Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear - All News
Saturday - March 25, 2017
Siege of Dragonspear - CE & New Beamdog Client
Farflame spotted that Beamdog announced a new Beamdog client and a Siege of Dragonspear Collector's Edition:
New Beamdog client
But before we get started, please note that the Beamdog Client is not our "next big thing” we’ve been working on for so long, only part of it. Watch out for more news on that soon!
The new Beamdog Client will run any product made by Beamdog, and we encourage you to try it out with your Enhanced Edition games. Just download, install, log-in, and point the new client at your existing games using the Find Existing Game button.
Why use the new Beamdog Client? Lots of reasons! In addition to easy updates, the new Beamdog Client features DRM-free versions of your purchased games, easy-to-access forum links, quick links to the latest versions of online game manuals, and better connections to support. Plus, buying directly from Beamdog helps us support the games you have and make more of the games you love!
Sharp eyed users will notice the new Beamdog Client supports products on Mac (we’ve specifically designed it to work well with Sierra) and Linux. Though Linux users will see an empty list where games should be, perhaps that’s a sign of things to come in the future. ;)
We’d like for our fans to use the Beamdog Client in the language of their choice. French, Polish, and German are just the start. Watch for more languages in future updates.
Siege of Dragonspear Collector’s Editions Now Available!
Did you miss the Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Collector’s Edition pre-order? We’re excited to share that a LIMITED number of Collector's Editions are now available for purchase!
Tuesday - May 24, 2016
RPGWatch Feature - Siege of Dragonspear Review
Forgottenlor tried out Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear to see if it lived up to his expectations and what the all the controversies were about in this review for RPGWatch.
While the game offers you a good number of companions of all classes and alignments, how it's done is pretty interesting. Three of the four most resilient melee characters are only available close to halfway through the game. You get Misc and Corwin at the beginning as fighters, but Corwin is an archer, and you lose out on most of her potential if she gets stuck in close combat. On the other hand there is no shortage of priests early on. The result was that I played very differently than in most of my playthroughs of Baldur's Gate, and relied heavily on the web and entangle spells during the first half of the game.
While leveling up in Baldur's Gate was always infrequent (making it a big deal when it did happen), in Siege of Dragonspear leveling up occurs even more rarely. I'm sure this is to try make a smooth transition from Baldur's Gate I to Siege of Dragonspear to Baldur's Gate 2 possible. Personally it didn't bother me, but then again I didn't import a character, and started off at level 6, and probably advanced faster than a I would have with an imported character. Mostly though, I think characters between levels 6 and 9 represent the best balanced and most interesting levels of 2nd edition Dungeons and Dragons. Spell casters have enough spells to let them use a variety of tactics, but haven't completely left fighter types behind in terms of power. I think this contributes to making the battles throughout most of Siege of Dragonspear interesting, but I can see how it could bother some players.
Sunday - April 24, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Review @ RPGCodex
Delterius of the RPGCodex has reviewed Siege of Dragonspear:
[...]
The story of a videogame is more than just an Irenicus voiced by David Warner or a Minsc and Boo. It's what you, the player, make of it. The Bhaalspawn Saga is about an adventurer of divine heritage surviving against all odds from one battle to the next. Much more than in any scripted dialogue sequence, you live through that narrative as you play the game. And that's why the next time I play through the Baldur's Gate trilogy, I'll be sure to add a few hours more with Siege of Dragonspear.
Thursday - April 21, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - More Reviews
Here are a few more Siege of Dragonspear reviews.
Gamespot, 8/10
Returning home to Baldur’s Gate makes Siege of Dragonspear one of the most enjoyable RPGs that I have played in a long time, both for the nostalgia factor of revisiting an all-time favorite and for the impressively designed and involving narrative that captures nearly everything that fans love about traditional D&D. Even though the engine creaks in spots, the overall experience is everything that a hardcore D&D fan could ask for, and a superb expansion of one of the most legendary franchises in all of roleplaying game history.
Game Revolution, 3.5/5
The more you play Dragonspear, though, the more you realize what the game is truly about: the story. While there are some anachronisms (allies from the first game that seem to have either forgotten you completely or disappeared entirely), it stays mostly faithful as a missing piece to a puzzle.
