TBH if they change it to 3.5, I'm buying it. If they keep it at AD&D, I'll probably just stick to originals.
Ehh.
I'd rather dislike that.
If they change any of the rulesets, I hope it's just for BGI + Expansion, to make it uniform with BGII + Expansion, which uses a mix beteen 2nd & 3rd ED rulesets with a core rule format of 2nd ED.
Since the maps are huge, yeah, it'll matter a lot.
It'll give you a much greater viewing distance, which is rather nice when pathfinding.
The maps are so big, they actually won't even need to be touched. ( Click to see the full size Saradush map ) -drastically jpg compressed, so the quality is rather low-
Even the sprites are fine at 1920x1080 res.
So really, if they kept everything as is, all they would really need to upgrade is the UI.
Depending on what they're actually upgrading graphics-wise, they'd really only need to update the UI to HD.
Edited by: TheCoffeeGod
at March 20, 2012, 11:31am
I heard about this over the weekend and got pretty excited. There has been a lot of talk about changing the rules edition, but I think they should just not fuck with them. As much as I prefer 3.5 over 2nd edition AD&D, I just know if they were going to update the mechanics it would be to the current format, and nobody wants that.
However, if they do the same thing with the Icewind Dale saga, that's another story entirely.
We can save this ill-fated race
Who are lost in the ocean of space
Show them the way to reverse their decline
Guide them back on a river of time
They really are modernizing it!
Also, I wonder if this means we'll see the PC EE before or after the release for the iPad, since it mentions it'll be "available on the Apple App Store in summer 2012".
Overhaul Games is pleased to announce Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition for iPad.
Since its initial release in 1998, Baldurs Gate has entertained millions of fans around the globe, and has received countless awards. This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing games ever since.
The greatest story ever told, better than you imagined
Running on an upgraded and improved version of the Infinity Engine, Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition will include the entire Baldurs Gate adventure, the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack, and never before seen content including a new adventure and new party member.
Your ultimate destiny, now in your grasp
Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition will be available on the Apple App Store in summer 2012. For all information visit www.baldursgate.com
Announcing Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition for Mac OS X
March 29, 2012
Overhaul Games is proud to announce Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition for Mac OS X.
Since its initial release in 1998, Baldurs Gate has entertained millions of fans around the globe, and has received countless awards. This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing games ever since.
More of the greatest role-playing game of all time for your Mac
Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition runs on an upgraded and improved version of the Infinity Engine. It includes the entire Baldurs Gate adventure, the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack, and never before seen content including a new adventure and a new party member.
The Enhanced Edition will include a variety of Mac OS X specific features, including widescreen and iCloud support.
Epic story and adventure at unprecedented resolution
Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition will be available in the Mac App Store in summer 2012. For all information regarding Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition visit www.baldursgate.com.
Overhaul Games is happy to announce that Nat Jones has joined the team as Art Director for Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition.
Nat Jones has been a popular figure in the comics and film industries for over a decade, working on such popular titles as Frank Frazettas Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan, 68, Spawn, 28 Days Later, Rob Zombies The Nail, 30 Days of Night, and many more.
I am excited and honored to be a part of the talented team bringing Baldurs Gate back to the fans. There is a lot going into Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition, we have some amazing things in the works, says Nat.
Nat will continue award-winning Baldurs Gate artwork with his own dark fantasy style. Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition will contain new adventures, characters, and locations featuring Nats take on the Forgotten Realms universe.
For more samples of Nats artwork, visit his official website. For all information regarding Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition, visit www.baldursgate.com
Dave Gross joins as writer for Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition
April 26, 2012
Overhaul Games is happy to announce that Dave Gross has joined the team as a Writer for Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition.
Dave first joined TSR as an editor for Polyhedron Newszine. Later he edited Dungeon and Dragon magazines, while also writing fantasy fiction on the side. His Forgotten Realms novels include Black Wolf and Lord of Stormweather. More recently hes published Prince of Wolves and Master of Devils for Pathfinder Tales, and was a co-author for Winter Witch.
I was sitting in a coffee shop complaining about the lack of classic RPGs for the iPad, says Dave, when Trent appeared in a sulphurous cloud and said, Have I got a job for you.
While the opportunity to play his favorite RPGs on a tablet was strong incentive, Dave says the most exciting part is working with a talented team whose knowledge of games and the Realms makes him insist they take the front in marching order.
