David Gaider is now the Creative Director of Beamdog

[Nonek]

I thought that Tales of the Sword Coast was a far better expansion than ToB, in fact i'd place Durlag's Tower over Watcher's Keep as a dungeoneering experience. Oddly enough I also liked Shadows of Undrentide, but absolutely detested Hordes of the Underdark, then again I was never particularly fond of Undermountain, the Realms or the Drow. That endless hike through the planes in the latter portion of HotU was also an absolute bore, I was playing with my chin resting on one hand for almost all of it, with much huffing and puffing of exasperation.

[Humanoid]

So I tried to ponder which Bioware expansion was the best, before it occurred to me that ToB is the only Bioware expansion I've ever played, unless you count the free DLC mission for ME1. (I even include SWTOR expansions, which I have access to but I'm finding I completely lose motivation to play any character the second their class story is done)

 

As for Beamdog, I'll start paying attention to what they're doing only if they finally scrap the Infinity Engine for good, stomp on its corpse a bit, and burn it to cinders.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I thought that Tales of the Sword Coast was a far better expansion than ToB, in fact i'd place Durlag's Tower over Watcher's Keep as a dungeoneering experience. Oddly enough I also liked Shadows of Undrentide, but absolutely detested Hordes of the Underdark, then again I was never particularly fond of Undermountain, the Realms or the Drow. That endless hike through the planes in the latter portion of HotU was also an absolute bore, I was playing with my chin resting on one hand for almost all of it, with much huffing and puffing of exasperation.

I agree about TotSC, because it expands the base campaign while the other expansions have largely added an additional campaign(that often serves as a final chapter). Admittedly I have never played BG(T) without TotSC but I find myself always hitting at least the ice prison island compared to skipping ToB maybe half the time.

 

At any rate I hope Beamdog manages to put together some new content on par with BG2 and the Ascension mod, but I'm not going to bet on it.

[Gromnir]

Gromnir, yes, my disappointment was that TOB was downscaled to an expansion, rather than being a full game. As an expansion it was a metric ton better than almost any expansion pack out there.

see what we mean?  we get that you wanted more than an expansion, but the folks that complained of linearity o' tob then hold up totsc as a superior alternative? 

 

 

am getting that some folks got the rose-hued glasses problem when it comes to bg, but as you stated,  tob were, "a metric ton better than almost any expansion pack out there." for an expansion it were enormous, and frequent had very clever content.  the homage to text-based games via watchers keep level 5 were, all by its lonesome, more creative than anything from totsc. 

 

*shrug*

 

we wanted bg3 and not an expansion.  am in agreement with you on that point.  but to compare tob to totsc or heart of winter... or "almost any expansion pack out there," is a ridiculous exercise. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Bartimaeus]

I always thought TotSC sucked. Like, a lot. Durlag's Tower was O.K., Werewolf Island is awful, truly dreadful stuff (and is written terribly inconsistently), Ice Island is pretty meh, and the Demon Lord quest is pretty bad (and completely out of the blue and random...), too.

 

Throne of Bhaal isn't great, either, and suffers from especially horribly written non-main quest content (...anything that happens in Saradush, for example...). And that's ignoring the fact that most people's problem was *with* the main plot, which says some really, really bad things about the non-main quest stuff. At least Watcher's Keep was pretty cool, if nothing else.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Tigranes]

TOTSC and TOB are both munchkin adventures for me, and I was fine with that. Durlag's Tower alone would be an excellent expansion, even if, yes, the others were mixed at best. TOB has all the hallmarks of a story that was originally written for a different pacing and scope, but I felt like they did succeed in depicting a Bhaalspawn situation that was getting out of hand and hurtling towards a conclusion. It's also fun to play around with epic levels, which is something we would never properly see again in IE.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

If I am expected to buy the games for a fourth time, then I will need to be wooed far more effectively.