I will give a comparison from which many will immediately repulse: this is a lot like the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Looking past its much-maligned state (which it did everything in its power to earn) that trilogy filled a gap in the story about which many people were wondering. Thankfully, Siege of Dragonspear is a lot higher quality than that comparison implies.
Still though, while I can’t find a reason for Siege of Dragonspear not to exist, and while it completely entertained me throughout its unbelievable 30-hour run time, it comes off more as wholly unnecessary.
And as expected, Niche Gamer gives it a low score of 4/10
All things considered, I cannot recommend Siege of Dragonspear to anyone. Unless you are so incredibly new to Baldur’s Gate that your standards for upholding its lore, keeping battles balanced, and making sense hasn’t set your expectation bar too high, you should completely avoid this expansion.
Combining fan fiction level writing with self-insert Mary Sues, a whiny cast of stereotypical characters, and a plot that tries to be epic but ends up falling flat at the end, Siege of Dragonspear fails at nearly everything it set out to improve upon. Which is sad, since I was so sure Beamdog could pull this off.
Tuesday - April 19, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Review @ Techraptor
Techraptor has a go at Siege of Dragonspear and award it a 6/10, noting the bugs and mediocre writing.
This can sum up the experience in a nutshell for Siege of Dragonspear, unintentionally jarring. It is not a bad game by any stretch of the word, and for those familiar with the Baldur’s Gate setting, combat system, or simply want to play a “modern” add-on to an old-school RPG, it should at least be considered for a purchase despite the problems plaguing the title. Passion may drive us to be ardently against something that attempts something new, but that new experience may surprise you if you let it.
Monday - April 18, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Review @ Gamespot
Gamespot joined the ranks of having Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear reviewed, awarding it with an 8.
Bugs and some lingering annoyances with the interface dogged me every step of the way, though. While nothing here was a show-stopper, I experienced a number of hard crashes that dropped me to the desktop and some quirks like respawning enemies, quests that weren’t fully resolved in the journal, and a bizarre issue with the Bag of Holding that saw items placed there regularly duplicated. Endless +2 Arrows of Fire were always welcome, but the amount of clutter that accumulated in the bag became pretty irritating after a while.
...
Returning home to Baldur’s Gate makes Siege of Dragonspear one of the most enjoyable RPGs that I have played in a long time, both for the nostalgia factor of revisiting an all-time favorite and for the impressively designed and involving narrative that captures nearly everything that fans love about traditional D&D. Even though the engine creaks in spots, the overall experience is everything that a hardcore D&D fan could ask for, and a superb expansion of one of the most legendary franchises in all of roleplaying game history.
Siege of Dragonspear - Featured in Matt Chat 336
Matt checks out Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear:
Matt Chat 336: Siege of Dragonspear
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Saturday - April 16, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Review @ PC Gamer
Henriquejr spotted PC Gamer's review for Siege of Dragonspear:
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear review
As a historical artefact, Baldur's Gate is important. As an RPG, it's huge and expressive. As a moment-to-moment experience, it can be a bit of a chore. Siege of Dragonspear is an expansion for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. As an add-on—albeit one that takes the form of a lengthy, full campaign—it's forced me to reevaluate if Baldur's Gate is worth expanding.
[...]
I haven't encountered many bugs – mostly the occasional performance issue – but reports suggest others haven't been so lucky. Aside from the unintended problems, though, the engine fails in other ways. The Enhanced Edition's reworked interface is barely fit for purpose. Simply navigating through the different menus is a pain, and the new journal seems less intuitive than the old one. And, while an effort has been made to pretty up the graphics—mostly by zooming the camera out to an absurd level—there's no hiding the fact that this is a 15-year-old engine. It looks a bit ugly at modern resolutions.
As a Baldur's Gate adventure, Siege of Dragonspear works well. While it's not entirely tonally consistent with the original series, it does a good job of inserting itself into the middle of the story without feeling like sacrilege. As a result, though, it requires that you still be invested in that story. The fact is, a decade and a half later, there are much smoother, more enjoyable RPG experiences available.
Score: 71/100
Friday - April 15, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Trent Oster Interview
Develop talked with Trent Oster about the recent Siege of Dragonspear controversies.
