2.6 New content discussion

lionwarriorking

So all this time waiting for 2.6 and not a single new item, class kit, npc companion or even an easter egg? Seems like such a missed oppurtunity to make us happy.

Mothor

No new content is ever coming.

Even the fixes might bring some new bugs alongside them.

If one wants to get anything of note for BG or IWD then the modding fandom is the only hope there. And damn...the community sure as hell delivers. New quests, NPCs, new weapons/spells/classes related mods are coming all the time and its amazing.

Beamdog is done with those games but fans hardly so.

For new official content there is BG3 with Larian in charge of it.

Aaezil

I really love beamdog for some suff but for things like patching BG1/2 its pretty horrible... takes years between patches and MP STILL at times is so buggy its unplayable / have to load a way previos save to fix it. Hopefully 2.6 addresses some of that but as the guy above said it will prob create new bugs as well.

Pokota

If you want to yell at anybody for there not being any "new" content for the IE:EE games, yell at Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast. It was their contract stipulation.

Khyron

Truth be known, I think many of us forget just how big of a technical overhaul this game has recieved.

Up until EE, we were limited to BgTuTu, BwP and similar projects of porting BG1 to BG2, there even was an attempt at Icewind Gate, to get IWD to BG2 engine.

These were all good attempts at keeping the game relevant, and if not for their effort and continued support i doubt EE would even be a thing.


However.. as for new content, we have 3-4 npc's with their own storylines and a in-between story of BG1 and 2.
In terms of content i'd say we have recieved plenty.
Wether or not you like and appreciate that content is a different matter, but if you didn't - there's no point asking for more from the same people, is it?


There are more mods, custom npc, questpacks, dungeon packs etc than you can shake a stick at and a lot of it is very good. It's not official content, it won't give you Steam achievements, but it can really add a lot to your game if you just decide to accept it and try to enjoy it despite not being "official" content.
If I'm not mistaken several of the long standing modders of the game were actually recruited to work on EE versions..


Now.. I'm not gonna say you're silly for asking more for official content.
I think we all want more of the core experience of BG1 and 2, there's a reason we haven't managed to let go of the game for 20 years.
But truth be known, there probably isn't any money in it.. and if there isn't, there's no company in the entire world that will spend resources on it.. that's what we have passionate modders who use their own person free time to give us more.

Having even made the EE's, ported it to consoles, iOS, Android etc, is a huge undertaking, given what a mess the infinity engine was when BioWare dumped it for the Aurora engine.


I've been a vocal critic, and find that I still am when criticism is warranted.
But I can't fault Beamdog for what they've delivered with the EE's, especially with the limitations in contracts, BG3 going to Larian, IWD2 Source content being lost..

The technical overhaul alone is worth the price of the EE's and I take whatever new items, content and stories that come as a bonus.

I'm really just waiting for a better multiplayer experience.. once that is settled, hopefully with 2.6, I think we've gotten more than we first bargained for.. the fact that they're even patching this game after so many years is astonishing.


For the infinity engine is dark and full of (T)errors..

Mothor

Pokota wrote: »

If you want to yell at anybody for there not being any "new" content for the IE:EE games, yell at Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast. It was their contract stipulation.

Wasn't Beamdog only forbidden from adding new stuff like quests or NPCs? Stuff that actually alters the game.

I do not see new weapons or kits doing so though. In fact the previous patch added one new class and Beamdog wasn't sued for that (at least as far as I know).

IMO its likely a matter of time and money like Beamdog not having enough free employers to work on BG or IWD anymore. They probably barely manage to find time to deal with bugs so adding new stuff of any sort may be under such circumstances impossible.

They simply focus most of their effort now on new non-Wizards/Hasbro related projects.

Quickblade

Khyron wrote: »

Up until EE, we were limited to BgTuTu, BwP and similar projects of porting BG1 to BG2, there even was an attempt at Icewind Gate, to get IWD to BG2 engine.

