Yeah you are probably correct. Initially, I assumed that David did work for a game that Beamdog was working on and then left to do new projects as Beamdog didn't have anymore work for him at the time. However, he did take on a job position that managed the project if I'm not mistaken. It seems odd that he would leave unless he was unhappy with something. But again, who knows and honestly, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it since its really none of my business. If they are on good terms though then I find it hard to say that they are not in contact with him. It only takes a few seconds to drop someone an email. They could just say they don't have the resources to do it or they disagree with the community and leave it at that. It leaves a bit to the imagination which got me thinking in that direction.
I am still under the assumption that it was shelved for NWN or wasn’t green lit by WotC. He was working on something other than paper airplanes.
But I honestly think this is going to be a trend for big name game writers. Work contract for a company and then bail once the writing on that project is done:
See Drew Karpyshyn for Anthem
See Chris Avellone for Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
It gives writers more creativity and prevents conflicts of interest if a studio they officially work for do not own the IP for what they want to write about.
This also gives studios a nice way to actually promote their game: “Chris Avellone is working on it” selling his brand recognition instead of the studios or publishers (EA). Beamdog used this tactic for both SoD and PST:EE.
@the_sextein
No sweat. I also read the post from Luke as a definite yay to the idea. I just dont think they have the time right now to ask around or doing work on that project. That was why I proposed enlisting the community for help in asking and stuff. But we will see.
I havent given up on BD and the IE. I might be naive, but I do believe that the bugs will be eraticated and that we will see more content in the BG series in the future (please note that I didnt say near future )
Agreed, I just wish they would roll back the patch or provide a quick fix to the game breakers before moving on to other things. We can't play the game. I've been waiting on this patch for at least 6 months and now I learn that it won't fix the pathfinding which means my chances of playing the game in the next year is very low. I've considered reinstalling the originals and making my own UI with the widescreen mod but I don't even have a CD drive in my PC anymore. I've been doing some reading but it looks like the previous beta versions on steam might not be in working condition? I wish the console version would have stopped all patch progress before the last patch so I could still play my game.
Yeah you are probably correct. Initially, I assumed that David did work for a game that Beamdog was working on and then left to do new projects as Beamdog didn't have anymore work for him at the time. However, he did take on a job position that managed the project if I'm not mistaken. It seems odd that he would leave unless he was unhappy with something. But again, who knows and honestly, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it since its really none of my business. If they are on good terms though then I find it hard to say that they are not in contact with him. It only takes a few seconds to drop someone an email. They could just say they don't have the resources to do it or they disagree with the community and leave it at that. It leaves a bit to the imagination which got me thinking in that direction.
I am still under the assumption that it was shelved for NWN or wasn’t green lit by WotC. He was working on something other than paper airplanes.
But I honestly think this is going to be a trend for big name game writers. Work contract for a company and then bail once the writing on that project is done:
See Drew Karpyshyn for Anthem
See Chris Avellone for Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
It gives writers more creativity and prevents conflicts of interest if a studio they officially work for do not own the IP for what they want to write about.
This also gives studios a nice way to actually promote their game: “Chris Avellone is working on it” selling his brand recognition instead of the studios or publishers (EA). Beamdog used this tactic for both SoD and PST:EE.
Yeah, I noticed Techland used Chris Avallone's name to promote Dying Light 2's writing quality and they even had him come out and announce the game at E3. He seems to do what you are saying. I'm pretty sure that Gaider took the position that Phil Deagle used to have at Beamdog? It wasn't just a writing position the way I understood it. After Gaider left, Phil also left and it seemed a bit awkward but I'm getting off topic here. I'll just sit this out and see if I can piece together an old version of the game in the meantime. Too bad I didn't buy the GOG version, then I'd have the original games as well as the EE's from digital distribution. My CD versions aren't doing me any good with no optical drive lol. I haven't needed to use a CD or DVD for so long I didn't bother to include one when I built my last computer. Kind of regretting it now.
Yep Avellone is sure getting around isn’t he? I am actually surprised more gaming news sites are calling him out for it. I guess he hasn’t lost that Godhood status yet with everyone.
Beamdog was looking for a lead writer. Gaider fell in their lap and realized that title wasn’t enough for someone of Gaider’s stature so they created a new one for him with more responsibilities.
Daigle left after the announcement in October fell through. Don’t know if they are related or not, but I do not like to publicly speculate about other people’s reasons so I will leave it at that.
And hey, if pathfinding is your only issue, you can just do a solo play through. No stuck characters in doorways if no one is following you around
Yeah man, I'll leave it at that too. I didn't mean any disrespect to anyone but you know we all speculate from time to time. I am not a fan of solo games because the 6 person party is this game's greatest strength in my opinion. The strategy of keeping 6 people alive and using all of their abilities at once is what makes it special to me. Still, I might try a solo game to keep me in the game during this problematic period. I'll leave out Ascension and with only one character I probably won't need LOB mode to keep me challenged and I can apply quick fix mods for the rest of the problems that effect me. Do that and beta test the latest version of SCS to see if I can help with bug reporting on that. Good Idea!
