Now that I've completed Baldur's Gate... Should I get Siege of Dragonspear?

[inkblowout]

I've finished the game yesterday and I've asked this question before in the past. But now I'm taking this question seriously.. should I get Siege of Dragonspear?

1. I've heard mixed reviews on SoD. Especially the negative reviews in the writing aspect of the expansion. Now I know this was entirely made by Beamdog so I know it'll be different compared to BG1. Now my question about SoD, is it presented like Neera's and Rashad's personal quests. Because although I did like the plot, it's just that the voice acting was subpar and seemed too forced and dialogue were written in such poor vocabulary when compared to the dialogue boxes in the original Baldur's Gate. I've only played through Neera's and Rashad's quest lines. (Dorn left my party and Baeloth I kicked out of the party.) So is SoD like the EE quest lines because if so... that's probably the indication that I'll won't buy the expansion.

2. Is SoD canon to the BG series? because I'm afraid that if I do play through it that it's considered as fan fiction that it won't matter to me and I would rather play through some user made mod for free than spend 20 bucks on fan fic.

3. Is the expansion decently long and full of content? I liked ToTSC a lot, I think the whole durlag tower and Balduran's Island were well done and very long and heavy in content. I spent about 20-25 hours on the expansion. Does SoD hold the same amount of content?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Why oh why don't you read more helpful reviews on Siege of Dragonspear's separate store page? Or at the place where you've bought BGEE. Enough reviews tell details.

You say you've "heard mixed reviews", but in fact you must have read something somewhere where you could read more, and if you don't believe what you can read in the reviews section, what do you hope for when asking questions like that in the forum? Btw, some of the things you write sound biased and overly negative.

[inkblowout]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

Why oh why don't you read more helpful reviews on Siege of Dragonspear's separate store page? Or at the place where you've bought BGEE. Enough reviews tell details.

You say you've "heard mixed reviews", but in fact you must have read something somewhere where you could read more, and if you don't believe what you can read in the reviews section, what do you hope for when asking questions like that in the forum? Btw, some of the things you write sound biased and overly negative.

Maybe I'm asking for questions so I can find out in full detail what I'm looking for, and user reviews are usually generalized and most of the time they don't cover what I'm looking for. It's easier to ask in a forum to get the answers I'm looking for rather than just skim through countless reviews.

And mixed reviews is correct, while steam has positive reviews, metacritic holds a 3.6/10 and those 2 sites are popular and thus giving me a "mixed review" feeling on this expansion.

Also I don't know why you had to call me out being negative which is honestly uncalled for, you simply didn't have to reply to my post if you had nothing helpful to say.

[mike_hanna211]

1. Subjective; each person has their own opinions. I personally don't like the new NPCs but you are not forced to take them at all. So, I don't. The quest in SoD is a separate quest line.

2. No idea if it's official canon or not. Does it matter? In BG, the official canon is that Abdel was Gorion's Ward. And he was a Fighter. Are you playing the game with a character named Abdel, that is a Fighter?

3. The SoD expansion is about 20 - 25 hours of content. New quests and main quest, items, etc.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by inkblowout:

Also I don't know why you had to call me out being negative which is honestly uncalled for, you simply didn't have to reply to my post if you had nothing helpful to say.

Do all comments in the forum need to be helpful? No. Some are just food for thought.

You've gone through great lengths to point out you don't like Neera and Rasaad and that you don't trust Beamdog. You've also copied hater speech, such as "fan fiction", which doesn't make anything better. I disagree with negative reviews like that, because SOD contains enough good stuff.

It would not be helpful, if I pointed out that I find Neera's voice acting good, and there is no comparable voice-acting for the old companions. Rasaad picks up pace only in BG2EE, and from the monk items found in SOD I don't think they transfer into BG2EE. Werewolf Island and Durlag's Tower from TosSC are nothing more than filler dungeons for an expansion, nothing special - I've commented on Durlag's Tower just recently here in the forum.

[fauxpas]

No you shouldn't, for all of the reasons that people have already gone into over the last year.

[inkblowout]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

Originally posted by inkblowout:

Also I don't know why you had to call me out being negative which is honestly uncalled for, you simply didn't have to reply to my post if you had nothing helpful to say.

Do all comments in the forum need to be helpful? No. Some are just food for thought.

You've gone through great lengths to point out you don't like Neera and Rasaad and that you don't trust Beamdog. You've also copied hater speech, such as "fan fiction", which doesn't make anything better. I disagree with negative reviews like that, because SOD contains enough good stuff.

It would not be helpful, if I pointed out that I find Neera's voice acting good, and there is no comparable voice-acting for the old companions. Rasaad picks up pace only in BG2EE, and from the monk items found in SOD I don't think they transfer into BG2EE. Werewolf Island and Durlag's Tower from TosSC are nothing more than filler dungeons for an expansion, nothing special - I've commented on Durlag's Tower just recently here in the forum.

The reason why I referred to fan fiction is because if it overlaps or contradicts with any events that has been told by the original books and lore back in 1998-1999 or whatever.. If anything has been told in that timeline.

