It's time for Beamdog and everyone else to stop forgetting that Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1 & 2 exist

[CognitiveAtrophy]

Does Sony own the Champions IP? Perplexing that they haven't made another if so.

It's not exactly a saturated genre, especially in the triple-A space, though it remains a popular one.

 

[Jakenbakin]

I've been begging for remasters of these and the Norrath titles for over 10 years now. Some of my favorite games of all time. I played each of these games... Multiple times.

 

[ascii42]

Does Sony own the Champions IP? Perplexing that they haven't made another if so.

It's not exactly a saturated genre, especially in the triple-A space, though it remains a popular one.

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SOE was spun off into Daybreak Game Company. I'd guess they own the IP.

 

[Rytheran]

The founder of Beamdog is Trent Oster, who was also a founder of Bioware, so he was heavily-ish involved in the Infinity Engine stuff and NWN which I think is a big reason why they started the whole EE thing. If I'm remembering correctly, he even said they have no interest in touching NWN2, so I don't really see them trying to port console games, but I guess stranger things have happened. (Though don't quote me on any of this.)

 

[Riesenfass]

I would buy a rerelease of these so fast. Love them and the Norrath games to pieces and they've never been ported to newer systems or PC.

Please. You have my money already.

 

[Damaniel]

IMO the only two BG games that matter and they get no love. I really want to replay them but I really don't want to buy an old console to do it.

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Maybe not the most popular opinion ever, but I fully agree. I couldn't make it even a couple hours into BG/BG2, but I've played both the Dark Alliance games multiple times (I even played the GBA version, which wasn't the worst thing ever).

The Champions of Norrath games are also awesome.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Yeah, BG Dark Alliance and the Champions of Norrath games have a special place in my heart and I hope they have an opportunity to resurface in some way, be it a new entry in the series or even a whole new IP with similar gameplay design. They were just stellar console-based Diablo-esque ARPGs.

 

[RexNovis]

YES!
And Champions of Norrath! And X-men Legends! Give me all of them! Make it happen! Make my dreams come true!

I love all of you you beautiful beautiful people. We are kindred spirits. This thread makes me happier than I can possibly express. It's been sooooo long. It felt like I've been alone in my need for this to happen. Seeing so many share my sentiments is just... it feels real good guys. The struggle has been real.

Respect Jawmuncher
You are good people.

 

[Scottish Sin]

Have real fond memories of playing the local co-op of Dark Alliance with my sister on the OG Xbox back in the day. So yeah, I'm down. Loved that game.

 

[Banzai]

Oh yeah, we loved playing through these in coop, it was a ton of fun.

 

[Polk]

Hot take.
GBA version is superior to PS2/Xbox.

 

[Rickenslacker]

I tend to have the opposite problem to the title when Baldur's Gate is brought up. Someone mentions that they've played or heard of Baldur's Gate, my ears perk up, "that PS2 game right?" and ah, no.

I did really like the first Dark Alliance though. The water was crazy impressive for the time and I liked all the flair when damaging enemies. Shields would fall, bits would fly off, it had some simple but satisfying combat. I never quite got into Champions of Norrath as much, and I never snagged a copy of Dark Alliance 2, but I had a good time with the first.

 

[Sword Familiar]

I had fun playing co-op with my brother. Don't know if we played both games or just the first one. I need to revisit this series sometime in the near future.

 

[Bricktop]

Most people write them off because they have almost nothing in common with the proper BG series, their audiences, or any of the CRPG games of that era.

I wouldn't expect Beamdog to remake them any time soon. Who knows who even owns the rights at this point. But while we are begging for old action-rpg revivals you might as well toss Darkstone into the mix.

 

[Sandersson]

The what now?

We used to play the second one on ps2 as kids. It was a pretty good game.

 

[Polk]

I wouldn't expect Beamdog to remake them any time soon. Who knows who even owns the rights at this point. But while we are begging for old action-rpg revivals you might as well toss Darkstone into the mix.

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Plus who knows if there's source code available. We didn't get ID2 because code was lost.
As for obscure ARPG I would like to revisit Hexplore

 

[Dad_and_Videogames]

People in this thread know what's up! I was a HUGE fan of these games and Champions of Norrath back in the day. I believe I even played CoN online? Seems so weird talking about online PS2 games. Shit was the wild west.

 

[Ruruja]

Haha, everyone always mentions the water (and rightly so, me and my friend were blown away by it too).

They really were fantastic games, I just don't see us ever getting a Dark Alliance 3 though.

 

[Jimnymebob]

I never got to play Dark Alliance 2.
I saw it in shops (Electronic Boutique or may have possibly been GAME at that point) the day it launched, but didn't pick it up.
I went in a few days later, and never saw a copy of it again in stores, except for like a £60 pre-owned version from Gamestation.