About that ^ the update mentions that they would like to include Ascension as an official DLC but they would need permission from the creator and they are not in a position to contact him. David Gaider is the one who created Ascension so that is pretty much saying he burnt some bridges before he left. Otherwise, how hard would it be to drop him an e-mail or tweat him on twitter?
I think you're reading too much into it. Here's the full quote for reference:
Luke has been interested for a while in making Ascension an official “DLC” for Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, and a few other similar mods, but there are some challenges in that: we can’t legally distribute content that we don’t own or have permission from all involved parties. In the case of some, where the people who worked on it are not in communication with us, our hands are tied.
Keywords being "all involved parties." I don't know much of the backstory with Ascension, but I think at least part of it was programmed by someone besides Gaider, right? So even if the rest of the quote is about Ascension specifically, then I think it's more likely that any programmers or other contributors to the mod can't be reached for whatever reason.
I'm pretty sure Ascension was inspired by some Baldur's Gate fans but Gaider did it all himself off the clock. The readme pretty much explains how the project got started and asks specifically for fans to not ask Bioware to include it officially as it would be disrespectful to the team who created the original ending.
I think all parties involved was mentioned because they mentioned using more than just Ascension. Either way, they may not be in contact with him but they certainly could be if they dropped him a message on social media, so I don't think their hands are tied when it comes to Ascension specifically. It's kind of a poorly worded way of saying "no we are not working on it and currently have no plans on it in the immediate future, Maybe someday though." Otherwise they would have simply contacted him and said that they are working on it or plan to eventually.
I think they are moving away from the infinity engine and they will give responses like that from here on out. I'm totally fine with that. They have done plenty. They made the game work on modern Windows OS and added a full blown game with some new characters and kits plus multiple extra areas and missions in the main games. I don't expect anything else from them. I understand that they can make some quick cash by porting the game to consoles and I think it's a great move for them as a company. But, they did downgrade the visuals and audio and sell it as enhanced. These things could be reverted back to the way they were because the game is already working with superior visuals and audio. If they are going to make a separate console version then they might as well make the cell phone version separate and leave the PC as it was originally when it comes to graphics and audio. I can see why they would consider reverting it back and appreciate them mentioning it in an update and I can also see why they would want to wait until they have the console port finished.
The disappointment for me is that after years of solid support for this title, they accidently broke the game with the last patch and instead of doing a quick fix or reverting it back to the previous patch they have left it in a broken state for half a year and have no plans on fixing it anytime soon. That sucks.
@the_sextein Especially with the rest of your comment, I think we’re in agreement for the most part. I just don’t think it’s fair to speculate that Gaider isn’t communicating with Beamdog based on the original quote.
More to the point, I think that type of speculation is the kind of thing that contributes to Beamdog’s reluctance to publicly say much. Not only does it imply Beamdog doesn’t know how to reach out, but it also implies that someone who isn’t even part of Beamdog has some type of grievance with the company. So everybody looks bad if we run with that narrative.
I’m on mobile right now so I can’t/won’t copy/paste, but I looked up the Readme for Ascension and Gaider thanks a lot of people for contributions. Any one of those people could be part of the hold up; either because they’ve said no or can’t be reached (along with Beamdog potentially having no plans to really do it).
I’ve seen how idle speculation can become fact on the forum over the years, so I just want to provide another plausible explanation before “Gaider and Beamdog aren’t on speaking terms” becomes established lore. Not because I know one way or the other (I don’t, duh), but because I think that’s the type of speculation that will lead to Beamdog communicating less with us.
I'm not really seeing what you are getting at, it's not my problem if irresponsible people want to state my speculation as fact. I clearly stated that I may be reading to much into it. Meaning I am not saying it as a fact and openly admitted that I was speculating based on the vibe I was getting from the situation. If you think my little bit of speculation has anything to do with Beamdog's lack of transparency with it's customers then I can state with confidence that you are mistaken. Public forums are for voicing opinions, sharing tips, and yes, even speculation. I can speculate about gazebo's being In the new game the same way I can speculate what David Gaider is currently doing in the industry. It's just casual conversation. In fact, if Beamdog were more clear with their responses then it wouldn't leave any room for speculation on my part.
