This review contains spoilers
After seeing so much negativity toward SoD over the last few years, I went in with really low expectations. I'm surprised to say, I actually like it better than Baldur's Gate 1.
For some context, I've installed a few of the larger overarching mods like Enhanced Edition Trilogy and Sword Coast Stratagems, along with a few rules tweak packs and the Unearthed Aracana series of class revision mods. This evens out a lot of the rougher edges and is much more satisfying for my love of tinkering with character builds, but otherwise shouldn't affect my review too much.
The art direction, both in terms of level design and music, is excellent. They managed to keep the feel of the old infinity engine games while bringing in modern lighting and capability to render more actors on screen. The areas of Baldur's Gate you visit at the start really feel like a bustling, seedy city in a way that the original games simply couldn't achieve, and the lighting in caves and tombs is absolutely on point. The set pieces in the levels are well done. The underground river map is a particular standout, with an almost mystic glow around the river and one portion overrun with the verdant overgrowth brought about by a shadow druid.
I generally found the encounter design to be quite good. There were several large scale battles involving dozens of allies and enemies in addition to your own party. It felt great to drop down some AoE buffs like haste and blessing and watch your army become a truly terrifying force. Their were some great ambush scenarios, especially in some random events that could pop up when travelling between locations. Fighting off a group of assassins in an anti-magic field was terrifying, and a huge step forward from Baldur's Gate's "you are suddenly surrounded by 8 archers". Of course, this is all bolstered by my enjoyment of mid-level D&D mechanics. I find the lower levels to a bit overly variable and lacking in choices, and the higher levels to dip into the overly complex. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the strength of mid-level D&D wasn't part of the design process that led to Siege of Dragonspear.
Combat was, at times, frustrating, though. While the critical story-centric large scale battles and the more hand-crafted unique scenarios felt great, the average throwaway encounter felt a bit overcrowded. I'd run into a group of spiders and think to myself "Ok, not too bad. There's about ten total with a mix of sword, wraith and phase. I should get through this with just a little bit of spell and consumable use" and suddenly a pocket plane clown car's worth of oozes would pile in from the fog of war. Now, to some degree I brought this on myself. I played on Hardcore difficulty and, as mentioned before, had installed Sword Coast Stratagems. I also didn't have a full arcane caster (Imoen i miss u) with me, so that left my priests and druid to pick up a lot of slack.
The overall story was exactly what I signed up for. It bridged the events between Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, while introducing a solid enough story to maintain its own identity. It's a D&D game telling D&D stories, so it's trope-y, and you can see the twists coming for a mile away. I don't think predictability is inherently a bad thing, and, in this case, was probably necessary, given the game's interstitial nature. Siege of Dragonspear did a very competent job at filling in the vague "circumstances much darker than anyone would have believed" mentioned in Shadow of Amn's opening movie, while also giving you a modules worth of adventure in Caelar Argent's story. Even if I had mostly guessed Argent's final fate, I still enjoyed watching the particulars of how it unfolded. Player agency was perhaps a bit stymied at times and I'm not sure how much my choices mattered, but I wasn't particularly bothered by it. Even Baldur's Gate 1 would outright insta-kill you for trying to kill Sarevok out of turn. There was much less freedom to explore between major story events than BG 1 or 2, but, again, given the interstitial nature of the game, I think this was for the best. I also greatly enjoy a focused story where you don't feel like you run off spending months on odds and ends while the world is hanging in balance.
While I liked the overall narrative structure and story beats, I found the actual writing to be a bit hamfisted. Some interactions really left me rolling my eyes. In one "side quest" you have a conversation with a soldier who struggling to cope with the fear caused by being stuck in a siege situation. He's losing his nerve as you speak with him, but quickly does a 180 when you spout a generic platitude at him. Just one platitude. And then you get 6000 experience! Subtlety was certainly not this games forte. It could be frustrating how much the game felt like it had to spell out plot points to you directly, rather than leaving some to implication. Major and minor characters did manage to have their own voices, despite falling a bit too much into tropes, such as "drunken dwarf craftsman" or "hapless gnome in over his head in the military".
I played as a female charname and pursued the romance with Corwin. Corwin was a very believable and grounded character, which was a nice change of pace from the usual "fantasy" character present in these games. Corwin is single mother, working as a Captain in the Flaming Fist, trying to make enough money to give her daughter a comfortable life, while worrying about being away so often. She's brash and in your face, but responds in a very believable way when you consider her motivations and fears. The romance itself was handled slowly and tastefully, showing two adults who become interested in each other while being forced together. It wasn't perhaps the most exciting tale, but it was a nice subplot to have. Corwin could be self-righteous at times, which built to a great scene where Dorn, the half-orc who gladly sold his soul to a devil for power, calls out her motivations for continuing to work as mercenary in her situation and compares it to his own choices. All that is to say, despite much of the dialogue writing falling a bit flat, there was a nice human element to it and they did pull off some good character drama at times.
In the end, Siege of Dragonspear was well worth my time and I'll include it in future playthroughs of the saga. It wasn't a "necessary" addition, but I think it smooths out the experience going from the first game to the second, and provides a fun "module" with Caelar Argents story. If you enjoy Infinity Engine, and don't mind a little incongruence in writing style and presentation between the Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, I'd recommend giving Dragonspear a shot.