 

[Deleted member 49574]

I flipping love Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 1-2 and Champions of Norrath 1-2

 

[mclem]

Weren't all this broad family of games (Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, I think there may have been a Fallout one as well) by the same company at heart and running on the same engine? I don't recall.

Not sure it's right to direct things at Beamdog, who are explicitly specialising in Infinity Engine-family content. It's like having a go at DICE for not making a new Yoda's Desktop Adventures!

(Although I kind of would like to see a Frostbite take on Yoda's Desktop Adventures, now I think about it. Get to it, DICE!)

 

[dm101]

I had fun with dark alliance many years ago. Great game.

 

[Blade24070]

I would absolutely LOVE to be able to replay these games. These games and X-men legends were such fun hack and slash games.

 

[Dandy]

I'd love to see them released on PC some day. Never got a change to play em.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

I played both with my brother back in the day (plus Champions of Norrath). The first one had a much grimmer and darker atmosphere, but I preferred the second one because of the greater variety of playstyles and environments, even if the latter weren't as contiguous. I loved the dwarf rogue's ability to kick enemies and chests to get better loot.

Also found the water and lighting effects really impressive at the time.

 

[Deleted member 18400]

I spent a lot of time playing these games and Champions of Norath with my roomate back in the day.

Ahh, the memories of youth!

 

[Deleted member 57421]

Alyth aka Dolly Parton says "Hello!"

 

[Stellar]

I really miss Snowblind Studios. Wish they could have survived the move to next gen.

 

[Xero grimlock]

The founder of Beamdog is Trent Oster, who was also a founder of Bioware, so he was heavily-ish involved in the Infinity Engine stuff and NWN which I think is a big reason why they started the whole EE thing. If I'm remembering correctly, he even said they have no interest in touching NWN2, so I don't really see them trying to port console games, but I guess stranger things have happened. (Though don't quote me on any of this.)

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thats a shame as nwn2 base game is way better then nwn1 base. and Nwn2 has my favorite crpg in mask of the betrayer.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

There's a reason "Oh, finally Dark Alliance 3 eh?" is a running joke when talking about Baldur's Gate 3
It's because there are 20 people in the world who care about Dark Alliance and even that's a high estimate.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

Oh great games, I would love a remaster of them, give me Champion's of Norrath and its sequel as well.

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah I loved BG:DA1, and the engine was crazy, one of the games that took advantage of the PS2 hardware, couldn't run well with the same amount of particles anywhere else. 60fps, particles everywhere, water physics, it was super impressive.

 

[Com_Raven]

Agreed! People tend to laugh when I say this, but I got my first ever console (a PS2) specifically for Dark Alliance (though i also bought GTA 3 on the same day. The game was a lot of fun in coop, and the water was mindblowing back then :p

 

[MeBecomingI]

These games were awesome. Pretty simple nowadays, but when they released they were fantastic. My brother and I played through them both (and both Champions of Norrath games) and had some incredibly fun times.

I'd love to see re-release / remaster of them. They are a fun little side game.

 

[ColonelForbin]

Yes!!! My wife and I played the shit out of these games. Great couch coop ARPG are a rare breed. I would love a enhanced version with updated graphics bundled together.

 

[Jakenbakin]

There's a reason "Oh, finally Dark Alliance 3 eh?" is a running joke when talking about Baldur's Gate 3
It's because there are 20 people in the world who care about Dark Alliance and even that's a high estimate.

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Not really. It's because the franchise is unfortunately filled with condescension by "real" BG fans who are vocally outspoken. It's just one of those titles that would suffer from the PC gamer complex of their franchises being casualized by console-appealing titles.

But hey, in a thread that already has numerous people clamouring for more of something they enjoyed, keep up the good fight of condescending to a franchise instead of just ignoring a thread for something you weren't interested in.

 

[modestb]

Baldur's Gate I and II are some of the finest RPGs ever made. If not the best.

Dark Alliance are decent~ish console Diablo knockoffs. They can remain buried in the sand dunes of history.

 

[Island]

Great games (DA 1 and 2, and CoN 1 and 2)! Played the crap out of them. And the water effects were to die for. I remember just running my character through a pool of water in the sewers and pointing it out excitedly to my girlfriend. I thought graphics had hit their apex!

Edit: In response to the CRPG purists.... you realize that the more people that play anything set in this universe and fall in love with it, the more likely they will play the other games, which means a higher chance of getting BG3 and such?

For the record, I like both styles of game immensely, and will play either depending on my mood.