You can follow Daves infrequent Twitter posts frabjousdave. For all information regarding Baldurs Gate: Enhanced Edition, visit www.baldursgate.com
Sam Hulick scores music for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition
May 10, 2012
Overhaul Games is pleased to announce that Sam Hulick will be composing music for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™.
Hulick is best known for scoring BioWare’s epic roleplaying games Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and most recently, Mass Effect 3. His original compositions for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ will be featured alongside new gameplay content, complementing the games’ acclaimed original soundtracks.
“The music of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II was a huge inspiration for me as a composer who was just venturing forth into the world of writing music for games. So to be able to travel back in time, so to speak, and score original material for the Baldur’s Gate saga is a dream come true for me.”, said Sam.
You can follow Sam Hulick on twitter @ samhulick. For all information regarding Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™, visit www.baldursgate.com
I decided to join the new forum the other day, and this post popped up.
Which gives an idea of what they're actually doing to the game as well as gives a release date.
[BG:EE] PLEASE READ - LIST OF THINGS THAT CAN'T BE DONE.
AndreaColombo
July 16
As much as we'd all like BG:EE to be limitless, this is unfortuantely not possible. The devs' scope faces limitations due to the source art assets having been lost, contractual limitations and time constraints.
In light of this, it is of no consequence to request features or contents that is already 100% sure the devs cannot deliver. Hence, it is with Beamdog / Overhaul Games' endorsement that I hereby provide what I hope to be a comprehensive list of things that can NOT be done in, with or for BG:EE, in order to help you focus your requests on things the devs can actually potentially deliver.
1. The source art assets for Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal are lost.
All the original area art, paperdolls, monsters and character models are lost with the exception of a few 3D models of monsters from Throne of Bhaal. There is nothing anyone can do about it. Therefore, it is not possible for the devs to deliver Baldur's Gate HD, and/or re-render any art at higher resolutions. Significant modifications to sprites, like displaying cloaks and hats, adding new/more armor styles, or removing the mirroring effect from BG2 animations, are also off-limits.
As per Trent Oster, the devs are currently limited to the existing animations. There will be no new animations in BG:EE, so it is no use to ask for them. Recreating character models from scratch and rendering them at high resolution is out of question, because it would take more time and resources than are currently available to the devs. Also, recreating character models alone is not an option, as they would look glaringly better than all monsters that weren't re-rendered; if something got redone, then everything else should get the same treatment for the sake of visual consistency, thus making this an even more demanding (and unfeasible) task.
In light of the above, it doesn't make much sense to request new monsters, as they won't have distinctive animations to go (and I personally believe Baldur's Gate already has enough monsters that share the same animation or a recolored version of the same animation).
2. Contractual limitations.
Beamdog's contract is for BG:EE and BG2:EE only.
No contract exists for a remake of Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II or Planescape: Torment as of now. Therefore, it vicariously ensues that the devs have no access to any resources from those titles, including portraits, animations, spells, and monsters. Modders may be able to port those contents to BG:EE once the game is released, but the devs are legally bound to work with the Baldur's Gate saga resources alone.
The contract prevents Beamdog / Overhaul to alter the original game contents heavy handedly.
This is what Trent Oster had to say about it on the official Beamdog forum:
"1. Altering the dialog of the old joinable characters
-We can't do this
2. Altering the dialog of encounterable npc's in the campaign, including minor ones
-small scale text only changes are possible.
3. Adding new encounters to the old maps
-possible
4. Relocating encounters on the old maps
-possible, but at risk of introducing bugs
5. Retuning difficulty of old encounters, at the level of content rather than engine
-possible, again content tweaking risks adding bugs.
6. Adding/removing/moving gear in old encounters/npcs/containers.
-Again, possible, but adding risks adding bugs.
Our stance is to try and avoid too much meddling in the original content and focus our efforts on the new content."
Beamdog / Overhaul also face contractual limitations regarding the addition of new content to the existing games. They can build new content as "expansions", but they cannot add to the core content in the main title. This limitation is due to the contracts for the original source content and limit the devs from adding new conversation for existing characters to the main game. Hence, adding banters, inerjections and romances to the original cast of characters is unfortunately not feasible. They will interact with new NPCs and react to new situations and areas, but that's about it.
3. Time constraints.
BG:EE is scheduled for release by the end of the summer, which will occur on 21st September 2012.
