What's the status of Beamdog's long awaited Patch 2.6 to the Enhanced Editions of the InfinityEngine
Glaciaruz
Member Posts: 11
Hi Julius Borisov / Trent Oster / Beamdog.
I usually prefer to drink the potion of invisibility, and remain the ghost spectator when it comes to visiting the ominous dungeons of the forums, but this time I'm just drinking some ale, getting me self some courage and try get this off my chest in the most diplomatic way, yet probably with an implicit stint of anger and frustration - either to the applause or ridicule, mocking and/or taunting of my fellow forum dwellers, and maybe even the developers.
It's been a long journey since November 2012 indeed, and I must admit that the waiting time for the long awaited "Patch 2.6 & Dice, Camera, Action! Enhanced Edition pack" is beginning to make me feel quite uncomfortable since it seems that the focus is on quite buggy console versions instead as well as the Axis & Allies project - and maybe some other yet to be announced projects.
I own the first game on Beamdog, and all of the games on both Steam and GOG as well as the DLC's and soundtracks, which I'm quite aware that many of the other users in this forum also does with some agreeing with me, and others disagreeing with me, in what I'm about to write.
Nevertheless It's understandable, especially considering your previous history with broken deadlines, that it's not quite likely that you can be very specific about a release date, but taking approx. 2 years for each released patch in order to fix the bugs and flaws of this game, that was released in a quite broken state already back in 2012, is extremely disappointing, and with no real clear and insightful info about the current state of the patch and the add-on pack it's difficult not to believe that the focus and dedication of Beamdog is solely on the console versions as well as Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition, which I also own as well as all of the DLC's and Soundtracks, and of course Axis & Allies.
Just the very fact that you abandoned "The Familiar", "The BEAMBLOG" focus of the Infinity Engine games and patches, and the Livestream, is quite troubling since in theory it could be that you put more resources into the patches of the games, but in praxis it could also mean that you've abandoned not only the games, but the fans of the Infinity Engine games as well.
You guys were the chosen ones that were to light up the future of the mid 90's oldschool CRPG's that were laying dormant in the deepest dark pits of modern smartphone indifference and nothingness, and yet you're continually keeping us in the dark and unknown.
I'm therefore asking you guys to please enlighten us fans of the franchises, and supporter of Beamdog with our hard earned money, and give us info of the progress and potential delays as well as a detailed status of the patches of the games, the different versions and future of the Infinity Engine games, and just show us that you really care about the franchise, especially after the situation with Larian Studios Baldur's Gate III which I imagine is a sore spot indeed since many of us, if not all, thought that you guys and your ambitions and promised handling of the franchise would lead up to Beamdog making the Baldur's Gate sequel we all wanted back then.
It's important as a disclaimer that you don't have to promise us a specific date, but just be honest about the current and future situation - especially considering the times we're living in now with the global Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic which affects all of us, and probably results in some delays in all of your projects - which of course is quite understandable, but not very uplifting when it comes to the potential additional waiting time for the already long delayed patch and add-on.
I for one would love to use my current forced free time with playing the games I love the most without the bugs and various problems with pathfinding, spells, etc., and it would be an awesome, kind and very appreciated gesture if you guys did just that, but again at least give us something that not a copy paste response, but more tangible and uplifting, so there's a light at the end of the dark tunnel of the "Infinity".
Alrighty then... invoking Friends, but also Armor, Shield, Blur, Strength, and have my Magic Missile, Aganazzar’s Scorcher and Fireball ready at hand, so... Let the potential good, bad or, even worse, neutral unfolding events begin! Oh and Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Best regards
Glaciaruz
I usually prefer to drink the potion of invisibility, and remain the ghost spectator when it comes to visiting the ominous dungeons of the forums, but this time I'm just drinking some ale, getting me self some courage and try get this off my chest in the most diplomatic way, yet probably with an implicit stint of anger and frustration - either to the applause or ridicule, mocking and/or taunting of my fellow forum dwellers, and maybe even the developers.
It's been a long journey since November 2012 indeed, and I must admit that the waiting time for the long awaited "Patch 2.6 & Dice, Camera, Action! Enhanced Edition pack" is beginning to make me feel quite uncomfortable since it seems that the focus is on quite buggy console versions instead as well as the Axis & Allies project - and maybe some other yet to be announced projects.
I own the first game on Beamdog, and all of the games on both Steam and GOG as well as the DLC's and soundtracks, which I'm quite aware that many of the other users in this forum also does with some agreeing with me, and others disagreeing with me, in what I'm about to write.
Nevertheless It's understandable, especially considering your previous history with broken deadlines, that it's not quite likely that you can be very specific about a release date, but taking approx. 2 years for each released patch in order to fix the bugs and flaws of this game, that was released in a quite broken state already back in 2012, is extremely disappointing, and with no real clear and insightful info about the current state of the patch and the add-on pack it's difficult not to believe that the focus and dedication of Beamdog is solely on the console versions as well as Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition, which I also own as well as all of the DLC's and Soundtracks, and of course Axis & Allies.
