Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
Developer(s) Beamdog
Publisher(s) Beamdog
Series Baldur's Gate
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, iOS, OS X, Android, Linux
Release Windows, OS X & Linux
31 March 2016
Genre(s) Role-playing video game
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition developed and published by Beamdog.

Gameplay

It has been stated that the expansion pack will provide at least 25 hours of gameplay across 70 new areas, that it will introduce a new monster summoning class called the shaman, and will add 4 new companions to complement the original roster of characters that can be imported from Baldur's Gate.[1][2] In addition Beamdog have stated that there will be several improvements to the UI including the addition of health bars and journal pop-up entries.[3]

Plot

The game takes place shortly after the conclusion of Baldur's Gate and centers on a mysterious crusade to the north of Baldur's Gate city, led by a warrior named Caelar Argent, who is known as the Shining Lady.

The story begins several weeks after Sarevok's death, with the player character and their party hunting the remains of Sarevok's forces in the sewers and catacombs of the city. Shortly after, word of Caelar Argent's crusade arrives in the city, warning that she is making her way down along the Sword Coast and threatens the city. Along with a contingent of Flaming Fist soldiers dispatched by Duke Eltan, the player is dispatched to halt Argent's advance at Dragonspear Castle. The company is joined by forces from several other major cities of the Coast who are also threatened by Argent's crusade. Throughout the journey, the player is visited by a hooded man who seeks to teach the player more about their heritage and how to use it.

When the main crossing across the river is destroyed by Caelar's forces, the coalition is forced to cross at the last standing bridge along the river, where Bhaal, the player's father, had been killed by the mad god Cyric years earlier. After driving Argent's forces back, the player suffers a vision of Bhaal's death and burns his symbol into the bridge, lowering the morale of the coalition soldiers. The player and their party is tasked with sneaking in to Dragonspear Castle and learn what they can about Argent and gather intel on her forces. After progressing into the castle, the player discovers Argent's chief lieutenant communicating with an unknown source before they are discovered and forced to leave the castle, without gathering any information.

After successfully repelling an attack from Caelar's army, the coalition attacks Dragonspear castle and destroys most of her forces. Trapped in the keep, Caelar has Hephernaan, her chief lieutenant, cast a paralysis spell over the whole keep. However, his spell traps Caelar as well and his true intentions are revealed: he planned to use the Bhaalspawn's blood to open the portal to the Nine Hells to unleash his master and his army upon the Material Plane. Caelar and her surviving men, along with the player and their party, travel into the portal to stop Hephernaan. It is revealed that Hephernaan's master is Belhifet, a demon who was cast into the Nine Hells as punishment one hundred years prior. After defeating him and Hephernaan, Argent reveals her true intention was to free her uncle from the Nine Hells and all the death that has occurred has been in pursuit of retrieving him. Caelar stays behind to seal the portal, trapping herself in the Nine Hells forever as punishment for her actions.

After the player returns to the Material Plane, the coalition celebrates Caelar's defeat at Dragonspear. Later that night, the player suffers a nightmare of an avatar of Bhaal attacking them and defends themselves. When they come to it, it is revealed that the "avatar" was Skie Silvershield, a companion from the first game and the only child of Grand Duke Entar Silvershield, one of the dukes of Baldur's Gate. The player is arrested and dragged back to the city in irons. While many call for the player to be executed, Grand Duke Belt informs the player that they will be smuggled out of the city in order to avoid execution as a reward for all the service that they have done for the city. After escaping the city, the player is met by Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid and Jaheira, who promise to always travel with the player. Shortly after, they are ambushed by unseen figures, setting up the beginning of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. It is also revealed that the hooded man is Jon Irenicus, the villain of the second game.