As for Ascension. If I made a mod, I could thank Wesley Weimer for his work on Weidu if I wanted to, it wouldn't mean he had anything to do with my mod. If someone decided to repackage my mod and give thanks to people who helped them then that is great but Beamdog would still not need their permission to release my mod. People who built modding tools that were free for download are also not part of my modding team. They are worthy of thanks for making tools that aided me in modding the game but they have nothing to do with my mod from a creative standpoint that would require any permissions from Beamdog, People who bounced ideas around a forum are not the same as a mod development team who actually took part in making a creative piece for download. I could be wrong though, to my knowledge I am not wrong but I can only speculate at this point. If anyone who can state with authority that I am wrong then great. I was never stating anything as a fact to begin with, only speculating using my own logic based on the information that I have been given.
All things said and done, this is Beamdog's forum and if they don't like what I am saying or think that I am wrong then they can always clear things up anytime. They enforce the rules around here after all. To my knowledge they only need Gaider's approval for using Ascension and they mixed it with other mods in general and stated that their hands were tied. This in my opinion, is a way of letting you down easy rather than being harsh. It's a polite way of trying to answer the question without answering it. Maybe they want to use it but he won't let them. Maybe they don't want to and they are just making excuses. Maybe they want to but they currently don't have the time so they have not bothered to ask. Maybe the answer was simply written in a way that allows this sort of speculation to run wild lol. It's possible that they do need someone else's permission to use Ascension but I don't think so. It's common sense that permission from the developers is needed and some mods are created by a team that would all need to give their permission. This question specifically asked about Ascension and the answer only states a common sense acknowledgment for mods in general.
It's not really worth debating further but everyone on this forum has the right to speculate about anything they want in my opinion. Speculation only occurs when you are not given enough information to state facts with clarity.
Will the BG games be on Xbox One as well? Or just PS4/Switch?
Beamdog has confirmed that these titles will be released for PS4, Switch and Xbox One. Playing these classics on the Switch on the go sounds too good to be true!
Enemies are *still* pathfinding to your destination ...
Oh, if only enemies! This also affects all party members and summons too. Especially shaman (which already has uneasy life) are suffers from this 'feature' - his spirits are always on 'autopilot' and their maneuvers sometimes gets too crazy
BG2 and Icewind Dale on android. I know why they are missing but can we get a update when they will be back?
I have paid for both games and had to delete them when I reset my kindle. Now I can't download them again and nobody has updated us on the ETA.
Comments
I am still under the assumption that it was shelved for NWN or wasn’t green lit by WotC. He was working on something other than paper airplanes.
But I honestly think this is going to be a trend for big name game writers. Work contract for a company and then bail once the writing on that project is done:
See Drew Karpyshyn for Anthem
See Chris Avellone for Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
It gives writers more creativity and prevents conflicts of interest if a studio they officially work for do not own the IP for what they want to write about.
This also gives studios a nice way to actually promote their game: “Chris Avellone is working on it” selling his brand recognition instead of the studios or publishers (EA). Beamdog used this tactic for both SoD and PST:EE.
Agreed, I just wish they would roll back the patch or provide a quick fix to the game breakers before moving on to other things. We can't play the game. I've been waiting on this patch for at least 6 months and now I learn that it won't fix the pathfinding which means my chances of playing the game in the next year is very low. I've considered reinstalling the originals and making my own UI with the widescreen mod but I don't even have a CD drive in my PC anymore. I've been doing some reading but it looks like the previous beta versions on steam might not be in working condition? I wish the console version would have stopped all patch progress before the last patch so I could still play my game.
Yeah, I noticed Techland used Chris Avallone's name to promote Dying Light 2's writing quality and they even had him come out and announce the game at E3. He seems to do what you are saying. I'm pretty sure that Gaider took the position that Phil Deagle used to have at Beamdog? It wasn't just a writing position the way I understood it. After Gaider left, Phil also left and it seemed a bit awkward but I'm getting off topic here. I'll just sit this out and see if I can piece together an old version of the game in the meantime. Too bad I didn't buy the GOG version, then I'd have the original games as well as the EE's from digital distribution. My CD versions aren't doing me any good with no optical drive lol. I haven't needed to use a CD or DVD for so long I didn't bother to include one when I built my last computer. Kind of regretting it now.
Beamdog was looking for a lead writer. Gaider fell in their lap and realized that title wasn’t enough for someone of Gaider’s stature so they created a new one for him with more responsibilities.
Daigle left after the announcement in October fell through. Don’t know if they are related or not, but I do not like to publicly speculate about other people’s reasons so I will leave it at that.
And hey, if pathfinding is your only issue, you can just do a solo play through. No stuck characters in doorways if no one is following you around
I think you're reading too much into it. Here's the full quote for reference:
Keywords being "all involved parties." I don't know much of the backstory with Ascension, but I think at least part of it was programmed by someone besides Gaider, right? So even if the rest of the quote is about Ascension specifically, then I think it's more likely that any programmers or other contributors to the mod can't be reached for whatever reason.
