Baldur's Gate Countdown Ends... Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition for Summer 2012

[Endur]

<Pats Kzach's shoulder in a comrade-like manner> Don't you worry yourself, sir. I will be willing to make the sacrifice, purchase this here item, and micro-manage the party enough for the both of us a few times over. Gog.com has Planescape: Torment with links to restored content fan mods.

I never really micro-managed the party that much anyways.

I mostly gave everyone melee weapons and told them to attack. Spellcasting was the area where micro management seemed to be needed the most (preventing spellcasters from fireballing/firestorming/flamestriking their fellow party members).

 

[Endur]

More MINSC = Many Purchases

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I never really micro-managed the party that much anyways.

I mostly gave everyone melee weapons and told them to attack. Spellcasting was the area where micro management seemed to be needed the most (preventing spellcasters from fireballing/firestorming/flamestriking their fellow party members).

I found that the enemies at the start of BG1 mostly consisted of weaker melee sorts like gibberlings, so having a party armed with missile weapons worked wonders. BG2 changed that as the enemy had more tools at its disposal. And I would turn off spellcasting as an AI option.

 

[JonArkanix]

recognizability (which is now pretty much gone).

Yes, that is why a simple "baldursgate website" search on Google returned countless links with predictions about the countdown timer.

Your comment sounds like one of publisher kids from the Brian Fargo/Inxile Kickstarter video.

 

[Sammael]

Yes, that is why a simple "baldursgate website" search on Google returned countless links with predictions about the countdown timer.

Your comment sounds like one of publisher kids from the Brian Fargo/Inxile Kickstarter video.

Uh... look, I'm an old school gamer. Been a member of Interplay/Black Isle forums from 1998 until they closed. Ran the biggest fansite for Icewind Dale II along with some other people. Ran the fansite for TBH.

Simply put, today's gamers have no clue what BG is all about, which is why I said that releasing TBH under the BG moniker would mean little. Now, if this reincarnation does well (I hope it does, but I have my doubts), that could change the ball game. But not yet.

 

[avin]

Uh... look, I'm an old school gamer. Been a member of Interplay/Black Isle forums from 1998 until they closed. Ran the biggest fansite for Icewind Dale II along with some other people. Ran the fansite for TBH.

I can confirm that.

I was there too since, well, ever. On BIO and BIS forums.

Sammael was a well known forum poster.

 

[avin]

Besides, it had nothing to do with the BG Saga, it only used the name due to licensing issues and recognizability (which is now pretty much gone).

I'm aware of that, nevertheless, it's this BG I would be interested in.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I wish people were a little more open-minded about consoles. I used to be a PC-only kind of guy with all the Quake mods and Deus Ex and all that jazz. Back then the attitude was consoles couldn't have deep games or console gamers didn't want them or something. Consoles don't suck anymore (although access to the PC mods would be awesome!). The games have gotten remarkably deep on consoles. But since they're aiming for a primarily PC-base and a hardcore market it's very hard to imagine the new PC game would be compromised in order to make it adaptable to the console.

Although I only played a couple hours of BG I can't imagine why it wouldn't fly on a controller. The direction pad could be set to 8 spells or items and R1/L1 could each open eight more (like in NWN). You could manually select targets or use keys to cycle through them. The FO3 interface on Xbox is just as elegant, powerful, and utilitarian as the FO1 interface on PC - you can simply do more things faster and the interface isn't dumbed down or simplified. So I think the assumption that multi-platform releases detract from computer games is faulty (with the obvious exception of Starcraft and a few others).

As a computing professional sitting at a desk for more hours every week and managing game DRM/settings isn't relaxing anymore. PC-only is a deal-breaker. I'm hoping System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, Torment, and all the other classics get the same treatment.

Other consoles are not in themselves problematic. However, it is important that the game be designed with a PC in mind. Many people don't have a console. Moreover, look to Dragon Age II as an example of where designing a game *for* console when it should be a PC game can go horribly wrong.

But I do hope they make the game accessible to a wide variety of platforms.

And while it's greatness is unquestioned, I think a technical upgrade could be done well to make the interface more user-friendly and update the graphics.

 

[JonArkanix]

Simply put, today's gamers have no clue what BG is all about, which is why I said that releasing TBH under the BG moniker would mean little.

Strangely, even older games are still recognized enough to raise funds for a sequel. Wasteland 2 by inXile entertainment — Kickstarter

What you're saying about BG label is clearly flawed. I guess we'll see how things go in a few months.

 

[Endur]

BG 3 will be a valuable product, if the existing characters are involved somehow: Minsc, Edwin, etc.

If its just the name, and all-new group of characters (as was the original plan for BG3) it becomes much less interesting for me.

I don't think the party has to be entirely the same ... BG2 included only some of the BG1 characters ... but I think BG3 should be as related to BG2 as BG2 was related to BG1.

For instance, you might be able to visit Keldorn Firecam, whos is a retired Paladin NPC, and you could meet his family and possibly get quests in BG 3. (Or maybe recruit one of his children to join the party).

You might encounter Edwina as an Evil Boss in a zone.

etc.

I'm ok with the protagonist being completely new, as the protagonist is much less interesting than the NPCs.