It is.
Man, I don't know what the fuck they were thinking.
I heard good things about the gameplay, but I'll probably get this much later. Beamdog releases tend to be a buggy mess.
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear |OT| Tales of a Sword Coast Legend
- Thread starter MisterShine
- Start date
It is.
Man, I don't know what the fuck they were thinking.
I heard good things about the gameplay, but I'll probably get this much later. Beamdog releases tend to be a buggy mess.
Basileus777
Member
Uh, you quoted someone unsure if the line plays in-game, that link doesn't demonstrate that.
Eh, I guess.
Still the fact that they felt they needed to write and record a GG joke into the game as an "Easter egg" is quite WTF worthy.
In the original theres a lot of jokes at womens expense. Or if not a lot, theres a couple, like Safana was just a sex object in BG 1, and Jaheira was the nagging wife and that was played for comedy. We were able to say, No, thats not really the kind of story we want to make. In Siege of Dragonspear, Safana gets her own little storyline, she got a way better personality upgrade. If people dont like that, then too bad.
If there's really not that much sexism in BG, it shouldn't be that much of a deal to remove it then?
PairOfFilthySocks
Member
I can't recall anything sexist in the game, and the examples provided in that quote are outright false. If there were sexist content in the series I'd have no issue with it getting squashed in new entries, but that quote makes me question the writer's competence.
Yeah, I don't remember anything sexist either. You could argue that the "Evil Matriarchal Drow Society" is such a bad stereotype, but it comes with the lore.
BG1 has such paper-thin characterization and story that it's barely *anything* let alone sexist.
BG2 treats his male and female characters quite equally.
Except Aerie, she sucks!!
Giolon
Member
It's really damn small. Beamdog only added iPhone support for the Plus and because people kept demanding it. Once they added their smart tap functionality (the game tries to figure out what you really meant to tap on based on context instead of being 100 pixel accurate, which sounds like it would be terrible but is actually a fantastic feature), they decided it could be played OK on a larger phone.
So, sure you can play through it, but just expect it to be kind of microscopic. Also keep in mind, Siege of Dragonspear is not out on iOS and Android for an estimated 5-6 weeks.
As far as the controversies, yeah I disagree with the comments the writer made in that article, but making a big blow up over it is stupid. Check out the new content, then decide whether it's good, bad, or uninteresting content and move on. Options are what people are always going on about and people have new options here. Hopefully the options for everyone are good. I've found Bioware's in DA:I for straight male characters pretty terrible.
Giolon
Member
Aye. Tales of the Sword Coast is a bit more of a mix-in, where Siege of Dragonspear is largely after the main game (though install it before you finish and the ending will roll right into the new content). Throne of Bhaal is al out a standalone sequel expansion, though BG2EE just comes with it automatically. I am pretty sure BG1EE comes with TotSC too. Only SoD has to be purchased separately.
HungOverOnATues
Member
I don't know why, but I reflexively read this without having played any of these games before. I'm guessing it's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme anyways.
I thought about playing either BG or Planescape about a month ago, but put it off. Had no idea this expansion was even coming out. I might pick this up and start up the BG series after I finish playing Dark Souls 3.
MisterShine
Member
I'd also like to note on that spoiler, it is only one of multiple endings. Your choices come into play with how things turn out.
OT: My new custom team is nearing the end of Baldur's Gate. I decided to say screw a normal run and just retweaked my party to my liking. My squad:
CHARNAME: Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric, dual wielding maces and kicking arse.
Khalid: The only one I didn't mess with, other than mixing up his scores to better suit him
Viconia: Blackguard, we stole Dorn's sword!
Jaheira: Totemic Druid single class. She's just a straight up support caster now.
Imoen: Mage/Thief multi-class. Didn't feel like waiting for the dual class bonuses to kick in when I'm 80% through the game.
Neera: Conjurer instead of wild mage. Not too crazy about the 5% wacky shit.
Magic is definitely a weakness for me still, and I've got 3 hungry heavy front line fighters who all need good gear so that's a bit annoying. We're still doing fine on the hard difficulty setting though.
let me tell you about how I lost my wings for the thirteenth time in a row
Dicktatorship
Junior Member
Not a good look. I wonder if they were expecting this kind of response when they made the decision to include references and make public statements about that mess.
BTW I noticed that Chris Avellone removed Siege of Dragonspear from his twitter bio. Might be related to the reception?
AWizardDidIt
Member
Except the writing of this expansion has been getting pretty well praised as about as good as BG2 so uhh... I guess your loss?
She's got a point about Safana, she was entirely a one note "sexy lady look how sexy I am, mmm suggestive noises" character. Yes, every character in BG1 was thin, but her slice of thinness was particularly dumb. She's not wrong about Jaheira either, both her and Khalid had several lines that were nagging wife jokes. She wasn't developed as a character until BG2.
