HD remake that cocks everything up by using 4th edition rules. You heard it here... first?

Actually tried to play it again today. I just can't get a grip on the combat system, or movement, but what I've heard of the characters and story really has me intrigued, especially considering my adoration of everything BioWare.

I'm hoping this is some sort of less dense remake.

@FreakAche said:

@ShadowSkill11: It's EXTREMELY unlikely that BioWare will be making this game.

Good.

@Red said:

Actually tried to play it again today. I just can't get a grip on the combat system, or movement, but what I've heard of the characters and story really has me intrigued, especially considering my adoration of everything BioWare.

I'm hoping this is some sort of less dense remake.

The original Baldur's Gate is pretty rough in spots, especially without mods and especially at the beginning. If you aren't way into micromanagement, AD&D 2nd edition rules and wandering around mostly empty wilderness areas looking for quests and things to kill so you can be strong enough to actually bother tackling main story quests, you may want to give it a pass. I personally think it's a great game, but I also think that the rest of the Infinity Engine catalog is superior.

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

HD remake that cocks everything up by using 4th edition rules. You heard it here... first?

Seriously. FUCK 4TH EDITION.

It seems to get that reaction a lot. As someone who quit D&D before then, everything I hear from people who really liked 3.5 despite its imbalances suggests that its basically streamlined to the point of being a video game. I dunno. I'm just kinda interested in how 5th edition will turn out, in a morbid sort of way.

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

HD remake that cocks everything up by using 4th edition rules. You heard it here... first?

Seriously. FUCK 4TH EDITION.

It seems to get that reaction a lot. As someone who quit D&D before then, everything I hear from people who really liked 3.5 despite its imbalances suggests that its basically streamlined to the point of being a video game. I dunno. I'm just kinda interested in how 5th edition will turn out, in a morbid sort of way.

It is obviously going to be a first-person shooter since those are all the rage today, it is also going to have an arbitrary upgrade system and leveling up to unlock more equipment in the competitive deathmatch multiplayer.

Run for the hills!

@ShadowSkill11 said:

I have no expectations after Dragon Age 2. This will either be a Diablo clone or another DA2-like action game with long talking sequences thrown in.

Trust me, BioWare is never going back to ADnD. I'd be glad to eat my own words, i just doubt it, to put it lightly.

Swipe your finger right to kill Sarevok!

@mandude said:

@believer258 said:

@mandude said:

@FreakAche said:

@ShadowSkill11: It's EXTREMELY unlikely that BioWare will be making this game.

I'm not sure I want them to...

@believer258 said:

Baldur, not Baulder.

It's 'Baldur, not Bualder', not 'Baldur, not Baulder'. Please get his incorrect spelling correct before you correct him on his incorrect spelling.

Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, than it's spelled B-A-L-D-U-R. And that's how I spelled it.

Yes, but you spelled "Baldur, not Bualder" incorrectly. You spelled it as "Baldur, not Baulder". Don't fret, however. It's a common mistake.

I'm totes being mega serious, right now.

Yes. I know. A few posts below that one, someone said the same thing and I saw it.

Whatever it is; I'm getting my filthy paws on it. Baldur's Gate 2 is to this day, my favourite game ever produced, and so I'll take any excuse to play it again; as long as they keep what made the initial game great. Compelling and actually difficult combat; intelligent level design. (Remember the Troll Castle? Bloody brilliant how they forced you to conserve your spells and ammunition; completely changed the flow of the game.) And above everything else, the characters..

Maybe throw in an additional romance or two if it's Baldur's Gate 1 remake. The second had the best romances I've seen in a game, even to this date.

Hell, probably the best writing and characters, as well.

It's a close tie with PlaneScape Torment. Which honestly, I think would be easy to make a great remake of.

Wait and see situation, girls. Either way, as long as it's not a facebook game, I'm stoked.

Well finally deciding to look directly at the page it is a blatant remake in the .... making? I can't imagine any other reason for the background image to be made of character portraits from the first game only. Now we just need to pray to god it isn't some POS ios or phone game.

@owack6 said:

Would love a less D&D version of the game never could get around the crazy combat system of games like this but the characters seemed outstanding.

You're why we can't have awesome and deep RPGs anymore. God damnit. The world has gotten lazy and dumb.

@thebatmobile said:

@owack6 said:

Would love a less D&D version of the game never could get around the crazy combat system of games like this but the characters seemed outstanding.

You're why we can't have awesome and deep RPGs anymore. God damnit. The world has gotten lazy and dumb.

Hey i like deep games but i don't think that convoluted combat systems is what makes this kind of game fun, it just creates a barrier of entry for people who actually might be interested in the fiction and story.

Not saying that its bad, for a lot of people that is the draw here.