For some context, I've installed a few of the larger overarching mods like Enhanced Edition Trilogy and Sword Coast Stratagems, along with a few rules tweak packs and the Unearthed Aracana series of class revision mods. This evens out a lot of the rougher edges and is much more satisfying for my love of tinkering with character builds, but otherwise shouldn't affect my review too much.
The art direction, both in terms of level design and music, is excellent. They managed to keep the feel of the old infinity engine games while bringing in modern lighting and capability to render more actors on screen. The areas of Baldur's Gate you visit at the start really feel like a bustling, seedy city in a way that the original games simply couldn't achieve, and the lighting in caves and tombs is absolutely on point. The set pieces in the levels are well done. The underground river map is a particular standout, with an almost mystic glow around the river and one portion overrun with the verdant overgrowth brought about by a shadow druid.
I generally found the encounter design to be quite good. There were several large scale battles involving dozens of allies and enemies in addition to your own party. It felt great to drop down some AoE buffs like haste and blessing and watch your army become a truly terrifying force. Their were some great ambush scenarios, especially in some random events that could pop up when travelling between locations. Fighting off a group of assassins in an anti-magic field was terrifying, and a huge step forward from Baldur's Gate's "you are suddenly surrounded by 8 archers". Of course, this is all bolstered by my enjoyment of mid-level D&D mechanics. I find the lower levels to a bit overly variable and lacking in choices, and the higher levels to dip into the overly complex. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the strength of mid-level D&D wasn't part of the design process that led to Siege of Dragonspear.
Combat was, at times, frustrating, though. While the critical story-centric large scale battles and the more hand-crafted unique scenarios felt great, the average throwaway encounter felt a bit overcrowded. I'd run into a group of spiders and think to myself "Ok, not too bad. There's about ten total with a mix of sword, wraith and phase. I should get through this with just a little bit of spell and consumable use" and suddenly a pocket plane clown car's worth of oozes would pile in from the fog of war. Now, to some degree I brought this on myself. I played on Hardcore difficulty and, as mentioned before, had installed Sword Coast Stratagems. I also didn't have a full arcane caster (Imoen i miss u) with me, so that left my priests and druid to pick up a lot of slack.
The overall story was exactly what I signed up for. It bridged the events between Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, while introducing a solid enough story to maintain its own identity. It's a D&D game telling D&D stories, so it's trope-y, and you can see the twists coming for a mile away. I don't think predictability is inherently a bad thing, and, in this case, was probably necessary, given the game's interstitial nature. Siege of Dragonspear did a very competent job at filling in the vague "circumstances much darker than anyone would have believed" mentioned in Shadow of Amn's opening movie, while also giving you a modules worth of adventure in Caelar Argent's story. Even if I had mostly guessed Argent's final fate, I still enjoyed watching the particulars of how it unfolded. Player agency was perhaps a bit stymied at times and I'm not sure how much my choices mattered, but I wasn't particularly bothered by it. Even Baldur's Gate 1 would outright insta-kill you for trying to kill Sarevok out of turn. There was much less freedom to explore between major story events than BG 1 or 2, but, again, given the interstitial nature of the game, I think this was for the best. I also greatly enjoy a focused story where you don't feel like you run off spending months on odds and ends while the world is hanging in balance.
While I liked the overall narrative structure and story beats, I found the actual writing to be a bit hamfisted. Some interactions really left me rolling my eyes. In one "side quest" you have a conversation with a soldier who struggling to cope with the fear caused by being stuck in a siege situation. He's losing his nerve as you speak with him, but quickly does a 180 when you spout a generic platitude at him. Just one platitude. And then you get 6000 experience! Subtlety was certainly not this games forte. It could be frustrating how much the game felt like it had to spell out plot points to you directly, rather than leaving some to implication. Major and minor characters did manage to have their own voices, despite falling a bit too much into tropes, such as "drunken dwarf craftsman" or "hapless gnome in over his head in the military".
I played as a female charname and pursued the romance with Corwin. Corwin was a very believable and grounded character, which was a nice change of pace from the usual "fantasy" character present in these games. Corwin is single mother, working as a Captain in the Flaming Fist, trying to make enough money to give her daughter a comfortable life, while worrying about being away so often. She's brash and in your face, but responds in a very believable way when you consider her motivations and fears. The romance itself was handled slowly and tastefully, showing two adults who become interested in each other while being forced together. It wasn't perhaps the most exciting tale, but it was a nice subplot to have. Corwin could be self-righteous at times, which built to a great scene where Dorn, the half-orc who gladly sold his soul to a devil for power, calls out her motivations for continuing to work as mercenary in her situation and compares it to his own choices. All that is to say, despite much of the dialogue writing falling a bit flat, there was a nice human element to it and they did pull off some good character drama at times.
In the end, Siege of Dragonspear was well worth my time and I'll include it in future playthroughs of the saga. It wasn't a "necessary" addition, but I think it smooths out the experience going from the first game to the second, and provides a fun "module" with Caelar Argents story. If you enjoy Infinity Engine, and don't mind a little incongruence in writing style and presentation between the Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, I'd recommend giving Dragonspear a shot.