As a side note, in a more niche title like this, by complaining openly, gamergaters are just bringing more attention to the game so frankly they're probably going to help it sell more copies in the end than do damage. Unless they start pulling bullshit like harassing the people at Beamdog.
Characters weren't a particular strong suit of BG1 in general. A lot of them have their intro, then their specific quest, and then they shut the hell up for the rest of the game. It wasn't until BG2 that most of the cast got any real personality beyond what could be found in their battle shouts, and it's a key reason why BG2 is leagues better than BG1.
Jaheira WAS a totally nagging bore in BG1. I don't have enough of a memory of the other character to say if she was sexist or not, but I'd say the fact she's not memorable is pretty damning in its' own right.
Jaheira WAS a totally nagging bore in BG1. I don't have enough of a memory of the other character to say if she was sexist or not, but I'd say the fact she's not memorable is pretty damning in its' own right.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
Yeah, what was under the spoilered text isn't a big deal.
Jaheira was a nagging, bossy wife in BG1 and Khalid was a stuttering coward. Jaheira was still nagging and bossy in BG2 but improved significantly over time, as did most characters who made the transition from first game to second, with improved interaction and characterization.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
If a tree falls in the forest, Jaheira will kill the bastard what done it.
You can see Safana's bio here - http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Safana. 'Charm Person', huh. A character easy to miss if you weren't exploring everywhere.
Her v.o lines weren't that subtle, as AWizardDidIt mentioned.
The thing is Safana is still flirting all the time in SoD too, and Jaheira feels like BG2 Jaheira. They didn't change the characters just gave them, well mainly Safana, some extra depth. This whole feels especially stupid because most people raging about it haven't mostly likely even played SoD.
tintin1029
Member
It's seems this update made the original game run worse for me. Using the map becomes a nightmare.
:/
:/
Pilgrimzero
Member
I liked how once she births a kid she straps it on her back and continues to wade into danger. The PC and her are horrible parents.
Also, Viconia was best wife.
MisterShine
Member
While this series is super old, yes, we do have some new people who are in this thread going through the games. Try and spoiler tag the 'big' stuff please.
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
I find myself increasing frustrated with how fucking stupid people are. Like, I know I'm totally an irreverent privileged asshole, the kind of dude who would likely get banned from gaf immediately if I stopped self-censoring my feelings on some sensitive topics, but I just don't get these people who take any attempt to be a little progressive or retrospective as a total assault on their own lives. It's like, get a fucking life. Do they even believe their own bullshit about "preserving authenticity" or whatever smokescreen they use to hide the fact they they are clearly just hateful, butthurt manchildren?
Dsyndrome
Member
One of the admins/developers at Beamdog posted a modmerge tool so that you can use Weidu mods again with SoD installed on the GOG or Steam version of BG: EE. Haven't tested it myself yet.
Vincent Grayson
Member
I wasn't sure if I'd pick this up, but now I feel like I have to, if only to counter the continued douchebaggery of GG.
AWizardDidIt
Member
If you have any reverence for this series, SOD really is an amazingly solid contribution to it. I'd say as an expansion pack, it's actually far higher quality than either BG1 or BG2's official expansions, Tales of the Sword Coast and Throne of Bhaal. If you have never played Baldur's Gate before, it's not a bad time to start... the interface changes and tutorial upgrades I feel have made the game much easier to get into than it was in the past.
Side note, I just realized that one of the new PC soundsets added to the game in SOD was done by David Warner, Male Commanding. So now you can have a PC that sounds conspicuously like Irenicus speaking to Irenicus.
Anoregon
The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Oh man I'm totally use that when I start my new run
Now, if only I could figure out what character to actually make...
Vincent Grayson
Member
Better than ToB? That's high praise. I do like the series, but was holding off until it'd be on sale.
Now I need to figure out what class to play, and find all the damn mods again.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
I would recommend starting at BG1 vs SOD, gives you a better background, story and you can learn the systems as abilities and skills ramp up. The game is not too long either (BG1, BG2 is huge and a much better game).
For SOD, I refunded. Not going to bother till they fix the install for mods. It's pathetic that it works ok on Beamdog version while broken for GoG and Steam. And no, posting mod merge is not enough, they need to get rid of that damn zip file, it's just inane.
Vincent Grayson
Member
Meh, being better than ToB isn't much of an accomplishment in my book.
Well, it's been probably since ToB's launch that I played it, but I remember liking it a lot more than the base game, largely because of how well it escalated to crazy places in terms of character power and the foes you faced. I could be forgetting its flaws though.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
Ooh, this expansion is a tempting purchase.
I loved BG back in 2000. Coming from console JRPG's to this was a huge deal for me then.