Haven't played that game in over a decade so i cant really say what they can improve but im sure some changes can be implemented on a 10 year old game no matter how good it was received at the time, even D&D change the combat system with new editions.

@owack6: Oh like Dragon Age 2.

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

HD remake that cocks everything up by using 4th edition rules. You heard it here... first?

Seriously. FUCK 4TH EDITION.

It seems to get that reaction a lot. As someone who quit D&D before then, everything I hear from people who really liked 3.5 despite its imbalances suggests that its basically streamlined to the point of being a video game. I dunno. I'm just kinda interested in how 5th edition will turn out, in a morbid sort of way.

It is. It's also the slowest system I've ever seen. One small fight takes an hour. It also heads way to far into "meta" territory. What is a "healing surge"? What does it mean to "mark" an enemy? Nothing. Other then it does something in the rules of the game.

My group honestly attempted to try 4th edition, we really did, for a few months before we decided to drop it. It has some neat features but way too much of it doesn't work and takes way too many options away from the players and DM.

Pathfinder on the other hand is absolutely glorious.

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

@Ragdrazi said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

HD remake that cocks everything up by using 4th edition rules. You heard it here... first?

Seriously. FUCK 4TH EDITION.

It seems to get that reaction a lot. As someone who quit D&D before then, everything I hear from people who really liked 3.5 despite its imbalances suggests that its basically streamlined to the point of being a video game. I dunno. I'm just kinda interested in how 5th edition will turn out, in a morbid sort of way.

It is. It's also the slowest system I've ever seen. One small fight takes an hour. It also heads way to far into "meta" territory. What is a "healing surge"? What does it mean to "mark" an enemy? Nothing. Other then it does something in the rules of the game.

My group honestly attempted to try 4th edition, we really did, for a few months before we decided to drop it. It has some neat features but way too much of it doesn't work and takes way too many options away from the players and DM.

Pathfinder on the other hand is absolutely glorious.

Hey i like deep games but i don't think that convoluted combat systems is what makes this kind of game fun, it just creates a barrier of entry for people who actually might be interested in the fiction and story.

@believer258 said:

Baldur, not Baulder.

Yeah, I'll go get my grammar nazi cap now. Sue me.

Anyway, cool beans. As soon as I finish Dragon Age Origins and KOTOR, I might either be sick of or in love with Bioware RPG's. Whether I ever play Baldur's gate depends on which one.

If could edit titles I would. I get a bit dyslexic when distracted and yesterday was a busy day. :)

D&D; 2.5 is not the be-all end-all of fun. Neither is 4th.

The thing I actually like about 4th is that your actual tactics during the fight are important, unlike 3.5 where the most important thing was to exploit the system until you are an unkillable god. Tactics, positioning, working in tandem or having combinations between players... It was just Get A Big Number. Then again, my munchkin player broke 4th Ed too, so whatever. I would like a turn based, grid based video game based on 4th. There's a lot of database calls in 4th that would be greatly expedited by an automatic calculator.

My only misgiving about Baldur's Gate is real time with pause. Because the pathfinding in almost all games fucking sucks. Imagine playing tabletop D&D; where everyone acted at once. Give me either turn based strategy or real time action.

@lockwoodx said:

@believer258 said:

Baldur, not Baulder.

Yeah, I'll go get my grammar nazi cap now. Sue me.

Anyway, cool beans. As soon as I finish Dragon Age Origins and KOTOR, I might either be sick of or in love with Bioware RPG's. Whether I ever play Baldur's gate depends on which one.

If could edit titles I would. I get a bit dyslexic when distracted and yesterday was a busy day. :)

As has been pointed out to me twice, I misspelled your misspelling. So I guess we're even... in some manner?

@Brodehouse said:

D&D; 2.5 is not the be-all end-all of fun. Neither is 4th. The thing I actually like about 4th is that your actual tactics during the fight are important, unlike 3.5 where the most important thing was to exploit the system until you are an unkillable god. Tactics, positioning, working in tandem or having combinations between players... It was just Get A Big Number. Then again, my munchkin player broke 4th Ed too, so whatever. I would like a turn based, grid based video game based on 4th. There's a lot of database calls in 4th that would be greatly expedited by an automatic calculator. My only misgiving about Baldur's Gate is real time with pause. Because the pathfinding in almost all games fucking sucks. Imagine playing tabletop D&D; where everyone acted at once. Give me either turn based strategy or real time action.

This.

Also: THAC0. My head hurts thinking about it.

Also: playing melee classes before 3.5 or 4 was an exercise in complete helplessness next to the caster classes.

And not to pour cold water on this thread but... Doesn't Atari hold the DnD license now? Not sure how far that licensing agreement goes though (legacy, ie old, versions of DnD). And doesn't Baldur's Gate run on the Infinity Engine, which is BioWare's?

Timer's up by now, but the site isn't working. Any news on what it is?

