Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Review – The Return of the Aged King

In 2012, Beamdog faced a big challenge, trying to prove that an attempt at refreshing a legendary role-playing game, released one and a half decade earlier, is actually not as crazy as it might seem. Although the critics were not completely satisfied with the quality of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, the community eventually concluded that the developers delivered. Meanwhile, Beamdog took it upon themselves to release a large expansion to the production released over three years ago... and by now mostly forgotten by RPG fans, who are currently more interested in new brands that won the hearts and minds of RPG aficionados. Were the developers up to the snuff once again? Does the magic of the Baldur's Gate franchise remain strong enough to allow Siege of Dragonspear find its place among hits such as Pillars of Eternity or Torment: Tides of Numenera? And, finally, does this completely new adventure, intended to bridge the gap between the first and the second Baldur's Gate, stands the chance at all to compete with its great predecessors? To my honest surprise, the answer is “yes, absolutely”. Although Beamdog didn’t avoid certain mishaps along the way and still has a lot of learn, I believe that from now on we can consider this team one the most talented creators of RPGs.

I may have used the word “expansion” in the paragraph above, but don’t let it fool you. Siege of Dragonspear is a big production, priced the same as the base game (€19.99 on Steam), and offering an almost equal amount of content. The expansion features a new main adventure divided into seven chapters, the completion of which will require a few dozen hours (between 20–25 hours at least), dozens of new locations to visit, and almost the same amount of data to download as in the original. That’s why it came to me as quite a surprise that Beamdog didn’t decide to distribute the expansion as a standalone title – especially since the combined price of both games may scare off many players who would purchase Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition now just to play the expansion.

And so begins another grand adventure in the universe of Baldur's Gate.

A worthy addition to a complete story

Baldur's Gate fans may notice that some of their old friends suffered a slight personality shift over the years. Fortunately, these are still well-written, remarkable characters.

The adventure begins shortly after the finale of the original Baldur's Gate. We see the most iconic characters of the franchise – Imoen, Minsc, Jaheira, Khalid, and several others (matched depending on the skills of our character) – descend into the catacombs under Baldur's Gate to defeat the last remaining supporters of Sarevok. Now, although the ending of this brief prologue informs us that after the victory we have parted ways with our friends, the separation doesn’t last long. At the same time, waves of refugees fleeing from the north begin to flood the city, bearing news of a crusade led by someone calling herself Caelar Argent, known to some as the Shining Lady. This alone, however, would not be a reason enough for the protagonist of Baldur's Gate to care, if not for the small fact that the leader of the aforementioned crusade decided to send assassins after our hero. So we gather some of our old comrades – including Minsc and Dynaheir – and head north, along with an armed expedition, hoping to find out the motives behind Cealar's actions and ask her a question or two about the assassination attempt. The whole affair seems to have one more layer, and rather interesting at that: according to some rumors, our adversary may be yet another Bhaalspawn, a descendant of the god of murder, same as our hero.

Caelar Argent (or the Shining Lady) is a powerful, very intriguing figure, and one that seems to lack a clearly malicious intent.

Although an assassination attempt may seem like a rather cliché way to kick off a fantasy plot, the story of Siege of Dragonspear is anything but boring and repetitive. The Shining Lady herself isn't just another demonic bogeyman that needs to be cut down, nor is she a power-craving madwoman trying to drown the world in blood just because she's the big bad. The main antagonist is driven by motives that are difficult to utterly condemn, even though it's true that her methods leave a lot to be desired. I don’t want to reveal too much of the story, so let me just reassure the skeptics that Caelar Argent is by no means a repetition of Sarevok. Although at some point we actually do have a traditional "Great Evil" entering the fray, it is introduced with a rather interesting, relevant context... and fighting it isn't exactly the leading theme of the expansion either. And so we reach one of the biggest qualities of the plot in Siege of Dragonspear – its direct connections to Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II. From the first hours of the game we are accompanied by a mysterious hooded man who seems to appear in the key moments of the story as a (mostly) passive bystander, constantly reminding the hero of his divine potential and declaring a desire to use him for his own purposes in the future. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Also the members of our party often touch on the subject of Bhaal and Sarevok, seeing them as a good reason to worry.

Throughout the whole adventure, Iren... I mean, the mysterious hooded man marks his presence, again and again reminding the hero of his heritage.

