Do you guys enjoy Siege of Dragonspear?

[Incrementis]

Note: The following points are highly subjective and may not reflect your experience and opinion.

 

What I generally like and why:

• The music: It sounds epic and fits the siege campaign and the fact that you are invading Avernus
• The Maps: Some of the maps have a dynamic fog, which I like (but the appearance interval and density are a bit annoying at times). They also look more detailed and vibrant than the first game.
•  Companions: See the old companions again
• City: I like the crowded and dynamic city
• Battles: I like the idea of participating in siege battles and fighting alongside armies

What I thought was okay and why:

• The Ending: I expected the party to be attacked in some way, but I agree with the others that it could have been done better
• Companions: Khalid is brave and a leader. I mean, it would have been great if I had been part of his growth, but yeah, he also hid the fact that he was part of the Harpers, so I can accept that, I guess.

What I don't like and why:

• Companions: I don't like any of the new companions because I don't remember their personality(except Corwin and Caelar)
• Writing: I don't like the writing because it feels like it's for teenagers in some places, whereas the tone of the first and second games seemed more melancholic and dark.
• The whole drama about Mizhena (from both sides: Beamdog and the haters)

[Thacobell]

"Writing: I don't like the writing because it feels like it's for teenagers in some places, whereas the tone of the first and second games seemed more melancholic and dark. "
Maple Willow Aspen says, "Hi".

[Incrementis]

26 minutes ago, Thacobell said:

"Writing: I don't like the writing because it feels like it's for teenagers in some places, whereas the tone of the first and second games seemed more melancholic and dark. "
Maple Willow Aspen says, "Hi".

Now, I would classify this as humor for MAYBE adults, but in a way that a young person could also find amusing.

Beyond that, she's essentially just a random NPC that has little to no impact on the overall tone of your adventure.
I mean, if you don't understand the humor, you could classify her attitude as very mildly "crazy" which even fits the tone of the game.  Madmans and Madwomen in both games are not rare(e.g. Bassilus, Irenicus or Bodhi)

[Connelly]

35 minutes ago, Thacobell said:

Maple Willow Aspen says, "Hi".

And Portalbendarwinden says nothing because he's running away after you just blew your shit on him like a goddamn lunatic.

Really, a good part of the original games is full of humor, not uncommonly quite puerile and/or silly even. This is a very weird criticism that I hardly understand except if one didn't engage with the game beyond the minimum amount required to follow the main storyline. And even then you're forced a few times to go through some humorous moments (or act like a uncaring sociopath to skip them, which is an entirely different matter).

[Incrementis]

43 minutes ago, Connelly said:

Portalbendarwinden

He is a hermit, which in some ways may also make him seem very emotionally unstable (no social skills), which makes talking to him interesting. A possible reaction to him is very funny, but also dark and, if you think about it, also a believable answer from <CHARNAME> that he is fed up with all the crazy people. I wouldn't call this teenage level writing.

[Axatax]

Yes I liked it, and it's been improved by people here since the release.

The Lich dungeon in the dwarf quest is especially solid.  Certainly better than either Windspear or Umar Hills in BG2.

There's a ridiculous amount of magical items which I feel needs to be toned down.

 

 

Edited January 27 by Axatax

[morpheus562]

1 hour ago, Axatax said:

Yes I liked it, and it's been improved by people here since the release.

The Lich dungeon in the dwarf quest is especially solid.  Certainly better than either Windspear or Umar Hills in BG2.

There's a ridiculous amount of magical items which I feel needs to be toned down.

 

 

Definitely one of the highlights for SoD, but I wouldn't rank it up there with Windspear, which I consider one of the best dungeon crawls in the game.

[Yovaneth]

In one of my rare appearances here I can add some secondhand backstory to the development of SoD as I maintained contact with a couple of the dev team for a while after I disappeared. Disclaimer: I was asked to work on SoD paid-for it but refused; however I still had to sign an NDA to allow them to use some of my work even though it was FoC. I also did a small amount of work on Neera's areas for BG:EE.

