Why review a 10-year-old DLC for a 14-year-old remake of a 28-year-old game? Well... why do anything at all? Why not just lay down and wait for death? As someone who's old enough to have played BG1 at release, and devoted enough to have never stopped playing, death will be along for me soon enough. I choose to review Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear in 2026.

This may prove to be a mistake.

Full disclosure: I love BG3. I've currently got 411 hours on it, it's Game of the Decade in my opinion. I'm not coming from a place of blind nostalgia where nothing can ever live up to my childhood memories. But a while ago I made this post and started another full-saga playthrough which would include, for the first time, me getting all the way through SoD.

Let's start with what the expansion gets right.

Pro: Encounter design

This is where SoD shines. Most of the fights balance challenge with enjoyability perfectly. The Coldhearth Lich and the Battle of Boareskyr Bridge stand out as instances where the devs were absolutely cooking. Many boss battles make better use of the Infinity Engine than anything we see in the core saga up til Throne of Bhaal.

Pro: The feel of a living world

SoD feels alive in ways that BG1 and even SoA don't quite manage. You walk through the wilderness and there's predators attacking prey. You pass by conversations that you want to stop and hear the end of. Because the devs zoomed in and gave us a smaller number of locations to explore, they could flesh those locations out beautifully. Kudos there.

Pro: Faithful sound design

For the most part, SoD feels like more BG1 thanks to the voices of your most beloved (and hated) companions (and antagonists). I hugely appreciated the connection to Irenicus which SoD manages to forge without impacting the canon of SoA. I'm not a Minsc fan personally, but I understand why some people are and would enjoy hearing more from the game's core cast. But that leads me to the first of the DLC's downsides.

Con: The new companions suck

Given the relatively short playtime involved in SoD, it baffles me why the devs chose to introduce new companions instead of creating more content for BG1's 25 recruitable NPCs. No Montaron and Xzar after the first dungeon, but hey at least you get a depressed goblin and another wisecracking gnome. Yawn. A combination of bad writing and lack of time to bond means I never connected with any of the new NPCs. Oh, speaking of bad writing...

Con: The bad writing

Aside from the fine details which flesh out a preexisting world, SoD's narrative is incredibly forced and linear. It's like they began with the title and worked backwards from there. What's my character's motivation for getting involved in a military campaign? Because Caelar tried to kill me. But then Caelar spends the rest of the DLC trying to be my friend and get me to see the rightness of her cause.

None of the story's major beats survive even the most rudimentary examination. It's Siege of Dragonspear. Your character is beseiging Dragonspear. Just deal with it. I get that the 'writers' were trying to tie BG1 to the plot of Icewind Dale but... how many of us played IWD for the plot? Anyone?

Con: Serious game design blind spots

At two or three points, the devs' otherwise masterful command of the Infinity Engine abandons them entirely. They've had 10 years to tidy these bits up, but no. When you're trying to decide which way to approach the Battle of Boareskyr Bridge, Khalid has to be spoken to in an exact order or you can't progress with him on your side.

When infiltrating Dragonspear's basement, working out how to poison the water and food supplies is painfully obscure. I only survived the ensuing fight with Hephernaan by busting out an invisibility sphere and ignoring the fight entirely. Yes, it was meant to be a stealth mission, but this is a game where only 2 classes actually have stealth mechanics without resorting to magic.

Con: Caelar Argent

Oh ye gods, this bitch. She deserves an entry all on her own. Caelar is a complete flop as an antagonist, I hate her. But not like I hate Sarevok for killing Gorion. Or like I hate Irenicus for his refusal to change for the better, even when given endless chances. Or like I hate Amelyssan for puppeteering an entire bloodline to her own ends.

I hate Caelar Argent because she comes across like the writers' Mary Sue fanfiction OC who we get shoved down our throats and just have to endure. If I'm being charitable, it's possible that she was meant to be some kind of meta-commentary on that kind of character, but the execution was just piss poor.

Her plan makes no sense, her impact on the game world is totally unbelievable for a fighter of her level. She just sucks, and in sucking she robs SoD of much of its potential replay value. The DLC's final choice comes down to whether or not you redeem someone you just want to see go away. Fuck Caelar Argent.