I think all parties involved was mentioned because they mentioned using more than just Ascension. Either way, they may not be in contact with him but they certainly could be if they dropped him a message on social media, so I don't think their hands are tied when it comes to Ascension specifically. It's kind of a poorly worded way of saying "no we are not working on it and currently have no plans on it in the immediate future, Maybe someday though." Otherwise they would have simply contacted him and said that they are working on it or plan to eventually.
I think they are moving away from the infinity engine and they will give responses like that from here on out. I'm totally fine with that. They have done plenty. They made the game work on modern Windows OS and added a full blown game with some new characters and kits plus multiple extra areas and missions in the main games. I don't expect anything else from them. I understand that they can make some quick cash by porting the game to consoles and I think it's a great move for them as a company. But, they did downgrade the visuals and audio and sell it as enhanced. These things could be reverted back to the way they were because the game is already working with superior visuals and audio. If they are going to make a separate console version then they might as well make the cell phone version separate and leave the PC as it was originally when it comes to graphics and audio. I can see why they would consider reverting it back and appreciate them mentioning it in an update and I can also see why they would want to wait until they have the console port finished.
The disappointment for me is that after years of solid support for this title, they accidently broke the game with the last patch and instead of doing a quick fix or reverting it back to the previous patch they have left it in a broken state for half a year and have no plans on fixing it anytime soon. That sucks.
More to the point, I think that type of speculation is the kind of thing that contributes to Beamdog’s reluctance to publicly say much. Not only does it imply Beamdog doesn’t know how to reach out, but it also implies that someone who isn’t even part of Beamdog has some type of grievance with the company. So everybody looks bad if we run with that narrative.
I’m on mobile right now so I can’t/won’t copy/paste, but I looked up the Readme for Ascension and Gaider thanks a lot of people for contributions. Any one of those people could be part of the hold up; either because they’ve said no or can’t be reached (along with Beamdog potentially having no plans to really do it).
I’ve seen how idle speculation can become fact on the forum over the years, so I just want to provide another plausible explanation before “Gaider and Beamdog aren’t on speaking terms” becomes established lore. Not because I know one way or the other (I don’t, duh), but because I think that’s the type of speculation that will lead to Beamdog communicating less with us.
As for Ascension. If I made a mod, I could thank Wesley Weimer for his work on Weidu if I wanted to, it wouldn't mean he had anything to do with my mod. If someone decided to repackage my mod and give thanks to people who helped them then that is great but Beamdog would still not need their permission to release my mod. People who built modding tools that were free for download are also not part of my modding team. They are worthy of thanks for making tools that aided me in modding the game but they have nothing to do with my mod from a creative standpoint that would require any permissions from Beamdog, People who bounced ideas around a forum are not the same as a mod development team who actually took part in making a creative piece for download. I could be wrong though, to my knowledge I am not wrong but I can only speculate at this point. If anyone who can state with authority that I am wrong then great. I was never stating anything as a fact to begin with, only speculating using my own logic based on the information that I have been given.
All things said and done, this is Beamdog's forum and if they don't like what I am saying or think that I am wrong then they can always clear things up anytime. They enforce the rules around here after all. To my knowledge they only need Gaider's approval for using Ascension and they mixed it with other mods in general and stated that their hands were tied. This in my opinion, is a way of letting you down easy rather than being harsh. It's a polite way of trying to answer the question without answering it. Maybe they want to use it but he won't let them. Maybe they don't want to and they are just making excuses. Maybe they want to but they currently don't have the time so they have not bothered to ask. Maybe the answer was simply written in a way that allows this sort of speculation to run wild lol. It's possible that they do need someone else's permission to use Ascension but I don't think so. It's common sense that permission from the developers is needed and some mods are created by a team that would all need to give their permission. This question specifically asked about Ascension and the answer only states a common sense acknowledgment for mods in general.
It's not really worth debating further but everyone on this forum has the right to speculate about anything they want in my opinion. Speculation only occurs when you are not given enough information to state facts with clarity.
Beamdog has confirmed that these titles will be released for PS4, Switch and Xbox One. Playing these classics on the Switch on the go sounds too good to be true!
https://powerup-gaming.com/2019/02/27/skybound-and-beamdog-are-bringing-baldurs-gate-planescape-torment-and-neverwinter-nights-to-console/
We are bringing these amazing titles to #XboxOne, #NintendoSwitch, and #PS4!
Oh, if only enemies! This also affects all party members and summons too. Especially shaman (which already has uneasy life) are suffers from this 'feature' - his spirits are always on 'autopilot' and their maneuvers sometimes gets too crazy
I have paid for both games and had to delete them when I reset my kindle. Now I can't download them again and nobody has updated us on the ETA.
https://translate.baldursgate.com/projects/9 mesmo que esteja parcialmente traduzido, melhor que nada .
Tagging @anastiel and @Nasher . @marcospolo1212 - please check out https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/volunteering-general
No sign of BG II EE though...
The games are back. https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1082961/#Comment_1082961