It's Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/122/1220884p1.html

STOKED!

here is a screengrab from when the site actually loads up properly:

Yeah, it's a thing, I guess.

Vox Games has *some* details.

I'm pretty excited for this, maybe it will include full voice work... although i don't know if i could get used to a new cast of voice actors. Hopefully it will include full voice acting with as many of the original actors as possible.... yea let's go with that.

Edit: Also how did this small studio manage to get the rights to one of the most legendary franchises in western RPG history? Did Wizards own all the rights to Baldur's Gate not Bioware?

Count me in! I never finished them and would love an excuse to play.

@Donkeycow said:

I'm pretty excited for this, maybe it will include full voice work... although i don't know if i could get used to a new cast of voice actors.

You... you shut up! They change one voice actor (except maybe Nalia) and it's not the same game any more.

Well, actually they shouldn't have a problem getting back a lot of the cast because they still do voice work for other video games (and lots of RPGs) to this day. They won't though. It seems like the goal of this project is to port the Baldur's Gate series to the newest enhanced version of the Infinity Engine (and oh my god, I would be all over that). It doesn't sound to me like voice acting is in the budget, but this is all coming out of my ass, so I could obviously be wrong.

@AndrewB: I just feel that full voice acting is an important aspect of immersion in the modern RPG, and would be one of the easiest ways to update the game. Perhaps they could supply an option for original voice acting or the new complete voice work. But i'm all in regardless, even if all it is is a version of BG compatible with modern hardware.

@Donkeycow: But the game is already compatible with modern hardware. I've run it on every computer I've owned since its release, from Windows ME through to Windows 8, and even virtualized in Linux and OSX. For the original game you need a resolution unlocking mod (the widescreen patch), which yeah I guess that could be built in, but otherwise the Infinity Engine has always been solid.

I actually agree on the voice acting. The hardest part of going back to that game for me is not having everything voiced. At least having every main character piece of dialog spoken would be a dream come true.

Actually... the hardest part is the D&D 2nd Edition ruleset, and it would be interesting to see if they went with 3rd edition, like was done with Icewind Dale 2 as the last Infinity Engine game.

Isn't 5th edition coming out soon? Could the remake use that? I honestly hope it uses 3rd edition like Icewind Dale 2, but that will almost certainly not happen.

@AndrewB: I tried to run BG again 2 years ago or so but had so many graphical issues that it wasn't worth pursuing, might have just been my bad luck. Also i totally agree about 2nd edition ruleset, i have no recollection of how it works but i still maintain a working knowledge of 3.x and a shift to that would be a god send.

@EkajArmstro said:

Isn't 5th edition coming out soon? Could the remake use that? I honestly hope it uses 3rd edition like Icewind Dale 2, but that will almost certainly not happen.

Even a transition to the 3rd edition would break game balance and require a ton of reworking. 4th and forward, given how different 4th is (not sure if they're reverting with 5, as I know literally nothing about it) would be unfeasible, which is why I didn't suggest it.

@Donkeycow said:

@AndrewB: I tried to run BG again 2 years ago or so but had so many graphical issues that it wasn't worth pursuing, might have just been my bad luck. Also i totally agree about 2nd edition ruleset, i have no recollection of how it works but i still maintain a working knowledge of 3.x and a shift to that would be a god send.

I think the only times I've ever had graphical issues was with 3D acceleration turned on with OSes past Vista, but all I had to do was disable that (it's not needed considering the game requires a 100mhz processor) and it worked fine.

Agree on 3rd edition. My knowledge is more fresh and it's just better (THAC0... ugh).

O goody ive never gotten the chance to play those games hopefully it comes out on PC and not just iOS like its rumored

@MrMazz: Actually i believe i read on the escapist (DON'T YOU DARE JUDGE ME! I got lost and needed directions) that it is PC only as of now. Going to be selling through some online retailer i've never heard of and also possibly Steam.

holly shit i am sooooo pumped. woooow. about time. and on top of it they are more or less still using the infinity engine!!

@AndrewB said:

@Donkeycow: But the game is already compatible with modern hardware. I've run it on every computer I've owned since its release, from Windows ME through to Windows 8, and even virtualized in Linux and OSX. For the original game you need a resolution unlocking mod (the widescreen patch), which yeah I guess that could be built in, but otherwise the Infinity Engine has always been solid.

I actually agree on the voice acting. The hardest part of going back to that game for me is not having everything voiced. At least having every main character piece of dialog spoken would be a dream come true.

Actually... the hardest part is the D&D 2nd Edition ruleset, and it would be interesting to see if they went with 3rd edition, like was done with Icewind Dale 2 as the last Infinity Engine game.

ew, no. I need all voice acting or no voice acting. Anything else makes it seem like you've gone deaf temporarily.

I'm fine with reading text. I prefer it to voice acting, usually.