SoD was pushed through too quickly. One of the big complaints was that it was too linear and the devs weren't allowed to change that. Apparently the biggest problem was the pressure finding ways to force the Infiinity Engine to do things it wasn't designed to do (don't ask - that's under my NDA). Pressure in general to get it finished was not good, but that seems to be typical of the games industry. At least two of the devs vowed never to touch the Infinity Engine again and one of those two walked away from working for BeamDog. Neither of them is particularly proud of the finished product but both say the review bombing was totally unjustified. I agree.

Please don't ask for names because I won't give them.

 

Edit: oops. Wrong game for Neera.

Edited January 27 by Yovaneth

[Jarno Mikkola]

1 hour ago, Yovaneth said:

finding ways to force the Infiinity Engine to do things it wasn't designed to do

That's what DavidW said when he was developping the IWD-in-BG2. Did you put the squarels to mind control the stuff ...

By the by, what this Infiinity engine ?

[Incrementis]

9 hours ago, Yovaneth said:

In one of my rare appearances here I can add some secondhand backstory to the development of SoD as I maintained contact with a couple of the dev team for a while after I disappeared. Disclaimer: I was asked to work on SoD paid-for it but refused; however I still had to sign an NDA to allow them to use some of my work even though it was FoC. I also did a small amount of work on Neera's areas for BG:EE.

SoD was pushed through too quickly. One of the big complaints was that it was too linear and the devs weren't allowed to change that. Apparently the biggest problem was the pressure finding ways to force the Infiinity Engine to do things it wasn't designed to do (don't ask - that's under my NDA). Pressure in general to get it finished was not good, but that seems to be typical of the games industry. At least two of the devs vowed never to touch the Infinity Engine again and one of those two walked away from working for BeamDog. Neither of them is particularly proud of the finished product but both say the review bombing was totally unjustified. I agree.

Please don't ask for names because I won't give them.

 

Edit: oops. Wrong game for Neera.

Thank you for the insight. I hope your NDA has a time limit! It would be a shame never to be able to talk about it.

[jastey]

@Yovaneth nice to see you and thanks for the insight!

[Thacobell]

23 hours ago, Connelly said:

And Portalbendarwinden says nothing because he's running away after you just blew your shit on him like a goddamn lunatic.

Really, a good part of the original games is full of humor, not uncommonly quite puerile and/or silly even. This is a very weird criticism that I hardly understand except if one didn't engage with the game beyond the minimum amount required to follow the main storyline. And even then you're forced a few times to go through some humorous moments (or act like a uncaring sociopath to skip them, which is an entirely different matter).

Yeah, this has been a criticism I've seen a lot, and its kind of nonsense. There's so many random, absurd, and referential humor in the classic games. Especially in BG1. Rabid chickens, Lewis Carrol references, Oopah the exploding ogre, the list goes on. BG1 even has a lumberjack, and that's okay.

[Yovaneth]

11 hours ago, Incrementis said:

Thank you for the insight. I hope your NDA has a time limit! It would be a shame never to be able to talk about it.

NDAs in general don't have a time limit; events tend to overtake them. Even so, I still couldn't say who I was talking to as I was told in confidence. There is one thing I can add; I was told that bending Weidu to create SoD took 40-50% of the devlopment time at the time I was told. By release date that percentage will have changed and most likely downwards.

[AL|EN]

@Yovaneth Bending Weidu? Did you mean IE?

[lynx]

I played it (vanilla) about two years ago up to when your camp gets attacked. It bugged out there persistently, so I didn't get to see the big siege or ending. Maybe some other time.

But my main gripe with it is the absurd amount of railroading. The IWDs are also linear, but they don't take your agency away in dialogs. Or at least not so blatantly.

It was kind of odd finding a piece of gear for each (new?) kit.