Beamdog Sets its Sights on Icewind Dale

[Marshall Honorof]

Beamdog Sets its Sights on Icewind Dale

After Baldur's Gate, Beamdog may tackle Black Isle's chilly dungeon crawler.

I don't know what Beamdog's long-term business plan is, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it exists solely to target my wallet. The unassuming little company that's set out to irrefutable price [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116361-Beamdog-Boss-Reveals-More-About-Baldurs-Gate-Enhanced-Edition]. I guess securing $20 of my money isn't enough, though, because if Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition sells well, Beamdog intends to get right to work on an updated port of Icewind Dale, another Infinity Engine classic from the same era.

"The topic of Icewind Dale has come up a number of times," tweets Trent Oster, president of Beamdog and member of the original Baldur's Gate dev team. "We are interested, but first we need [Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition] to succeed." Since the same engine powered Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the first time around, porting the second game would likely not be too difficult. However, rather than a straight-up port, Oster believes he could ease the conversion process by using the engine present in Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal rather than Icewind Dale's original one, which was something of a bridge between Baldur's Gate and its sequel. "If we were to do Icewind Dale we would likely use ... all classes and kits in [Throne of Bhaal]." While Throne of Bhaal has tighter mechanics and an expanded class selection, using its engine would alter the Icewind Dale experience somewhat.

Whereas Baldur's Gate is a story- and character-driven game, Icewind Dale skews more towards dungeon crawling and party optimization (for starters, you get to create a whole party from scratch rather than recruiting predetermined NPCs). If anything, this may make it an even better match for the iPad than Baldur's Gate. Besides, if Baldur's Gate sells well, Beamdog can port Icewind Dale; if Icewind Dale sells well, than Beamdog can get to work on Baldur's Gate 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116392-Baldurs-Gate-3-is-the-Long-Term-Goal]. This would mean another hit to my dwindling bank account, of course, but money spent on Infinity Engine classics is money well spent.

Source: Eurogamer [https://twitter.com/#!/trentoster]

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[80Maxwell08]

Um you realize how low that is on the priority list? Trent has said on his twitter he plans on the BGEEs for both 1&2 then BG3 and Planescape Torment if both of those sell well. Odds are then after that Icewind Dale will come into play. No offence but every story this website has run on this has been misinforing and/or days late.
EDIT: Well my post looks way more hostile than I intended. Sorry about that.

 

[80Maxwell08]

they are making a baldurs gate 3? hows that going to work considering the ending to throne of bhaal?

im definitely keen for bg1 and 2 to recieve a modern update

Well they hope to make a BG3. That depends on the financial success of BGEE1&2. Also since I haven't played the games I can't mention how it will work. Maybe that has to do with the extra content added in the enhanced editions but I don't know.

 

[Therumancer]

My interest is minimal unless there is going to be a Kindle: Fire version.

That said, if they do wind up updating the games I will say that one thing that always kind of irked me about Icewind Dale (well more fairly the second one given timing) was that they didn't include kits like they did for "Baldur's Gate 2" which added a lot of flavor to the characters I thought. I would have liked to have had the same range of options for creating my party as I did in making a BG2 protaganist. Perhaps that is something they could work on adding in, if they have all the liscences and are planning on "enhancing" the games.

 

[80Maxwell08]

My interest is minimal unless there is going to be a Kindle: Fire version.

That said, if they do wind up updating the games I will say that one thing that always kind of irked me about Icewind Dale (well more fairly the second one given timing) was that they didn't include kits like they did for "Baldur's Gate 2" which added a lot of flavor to the characters I thought. I would have liked to have had the same range of options for creating my party as I did in making a BG2 protaganist. Perhaps that is something they could work on adding in, if they have all the liscences and are planning on "enhancing" the games.

They said if they are going to do Icewind Dale they will do that. That is listed in the article.

 

[Scars Unseen]

they are making a baldurs gate 3? hows that going to work considering the ending to throne of bhaal?

im definitely keen for bg1 and 2 to recieve a modern update

The only thing I can think of is that they might release BG2EE sans ToB and then create a true sequel of the ending rather than an expansion. ToB was almost like the ME3 of its era. The ending made a lot more sense, and we did get closure, so maybe it wasn't on the same scale as ME3, but most fans were expecting the same mix of story and combat that we were treated to in SoA, and instead we got mostly just combat with an index card epilogue at the end. It didn't have nearly the impact that SoA did, but it ended, and little room for further expansion was left.

