Black Elk
Habitué
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Fascinating! I didn't know really any of that lore from the 2012 era.
The Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition conversation is almost exactly like the conversation surrounding the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions.
Like beat for beat, the backstory seems nearly identical to what went down with Star Wars in the late 90s, equally fraught, depending on how much skin one has in the game or according to whatever particular preference there for a specific home media release hehe.
I think all I'd really want from Beamdog is basically all I'd want from Lucasfilm, which is some way to experience the originals in a modern format somewhat more conveniently. To me a remaster means something rather different and calls for exercising a lot of restraint. Some minor cosmetic tweak in isolation seems fairly harmless, but then once enough of those stack together it starts to feel pretty different.
Currently using the BG1 discs to play is in a state somewhat similar to watching Star Wars the motion picture, The Empire Strikes Back, or Return of the Jedi (1977-83) at home via the 2006 gold discs, the last versions of which cost me 200 dollars on ebay for each film, just to have the official DVDs. Basically so I could have a version of the GOUT. A laser disc port of those films, comparable to VHS releases or watching it on TV prior to 1997. Neither is available in a convenient form now though. The laser disc port can't be purchased in physical media at a reasonable price or via any streaming service, and the restorations from the 35mm cans are only for educational uses and historical provenance, like for viewers who are motivated enough to figure that all out. The result is that it's sorta impossible now to legally purchase and view Star Wars as anything other than Special Edition remakes from 1997, or subsequent re-edits.
For peeps like me, the little changes are the changes that always stand out, but some alterations are more jarring than others. For example changes to sound/music are always way more noticeable for me, the insertion of entire sequences can jank the pacing and narrative, in every case I just prefer the thing I grew up with. Home theater nostalgia is serviced well enough from the 2006 gold discs I suppose, even if they're absurdly expensive now, but not really the ideal of a recreated theatrical experience, which I never got to have for the Originals (only the SEs). The original Star Wars negatives were degraded or lost during the period between the original printing, and when the films were re-released 20 years on. Although in the Star Wars universe it's still conceivable to restore the original presentations from interpositive reels, which do still exist, and which formed the basis for the 4K77-83 fan restorations. Left to my own devices I'd probably still rather watch Return of the Jedi on VHS, or jank lazer disc, than the currently available Blu Rays or on Disney+, because the latter releases have changed so many times in the re-edits that the viewing experience just isn't pleasurable for me anymore. Watching the 4K77 by contrast legit made me cry like I was 5 years old again, because it was just that beautiful!
For BG1 to BG1:EE the force of this analogy is very strong, though sadly there is no equivalent of 35mm filmstock for BG1. 35mm film is natively 4K, so it's possible to restore that footage up to modern specs in a very satisfying way that remains entirely true to the original trilogy, whereas BG1 is much more limited, cause the original thing just can't go that jumbo in the same way. Still I'd probably take the coffee beans if given the choice, but what I really want is the BG 4K 99. I'd love that for a BG1!
I think for BG the fix would be somewhat straightforward, needs a launch option in the DVD Bonus menu for a Classic mode, then anyone like me would have no real cause to grumble. Almost all the issues I have with EEs are down to art direction type stuff, color grading and sound vfx, those sorts of things. I wish they'd had millions of dollars for their art budget to make the EEs initially hehe. I think it's possible to get back to what I want, without giving up too much of the new stuff on offer, but to do so feels like I need to have a level of BG modding expertise that is sorta the inverse of the old situation. In other words, going under the hood used to be required if one wanted to play with mods that would enhance the game beyond what BG1 was when it released in the late 90s, whereas now I feel like I need to mod to get it back to what I'm into.
The choice with a Classic mode would be between some chop and hot fuzz in the upscale, but still using the old sounds and visuals and just acquiescing to that vs playing the default EE with those improvements and added stuff. They just need both to live alongside each other that way. I would immediately purchase something like that for BG1 if it was made available on disc again, the same way that I would instantly order a new Star Wars Blu-Ray if it included a restored 1977 theatrical presentation, alongside whatever 1978-2024 versions are currently the canonical official. Like if they did the same for BG1, I'd probably buy the collectors edition with the poster and T shirt too, just on general principle.
