Baldur's Gate - EE Interview @ Kotaku

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Kotaku has interviewed Cameron Tofer from Beamdog/Overhaul Games about their Baldur's Gate update. It seems the PC version "won't be changed much" but the iPad version is getting a major UI overhaul. The article also draws a long bow in speculating about new IE titles down the track. Here's a snip:

The desktop versions of both games won't be changed much, Tofer says. They'll have higher resolutions and full-screen modes, as well as "working" multi-player, but they won't look too different from their original incarnations in 1998 and 2000.

On the other hand, Tofer says the iPad version will be a "radical departure from the interface." The text will be bigger. You'll be able to pinch the screen to zoom in and out. You'll be able to gesture between screens instead of clicking the tab. The whole game might be zoomed in a little more.

"We want to bring it forward, make it nice and swishy and smooth and things like that," he said.

Tofer says that earning the rights to this project has been a long and difficult process. It took the team 14 months to convince Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and BioWare to all get aboard Beamdog's Baldur's Gate campaign. Beamdog doesn't have the rights to any new Baldur's Gate games, but they do have a large chunk of the team that worked on the classic RPG series.​

 

The desktop versions of both games won't be changed much, Tofer says. They'll have higher resolutions and full-screen modes, as well as "working" multi-player, but they won't look too different from their original incarnations in 1998 and 2000.

 

Sad panda.

 

So it sounds like this is primarily a mobile app release after all. :/

Radical changes to the mobile interface... hi-res and widescreen support, but not much else on the PC. We already had hi-res and widescreen support thanks to mods.

Hmm, not encouraged by this interview.

 

Um .... what exactly is the point then? In what way does "won't be changed much" equal "enhanced?" Stability?

If it really pans out this way I'll be tempted to conclude that the whole 'major announcement' lead-in thing for BGEE on the PC! was just a ploy to get the existing fan base on board without actually giving them anything. Besides a ... mobile app.

 

THIS!

 

What's the big deal with mobile apps anyway? I mean, I guess I get that people are on Facebook 24 hours a day, and half of that time from a mobile device, but does that really mean that everybody wants to play BG on an iPad? Honestly, when I think 'BG for the iPad!' I think along the equivalent lines of 'BG trading cards!' or 'BG bubble gum!'

They could stick a piece of gum or a card in your BGEE for PC box and that would be kind of cool in a very minor way. Likewise if they included the mobile app.

 

This was my thought upon initially reading the news. The only truly new content we get out of the deal is whatever mysterious quest and new character they are including.

I like these games, and I've bought them all more than once. It's very displeasing to see them taking advantage of us BG fans to release a crappy iPad port under the guise of 'enhancing' the games. They should have just announced the iPad port as the main deal in the first place, instead of yanking us around for a couple weeks. I'm still hoping for new cutscenes, though I won't hold my breath in light of this article.

This behaviour must not continue. Feel the burning stare of my hamster and change your ways.

 

Brace yourselves...

But then again it might be just a 'poor choice of words' moment for Tofer?!
Then again, you need a radically different GUI to run anything on that expensive Apple cutting board.

 

They want to give the now believed dead format of party based tactical RPG new life.

If the Enhanced Editions will be successfull, they hope to make something new in this direction. Generally this is pretty good news, imho.

The thing is, Trent Oster and Beamdog seem to imply that the whole Ipad thing is the key to success. Otherwise they wouldn't spend so much effort on it.
While I don't care about the app thing as long as the PC version remains true to the original in spirit and the new content fits in well, I'm a bit suspicious if this whole Ipad thing will work out as they hope it will.

 

The electroninc world in itself is moving toward one device for everything. Imho this is just another sign that it is gettting more and more likely to happen.

 

This is the bottom line... die hard BG fans, on the whole, aren't interested in playing this game on a mobile device. We are old school, and we are militant about playing games on our preferred platform, the PC. Gaming on this platform is in jeopdardy to some extent, so to hear that the EE is going to spend the bulk of its time focused on i-Pad development rather than PC development is a big, fat slap in the face from my perspective.

So your point is well taken. What sort of success do they expect to find doing this game on for a mobile app, with the PC effectively as an afterthought. I mean, didn't these guys pay attention to Bioware and Dragon Age 2 (they must have). Take a great RPG game in the spirit of Baldur's Gate and morph it into an Action game does not equal "now we have all the RPG fans AND action fans" loving our game. I mean, the freaking expansion to DA2 just got cancelled. CANCELLED! Isn't that message enough that forsaking your core fanbase is just bad business. I'll wait for more information, but yeah, based on what I read this morning I feel forsaken.

And further, it may be that this is the necessary path to see a BG3 game, but if getting to BG3 requires making such horrific concessions... why should I expect that BG3 itself won't be a game where massive concessions are made to please the executives at Atari, WotC, etc. I mean, I'd rather never see a BG3 if it isn't going to be a truly amazing ROLE PLAYING GAME that is true to all of what made Baldur's Gate great. This all smacks of the project heading down the wrong path.

 

In a further connecting of the dots, recall how Tal pointed out the curious omission of any mention of the PC in the original iPad announcement.

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56853

I wonder if that wasn't originally intended to be the press release.

Actually I really hope that someone comes along (very soonish) and says "Hold on, hold on, Tofer was talking out of his butt ..."

 

This is pretty much the reason why I haven't bothered much with this EE nonsense. I refuse to get my hopes up until I have something more concrete like proper screenshots and a more in-depth explanation on just how they are going to "enhance" this for the PC version. Until then... meh. I'll still probably buy it if it's less than 10$ for the PC as well though .

 

According the the interview, it seems as though Atari and WotC were reluctant to allow this project to get going.

Gaear, it does make one wonder.

 

So... is it still worth the wait?

Do we start yelling "crucify him"?

 

I know I originally said I wasn't interested in playing BG on an iPad, but I'm definitely finding myself eating my words now. As much as I tend to be a purist with some things (the most recent games I've played on PC are the KOTOR games) I am finding myself more and more excite for this.

So what if they aren't making a ton of changes to the PC version? They are adding some new things as well as providing a version that should work out-of-the-box on newer machines without needing mods or other tweaks to get the game running properly. As someone who has had many problems of this type before, I definitely appreciate how nice this aspect of it will be.

As far as an iPad version is concerned, what I want to see most is just how they'll get the controls to work. If anything, the use of a touch screen and possible multi-touch commands might make it feel like you are even more involved in what is happening. Literally a more hands-on gameplay experience, if you know what I mean

 

I am quite sure Wotc are very reluctant towards this. It will pretty much prove, to new players, that the 2ed is way superior to their dumbed down 4th edition.