9 ms·

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for the iPad

84 points by adamwintle 14y ago

swombat 14y ago
Finally! There's one game I've been waiting for on the iPad for ages. The burning question: is it a literal port or did they speed up some of the awfully slow "go fetch a broomstick from the other side of the map at walking speed" quests that are so common at the beginning of the game?
- CliveW 14y ago
  More-or-less a direct port. They added a stand-alone 'arena mode', and a few new NPC companions, 2 of whom have an associated quest/new area.
nostromo 14y ago
I'm such a geek for these old isometric games. If you are too, I'd recommend checking out Project Eternity (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternit...) and Wasteland 2 (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2) on KickStarter. Both were very successful in raising funds, so I'm hoping we see a renaissance of the genre and some new IP.
- jaaron 14y ago
  If you like these, you should check out the RPGs by Spiderweb Software. They're available for iPad as well as Mac and PC: http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html
  - wiradikusuma 14y ago
    dont forget Fallout 1 and 2.
JonnieCache 14y ago
This is the first thing that's made me want an ipad for anything more than marking up web development work.
- aw3c2 14y ago
  On Android you could play it (and Icewind Dale, etc) with the FOSS https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.gemrb https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforg...
timdoug 14y ago
It looks like it requires iOS 6, so I won't be able to play it on my 1st gen iPad. Sad times!
- devindotcom 14y ago
  Nor on my iPad 3, which I have deliberately not 'upgraded'... oh well, I'll wait for BG2.
  - lreeves 14y ago
    I pasted this above as well, but they're working on iOS 5 support: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for iPad is currently English only, with additional languages coming in a free update. The iPad version also requires iOS 6, but iOS 5 support is coming soon!
- jaaron 14y ago
  The developers were seeing out of memory issues on the iPad 1, thus the requirement for iOS 6. I believe there is still some hope they can get it to run, but ultimately, that didn't hold up the release: https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/276748438882902016 https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/276748438882902016
  - jcromartie 14y ago
    Yeah, the original iPad is the most memory-constrained ARMv7 (i.e. iOS 5-capable) iOS device out there.
- panacea 14y ago
  I realise it's kind of ridiculous to complain, but it's also ridiculous that a 14 year old game won't play on a few years old tablet, and I'll need top urchase this year's model if I want to play said 14 year old game.
  - pretoriusB 14y ago
    If you can manage to setup a DOS emulation layer on your iPad 1, you'll find out that the 14 year old game would play just fine. The new, just released, native version of the 14 year old game, however, will not.
chrmaury 14y ago
I would love to see a gameplay video on the iPad. The controls could be very tough...
- jaaron 14y ago
  Here's the first half of the tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pOqwUoJniPQ I feel like the controls are pretty decent. It's pretty much a straight port from the PC, so the menus are the same, etc. The hitbox for small items can be a bit of an issue, but that's my only complaint so far. You may want to browse through the TouchArcade forums for more feedback and videos: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=169358 http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=169358
cletus 14y ago
I can understand not supporting iOS 4.x. Memory management got a whole lot less annoying with ARC (automatic reference counting) in iOS 5.x. But there are a lot of people, myself included, who won't upgrade our devices to iOS 6 because we want a Maps product that works and, you know, has public transit directions. Until that changes I'm staying on iOS 5. It's a shame. I'd buy this in a heartbeat. I love to support actual games (social "games" not being games by my definition), which seem to be becoming increasingly rare.
- cremnob 14y ago
  Perhaps you are greatly overestimating how much "a lot of people" actually are.
  - jsnell 14y ago
    I don't know. My mom who is by no means a technical user was carefully avoiding the upgrade for a month on her iPad, just due to the bad news about maps in mainstream news. (And Then she accidentally clicked yes on an upgrade nag notification, and spent the rest of the day discovering broken stuff. Not just the maps, but e.g. the Youtube app and all the browser bookmarks disappearing).
    - supercoder 14y ago
      I'm pretty sure your mom doesn't represent 'a lot of people'.
      - digeridoo 14y ago
        No one represents a lot of people, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people holding off on upgrading to iOS 6.
- cageface 14y ago
  For a game it's even more puzzling because the odds are high this was all done in some C++ framework and barely uses Cocoa. I know as a developer I'm not even thinking about iOS 6-only releases until the middle of next year. Which is a bitch because dealing with the iPhone 5 without autolayout is no fun at all.
hellrich 14y ago
Hm, did I time it wrong or why did no one see my earlier submission? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4887373 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4887373
shawn-butler 14y ago
I wonder how much effort had to go into reworking the orginal codebase to make this performant. The Infinity Engine that was used for BG didn't use OpenGL acceleration until BG2 and IcewindDale. I bet this was a fun project to work on. I doubt they are using the GemRB open source implementation [0] since it is GPLv2. [0]: http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start
ndrake 14y ago
Anyone know how the save system works? Can you hit the home button at anytime and come back in to the game later right were you left off?
erickhill 14y ago
I for one think it's nice that this story hasn't been flagged. It's a Friday, and this was welcome news for me. Thank you, @adamwintle, for the post.
smegel 14y ago
I was going to get this on PC, but 20 bucks for a game a still have sitting on my shelf is a bit much. OTOH i will jump on it when it comes to Android, not only a much more reasonable 10 dollars but i think the touchscreen experience might add value in its own right.
- unsigner 14y ago
  The total price is the same, the PC version includes several DLCs, while on iOS you buy them separately.
CliveW 14y ago
Baldur's Gate is one of my favorite games of all time, and I'm generally behind the Enhanced Edition - I hope a new generation of gamers will be inspired by the world of BG, as I was 14 years ago. Having said that, playing BG:EE on PC for the past week I've been disappointed by the lack of polish, and the number of bugs still present. GameBanshee - probably the most respected site about computer RPGs - published a pretty critical review (of the PC version): http://gamebanshee.com/reviews/110209-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-review.html http://gamebanshee.com/reviews/110209-baldurs-gate-enhanced-... I hope the iPad version benefited from an extra week of polish. An earlier build was rejected, implying the have done some bug-squishing: https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/275743862507589632 https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/275743862507589632
ramsey2314 14y ago
In app purchases DO NOT work on iPad version. I paid 3 bucks and the new character is nowhere to be found with ZERO EXPLANATION as to what to do after they took my money.