Personally, I'm not sure how I would feel about changing the story of the series(even if ToB was the least interesting bit of it), but I would probably buy it regardless to see what they did with it. If nothing else, digging up the bones of games past seems to be the popular thing to do right now, what with the new Mechwarrior, Wasteland 2, and BGEE getting talked about.

 

[Therumancer]

My interest is minimal unless there is going to be a Kindle: Fire version.

That said, if they do wind up updating the games I will say that one thing that always kind of irked me about Icewind Dale (well more fairly the second one given timing) was that they didn't include kits like they did for "Baldur's Gate 2" which added a lot of flavor to the characters I thought. I would have liked to have had the same range of options for creating my party as I did in making a BG2 protaganist. Perhaps that is something they could work on adding in, if they have all the liscences and are planning on "enhancing" the games.

They said if they are going to do Icewind Dale they will do that. That is listed in the article.

Ahh okay, I'm tired, I DID read that but read it a bit differantly for some reason. Never mind.

 

[80Maxwell08]

These guys kinda seem to be putting the cart quite a bit before the horse. They haven't even released their updated Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and they're already talking about Planescape and Icewind Dale?

And really, I don't think too many people want a Baldur's Gate 3. In that they don't want a continuation to the story (which was finished pretty conclusively), but a return to that kind of gameplay and epic scale. They'd be better spent at focusing their efforts on a new IP designed in their new Infinity engine, instead of prettying up Black Isle's bones.

Well Planescape could definitely use it considering how much was cut out and how buggy it is. If they managed to finish the game and do proper QA on it then definitely. I think they would be able to easily with the extra experience from the other 2 Infinity Engine games. Also they said they want to do those games not they are going to. In order for that to happen the BGEE games need to be a financial success. Which I can't see not happening unless they manage to break the game somehow.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

they are making a baldurs gate 3? hows that going to work considering the ending to throne of bhaal?

im definitely keen for bg1 and 2 to recieve a modern update

The only thing I can think of is that they might release BG2EE sans ToB and then create a true sequel of the ending rather than an expansion. ToB was almost like the ME3 of its era. The ending made a lot more sense, and we did get closure, so maybe it wasn't on the same scale as ME3, but most fans were expecting the same mix of story and combat that we were treated to in SoA, and instead we got mostly just combat with an index card epilogue at the end. It didn't have nearly the impact that SoA did, but it ended, and little room for further expansion was left.

Personally, I'm not sure how I would feel about changing the story of the series(even if ToB was the least interesting bit of it), but I would probably buy it regardless to see what they did with it. If nothing else, digging up the bones of games past seems to be the popular thing to do right now, what with the new Mechwarrior, Wasteland 2, and BGEE getting talked about.

Odd, I loved TOB and I thought its ending worked really well.

 

[cikame]

I'm just annoyed i need another bloody distribution platform on my pc.
Steam, Origin, GFWL, Beamdog.

I only want Steam, i can handle GFWL cus it connects me to my xbox friends, it's terrible but i don't have much choice there.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Never actually got a chance to play Icewind dale, but if they rerelease it I sure will make up for that.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

*throws money at screen* I know this is turning into such a hype-train but I honestly don't give a single fuck this day. The Infinity engine games are still some of the best games on PC, including one of the most underrated games of all time: Icewind Dale 2.It got overshadowed by NWN and Morrowind the year it was released which was unfortunate.

Also for those wondering about BG3, Black Isle/Interplay was making a game called Baldur's Gate 3: The Black Hound. I think it was supposed to be more like the IWD games and set in the Dales.

 

[ace_of_something]

I really liked the icewind dale games. Maybe because you got to make your whole party. Less story more crunch! I'm rather excited about this!

 

[Crazy Zaul]

What about Neverwinter?

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I love Icewind Dale. It seems important to mention that before I move on.

The problem is, I don't actually want to play Icewind Dale or Baldur's Gate again unless they make significant changes. I've tried to do so. Recently. And the experience was not hampered by technical difficulties but simply that the game desperately needs significant mechanical and UI updates. Playing an infinity engine game is fantastically tedious,

You can keep the graphics, sounds, assets and rule set if you must. But for the love of god, give me an interface that benefits from an extra fifteen years of game design.