Despite the game having originally come out fourteen years ago, I still clearly remember playing Baldur’s Gate. Back in the days when families shared one computer and didn’t carry their own individual devices from room to room, desktop computers sat on actual desk tops, and those desks sat wherever there was space for the unplanned technological addition in your parents’ home. It wasn’t until years later, after all the kids grew up and went away to college, when these rooms in households across the country became officially known as “home offices” or “computer rooms” – until then, I just knew it as my little brother’s bedroom.
I remember spending hours at night, occasionally disturbing my brother’s sleep, clicking away on a mouse physically attached to the computer via a now-primitive wire, exploring the Sword Coast, killing Ankhegs to make armor, listening to Minsc yelling “Squeaky wheel gets the grease!” as he charged into battle. Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, and often times we wonder whether or not “the good old days” would really be so great if they were happening today. But in this particular instance gamers will soon have a chance to relive the experience and judge for themselves whether or not that’s the case.
Beamdog has taken feedback from fans, brokered multiple deals, and is just over a month away from the release of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition at the end of this November. Promising “over 400” unique changes to the original experience, apart from beautifying things enough to work with our modern displays, it sounds like there is going to be some real substance to this remake.
At this point it is clear that there are three additional characters (a Calishite monk, a half-elf mage and an orcish Blackguard) to look forward to questing with, all with their own unique stories and new areas. Whether or not more characters will come in the form of DLC, one can only hope, as playing through the game with different NPCs just to hear their dialogue and experience their personalities was one of the first game’s biggest replayability factors.
What is also specifically promised to come in the digital package (no box copies… for now) is the remastered Baldur’s Gate as well as the Tales of the Sword Coast add-on. Though there will also be an extended adventure known as the Black Pits, which should offer a six hour quest line independent of the main story, the most intriguing addition is the rumor that there will be some actual changes to the main plot of the game, enacted through a quest line involving Bhaal-spawn. While one of the game’s creators was the source of that rumor in what he later termed a “drunk-tweet,” the most important thing to keep in mind is that there was never any sort of official recanting or attempt to correct the course of the guessing forum community.
Regardless of the full breadth of content that is actually delivered, one of the biggest additions I’m personally looking forward to is its cross-platform play and availability for the iPad. The interface itself isn’t just what’s intriguing, there’s something personal for me about finally being able to carry the original Baldur’s Gate experience with me, without having to sit tethered in one place. I just hope that it doesn’t bother my brother too much when I borrow his new iPad to play it.