84 points by adamwintle 14y ago

Finally! There's one game I've been waiting for on the iPad for ages. The burning question: is it a literal port or did they speed up some of the awfully slow "go fetch a broomstick from the other side of the map at walking speed" quests that are so common at the beginning of the game?

CliveW 14y ago
More-or-less a direct port. They added a stand-alone 'arena mode', and a few new NPC companions, 2 of whom have an associated quest/new area.

nostromo 14y ago

I'm such a geek for these old isometric games. If you are too, I'd recommend checking out Project Eternity (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternit...) and Wasteland 2 (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2) on KickStarter. Both were very successful in raising funds, so I'm hoping we see a renaissance of the genre and some new IP.

jaaron 14y ago
If you like these, you should check out the RPGs by Spiderweb Software. They're available for iPad as well as Mac and PC: http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html
- wiradikusuma 14y ago
  dont forget Fallout 1 and 2.

JonnieCache 14y ago

This is the first thing that's made me want an ipad for anything more than marking up web development work.

aw3c2 14y ago
On Android you could play it (and Icewind Dale, etc) with the FOSS https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.gemrb https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforg...

timdoug 14y ago

It looks like it requires iOS 6, so I won't be able to play it on my 1st gen iPad. Sad times!

devindotcom 14y ago
Nor on my iPad 3, which I have deliberately not 'upgraded'... oh well, I'll wait for BG2.
- lreeves 14y ago
  I pasted this above as well, but they're working on iOS 5 support: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for iPad is currently English only, with additional languages coming in a free update. The iPad version also requires iOS 6, but iOS 5 support is coming soon!
jaaron 14y ago
The developers were seeing out of memory issues on the iPad 1, thus the requirement for iOS 6. I believe there is still some hope they can get it to run, but ultimately, that didn't hold up the release: https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/276748438882902016 https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/276748438882902016
- jcromartie 14y ago
  Yeah, the original iPad is the most memory-constrained ARMv7 (i.e. iOS 5-capable) iOS device out there.
panacea 14y ago
I realise it's kind of ridiculous to complain, but it's also ridiculous that a 14 year old game won't play on a few years old tablet, and I'll need top urchase this year's model if I want to play said 14 year old game.
- pretoriusB 14y ago
  If you can manage to setup a DOS emulation layer on your iPad 1, you'll find out that the 14 year old game would play just fine. The new, just released, native version of the 14 year old game, however, will not.