“If there’s an aggressive agenda that’s being pushed into someone’s face, I disagree with that,” Beamdog CEO Trent Oster tells Develop. “It needs to be representative. You need to tackle any social milieu appropriately, and aggressive agenda pushing is incorrect. It’s not the right way to do it. All you do is strengthen the resistance.”
It’s a subject Oster has been considering a lot over the past week. His studio, responsible for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition as well as other BioWare follow-ups, has been accused of this ‘agenda pushing’ thanks to the inclusion of a transgender character in its latest release.
“There’s two sides of the argument [against Mizhena’s inclusion]. One is ‘I don’t want a transgender character in my game’, and while I don’t agree with it, I guess I can understand that perspective.
“The other is that the character goes from ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ to ‘I’m transgender’ in three conversation lines. That’s a really shallow way of telling me a life-shattering event. The transgender people I know are not going to blurt that out as quickly as that – it’s going to take a while, you’re going to have to get to know them.
“Obviously we wanted to explore her story in a broader, deeper way, but the three-line limitation cut it off. If anyone was going to get to the fact that this character is transgender, they had to do it pretty fast. Upon my review of the character, I think that within three lines it’s actually quite well done.”
As such, despite calls to have Mizhena or her backstory removed from the game completely, Beamdog is dropping its three-line limit in this case in order to better present this revelation. Oster promises that the writers will be revisiting this character and finding a way for players to “develop a relationship” with her before she discloses this highly personal information.
Thanks Couch.
Monday - April 11, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Reviews
Destructoid reviews Siege of Dragonspear and doesn't see much of an issue with the characters, nor with the writing, but notes it is a rather linear game with some serious bugs, awarding it with a 7/10.
There's a ton of content here, though it's much more linear than what Baldur's Gate fans are used to. Don't take this, however, as a downside. Personally, I enjoyed the structure. There are still areas to explore and plenty of secrets to find, but the core plot has a stricter path. It makes sense, since they have a definitive starting and ending point, and allowed for some tighter writing overall. Plus, if you want some more open story lines, you can always enjoy the originals!
Chances are, if you're curious about Siege of Dragonspear, there is one question you need answered: how is the writing? The short answer is that it is good. There are some high points and certainly some low points, but overall it's just fine. If you are going to spend your days analyzing and cross-referencing it then you will likely find more things to hate than me. But as a long-time fan who has fond memories of spending afternoons with the spiral-bound manual of Baldur's Gate 2, it's an enjoyable romp.
It's a different sort of game when compared to its brothers, but it works very well in the space it occupies. It's unfortunate that there are quite a handful of technical issues, because otherwise this is a great excuse to head back to the Sword Coast.
And then there are 2 less positive reviews.
Matthew Hopkins News scores it 33%:
Siege of Dragonspear goes on. An on. And on. With every linearly presented area one expects an array of clumsy stereotypes and leaden writing. Some dwarves are in a nearby cave. They are unable to deal with an infestation of undead themselves so the player character has to do it for them. We meet a hill giant called Semahl. A ‘gentle giant’, remarks Viconia, with uncharacteristic kindness. By uncharacteristic, your author means that Viconia is a drow cleric of Shar!
And Quad Nine, 4.5/10
Dragonspear felt like someone tried to make a new Baldur’s Gate game without ever bothering to play the old games. Between the confusing and boring writing, bland and generic locations, and myriad of bugs there’s no way any fan of the original games should play this when so many better options exist. Beamdog have said they want to make a third Baldur’s Gate game in the future, and if Dragonspear is what they do when given creative license, then perhaps it’s best the series remains dormant.
Friday - April 08, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Lilura's Walkthrough
Lilura has started a walktrough for Siege of Dragonspear:
The following posts will cover Beamdog's Siege of Dragonspear expansion in its entirety and as I have played it: on Core Rules difficulty and with the party I previously took through the main campaign of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. This expansion takes place a few weeks after Sarevok's demise and treats the period of time between Baldur's Gate & Shadows of Amn.
Please note that obviously this document is spoiler-heavy ; new players should not read on if they have any intention of later playing Siege of Dragonspear. For those who are interested in the Baldur's Gate campaign in general, I refer you to my in-depth retrospective on the original incarnation: Baldur's Gate Blathering.