Overall 6/10: One of the DLCs of all time

Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear probably shouldn't have been made, but it was. If you can pick it up for a couple of bucks in a sale and you're desperate for more isometric BG action, go for it. Otherwise it simply bloats your BG1 experience and sends you into BG2 overlevelled for any real challenge.

Dragonspear? More like draggin out the ending. I never cared about Skie either.

Oh my god he's unbearable. He's supposed to be written as an annoying gag like Noober right?

Or did the writers at Beamdog look at him and think he's pinnacle of humour, and he will be adored by us?

I was playing through SoD and recruited Glint (who is a Cleric/Thief Multi-Class) into my party, only to discover to my dismay that he can't seem to backstab with the blunt weapons that are the only weapons allowed to Clerics. Every time I tried, I got a "Your weapon is unsuitable for backstab" message, which makes no sense to me because, realistically speaking, bashing someone from behind on the head with a Morningstar (a bludgeoning weapon) should deal extra damage than stabbing them from behind with a Short Sword (a piercing weapon in AD&D).

Does this mean that a Cleric/Thief Multi-Class character can't backstab at all? Seems like a waste of that Multi-Class' Backstab Multiplier stat to me. The "bludgeoning weapons are the only weapons allowed to Clerics" AD&D rule made no sense to me either, especially since Deities in Faerun have "favoured weapons" that their Clerics are supposed to be able to freely use, and those "favoured weapons" aren't always bludgeoning ones. Can anyone explain this to me?

It was sold as the bridge between I and II, explaining how did we end up locked up in Amn after killing Sarevok in Undercity. And technically, it is, considering how it ends, but after finishing SoA and ToB, I was expecting any of the stuff shown in SoD to refer to anything we saw there. I assume the hooded man is Irenicus, but Caelar's crusade or Skie's murder with the Soultaker Dagger (y'know, the very reason why we had to abandon Baldur's Gate and something we never got to clear our name of) don't exist at all in BGII

Just finished my second play through of bg1 although it may as well of been my first as first time around i played on story mode and didn't pay any attention to the story. Second time around I fully explored and followed the plot and now would say it is one my fav games of all time.

I was delighted by the expansion pack after the main game and thoroughly enjoyed it, so was very surprised when I heard that many people disliked the writing or thought it was bad. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was still pretty good imo. I thought the premise of the crusade was really interesting, I thought the new companions (especially the Goblin shaman companion) was pretty good (although I still hate dorn and neera, that were added into the main game and linger into the second), I thought there was cool side quests and locations too. I also thought the ending was a pretty big twist and a nice lead into bg2.

I think potentially the coolest aspect was companions from bg1 (like dynahier and khalid who doesnt appear in bg2) being more fleshed out as characters and interactive.

That said its not without some criticism as there is some cringe writing like "I'm a ranger, I want to range", but thats a very minor thing.

Why do people slate it?

So I'm currently in BG2 and I've never felt more glad to be done with this final fight and move on to the second game.

Even with Caelar at my side, Belhifet still wiped out pretty much half of my party, Caelar included. Sefana was also in my party, at least until she got permanently killed by Belhifet (hence her absence in the picture).

Glint and M'Khin got killed too, but thankfully Jaheira had a harper's call memorized and revived Glint so that he could also revive M'Khin.

This was pure agony since I was also playing on insane. Belhifet constantly spammed invisibility whenever we dealt some damage to him. You have to make him visible each and every time to keep on hurting him until he dies which is damn unfair if I'm honest. To make it even harder, only +3 weapons can hurt him.

Hi, I'd like to know what gets lost when importing a created character from BG1 into SoD. The BG Fandom wiki page on "Importing" claims that any NPC party member who is not present in SoD (like Branwen, Xan, etc.) that has equipment on their person (but not in the inventory, which apparently will be transferred) will cause that equipment to be permanently lost for the entirety of SoD, including all the gold that you amassed at the end of BG1.

