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Just can't enjoy Siege

Hi guys,

Long time BG player, I remember going out in the snow when it launched WAAAAY back in Dec of 98 to ensure I had a copy on release day...4 CDs of content, long install...so worth it. I've played through the game (and its sequel) many times, with each different class, difficulty, etc.

When EE launched, it was an insta-buy. The game tracked my play throughs (sort of) with achievements, very awesome! The graphics were improved, the gameplay smooth as ever, the new companions felt right...just an awesome experience. I again played through each game multiple times.

Then the other shoe dropped...NEW BG CONTENT!!! Couldn't wait to finally bridge the gap between BG and BG2 with Siege. I was again first in line with a preorder, VERY EXCITED.

But for some reason, I have a very difficult time finding immersion in the game. It felt non-congruent with the other two. The companions felt 'weird', the story didn't make any sense, and your progress didn't really affect the BG2 story (besides xp gained).

To this day, I haven't been able to play though siege in it's entirety. I'd have preferred to 'start fresh' with a prologue to a new BG story than attempt to bolt on more content to a fairly complete game. It sort of felt like trying to rekindle a relationship with someone when it ended for a good reason...kind of exciting at first, but you quickly realize it's awkward and forced.

My advice to Beamdog...continue with the EE concept, IWD, BG, and NWN are brilliant. However, when adding new content, start fresh with a new story, but utilizing the same awesome game engine. I will likely not buy another product like siege, bolted on to a current legendary story.
QuartzWandering_RangerPantalionlaptopman666Nostarielsarevok57recklessheartbooinyoureyesNoobaccaMalicronVasculio
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Comments

  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    @gibby290 Your choice, of course! Thanks for sharing your feedback.

    With what party did you try to play Siege of Dragonspear? On which difficutly? Till what moment did you manage to play? What did you find awkward and forced?

    You mention new companions "felt right" in BG:EE, did you try them in SoD?

    Do you usually prefer playing BG with or without mods? If with mods, then which category of mods?
    gibby290DrakonFenrirWolfganger
  • gibby290gibby290 Member Posts: 19

    @gibby290 Your choice, of course! Thanks for sharing your feedback.

    With what party did you try to play Siege of Dragonspear? On which difficutly? Till what moment did you manage to play? What did you find awkward and forced?

    You mention new companions "felt right" in BG:EE, did you try them in SoD?

    Do you usually prefer playing BG with or without mods? If with mods, then which category of mods?

    To answer your questions (and thanks for replying):

    My party consisted of me (paladin, undead hunter), Jaheria, Neera, Corwin, and others (whom I rotated to try different folks). I have gotten as far as the Castle (where you meet Khalid again). For my only playthough, I was on 'normal' difficulty. The awkward portion was the story in general...it didn't flow well. I couldn't keep track of side quests and it felt too 'sand-boxy'. Also, my choices at various points were not clear.

    I did try the new companions in SoD, but could never find a party that felt right. Generally my parties in BG are Iomen, CharName, Neera or Dyna, Minsc, Jaheria, Cleric, Monk, or Paladin depending on CharName

    The only mod I use is 'ease of use' to increase stack sizes, relax alignment requirements, and ID all items.
    JuliusBorisovbooinyoureyes
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited February 2018
    Glad I'm not the only one. And I own the Collector's Edition!
    sarevok57
  • gibby290gibby290 Member Posts: 19
    I suppose the sandbox-y was more a comment towards feeling lost with no clear path on how to proceed. The camp and bridge were a good example...you're here to fight some force defending a bridge, oh, but check out these cool ruins with a lich and dwarves.

    Also, feeling 'bolted on' is true for me...I'd have rather ran a chapter or two of a new protagonist, possibly intertwined with a small plot point from BG (ala Rogue One in Star Wars). I.E. maybe you're an agent caught up in the ore scandal in the mines...
    JuliusBorisovNoobaccaBaptor
  • jasteyjastey Member Posts: 2,669
    I had bad luck with the companions. Not knowing how the dialogues with the PC are triggered, I took all of them in turns, always changing party constellations - thinking I'd see as many dialogues as possible. In the end I saw almost none, least a romance plot. When realising this later I felt slightly annoyed.

    I won't post another post about how disappointed I was about the ending.
    MirandelVasculio
  • batoorbatoor Member Posts: 676
    edited February 2018
    Where's the mod for getting most of the items imported into bg2? I seem to remember there was once.

