil thief, which it so desperately needs).

Cheesebelly

Well, keep in mind that the price of BGEE as a whole (with all the current additions) is $20... If they priced the new Expansion-pack-like addon for the same price I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I think Overhaul is proving their dedication, not just as developers but also as gamers like us. That's the spirit they should overtake. (hint - what was Interplay's motto?)

DLC, addons, expansion packs, hell, boxed versions if they feel like it - sign me up sir!

LadyEibhilinRhett

revaar said:

I remember there being a hint dropped a while back about sub races. That could be pretty cool, as would aasimars and tieflings.

That could be cool, but I couldn't see CHARNAME being an aasimar, that's for sure. I mean that would just get really ridiculous. "Oh yeah I am part celestial and stuff but at the same time i am also the child of an evil dead god and tainted by him and shit."
I mean, I'm not saying it couldn't happen, after all it is pretty obvious that Bhaal got down and dirty with just about everyone and everything, it just starts sounding a little too "super speshul snowflake" to me, that's all.

Wiggles

Kickstarter could be real nice, but I always get this "Shut up and take my money" feel from it.

AndreaColombo

Cheesebelly said:

boxed versions if they feel like it - sign me up sir!

I've been signed up for a boxed edition before BG:EE was even conceptualized, ffs.

Excalibur_2102

"7. SP: How much fan created material made it into BG:EE?

Oster: Good question. There is a fair bit of fan content that is included into BG:EE, but I think very little went in untouched. In almost every case we worked closely with the modders involved to improve or revise the content to better fit the game and the average user. In some cases the modders went above and beyond their previous efforts and delivered something awesome with the additional support we were able to offer on the code side."


The above is interesting too.. One know of 1pp, but what other user made mods have made it to the final game?

bigdogchris

I don't think he meant mods. I think he meant that they fixed game bugs that were previously fixed with mods.

Excalibur_2102

Well, the question states "Fan created material"... You could be right but its not exactly clear.

bigdogchris

Excalibur_2102 said:

Well, the question states "Fan created material"... You could be right but its not exactly clear.

Many modders provided the code required to fix bugs which their mods originally fixed. That is "fan created material".

Those are bug fix mods though. The only included mod, that changes game content, is 1PP.

Mungri

Is there a boxed version planned? I won't be happy if there is and it gets released after I've already paid for the digital version.

AndreaColombo

@Mungri - Unfortunately not. Negotiations for the boxed version of BG:EE got stalled and it doesn't appear to be happening. I would gladly purchase it on top of my digital copy, as I know many others would, but it seems like someone at WotC and/or Atari is "allergic to extra work", to put it in @TrentOster's words.

Kharador

A real shame. After denying that they wouldn't make a paid DLC's now deny it. As I have been saying for a long time Baldur's Gate doesn't care to Beamdog.

Balquo

When did they say that?

Lemernis

I think it's great that we have the chance to have professionally crafted mods available.

Am I upset that I have to pay for them? No. It takes the fan community's modders a great deal of time and effort out of their own lives to create mods. If they could have been compensated back when, I would likely have paid for their work too (depending on what they achieved; I'd then have been much more discriminating). Real human beings whose time, skill, and energy are valuable have to create new content. It doesn't get made by the Keebler elves.

moody_mage

@Kharador
I don't recall hearing that anywhere. Please could you provide a link?

mch202

Kharador said:

A real shame. After denying that they wouldn't make a paid DLC's now deny it. As I have been saying for a long time Baldur's Gate doesn't care to Beamdog.

What are you talking about?!

Excalibur_2102

No idea what hes talking about either.. Looks like hes implying that someone from Beamdog said they wouldnt make any paid for DLC.. Which is of course false. They just said there would likely be more free DLC than paid for.