Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition announced

The web site has been teasing for too long, but now we finally know what's going on with the new Baldur's Gate. It's Enhanced!

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Update 2: 1:29 p.m. with comment there will be two games.

Update: 12:40 p.m. with Beamdog rep comment.

All my fantasizing about a return to the Sword Coast has been rewarded. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is coming and Faerun will be alive again this summer.

The official Baldur's Gate site featured a countdown for noon PDT, but was getting hammered from curious fans. However, Edmonton-based Overhaul Games's site let the cat out of the bag:

"For years we've wanted to continue our journey on Baldur's Gate, and now after months negotiations we get to do just that. Right now we're hip deep in code and pixels making awesome."

Publisher Beamdog said via Twitter: "The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny, chaos will be sown by their passage. So sayeth the wise Aluando." Summer 2012 is under a menacing image of the Lord of Murder.

A Beamdog rep said that Overhaul has the original source code for the game and plans on adding new and original content, not just doing a remake, according to a post on Joystiq.

An update from Trent Oster on Twitter said there will actually be two games, the second being Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition. The first will include the original BG and the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion and the second will include BG2 and the Throne of Bhaal expansion.

Other tidbits from Oster (who was with BioWare when they developed the original games):

  • Mods are very important to the development team.

  • Screens and other assets will be rolled out next week.

  • Many of the original Baldur's Gate team members will be working on the enhanced version.

  • No 3D, still 2D isometric

I spent way too many hours playing the original Baldur's Gate and its Bhaalspawn sequel and expansions. Now I can anxiously fantasize about Minsc and his dutiful sidekick Boo "butt-kicking for goodness" one more time in updated fashion.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 15, 2012 12:20 PM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition announced.

    The web site has been teasing for too long, but now we finally know what's going on with the new Baldur's Gate. It's Enhanced!

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 12:21 PM

      give us the hot scoop, keefs. what's the deets?

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        March 15, 2012 12:27 PM

        He's still hitting F5 on the website with the rest of us.

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      March 15, 2012 12:23 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 15, 2012 12:39 PM

      Old School Gaming all over my face plz!

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      March 15, 2012 12:47 PM

      Not too many details other than Overhaul has the source code and is adding some original content and not just doing a remake.

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      March 15, 2012 12:51 PM

      I'll take it.

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      March 15, 2012 12:53 PM

      is this just gona be the old game re-made ? or a sequel or what

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      March 15, 2012 12:58 PM

      Well that was a letdown. Terrible timing too, what with Wasteland 2 getting funding.

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      March 15, 2012 1:16 PM

      Have there been any screenshots anywhere yet?

      • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
        reply
        March 15, 2012 1:28 PM

        Hell, there's barely any news.

        I'll start to be excited when they show me gameplay videos.

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          March 15, 2012 1:42 PM

          I finally got into the site and it's got nothing. I get building hype but a countdown to page timeouts and finally a thing that says "Hey the thing you pretty much knew already was right. Don't stop believing!!!!"

          What a wet fart of an announcement.

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        March 15, 2012 2:33 PM

        They're coming soon. They didn't say when just yet though.

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          March 16, 2012 5:06 AM

          Maybe they'll put another countdown timer up, to tell us when they'll announce when the screenshots will be available

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      March 15, 2012 1:23 PM

      Is a remake/enhancement of BG really necessary? I'd rather see a new game, either with the same old BG engine (we know it runs on modern PC's fine thanks to GoG) or with a new engine. BG3 if you will.

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        March 15, 2012 1:25 PM

        I thought Dragon Age was supposed to be the "new" Baldur's Gate.

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        March 15, 2012 1:32 PM

        I hope this leads into BG3. Best possible outcome would be that this enhanced version looks and plays awesome, makes alot of money and they use the proceeds from it to make a third game.

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        March 15, 2012 1:40 PM

        A new game would have a lot of extra stuff involved, I would think. Far easier to port, update and "enhance" an old title.

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        March 15, 2012 2:00 PM

        I think this is a perfect way to lead into Baldur's Gate III. Think about it.. they dig into the first two games and get (back) up to speed with how these games work by getting knee deep in the series again. They release these two re-made games... if they sell well... they go right into BG III!!!

        I think this is awesome. I've tried to finish these games 2 or 3 times each and just never got around to it. Now I will have less of an excuse. If they remaster all the art so it's higher res and update the engine a bit so it's less clunky? I'd play the shit out of these games.

