Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition removed all 3D animated cutscenes and replaced most of them with slightly shorter, hand-drawn animatics. There are 14 cinematics in total, an opening and an ending, six area introductions and six additional cinematics for varying purposes. They where all created with WEBM.[1]
A list of the entire series' cinematics can be found here.
Opening[]
The opening cinematic starts with a famous quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche:
| “ | He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster...when you gaze into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you... | ” |
It is followed by an open book, laying on a table, showing a depiction of the Iron Throne Headquarters . The camera zooms into the page and transitions to the actual building. It is nighttime and a storm is raging, when suddenly an unnamed Bhaalspawn is violently thrown through the door on the roof. Sarevok comes through after him, towering over the wounded, armor-clad man on the ground, his eyes glowing golden. He let's out a menacing chuckle and the the nameless Bhaalspawn trying to persuade Sarevok into letting him live.
| “ | No, you can't! | ” |
| “ | I will be the last ... and you will go first. | ” |
| “ | There are others! I can show you! Please! | ” |
He then picks up the man by his neck and lifts him up in the air, dangling him over the legde of the roof while strangling him. After having him suspended like this for a moment, he drops him off the tower and the nameless Bhaalspawn falls crushes into the ground. Laying dead, a circle of his blood begins to form on the cobblestone around him, which then transitions into becoming the game's logo.
Area Introductions[]
The game features six cinematics which serve to introduce specific areas. These cutscenes play when the player first enters the area in question, for the Friendly Arm Inn, Nashkel, the Bandit Camp, East Baldur's Gate, the nothern part of Lycanthrope Island and the Undercity .
Additional Cinematics[]
There are six additional cinematics for varying purposes.
Flooding of the Cloakwood Mines[]
This cinematic plays when the player pulls the plug on the top level of the Cloakwood Mines.
Resting[]
Like Baldur's Gate II, this game features three different resting cinematics. One for the out-doors, one for dungeons and one for taverns.
Game Over[]
This cinematic plays if the protagonist dies. It shows their hand turning to dust.
The Black Pits[]
This is the opening cinematic to The Black Pits, featuring Baeloth introducing the setting and himself while the the arena is being shown. The cutscene ends with showing the campaign logo.
| “ | Come on, come all! Feast your eyes upon the most marvelous martial magnificence that the Underdark has to offer. I, Bealoth the Entertainer, courteously invite to join the audience of my latest spectacle ... the Black Pits! | ” |
Ending[]
The ending cinematic starts with slowly zooming in on Sarevok, who is laying dead in the center of the mosaik in the center of Bhaal's temple in the Undercity. His eyes begin to glow and his body turns into a glimmering, orange dust which slowly flows into a floor crack on the edge of the room. The camera folows the dust through a long tunnel, where it eventually raches a stone statue of Sarevok. The statue crumbles and falls apart and the image zooms out, revealing more statues of other Bhaalspawn. The last scene shows the environment in full, a large cylindrical room with Bhaal's symbol at the very bottom.
Reception[]
The cinematic cutscenes in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition where one of the main critic points upon release. A lot of fans where not happy to see that so many original cutscenes where left out and that those that were replaced have been notably shortened down and simplified. This has lead to the creation of a fanmade mod which reintegrates all the 3D animated cutscenes from the original.[2]
Because of this, Beamdog left Baldur's Gate II's original cinematics untouched in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and added six new new ones which mimic the style of the originals.