Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition Revealed

The countdown is done and BaldursGate.com promptly crashed. What I can tell you is Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was revealed for Summer 2012, so great news. I'll update this post as soon as we get more information but, for the moment, I'll point you to a tweet from Trent Oster:

We're happy to announce the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition. Our servers are much less happy. #bgee #baldursgate

Update #1: Another tweet - new content in this version:

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is going to have new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members

More information.

New content?

Well, well. Consider me cautiously enthusiastic.

Yay NOT a phone or tablet announcement!

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
Yay NOT a phone or tablet announcement!

Platforms are yet unannounced. But it sounds like a PC remake.

I hope it doesn't force me to use Origin! I'd rather use Steam I was hoping for BG3, but hopefully they are using this to see if there is enough interest.

I wonder if it's 2.0 rules or 4.0. I'd be great if they could offer the player the choice but I don't remember either ruleset well enough to know how difficult that would be. I'll be honest, I'd prefer 4.0, I know it's a little neutered but 2.0 was needlessly confusing and I have no attachment to the original BG so a ruleset change wouldn't bother me personally.

I'm not a big D&D guy though, so I really don't know what I'm talking about.

Originally Posted by GuybrushWilco
I hope it doesn't force me to use Origin! I'd rather use Steam I was hoping for BG3, but hopefully they are using this to see if there is enough interest.

It will use Beamdog's client of course, i bet that's a big reason why they decided to go with BG, it will attract a lot of new customers.

Originally Posted by GuybrushWilco
I hope it doesn't force me to use Origin! I'd rather use Steam I was hoping for BG3, but hopefully they are using this to see if there is enough interest.

Given that Trent owns his own digital platform, I think it's a safe bet that Beamdog would be one of the distribution methods. BG3 was never on the cards.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Given that Trent owns his own digital platform, I think it's a safe bet that Beamdog would be one of the distribution methods. BG3 was never on the cards.

I'm very happy at the opportunity to play BG 1 and 2 again with more content I do hope however, that it eventually leads to a BG 3

Both releases will have the expansions already integrated.

https://twitter.com/#!/TrentOster/st…87700224954368

I don't have time for a full newsbit, so some quick excerpts:

- Beamdog exclusive
- Based off Throne of Bhaal code
- They have the code, so can make updates
- 2D, isometric all the way. This is Infinity Enhanced, not a 3D remake
- Not fully voiced - like the original
- 2nd Ed. AD&D
- Screens next week
- BG3? Part of the "master plan"?
- Keen to support mods ("after all, I lead NWN")

Originally Posted by Dhruin
I don't have time for a full newsbit, so some quick excerpts:

- Beamdog exclusive
- Based off Throne of Bhaal code
- They have the code, so can make updates
- 2D, isometric all the way. This is Infinity Enhanced, not a 3D remake
- Not fully voiced - like the original
- 2nd Ed. AD&D
- Screens next week
- BG3? Part of the "master plan"?
- Keen to support mods ("after all, I lead NWN")

Hah voices would have been neat, but probably far too ambitious

- Beamdog exclusive

I take it that means digital download only.

- 2D, isometric all the way. This is Infinity Enhanced, not a 3D remake

Good!

- BG3? Part of the "master plan"?

Hopefully not. That would be a bad idea imo. Instead, give us a new D&D game using this engine.

- Based off Throne of Bhaal code

Sounds like Easytutu or BG Trilogy mods…I hope this is much more than an appropriation of some of the free mods which have already made BG1/2 look and play better since their release.

New content? From old team members? Infinity Enhanced? 2d? Not fully voiced? Superb.

Nice : The site even has an language selector there !
Which means that the game might perhaps be properly translated …

Funny translation, though :

Atari, Hexe der Küste, und Overhaul Games freuen sich bekanntzugeben, dass die Arbeiten an der verbesserten Edition von Baldur’s Gate und Baldur’s Gate II begonnen haben.

since i haven't played the original up till now i really want them to make it completely like the original except with new added stuff but original locations and everything the same just updated and improved graphics and these sort of stuff, so i won't miss anything from the original experience.

also this is the first time i hear about Beamdog.

I hadn't heard of Beamdog either, but Trent Oster seems like the real deal. I'm still not sure how I feel about the new content, but.. who knows?

Other than Obsidian's recent troubles, I see a lot of reasons to be optimistic moving forward.

My general cynicism towards project this has been ameliorated somewhat by the idea of new content and the fact that original team members are returning to "update" their existing work. I shan't get too excited though and will wait for even more information. Still, it's mildly intriguing and as others have broad-mindedly argued, good for those who haven't experienced Baldur's Gate before and a potential way of opening up the prospect for more AD&D games in the same tradition.

Overall, I feel this is a very exciting project! This will be a massive injection of life to the folks & modders from Pocket Plane Group, Spellhold Studios, Gibberlings 3, ect. These communities have been keeping the infinity engine games alive all these years and this remake will ignite new interest in everything that has to do with Baldur's Gate and the infinity engine.

This is the perfect chance to rework the IE and make up for different shortcomings. My biggest gripe are with the avatars, so I hope they are addressed with HD versions. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would love to give there ideas & input. I wonder if Beamdog has /will have a Baldur's Gate forum.