This game deserves much better reviews than it got, in my opinion. I absolutely loved it. While BG2 will always be near perfection in my mind, and easily my favorite game of all time, SoD still was able to bring new things to the table, and most of writing / dialogue I thought was incredibly good. I had a harder time making dialogue choices in SoD than I think I have in any other RPG before. The game definitely had me believing that my choices really mattered, and I was completely immersed. I already want to go through the game again so I can experience the banter, dialogue, and quests with the NPCs I left behind.
I played through the game on insane difficulty, and I was very impressed with how difficult the last battle was on this setting. I think I ended up having three of my party members die before the battle was over... I'd like to tackle the game on LoB difficulty, but I'm thinking I will have to make a full custom party to even have a chance of being able to win.
I recorded my whole play-through and have been putting the videos on youtube, if for some weird reason anyone wants to waste time watching it :P. I mostly just put it up there for myself, though. (Haven't finished uploading all the videos yet)
I agree, SoD is a great expansion. It makes the city of Baldur's Gate as well as parts of the Sword Coast and the powers that govern them come alive, brings out some cool pieces of FR lore, and adds some wicked dungeons (one in particular). Beyond that, it both kind of rounds out the BG trilogy/series, and serves as a fan love letter to it.
I actually think that as a matter of pure craftsmanship, SoD is the best expansion of the three released for BG if seen without the nostalgia goggles on. Nothing in it is quite as impressive as Durlags Tower, but the way it links up with the narrative places it far above TotSC and ToB.
Really agree. To be honest most of the reviews I saw seemed more like a critique of Baldur's Gate saying the game and systems were archaic and old.
PC Gamer in paticular, who used to be die hard Baldur's Gate fanboys, had a review that amounted to Baldur's Gate is an old game and that makes this expansion so so.
It's a sad state of affairs, because I think it was fantastic and a great effort at creating something unique from the rest of the saga. I am also very affectionate for Black Pits 1 and 2 too but Siege is on a whole other level and easily rivals the other expansions.
Baldur's Gate IS an old game, and yet, it still stands the test of time because it was well crafted. It's the same reason I still use a Braun coffee grinder from the early 80's - it used metal gearing instead of plastic.
I recall the golden age of story-driven RPGs, and the BG trilogy was released at the height of this era. The time of Ultima, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, etc. You know, back when serious gamers had DOS boot disks with dozens of boot configurations - all to work around the fact that their sound card, mouse, and CD ROM drivers used too much memory.
Those older games had, by even the standards of Baldur's Gate (a Windows95 game), crap graphics. They were held together by tightly woven stories that drew the player in. It's why I still remember the tale of Eyesnack and his flute, Tyball and Garamon's ghost, or SHODAN.
Unfortunately, in the drive for fantastic graphics and realistic physics, story depth was lost. At one time, a game with less than 100 hours of content was considered a complete failure. Now 100 hours is a distant memory. Additionally, with all this microtransaction crap, the idea of a story arc is financial suicide. You might spend hundreds of hours in a game, but it won't be to progress to an eventual goal - it will be to drain your wallet until you get tired of it.
So it's not JUST nostalgia, publishers really DON'T make them like they used to. SoD, to it's credit, harkens back to that older era perfectly and I consider it money well spent. It doesn't hurt that it is a stunningly beautiful update as well - I wish Beamdog could bring some of that atmospheric stuff to BG and BG2.
I am 47 years old. 20 years ago I started playing BG and for me it was a wonderful time, it reminded me of my youth when I was playing AD&D P&P, Chtulhu, ... Does someone remember the "Dungeon Master" game for Atari ? I spent hours in front of it in the late 80s.
I started playing again at BG one year ago. It was and is still a wonderful experience, even if sometimes I feel a bit ashamed playing at it at my age. And I have to say that I really LOVED Siege of Dragonspear. A mix of old and new, nice music, very nice new NPCs, OK, I will not disclose spoilers, but very interesting scenario which links between BG1 and BG2.
So now, all my playthrough includes SoD of course.
I'm going to resist the urge to make a self-deprecating joke for fear that the tone would be misread and just say it's heartening to see people are still finding SoD and in some cases enjoying it and in some of those cases posting about enjoying it in a forum where I can see it and feel like the effort I and many others put into it didn't go to waste after all. Thanks, folks.
I managed to lose the notebook that had the password. @JuliusBorisov offered to hook me up again but I'm not sure if it's doable or not--it was tied to a beamdog e-mail address I haven't had access to since I left the company, which is why I couldn't just ask for a password reset--I don't know if that matters or not. It would be nice to be able to refer to my history but it's not the end of the world if I can't.
I managed to lose the notebook that had the password. @JuliusBorisov offered to hook me up again but I'm not sure if it's doable or not--it was tied to a beamdog e-mail address I haven't had access to since I left the company, which is why I couldn't just ask for a password reset--I don't know if that matters or not. It would be nice to be able to refer to my history but it's not the end of the world if I can't.
That siege was worth the price of entry. Amazing piece of work, that. Avernus was pretty impressive as well, but seeing the armies go into the castle one by one was awesome.
Yes, I was really impressed by the "big crowds" in SoD, both during the parades in Baldur's Gate and during the siege of Dragonspear Castle. I'm not sure if it's because of improvements to the engine or whether 90's computer technology just wasn't capable of handling set-piece battles with so many characters around, but I really enjoyed seeing large-scale battles where my Mage could REALLY shine.
i am not a big fan of the huge crowds due to my laptop being a potato and those parts causing lag. it's due to them being part of the background as it never lags during the huge war battles.
i remember asking for a mod to reduce the crowd size but nothing ever came of it.