-> Part 1
-> Part 2
Siege of Dragonspear - Review @ RPS
Richard Cobbett has taken a deep look at Siege of Dragonspear for Rock, Paper, Shotgun and is reasonably positive about the results:
With Siege of Dragonspear, Beamdog has come on a long way. It’s not perfect, either at matching the style or being a great new RPG in its own right, and future games will need some heavy QA loving. But, as the company’s first big attempt to both follow in BioWare’s wake (the presence of former BioWare people notwithstanding), it’s a good start and at least a good first step to one day giving us that Baldur’s Gate 3 we’ve been waiting so long for – another nostalgia trip, but with a slightly more practiced eye on the future.
Obviously, no review can be made without commenting on the chain of events that took place in the last days since its release.
There’s already been a lot of talk online about certain elements of the writing, so let’s address that before moving on to the bigger picture. One of the members of the camp is a transgender woman, Mizhena, who has exactly one short dialogue entry on the subject when asked, followed by the player character going “Okay,” and changing the subject. The controversy around this character isn’t a mountain out of a molehill, but a mountain out of an empty prairie. The rest of the game also includes female characters like Corwin, a single mother who serves as an archer and regrets duty keeping her away from her daughter. It also adds Voghiln, a skirt-chasing skald who cheerfully hits on every female member of the cast.
Like most RPGs, Siege of Dragonspear is a game that celebrates diversity because whatever else it means and whatever the author’s reason for specific inclusions, it means more interesting games. There are no long lectures here, no pointed quests about the subject (unlike, say, Dragon Age Inquisition’s very on-the-nose stuff with Dorian). Siege of Dragonspear makes no more particular fuss about anything than any other RPG that features quests where you do things like, say, try and understand complex issues before acting violently, bring together groups separated by ignorance or mistake, stand up for the weak… y’know, the horrible ‘SJW agenda’ which used to simply be called ‘being a fucking hero’. Oh, and also the kind of thing that’s been a stock part of the RPG genre since Ultima VI took on racism back in 1990.
Wednesday - April 06, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Creator of Forgotten Realms Reacts
Ed Greenwood, the original creator of Forgotten Realms, reacts to the turmoil around Siege of Dragonspear on his Facebook page.
I am saddened by what I hear of the current kerfluffle raging about Siege of Dragonspear and the trans character Amber Scott designed and included in it.
Folks, the Realms have ALWAYS had characters (mortals and deities) who crossdressed, changed gender (and not just to sneak past guards in an adventure, by way of shapeshifting magic or illusions), were actively bisexual, and openly gay. How underscored this was by TSR and later Wizards varied over time, and was always softpedaled, because D&D wasn't a sex game, and we generally don't rub the reader's nose in sex unless there's a good in-story reason for it.
But even deities have changed gender, sometimes for good, and the servants of deities (Elminster, in ELMINSTER: THE MAKING OF A MAGE) have sometimes been forced by the deity to "spend time as the other" to learn what life is like.
So it has always been there, and is an integral part of the Realms. With that said, I've never met a gamer yet who doesn't tinker with every adventure to "make it their own" at their own gaming table, so if trans, LGBT, or sexual matters at all don't suit your tastes and needs in your gaming sessions, leave it out or change it.
But D&D has half-orcs, and half-dragons, and half-elves, and has magic items that specifically change gender, right there in the rules. Surely, if you can handle the basic notion of cross-SPECIES sex, having a full variety of gender roles should be something that doesn't blow your mind. If it's not for you, that's fine. I hate wearing certain shades of yellow. But I don't scream and yell at someone I see wearing those shades of yellow, and call them names, and threaten things. My right to dislike yellow applies to me; it doesn't extend to others. Because somehow, through an incredible oversight on the part of the universe that still hasn't been rectified, no one made me a god. (I'm still crushed.)
Monday - April 04, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Reviews
Located two reviews for Siege of Dragonspear for now.
PC World, 4/5
New journey, old friends. I don’t know what possessed Beamdog to make Siege of Dragonspear an expansion to the original game, nor do I know what devil’s pact coerced them into making it thirty-odd hours long. It’s insanity.
