Baldur's Gate Reviewer Demos
Llynix
Member Posts: 3
Greetings,
I apologize if this has already been asked, but I couldn't find any information regarding my query.
It is generally known among fans that Bioware changed the graphics asset for the original Baldur's Gate game at least three times and there have been many old screenshots popping up in early previews for the product, including the earliest gold UI Iron Throne screenshots from the Online Gaming Review and Next Generation Online websites (http://www.playonlan.com/oscarchen/crpg/upcoming/realms.html), screengrabs of the grey UI version from the Dragonplay site (http://dragonplay.com/baldurs5.html) and the more known Non-Interactive Demo, but there's also at least two versions of the engine that were distributed to reviewers back in 1997/1998 which can be seen in ads and certain previews, characterised either by a 4 icon left UI panel or portrait prototypes for joinable NPCs. These are reported to have been sent to reviewers on 3 CDs:
3D gaming preview: (around 1999) “While this is by no means a review of Baldur's Gate, the cool reps at Interplay and guys from BioWare have sent us a beta of the game. The version we received included three CD's and two chapters, as well as omitted multiplayer support.”
Gamesmania (August 1998): “Interplay sent us a 3-disk version of the game (the final will be five disks), which contains two of the seven chapters that will make up the game (in a kind of Betrayal at Krondor-style system). So, starved for an RPG hit, we installed it, then took it for a spin.“
IGN (September, 1998) “Interplay recently sent us a beta version of its upcoming roleplaying game, Baldur's Gate. Now keep in mind this is by no means a finished version of the game--it came on only three CDs (the final game will ship on five) and includes only a couple of chapters, maybe only a third of the full game.“
My question is as follows: would it ever be possible for any of the developers/reviewers of the original game to share any of these to the fanbase? The NID and the official demo and Abridged chapters 1&2 have been available for years but, in my humble opinion, being able to launch a trial version and behold the game as it was in is early stages would be a real treat to those of us still looking for the tiniest tidbit of information on the creation of BG. The game is over 20 years old now and has received updated versions, while the reality behind its creation has already been documented by the creators in interviews and other publications, but never made available to be experienced first-hand outside of a small group of testers and reviewers. I may be naive, but I believe no harm would be done should these early versions became available, and I know things like this are possible (the devs sharing the prototype of the Edwin portrait being a good example) but I am completely ignorant regarding how such matters are handled with regard to legal matters and copyright and such.
Any information on whom should I try turning to with this would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks! With sincere regards,
Llynix
I apologize if this has already been asked, but I couldn't find any information regarding my query.
It is generally known among fans that Bioware changed the graphics asset for the original Baldur's Gate game at least three times and there have been many old screenshots popping up in early previews for the product, including the earliest gold UI Iron Throne screenshots from the Online Gaming Review and Next Generation Online websites (http://www.playonlan.com/oscarchen/crpg/upcoming/realms.html), screengrabs of the grey UI version from the Dragonplay site (http://dragonplay.com/baldurs5.html) and the more known Non-Interactive Demo, but there's also at least two versions of the engine that were distributed to reviewers back in 1997/1998 which can be seen in ads and certain previews, characterised either by a 4 icon left UI panel or portrait prototypes for joinable NPCs. These are reported to have been sent to reviewers on 3 CDs:
3D gaming preview: (around 1999) “While this is by no means a review of Baldur's Gate, the cool reps at Interplay and guys from BioWare have sent us a beta of the game. The version we received included three CD's and two chapters, as well as omitted multiplayer support.”
Gamesmania (August 1998): “Interplay sent us a 3-disk version of the game (the final will be five disks), which contains two of the seven chapters that will make up the game (in a kind of Betrayal at Krondor-style system). So, starved for an RPG hit, we installed it, then took it for a spin.“
IGN (September, 1998) “Interplay recently sent us a beta version of its upcoming roleplaying game, Baldur's Gate. Now keep in mind this is by no means a finished version of the game--it came on only three CDs (the final game will ship on five) and includes only a couple of chapters, maybe only a third of the full game.“
My question is as follows: would it ever be possible for any of the developers/reviewers of the original game to share any of these to the fanbase? The NID and the official demo and Abridged chapters 1&2 have been available for years but, in my humble opinion, being able to launch a trial version and behold the game as it was in is early stages would be a real treat to those of us still looking for the tiniest tidbit of information on the creation of BG. The game is over 20 years old now and has received updated versions, while the reality behind its creation has already been documented by the creators in interviews and other publications, but never made available to be experienced first-hand outside of a small group of testers and reviewers. I may be naive, but I believe no harm would be done should these early versions became available, and I know things like this are possible (the devs sharing the prototype of the Edwin portrait being a good example) but I am completely ignorant regarding how such matters are handled with regard to legal matters and copyright and such.
Any information on whom should I try turning to with this would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks! With sincere regards,
Llynix
0
Comments
Here is my Baldur's Gate Alpha folder made into .zip. It's just the Non-Interactive Demo that someone made openable with a special near infinity or something. I was looking for any special NI tool I had but I just found NI 2.0 so like I remember being able to open the Chitin key / game in near infinity I think but I can't get it to work right now. There are some extra goodies in there too. If one can open it up and extract the files from the chitin key that is where I found my Alpha files like Big Jim.