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          March 15, 2012 2:23 PM

          The biggest barrier for newcomers is going to be making players used to the idea of (or changing it) dying suddenly and having to go back to a previous save.

          This comes up a bit in modern games, but in the BG titles, it was very easy to get yourself trapped in an area with no spells, no healing (because resting might bring more monsters) and/or dead party members who can't be revived in the field until everyone is a much higher level. If new players can't get used to keeping a running rotation of saves and judicious use of quick save, it'll be hard to sell them on the series.

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            March 15, 2012 3:19 PM

            I think newcomers will be able to take it, once they see the quality of the rest of the experience. Games like Oblivion and Skyrim have sold millions of copies... and they have similar save systems and points in the game where you get backed into a corner and need to load a previous save.

            I think what might be even more of a barrier is tactical turn-based combat which takes actual patience and strategy! Games have become so easy lately.. Baldur's Gate is like the turn-based version of Dark Souls! It will kick your ass if you are not patient and/or paying full attention.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 1:30 PM

      iOS version too? Isn't that what Beamdog's primarily done in the past is iOS ports?

    • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      March 15, 2012 1:45 PM

      As someone who never played the Baldur's Gate games I'm not sure I can get into a hardcore D&D ruleset. I would be on board if they came up with a streamlined mode or something though.

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        March 15, 2012 2:02 PM

        It'd be nice if they just added in options for the kinds of house-rules people would sometimes use in D&D, like ignoring encumbrance or max HP on level up (which makes a *HUGE* difference in 2nd edition).

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          March 15, 2012 2:17 PM

          IIRC you got max HP in BG2 if you put it on normal or easy

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            March 15, 2012 2:24 PM

            Yeah, BG2 was a lot friendlier in terms of that stuff. The other thing I forgot is spell learning %, that shit is also brutal at times.

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        March 15, 2012 2:02 PM

        [deleted]

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        March 15, 2012 3:18 PM

        It isn't that opaque or difficult. I was a kid when I played it and I had no previous experience with D&D.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 1:59 PM

      Added a couple updates, partcularly from Trent Oster, who worked on the original BG games

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      March 15, 2012 2:29 PM

      I doubt people are going to remember how hard as fuck this game was. Mage characters with less than 8 hp until BG1 is half done. hah.

      • reply
        March 15, 2012 2:31 PM

        I can't even remember how many times I watched one or more of my characters just get gibbed randomly in the middle of a fight because they took a bunch of damage at once with no means of prevention save hoping a reload would make the enemy not roll so well.

        • reply
          March 15, 2012 2:59 PM

          Or the instant kill basilisks even when you were almost a god in BG2.

          I used to just hoard wands of summing and keep a wall of meat between my mage and the enemy, heh

          • reply
            March 15, 2012 3:16 PM

            I found a mirror shield that made my main immune to that shit. I'd leave the group at the starting area, and use him to solo-clear the map whenever there were basilisks in the zone.

            • reply
              March 15, 2012 3:18 PM

              There was an awesome cloak in BG2 that made the beholder/mind flyer stuff in the Underdark trivial. But if you didn't get it, that place was a fucking nightmare.

              • reply
                March 15, 2012 3:20 PM

                Maybe that was it...

                ... but yeah, that thing was necessary.

              • reply
                March 16, 2012 3:52 AM

                [deleted]

                • reply
                  March 16, 2012 4:19 AM

                  I've always HATED mindflayers.. they have 95% magic resistance.. 95%!! Totally unfair.

              • reply
                March 16, 2012 4:52 AM

                There was a cloak and a shield. The shield would actually reflect the Beholder rays back at them and kill them. IT was bad ass.

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        March 15, 2012 2:42 PM

        [deleted]

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        March 15, 2012 2:49 PM

        I really hope they leave the difficulty alone or make it even harder. I don't want my hand held and easy fights, most of the fun I had was having to reload to try new strats. Also made the loot much more rewarding.

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          March 15, 2012 3:02 PM

          not so much as trying new strats as it was hoping for the computer to not roll crits.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 2:38 PM

      Excellent news. Hopefully its great.

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      March 15, 2012 2:43 PM

      SKEET SKEET SKEET!

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 2:48 PM

      Replaying an updated version of these games would be awesome. I love it. What a year so far for old school gaming.