But hopefully this isn’t Beamdog’s last bit of Baldur’s Gate content, because they’ve done an incredible job. As someone who first received Baldur’s Gate for Christmas way back in 1998 on six—six!—CD-ROMs, Siege of Dragonspear feels like a long-lost (and polished-up) chapter of the original, like it belonged from the start. That’s quite a feat, given the seventeen year spread in between.
Will it please every purist? Of course not. As with any beloved series, passions run high and nostalgia’s a hell of a drug. There are bound to be those who wish Beamdog had stuck to a purely conservationist role. But Siege of Dragonspear won me over, and I’d like to see what the team does next. Go for the eyes, Boo.
VentureBeat, 87/100
Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear fills in some of what happens to the Child of Bhaal between saving Baldur’s Gate and saving your soul from Irenicus, and it’s a hoot to revisit this world, using the old D&D rules from the 1990s.
But Siege of Dragonspear hints at more — a studio that’s done with just enhancing older games and ready to carve out a place among the top storytellers in the RPG sector. Beamdog’s first effort at original storytelling is a good start, and I’m excited to see more in the future, even if it’s in the world of Baldur’s Gate.
Besides, I’m always ready for more Minsc and Boo. No one can resist the miniature giant space hamster of goodness
Sunday - April 03, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - The Struggle To Bring Back Baldur's Gate
Nathan Grayson (Kotaku) tells the story of the struggle to re-create Baldur's Gate:
The Struggle To Bring Back Baldur’s Gate After 17 Years
Baldur’s Gate is one of the most revered RPG series in video game history. It helped write the book on Western-style RPGs, putting a focus on memorable followers and party-based combat, and tossing it all in a blender with a dungeon and a dragon. Nearly two decades later, it’s back.
[...]
You see, many of the assets used in the original Baldur’s Gate games literally drowned.
“It was a big challenge because all of the Baldur’s Gate original assets like the 3D models that make up these sprites, the 3D models for the levels in the original game, these archives were lost,” explained Beamdog lead designer Phillip Daigle during a recent interview at an event in San Francisco. “There was a data tape in some guy’s garage, and it flooded, and it was gone. There goes the history of Baldur’s Gate. That’s the case with a lot of classic games. There was a single archive, it was in some guy’s basement and sorry, the disc rotted, and it’s gone now.”
[...]
Thursday - March 31, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Released
The Expansion for Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition - Siege of Dragonspear - has been released today:
A major new expansion to Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition adds areas, action, and adventure to the original!
"Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist." -Plutarch
Though Sarevok is dead and his plan for war averted, peace eludes the citizens of Baldur's Gate. A crusade marches from the north, seizing supplies, forcing locals into military service, and disrupting trade along the Sword Coast. A charismatic warrior known as the Shining Lady leads this army, her background shrouded in mystery. Can the rumors be true—is she, like you, the child of a god?
The closer you get to the Shining Lady, the more you realize your father, the dead Lord of Murder still casts a long shadow upon your path. Baldur's Gate has put its faith in you, but you must determine whose interests you truly serve before you face the Shining Lady among the ruins of Dragonspear Castle...
Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear adds a new chapter to the Bhaalspawn saga. The events occurring between Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II are at last revealed in this 25-hour expansion pack for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.
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Wednesday - March 30, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Preview @ MMORPG
MMORPG have released a (very short) preview of the soon to be released Siege of Dragonspear expansion of Baldur's Gate EE. Given it's length, here is also a short quote:
Multiplayer is something that will bring a lot of players together. I can remember playing back in 1998 and wishing my old D&D group could link up on a computer to play. Now you’ll be able to join companions for adventure. The system supports up to six players together. More updates are coming to the user interface and better engine support. The team is making sure to keep the original design that we are all used too, but wanted updates to bring the game a little more current.
Siege of Dragonspear - Another Playing Session
Beamdog can't get enough of playing Siege of Dragonspear, so here is another video.
Thanks Couch
Monday - March 28, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Interview @ Shane Plays
Podcast for the Shane Plays radio show from 3/26/2016:
loading...Interview with Phillip Daigle and Amber Scott about RPGs in general and Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.
Wednesday - March 23, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Interview @ GameReactor
Gamereactor TV interviewed Beamdog's lead designer Phillip Baigle. Can't embed the video, so you have to clike the link.
