New 25-Hour Baldur's Gate Expansion Announced

[StewShearerOld]

New 25-Hour Baldur's Gate Expansion Announced

Beamdog has announced Siege of Dragonspear, a new expansion for the original Baldur's Gate.

Back at the end of June, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/baldurs%20gate?os=baldurs+gate>Baldur's Gate fans around the world had the embers of their imagination stoked by <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141381-New-Timer-Ticking-Down-to-Baldurs-Gate-Announcement>a countdown launched by Beamdog, the studio behind the enhanced editions of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. While the studio left few clues as to what it would reveal when the timer dropped down to zero, gamers were still eager to discover how it intended to expand on the vaunted legacy of that beloved RPG. The timer finally counted down yesterday and, as many suspected, Beamdog has announced a new chapter in the classic series aimed at filling in the blanks between Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2.

The newly announced Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear will, according to a site launched by Beamdog, be an interquel expansion of the original game that covers the events immediately following the conclusion of the first Baldur's Gate. More specifically, Dragonspear will follow the player character as they investigate the Shining Lady, a mysterious warrior assailing the Sword Coast from with an army under her private command. As they learn more about her, they'll begin to suspect that she, like the player character, is one of the Bhaalspawn.

The expansion will be built with an improved version of the Infinity Engine and include an "updated UI" and nearly 25 hours of new content. The cast of the first game will also be returning along with a bevy of additional characters. Siege of Dragonspear will likewise add in new items and even a new character class: "the spirit-calling shaman." Gamers will be able to tackle the expansion on their own or "with a friend" thanks "extensively tested cross-platform multplayer." Beamdog has yet to reveal any definite release date, but has confirmed that the expansion will be releasing on PC, Mac and Linux, with iOS and Android editions following shortly afterward.

Source: Siege of Dragonspear


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[Michael Tabbut]

You know...hearing Jim Cummings reprise his role as Minsc gives me slight hope.

 

[StatusNil]

Oh man, I wish I could have uncomplicated feelings about this one. I haven't been back to Baldur's Gate since finishing Throne of Bhaal when it was released in the summer of 2001, so it's been 14 years. And I have such good memories of it. So I'm not sure I want to trample over those as someone who's definitely not the same person anymore.

And that's the thing with this, since it's an expansion, you presumably can't even just jump into playing the new part.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

This gives me hope that maybe 15 years from now Bioware will make an expansion for Mass Effect 3 ending.

Not really.

 

[Albino Boo]

Hmm I'm not sure about new characters and classes and I am worried about the lvl balance in BG2 being thrown off

You know...hearing Jim Cummings reprise his role as Minsc gives me slight hope.

Butt Kicking for Goodness!

 

[Oroboros]

I really hope that the 'old friends' we'll be seeing return will be more than just Imoen, Khalid, Dynaheir, Minsc and Jaheria.

I know they are supposed to be in your party when you get captured prior to BG II, but I was really hoping to see another appearance by some of the characters who got left out of BG II (besides Khalid & jaheria) Shar Teel or Xan, for instance.

 

[zidine100]

Cant we just let the infinity engine die already? Like seriously. Its a good engine don't get me wrong but come on now this is just getting silly.

Oh well, Im just going to hope they dont screw it up, but my gut is tellimg me to not hold up much hope.

 

[tzimize]

The ONE thing I didnt want them to do with this. FUCK!

Its just a fucking intermission, and we KNOW whats gonna happen, and where its all gonna end up...imprisonment....really beamdog, with all the interesting stuff thats going on, Pillars, Torment A NEW ONE no prequel bullshit...why the hell would anyone be interested in this dribble?

Wanna use the infinity engine? Fine. But make something original. At the very least, make Baldurs Gate III, and introduce something NEW.

Prequels are the WORST!

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

It's actually an expansion to the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate, if we want to get technical. Considering how that had issues I'm hesitant to really support this.

 

[Recusant]

The ONE thing I didnt want them to do with this. FUCK!

Its just a fucking intermission, and we KNOW whats gonna happen, and where its all gonna end up...imprisonment....really beamdog, with all the interesting stuff thats going on, Pillars, Torment A NEW ONE no prequel bullshit...why the hell would anyone be interested in this dribble?

Wanna use the infinity engine? Fine. But make something original. At the very least, make Baldurs Gate III, and introduce something NEW.

Prequels are the WORST!

Baldur's Gate 3? How on Earth would you do that? The story had as definite an ending as you can get, short of destroying the universe. While I admit that

Spoiler

following the adventures of newly-elevated deity would make for a fascinating game, neither the Infinity engine nor the 2nd edition AD&D ruleset are really set up to handle that.

