Beamdog Already Planning Paid DLC for Baldur's Gate Overhaul

[Absolutionis]

I was thinking of picking this game up at release, but I guess I'll wait until the complete version gets released as a bundle. It'll probably be cheaper then, too.

Don't get me wrong, I love Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 while being a heavy AD&D player from when it was THE D&D edition available. I can quote characters' multiple-click dialogue to no end.
But this pre-planned DLC is shit. It's the principle of the matter that they're using up development time to release a game while holding back content for another money grab.

Problem is, if the game doesn't sell well, they'll probably just use it as a shitty excuse to misattribute poor sales with the genre of game or something other than poor business decisions.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

The best time to announce DLC like this is post launch, otherwise you will get people screaming "THEY CUT IT FROM RELEASE!"

This being a remake isn't an excuse, its a matter of marketing.

 

[Scow2]

I was thinking of picking this game up at release, but I guess I'll wait until the complete version gets released as a bundle. It'll probably be cheaper then, too.

Don't get me wrong, I love Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 while being a heavy AD&D player from when it was THE D&D edition available. I can quote characters' multiple-click dialogue to no end.
But this pre-planned DLC is shit. It's the principle of the matter that they're using up development time to release a game while holding back content for another money grab.

Problem is, if the game doesn't sell well, they'll probably just use it as a shitty excuse to misattribute poor sales with the genre of game or something other than poor business decisions.

What content are they "Holding back"? We already know EXACTLY what's going into the game. This is an engine, interface, and mechanics update, not an extra content update. A lot of people probably don't want the new content anyway. We're not talking "pre-release" DLC here: The game was released almost 15 years ago, so we know they're not cutting anything from the game. The ONLY valid complaint MIGHT be the DLC pushing the release date back, but you really have no business talking about that at all. It's also highly unlikely, if they have any business sense.

There's absolutely no content to hold back so that argument really isn't going to fly.

The best time to announce DLC like this is post launch, otherwise you will get people screaming "THEY CUT IT FROM RELEASE!"

This being a remake isn't an excuse, its a matter of marketing.

But there's nothing to cut from release. The game was released 10 years ago. This isn't a new game, it's a remake. Unless they cut content from the original 1998 game to release as "DLC", shove a sock in it.

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.

Maybe breathing 30 feet under the ocean. Yeah, it's possible to find SOME great mods, but only about 1% of them through all the crud. Finding the good mods that AREN'T popular through other recommendations is a headache at best.

That said... I'm still distracted by the article poster's avatar.

 

[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.

Maybe breathing 30 feet under the ocean. Yeah, it's possible to find SOME great mods, but only about 1% of them through all the crud. Finding the good mods that AREN'T popular through other recommendations is a headache at best.

It's hard to kick a field goal when somebody moves the goalposts. =) And I think you messed up the quotes.

But yea, even that is super easy.

 

[80Maxwell08]

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

Quiickly I say this. EA owns absolutely nothing of the BG series. I know your post is sarcastic I just didn't know if you knew that.

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.

The DLC has nothing to do with the added content. Trent just said they were going to support the game after release. Go read the article again it clears a bit up and is actually accurate. If you are interested in the game at all then I would advise bookmarking Trent Oster's twitter or just following him or something.
https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster
Also he answers a lot of questions about BG:EE there so feel free to ask him anything you might be curious about.

 

[80Maxwell08]

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...

They have and it will. Also the BG2:EE will include it's expansion as well.

 

[kitsuta]

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

<3 I know, right!? Her metamorph form looks particularly badass.

Also, it was a bit too tangential to mention in the OP, but Oster did discuss mods for the new edition of the game - particularly that the studio was making an effort to allow modders easy access to the game.

 

[Zeren]

I plan on waiting to see how everything stacks up. For now I'm quite content playing the old BG.

 

[Diana Kingston-Gabai]

They have and it will. Also the BG2:EE will include it's expansion as well.

Oh good, I'd hoped they were doing the second game too.

 

[Eleima]

I'm looking forward to BG:EE, but I'm not sure DLC interests me all that much. Unless it's one of the mods I've already used and liked. Mark me down as "undecided".
Can't help but wonder what @Slycne thinks about this...

 

[keiji_Maeda]

There already has been "Paid for extra content" for BAldurs gate 1. It was called "Tal,es of the sword coast"

Hunkoer down Chillun' an let grandpappy tell you something. Back in the days, before the internet was the neverending cornocupia of golden rainbows. We didn't have Downloadable content. It was called an EXPANSION. These we're relased mebbe' 6 months to a year after a game was released. Andf often met with great expectations and hopefullnes.

It came in a box made of cardboard. Yes, real cardboard. In the olden' days this was quite the shit, as games hitherto had been delivered in hollowed out loaves of bread. Which caused the famous Shitstorm of Tiberium sun.

All 'at Jazz aside. DLC is NOW. The old system of buying expansions was the past, which (as we all know)is in another country (besides, the wench is dead). I don't mind DLC. I haven't worked in the games industry, but i imagine programmers and testers cost money, development costs money. And coding costs money.

Do i buy DLC that should have been included from the begining? Hell naw dawg, i'd drop that game like it was a hot potato. But do i mind paying for EC or Shiny new guns? Not really.

 

[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.

