Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear

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2.6/5

( 299 Reviews )

2.6

299 Reviews

English & 6 more

Posted on: December 30, 2020

anicsin

Verified owner

Games: 183 Reviews: 4

Sloppy

It's hard to write a review about SoDS, because I wanted to like it so badly. The teaser got me super hyped and I just couldn't wait til I've finished BG. -Story This is the part that I've liked the least. I kinda see what the writer(s) had in mind, they wanted to make BG more like D&D, they wanted to open up the lore and the world a little bit. You see a lot of famous monsters from D&D, but the thing is they couldn't really integrate them into the story, they were just there. Hey look, a cool monster we all like, hey look a nice piece from the lore. But they didn't connect... also the maps were really dumb. In BG you had a feeling of a world that was more or less alive. Here you can have the camps of two enemies just a short distance from each other, also look there is this cool crypt and oh wow that sidequest. Just too much on a single map. Altogether the story was more like a usual campaign from D&D, but BG wasn't like that, it was much more and I expected more from SoDS as well. Disappointing. -Sound and visual design This is where I really have to give credit to Beamdog, nothing to complain about. -Characters A lot of people have written about how Beamdog has changed some of the original characters. Altough I can see why people didn't like the way they took them, it didn't really bother me. What did is how agressively the writer(s) tried to force new elements into the characters. But unlike others I liked Glint, he was a charmy fellow. What I didn't like is that the new rogue characters were kinda useless in combat. But I enjoyed that the characters had a lot of dialogues between them. -Mechanics? Dunno So last but not least, the difficulty. I did this on insanse and oh boy... the difficulty curve was just so off sometimes. You'll know when you get there I guess. But really imbalanced, something similar to IWD1. Overall: nice addition to BG2 story, but boring or outright dumb quests and writing choices. Would recommend with a high discount only.

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Posted on: November 19, 2025

hjztr5

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 1

undeserved bad reviews

I don't normally review games, but I feel compelled to do so now. I've been a long-time fan of Infinity Engine games, starting with BG2 back in the day. I had been avoiding this addon for years because of the bad reviews. I think many players simply resent that it wasn’t delivered by BioWare, or at least by most of the original development team for BG. Beamdog can hardly be blamed for that. It’s true that there are some cheesy characters, but then again, there are plenty of those in the original games as well. Some companion NPCs are actually interesting, while others are more cartoonish. The story isn’t necessarily the most original, but it’s solid and fills the gap between BG1 and BG2 well. I really liked the maps and art, including the areas of Baldur’s Gate that are still accessible in this addon. They felt more alive to me. So for everyone who has avoided this addon because of the bad reviews: I think those criticisms are unjustified, and I would recommend giving it a chance—especially when it’s on sale.

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Posted on: September 10, 2021

jharrison02

Verified owner

Games: 6 Reviews: 1

Mostly enjoyable transition between games

I generally enjoyed this game, with a few caveats -- I think there should have been more recruit-able NPCs from BG1 (from the beginning, while in BG), and the plot is a little too linear for the kind of re-play ability I'm used to with BG1/2. SoD also interrupts the progression for some soloing character classes (for example, the case of a Kensai dualed to a Mage/Thief due to the XP allocation). There's two really outstanding dungeons in this game, and the underground river map is absolutely jam packed with stuff to do and explore. All of the backgrounds look fantastic, and are probably the best in the series. Could the transition between these two games have been tied up with a cut-scene? Yes, but who actually watches them now? If you've played both BG1 and BG2, then go ahead and play this (if I was a new player, I don't think I would want to dip my feet into this saga with this game). I'm going to give it 5 stars, because GoG doesn't do fractions (I would have given it 4.5 stars).

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Posted on: January 30, 2022

Louard_le_Barbare

Verified owner

Games: 296 Reviews: 127

Totally skippable, but... mostly fine?

As expected, this “midquel” released 17 years after the original Baldur's Gate is lackluster in some regards. It feels fanficy, kind of barges into the established canon, and it is difficult to swallow that all the epic hijinx the characters get into happened right between BG1 and 2; in fact, the only real ties to Shadows of Amn are shoehorned in at the very last minute! But if you can get past this, it's actually quite enjoyable. The writing is nothing earth-shattering really, but let's be honest here, BG1 also was a fairly standard fantasy story: this expansion is at least on par with it, and even exceeds it in some regards! It is a badass tale about traveling through the country to take part in an epic battle, and I'm all for it. Many of the quests present you with interesting and subtle situations, and several characters are non-conventional, likable or memorable - notably the main antagonist Caelar Argent, who puts a neat twist on the “loyal good” alignment! Overall, a lot of efforts have clearly been put into this. Some original voice actors are back, and as for the atmosphere... BG always was a great-looking game, but the backgrounds here are straight up gorgeous (to the point where their level of detail can be jarring!), and the new soundtrack is fittingly beautiful and epic. The gameplay is mostly more of the same... It has more dungeon crawling than the original campaign, so your mileage may vary on that. The level design is solid, and while there are a bunch of challenging fights, rarely do they felt cheap or unfair to me. However, it is very linear and has several points of no return: make sure to complete every quest before doing anything that might advance the story! So yeah, SoD falls into a lot of predictable traps, you can skip it without missing much... but it's ambitious, fun to play, the writing is okay, and clearly, a lot of love was put into it. Maybe it would have worked better as a standalone story, but overall, it's worth a playthrough!

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Posted on: September 21, 2024

null618

Verified owner

Games: 227 Reviews: 2

BG I +

new snakes, new QoL improvements, new magic items tied to quests, new powerful class, not so strong story, but it's probably passable - five stars worthy sequel to BG I, only did i mention the story is not completely great but nevermind *get it on sale*

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