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

[bondetamp]

This is really quite fitting as I've just gone back to school to try to finish the education that Baldur's Gate and Diablo II kept me from finishing last time.

 

[Tortoise]

I definitely welcome this. It just made my must buy list.

 

[Oryan77]

I knew Uriah Hatchus, the Fighter/Wizard/Thief was not finished making his mark on Faerun!

This is good news. I'm a little unclear how exactly it is enhanced. Are they saying that it is the original game, but the new content consists of new side quests and maybe equipment? Are the graphics going to be updated? Hmm, I wonder.

It seems like it was yesterday when I began rolling for stats until I finally got 4 18's. Then when I found my first ability score boosting magical tome, I figured out a way to cheat the system by saving/importing the same PC to duplicate the books and raise the remaining stats to 18's. I don't normally cheat, but I was proud of myself for figuring that out and it was a sign that Uriah was destined to have all 18's.

 

[Dordledum]

for completeness sake:

Announcing Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™
March 15, 2012
Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Overhaul Games are pleased to announce work has begun on the Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II.


Since its initial release in 1998, Baldur’s Gate has entertained millions of fans around the globe, and has received countless awards. This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons® computer roleplaying games ever since.

RE-FORGED BY OVERHAUL GAMES
Overhaul Games has assembled a talented team of artists, programmers and designers to enhance this timeless classic. To remain true to the spirit of the game, the team includes original Baldur’s Gate developers.

RELIVE THE MOST EPIC STORY EVER TOLD
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition™ will feature a re-forged version of the Infinity Engine with a variety of modern improvements.

THE GREATEST ROLEPLAYING GAME OF ALL TIME, ENHANCED
For all information regarding Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ visit Baldur's Gate, for press inquiries contact baldursgate@beamdog.com.

 

[Tilenas]

According to Joystiq: Enhanced Edition, it's not a repackage. We have the original source code and are doing a significant update," a rep said.

Considering the prevalent work ethic in today's CRPG industry, I assume a significant portion of said update will be bugs.

 

[CAFRedblade]

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

I am so getting this updated version of the classic. I wonder if it'll be able to read my old save files...

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Announced, Server Explodes [Update]

Wonder how long until Planescape:Torment gets this treatement...

WHOOT

 

[possum]

But I just got the reissue...

Just kidding, this is awesome news. Though it may lead to the funny phenomenom of getting the same game for two consecutive holidays...

EDIT: I do wonder about the status of the expansion packs, however.

 

[JonArkanix]

Baldur's Gate includes Tales of the Sword Coast and Baldur's Gate 2 includes Throne of Bhaal ... straight off Trent Oster twitter feed.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

No, no, no. PC or gtfo.

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.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

Does that mean the game's going to stay in 2E? That's really cool in a retro-way.

Update: Just saw the twitter. Indeed it still is.<s>#</s>bgee is 2nd Edition D&D. Our first rule is don't break the fun. Part of the appeal of BG was the depth of the rules system