In this case, with BG1, there's a similar issue going on maybe, where the directors are perhaps too close to the original process of creation to really see the 1998 BG1 as being somehow sacrosanct or set in stone like that. They probably wouldn't think of it that way I'd guess, but for a player like me it's more time-capsuled and immutable at the point when it first entered the popular culture and blockbusted, like for me specifically. The revamps and reboots will always be giving a different gloss on those, if it's additive, like if you add new visuals new barks etc that feels somehow different than a more QoL oriented UI or better pathing. The loot bar is sweet though, and there's much to admire.
Playing BG1 inside the BG2 engine was already changing the game pretty substantially from my memories, but I had fun with that version of the game and all the G3 mods and such that go back to around that time. I'm sure I have equal nostalgia for that presentation, which makes me more amenable to the EEs I suppose as just somehow an extension of the BG2 modding scene. I think the EE's are cool by that standard. I'm not sure that if the launch option for Classic was added that I'd necessarily play that way more often than I would an EE campaign. There's something charming about lvl 1 at candlekeep with an Imp or Dragon familiar that I really enjoy. Imoen I might shadowkeeper into the BG2 sprites that I remember for dual classing which wasn't something she did much in my games till after the BG2 re-introduction. I think I put in more hours on BG1 via the BG2 game engine than I did playing the original BG1. BG1 got rocked to death from 1999 until BG2 came out, but then I really didn't play it again until after Tutu made it possible to play BG1 in the BG2 engine, cause that was a draw. Until that happened I'd just play BG2 or maybe the Icewind Dale Games, NWN etc, instead of BG1 but the BG1 revival vs BG2 modding was also pretty glorious.
BG3 I'm sure has increased the interest in both BG1 and BG2, or at least the stories and characters from those games, but the gameplay is so different from BG3 compared to a BG1, even with the EEs, that I'm not sure if it would scratch the same itch going backwards from BG3 to BG1.
One idea I was sorta hoping might work would be to translate a BG1 or BG2 into story vignettes using the BG3 formula/engine. I think that could be interesting, like a sorta recap of the stories from the previous games, since BG3 reboots a lot, seems like something that might be doable. Basically via Dream chapters and existing audio I guess, cause that makes sense. The NWN2 version of BG again, except that it would probably harmonize a bit better, cause so much of the baseline BG is already in place. I tried to remake most of the BG1 and BG2 characters in the BG3 char creator, some B team Kivans and Dynaheirs and such, it pretty much worked hehe. Can't really stage a cutscene though, so some things would surely be hard to pull off. BG1 and BG2 are so sprawling though that it would probably work to just omit anything that didn't work, like sections of the game that couldn't be handled for whatever reason could just be skipped over in favor of stuff that can.
So for example, we have spectators in BG3 and the nautiloid looking tiles would work well for the Unseeing Eye quest of BG2. Paladin stronghold quest seems doable, along with the Rangers stronghold quest with all those shadows again from BG2. It might work to dance around some of the boss monsters that don't have models. For BG1 there are many BG3 assets that would insert pretty readily to BG1 plotlines, but you'd have a few notable absentees, like the Ankhegs. Maybe those gaps could get filled in by enthusiastic modellers? Perhaps not every BG1 or BG2 story needs to be retold to still capture the spirit there on the first attempt. Like any good reboot, seeing the thing brought into the current edition of D&D would be kinda cool, even if not everything would work. Some would balk maybe, but then again having Imoen somehow in BG3 via the conceit of BG1 or BG2 storytime version could work. Like Volo could probably get the job done somehow, or Withers, but slopes there are probably even more slippery than the Throne of Bhaal heheh
Anyhow, ramble ramble, I enjoyed the video! Nice work!!!
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