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Baldur's Gate Promotional Demo from 1998

I'm sure someone must have posted this before but it's new to me so I thought I would share it.



It is interesting to see just how much the game had changed by the time of its release. Imoen (or at least the character using Imoen's portrait) is a mage in this. There is also a mage called Vicona. At around 3:13 there is a sprite that looks like sirine or dryad who fights unarmed (or possibly does aerobics, it's hard to say). I don't remember this animation from the original game but maybe it was always there?
JuliusBorisovdunbarAndreaColomboArctodusMontresor_SPscriverOrlonKronsteenThacoBellRavenslightKamigoroshi[Deleted User]lefreutMirandelGodGusindaAnduinKilivitzbrunardoMortiannaAerakarEnilwyn[Deleted User]BelgarathMTHDiscoCatAxieProont
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Comments

  • GodGod Member Posts: 1,150
    I love the music in both the demo and unreleased PS port.
    Permidion_StarkMortianna[Deleted User]
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    @God
    I agree. I particularly liked the music in the Playstation version - especially during character creation (I think I would have re-rolled those stats though). The music put me in mind of me of the scores of epic action movies from the 60s and 70s like Zulu and The Man Who Would Be King.
    UnderstandMouseMagic
  • profanitywarningprofanitywarning Member Posts: 294
    The playstation graphics remind me of early C64 games though. Or possibly Amiga 500.
    ArctodusMontresor_SP
  • ArctodusArctodus Member Posts: 992
    edited October 2017
    Seems to me that looking at the old vanilla BG loading images are the best way to make those awful PS1 loading time bearable.
    profanitywarningThacoBell
  • themazingnessthemazingness Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 702

    Just as well they managed to get a needle and thread and sew up those dresses before release.
    Would have had all the females dying of hypothermia otherwise. :o

    Right? I feel fan service kills roleplaying. Whenever I see pictures like this

    I think, "Girl, you're about to die an ignominious death."

    Montresor_SPscriverrede9
  • CamDawgCamDawg Member, Developer Posts: 3,438
    My goodness, look at those spell projectiles. That Chromatic Orb at 2:55 is massive and slow.
    GodJuliusBorisovMortiannasarevok57
  • profanitywarningprofanitywarning Member Posts: 294
    That word reminds me of Centurio-Defender of Rome. In fact, I think the only two places I've ever seen that word are Centurio and the Beamdog Forums. This thread really is a nostalgia trip.
  • lefreutlefreut Member Posts: 1,462
    edited November 2019
    ***
    Post edited by lefreut on
    Montresor_SPtbone1
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    lefreut said:

    Apropos: @JuliusBorisov, it's about high time we finally see all of the EE's ported to the PlayStation. And the Super Nintendo. And of course also the Sega Mega Drive console. Maybe even the Game Boy Color if the devs are willing to release their titles with extraordinary graphic updates as well!

    I'm still waiting for the Commodore 64 version of the game :p
    [Hands over cassette] Here, I hacked up a way to run it on a TRS-80.

    This did remind me that, back then, I was impressed that the demo wasn’t that far off from actual gameplay. At the time, the demo would look like some incredible mid-blowing Hollywood CGI, created with a warehouse of Silicon Graphics servers. Then the game itself would look like low-res Apple II graphics made by one of the executives’ six year old nephew. Apparently because all the graphics budget was used on the demo.

    Proont
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356

    I love the kobold death cry at 1:06. :D Their placeholder sounds are great! I wonder which programmer made them. ;)

    The death cry and the yelping sound of the fleeing kobolds were perfect. I can't believe they didn't include those in the final game.

    I also loved the gibberlings' disturbing gurgle cry at 4:09. That's what a creature called a gibberling should sound like! ^.^

    Permidion_StarkGodJuliusBorisovProont
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072

    Just as well they managed to get a needle and thread and sew up those dresses before release.
    Would have had all the females dying of hypothermia otherwise. :o

    Right? I feel fan service kills roleplaying. Whenever I see pictures like this

    I think, "Girl, you're about to die an ignominious death."

    I think that at that point they're pretty much all equally roasted, to be honest :P
    GodrecklessheartthemazingnessProont
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    edited October 2017
    Another video I hadn't seen before. The trailer from 1998:



    It makes the game look really exciting (which of course it is). But does the action look slightly speeded up to you? It seems faster than when I play but that could be because they are not neurotically hitting the pause button every couple of seconds.
    ArctodusKilivitzAedanBelgarathMTH
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    scriver said:

    Just as well they managed to get a needle and thread and sew up those dresses before release.
    Would have had all the females dying of hypothermia otherwise. :o

    Right? I feel fan service kills roleplaying. Whenever I see pictures like this

    I think, "Girl, you're about to die an ignominious death."

    I think that at that point they're pretty much all equally roasted, to be honest :P
    The way I look at it, I think she is currently being roasted by her own flaming sword. Metal armor of any kind would just quicken the heating proccess even more. And as we all know: a black dragon's breath won't roast anyone. Although *all* of them will equally melt like butter. :P
    scriver
  • Necromanx2Necromanx2 Member Posts: 1,246
    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?
    Permidion_StarkLoldrup
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072

    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?

    Serious question? Because the reason is that as much as I love the old videos they have aged awfully to the point that I, if I encountered them for the first time today, would likely find them comical or even sad. And I'm Beamdog's limited budget I'd assume making new 2D art was cheaper than making replacement 3D art.

    Luckily for people like me there's mods that restore the old cutscenes. The game just don't feel right to me without them.
    AxieStromael
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861

    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?

    That's always puzzled me too. I really associated those movies with the game and looked forward to seeing them. I just skip past the new stuff.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235

    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?

    Because they look TERRIBLE.
    scriverDreadKhan
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    edited October 2017
    ThacoBell said:

    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?

    Because they look TERRIBLE.
    Wash your mouth out with soap. They do not.

    They look dated because the game came out almost 20 years ago. It's unfair to judge them based on today's standards.

    Replacing them was a terrible idea. They didn't have the budget to do it properly, and it shows. And I think the people at Beamdog know it, considering no other EEs have had their movies changed. And guess what? Those look just as "TERRIBLE" as the ones in BG1.
    AndreaColomboConjurerDragon
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    It's not unfair to judge them by today's standard when you are discussing a rerealease for today's audience.
    ThacoBell
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Kilivitz said:

    ThacoBell said:

    I wonder why EE removed those cut scene videos and replaced them with nice paintings?

    Because they look TERRIBLE.
    Wash your mouth out with soap. They do not.

    They look dated because the game came out almost 20 years ago. It's unfair to judge them based on today's standards.

    Replacing them was a terrible idea. They didn't have the budget to do it properly, and it shows. And I think the people at Beamdog know it, considering no other EEs have had their movies changed. And guess what? Those look just as "TERRIBLE" as the ones in BG1.
    You're right, they DO look just as terrible as the ones from BG1. They should replace them in BG2 as well. And it is ABSOLUTELY fair to judge them by today's standards. This is a new and current release.
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Please let's not confuse "new release of an old game" with "new and current release".

    At the end of the day you need to decide whether BG:EE is an update or a completely different entity. According to Beamdog, it's the former.

    When you're updating a classic game, you walk the thin line between improving and damaging the experience. If you want a perfect example of improving, look at PST:EE. If you want a perfect example of a studio taking far too many liberties with a game, look at BG:EE.
    AndreaColomboProont
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    Replacing awful, outdated graphics with more modern ones isn't exactly "taking things to far". If the source material for BG hadn't been lost then we would've seen that happen all over the place, with the maps, the sprites, and so on.
    ronaldoThacoBellProont
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