Saturday - March 19, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Opening CutScene
The Baldurs Gate: Siege of Dragonspear opening cutscene courtesy of Gamespot.
loading...Hear the legend of Baal and the threat of Caelar Argent in Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.
Friday - March 04, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Release Date
Baldur's Gate Siege of Dragonspear will become available on the 31st of March and you can already pre-order it right now.
Pre-Orders for Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Expansion Now Available
EDMONTON, ALBERTA - Beamdog is pleased to announce it will begin taking pre-orders for the Windows version of its Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition expansion Siege of Dragonspear as of March 3, 2016.
Beamdog's Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition launched in November 2012, breathing new life into the celebrated Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying video game. Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, a 25+ hour expansion, reveals the events between Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition for the first time. The game contains all-new quests, companions, areas, and items designed and created by Beamdog. Pre-ordered copies of Siege of Dragonspear will be available for download on March 31.
A limited run collector's edition is also available for pre-order. The collector's edition, which sells for $129.99 USD plus shipping, includes Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Siege of Dragonspear as well as soundtracks, a dice set, a Dragonspear amulet, and more. Beamdog also offers a Digital Deluxe edition that comes with the soundtracks for Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, and Siege of Dragonspear. The digital copies of the games and soundtracks will be available for download on March 31 for customers who pre-ordered one of these editions.
Tuesday - March 01, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Interview @ Nerdcast
The people at Nerdcast interviewed Beamdog about Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.
Thanks Eye and Couch
Sunday - February 21, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Playing Session #2
Beamdog plays Siege of Dragonspear ... Again!
loading...Join Amber Scott and Phillip Daigle as they play through a section of Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear.
Thanks Couch!
Thursday - February 11, 2016
Siege of Dragonspear - Playing Session
Beamdog plays Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear in the video below.
Thanks Couch.
Thursday - December 17, 2015
Baldur's Gate: EE - Dragonspear Nearly Finished
According to Beamdog's End of the Year Update, Siege of Dragonspear is almost ready. Thanks, Couch!
We've hit a milestone in Siege of Dragonspear's development. As of this week, we are officially CONTENT COMPLETE!
*trumpets play, confetti falls from ceiling*
“Content complete” means that everything that belongs in the game is in the game. Areas are finished, monsters are all in place, items have been crafted, characters stand where they're supposed to stand. All the quests and subquests are finalized and implemented. We decided that some of the older areas we reused from Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition could be improved, and so the artists repainted the city zones to make them sharper and more in line with the updated (but still classic) Siege of Dragonspear look.
Tuesday - December 15, 2015
Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear Interview
Dragon Magazine spills the gritty details about Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, the expansion wedged between Baldur's Gate I and II.
Thanks, Couch.
"I think that’s just a Baldur’s Gate thing,” says Beamdog president and creative director Trent Oster. “It can never be small. It always has to get bigger and bigger.” He’s talking about Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, which started life in 2011, in Trent’s words, as a little piece of DLC that would cost around $2. With a storyline that fits between the new enhanced editions of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II, it was supposed to ship as a bridge to those two titles before the second one was released.
“It grew in scope and we realized we were tight on time and needed to put more effort into Baldur’s Gate II ahead of its launch, so Dragonspear went on the backburner. When we came back and re-examined it had become a fifteen-hour expansion. At that stage it was still going to be DLC, although for a little more money,” Oster says.
“This was around fall 2014,” says writer Amber Scott as she picks up the story. “At that point it was just too crowded. We’d designed so much great stuff that when we started doing the test playthroughs you’d walk five feet and a quest would trigger, then in another five feet more NPCs would run up to you to offer other quests. So rather than cut content, we added extra areas so we could spread it out a bit and make it more fun and relaxing to play.”
Saturday - July 18, 2015
BGEE: Siege of Dragonspear - On Mods, Publishers and the Future of Baldur's Gate
Paul Dean (Rock, Paper, Shotgun) has written an interesting article about Baldur's Gate 1.5 - Siege of Dragonspear:
"We move from custodian to creator."
That was how Trent Oster described it. Beamdog's co-founder who, twenty years ago, was also there when Bioware began, is once again returning to one of roleplaying's most beloved and most influential series. This time, he won’t just be adding a new lick of paint here or a subtle embellishment there, as he has with the company's Enhanced Editions of the Baldur’s Gate games. No, Baldur&'s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear is something wholly new. While Beamdog are calling it an expansion pack, its scope and scale mean that it outsizes both Tales of the Sword Coast and Throne of Bhaal. For all intents and purposes, it’s Baldur’s Gate 3.