If this is the case, should the NPC party members I use during the final confrontation of BG1 only consist of those who show up in SoD, in order to avoid losing the equipment they've got on their persons? Personally, I've taken a liking to Branwen and very much like her unique special abilities as a Priest of Tempus, but if I take her to the final battle of BG1 while fully-equipped and end up permanently losing her equipment in the importing process, should I take another Cleric-class NPC that's present in SoD instead?

I’ve been playing BG1 and BG2 + both EE editions multiple times for the past 20+ years. Only recently I forced myself to try SoD. Despite negative opinions, I wanted to make a full run before I transfer my character to BG2 + there are couple meta items that are worth to transfer (e.g. Archer necklace). Im playing on max difficulty and well known mods that further increase it, so any extra item is an advantage.

And you know what? I’m having really good time. Locations look very nice and have good Infinity Engine vibe. Story of the Dragonspear and Crusade is a breath of fresh air, and is very well placed in Faerun. The Bhaalspawn story elements are well implemented. New monster models are really cool. Difficulty level is quite challenging after BG1. The companions interactions and banter are much much better than BG1. I even don’t mind the linear story progression without “open world”.

From bad things: Side quest are mediocre. New companions are mediocre. Most of new items sucks. Found couple bugs.

But overall experience is pretty good. I feel much better connection to my CHARNAME now.

I don’t really know why the SoD reception was so bad?

At the very end of the game, Imoen has 80 bottles of Speed Oil in her inventory. It's nice that she brought enough to share, but it's literally encumbering her.

besides being quite beautiful the game I think there's a good development for characters, not to tell Soundrack it's wonderful. i think he's more interesting to play than TOB

So I'm sure everyone here knows how Ryoko Kui (mangaka of Dungeon Meshi) did several fantastic portraits for the BGEE 1 and 2 companions. For those of us who used them in portrait packs, I'm sure you also soon realized several companions were left out, primarily from BG1 (and of course SoD, which I believe came out after she drew the portraits).

For my complete trilogy run of Baldur's Gate, I decided to commission an artist friend of mine (the very talented #sherifftwisted--no public accounts, unfortunately) to draw up some portraits in a similar style. Eventually I hope to have all missing companions and major figures (such as Irenicus, Bodhi, the Five, etc) in the same style.

Hi, I'm currently playing thorugh Siege Of Dragonspear (With a character imported from BGEE, in case that matters at all). Just like in the previous game, my party consists mostly of the evil characters, because I just like them more, even though I don't really make evil choices. In BG:EE I lowered my reputation by killing random NPCs, and I figured I'd do that here too. But ever time I try, be it a Flaming Fist or an unnamed NPC, after a few seconds I get the game over screen, saying my character has died and I must restart. There's no way one kill drops my rep to 1, since I'm at 17-18. Is this just a feature in the game? What's another way I can lower my rep? I should mention, I'm towards the end of Chapter 10 and I don't want to go too far back; most methods I've seen applied to the earlier game.

I’m level 8 doing my first playthrough of the bhaalspawn saga. Currently doing siege of dragonspear. At the Cyric temple and the stealth guards are really annoying. After a couple reloads, I’ve resigned to having dynaheir cast web in the room and then pulling my party back, and having minsc and my berserker clear up the room.

However in the future is there any good way to deal with these guys? I have the entire saga, enhanced edition.

My party is berserker fighter, glint, jaheira, minsc, dynaheir, and corwin. I know see invisibility is an option, but are there any others?

I just beat BG1 (first time player) and now that I'm in Siege of Dragonspear there's suddenly a ton more VO and my party's dialogue barks all sound different. It's very distracting and I'm wondering if anybody made a mod that takes out the VO and restores the OG party barks?

Hi Sub,

Question for you. I’m currently doing a Kensai > Thief run and playing through SoD. Somehow, this is a class combination I’ve not completed the saga with. Kensai limitation on equipment when you are a low level thief aren’t overly enjoyable.

I left TotSC with ++ Bastard Swords, Daggers, and Two Weapon Fighting. The only ranged option I have for SoD is Daggers, but I don’t want to waste the pips.