The moments in Baldur's Gate , the defense of Boareskyr Bridge and the Siege itself are amazing and I congratulate BD for it. The npcs are different from either BG1 or BG2 but they have their charms as well. I love what they did to Safana and Neera's voice lines are funnier.
I would, however, polish a few voiced characters (specially the scottish dwarves, the female ogre and the old lady soldier) because their voice acting seems a bit lazy and cartoonish.
Also, I dislike the military camps because there seems to lack a bit of tension, everything that happens in these sunny military camps is boring.
That said, I would buy a new Infinity Engine game made by beamdog should they pursue their own D&D pc game.
Unfortunately, it seems that Beamdog and WotC are determined that SoD be the last IE game ever made. I hate it, because SoD showed what the engine could do with modern polish. It may be a bear to write/mod to due to its age, but wow, it really looked spectacular in SoD.
It makes me a bit sad that it will probably be the last such game, though modders are still busy at work adding quests and characters, but at least it will go out on a high note.
I remember that when I first played BG back in summer 2000, I loved it because it allowed me to play AD&D in my late 20s/early 30s after all my former PnP gaming buddies had (like me) gotten married and moved who knows where across the world. I still remember the excitement the first time I popped in that 1st disc. Then later I got into SoA, ToB, IWD, NWN, etc. Over the years I played them all many times whenever RL allowed me time to game (which became much less after kids!).
Flash forward to the EEs - and my switching from being a casual NWN player back to BG - and it felt like a new world had reopened to me. I again felt that initial flush of excitement to replay BGEE, but also as I played the game I began noticing nuances and story elements I had never noticed before. I began to appreciate the artistry of the game and the design, as well as the ability to role-play. It tasted like a wine that had aged and developed a more complex character than I had ever realized earlier.
Looking back now and comparing the games over time, I see SOD like this also. I continue to enjoy it and find new things. But I think time will have to move on a bit before we start to see the deserved appreciation for this addition to the BG saga. I would like to thank the creators for their efforts. For sure, there are issues and things that need polishing, but personally I see SOD as a fine addition to the BG series.
Linkamus
Member Posts: 220
Comments
PC Gamer in paticular, who used to be die hard Baldur's Gate fanboys, had a review that amounted to Baldur's Gate is an old game and that makes this expansion so so.
It's a sad state of affairs, because I think it was fantastic and a great effort at creating something unique from the rest of the saga. I am also very affectionate for Black Pits 1 and 2 too but Siege is on a whole other level and easily rivals the other expansions.
I recall the golden age of story-driven RPGs, and the BG trilogy was released at the height of this era. The time of Ultima, Ultima Underworld, System Shock, etc. You know, back when serious gamers had DOS boot disks with dozens of boot configurations - all to work around the fact that their sound card, mouse, and CD ROM drivers used too much memory.
Those older games had, by even the standards of Baldur's Gate (a Windows95 game), crap graphics. They were held together by tightly woven stories that drew the player in. It's why I still remember the tale of Eyesnack and his flute, Tyball and Garamon's ghost, or SHODAN.
Unfortunately, in the drive for fantastic graphics and realistic physics, story depth was lost. At one time, a game with less than 100 hours of content was considered a complete failure. Now 100 hours is a distant memory. Additionally, with all this microtransaction crap, the idea of a story arc is financial suicide. You might spend hundreds of hours in a game, but it won't be to progress to an eventual goal - it will be to drain your wallet until you get tired of it.
So it's not JUST nostalgia, publishers really DON'T make them like they used to. SoD, to it's credit, harkens back to that older era perfectly and I consider it money well spent. It doesn't hurt that it is a stunningly beautiful update as well - I wish Beamdog could bring some of that atmospheric stuff to BG and BG2.
I started playing again at BG one year ago. It was and is still a wonderful experience, even if sometimes I feel a bit ashamed playing at it at my age. And I have to say that I really LOVED Siege of Dragonspear. A mix of old and new, nice music, very nice new NPCs, OK, I will not disclose spoilers, but very interesting scenario which links between BG1 and BG2.
So now, all my playthrough includes SoD of course.
I managed to lose the notebook that had the password. @JuliusBorisov offered to hook me up again but I'm not sure if it's doable or not--it was tied to a beamdog e-mail address I haven't had access to since I left the company, which is why I couldn't just ask for a password reset--I don't know if that matters or not. It would be nice to be able to refer to my history but it's not the end of the world if I can't.
@Andrew_the_Foley just contact @JuliusBorisov ([email protected]) and he can help reset both your password and email preference to get your old account back.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/77519/password-reset-info-and-recovering-your-account#latest
i remember asking for a mod to reduce the crowd size but nothing ever came of it.
I would, however, polish a few voiced characters (specially the scottish dwarves, the female ogre and the old lady soldier) because their voice acting seems a bit lazy and cartoonish.
Also, I dislike the military camps because there seems to lack a bit of tension, everything that happens in these sunny military camps is boring.
That said, I would buy a new Infinity Engine game made by beamdog should they pursue their own D&D pc game.
It makes me a bit sad that it will probably be the last such game, though modders are still busy at work adding quests and characters, but at least it will go out on a high note.
Flash forward to the EEs - and my switching from being a casual NWN player back to BG - and it felt like a new world had reopened to me. I again felt that initial flush of excitement to replay BGEE, but also as I played the game I began noticing nuances and story elements I had never noticed before. I began to appreciate the artistry of the game and the design, as well as the ability to role-play. It tasted like a wine that had aged and developed a more complex character than I had ever realized earlier.
Looking back now and comparing the games over time, I see SOD like this also. I continue to enjoy it and find new things. But I think time will have to move on a bit before we start to see the deserved appreciation for this addition to the BG saga. I would like to thank the creators for their efforts. For sure, there are issues and things that need polishing, but personally I see SOD as a fine addition to the BG series.
Well done!