Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear Commentary

Baldur's Gate is possibly my favorite video game series of all time, considering how many hours I (and many others) have dedicated to it throughout my life. Therefore, it was no surprise that the (second?) expansion, Siege of Dragonspear, was so anticipated. However, with such a beloved franchise, people were bound to have very high expectations regarding lore and content. A lot of modern "re-writers" have essentially attached their filter to past franchises, changing content to suit their worldview. I had initially intended this article to be a "first look" at the game, but that time has long since passed. These days, we are waiting to see what Larian Studios does with the highly-anticipated Baldur's Gate 3. Regardless, let's take a look at Siege of Dragonspear. I had some initial concerns myself about the game, after reading this quote from a Beamdog dev in a Kotaku (woke gaming outlet) article:

“‘If there was something for the original Baldur’s Gate that just doesn’t mesh for modern day gamers like the sexism, [we tried to address that],’ said writer Amber Scott. ‘In the original there’s a lot of jokes at women’s expense. Or if not a lot, there’s a couple, like Safana was just a sex object in BG 1, and Jaheira was the nagging wife and that was played for comedy. We were able to say, ‘No, that’s not really the kind of story we want to make.’ In Siege of Dragonspear, Safana gets her own little storyline, she got a way better personality upgrade. If people don’t like that, then too bad.”

This is, of course, concerning for a variety of reasons, because often there’s a level of arrogance or false superiority that comes with that kind of proclamation. Thankfully, they didn’t attempt to fit their agenda within a series that was not created by them, to begin with, but they certainly took creative license with Siege of Dragonspear. So let's analyze their baseless claims of sexism. The devs assert that certain characters' personalities are the result of sexist representations, and therefore they wanted to branch out in a different direction for their new story. Now, I can support innovative ideas, but not if they lack creativity or even basic writing ability. I certainly don't like that they were willing to change the personalities of the characters that fans of the series have come to know and love, especially when we consider that this new story takes place between BG1 & BG2. How's that for breaking immersion and canon?

Regardless, the allegations of sexism by the aforementioned "writer" are completely unfounded (as a side note, I did some brief research on her and she appears to be a woke, pseudo-feminist who cares nothing for the material, which seems to be a requirement for such positions these days, including for TV/movies), and it would appear that she was unable to grasp the nuances of the characters' original iterations. The Baldur's Gate series has very layered characters overall, which is evident if one merely looks beyond the surface of what one sees. To make bold statements about a character like Jahiera being "a nagging wife" is overly simplistic. It is meant for comedic effect at times, but it's more indicative of her being overprotective, which she is of basically all the good-aligned characters. This overprotectiveness ends up being a justifiable attitude considering the events of the BG2. 

However, claiming that Safana is merely a "sex object" is a much worse offense. Safana is a cunning and manipulative character, who uses her feminine charms and beauty to manipulate men, which is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, and she uses it to her advantage on numerous occasions in the original games. Women know that men often will underestimate women, especially if they are beautiful. Being able to do this in business or relationships is a skill if used properly, and can make them more powerful than a man, in many ways. Even Paris Hilton, who is a lot smarter than people give her credit for, is quoted as saying “I’m happy for people to know that I am not a dumb blonde. I’m just very good at pretending to be one."

Sadly, in today's woke world, a lot of people see things in black-and-white and are unable to comprehend deeper concepts. It doesn't just show how little they understand the material, but how sexist they are. Is a woman not capable of being sexy without being an object? Can a character not be emotionally complex without being "nagging"? Seeing people in such reductive terms must be tough, but, despite all this, the game itself was not too bad. I don't know if I'll bother writing a full review on it, as it wasn't exactly a long game and they didn't add any of the characters over to BG2, surprisingly, so it was okay as a standalone adventure, but nothing special. Anyway, I'm more excited to see how Baldur's Gate 3 turns out - that will warrant a full review.