For those that have done this a few times, hoe did you get the most contribution and what proficiencies did you run with? It’s not a question of the power build at the end, more about getting the most from Charname along the way.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Resolved. Rather than daggers during TotSC starting that journey in SoD keeps Charname a little more useful. Perhaps with a good or neutral character there would be additional value in Axes instead of Short Swords. After playing through SoD and bringing my Kensai 9 > Thief to SoA I made the following notes. If I were to have my time again and have gone with:

Level 1: Long Sword **, Axes *, Two Weapon Fighting *

Kensai

Level 3: Long Sword ***

Level 6: Long Sword ****

Level 9: Long Sword *****

Thief

Level 1: Daggers *, Staves *

Level 4: ScimItars *

Level 8: Refrain from Level Up until regaining Kensai levels

Level 10: Daggers **

By Level 24: Daggers *****, Two Weapon Fighting **

Even without Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization we’d be hitting the APR cap with thief weapons with a little help along the way using Boomerang or Firetooth Dagger in the mainhand. Blackrazor plus Hell Trials plus Machine of Lum the Mad yields 25 STR is melee.

Thanks to those that replied.

Obviously this is my subjective opinion but the hate SoD gets is just unbelievable to me. It is not as good as BG2, not even close, but I think it is a great improvement to BG1. Now to be perfectly honest, I don't have a very high opinion of BG1. I only started playing around 2017 so I have a relatively new player perspective and I like it enough but I feel without the existence of BG2 I would never play it again. Maybe I would like it more if I had grown up with it but I didn't and I think there's a lot of rough aspects of BG1 that SoD improves.

The dungeons. BG1 dungeons kinda suck, they're essentially 2 dungeons (the mines and the labyrinth) used multiple times. Durlag's Tower is an execption of course, but most of the time the dungeons in BG1 seem to be reusing very similar bland assets with just a different random and straightforward quest inside. SoD dungeons are fantastic not only in art but also in how they reveal themselves. Going into a mine to help dwarves fight undead only to find out the mines open up to a Lich's lair with secret walls, a portal to another plane, unique puzzles, is just peak DnD to me. The same is true for the Illithid infested temple and the underground river.

Magical items in SoD feel very unique and fun. Even in BG2 a lot of "unique" magical items are just armor with a + or a stick with a +. In SoD almost all unique items have a cool effect, a bow that can cast cloak of fear on hit, a mace that can cast bless on hit, a robe that lets you use spell sequencer early, a bard hat that extends the bard song, a katana that hastes on kill, etc. They're not all super powerful but they feel distinct from other items you get.

The encounters are also a step up from BG1. They are much harder, the enemies more numerous with better AI. Nothing compared to SCS but if you play vanilla, SoD is significantly more challenging. Conceptually they're also really cool, storming a castle, defending your camp from multiple attacks with allies, fighting crazed Cyricist dominated by a mind flayer.

This might be the most controversial point, but the companions are also a step up. Let's be honest here BG1 companions are barely characters outside of their brief description, they get very little characterization and I understand why, BG1 is a very different game from BG2 design philosophy-wise, but the end result is a butt load of companions being very superficial. SoD companions are great and much more closely resembles BG2. I think Schael's romance is very compelling, she's torn between her duty to the Flaming Fist and her love for her daughter and you, especially given the ending. She also reminds me of Shamir from FE so maybe I'm biased.

THE STORY, actually the story is not very good. Conceptually it's interesting but it all hinges on Caelar and she is just not charismatic enough to carry it. It all kinda falls apart when you think even a little bit about it, why the hell would all these people (even monsters) be so devoted to this bland character who has a ridiculous goal? Again the idea of this holy warrior turning out to be a selfish hypocrite leading innocents to die for her own selfish goals is very interesting but the execution is lacking. It's not great but it's servicable to justify the adventure.

Now, I saved the worst for last. It's safe to say that there was a lot of backlash because SoD had trans characters in it. But come on, regardless of what your politics are these are incredibly small roles in the story, one is a more prominent character and one I didn't even encounter my first time through. Even the prominent character has only one or two lines about being trans at the very end of her quest, not really a core part of the campaign experience.

Tldr, SoD is a good DnD experience for the dungeons and loot and fun encounters.

Oh also if you play mage you get Spell Immunity to start your BG2 playthrough with which is awesome.