    I'm going to pass on SoD this playthrough, I don't feel like playing through it again with this class.

    And well most of SoDs flaws and strengths have been covered.

    That being said Beamdog I think you guys have abandoned most attempts at improving the game and just said ''it's up to modders now'' That's remained a disappointment for me ever since you announced it IMO.

    I mean sure you have other priorities now, but I honestly think there are things you could do to make the continuity a bit better, especially in Bg2.
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    Grond0 said:

    I think part of the problem is that SoD is far more complicated than you might expect based on experience of BG and BG2. Although it is largely linear in the way you're forced to proceed between areas, there are multiple ways you can proceed with the main quest on the way. I can't say I'm really a fan of that approach, but if you like to explore games in detail and have different results from your different actions then you'll find a lot of scope for that in SoD.

    Difficulties of dealing with that level of complication also means there are oddities in the way some of the side quests work, e.g. as has been referred to already it feels strange when you start acquiring items for quests which only relate to NPCs that are not even in your party.

    While there are weaknesses in the game there are plenty of strengths as well. The big improvement in AI is welcome and the large set-piece battles are something new to an unmodded game, while there are plenty of interesting encounters to explore. I agree it does have a slightly different feel to the other games, but then BG itself has a different feel to BG2. Over time people got used to those differences and simply accepted that was the way things were. I would expect to find in 10 years time or so that the same process will see SoD fully accepted as part of the BG series.


    "Difficulties of dealing with that level of complication also means there are oddities in the way some of the side quests work, e.g. as has been referred to already it feels strange when you start acquiring items for quests which only relate to NPCs that are not even in your party."

    I think some of the complication comes from the overall design. There are of course good reasons why you can't return to areas, but on the other hand, suspension of disbelief is far easier to employ over travelling huge distances when actually you don't travel them. Just as in BG you run up and down the Sword Coast as if you can jump on a train/plane/automobile.

    To use an example,

    The dwarves of Dunbarton(is that the name?) quest in basically the first on the road area.
    It's not satisfying having to do that quest so early in the game before you have found your feet. Especially as the game starts in a dungeon, so a bit sick of them by then. And you have to deal with a lich.

    I'm not saying it's too hard, hell my party was so OP no lich had a chance, but it's more that you simply don't want to be forced at that point to do the quest or otherwise you lose the chance. Or have to use a McGuffin on the lich because you meet it early.

    Now of course it makes sense and is realistic that you can't backtrack miles and miles after moving with the camp, but for gaming experience/satisfaction, I would have enjoyed "pretending" in game that I could.
    Quartz
  • megamike15megamike15 Member Posts: 2,666
    i don't really get the sand box comment. sod unlike the rest has you in hub like areas that only have at most 3 side quests each execpt chapter 10. once you move on you don't go back so i don't see the getting lost point either.
    tbone1Skatan
  • batoorbatoor Member Posts: 676
    edited February 2018
    Final boss is great though, I'll admit that.

    Challenging battle and engaging music.
    tbone1
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305



    It's in the subtleties where you can find why SOD maybe hasn't had universal praise.

    For instance @tbone1 mentioned unlikeable characters.

    Edwin is unlikeable for a lot of people (fools ;) )
    Corwin is detestable for a lot of people (me included).

    Edwin can be ignored/killed the moment you see him.
    Corwin is forced upon the player.

    @UnderstandMouseMagic I'm confused about this. The only NPC interaction that is forced upon the player at the start of the game is Imoen - she doesn't join the party, but you can't avoid her talks. Having said that you can argue they're just being consistent with the original games - in BG1 Imoen tries to join the party (though I kill her before she gets the chance) and in BG2 she does join without giving you any choice at all.

    It's true that after the prologue you also can't avoid some dialogue from Corwin, but that's effectively just moving the plot along - there's no particular reason to get her to join the party. There are plenty of NPCs that you can recruit on your journey, but only if you specifically try to do so. The only 'forced' dialogue with them I suppose you could count would be with Skye - which again relates to plot points.

    The only time when an NPC might actually join your party unexpectedly is in the final battle and that only occurs if you follow one of three possible dialogue choices - each of which have multiple options to get there (and you also need to have an existing open slot in your party). The different routes can radically change the way the final battle plays out - which is part of what I was referring to in my earlier post saying that SoD is more complex than it appears on first play-through.

