Beamdog Already Planning Paid DLC for Baldur's Gate Overhaul

[kitsuta]

Beamdog Already Planning Paid DLC for Baldur's Gate Overhaul

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition add-ons invite new heroes to the Sword Coast.

If you've been waiting with bated breath for the release of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition this summer, you'll apparently have some more of the game to look forward to in the form of downloadable content. Overhaul Games' Trent Oster, who founded its parent company Beamdog, announced that the game would be supported with paid DLC after release. In a tweet this morning, Oster stated, "We'll be doing free feature improvements and existing content improvements as we go, but we are also planning some paid DLC."


Oster clarified that the content in the paid DLC will be brand new, stating that it would include "new BG storylines" and "new characters" in a follow-up tweet to the original announcement. He didn't reveal any more specifics about the planned add-ons, but he did take some time to reassure fans of Overhaul Games' commitment to being faithful to the original Baldur's Gate games. If the studio needs to add any lines for the characters Irenicus and Minsc, for example, Oster promised to "try to pull" David Warner and Jim Cummings, the original voice actors of the popular NPCs. By mentioning Irenicus, the antagonist of the sequel, Oster may be implying that the studio plans to use him in the DLC - or he may simply be referring to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn as the obvious next game for the developer to bring into the modern era.

Announced back in March [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116352-Atari-Reveals-Baldurs-Gate-Enhanced-Edition], Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is an overhaul of the classic AD&D-based RPG originally developed by BioWare over a decade ago. The aim of the new game is to faithfully port the original to new devices, updating the graphics and particularly bringing the multiplayer up to speed so it can work without third-party tools. So far the game has been confirmed for PC, Mac OS X, and iPad. The studio is aiming to release the game before the end of September, although the date has not been set in stone.

Source: PC Gamer [https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster]

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[saintdane05]

ZOMG WHY THEY ARE GOING TO RUIN BALDUR'S GATE FOREVER BLARRRGEE EA!!!!!

 

[LadyRhian]

I am so buying this the day it comes out. I missed you, Baldur's Gate!

 

[pffh]

Since this will be new content and not something cut from the original game I'm going to go with cautiously interested since more Baldur's Gate has so far been good news.

 

[Fasckira]

Eh, never had the urge to play Baldurs Gate, don't wanna and possibly never will.

Why are they announcing they are planning DLC? This will only piss people off.

Not really, it would have pissed people off if they tried to release original content off as DLC but thats not the case. Tbh its pretty clever as this will encourage some of the hardcore BG fans to purchase this new version simply to then be able to buy the DLC for the extra content (assuming the reviews favour the new content highly).

 

[zidine100]

On one side, what can they add that's worth adding that hasn't already been added by mods and the like so far.

on the other side i really want to see what there planning to add, they know the game has a huge fan base so it has to be good... right?

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

Hmm. On the one hand, the overall plot of the BG trilogy didn't really start coming together until the second game anyway - the first is loose enough that you could easily slide another quest or two into the narrative without being too disruptive.

On the other hand, I'd be incredibly skeptical of anything that didn't come from the writers of the original games, particularly after David Gaider's "Ascension" mod did so much to refine the concluding moments of "Throne of Bhaal".

New party members might be interesting, though. I had a great time with the all-female team of Jaheira, Imoen, Shar-Teel, Viconia and a gender-belted Edwin...

 

[The Last Nomad]

This is the worst thing I've heard about this game so far. First of all I thought it was gonna be a remake of both games and now I hear its not (granted this was more my fault than anyone elses)

And now they are doing paid DLC which contains new characters and missions? So were the new characters, quests and dialogue they've been promoting all this time just gonna be DLC? and the game itself will juts be a HD version of BG 1 sans new content. Until I hear more I am no longer interested.

 

[Rad Party God]

In b4 "plz let us play as Drizzt!!1!".

Great!, more content for an already massive game!.

 

[5ilver]

It's like someone finds your favorite childhood toy out of a forgotten closet and then takes a dump on it.

 

[thomaskattus]

What about an Android port? Please? Pretty please sprinkled with sugar on top?

 

[Elyxard]

I'm someone who still despises the very nature of DLC in the first place, but I don't think I have a problem with this. They're releasing the base game at a reasonable price of ten dollars, so it's not like they're trying to screw us over. And it's not like they can cut out content to sell it to us later either, this stuff is legitimately being made long after the release of the game (over a decade at that).

This isn't EA remastering it, which is enough reason to have confidence that it's being done for all the right reasons.

I'll remain cautiously optimistic about it. We still need a release date on the game itself though!

 

[Frankster]

DLC for baldurs gate? Assuming they are like fan made character mods (for which there is a TON of great ones for the series. Heck i had tyris flare from golden axe in my party last time I played BG2 xD), then this would be a case I welcome DLC with eager arms.

Plus it's not like they are cutting stuff from the main game

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

I wonder if they'll take the BGT approach of retroactively adding BG2's new classes to BG1 so that you can play the same class all the way through - going through the first game as a Sorceress was a very interesting experience.

 

[Scow2]

Oh hey! I love the author's avatar! Hello Katt! Why can't she be in any Capcom fighting games?

Eh, never had the urge to play Baldurs Gate, don't wanna and possibly never will.

Why are they announcing they are planning DLC? This will only piss people off.

Not really, it would have pissed people off if they tried to release original content off as DLC but thats not the case. Tbh its pretty clever as this will encourage some of the hardcore BG fans to purchase this new version simply to then be able to buy the DLC for the extra content (assuming the reviews favour the new content highly).

I suppose, but when the developers of Metal Gear Rising said there will be DLC to play as other characters, people were pissed as hell. Mainly because they could already put it on the disc, but chose not to find a way to make some extra scratch. Don't get me started on Day 1 DLC or On-Disk DLC, those are the cheapest gimmicks.

Nothing wrong with Post-Game Support, but It's cheap when a game is just released or not even released and they announce DLC, purely as a quick cash grab (Like the fucking dye DLC for Fable III, makes horse armor look like a necessity)

1. Don't like it? Don't buy it. Post-release DLC like Horse Armor is just fine.
2. Baldur's Gate is already released. In fact, it was released more than ten years ago. The "They're cutting content to bill us with later!" argument is gamer entitlement complex, not a reaction against corporate greed. They're allowed to use whatever level of resources they want for DLC, and can release it even BEFORE Day-One DLC without being "greedy". We already know EXACTLY what content is intended as part of the original game, and what is "new".

Also - we already know what's going into Baldur's Gate, and what's seperate, so you can't level the "YOU'RE CUTTING CONTENT FROM THE MAIN GAME! WAAAAAAAAAAH!" complaint against them, and even if they don't have a separate team working on the DLC, it still costs money to make the new content. Sure, modders have the POTENTIAL to make better stuff than official DLC, but good luck finding that through the 90% Shit cluttering everything up.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Sure, modders have the POTENTIAL to make better stuff than official DLC, but good luck finding that through the 90% Shit cluttering everything up.

I don't know about every title, but for Source and Bethesda games that's about as difficult as breathing.

I think we can feel pretty good about this particular DLC. After all, if we accept the idea of any DLC at all we must surely allow them to plan it.

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

Have the developers mentioned whether this edition will include "Tales of the Sword Coast"? Not really central to the main game but it was quite a fun expansion...