Lorfean

There is already an amazing UI/widescreen mod for Torment and the game's camera is more zoomed in by default, providing larger and more detaled sprites than the BG and IWD series, which already makes it more suited to higher resolutions, so I'm not sure what they could do to "enhance" it further. I would much rather see them tackle Icewind Dale next, which has not received the attention its siblings have enjoyed in terms of engine conversion and UI mods.

This, more than anything, seems to hit the nail on its head IMO. Volourn, you mention how many of Bio's previous games have no variety in their endings either, but I don't think that is where people's problems with ME3's ending(s) lie. They had certain expectations of the trilogy's finale, and these expectations were based on their experiences in ME1 and 2 as well as Bio's marketing of the game... One quick look at the About / Interactive Story section of the official site shows a perfect example of this: "Experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike any other, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome." And what people got was, for many, clearly the exact opposite of what they expected and/or what they felt they were promised. In BG1 I never expected anything more than a confrontation with Sarevok at the end of the game. That was what the whole game worked towards. Same with BG2 and Irenicus -- I was never promised anything more, and never expected anything else than the ability to confront him for what he did to us. With ToB I did expect something special, because it was the final chapter, but I don't remember if BioWare promised anything specific in that regard, and the choice between godhood and remaining a mortal was awesome in my book and provided a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the Child of Bhaal saga. I never expected multiple endings or, for example, for my conversation with Portalbendarwinden in BG1 to factor into my final confrontation with Melissan in ToB... Because the presedence for that kind of stuff was never set in the previous games in the series, and Bio never promised anything along those lines. But they have plastered "your choices matter!" all over the ME series for years now so people had, understandably, great expectations of its ending(s). I am indifferent to the game, but it seems pretty clear to me that BioWare, in large part, has themselves to blame for the negative backlash. Just like with the whole multiplayer-affects-your-singleplayer-exprience and Day 1 DLC debacles.

Metacritic is a joke though. First of all, its User Score is much too vulnerable to trolling haters spamming 0/100 ratings -- and with all the controversy around ME3 before and after its release you can bet there were a LOT of those. Second, its Metascore is equally unreliable because the site does things like interpreting 5/5 stars review scores as a 100/100 rating, which is completely ridiculous... The way it works today, Metacritic should not be taken seriously in any capacity. It is NOT a valid representation of anything. As for BioWare -- I've realized that the BG series are really the only games they've made that have any lasting value for me. NWN and KotOR were just never that great for me, with the possible exception of Hordes of the Underdark, but the entire NWN SP package has aged horribly and, as a result, is very difficult to get back into. I never bothered with JE and although DA was good, it was also very generic and took itself waaay too seriously... and then they ruined the franchise with the sequel. I enjoyed ME and ME2 but completely lost interest in the series after the whole ME3 marketing/multiplayer/DLC debacle and feel like it would be a waste of time to try getting back into it again. So yes, it's a shame they chose the direction they did, but there's enough other games out there and now that we're getting Enhanced Edtions of the BG games, that will only extend their lifetime even further

Trent Oster has already made a few statements about this on his Twitter:

GameBanshee has a nice summary of what is known so far.

Right. Sorry. A month ago when this was just some obscure little piece of news that nobody understood yet, it seemed kinda appropriate. I'm sure one of the moderators will be happy to change it into sth more fitting.

It's not elitism, I just don't have any interest in an iPad version. I don't own an iPad and I'm not interested in the iPad as a gaming platform, or in playing games like BG on *any* portable gaming device for that matter... And because of my preferences I think it would be a shame if that's what this project turns out to be.

Awesome I'm gonna pitch in when I get my salary this week. Never played the original but I've played plenty of other games Fargo was involved in, some of them amongst my all-time favorites, and I'm very excited to see a proper 2D, turn-based, party-based RPG getting made this way.

The vibe of his pitch video is very off-putting to me. I'm not really a fan of the genre to begin with, and that video does nothing to convince me otherwise.

Eleven hours to go. The one thing that still makes me very curious about this is the mention of "resurrecting" the infinity engine. I just hope it means an HD remake instead of something cringe-worthy like an iPad port or a browser game, or sth... Though I doubt they'd make such a fuss if it wasn't something they believed would excite fans of the series.

The page got a small cosmetic update in the form of an Aloundo quote and the text in the page source was updated, too: <!-- February 28, 2012 --> <!-- Shadowy Figure- Raise Dead : Infinity Engine --> <!-- For years, I clung to the memory of it. Then the memory of the memory. --> <!-- And then... it returned. Better than it was before. --> GameBanshee reports that Trent Oster/Beamdog are behind it.

