Baldurs Gate DLC - Siege of Dragonspear Review

[Michael {United Critics}]

Good things:

The enemy AI is improved and up to modern day standards. Enemies use potions and scrolls and go for backstabs and focus party members with the worst AC. Enemies also use spells much more intelligent now. Enemies now don’t respawn as fast as they do in the original game and that is a good thing because it feels more natural and you can be sure that if you cleared the whole map from enemies it will stay clear for a long time. There are some nice items that are a little better than the ones we can find in the main game and some of them can be imported with your hero to Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition and you will be able to find them on different enemies. Also the level cap is raised so you can get to higher levels than in the original campaign and there are some choices you can make that will change parts of the game and there are even achievements connected to these choices and their repercussions and how things play out because of your choices.

Bad things:

Where do I even begin with this one… The DLC feels very linear as most chapters have 2-4 maps for you to visit and you can’t ever go back to them if you start a new chapter so there is no real feeling of exploration – it is more like being on rails all the time. Also many decisions of NPCs and your main rival makes no sense at all – they are more like straight out of some bad anime where all dialogues lead to combat that could be avoided by simply speaking like normal humans do. They wanted to make your main rival be righteous to a fault but in the end they just made her act stupid and be a caricature of a strong woman that she was supposed to represent. And worst of all the true villain is at all times close to her and we already know he is the bad guy very quickly just by the way he speaks and what he speaks so when he is released as the villain you are just not surprised in any way. Also the story in this DLC makes no sense if you will play Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition after that because even the intro to Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition tells you how you were captured and it was when you were sleeping in the tavern not when you were escaping from Baldur’s Gate. The whole story in this DLC makes no sense in the end and if you import hero from this DLC you will be at let say level 10 while having the XP that you would have at the end the base game without this DLC making you in reality a level 7. It also looks like all the things that happened in this DLC are never mentioned in Baldur's Gate: II Enhanced Edition just like they never happened in the end.

What is the most important thing in an cRPG? Writing – it makes the story interesting it makes NPC and companions memorable etc. The writing is just horrible most of the times. The old companions you meet most of the time have completely changed personality and they even had to cut out parts of their dialogues because someone made Minsc break the 4th wall and speak about USA politics and other things that no one cares about but the writers did put in because they wanted the whole DLC be a political manifesto. No matter what you think and believe in – there is no place for any real life politics in a fantasy game taking place in a setting that has zero connection to our world. We want to play games to have fun and not to be indoctrinated by USA and west “woke” propaganda all the time.

This DLC gives us 4 new companions but only 1 of the 4 is good if we look a the writing. Voghiln is a Skald that looks like typical viking skald did and his writing makes him believable because of his love for women and ale and fighting and fun and singing. But even here they did put some “woke” propaganda because he speaks about himself in 3rd person implying that his pronouns are they/them. Another one that is not all that bad but forgetable is M'Khiin that is a goblin shaman just for the sake of the times when having a goblin in your party was trendy and a shaman because they wanted to promote the new class they created for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and recruting her makes you lose reputation because she is a goblin and she is in a way a political stand against “racism” as she is presented as a peaceful goblin and everyone comments on her being a goblin and hating her because most people in D&D knows that goblins attack people and raid villages. But this one goblin si different – it is the good goblin and people who treat her the way they do based on her race are just bad nasty evil “racists”. And now the worst 2 and the 2 we meet early – Schael Corwin and Glint Gardnersonson – she is bisexual and he is homosexual as you probalby already guessed because sexuality is one of the most important things in modern day “woke” propaganda. Corwin is an archer and just a token strong woman and strong independent wonderful single mother that is lawful good but has no problem telling you later that she murdered the father of her child 5 times already because they broke up and she is angry that he got revived each time by his family that worship Lathander the good god of life… and when you meet him and she is in your party she murders him again… Maybe the guy is not the best person but preferring to murder him over letting him see his child is a bit extreme way of saying no especially for a lawful good character… And best of all they were not even a couple – just people meeting for sex from time to time. Glint is a cleric/thief and that multiclass is not all that useful because if you want to be a better cleric you should wear heavy armor but if you want to use thief skills you should wear a light armor and you can only backstab with a staff and no other weapon that clerics can use. But the mechanic aspects would not be that bad if the writing was good but the writing makes him a little less crazy than Jan Jansen – sometimes he does not notice you sometimes he mumbles to himself sometimes he pretend to be a powerful hero and if you are nice to him and play as male he assume that you just want to have sex with him because you are starting to love him “the way he is”. I was playing as neutral good and just because I was nice to my party and people both Corwin and Glint assumed I want to have sex with them and I’m in love with them and I had to use special dialogues to make them stop thinking I want to be with them on a romantic or sexual level in any way shape or form. Great – you are nice and now a woman that murders father of her child and a crazy gnome wants you to have sex with them… That is quality writing of this DLC…

And the most famous cheery on the top that was the main source of controversies about the DLC when it launched is of course Mizhena – a male that believes he is a female.

But as we can see on Beamdog forums writers that thankfully are no longer working for Beamdog because they were fired after this DLC had this to say to the fans of Baldur’s Gate games:

“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.

I consciously add as much diversity as I can to my writing and I don't care if people think that's "forced" or fake. I find choosing to write from a straight default just as artificial. I'm happy to be an SJW and I hope to write many Social Justice Games in the future that reach as many different types of people as possible. Everyone should get a chance to see themselves reflected in pop culture.”

Conclusion

Just save your money and play something better and pretend that this DLC never existed as this is just a profanation.

Rating: 2/10

Reviewer: Zarddin
Editor: Michael