And what do you make of the fact that Siege of Dragonspear slips in some subtle references to the planes (that's right, the realms from Planescape: Torment)? At the beginning of our adventure we can take possession of a pair of special goggles, called the Spectacles of Spectacle. When put on by one of the party members, in some places they enable us to see spiritual emanations of beings from other dimensions, summon them and engage in various interactions. The new Baldur's Gate features tons of similar, equally amusing tidbits.

This way, Beamdog managed to neatly weave together both installments of Baldur's Gate, and at the same time create an interesting background for the new adventure. Although we've just finished saving the Sword Coast from a very relevant threat, we are not allowed to simply walk in all our savior glory, leading an expedition against the Shining Lady. Some people are aware of our heritage, which surely doesn't help to dispel the aura of mistrust surrounding us. To prove our point, we can deliver a fiery speech as we embark on our journey, admitting our origins in front of the people of Baldur's Gate. The result? We set out escorted by booing and insults. It is a pity that such actions rarely evoke serious consequences. When it comes to the main storyline, Siege of Dragonspear is, unfortunately, a fairly linear game. Although the creators do their best to conjure the illusion of freedom, providing at least three dialogue options to choose from (often with very different overtones) in almost every situation, they usually lead to the same conclusion, developing the plot in a certain predefined direction. Luckily, role-playing has not been rendered completely meaningless yet. I have to praise the developers for the fact that bluff and diplomacy serve as quite reliable means of avoiding bloodshed, also allowing side quests to be completed in truly different ways. In for a disappointment, however, are those who expect the side quests to be well-developed – the narrative focuses its efforts completely on the march against the Shining Lady, who is currently busy laying siege to the eponymous stronghold, so there is not much room left for other affairs. Which is not really a drawback, for me at least. It keeps the story concise and helps build the distinctive climate of participating in an armed conflict between two large military powers, a conflict lined with a juicy and intriguing dose of mysticism.

As the events unfold, it becomes impossible to return to previously visited locations. Though it may sound like a big inconvenience, the construction of the plot does a good job justifying this solution.

That being said, it’s not just the interesting plot that keeps us glued to the monitor. Equally, or eben more important is the overall pacing and balance of the gameplay. Beamdog cleverly avoided the trap that so many other creators of “neoclassical” RPGs fell right into (e.g. BioWare with Dragon Age: Origins), ditching the idea of artificially extending the campaign, which would change the game into a crude hack-and-slash during certain stages. Siege of Dragonspear skillfully chooses its accents, alternating combat, free exploration, dialogues, etc. in healthy proportions. Although there is no shortage of wading through dungeons full of monsters and traps (as befits a Dungeons & Dragons title), the sequences are brief enough not to cause fatigue; on the contrary, it is a quite common event in the dungeons to encounter neutral characters who are always ready to entertain us with a conversation and a minor task to perform. The combat, on the other hand, compensates for its moderate frequency with a rather high level of difficulty. As for the dialogues, I wouldn't particularly highlight them if not for the fact that reading them – and sometimes also listening to them – is very entertaining. The NPCs are exaggerated in a good way, in a manner fitting the universe of Forgotten Realms (which often means a very funny manner). Amidst the multitude of meetings with various individuals the game also finds time to bring up some more serious and mature subjects, e.g. the aforementioned refugees in Baldur's Gate pose several challenging dilemmas for the player to face.

Supporters of the Shining Lady seem to know our hero by name, but not by looks, so as long as we don't introduce ourselves, we can move quite freely among the crusaders.

Will the Infinity Engine ever die?

Unfortunately, the fact that the new Baldur's Gate hit the market after the release of Pillars of Eternity has its consequences. Obsidian Entertainment proved that an old-school isometric RPG can look pretty and modern, while the legendary Infinity Engine grew significantly older over the years and... what can I say – I understand that the iconic technology evokes nostalgia and has numerous supporters, but for me Siege of Dragonspear looks rough and is simply ugly. While the backgrounds and location designs are still able to fend for themselves (though there are some places which could have been drawn better), the character appearances – and especially their animations – are downright hideous.

The developers tried to cover up the age of the outdated technology they employed by adding cel shaded fringes to character sprites, but, in my opinion at least, this doesn't improve the aesthetic experience at all (thankfully, this option can be turned off). Nevertheless, we are talking about a shining example of the old-school RPG genre, in which the graphics aren’t the first (or sometimes even the second) priority, so we really shouldn't dwell much on that matter. Besides, there are certain advantages to employing outdated technology: the game should run even on ancient rigs and the data loads in the blink of an eye.