chrmaury 14y ago

I would love to see a gameplay video on the iPad. The controls could be very tough...

jaaron 14y ago
Here's the first half of the tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pOqwUoJniPQ I feel like the controls are pretty decent. It's pretty much a straight port from the PC, so the menus are the same, etc. The hitbox for small items can be a bit of an issue, but that's my only complaint so far. You may want to browse through the TouchArcade forums for more feedback and videos: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=169358 http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=169358

cletus 14y ago

I can understand not supporting iOS 4.x. Memory management got a whole lot less annoying with ARC (automatic reference counting) in iOS 5.x. But there are a lot of people, myself included, who won't upgrade our devices to iOS 6 because we want a Maps product that works and, you know, has public transit directions. Until that changes I'm staying on iOS 5. It's a shame. I'd buy this in a heartbeat. I love to support actual games (social "games" not being games by my definition), which seem to be becoming increasingly rare.

cremnob 14y ago
Perhaps you are greatly overestimating how much "a lot of people" actually are.
- jsnell 14y ago
  I don't know. My mom who is by no means a technical user was carefully avoiding the upgrade for a month on her iPad, just due to the bad news about maps in mainstream news. (And Then she accidentally clicked yes on an upgrade nag notification, and spent the rest of the day discovering broken stuff. Not just the maps, but e.g. the Youtube app and all the browser bookmarks disappearing).
  - supercoder 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure your mom doesn't represent 'a lot of people'.
    - digeridoo 14y ago
      No one represents a lot of people, but that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people holding off on upgrading to iOS 6.
cageface 14y ago
For a game it's even more puzzling because the odds are high this was all done in some C++ framework and barely uses Cocoa. I know as a developer I'm not even thinking about iOS 6-only releases until the middle of next year. Which is a bitch because dealing with the iPhone 5 without autolayout is no fun at all.

hellrich 14y ago

Hm, did I time it wrong or why did no one see my earlier submission? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4887373 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4887373

shawn-butler 14y ago

I wonder how much effort had to go into reworking the orginal codebase to make this performant. The Infinity Engine that was used for BG didn't use OpenGL acceleration until BG2 and IcewindDale. I bet this was a fun project to work on. I doubt they are using the GemRB open source implementation [0] since it is GPLv2. [0]: http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start

ndrake 14y ago

Anyone know how the save system works? Can you hit the home button at anytime and come back in to the game later right were you left off?

erickhill 14y ago

I for one think it's nice that this story hasn't been flagged. It's a Friday, and this was welcome news for me. Thank you, @adamwintle, for the post.

smegel 14y ago

I was going to get this on PC, but 20 bucks for a game a still have sitting on my shelf is a bit much. OTOH i will jump on it when it comes to Android, not only a much more reasonable 10 dollars but i think the touchscreen experience might add value in its own right.

unsigner 14y ago
The total price is the same, the PC version includes several DLCs, while on iOS you buy them separately.

CliveW 14y ago

Baldur's Gate is one of my favorite games of all time, and I'm generally behind the Enhanced Edition - I hope a new generation of gamers will be inspired by the world of BG, as I was 14 years ago. Having said that, playing BG:EE on PC for the past week I've been disappointed by the lack of polish, and the number of bugs still present. GameBanshee - probably the most respected site about computer RPGs - published a pretty critical review (of the PC version): http://gamebanshee.com/reviews/110209-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-review.html http://gamebanshee.com/reviews/110209-baldurs-gate-enhanced-... I hope the iPad version benefited from an extra week of polish. An earlier build was rejected, implying the have done some bug-squishing: https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/275743862507589632 https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/275743862507589632

ramsey2314 14y ago

In app purchases DO NOT work on iPad version. I paid 3 bucks and the new character is nowhere to be found with ZERO EXPLANATION as to what to do after they took my money.