Development

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear has been developed by Beamdog for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.[4] The expansion was announced on 10 July 2015 during a live event hosted by Beamdog as a bridge between the events of Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II and was released on 31 March 2016.[5][6]

Reception

Baldur's Gate Siege of Dragonspear
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic77/100[7]
Review score
PublicationScore
PC World[8]

Siege of Dragonspear was released on 31 March 2016 to generally favorable reviews.[7]

Hayden Dingman of PC World wrote, "Will it please every purist? Of course not. As with any beloved series, passions run high and nostalgia’s a hell of a drug. There are bound to be those who wish Beamdog had stuck to a purely conservationist role. But Siege of Dragonspear won me over, and I’d like to see what the team does next."[8]

Controversy

Parts of the game's writing attracted controversy, with Eurogamer's Robert Purchese reporting that criticism focused on two scenes perceived as pushing a political agenda. The first is the character Minsc's quip, "Really, it's about ethics in heroic adventuring", a reference to the Gamergate controversy. The second is an optional dialogue tree in which the cleric Mizhena mentions that she was raised as a boy, indicating that she is a trans woman.[9] Colin Campbell of Polygon reported that writer Amber Scott faced online harassment and insults, and that the game's Steam and GOG pages were bombarded with complaints that the transgender reference constituted "political correctness," "LGBT tokenism" and "SJW pandering."[10] Scott said she wanted to address elements in the original Baldur's Gate that she considered sexist, including its depictions of Safana as a "sex object" and Jaheira as a "nagging wife" played for comedy.[11] She had previously commented: "I get to make decisions about who I write about and why. I don't like writing about straight/white/cis people all the time. It's not reflective of the real world, it sets up s/w/c as the 'normal' baseline from which 'other' characters must be added, and it's boring."[12]

Five days after the expansion's release, Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat reported that 142 people had posted negative user reviews on Metacritic, the vast majority giving a score of "zero", and suggested that a mob of gamers were attempting to punish the expansion for adding diversity.[13] Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms game world in which the Baldur's Gate series takes place, defended the inclusion of a transgender character, writing, "If it's not for you, that's fine. I hate wearing certain shades of yellow. But I don't scream and yell at someone I see wearing those shades of yellow, and call them names, and threaten things. My right to dislike yellow applies to me; it doesn't extend to others."[10]

In a 6 April 2016 post discussing both technical and content issues, Beamdog announced they would be removing the Gamergate joke and expanding Mizhena's story, saying in part, "In retrospect, it would have been better served if we had introduced a transgender character with more development."[14] Paul Tumburro of CraveOnline termed this as "spineless and disappointing" stating that Beamdog's founder Trent Oster refused to acknowledge the transphobic criticisms leveled at the game.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Chalk, Andy (10 July 2015). "Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear expansion announced". PC Gamer. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  2. ↑ Te, Zorine (9 July 2015). "Remaster of Classic RPG Baldur's Gate Gets New Expansion". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Peel, Jeremy (4 July 2015). "Introducing Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear - Beamdog's 25-hour addendum to BioWare's classic". PC Games N. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Siege of Dragonspear". Siege of Dragonspear. Beamdog. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (10 July 2015). "Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Expansion Announced". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Chalk, Andy (4 March 2016). "Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear will be out at the end of the month". PC Gamer. Future. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  7. 1 2 "Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 Dingman, Hayden (31 March 2016). "Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear review: A fitting end to a legendary game, 17 years later". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Purchese, Robert (5 April 2016). "New Baldur's Gate expansion Siege of Dragonspear off to a rough start". Eurogamer. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  10. 1 2 Campbell, Colin (5 April 2016). "Vitriol and harassment hit developers of new Baldur's Gate expansion". Polygon. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Grayson, Nathan (1 April 2016). "The Struggle To Bring Back Baldur's Gate After 17 Years". Eurogamer. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  12. ↑ Grayson, Nathan (6 April 2016). "The 'Social Justice' Controversy Surrounding Baldur's Gate's New Expansion". Eurogamer. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Grubb, Jeff (5 April 2016). "Baldur's Gate's expansion adds diversity, and of course some people hate it (update)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Chalk, Andy (6 April 2016). "Update: Beamdog cuts "ethics" joke from Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear". PC Gamer. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Tumburro, Paul (12 April 2016). "Beamdog’s Response to the Baldur’s Gate Controversy is Spineless and Disappointing". CraveOnline. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
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