It is therefore apparent that the time left at the devs' disposal isn't much. They are currently working really, really, and I mean REALLY hard (trust me on this, I'm a Doctor) (actually, a Doctor and a BG:EE beta tester) on fixing outstanding bugs, overcoming existing engine limitations and building the new GUI. They will likely have little time left to implement new features.
If what you have in mind is particularly big and/or time consuming, consider requesting it here as a post-ship DLC feature.
Firewind [forum info]
[PM]
How many Kurt Cobains does it take to paint a room?
Gutbuster Brigade!
Posts: 20980
Oh jesus, I suddenly have a bad feeling about this. I hope they have been working on it for some time already, otherwise this sounds like another rushed cash cow effort.
We can save this ill-fated race
Who are lost in the ocean of space
Show them the way to reverse their decline
Guide them back on a river of time
Yeah, sadly with the way it's looking, it's going to turn out just as my earlier post on it.
GUI being the only thing having a true HD upgrade.
I don't know how long the Beta team has been playing with it, but from the looks of the forum, there's a bunch of bugs in it, beyond what was already "unofficially" fixed by the modding community.
All in all, it's looking like a pretty big disappointment.
Whenever they get around to posting the list things and features that'll be added, I'll post it.
Looks like we're getting a zoom-in function though, which ought be interesting at least.
and that aside, the primary story sucks, it's just good for the thousands of fan made modules, some of which are classic conversions of the classics like Caves of Chaos and Eye of the Serpent. That, and the multiplayer servers, and the roleplay ones are filled with forgotten realms modules.
We can save this ill-fated race
Who are lost in the ocean of space
Show them the way to reverse their decline
Guide them back on a river of time
Unless it's a LAN game with my roomie/best friend, I don't do mutiplayer for the most part, and even then, we're really picky about what we play together.
Though like you said, my first issue with it would be the ruleset used.
Pretty much anything beyond 2nd Ed. just doesn't exist to me.
Here's that promised forum post I was talking about, that got posted today as well following the new announcements.
[BG:EE] PLEASE READ - LIST OF THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.
AndreaColombo
July 26 2:26PM
Since last March, when Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was unveiled, the devs have been dropping several bits of information on the enhancements that can be expected. Be it via the official BG:EE website, their personal Twitter accounts, the official Beamdog forum, or these very boards, there have been more announcements than one would think.
The purpose of this thread is to gather and list all features, enhancements and new contents that have already been officially confirmed for BG:EE. Not only will this hopefully shed some light on the "enhancement" tag, especially in light of my recent post on the things that cannot be done, but it will also assist in directing feature requests toward things that haven't been already done.
I'll try to keep this post up-to-date, but by all means feel free to mention anything that may have been left out.
PLATFORM and DISTRIBUTION
• BG:EE will run on Windows based PCs, Apple Mac PCs, all generations of Apple iPad, and certain Android tablets, such as the Nexus 7.
System requirements will be slightly higher, mainly on the OS for OpenGL support, but any video card released from 2004 on should be able to run the game smoothly. Full support for, and good performance on, first generation iPad are confirmed.
• BG:EE will be available from Beamdog for Windows based PCs, Apple's App Store for MacOS and iOS, and Google Play for Android tablets.
The game will launch at $19.99 (pre-order for $17.99) for Windows and MacOS, and $9.99 for iOS and Android. The pricing differences between platforms come down to the PC/Mac getting all the DLC content for free and iOS/Android having it as ingame purchases.
Launch date is set to 18th September 2012 for the PC version. The MacOS, iOS and Android versions will also launch in September 2012, but a hard date can't be provided yet due to the different approval requirements of each platform.
• BG:EE will not require the Beamdog client to run.
The DRM will be a minimal system that does a quick check to start the download. After that, BG:EE can be played completely offline if desired. When launched, the updater will check for an update: if there is none, it will launch the game directly and shut down; if there is an update, a GUI will pop up asking if you want to update now or just play the version you have.
• BG:EE will be supported post-ship through several DLCs.
There are plans for both free and paid-for DLCs, though free DLCs will be the majority. The new NPC Rasaad, and the new adventure The Black Pits, will be free for all platforms.
• BG:EE will be multilingual form the get-go.
BG:EE will ship with all available languages in a single build, and it will be possible to select the language of the text and the language of the voice independently.
