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[Request] Game Text Update

AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
Originally posted on /r/FriendsOfBaldursGate.

THE ISSUE:

I realize this likely qualifies as something very minor, but it has been bothering me greatly ever since the release of the game and I thought I'd point out.

Although things got significantly worse with BG2, even BG1 suffered from typos and inconsistent item descriptions. The reason why this bugs me is that it really distracts me from the game, thus breaking the atmosphere and giving me the sensation of poor attention to detail and an unfinished job (I know that's not the case with BG, but the feeling I get from typos and inconsistent descriptions is the same from any game).

EXAMPLES:

Examples of this include race names that are sometimes capitalized, sometimes lowercase (is it "drow" or "Drow"? "gnome" or "Gnome"? As they are common nouns like "human", I believe they should always be lowercase but I'd be fine with either solution so long as they remained consistent); NPCs' names and surnames (is it "De Arnise", De'Arnise", "de Arnise", ... etc.?); extra spaces between words; missing dots; bad punctuation; "Bhaal" spelled "Baal"; spell names being sometimes capitalized, sometimes lowercase... etc.

What I mean by inconsistent item descriptions is that they don't always follow a standard format. It is true that a format is there, but special abilities aren't always written in the same way, or in the same spot within the description. "Speed factor" is sometimes spelled "Speed-factor" and some others just "speed factor"; damage dice sometimes appear with a capital D and some others with a lowercase d (2d4 and 2D4)... etc.

CONCLUSION:

As I said, this is probably minor for the majority of gamers. However, for me it's an atmosphere breaking thing that gives me a bad feeling of unfinished or uncared for job. If there was a chance you could do some extensive Game Text Update work before shipping BG:EE, I would really appreciate that (though removing the mirroring effect from animations is prioritarian LOL) ;-)

Comments

  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    Comments from /r/FriendsOfBaldursGate.

    [–]Aosaw 4 points 25 days ago

    To me, it gave the game a stronger feeling of "This is a D&D campaign, and your friend - who isn't the best speller - happens to be the Dungeon master."

    That said, I agree, the typos need to be fixed. ;)

    [–]sanctvs 1 point 24 days ago

    ahahah... lol!!

    [–]ZelGW 1 point 25 days ago

    The idea is good, as long as other language releases will have Text Update too.

    [–]williamimm 1 point 25 days ago

    For English, please use GTU Light from BG2 Fixpack. The Spanish version should use Clan DLAN's translation/update. The German version should use MK's textpatches.

    [–]AndreaColombo[S] 1 point 25 days ago

    I was hoping something more extensive than GTU Light from BG2 Fixpack (which, as far as I know, only applies to BG2) :-) However, that would already be a significant improvement over the original game text.

    [–]Montresor_SP 1 point 24 days ago

    I hear you and raise you one! :)

    But, proofreading and editing a large amount of text can take a lot of time, so the developers are probably not going to make it a top priority. :/

    [–]AndreaColombo[S] 2 points 24 days ago

    Precisely what I thought when I said this probably qualify as something minor. However, I also thought asking wouldn't hurt :)
  • carugacaruga Member Posts: 375
    Could probably be fixed at the engine level by having common terms preceded by an escape character, perhaps adapting grammatically depending on the context. Then if you (or more likely, the developer) wanted, a single change in the centralised glossary file would change every instance of spelling for that word.

    Probably too time-consuming for the devs, though; I just hope the engine has enough 'flex' to it that someone else could do it.
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