They definitely improved with BG2:EE and IWD:EE. Personally, I liked the EE mainly for the new UI (and the fact that it didn't crashed on my machine). I'll tell you this, though. Most of the improvement were under the hood.

I'll admit that I didn't liked the new content. Not because it was bad, but because it kinda clashed with the old content. Baldur's Gate 1 is a game where Bioware were testing the waters for an RPG. There were many characters that could join and they weren't very developped. The new NPCs are more detailed and the writing feels more like current Bioware and less dry tabletop RPG-like writing. Like the Director's Cut of Broken Sword, the new content, without being actually bad, sticks out like a sore thumb.

BG2:EE integrated it's content better (it helped that BG2 was written more like current Bioware) and with IWD:EE, the new content was mostly restricted with restoring cut-content (most of the new content was gameplay-related (new items, kits)).

Considering Siege of Dragonspear is it's own thing (instead of a George Lucas Special Edition), I think it's going to be a lot better.

Arrives on Beamdog's website on March 31st! Hopefully, it will be released here around the same time. Price is $20 for just the game, $40 if you want the soundtracks too.

So I assume I need to have the Baldur's Gate EE version to install this?

Yep, you need BG:EE to play "Siege of Dragonspear" since its an expansion from that game. Not only that, you need to buy "Siege of Dragonspear" from the same place you bought BG:EE for it to be compatible. So hopefully it comes out on GOG around the same time as Beamdog and Steam.

They are also going to be releasing patches for both BG:EE and BG2:EE right before the new game is released. And the "Shaman" class from SoD will be available in BG:EE with the patch it sounds like. And you can export your game from SoD into BG2:EE.

I like this post a lot, it makes an excellent response to those complaints questioning as to why SoD is not a stand-alone release.

PhillipDaigle Posts: 610
8:51AM

Amber_Scott said:

The pragmatic answer is that the contract we negotiated with WotC for SoD was for an expansion.

This is basically it. We had initially pushed for a stand-alone release but it didn't work out.

Hm, 20 bucks for the expansion seems reasonable, but another 20 for the soundtracks? Geez, I hope there's gonna be an upgrade option.

No Linux-Version? This was the reason why I bought BG:EE.....and where are the german sounds in BGII:EE? This company is very strange.....

Edit:
Sorry on the Beamdog page they show only pc+mac, but on the page of the game they show linux as platform too.

You could convert the files in the "music" folder if you don't want to buy the soundtrack separately.
See my attachment picture, Linux is listed as an OS on the game page. I don't think Beamdog directly handles translations into other languages.

They said the game is pc first... Linux needs longer to fix but they have it listed as "coming".

So do you have to have a current game going on in BG1 to play it too? The lack of Steam cloud means my saves were all lost when my HDD died last year. Not sure I have time to replay BG1 just to play this right now, which is a bit of a bummer. Might have to skip this one if that's the case. :(

I think from the sound of things, this is going to be pretty much the Throne of Baal of BG1. Meaning you won't necessarily need a party that's been through the game, but it helps.

Any clue if GOG will offer the expension?

Eventually. Though Beamdog won't make it available to GOG customers at release date; you'll have to wait. How long? Only Beamdog knows.

This is a bit off-topic, but when they put out patch 2.0 for both the Enhanced Editions, do I need to uninstall all mods before I patch it? Can I just uninstall the EEs completely without unistalling the mods individually first, and then make a clean install? Or do I need to uninstall each and every mod individually?

I did not use the Big World Project or whatever to install the mods for me if this matters.

The Enhanced editions remove all mods when a patch is applied. You have no choice.