At PAX East 2019, we got our hands on a game that is often considered one of the best RPGs of all time. During our hands-on preview of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition on the PS4, we got to see how Second Edition Dungeons & Dragon rules can be applied to a turn-based video game. I was originally introduced to Baldur’s Gate and D&D from Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Little did I know that that one game would launch me down the path of geek culture. This preview holds a special place in my heart.
At Skybound Entertainment’s Booth, we were handed a DualShock 4 to explore Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition that’s being developed by Beamdog. The game has already been on PC, MAC, Android, Linux, and iOS but as celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary, Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is being ported to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch.
This preview had us play a modified version of the game where each character was enhanced; most likely, we were playing a version of Story Mode made exclusively for PAX EAST. The demo had us interacting with a stranger in a bar where we were offered a mission and were given a choice to bluff and persuade our way to additional finances. Combat in this demo was rather smooth with us one-shotting most enemies. At one point we decided to test out the game’s mechanics and attack the guests at the inn. This immediately showed that anyone could become an enemy, even casual NPCs.
After messing around with the Enhanced Edition we sat down with Trent Oster, CEO of Beamdog, a fifty-person game development team in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada.
So what is next after you release Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition on Xbox One, PS4, and Switch?
We are currently planning to release Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition, and Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition and bring them all to Xbox One, PS4, and Switch in 2019. It is a lot of code and a lot of data.
What D&D edition is Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition based off of?
It is based on 2nd Edition D&D. The 2 hit system is different, different skills, abilities that would return in 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition. 2nd Edition is where D.n.D was complex, crunchy, and in depth. Never Winter Nights is based on 3rd Edition.
So do you own the rights to Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition?
No, we licensed the rights from Wizards of the Coast.
After porting all of those titles, what is your next goal?
We just announced last month that we are doing Axis and Allies Online, so it’s a loving port of the board game to PC. Would love to bring it to consoles but have not committed to anything yet. We built an RPG team, that has worked for the last seven or eight years, working on some of the most beloved western RPGs out there. We have discovered what works and how to capture the deep ruleset feeling while making it accessible.
So, what originally inspired you to join Interplay Entertainment?
Oster: I actually cofounded that company. We actually started in the summer of my 3rd year of Computer Science and we made a bet. If the end of the summer rolled around and we made a game; if the game was done, I wasn’t going to go back to school and we were going to become professional game developers. End of summer rolled around and we had made a game which was called Blastoids 3D. It was terrible but it met the criteria. So, we agreed, let’s do it lets roll on the first real game. So, we made a mech game called Shattered Steel and it was published by Interplay then the next product out the gate was Baldur’s Gate.
What brought you to partner with Skybound?
So, one of the things we were looking for was a partner who could help us on the console side, marketing, distribution, that kind of thing and we talked to a number of companies. We did a big meet and greet and discussion around business and when talking to Skybound, they were really creator oriented and creator-focused where they really valued the creative side. So, from our perspective, they seemed like an ideal partner and it has just been great working with them. Their Director of Marketing, Keely is like a force of nature. She is awesome! She gets to the point and hits all the points and is straight shooting. We always look forward to the calls because we know that if there is any confusion at the start of the call; there will not be any confusion by the end.
They’ve just been a great team to work with. It was their idea to have the booth down here (PAX East). The booth has allowed gamers of all ages to experience the demo. It has brought a variety of customers to it from, “Hey. I played the original, it’s coming to console. I love it.” Then there are the new gamers that go, “I have heard of this game. I have never played it. I saw it on the Best 10 RPGs of All Time. I want to know what it’s about.” So, there’s this whole new audience who has never seen or played the game before but they are interested and want to look at it. Now bringing it to consoles just makes it more accessible.
The demo that I played; my characters were a bit overpowered. Will there be different difficulties for the player to try for a different experience?
So, the way we have it set up, there is difficulty going all the way from story mode to advanced difficulties. Story mode, the combat basically ends instantaneously and focuses on the narrative. Easy mode simplifies while giving some immunities and reducing the damage enemies do. Normal difficulty, hardcore rules, and then some advanced difficulties can watch your party disassembled rather quickly. So, when you are playing on harder difficulties, especially on the PC. It really rules into this kind of scenario, where you are playing the game, get into combat and you are destroyed. The player is required to stop, fall back, and devise a new tactic, drink this potion, cast this spell on this person, and then go. And then you go back into it and you are destroyed. Then you go back and devise a new approach and this time, you destroy the enemy; it’s really tactical and you are going to have to think about how you are going to solve each battle.
What’s neat is that what sometimes works on one enemy, won’t work on another. So, you need to change up, pay attention to what they are immune to, pay attention to any weaknesses, and focus around those. Very tactical when you get into it.
What is your opinion on how Bioware has been doing?
Well, they launched Anthem. Anthem was tough; it’s hard to send a game as a service out there. They hit a couple of hard bugs. They are trying to be pretty aggressive with the game they are making. My thoughts, if they can turn it around in the next couple of months here and demonstrate a really good game, because I think it has some very amazing moments that people are really enjoying. So, I am hopeful they can turn it around and then Anthem is this strong continuous money maker for them. They can move it back do some Dragon Age and hopefully, do some Mass Effect again.
Mass Effect two was my favorite game, I just hated killing off my Krogan which made me really sad. I always play situational where I don’t max out Paragon or Renegade so I was kind of half-half and as a result, I kind of blew everyone’s loyalty mission. So, Grunt got killed and I was like, NO!!! Never played Mass Effect 3, was just too busy at the time it had released. It was a challenge to deliver on a story that people had been playing for multiple years.
For more information about the console ports of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, check out the official website. For more PAX East 2019 coverage, be sure to read our interview with Kent Mudle on The Walking Dead The Final Season.