Okay, fine, it's more like Baldur's Gate 1.5, since its plot is designed to slot neatly between those of the other two games, bridging a narrative gap that has long remained murky and ambiguous. Whatever its numeral, it is a third game in the Baldur’s Gate series, set in the same world, during the same time, and featuring many of the same characters. While it may not boast the same enormous size as the tremendous siblings that bracket it, it's not looking slight. Beamdog are estimating that it will give players at least twenty-five hours of adventuring and Oster says it's actually larger than both previous expansions combined. This, they say, will be some very substantial adventuring. [...]
Wednesday - July 15, 2015
BGEE: Siege of Dragonspear - Announcement Recording
If you missed it - here's the 27-minute recording of live streamed event announcing Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear:
Friday - July 10, 2015
BGEE: Siege of Dragonspear - Interview @ PCGamesN
PCGamesN talked to Trent Oster about the new Baldur's Gate Extended Edition add-on Siege of Dragonspear, which teaches us that Chris Avellone has had something to do with is as well.
Baldur’s Gate 1 ended in unambiguous triumph, but its sequel started players off in a very dark place - literally and thematically. Beamdog have closed that tonal gap cautiously, with a story that deals with the dark blood running through the player character’s veins - while offering a new, grounded threat for them to tackle.
A crusading army to the north of Baldur’s Gate has the dukes concerned: it’s brought local instability, and refugees are flooding through the gates of the great Sword Coast city. After a number of unsuccessful scouting attempts, the player is recruited to gather information and, inevitably, become exposed to larger machinations.
It sounds like a natural fit for the geopolitics of Baldur’s Gate 1 - what other RPG can you name that kickstarts its drama with an iron shortage? Dragonspear’s plot promises political maneuvering that you “start off essentially oblivious to but then become aware of”.
“Let’s not burn the Forgotten Realms to the ground,” Beamdog decided from the off. “But let’s play with a big story. We’ve got to do it justice. It’s got to feel epic, it’s got to feel worthy. When you’re going through this storyline, we want you to have those moments when you uncover new truths about yourself, and you uncover the magnitude of the threat.”
There’ll be no equivalent to Baldur’s Gate’s “psychotic maniac who just wants war and blood and destruction”, however - Beamdog are keen to get away from evil for evil’s sake.
“Evil is paved with good intentions,” said Oster. “You start off trying to do something right, and it goes a little wrong. And then it goes a little more wrong. And eventually, it’s just this web. I always find those characters much more appealing and much more human. We really wanted to engage with the humanity of your opposition.”
Here is the annoucnement trailer.
Baldur's Gate: EE - New Expansion: Siege of Dragonspear
The Baldur's Gate remake gets a new expansion: Siege of Dragonspear. Gamespot reports this:
Role-playing game Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition will be getting an expansion titled Siege of Dragonspear, publisher Beamdog announced on a livestream today. The expansion will introduce seven new chapters and feature 70 new areas for players to explore. Dragonspear will also include a new class, the Shaman class, who can summon ghosts and cast druid spells.
Dragonspear will sport an entirely new user interface, with an improved journal system and combat health bars offered as an option. The game will also have two new difficulty settings; story mode, which was first introduced in the Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, and allows players to go through the game's story without too much challenging combat. The second mode is titled Legacy of Bhaal and is similar to the Heart of Fury mode which was featured in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, which adds what Beamdog described as an "all new level of challenge for veteran players."
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was first released for PC in November 2012. As its name suggests, the game is a remake of 1998's Baldur's Gate. Earlier this year, Beamdog first teased that a new game in the Baldur's Gate series was being worked on.
Siege of Dragonspear does not currently have a release date.
Information about
Baldur's Gate: Siege of DragonspearDeveloper: Beamdog
SP/MP: Single + MP
Setting: Fantasy
Genre: RPG
Combat: Pausable Real-time
Play-time: Unknown
Voice-acting: Partially voiced
Regions & platforms
World
· Homepage
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2016-03-31
· Publisher: Beamdog