Just the very fact that you abandoned "The Familiar", "The BEAMBLOG" focus of the Infinity Engine games and patches, and the Livestream, is quite troubling since in theory it could be that you put more resources into the patches of the games, but in praxis it could also mean that you've abandoned not only the games, but the fans of the Infinity Engine games as well.
You guys were the chosen ones that were to light up the future of the mid 90's oldschool CRPG's that were laying dormant in the deepest dark pits of modern smartphone indifference and nothingness, and yet you're continually keeping us in the dark and unknown.
I'm therefore asking you guys to please enlighten us fans of the franchises, and supporter of Beamdog with our hard earned money, and give us info of the progress and potential delays as well as a detailed status of the patches of the games, the different versions and future of the Infinity Engine games, and just show us that you really care about the franchise, especially after the situation with Larian Studios Baldur's Gate III which I imagine is a sore spot indeed since many of us, if not all, thought that you guys and your ambitions and promised handling of the franchise would lead up to Beamdog making the Baldur's Gate sequel we all wanted back then.
It's important as a disclaimer that you don't have to promise us a specific date, but just be honest about the current and future situation - especially considering the times we're living in now with the global Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic which affects all of us, and probably results in some delays in all of your projects - which of course is quite understandable, but not very uplifting when it comes to the potential additional waiting time for the already long delayed patch and add-on.
I for one would love to use my current forced free time with playing the games I love the most without the bugs and various problems with pathfinding, spells, etc., and it would be an awesome, kind and very appreciated gesture if you guys did just that, but again at least give us something that not a copy paste response, but more tangible and uplifting, so there's a light at the end of the dark tunnel of the "Infinity".
Alrighty then... invoking Friends, but also Armor, Shield, Blur, Strength, and have my Magic Missile, Aganazzar’s Scorcher and Fireball ready at hand, so... Let the potential good, bad or, even worse, neutral unfolding events begin! Oh and Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Best regards
Glaciaruz
0
Comments
It seems that you're aware of something that I'm not regarding Beamdog, and the current situation. What's the situation internally at Beamdog? Do you mean that nobody is working at the moment, not even externally from home, or just not working with "legacy" products like the Infinity Engine games? Or worst case scenario do you mean by no resources to finish the patch that Beamdog is going out of business, and that this health crisis is the last straw that broke the camels back? I don't like the prognosis anyhow since it's been so long since this patch originally was to be released.
By the way why does this mean that this thread will be closed? I would say that there should always be room for a dialogue with both the other forum members as well as the developers since otherwise by closing the thread it would mean shutting down potential communication with the fans directly in case this hopefully catches the attention of Beamdog, and others who might agree/disagree. The essential of this thread is "Communication is the key"...
We released a big 2.5 update for BG1, BG2, SoD, and IWD in 2018. It had more than 1400 fixes, a result of a 2-year work. The patch was released on all platforms (PC, Android, iOS).
The 2.6 update has been in the works since late 2018, but you have to take into account a few problems the team encountered since then. They were mentioned a bit in the July Update on our site, in the News section. Those problems were both dependent on Beamdog and independent of it.
In 2017 we released PST:EE, in 2018 - NWN:EE, in 2019 we launched Axis & Allies 1942 Online in Early Access. The whole year of 2019 we spent on developing the console versions of NWN and IE games, which was quite a challenge considering a lot of people said it would have been impossible to play BG on Switch. The console release of IE games also had a few new translations added in. They had a ton of improvements, including better pathfinding. And all this work on IE games for the console, a lot of which can be used for PC & mobile, finished just a few month ago, in Autumn, 2019.
We're now in 2020 and just released a huge patch for NWN:EE. We're still working on the new renderer for NWN, porting NWN to iOS. And we're also working on a new game.
Beamdog is a relatively small team with about 50+ employees, we have numerous projects and numerous platforms to support and develop. Everyone is working as best as they can but of course resources and time are limited, which is why things take time.
The 2.5 update took 2 years. 2 years since 2.5 will happen this summer. The patch cycle slowed down greatly if compared to 2012 and 2013 when BG1 and BG2 had been getting regular updates. But this is the way things are, it's impossible to spend the same amount of resources on the games after 6, 7, 8 years (these are years since the first 3 EEs were released, per 2020).
Of course, now when everyone at Beamdog is working from home, the process hasn't become quicker. We wish everyone to stay safe and we try to protect our employees and their families in these rough times.
We love IE games. With the BG3 announcement, they became classic legacy titles, and we're still working on supporting them.
Just today, I received a confirmation the wheels are turning, the 2.6 patch is moving ahead.
This thread will stay open as long as it's on topic and doesn't have personal comments towards your fellow users.