A new game in the same setting would be one thing, but that wouldn't be Baldur's Gate 3, now would it? It'd be cashing in on the name, the same thing we gamers are always railing against companies for doing. If Beamdog makes something original, they really have no right (practical, not legal) to use the name; forcing them to use something that doesn't have the same brand recognition. There's really no room for a sequel. That leaves them with only two options- prequel, which, being the adventures of a pre-level 1 character, would indeed suck, or interquel, which is what they're making. Will it also suck? Maybe. But it's not hard to see how, from their viewpoint, it's the best of their options.

 

[tzimize]

The ONE thing I didnt want them to do with this. FUCK!

Its just a fucking intermission, and we KNOW whats gonna happen, and where its all gonna end up...imprisonment....really beamdog, with all the interesting stuff thats going on, Pillars, Torment A NEW ONE no prequel bullshit...why the hell would anyone be interested in this dribble?

Wanna use the infinity engine? Fine. But make something original. At the very least, make Baldurs Gate III, and introduce something NEW.

Prequels are the WORST!

Baldur's Gate 3? How on Earth would you do that? The story had as definite an ending as you can get, short of destroying the universe. While I admit that

Spoiler

following the adventures of newly-elevated deity would make for a fascinating game, neither the Infinity engine nor the 2nd edition AD&D ruleset are really set up to handle that.

A new game in the same setting would be one thing, but that wouldn't be Baldur's Gate 3, now would it? It'd be cashing in on the name, the same thing we gamers are always railing against companies for doing. If Beamdog makes something original, they really have no right (practical, not legal) to use the name; forcing them to use something that doesn't have the same brand recognition. There's really no room for a sequel. That leaves them with only two options- prequel, which, being the adventures of a pre-level 1 character, would indeed suck, or interquel, which is what they're making. Will it also suck? Maybe. But it's not hard to see how, from their viewpoint, it's the best of their options.

I am fully aware that a sequel is not possible concerning the original characters and I am FINE with that. The story is OVER, and thats a good thing.

Interquel is a stupid word imo, it is a prequel. A prequel to Baldurs Gate 2. With the exact same weaknesses that a prequel to BG1 would have had. In fact, its worse. A prequel to BG1 might have told us story about characters we know nothing to little about, since we already know the MAIN character grew up in Candlekeep. The Prequel to BG2 is absolutely pointless since we know both what happened right before, and right after the interquel or whatever.

A good option would be Baldurs Gate III: The story about somebody else.

A just as good, and possibly better option would be: Unnamed new franchise. Which was honestly what I was hoping for. I am SO happy that both Pillars and Torment is their own thing. It gives them the opportunity to be special in its own way, instead of a stupid footnote to a good game, which is all Baldurs Gate: Beamdog trial run edition is destined to be :\

Captcha: River styx, which is the only place the new beamdog venture is going.

 

[Recusant]

The ONE thing I didnt want them to do with this. FUCK!

Its just a fucking intermission, and we KNOW whats gonna happen, and where its all gonna end up...imprisonment....really beamdog, with all the interesting stuff thats going on, Pillars, Torment A NEW ONE no prequel bullshit...why the hell would anyone be interested in this dribble?

Wanna use the infinity engine? Fine. But make something original. At the very least, make Baldurs Gate III, and introduce something NEW.

Prequels are the WORST!

Baldur's Gate 3? How on Earth would you do that? The story had as definite an ending as you can get, short of destroying the universe. While I admit that

Spoiler

following the adventures of newly-elevated deity would make for a fascinating game, neither the Infinity engine nor the 2nd edition AD&D ruleset are really set up to handle that.

A new game in the same setting would be one thing, but that wouldn't be Baldur's Gate 3, now would it? It'd be cashing in on the name, the same thing we gamers are always railing against companies for doing. If Beamdog makes something original, they really have no right (practical, not legal) to use the name; forcing them to use something that doesn't have the same brand recognition. There's really no room for a sequel. That leaves them with only two options- prequel, which, being the adventures of a pre-level 1 character, would indeed suck, or interquel, which is what they're making. Will it also suck? Maybe. But it's not hard to see how, from their viewpoint, it's the best of their options.

I am fully aware that a sequel is not possible concerning the original characters and I am FINE with that. The story is OVER, and thats a good thing.

Interquel is a stupid word imo, it is a prequel. A prequel to Baldurs Gate 2. With the exact same weaknesses that a prequel to BG1 would have had. In fact, its worse. A prequel to BG1 might have told us story about characters we know nothing to little about, since we already know the MAIN character grew up in Candlekeep. The Prequel to BG2 is absolutely pointless since we know both what happened right before, and right after the interquel or whatever.

A good option would be Baldurs Gate III: The story about somebody else.

Interquel is indeed a stupid word, but it's the best I've got. And calling it a "prequel" is hardly accurate. It's a prequel to Baldur's Gate 2, and a sequel to the first Baldur's Gate. In between two installments, thus "interquel". If you have a term that is both better and at least as accurate, I'm all ears.