It's like Star Wars KOTOR I loved that game and it was part of the lore at one point... once disney announced the expanded universe as not part of the Star Wars lore lore. KOTOR is considered as fan fiction and it kinda ruins it for me considering how it's considered "unreal" and not part of the universe anymore. That's what I'm wondering with SoD, are the events uncontradictory and original to the BG timeline/series?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/49871/get-your-siege-of-dragonspear-manuals-here

[wendigo211]

Originally posted by inkblowout:

1. I've heard mixed reviews on SoD. Especially the negative reviews in the writing aspect of the expansion. Now I know this was entirely made by Beamdog so I know it'll be different compared to BG1. Now my question about SoD, is it presented like Neera's and Rashad's personal quests. Because although I did like the plot, it's just that the voice acting was subpar and seemed too forced and dialogue were written in such poor vocabulary when compared to the dialogue boxes in the original Baldur's Gate. I've only played through Neera's and Rashad's quest lines. (Dorn left my party and Baeloth I kicked out of the party.) So is SoD like the EE quest lines because if so... that's probably the indication that I'll won't buy the expansion.

I'll say there is a noticeable difference in the writting between SoD and the original games. I really did not enjoy the scripted portions of the game. It also suffers a bit from being inserted into the story. I.e. you know how it starts and you know how it ends. It addresses this problem by telling a story that's completely tangential to your character. Ultimately the story it tells is the story of the main villain, not so much the story of the Bhaalspawn.

2. Is SoD canon to the BG series? because I'm afraid that if I do play through it that it's considered as fan fiction that it won't matter to me and I would rather play through some user made mod for free than spend 20 bucks on fan fic.

I believe WotC's policy is all published materials (including video games) are cannon. Even the stuff that contradicts other stuff.

3. Is the expansion decently long and full of content? I liked ToTSC a lot, I think the whole durlag tower and Balduran's Island were well done and very long and heavy in content. I spent about 20-25 hours on the expansion. Does SoD hold the same amount of content?

It's very linear and more like Icewind Dale than the BG games, however there is a good 20 hours of material. One thing it does do well is the combat (I played through on Insane), the encounters are larger, the enemies have more abilities, a better AI and there are a couple of pretty epic battles. However this does change the ability balance and AoE spells become more valuable than normal in the BG games.

[Gustuv Wynd]

It's a dencent game. If you enjoyed BG1 I am sure you will enjoy Siege of Dragonspear. Is it of the same quality as BG1? no...but it is not meant to be. I would rate it higher than the Tales of Sword Coast expansion for BG1, though. It does at least stick with the overall story line some what.

[Fibonacci123]

It's a good expansion, a lot of fun. I'd say if it is your first playthrough though, having never played baldur's gate 2, you MIGHT want to skip it and play through BG2 first.

[Fibonacci123]

I will say though, honestly, in my current playthrough.. it's pretty awesome finding my items exported from SoD on random mobs around the world. So keep that in mind, you will have better items if you playthrough SoD and then import into BG2

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Dopamine:

I will say though, honestly, in my current playthrough.. it's pretty awesome finding my items exported from SoD on random mobs around the world. So keep that in mind, you will have better items if you playthrough SoD and then import into BG2

Indeed. Does anyone know a list more complete than the following ones?
https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/4gfv40/locations_of_sod_items_in_bg2ee/
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/50641/spoliers-what-can-i-take-with-me-into-bg2-exactly-please

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

It's a dencent game. If you enjoyed BG1 I am sure you will enjoy Siege of Dragonspear. Is it of the same quality as BG1? no...but it is not meant to be. I would rate it higher than the Tales of Sword Coast expansion for BG1, though. It does at least stick with the overall story line some what.

Hardly true considering that enjoying the Original Saga (or even the EEs) has nothing to do with liking or hating the garbage pile that is SoD.

[Gustuv Wynd]

Originally posted by fauxpas:

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

It's a dencent game. If you enjoyed BG1 I am sure you will enjoy Siege of Dragonspear. Is it of the same quality as BG1? no...but it is not meant to be. I would rate it higher than the Tales of Sword Coast expansion for BG1, though. It does at least stick with the overall story line some what.

Hardly true considering that enjoying the Original Saga (or even the EEs) has nothing to do with liking or hating the garbage pile that is SoD.

It is the same game play...the same tactics. The story might not be up to snuff, but if you enjoy playing the other games...meaning the game play and combat and such...you should enjoy SoD. If all you car about is the story...go read a book.

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by vagrantstorm:

Originally posted by fauxpas:

Hardly true considering that enjoying the Original Saga (or even the EEs) has nothing to do with liking or hating the garbage pile that is SoD.

It is the same game play...the same tactics. The story might not be up to snuff, but if you enjoy playing the other games...meaning the game play and combat and such...you should enjoy SoD. If all you car about is the story...go read a book.

You might have stumbled into a point if it weren't for the fact that BG's game play hasn't aged very well and that even the map design in SoD is lackluster at best.