    Despite what I've said above I agree that the NPC interactions are more irritating than they needed to be (that's from the perspective of someone who almost never uses NPCs). I also agree with @jastey that introducing new cutscenes that can't be skipped is a real annoyance in the EE games - that just smacks of a designer wanting to show off how clever they've been.
    tbone1StummvonBordwehrThacoBellAerakar
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    edited February 2018
    @Grond0

    "It's true that after the prologue you also can't avoid some dialogue from Corwin, but that's effectively just moving the plot along - there's no particular reason to get her to join the party. "

    Maybe I've played it wrong then? it's been a while

    Corwin followed me around BG like a bloody minder and I couldn't get rid of her. There was quite a bit of forced dialogue when you are getting ready to leave, she interfered with fighting (though not when perhaps you could have used the help on the second floor of Sourcerous sundries), the scene with the daughter, she interrupted and gave me advice when the crowd were turning nasty.

    None of this was needed.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    @jastey "Maybe it's because a) people expected a newly developped game not to make the same mistakes as the old ones"

    You mean the perfect, flawless, greatest games of all time? How dare you suggest BG is anything less than perfect! (Heavy sarcasm mode)
    [Deleted User]
  • UnderstandMouseMagicUnderstandMouseMagic Member Posts: 2,147
    Ardanis said:


    And you can't kill her (I've tried), nor the brat (tried that too).

    FWIW you can't kill Elhan the arrogant elf jerk in later part of BG2 either.
    But you can (mild spoiler for last SoD chapter)
    kill Corwin completely in-character. And it felt reeeally satisfying to mutter under breath "I had enough of your nonsense, eat steel, you stupid *****" as I plunged the blade through the guts of that strong independent single mother.
    Thing is, such emotional release wouldn't be possible if you could dismiss her early on - the negative feelings had to build up first.
    Oh I've done that and enjoyed every minute...........Rohmahhhhh...... :D
    ArdanisMERLANCE
  • Wandering_RangerWandering_Ranger Member Posts: 175
    gibby290 said:



    Couldn't wait to finally bridge the gap between BG and BG2 with Siege. I was again first in line with a preorder, VERY EXCITED.

    But for some reason, I have a very difficult time finding immersion in the game. It felt non-congruent with the other two. The companions felt 'weird', the story didn't make any sense, and your progress didn't really affect the BG2 story (besides xp gained).

    To this day, I haven't been able to play though siege in it's entirety.


    That's because there *is no gap* to bridge between the two games. All that there was to "fill in" was how the party was captured by Irenicus. At best, it may have been a long sidequest. Certainly not an expansion. I played SoD through once, just to see all of it. As a standalone game, it would have been a solid 7/10 I think. As an addition to bridge an imaginary gap between two legendary games, it is an abomination.

    The storyline was far too "epic" to be a gap-bridger. We are talking apocalyptic-level stakes, here. Then it is never mentioned in BG2 (for obvious reasons), which ruins immersion, since such a major event would definitely be brought up by someone. The Solar in ToB might have something to say about it, for instance!

    The companions (especially Safana) were butchered completely. I don't even consider her the same Safana we know and love, just some doppleganger version who has the same name (in the same way that the Faldorn of BG2 was butchered by the original team).

    The Final Boss was unoriginal, too.

    I would advise Beamdog in the same way you did - create your own content. From what I have seen of them, they are marvelous with the engine and the graphic side of things (not to mention making controls far easier and more streamlined), but their writing is not that of the original BG/BG2 creators.
    lefreutQuartz[Deleted User]Baptor
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I mean, there is about a year between the end of BG1 and the start of BG2, so yeah, a pretty large gap.
    [Deleted User]
  • Wandering_RangerWandering_Ranger Member Posts: 175
    A year? Says who?
  • TorgrimmerTorgrimmer Member Posts: 331

    A year? Says who?

    Bioware, the original devs.
    ThacoBell[Deleted User]
  • Wandering_RangerWandering_Ranger Member Posts: 175
    Source?
  • Yulaw9460Yulaw9460 Member Posts: 634
    edited November 2018
    Deleted.
    Post edited by Yulaw9460 on
    StummvonBordwehr
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