Baldur's Gate - Announcement gets closer?

Pretty cynical crowd here, and with good reason I guess. It will indeed be disappointing to see all this hype for a crappy re-release. Why would he brag about negotiating with Atari for something like a browser version of a ten-year-old game?

Originally Posted by screeg
Pretty cynical crowd here, and with good reason I guess. It will indeed be disappointing to see all this hype for a crappy re-release. Why would he brag about negotiating with Atari for something like a browser version of a ten-year-old game?

After all the disappointments with recent RPGs that don't come even closer to games like Baldur's Gate 2 makes people cynic for a good reason. Why is it so hard to make games that surprise us(?), instead of using ready-made mold.

Not what i'm hoping for, but i think the most probable is a re-release with better graphics since that's what they're usually doing + obviously using Beamdog's digital distribution client which will give them a lot of new customers.

After GoG' success it's only natural that others are gonna try the same, Beamdog puts a little twist to it with updated graphics for some of the games.. They're even linking to RPGwatch from Beamdog (to the graphics pack for Xenus: White Gold).

HD remake would be amazing, I have never played the original BG games since I started gaming many years after it was released and never had time to try them with all the new games being published these days. I was planning to try them out anyway (and Planescape as well) after having heard so much about them, but if they get enhanced with modern graphics, it would give me a lot more motivation to play them.

It's a BG remake with higher resolution graphics, adapted to also be fully suportable as an App, something like this:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gemrb/net.sourceforge.gemrb

I think people should really consider what Edgarstrong just posted. A HD, but also an iOS release of this game would give many new players from the current generations of gamers an incentive to play these classics. That is a good thing.

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan
I think people should really consider what Edgarstrong just posted. A HD, but also an iOS release of this game would give many new players from the current generations of gamers an incentive to play these classics. That is a good thing.

Fully agree. As long they don't forget PC platform…

Originally Posted by Von Paulus
As long they don't forget PC platform…

I think it's safe to say at this point there's too much hype for this to simply be an iOS release.

Originally Posted by Edgarstrong
HD remake would be amazing, I have never played the original BG games since I started gaming many years after it was released and never had time to try them with all the new games being published these days. I was planning to try them out anyway (and Planescape as well) after having heard so much about them, but if they get enhanced with modern graphics, it would give me a lot more motivation to play them.

You can pick up all of the infinity games and more bundled in one package call "D&D Master Collection" at one the download sites for under $10. Even though I have them individually, I just bought the collection for convenience. I just started another run at Baldur's Gate a few days ago, I'll never tire of this game. They are great games and you can't beat the price!

Right! I just saw it on disk at a retailer and thinking about picking it up for the availability to have them all one package although i have it heard it takes some work to get them working with the mods and the widescreen fix. All games plus expansions are a pretty good deal for such classics

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think it's safe to say at this point there's too much hype for this to simply be an iOS release.

I hope you are right! If it's just a HD version, then I only hope that both BG1&2 are bundled together. Also, whatever they do, replacing the pixel avatars must be #1 on the list of things to upgrade. Thats one aspect of the game that always bothered me.

They need to make a baldur's gate RTS

Originally Posted by redman5427
Right! I just saw it on disk at a retailer and thinking about picking it up for the availability to have them all one package although i have it heard it takes some work to get them working with the mods and the widescreen fix. All games plus expansions are a pretty good deal for such classics

I checked each game with the widescreen mod v3.5 and found no problems so far. If you plan to play BG with the Tutu mod though, you will need to download the "BG2MPI" file. This file was left out when they compressed the files going from the disk to dowload. If you need it, I can either email it or send you a link. Otherwise, I feel that the Master Collection is good to go!

Ok thanks for the info

I am glad there are people who agree that HD remake isn't a bad idea, I was afraid that RPGwatch folks would be angry with me for considering graphics so important

Of course a BG sequel would make more people happy, buy hey, a HD remake is still better than an iPad port, isn't it?

Of course it would be a dream result if it was a sequel and new game in the series, but its a definite case of wait and see, speculation is fun and all but nothing to put any stock in.

Originally Posted by Edgarstrong
Of course a BG sequel would make more people happy, buy hey, a HD remake is still better than an iPad port, isn't it?

I'd rather not see anyone attempt a sequel. It would likely just end up diminishing the legacy of the franchise.

I wouldn't mind more crpgs in the Forgotten Realms setting though. Especially something that explores other regions of Faerûn.

I don't buy the iOS theory one bit, for both commercial and practical reasons. Maybe iPad would work control-wise, but that narrows the consumer base even further and I just don't think any publisher would invest in something as niche as that (that is, iOS users who also happen to be old school RPG nerds - because no amount of marketing is going to make a reasonable faithful BG remake appeal to the Angry Birds crowd).

I agree that an HD remake is one of the more likely outcomes of this…but that doesn't make much more sense, either. A fully polygonal game like MDK2 is one thing, but painstakingly recreating all the pre-rendered backgrounds and presumably making new character models and objects from scratch…that's just insane. If Square Enix hasn't done something similar with the equally fondly remembered but presumably much more profitable Final Fantasy VII (which is 3D but would likewise have to be redone from scratch since the technology of the Playstation 1 is ancient by now), then I don't see it happening with BG.

So, yeah, Facebook game, then. You heard it on RPGWatch first, where Grumpy Becomes Reality (TM)…

Originally Posted by Demiath
I agree that an HD remake is one of the more likely outcomes of this…but that doesn't make much more sense, either. A fully polygonal game like MDK2 is one thing, but painstakingly recreating all the pre-rendered backgrounds and presumably making new character models and objects from scratch…that's just insane. If Square Enix hasn't done something similar with the equally fondly remembered but presumably much more profitable Final Fantasy VII (which is 3D but would likewise have to be redone from scratch since the technology of the Playstation 1 is ancient by now), then I don't see it happening with BG.

Why would they have to make everything from scratch? HD doesn't necessarily mean 3D.

I can either email it or send you a link

I just sent you a pm