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        March 15, 2012 2:49 PM

        Agreed. Hopefully graphics are revamped a little too.

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          March 15, 2012 2:54 PM

          Oster said they will be updating the graphics, but it is staying 2D isometric

          • reply
            March 15, 2012 2:58 PM

            Literally a dream come true. That's exactly how I want it.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 2:51 PM

      Honestly, this is probably my most anticipated release now. So many fond memories.

      • reply
        March 15, 2012 2:55 PM

        Mine too. I will want to play Diablo III, but I REALLY want this now.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 2:59 PM

      well that is disappointing...

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      March 15, 2012 3:22 PM

      We need one of these for Torment so I can actually get through that mess of a UI.

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      March 15, 2012 3:22 PM

      I wonder if they'll include the stuff from BG2 in BG1 (like classes, race, kits, etc)

      It'd be nice to have monks and wild mages and so on in BG1 without the mess of mods needed to do it currently.

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        March 15, 2012 3:36 PM

        I wouldn't be surprised if they did. It would make sense that they can clean up and modernize the engine (interface)... then basically keep it the same across the two games and just keep the content basically the same.

        Although.. playing with classes etc could potentially throw off the balance in a way which could add a lot more work for them.

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          March 15, 2012 3:41 PM

          Would be awesome if it went ontop of BG: one world mod

          • reply
            March 15, 2012 5:41 PM

            Yeah... I kinda wish they would just stitch them together into one big game like that mod does...

            But I guess they can make more money this way (and if that money goes towards BG III... then I'm all for it!!)

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 3:57 PM

      the need to make the Demogorgon fight in the BG2 xpac the way it really should be. Think there was a mod or something that essentially unlocked his abilities and made him perform as he should have been allowed too and he would basically wreck your god like group unless you got good Saving throws or something...

      • reply
        March 15, 2012 3:59 PM

        If you had forged the paladin +5 blade (forget the name) that did super heavy damage, you could just load up all your protection on a paladin in your party and let him do all the damage

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          March 16, 2012 3:02 AM

          Carsomyr...is it nerdy that I know the names of and where to find EVERY weapon/armor piece in BG2?

        • reply
          March 16, 2012 4:53 AM

          Oh god how I loved that sword! Towards the ends of the game my Palli would just one shot EVERYTHING.

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 4:33 PM

      I will allow this. Carry on.

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      March 15, 2012 5:24 PM

      Hell yeah! Both BG1 and BG2!

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      March 15, 2012 8:05 PM

      hope they do a good job

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      March 15, 2012 10:23 PM

      Never played Baldur's Gate, but still "2D isometric"...LOL, no thanks

    • reply
      March 15, 2012 10:48 PM

      How is it we still don't know what platforms????

      • reply
        March 15, 2012 10:56 PM

        I really would like to know. If this is being ported to iOS thats all I need to know to pull the trigger on a new iPad.

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 3:01 AM

      Sick as fucking BALLS! Can't wait. BG2 hands down my favourite game of ALL TIME!

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 4:15 AM

      pretty cool

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 5:51 AM

      I wonder which dnd rule set they'll be using. Long live THAC0!

      • reply
        March 16, 2012 7:11 AM

        The amount of rebalancing they'd need to do to update it to the newer rulesets would be epic in and of itself. Not to mention massive UI changes. My strong guess is they'll stick with the original ruleset.

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 6:28 AM

      BG1 was the first D&D RPG I ever played. It was strange, difficult, and all too awesome.

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 1:58 PM

      This is the wrong AD&D game to enhance. The correct one to soup-up is PLANESCAPE TORMENT.

      • reply
        March 17, 2012 6:14 AM

        Although Planescape is probably the most well written game ever made, it's for that reason it DOESN'T need enhancing.

        BG and BG2 (and Expansions) have DEEP tactical combat and rulesets, enhancing that and bringing the Sword Coast to a new 2D engine will be awesome. Planescape is more an interactive novel (albeit a great one!), it's greatness stands even today, but have you tried going back to BG1?

        Even with WEIDU it's bad...can't wait for the Enhanced Edition.

    • reply
      March 16, 2012 5:09 PM

      Hell yeah !! I still have my original disc with the sleeve and manual here. Man i cannot wait to get back to it. !!! Totally buying this for my nephew as well. The new gen of gamer need to experience this game.

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