 

I bought BGEE pre-release under the impression it would be an Enhanced version of the original. What I received when I played it wasn't an enhanced version of BG and regret my decision buying it. How people want to define 'enhanced' is up to them but I did not see it as an enhanced version and gave up on it due to a myriad of reasons which I've stated in previous threads and wont go into again.

 

I can't bring myself to buy BG:EE just to play Dragonspear unless everyone tells me it's amazing...

 

I've always said once bitten, twice shy. Having already bought BGEE, my curiosity will probably get the better of me and I might try out Dragonspear. But I won't be buying it day 1. I'll wait a year or two and hopefully get it from someone who wants to give it away and the bugs are mostly squashed.

[HoonDing]

I think David's a pretty cool guy doesn't afraid of anything.

[Amentep]

 

If I am expected to buy the games for a fourth time, then I will need to be wooed far more effectively.

 

I bought BGEE pre-release under the impression it would be an Enhanced version of the original. What I received when I played it wasn't an enhanced version of BG and regret my decision buying it. How people want to define 'enhanced' is up to them but I did not see it as an enhanced version and gave up on it due to a myriad of reasons which I've stated in previous threads and wont go into again.

 

I'm not a BG expert (heck I only beat BG1 once) but BGEE has additional NPCs and class kits, so it is "Enhanced". Whether you like the "Enhancement" is an entirely different matter.  Personally I'm not finding my experience with the game to be radically different from the original with the exception of the NPCs, kits and more named magic items found earlier.

[the_dog_days]

Am I the only person who liked Dragon Age Origins Awakening? I thought DA2 would've been ten times better if BioWare had expanded DA:O:A (by a lot) and made that the sequel.

Edited February 11, 2016 by the_dog_days

[Volourn]

 Eh. SOU is the worst expanions. HOTU and TOB are the two best. Awakening was solid. As was TOTSC.

[Zoraptor]

Awakening was fine. In retrospect the resources would almost certainly have been better put towards DA2 instead, but that is with retrospect and the expansion itself was pretty good.

 

In any case I'm pencilling 'enslave nations with necromancy' into the putative feature list for BG3/ suffix.

[Leferd]

To be fair, Gaider was the first to repudiate the "Enslave nations with necromancy" marketing line back in the Bio boards in 2004.

[Zoraptor]

Enslaving nations with necromancy is actually a pretty cool idea, I ain't knocking it.  And if it's BG3 as a 'real' BG3 (yeah, unlikely) it'd probably be a good guess for one of the things you would expect to be able to do.

[Nonek]

I've always thought that armies of the dead crushing nations beneath their rotting heels was a rather short sighted application of necromancy, I think information research and retrieval would be a far more effective business proposition. Also of course a brains trust springs to mind, pardon the pun, the finest minds of millenia saved for the good of all mankind and perhaps even persevering with their research. Imagine the beautiful patterns Einstein would be weaving from reality, especially now that his gravity wave theory has been proven, or Pythagoras rendering the universe into his mathematical constructs, Alexander perfecting his strategies and tactics, Newton making physics his plaything.

[Humanoid]

Necromancy is slavery? What is this, zombie SJWs in Faerun?

[Orogun01]

I've always thought that armies of the dead crushing nations beneath their rotting heels was a rather short sighted application of necromancy, I think information research and retrieval would be a far more effective business proposition. Also of course a brains trust springs to mind, pardon the pun, the finest minds of millenia saved for the good of all mankind and perhaps even persevering with their research. Imagine the beautiful patterns Einstein would be weaving from reality, especially now that his gravity wave theory has been proven, or Pythagoras rendering the universe into his mathematical constructs, Alexander perfecting his strategies and tactics, Newton making physics his plaything.

Oh dear Nonek, whilst I love your optimism the fact is that decay consumes us all. Even if their minds where perfectly persevered after the moment of their death it can't reverse the damage that time did before they died. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, rather than wake them up only to realize that they already given their only contribution to the world and are now empty husks that have been left behind.