 

[Bleu]

those games and the champions of norrath ones were awesome.
also cheating with saves to duplicate high lvl gems and socketables to craft monstrous OP weapons never got old.

 

[JahIthBer]

These games being Console exclusive was such a big mistake, people would still play it online today if they had PC ports.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

There's a reason "Oh, finally Dark Alliance 3 eh?" is a running joke when talking about Baldur's Gate 3
It's because there are 20 people in the world who care about Dark Alliance and even that's a high estimate.

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Yeah but we care a lot. Enough to count for, maybe, 30 people.

 

[EmptyWarren]

If Titan Quest can keep coming out then these games have no excuse.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

Not really. It's because the franchise is unfortunately filled with condescension by "real" BG fans who are vocally outspoken. It's just one of those titles that would suffer from the PC gamer complex of their franchises being casualized by console-appealing titles.

But hey, in a thread that already has numerous people clamouring for more of something they enjoyed, keep up the good fight of condescending to a franchise instead of just ignoring a thread for something you weren't interested in.

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You're right, PC gamers HATE games like Diablo, they detest it.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

My friends and I loved Dark Alliance 1 & 2, as well as Champions of Norrath 1 & 2. Fantastic couch co-op games and very well done.

Another overlooked game in a similar vein from that time period is Dungeons and Dragons Heroes. It was exclusive to Xbox so it's not as well known but if you enjoyed these other games, I encourage you to grab 3 friends and check it out.

 

[demondance]

I knew it wouldn't take long lol. I loved the story of the other games but I can't get into that style of gameplay.

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Why? It's a similar concept except with a party instead of just one character.

Why does it matter?

Edit: And for that matter, you enter a thread about Dark Alliance 1 and 2 and decide to defend the old crpg's honor because....?

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The OP is asking the developer that took stewardship of the Infinity Engine cRPGs (and NWN) to handle this. Are you really going to act surprised that maybe people aren't keen on shitting on one franchise or the other in here? Come on dude

 

[demondance]

People in this thread know what's up! I was a HUGE fan of these games and Champions of Norrath back in the day. I believe I even played CoN online? Seems so weird talking about online PS2 games. Shit was the wild west.

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There was a full on PS2 alternate version of EverQuest on PS2 as well, I completely forgot about that. It was a fun MMO that cut some of the fat from the PC EQ experience. I wonder if there's a private server up for that...

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

There was a full on PS2 alternate version of EverQuest on PS2 as well, I completely forgot about that. It was a fun MMO that cut some of the fat from the PC EQ experience. I wonder if there's a private server up for that...

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That was Everquest online adventures. It was a massive, soul rending slog of a game grind wise, with massive culling, few armor or weapon models, and entire zones with no loot tables setup.

I had a 55 magician turned geomancer and a 58 rogue turned berserker.

I will give it credit in a few areas though. The item flavortext added a ton of lore to the world and the no loading times between zones thing was unheard of in that day.

 

[The Riot Inside]

The OP is asking the developer that took stewardship of the Infinity Engine cRPGs (and NWN) to handle this. Are you really going to act surprised that maybe people aren't keen on shitting on one franchise or the other in here? Come on dude

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So you going to call out the others in here shitting on the Dark Alliance games or do only I deserve it because I don't hold the precious BG crpgs up on a fucking pedestal? Notice how I disagree with said posters but refrain from calling them out like somehow their own opinion is invalid. It isn't really that hard disagree with someone and not try to correct their feelings or take offense at an opinion about not liking a video game.

 

[demondance]

So you going to call out the others in here shitting on the Dark Alliance games or do only I deserve it because I don't hold the precious BG crpgs up on a fucking pedestal? Notice how I disagree with said posters but refrain from calling them out like somehow their own opinion is invalid. It isn't really that hard disagree with someone and not try to correct their feelings or take offense at an opinion about not liking a video game.

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Who is shitting on the Dark Alliance games? They're dungeon crawlers that actually leverage D&D rules in ways similar action adaptations don't. They're exceptional games that should've served as the template for many more multiplayer/real-time translations of D&D settings.

Also, they're the BG-branded games that Chris Avellone actually wrote for. For some reason a lot of people associate him with BG, well, if they want to see his Forgotten Realms work they'll have to grab a PS2 or Xbox.

 

[7threst]

There's a reason "Oh, finally Dark Alliance 3 eh?" is a running joke when talking about Baldur's Gate 3
It's because there are 20 people in the world who care about Dark Alliance and even that's a high estimate.

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I really hate posts like this. The BG:DA games are loved all over and for good reason. Stop acting like an elite prick. They deserve love, not condescension. If you don't like 'em, ignore 'em.