Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition

[limetom]

So they're remaking the greatest roleplaying games of all time, Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II.

News from the official site.

Right now I'm totally like:

[Pymtein Magnushake]

I own the Baldur's Gate series, except for the 2nd expansion. I played them hundreds of time, and it was very fun.

Funny thing is that game contributed a bunch to me learning english. Gogo Baldur's Gate.

[Steerpike]

Here's hoping they do the same for Planescape!

[Xeviat]

Definitely seconding that Limetom. Introducing me to Baldur's Gate was the only good thing my cousin ever did for me. It opened me up to RPGs, introduced me to D&D, which eventually lead me to making the greatest friends of my life (both in the real world, and here on the CBG). I think it was so instrumental to my interests that, if/when I get published, it's going in my "thank you" page.

[Xeviat]

Then again, reading the press release, I'm afraid of words like "re-forged version of the infinity engine" and "Atari". Here's hoping.

[Steerpike]

The absolute worst that can happen is they make a half-baked, stupid, buggy, crap version of a beloved classic which gamers promptly ignore - the original games are still there, undiminished.

The best case is that they usher in a new era of games modelling themselves on those old classics.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Skyrim, and Mass Effect is pretty cool too, but those old gems had something really special... it would be awesome if more RPGs would channel the BG era.  Planescape: Torment and BG2 remain two of the best CRPGs ever made for my two cp.

[Superfluous Crow]

How much do you reckon they'll actually be doing? I presumed they were only giving the graphics a boost and maybe fixing a few bugs.

That line of thought leads to a pivotal question: will they upgrade the version of D&D?!
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a 3.x upgrade, but a 4.0 would be terrifying. (although the storytelling is strong enough to support it, I guess. Still, that would be a very controversial move.)

[Llum]

They're redoing the graphics and adding new content (new NPCs with voice acting!) and stuff. I can't see it being full game price. Probably somewhere between what BG is now on GoG (10$) and new retail price (40-60$)

[Steerpike]

I figure they're probably taking something like the redone Monkey Island as their model.

[Nomadic]

Superfluous Crow

How much do you reckon they'll actually be doing? I presumed they were only giving the graphics a boost and maybe fixing a few bugs.

That line of thought leads to a pivotal question: will they upgrade the version of D&D?!
Honestly, I wouldn't mind a 3.x upgrade, but a 4.0 would be terrifying. (although the storytelling is strong enough to support it, I guess. Still, that would be a very controversial move.)

According to what I could glean from the guy's tweets I got the following:
- It will still use AD&D rules.
- They'll be kicking some screenshots our way next week.
- The Infinity Enhanced engine is based on the latest Throne of Bhall codebase.
- There will be two core games released, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.
- BG:EE will include the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.
- BG2:EE will include the Throne of Bhaal expansion.
- The EE's will still utilize the 2d isometric style of the original games.
- There are eventual plans for a BG3 and the EE release is a part of the plan leading up to that.
- EE will of course work with all the latest hardware and plays nicely with Windows 7.
- The game will maintain the original voice acting style where only some things are voiced and others done with text to allow for more in-depth writing.
- There will be new characters with new voice actors.
- The old characters will still have their original voice overs.
- Multiplayer will be fixed to run smoothly on modern connections.
- For the time being the save game formats are still the same.
- They're trying to make sure that original mods for the games still work with the Extended Edition.
- The current plan is for a digital only release.
- They're keeping the original game music.
- They're altering the interface to make it more user friendly.
- Importing characters to BG2 from BG1 will still work.
- If you don't like the new content they're adding to the game you can ignore it and play the game classic style.

[Light Dragon]

Hm. I'd be happier if they updated from 2E to 3.5 but perhaps that was expecting too much. At least they didn't go to 4E.

[Steerpike]

Yeah, it wouldn't make any sense for them to go 3.5 apart from the fact that some people are especially fond of that edition; frankly going 3.5 instead of 4E would be a bit of a slap in the face at Wizards, wouldn't you say?  Most of the ugly stuff in 2E sprang from confusing and strange rules, but since CRPGs tend to obfuscate that stuff very well, it's not a big issue as far as I'm concerned.

[Ninja D!]

There would be absolutely no sense in making it 3.5.

[Light Dragon]

It would be upgrading it in a fashion, adding something to it to justify purchasing the new one. It wouldn't be change for the sake of change.

Hopefully they will let us level up Nalia and Imoen and other characters as we prefer instead of taking them as they join.

[Steerpike]

It would be upgrading, but it would be a rather arbitrary upgrade, i.e. why not upgrade to the current edition of d&d?  I'd much rather see them add in new quests, characters, items, etc, personally.