Also, your idea that the most accomplished minds are the best qualified is erroneous, the best artist in the world might have never picked up the brush.

 

Anyways, **** Gaider and **** BW they're been going downhill ever since DA:O

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Necromancy is slavery? What is this, zombie SJWs in Faerun?

 

#ZombieUnlivesMatter

[Gorth]

Enslaving nations with necromancy is actually a pretty cool idea, I ain't knocking it.  And if it's BG3 as a 'real' BG3 (yeah, unlikely) it'd probably be a good guess for one of the things you would expect to be able to do.

Games Workshop beat it by a decade (1994) in their Warhammer setting...

[Nonek]

 

I've always thought that armies of the dead crushing nations beneath their rotting heels was a rather short sighted application of necromancy, I think information research and retrieval would be a far more effective business proposition. Also of course a brains trust springs to mind, pardon the pun, the finest minds of millenia saved for the good of all mankind and perhaps even persevering with their research. Imagine the beautiful patterns Einstein would be weaving from reality, especially now that his gravity wave theory has been proven, or Pythagoras rendering the universe into his mathematical constructs, Alexander perfecting his strategies and tactics, Newton making physics his plaything.

 

Oh dear Nonek, whilst I love your optimism the fact is that decay consumes us all. Even if their minds where perfectly persevered after the moment of their death it can't reverse the damage that time did before they died. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, rather than wake them up only to realize that they already given their only contribution to the world and are now empty husks that have been left behind.

 

 

Please don't remind me. Well this is operating on the D&D (and various religions) premise that there is a "soul," that this fantastic organism can see, hear, think and feel just like its fleshy mortal counterpart and is capable of carrying on the life which its body has given up. Indeed that the emotions of life may still rule it and it still exhibits a personality and individuality. Of course as you say its all bunkum, one cannot see without eyes, hear without ears, think without a brain or feel emotions without hormones and what have you, but then again our hobby is a delightful piffle in and of itself.

[HoonDing]

"enslaving nations with necromancy"

 

Play Age of Wonders Undead campaign, preferably with Keepers for most poignant ending.

[Orogun01]

 

 

I've always thought that armies of the dead crushing nations beneath their rotting heels was a rather short sighted application of necromancy, I think information research and retrieval would be a far more effective business proposition. Also of course a brains trust springs to mind, pardon the pun, the finest minds of millenia saved for the good of all mankind and perhaps even persevering with their research. Imagine the beautiful patterns Einstein would be weaving from reality, especially now that his gravity wave theory has been proven, or Pythagoras rendering the universe into his mathematical constructs, Alexander perfecting his strategies and tactics, Newton making physics his plaything.

 

Oh dear Nonek, whilst I love your optimism the fact is that decay consumes us all. Even if their minds where perfectly persevered after the moment of their death it can't reverse the damage that time did before they died. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, rather than wake them up only to realize that they already given their only contribution to the world and are now empty husks that have been left behind.

 

 

Please don't remind me. Well this is operating on the D&D (and various religions) premise that there is a "soul," that this fantastic organism can see, hear, think and feel just like its fleshy mortal counterpart and is capable of carrying on the life which its body has given up. Indeed that the emotions of life may still rule it and it still exhibits a personality and individuality. Of course as you say its all bunkum, one cannot see without eyes, hear without ears, think without a brain or feel emotions without hormones and what have you, but then again our hobby is a delightful piffle in and of itself.

 

I don't know that, maybe there is a soul that has  separate rules than our bodies. After all part of our "selves" is both energy and intangible, I guess that will be something for future (or hopefully current) scientist to find out. Personally I never understood the obsession with soft, decaying flesh. Cold iron is where is at.

[licketysplit]

So I loved Origins, but his later work I found it irritating. He's talented, no doubt about it. I just wish his political views didn't creep into his work because it doesn't make it any better. A good writer slips that stuff in under the radar. Gaider can't do that.