This is backwards. It was an attempt to get BG2 in the IWD2 engine. I had high hopes for that one, I started DnD with 3.0 and prefer it over other editions. Shame it never got out of an alpha build with loads of bugs.

jastey

@Quickblade The greatest problem with BG2 in the IWD(2) engine was that IWD(2)-engine didn't support joining and kickout of NPCs as far as I recall - which is a bit of a major drawback for a game like BGII and in my impression the main reason mod developpment was stopped.

Arvia

lionwarriorking wrote: »

So all this time waiting for 2.6 and not a single new item, class kit, npc companion or even an easter egg? Seems like such a missed oppurtunity to make us happy.

To be fair, I don't think it was ever hinted there was new content to be expected. A patch is a patch, it's supposed to fix bugs or other issues, maybe adapt or implement some small feats, new translations...

Everything else would be a nice extra, but it's important to keep expectations in perspective, I think.

Thels

Not to mention that when in 2.5 they did update some content by updating the looks of certain NPCs to more closely match the region they're from, they actually got quite a bit of backlash for it.

At this point in time, knowing there won't be any new expansions like SoD, people are just happy to have all the issues fixed up, rather than minor content that can lead to all kinds of bugs.

rede9

The old support board had many tickets.
New contents are pointless for a patch, as fandom provide them a lot.

spacejaws

Khyron wrote: »

Truth be known, I think many of us forget just how big of a technical overhaul this game has recieved.

Up until EE, we were limited to BgTuTu, BwP and similar projects of porting BG1 to BG2, there even was an attempt at Icewind Gate, to get IWD to BG2 engine.

These were all good attempts at keeping the game relevant, and if not for their effort and continued support i doubt EE would even be a thing.


However.. as for new content, we have 3-4 npc's with their own storylines and a in-between story of BG1 and 2.
In terms of content i'd say we have recieved plenty.
Wether or not you like and appreciate that content is a different matter, but if you didn't - there's no point asking for more from the same people, is it?


There are more mods, custom npc, questpacks, dungeon packs etc than you can shake a stick at and a lot of it is very good. It's not official content, it won't give you Steam achievements, but it can really add a lot to your game if you just decide to accept it and try to enjoy it despite not being "official" content.
If I'm not mistaken several of the long standing modders of the game were actually recruited to work on EE versions..


Now.. I'm not gonna say you're silly for asking more for official content.
I think we all want more of the core experience of BG1 and 2, there's a reason we haven't managed to let go of the game for 20 years.
But truth be known, there probably isn't any money in it.. and if there isn't, there's no company in the entire world that will spend resources on it.. that's what we have passionate modders who use their own person free time to give us more.

Having even made the EE's, ported it to consoles, iOS, Android etc, is a huge undertaking, given what a mess the infinity engine was when BioWare dumped it for the Aurora engine.


I've been a vocal critic, and find that I still am when criticism is warranted.
But I can't fault Beamdog for what they've delivered with the EE's, especially with the limitations in contracts, BG3 going to Larian, IWD2 Source content being lost..

The technical overhaul alone is worth the price of the EE's and I take whatever new items, content and stories that come as a bonus.

I'm really just waiting for a better multiplayer experience.. once that is settled, hopefully with 2.6, I think we've gotten more than we first bargained for.. the fact that they're even patching this game after so many years is astonishing.


For the infinity engine is dark and full of (T)errors..

There is also Black Pits 1 and 2 which are little mini adventures and a test bed for different builds and fun adventures in their own right.

I really enjoyed them and would love to see a standalone Black Pits 3 as a less serious side story to Baldurs Gate.

Personally I'd love to see IE crpg either Black Pits 3, Icewind Dale 3 or man even Neverwinter Nights 3 in IE could be pretty damn cool but the new content we got would have blown my previous selves mind if I could tell them 10 years ago ths game would have a bunch of new companions, kits, quests, new side story and a full fledged expansion.