Revamped Baldur's Gate release coming?

A friend posted this elsewhere regarding a rumors of a new / updated version of Baldur's Gate. I haven't read the article myself (it's blocked) so I hesitate to post it, but I'm curious if anyone else has heard anything about this?

Edited to fix link: http://www.destructoid.com/could-a-new-baldur-s-gate-be-on-the-way--222929.phtml

If it's blocked, is that not perhaps because it turned out to be entirely unfounded?

No, it's because our work internet blocks a lot of gaming-related sites. WebSense doesn't parse article content and make judgements about the viability of the information. ;)

Sorry, I meant I can't see the file either and the site is definitely not blocked here. :) I just get "No input file specified" when I try to click your link -- maybe there's a typo in the URL somewhere?

edit: hah, I saw it, the URL actually contains three dots "..." instead of the part of the shortened URL that should go there.

SuperJay's link is broken because of a terrible, loathsome cut and paste job! Try this link instead.

I will buy a revamped Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale/Whatever Day 1.

Oh christ, my bad. I copied it from another site and didn't realize it had actually truncated the link. Thanks Kerzain for posting the fixed URL. I'll be in the corner wearing my dunce cap.

No problem, I read the article. Doesn't say much, just a link to a teaser site with one image, one song, and some Baldur's Gate trivia embedded in the site's HTML source code.

Hmm... that new baldursgate.com domain of the teaser site is held by a company called "Domains By Proxy" hosted by GoDaddy. Now why would EA/Bioware do that?

I want to clarify my statement about day 1: I'll skip the update entirely if this has anybody from Dragon Age with decision-making power working on it.

Yeah, that's odd. Maybe it's just an elaborate hoax. OR.... BioWare is just trying to throw us off the scent! ;)

Atari are the people who own the Baldur's Gate IP and trademarks.

EDIT: The RPS story explains it in more detail: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/29/new-baldurs-gate-website-suggests-remake-sequel/

Atari still exists? And they hold the rights to Baldur's Gate!? Oh well, maybe they are trying to drive up the price for a fire sale.

You guys are so starry-eyed.

It's going to be Dark Alliance 3.

And I'll play it, too. I liked the first two games.

Oh hey, a new Dark Alliance game would be great! I liked the first ones, too.

Oooooooh.

Although I think BG and BGII are both so actively modded and polished they more than stand up even now, so a remake isn't the be-all and end-all.

The people behind it are actually the same ones as behind the MDK2 HD remake.

I'd play the shit out of a BG revamp.

I'd play the living shit out of an Icewind Dale revamp. I get all mushy just by seing Talorcs avatar for crying out loud. The crypt with the dead king in that first area? Still one of my favorite bad guys.

Trap! You die. Reload.

Shit like that was why my custom party ran with two single-class thieves. (Well, one thief, one assassin.) I specced the vanilla thief for lockpick/pickpocket and the assassin for stealth/traps. The former could clean out entire shops with ease by late BG1 or early BG2, while the latter could solo whole dungeons with backstab shenanigans.

WUA how did your book publishing ordeal go, did you end up making any money off BG stuff you wrote?

Edit - stop being lazy and get your old avatar back.

Naw dude, Schild was only selling them for like a buck above cost. I told him he could keep whatever money it made toward server costs, but to my knowledge he never even recouped what he spent mailing me a bunch of free copies to give away. Also, I forget what my avatar was over there.

Works for Dark Souls! I am a chronic quicksaver though.

The only place I can remember that was really, really annoying for traps was Firewine dungeon in BG1. You'd never want to run around without someone detecting them though.

Honestly I can't imagine playing a revamped BG or ID. I have a pretty good memory and so there are precious few games that I ever really re-play, and most of them are games that change significantly each time you play them. BG and ID are not really like that given their fairly static story lines and quest progression.

Dark Alliance 3, please. There's no need to waste anyone's time by remaking an RPG dinosaur (that really isn't even that good) in the Dragon Age 2 engine.

We can all admit that's exactly what a "remake" would turn out to be, right?

YOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY MOUTH!

I like the idea of an HD remake in theory, but in practice I have a standing rule not to replay BG/BG2 until I make more progress on my backlog.

I'd answer your question but you lost me at " really isn't even that good"

Boo, go for the eyes!

I just never "got" Baldur's Gate. I actually finished the game and I still couldn't tell you much about it except for hey unc it's me Imowen, the utterly retarded fight that took 12 reloads in the second town, some chick you could de-stone in a forest who'd join your party, a big set of mines before the final boss, and something about the baddie fucking with the iron trade so there'd be a war and this would make the God of Murder happy and oh yeah you're the God of Murder's kid.

I'd want to say it was just the Infinity Engine that drove me away, but I loved Icewind Dale 1 & 2 + expansions (and Torment of course). I even loved my first, and ultimately doomed, attempt to play Baldur's Gate 2 (fatigue has claimed me in Chapter 2 at least four times now). There's just something about Baldur's Gate that is boring as nails to me. Maybe it's the fact that low fantasy in the Forgotten Realms is about as generic and unimaginative as it gets.

BG1's plot was terrible.

BG2's plot wasn't much better but everything else was -- better environments, better sidequests, higher levels and therefore more interesting fights. Bioware should just stop trying to write main plots, really.

Bioware has terrible, terrible writers. There's a reason why they have a reputation now for every game having a follower with a dead wife.

Umm, I make no claims to being the authoritative voice here, but people actually liked that shit? Rooms packed wall-to-wall with vampires, mummies, ghouls, mindflayers, beholders, and high level mages all waiting to drain your levels, mindfuck half your party, or petrify the first fucker to walk through the door? Really?

Yes, really. People liked BG2.

I liked it a lot. It made for a solid challenge.

BG1 was boring as all hell. I've never finished a playthrough, with multiple attempts. BG2 was hugely improved.

I'm not following you. What's bad about interesting enemies, situations that force you to use many different skills/abilities, and interesting tactical decisions?

Baldur's Gate is the greatest RPG series of all time, and if you disagree you are a bad person.

That being said... what the fuck is this shit?



The whole spell protection system in BG2 was utter overcomplicated shit, and I won 75% of the battles by sending in skeleton warriors to set off all the enemy spells while the party sat safely on the far side of the map, then resting so that any protections in place would expire.

Fuck you all, both games were awesome and they're different enough that playing one didn't tire me out too much to play the other. And now they're modded up the wazoo so they're even better than they were then.

I actually thought the main plot of Baldur's Gate worked really well, it's the perfect excuse to explore the world and engage in questing, and when you felt like it there was a main mystery to explore. It's probably the most open RPG Bioware has ever done.

Cool story bro, I won 100% of the battles by casting anti-protection spells and then going to town. It was goddamned fun.