ENGINE ENHANCEMENTS
• Based on the Throne of Bhaal engine.
BG:EE is based on the latest Throne of Bhaal code, which means it includes all features from Baldur's Gate: Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, as well as all bug fixes from those titles and their relative patches.
• Rebuilt Threading Model.
The threading model has been cleaned up and fixed, thus eliminating the no-ops that characterized the original and improving performance. Several "Windows-95isms" were removed to make the engine run smoother and increase new-OSs-friendlyness.
• Rebuilt Renderer.
The renderer was also cleaned up, and ported entirely to OpenGL for better performance. The graphics are now 100% hardware accelerated.
• Fixed up multiplayer.
Baldur's Gate's buggy multiplayer support has been fixed up and improved, eliminating bugs and introducing cross-platform compatibility. It will be possible to play a multiplayer BG:EE game connecting a Windows based PC, an Apple Mac PC, an iPad and an Android tablet simultaneously.
• ToBEx engine fixes.
The Overhaul team is working with Ascension64, author of the mods Throne of Bhaal Extender (ToBEx) and Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT) to improve the engine and bring over all the major fixes from those packages.
• Extensive bug fixing.
BG:EE will feature a huge amount of bug fixes as suggested by the community, found by devs and beta testers, and found by modders throughout the years. Several bugs that currently require Baldurdash, Dudlyville, Tutufix, BG Fixpack or BG2 Fixpack - as well as a plethora of hardcoded bugs that require access to the source code to be fixed - will not exist in BG:EE.
VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS
• Native support for high resolutions.
BG:EE natively supports high resolutions in 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10 format up to 2880x1800. The source area art will be filtered via hardware to scale it as required and enable the zoom in/out feature.
• Dynamic zoom in/out feature.
It will be possible to zoom in and out of the battlefield dynamically during gameplay by scrolling the mouse wheel up and down, within generous limits.
• New, high resolution cinematics.
The original, low resolution 3D cinematics will be replaced with new, never before seen high resolution 2D animations drawn by BG:EE's Art Director Nat Jones.
• New, high resolution GUI.
The Graphic User Interface (GUI) has been completely unhardcoded, thus making it possible to overcome its inherent limitations in terms of resolution. Beamdog / Overhaul Games are currently working on a brand new, high resolution GUI, which will be customizable / moddable to a generous extent (some limits still apply due to the original BG code's resilience to Cameron Tofer's attacks; hopefully, Cameron will manage to find a silver-coated machete with which to treat the old code post-ship, further expanding the GUI's customizability).
• Flipbook animation transparency and Alpha blending.
As per this thread, BG:EE will feature flipbook animation transparency and alpha blending for BAM files. In the longer run, a new version of BAM files with multiple-layer alpha blending is being considered.
• One Pixel Production (1PP)
Erephine has agreed to include the 1PP work into BG:EE. The devs are currently trying to make it play nice with the BG:EE setup. Share your opinion on which components would suit BG:EE better here!
AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS
• OpenAL based audio engine
The audio engine has been completely ported to OpenAL, thus ditching the now obsolete DirectSound API, thus bringing back environmental audio support for newer OSs.
• Original music by Michael Hoeing
Purists have nothing to fear, as the original soundtrack by Michael Hoeing will remain untouched in BG:EE.
• New music by Sam Hulick
Sam Hulick, the composer who scored the soundtrack to Mass Effect 3, will write new music to go with the new contents in BG:EE. He is an admittedly huge fan of Michael Hoeing's work, and is trying his best to remain faithful to its spirit and atmosphere.
• New voice sets for player characters.
A new collection of player character voice sets is bundled with BG:EE.
NEW CONTENT
• One new playable kit.
BG:EE will feature one new playable kit never before been seen in an IE game: the Blackguard.
• Three new joinable NPCs.
BG:EE will feature three new joinable NPCs: Rasaad, a human male Monk; Neera, a half-elven female Wild Mage; and Dorn, a half-orc male Blackguard. Their dialogues and interjetions will be written by fantasy novelist Dave Gross.
• One new adventure.
BG:EE will feature one new adventure with dedicated, newly developed area art and "nasty AI". The Black Pits (codename: Adventure X) is a standalone arena mini-campaign consisting of 15 fights and taking place in the Underdark. New and old NPCs will react to the new content with interjections.
Had to.
frabjousdave