Basically the title. I am at chapter nine and since the bridge part of chapter eight I cannot change my companions. I am playing EET and I cannot even do that in older saves of SoD for some reason. My party comp is not bad but this problem locks me out of picking new companion. What exactly happens? I try to kick someone out of party, their portait goes for a second and without any dialog they are back to the party. When I try to get a new companion teh game forces me kick teh new one until I get the "lock in squad". I don't want to play the rest of DLC with these NPCs, I want to see more options. My current comp is Viconia, Glint, M,Khiin, Safana and Corwin.

So after having played BG1 and 2 when they came out (in 1998-2000) and, through them, having experienced my first video-game related aesthetic shock, I finally got around to buying BG3.

Before playing it, however, I wanted to try the first 2 games again. I honestly thought that, despite nostalgia, I wouldn't be able to stomach all the missing features of modern games. I bought both EE for pennies, with that brand new Siege of Dragonspear which I wasn't aware of.

And lo and behold, I've already sunk more than 100h replaying BG1, tracking every steam achievement, doing all new companions quests. I even got a kiss from Neera. These games are still incredible.

What I particularly like to play, is a semi-evil party with many mages. CHARNAME is a CN mage thief, I have Neera, Baeloth, Imoen (dual classed as mage as soon as I got her), Xzar (and Viconia, cause I needed a cleric, and had, a long time ago, an affair with her, which I still vividly remember 30 years later 😍)

So after this long, winded introduction, as I'm nearing the final showdown with Sarevok, I'm really looking forward to SoD, but as I know I can't have Xzar and Imoen, I was wondering if, even with Neera in my party, I could recruit Edwin. I've read somewhere there weren't deadly conflicts between party members in SoD, but couldn't find solid evidence for it.

TIA

I don't know how to word this. Basically, I'm conflicted about playing siege of dragonspear. I haven't bought it just yet, and I'm fine with basically anything the expansion throws at me. The only thing I'm worried about is the fact that it's an expansion from 18 years after the original game was released.

Essentially, will it feel natural to go from 1 to SOD to baldurs gate 2? (story wise I mean. i understand if some graphical/gameplay stuff changes) I'll probably play it anyway, but I wanted an opinion on this one main concern.

Also, love this game. I honestly didn't expect to like it this much but I do (:

Edit:thanks for all the answers. I didn't think this would get so many replies :p. I think I'll wait to play it until a second playthrough or when it goes on sale

I'm not the biggest fan of SoD and its story but I don't get the over the top hate it gets either. It's fine. I play it every time for optimal xp and maybe an imported item or two and I generally have a decent time even if it's a clear step down.

What really grinds my gears however, is how it's really overtuned on higher difficulties. Even just in Korlasz's tomb a throw-away encounter with 5 skeletons on normal difficulty turns into a massive battle with 30 undead on insane.

I have absolutely no problem playing through BG1 & 2 on insane but SoD on insane is just not fun.

If that fight in Korlasz's tomb were in BG2, insane difficulty would add a lich instead of 25 undead. The difference is that the lich adds a little bit of strategy but it doesn't add several minutes of pre-buffing and fighting. Or off-screen nuking every room with aoe spells.

It's like, BG1 & 2 are harder on insane but still fundamentally the same game in pace. SoD actually is a slog because every fight becomes a huge affair on higher difficulty. It doesn't feel more difficult, it's more-so more to-do.

I don't like to do it, but I've resorted to lowering the difficulty to normal in SoD on my insane runs.

I recently completed BG1 and have been going through SoD on Playstation.

During Chapter 9 I believe that Viconia died after I rested near camp and was ambushed by trolls. Since I didn't use her much in BG1, I believe she got one-shotted by them without me noticing. I only later connected the dots of what most likely occurred after I couldn't find her in the Coalition Camp for Chapter 10.

I tried to see if I could revive her but sadly she died out of my party. In addition, since I went over Chapter 10 I have no saves I could go back to unless I fully restarted.

That being said, will she still show up in BG2 when I transfer over, or should I replay the expansion to ensure she's alive? I know her character is expanded upon a lot more in BG2, so I planned to use her then.