I think you're missing the point. The whole idea behind Double Fine's Kickstarter project is to use crowd-funding to develop a game that fans have been asking for for years (in their case an old school point-and-click adventure), but that publishers no longer consider marketable. And it would only be logical to assume the same goes for Fargo's Wasteland project -- it will allow fans to invest in the development of a game they really want to play: an old school 2D post-apocalyptic RPG. There will be no need for adaption or genre-switching, because it won't need to be "marketable" in the way you are talking about. Instead, they can stay true to the original's roots and make a true sequel to Wasteland.

No idea who owns the site... or who owns the game's art, music, character names, etc. The new logo looks pretty spiffy though. HD remake?

The official Baldur's Gate site has been updated, and there are some cryptic messages in the page source: <!-- Shadowy Figure- Raise Dead : Infinity Engine --> <!-- oh dear it's coming soon -->

Seems a pretty clear pattern to me... Console fanboy / closet Beyonc

What if I quoted your last thread? That made me lol But, what if he forgets every thread he makes the moment he clicks "Post New Topic"?

So... Baldur's Gate - Best CRPG of our time is not respectable? Neverwinter Nights - A CRPG that started some things for Obsidian, not respectable? Knights of the Old Republic - Another CRPG that started some things for Obsidian, not respectable? Come on man. Jade Empire - Okay, I get these being unrespectable Sonic Chro - SHUT THE HELL UP SELF! myself OK myself Dragon Age - You would be a fool to call this unrespectable Mass Effect - I will kick you in the gut if you call any game in this series unrespectable. Awards: * Video Game Hall of Fame - ... * 2010 Studio of the Year - This one award proves you wrong all the way. At the time of Krezack's original post I would agree with you that BioWare was one of the more respectable studios out there. But after DA2, I'd say the balance has shifted. The problem is that, even though they have all those classics under their belt, right now there's no telling what kind of silliness they'll decide to apply to their next title... I mean, Kinect support for ME3? Seriously? Is *that* what the series was missing and what you decided to spent your resources on!? And all the while, Blizzard and Valve just keep making good, solid, finished games. They take their time, they respect their franchises, and they get. the job. done. The same can't be said for BW. Not anymore.

This. And I haven't had any serious problems with GOG.com's version of Arx Fatalis, either. Though I guess it needs to be said that I've been playing most classic games in their GOG.com incarnations... And I've had no problems with Another World, Beneath A Steel Sky, Alone in the Dark, etc.

Just bought the Alone in the Dark package off GOG.com for some quality survival horror gaming time during the Easter holiday (don't know how it is elsewhere, but I'm gonna be off from Thursday to Monday ). I have some vague memories of the game(s), but can't for the life of me remember if I actually played any of them back in the day, and if I did, which... So it'll be interesting. They look like they'll be right up my alley regardless, so I'm looking forward to them!

Double post.

If you didn't bother with ME2 DLC then how do you know SB was "a 5 min DLC"? It wasn't. It was longer, more interesting, had a better story and much better production values than anything that was released for DA:O. WH was a decent questline and had interesting companions, but was hardly worth the money and did not fulfill its marketing campaign's promises. "Her plans and her whereabouts have remained a mystery... until now"? Hardly. I still have no idea about her plans or where the mirror took (in my character's case) us. Or the fate of our child. It was a disappointment.

DA:O DLC sucked so much it was ridiculous. They should take a cue from ME2's Shadow Broker DLC... *that* was awesome.

Fair enough. That's your opinion. In my experience there is a huge difference in how both games play -- I loved the first game, I hate the sequel. I agree with you regarding the lore; that's not what bothers me. And the new character doesn't bother me either. It's the gameplay that ruins the experience for me. Maybe there are so many minor changes that, put together, they just amount to one big suckfest for me. Or maybe it's a PC/console thing, though I can't comment on that as I never played DA on a console.

I used "botched" in reference to how much the game differs from DA:O and Awakening -- instead of improving on a working formula, like they did with BG2, ToB, HotU, ME2 and Awakening, they decided to pretty much reboot the series entirely and turn it into something completely different. i.e. they botched the sequel to a great game.

So were the Mass Effect games and KotOR, and that was fine. The gameplay in those games worked just fine on PC. I could've lived with them turning the DA series into something else if the result was at least fun to play. But it isn't.