➤ Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, review 🎮

The conclusion of Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear leaves with a feeling that cannot be divided by judgment. Beamdog's intent is clear: capitalize on the Baldur's Gate series, monetizing with a quick and easy-to-take product for those who loved the original series.

After all, between the first Baldur's Gate and the second there was really a hole, so why not fill it for the use and consumption of nostalgics? When carrying out such operations it should always be taken into consideration that a narrative hole is not necessarily negative and, on the contrary, it helps a lot in identification. The time passed between the events narrated in Baldur's Gate and the sequel, led us to suppose a relatively quiet period for the son of Bhaal, a period that set between the field events told in the two games made them more natural and, in a certain sense, plausible. assuming a life off the screen that should not be told. Siege of Dragonspear actually creates an even bigger hole than it claims to fill, because if it is true that we now know what happened between Baldur's Gate, we also know that the facts narrated in the new game have no reflection in Baldur's Gate 2, where instead the references to the first chapter are very many. It may seem like a trivial matter, but it is not. In short, the feeling for the entire campaign against the Shining Lady Caelar Argent is more that of being in a parallel universe, than in a new Baldur's Gate, despite the game system being identical to that of the original (more properly Enhanched Edition) and although in the long run it is not an unpleasant adventure to live.

We reviewed Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. Find out how it is, controversy aside

The starting point

The game begins in the dungeons of the city of Baldur's Gate, right after the battle with Sarevok. If you want you can import your character from a save from the first episode, or you can start with a well-equipped seventh level party (starting everyone from scratch would have been absurd).

There are still some issues to close with the minions of the now-dead boss, before the matter can be considered closed. However, after exploring a large dungeon and slicing through a few people, our heroes can finally get back to their routine ... or so they think, because there is immediately a new enemy threatening peace and existence. same of the Costa della Spada: the aforementioned Shining Lady Caelar Argent and her crusade. Will we be able to stop her, along with a large army, reaching Dragonspear Castle? No rest for the brave Boo. Once the party has been reformed, it is necessary to leave immediately. Assuming that if you are reading Siege of Dragonspear you know Baldur's Gate (also because if you don't have the Enhanched Edition of the first you can't play it), let's try to understand what this expansion really offers and why we consider it as successful, but not until At bottom.

Mizhena's sexuality

We received the code to review Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear a few days after the long controversy arose on the internet for the presence of content considered controversial by a certain political party. The question is complex - we cannot overlook it - and it focuses in particular on three elements (actually on two, with the third coming later to act as a side dish): the presence of the transgender Mizhena. A joke from Minsc about #GamerGate, which will be removed with the next update; and the stories of two female characters, enriched by the writers of Beamdog, to give them greater depth. Now, it is not the purpose of the review to discuss these details too much, also because they anticipate some content that you may want to discover for yourself. The only element that we want to add to the controversy is that of the twenty-five hours or so that this expansion lasts, the contents that have created all this chaos take up a few seconds. In short, even if the worst lines of dialogue in the world were put into the mouths of the worst-characterized characters in human cultural history, they would only have a minimal impact on the overall experience. Mizhena in particular meets only once and, if you want, you can also avoid talking to her. Having said that, for the record, it must be said that his dialogue is very forced and his "revelation" is presented very badly. But we reiterate that this is the classic drop in the ocean, one of the many role-playing dialogues that are forgotten ten seconds after reading them. It would be like misjudging The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for a subdued chat at one of the many inns (and there are). However, if you want the topic to be treated more widely, maybe we will do it in a special dedicated, so as to understand if the real problem is a bad character or more properly his sexuality.

Exploration and role play

The biggest difference in Siege of Dragonspear from the main chapters is the mission structure. If you remember, Baldur's Gate allowed you to freely explore a number of locations and Baldur's Gate 2 had refined the system to better fit the narrative.

Siege of Dragonspear is much more linear from this point of view, that is it does not allow you to move as you want, but provides for a much clearer progression so that once you arrive in certain places, after some narrative turns, it is no longer possible to go back. Typically you can explore two areas at a time, and then move on to the next by advancing with the army. Each area is filled with fights and characters to talk to. There is no shortage under explorable areas and assorted twists, which making the progression pleasant. In short, there is no great freedom, but it is amply compensated by something else. It must also be said that it is precisely the kind of story that would have been badly adapted to a more open world. Speaking of the campaign itself, it's easy to say that it's all about combat, even if there is no shortage of characters to talk to, situations that can be overcome without violence, and a few little puzzles that never hurt. In general, the maps are full of things to do and there are several interesting dialogues to read. Above all, the Shining Lady Caelar Argent is a well-defined and not easily interpretable character. But there are also other interesting situations, such as characters who initially refuse to join the group, only to give in in the later stages, or others who reveal an unexpected humanity. However, not all the script work is of a good standard. For example, the generic phrases of the surrounding characters often lapse into ridicule, breaking the atmosphere a bit, while some secondary characters speak according to a logic of their own. Fortunately, the worst is expressed in sequences of little importance to the narrative, however, there is no doubt that it is noticed. Always talking about lyrics, in this case spoken, fans of the saga will be happy to hear the voices of the original dubbers again, provided they played the English version at the time. Unfortunately, Spanish is not supported, neither in writing nor in speaking.

Technical Problems

One of the most critical aspects of Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear is the technical side. No, we're not referring to the dated graphics, which do exactly what they need to: be in line with those of Baldur's Gate of the past.

Updating it would have produced more problems than advantages, since the minimum of stylistic coherence necessary in such cases would have been completely lacking. Of course, the blur effect of the sprites is not beautiful, but we were prepared that nothing would change and it did. Unfortunately Beamdog didn't do a good job from a stability standpoint and bugs abound. Some in particular proved to be particularly annoying and the game crashes with returns to the desktop were not lacking. They have not been as frequent as some claim, but they have occurred on several occasions. Honestly, even the interface would have benefited from some tweaks, perhaps taking an example from Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity (an evolution of that of the titles that ran with the Infinity Engine). Especially the party selection and inventory management could be revised for the better, but these are details that fans of the original Baldur's Gate will pay little attention to. After all, Siege of Dragonspear addresses them.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Intel Core i7-4770 processor
16 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
Windows 10 operating system

Minimum requirements

Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 operating system
1 GHZ processor
Video card Any OpenGL 2.0 compatible
512 MB of RAM
2.17 GB disk space

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, GoG Price 19,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (5)

7.2

Your vote

Controversy aside, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear manages to do most of what it set out to do: fill a time gap by offering a new, long adventure to fans of the series. Even if it's not at the level of a real new chapter, despite the large amount of content it offers, it is definitely a purchase to consider if you are particularly nostalgic. Of course, it is not a masterpiece and, as pointed out in the article, it has its problems, which we cannot overlook despite the absurd controversies that accompanied its launch attracted a certain sympathy. In conclusion, Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear is a good expansion that no one really felt the need for, but whose goal is understandable.