I am very disappointed that the original Saverok intro was taken out, but it would be good to play through without having to worry about the game-ending bug the TotSC expansion pack used to cause (I presume its now fixed). Hopefully I can still cheese Drizzt out of his OP equipment.
I loved BG back in 2000. Coming from console JRPG's to this was a huge deal for me then.
I am very disappointed that the original Saverok intro was taken out, but it would be good to play through without having to worry about the game-ending bug the TotSC expansion pack used to cause (I presume its now fixed). Hopefully I can still cheese Drizzt out of his OP equipment.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
There are mods that restore missing movies.
Elaugaufein
Member
Saw StereoVsn mentioned it above (and agree that they need a better method) but for those with GOG/Steam versions of SOD who want to be able to use mods now check out:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussi...o-something-weidu-nearinfinity-dltcep-can-use
It concerts the ZIP archive that SOD uses into standard format.
Note that it's probably a really bad idea to install it over existing mods (ie you should probably do a clean install,install SOD, install Modmerge and then install mods) and that you probably won't be able to use any SOD patches that are coming either.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussi...o-something-weidu-nearinfinity-dltcep-can-use
It concerts the ZIP archive that SOD uses into standard format.
Note that it's probably a really bad idea to install it over existing mods (ie you should probably do a clean install,install SOD, install Modmerge and then install mods) and that you probably won't be able to use any SOD patches that are coming either.
Spacejaws
Member
It's not so bad as that. I've played all 3 on a regular 5 and it's not perfect but it's definetly playable.
I've got a regular 6 now and its a huge improvement I barely have any problems with the screen size.
In other news got some land today and downloaded the updates and Seige. Oh wow girst thing was to turn off the spirt outlines and health bars and turn on the classic circles but I'm really liking the actual game. The interface...ironic because I enjoy the ios version but feels too tooled for touch interfaces which is a design choice I hate.
Little things (mostly noticed during character creator) removing the classes and weapons you can't use, load screens no longer have clickable buttons but instead clickable regions.
The hiding of classes and weapons proficiencies annoy me as its quite nice to see what you are missing when making a character rather than trying to think whats missing that you might want to develop later.
But..so far rhe game seems pretty good, definetly a direction the IE engine should have went rather than dumping it and developing the auroura engine which was a bit shit.
Also looked at the Beamdog forums and it looks like they are burning down due to this gamergate no idea if this is a spoiler but
anti-transexual
Good luck to them I want more BG.
AWizardDidIt
Member
TOB's story was a fine way to cap it off but the general opinion I think is that it's too linear and combat heavy. Which makes narrative sense since the entire expansion is a series of "Shit just got real" moments and your character's fate coming to an end so there's not really good narrative reason you'd be able to go off on a 3-4 hour side quest but it makes for a sometimes unenjoyable slog of combat focused content.
SOD seems so far like it's had a really good mix of exploration and sidequesting in addition to its main quest content.
AWizardDidIt
Member
Yeah it's a real shame that this is the big news about this game. My most favorite game series that I've been waiting ~15 years for a continuation on in some form and it gets caught up in this gamersgate bullshit. We finally get a company that seems to respect the legacy of the series and despite some initial missteps with the EE versions of the game finally has found their footing and started producing quality content and this happens. Just a real bummer all around.
It's a huge shame definitely, but I have to say that the way Beamdog has handled this has been very poor. First response by their CEO was to ask people go write positive reviews to fight the gg trolls, and today their community manager tweeted this. Overall their handling of this situation seems like straight from "How Not To Do PR" book.
Crimsonsky
Member
Wait a sec is there romances in this xpac? Those didn't really come till BG2. Would be a welcome change a pace considering how paper thin the character development in BG1 was. Not that they would matter, soon as you get BG2 you pick Jaheira. It's what you do.
CrichtonKicks
Member
I'm only in Chapter 8 but, yeah, there seems to be some romance options here. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure how some of this can mesh with the characters when they reappear in BG2. Kinda wish Beamdog could have modded BG2 a bit to account for events in SoD but I don't think they are allowed to do that.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
I was trying to do the same thing in the Steam forums and now those forums are completely unavailable. I wish devs would leave these politics out of their games.
"These politics?" One incredibly tame line from a single character and and the pond scum of the net starts frothing in the mouth, and that's the long and short of it. All the more reason to include the stuff.
Vincent Grayson
Member
Protip: a character being transgender is not politics, it's just a thing that some people are.
If you perceive it as some kind of affront, or sticking "politics" where they supposedly don't belong, that's a failing on your part.
The only thing coming close to politics is all the controversy other people are creating around it instead of just playing the damn game.
Seriously, this never ceases to amaze me.
grandwizard
Member
Amazing how the shitfit these assholes are throwing over the inclusion of a transgender character doesn't fall into the 'CENSORSHIP!!!' boogeyman they use when other people criticize choices developers make.