As you can see, putting the dragon in Dragonspear was justified. While the visuals are not exactly breathtaking, the designs of some of the locations are truly impressive.

What's worse, the gameplay mechanics don’t come out unscathed from the comparison with Pillars of Eternity either. Although the AD&D rule set was neatly translated into digital environment and it still works decently, similar mechanics can be implemented much better, as Obsidian Entertainment have shown us in the meantime. That's why, in my opinion, Siege of Dragonspear leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the tactical depth of combat, the number of character development options, as well as in terms of the game’s overall user friendliness and transparency of rules. In fact, the latter element would have been completely satisfactory if only the developers had provided us with expanded information in context windows that appear whenever you hover the cursor over an object. They didn't, unfortunately, forcing a person who would like to use magic (but hasn't got all the D&D spells and incantations memorized) to frequently pause the game and tediously wade through the lengthy magical effect descriptions the D&D was so fond of. There are no helpful features such as range markers for spellcasting or information which party member is being attacked by the enemy highlighted by our cursor. Although Beamdog devoted much attention to the UI in patch 2.0, released just before the launch of Siege of Dragonspear, the changes introduced by the uodate are rather superficial.

New character class, the shaman, is in fact a slightly modified druid and, all in all, more of a curiosity rather than a meaningful addition to the game.

Unfortunately, said patch has also brought along some bad things that strongly interfere with the gameplay. Among them, the trouble with multiplayer seems to be the most severe – many players complain that they are completely unable to connect and play online (this includes me). What’s more, some players are reporting a certain tendency of the game to spontaneously crash (I experienced it myself, though only once), that there are irregularities when importing save files from Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, and that the expansion is incompatible with mods. One thing that particularity irritates some gamers is the fact that the difficulty level can sometimes change on its own. It occurs frequently after loading a saved game (yes, I supposes you can change it back with a few clicks in the menu, but in the long run it is annoying). Fortunately, Beamdog solemnly promised to eliminate those issues with further patches. And I hope they deliver on their promise as soon as possible, even if, with a little bit of luck, it is possible to complete the new campaign without facing any disastrous bugs even as it is now (as it was in my case).The AI, however... that's something we are going to have to mostly get used to. The patch 2.0 apparently did change this and that, but the characters still have troubles with pathfinding on their way to more distant targets. Sometimes they can freeze in the middle of a fight and simply stop giving a hoot about what's happening around them – and given how chaotic the combat usually is, it's not easy to spot such a rebelling slacker.

Good RPG 101 – demons can be dueled with in two ways: the traditional way or the way of the riddle.

Beamdog, you have my sword!

I have to admit that at first I was quite indifferent – if not outright skeptical – towards the idea of bridging the gap between the first and the second Baldur's Gate, especially considering that Beamdog was the one to do it. I wasn't convinced even by the last year's recommendation from the legend of the industry that is Chris Avellone. All the bigger was my surprise when I saw with my own eyes how good a game Siege of Dragonspear turned out to be. Its best trait is the fact that... it's a genuine Baldur's Gate game. The expansion shares more than just the title with its great predecessors, and advertising the game as the bridge between the first and the second part is more than just a cheap marketing ploy. You can feel the soul of Baldur's Gate in Beamdog's latest work. Starting from the climate of the Sword Coast, through the old-school mechanical layer, to the possibility of embarking on one more trip with a group of old friends – all of this can make a more sentimental player shed a tear or two.

However, the developers still need to work on their skills, especially when it comes to the construction of non-linear stories and delivering more technically polished products. Personally, I also hope that Beamdog, if they intend to continue creating completely new works instead of just refreshing old ones, will eventually come to rely on more contemporary technology. Forget the graphics, but with Pillars of Eternity Obsidian Entertainment showed us how you can employ modern solutions to add depth to an old-school gameplay formula, making it more transparent and precise while respecting the traditions of the genre. Therefore, I hope that when the time comes to develop Baldur's Gate III, the creators of Dragonspear will finally decide to send Infinity Engine into retirement. And even if they don't, the RPG fanbase may yet tremble with excitement when Beamdog picks up the third Baldur's Gate. All we need is for the studio to learn a lesson from the issues that troubled Siege of Dragonspear and show us that, as a game developer, they can soar even higher.

Siege of Dragonspear is set during a large armed conflict; how could it lack a short quasi-strategic sequence?