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Bestiary in the Journal!!!

mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
edited July 2012 in Archive (Feature Requests)
I Liked it when in Plancescape Torment you had Bestiary in your journal which updated when you encountered new NPC/Monsters Giving information about them.

I think it could be a nice and can improve the overall gaming experience.
Post edited by mch202 on
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Comments

  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited December 2012
    I would like to see some gibberlings art and more info on the monsters roaming the area :-)

    Here is the way they have implemented it in PS:T:

    image

    Post edited by mch202 on
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    If they are going to do this it would be nice to have the stats, hitpoints, AC, Thaco, Resistances, Special Abilities and Immunities of every creature listed next to thier profile as well.
  • ShapiroKeatsDarkMageShapiroKeatsDarkMage Member Posts: 2,428
    I would love it if they have stats, hitpoints,resistances, attacks and alignments.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited August 2012
    as Drugar said, I also think that general information is enough, because if they will elaborate the stats of each creature, they will have to do it to each type of dragon and each specific lich, which is unrealistic.

    Post edited by mch202 on
  • SenashSenash Member Posts: 405
    Love iiiiit! :)
    Great idea! And I'm with sketches too. Rendered images just doesn't seem to fit into the game for me. If the pictures are not done by the same artist, well, honestly, who cares as long as they are nicely done?
    Stats about monsters? Eh, nah, don't really like the idea. But they could give some hints in the info about the "beasts", like "very dangerous to face, even for experienced adventurers". Maybe some small hints about what to expect, although that wouldn't make much sense, since you would unlock the creatures after an encounter with it, right? Hm, now that I mention it, how would they be unlocked? After encounter? After a specific encounter? Books? Dialogue? Finishing a quest?
  • powerfulallypowerfulally Member Posts: 261
    @mch202 I support this idea, I made a similar topic to that and included the bestiary (or lexicon) right here (it's my request from reddit Friends of Baldur's Gate subforum): http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/107/better-journal - in the picture
    But the separate topic for that is fine too, as probably my thread was flooded by other discussions ;) I AGREE!
  • JarlJarl Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 100
    Wow! Great idea! One of the best requests here!
    There are some original artworks that could be used for the bestiary:
    a few here: http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ad_d/bg/bgart.html
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    how would they be unlocked? After encounter? After a specific encounter? Books? Dialogue? Finishing a quest?
    In PS:T it unlocked after a specific encounter, something like a Pokedex ;-)

  • dandydandy Member Posts: 35
    I think this would be an amazing feature that could be added to the journal, it would add the gaming experience and the RP experience as a whole
    It'd be cool if they did the type of thing in NWN where when you inspected a creature, it gave a brief synopsis, and a difficulty level
  • NWN_babaYagaNWN_babaYaga Member Posts: 732
    Yep, having a bestiary as a subsection in your journal adds some depth to the game experience imo.
  • RisingsunRisingsun Member Posts: 99
    I would love to see this too. I know it won't make it in before ship, but it could be a nice post launch feature improvement or a nice bit of DLC. It would at a lot more flavor to the world.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited July 2012
    @powerfulally yeah I saw your post, but it wasnt the main topic there so..
    besides, I love the draft you made, I totaly support it to look that way :)

    @Risingsun There are still 3 months left until the release.. assuming that it wont take them 3 months to work on the UI, I think it is very possible to made it before ship, after all this request involve "only" drawing some sketches ( They have profesisonal artists after all, and there arent alot of monsters in BG1-assuming you refer kobold and koblod commando simply as kobold in the journal ) and to write the description of the beasts, which isnt alot of work, more a matter of copy-paste ( if im not mistaken some of the monsters descriptions appear in the manual ). Implementing it is not time consuming as to remake animations from scratch...

    and to unlock each monster in the journal once you meet them not should be a problem, if Pokemon *Some-Color* for gameboy could do it, I belive they can too ;-)

  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    I think the real issue is not how hard this would be to implement, but rather a matter of choosing what to implement from the plethora of requests that have already been made.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited July 2012
    @Tanthalas, I personaly find this request pragmatic,not so much controversial and most important - under the title of what they *can* do ( and of course enhancing the gaming experience). but im not much of objective here because I opened this topic after all :-p

    but in the end you are right, its all up to the devs, and I will be happy with what ever they throw at me ( exclude rocks ) :-D
    Post edited by mch202 on
  • Space_hamsterSpace_hamster Member Posts: 950
    This is a great idea. Perfect for a Mage to have an index on creatures and their stats.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited December 2012
    -
    Post edited by mch202 on
  • RavelRavel Member Posts: 140
    Tanthalas said:

    I think the real issue is not how hard this would be to implement, but rather a matter of choosing what to implement from the plethora of requests that have already been made.

    I'd love to see a PST-ish beastiary added. If conjuring up the more detailed artwork isn't going to be much trouble, I would put this as a fairly high priority.

    As far as stats go..., I'd put a brief description of the monster's strengths and weaknesses on the main page - as well as any peculiarities about the creature (i.e. how to deal with trolls), and give you a link or tab to click on in case you wanted their exact stats (HP/STR/Saving Throws/etc).
  • ArtemisEntreriArtemisEntreri Member Posts: 3
    I love this idea! Although I do agree having all the stats, AC, hitpoints, THAC0 etc would be overdoing it a bit.
  • ArinochArinoch Member Posts: 15
    I like the idea as well. Stats would be interesting, but could take away from the idea of the journal in the first place, so you could replace it with a "strengths/weaknesses" bit, perhaps, that fills in randomly when appropriate (which, now that I'm typing it, sounds like too much trouble). Like if I hit a fire elemental with a fireball, a "strength" entry would say that the fire elemental seems to be immune to fire spells...leaving out that I'm kind of stupid for trying it. ;)

    I really liked the idea of having the image of the creature be like a sketch as well.
  • ArtemisEntreriArtemisEntreri Member Posts: 3
    Yes definitely liking the sketches idea :)
  • NWN_babaYagaNWN_babaYaga Member Posts: 732
    sketches are fine for me too. Just add some basic information about the creature too. What daytime is it out for launch eh hunting i mean hehe + and what kind of attack it uses etc...
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited July 2012
    @Jarl

    Thanks for the link to the original art!! you have got to love the art of the original game, The helmets and asxes look great! but notice that the Orc sketches look more like hobgoblins.. and ther weren't orc in BG1.
  • MedillenMedillen Member Posts: 632
    Problems might arise for the translations in every languages. Well, I wouldn't mind helping doin' french translations and even write some in english... Maybe we can help a bit ? we could start by doing a list of monster species and post it somewhere with proposed texts. It might give ideas or inspiration, and quicken the process.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    edited July 2012
    I dont think that translation should be a problem, as long as they keep it short and practical. for example I think it should include some Background and Physical Description, and adding a line such as "Although fire giants are immune to fire, they are particularly vulnerable to cold" if the creature have some special immunity, and thats it.


    Also I think it would be nice to add information about Famous and Improtant FR/Game figures, Such as Volo and Elminster ( although the player dont recognize him ) - but I guess it can be a bit too much.




  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    For the artwork, if they dont want to comission new art for it they could just show the monsters sprite (possibly rotatable) next to it's entry.
  • suchosssuchoss Member Posts: 16
    I support this idea
  • Avenger_teambgAvenger_teambg Member, Developer Posts: 5,862
    It could be implemented without changing the save format or altering much game data, if the bestiary entry is triggered by a death variable.
  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    Just looked at Nat Jones site... He got some amazing stuff there!!! This bestiary can be a good excuse to make alot of good art! :-)

    just look at this yeti, awesome!!

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