Comments on: Resurrection: Baldur’s Gate

By: Oddeye

Oddeye — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:56:18 +0000

Wow, Haartz really seems to hate BG huh? There are easily documented (just look over at gamebanshee) huge amounts of side quests full of (in my opinion at least) a wealth of interesting NPCS in BG. Your suggestion that a pair of companies that have made many story driven rpgs and shared some design folks with the fallout crew were planning on using the infinity engine for an RTS seems a little far-fetched to me, show us your evidence for this, your statistics?
Finally however it seems the core of your rant stems from you liking kick-in-the door dungeon crawls like the gold and black box, which is fair enough. This does NOT entitle you to look down upon and disparage other people’s taste in games, many people like NPCs who interact with them and each other, growing attached to them and the world they inhabit and this made games like BG, PS:T and now games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect much more compelling and fun. You may, without referencing some of your more vulgar statements, feel character, depth and emotion in NPCs is unwarranted and that they should simply obey your orders and not speak, perhaps you would indeed prefer an RTS to a ROLE-PLAYING game.
The lovetalks usually took place after rests usually while getting on with the main quest and almost every rpg around doesn’t shanghai the player and force them to only follow the main quest. They want to let players explore the world and enjoy it and do what they want to, or at least those games that want any claim on non-linearity do.
If you don’t want depth of character and resultant interaction stick to your black and gold boxes or newer hardcore dungeon crawlers as they come out, just don’t mock other people’s passtimes because they aren’t for you.
Lastly, and this is probably hoping for a bit much being the internet; but in future if you want your arguments taken seriously do not fill them with abuse and cursewords and definitely do not ask for evidence from those you disagree with without presenting any of your own.

By: Dallas

Dallas — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:53:59 +0000

“At least then they could not be blamed for the decline of RPG’s that’s been going on for over a decade.”

I take it you mean Bioware brought RPG’s into the maintstream?

Yeah, nothing is cool once your friends start doing it too right?

I guess that’s why you don’t get laid? ’cause that’s what 98% of other people do…

By: Greg Giddens

Greg Giddens — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:29:55 +0000

Wow, it seems like I really hit a nerve there, you know a tube of Sensodyn will clear that right up.

But in all seriousness, the fact that you, Haartz, had a different experience with Buldur’s Gate than I, and many others had, is a good thing, it makes for a more interesting discussion, you just need to calm down a little bit, join the debate by all means but with an explained counter argument.

By: Morgoth

Morgoth — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:45:52 +0000

“Could you perhaps back that up by sales numbers? Or server statistics? Or anything? No, it’s much more fun to just spew shit over the Internet.”

Why would *he* need to back it up? You certainly don’t back up your meaningless drivel with facts, do you?

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:42:36 +0000

Yes, the game completely revived RPGs on the PC. Publishers thought the RPG genre was dieing just like Adventure games, and had become incredibly reluctant in publishing them. It’s true that they were great rpgs in 1995 -> 1997 (Fallout) but none of them were anywhere near the success of BG.

I can only imagine what the game did to Haartz to cause this emotional scarring, and degradation of any respect or tact. lulz

By: Lewis Denby

Lewis Denby — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:45:19 +0000

Crikey. That’s just about the most negative viewpoint on Baldur’s Gate I’ve ever heard. It’s a pretty dissenting opinion, and while it’s entirely your right to hold it, it’d be nice if you refrained from calling those who disagree “stupid”.

RE: backing up with statistics – I’m glad the article didn’t get bogged down by numbers. But the mid-to-late 90s did mark a real popularity rise for the consoles. I don’t think that’s disputable. PC gaming was certainly a niche back then as well, but among the hardcore it rose to popularity more quickly than consoles, with those following a couple of years later.

By: Haartz

Haartz — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:35:45 +0000

Holy shit Batman! The stupidity meter is reaching critical levels! SAVE YOURSELF!

“Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, Dungeon Siege to an extent, and many more were all born from the popularity of the original Baldur’s Gate, it having revitalised the genre with its deep characters and narrative, excellent use of the AD&D rules,”

No, you are so wrong it hurts my brain to even imagine someone could be so wrong.

“Baldur’s Gate allowed inter-party relationships to dynamically evolve throughout the adventure,”

In other news, the heroes have pushed back the saving of the world because they are still lacking part 11 of Jaheira’s LOVETALK.

It’s interesting how Gold Box and Black Box managed to sell quiet a lot during a time when PC really wasn’t considered as a platform for games without any relationship faggotry.

“The PC, while still the prominent gaming platform, was beginning to lose ground to the growing popularity of the consoles.”

Could you perhaps back that up by sales numbers? Or server statistics? Or anything? No, it’s much more fun to just spew shit over the Internet.

“The multi-linear setup allowed players to experience hundreds of side quests before committing to the narrative,”

WTF? Can I have some of that shit you are smoking? ’cause we must have played different Baldur’s Gate games back in the 90s!

“A wealth of role-playing games were born from the success of BioWare’s classic”

Haha. Seriously, Bioware made something they called Infinity engine. In their lust for money, they were about to develop an RTS-game to rival Westwood’s Command&Conquer and/or Blizzard’s Warcraft. Luckily, the idiot doctors got some advice from the folks at Black Isle and they decided to make an 2nd ed D&D RPG instead.

On the other hand, its too bad they didn’t make that RTS-clone. At least then they could not be blamed for the decline of RPG’s that’s been going on for over a decade.

By: baronjohn

baronjohn — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:27:23 +0000

Sadly, DA:O isn’t nearly as good as BG 1/2.

By: leeder_krenon

leeder_krenon — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:30:02 +0000

“optimised” eh? are they releasing patches for people who already own these games?

By: Craig Chamberlin

Craig Chamberlin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:26:25 +0000

This is the best news I’ve heard.. like.. ever, I was just trying to get this game to work on Windows 7 last night and it wouldn’t!! It’s about time!