The DLC has nothing to do with the added content. Trent just said they were going to support the game after release. Go read the article again it clears a bit up and is actually accurate. If you are interested in the game at all then I would advise bookmarking Trent Oster's twitter or just following him or something.
https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster
Also he answers a lot of questions about BG:EE there so feel free to ask him anything you might be curious about.

I'm not on twitter so I can only really look at what he says, not ask him anything. But from what I've read here and on other games-news sites, he specifically said no original content would be made into paid DLC, he seemed very adamant about that. While I do admire that, I feel by specifying that and not the new content, we might not be getting so much new content in the base release after all.

And besides, I still haven't seen all there is to see in the original games, so I'm not particularly bothered if this turns out to be true.

 

[80Maxwell08]

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.

The DLC has nothing to do with the added content. Trent just said they were going to support the game after release. Go read the article again it clears a bit up and is actually accurate. If you are interested in the game at all then I would advise bookmarking Trent Oster's twitter or just following him or something.
https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster
Also he answers a lot of questions about BG:EE there so feel free to ask him anything you might be curious about.

I'm not on twitter so I can only really look at what he says, not ask him anything. But from what I've read here and on other games-news sites, he specifically said no original content would be made into paid DLC, he seemed very adamant about that. While I do admire that, I feel by specifying that and not the new content, we might not be getting so much new content in the base release after all.

And besides, I still haven't seen all there is to see in the original games, so I'm not particularly bothered if this turns out to be true.

Well he hasn't given any estimates on how long it will be so I can't tell you anything there. Also I'm mainly getting this because he's expressed interest in doing this for all of the Infinity Engine games and I would love this treatment for Planescape Torment. Then there's his interest in BG3 and he's stated they are forming a dev team specifically to make isometric RPGs. DLC or not I hope this sells a lot for his sake.

 

[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.

The DLC has nothing to do with the added content. Trent just said they were going to support the game after release. Go read the article again it clears a bit up and is actually accurate. If you are interested in the game at all then I would advise bookmarking Trent Oster's twitter or just following him or something.
https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster
Also he answers a lot of questions about BG:EE there so feel free to ask him anything you might be curious about.

I'm not on twitter so I can only really look at what he says, not ask him anything. But from what I've read here and on other games-news sites, he specifically said no original content would be made into paid DLC, he seemed very adamant about that. While I do admire that, I feel by specifying that and not the new content, we might not be getting so much new content in the base release after all.

And besides, I still haven't seen all there is to see in the original games, so I'm not particularly bothered if this turns out to be true.

Well he hasn't given any estimates on how long it will be so I can't tell you anything there. Also I'm mainly getting this because he's expressed interest in doing this for all of the Infinity Engine games and I would love this treatment for Planescape Torment. Then there's his interest in BG3 and he's stated they are forming a dev team specifically to make isometric RPGs. DLC or not I hope this sells a lot for his sake.

I think my interest in the rerelease really dropped when I heard someone t beamdog (probably Oster) say that BG3 was the long term goal. And then that became a lot more interesting, but I suppose if this is good and sells well that bodes well for BG 3.

 

[80Maxwell08]

I think my interest in the rerelease really dropped when I heard someone t beamdog (probably Oster) say that BG3 was the long term goal. And then that became a lot more interesting, but I suppose if this is good and sells well that bodes well for BG 3.

Ok I had to think about this one for a bit to get my wording right but before that you were right it was Trent who said that. Now then the reason he said that is because he planned it out like this. To convince Atari/Hasbro that the BG name is still worth something he needed something to show that if they greenlight BG3 they will need to know if it will sell. So they are doing this current work to see if the Enhanced Editions will sell enough to greenlight BG3. If they don't sell well enough then chances are BG3 won't happen. That's why he said the long term plan was BG3 they are building up to it.

 

[Scow2]

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

<3 I know, right!? Her metamorph form looks particularly badass.

Also, it was a bit too tangential to mention in the OP, but Oster did discuss mods for the new edition of the game - particularly that the studio was making an effort to allow modders easy access to the game.

I don't really like the outfit change for the morphed form, though. If she'd kept the same style of outfit with the new appearance, animation and attack, I think she would have looked much better.

And I also don't think a reassurance of mod-friendliness wouldn't have been too tangental to the announcement of planned DLC.

 

[The Lunatic]

Whelp, nevermind then.

 

[kitsuta]

<3 I know, right!? Her metamorph form looks particularly badass.

Also, it was a bit too tangential to mention in the OP, but Oster did discuss mods for the new edition of the game - particularly that the studio was making an effort to allow modders easy access to the game.

I don't really like the outfit change for the morphed form, though. If she'd kept the same style of outfit with the new appearance, animation and attack, I think she would have looked much better.

And I also don't think a reassurance of mod-friendliness wouldn't have been too tangental to the announcement of planned DLC.

I dunno, I dig her new boots. The SNES concept art seems to have her eschewing clothes in metamorph form, though. Hm. Also, how cool would she be with a staff plus her metamorph moves?

I couldn't reaaally find a place to add a sentence about mod-friendliness without breaking the flow of the writing, and Oster didn't give quite enough detail to dedicate a whole section about it - he really just said that they're creating the game with mods in mind. Plus, the post was already a bit long for my tastes. Seeing how many negative reactions there are, though, I could maybe have included a few more of Oster's reassurances.

 

[Evilpigeon]

I'm looking forwards to this, if they could give the cast of the first game as much dialogue and interaction as they have in the second, I'd pay for that in an instant. There's plenty they could do to add to the game.