Pop culture references in BG

Maelora69

NPCs called 'Bub Snikt'... The 'Peter North' conversation... References to the development staff... And a lot more.

How generally do the old-time fans view these?

Fun easter-eggs that bring a knowing smile to your face?

Or pointless fourth-wall breaking silliness that detracts from immersion?

Just curious...

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ShapiroKeatsDarkMage

One of the original developers of the game is nicknamed ''Sailor Moon is my bi***''. Seriously.

Maelora69

Bhaaldog said:

I imagine you will find a lot of easter-eggs at http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4564/easter-eggs-in-baldurs-gate-spoiler#latest

I'm not so much looking for easter eggs but asking what people think of the pop-culture references, BD.

(after all, it's possible to have a self-referential, in-universe easter egg... like the conversations with Centeol and Prism...)

Bears talking about Yogi? Wolverine cameos?

A bit of fun or an immersion-breaker?

The_New_Romance

I find it's fun, but then again I don't get half of them because you need to be American to understand (and play the game in English). I never would've guessed that "Peter aus dem Norden" would be a porn star reference.

atcDave

I generally like the comedy, although its always a fine line to tread. I think with BG and BG2 they hit the balance about perfectly, any sillier and it would have diminished the experience, much less and it could have been too dry.

Eudaemonium

To be honest, I think it's pretty easy to not notice the references if you don't know them to begin with. I don't think I have any conscious knowledge of ever even meeting Bub Snikt, for example, and if so I doubt I would have been 'Ha! Wolverine reference!'

The key with a reference, I think, is to make it only a reference to those 'in the know', but completely unobtrusive to everyone else.

Basically I find endless pop culture references obnoxious, but don't mind when I can ignore them and not feel stupid for not getting them.

snowofthrones

Well I belong to the new generation of BG players i.e. I was just a kid when it was first released. (Though I still get some like Bub Snikt) In terms of references specific to BGEE, the ones that I'm familiar with are the references to The Walking Dead (Dorn quest) and Breaking Bad (again, conversation with Dorn). Had a good laugh when I first discovered them

KidCarnival

Some, I simply don't get - like the Peter of the North one. That still sounds like a very common name to my European ears. I assume there are many more that go over my head.

I do like the quotes some NPCs have (specifically Eldoth and Xzar); that is semi-subtle, yet perfectly in character.

And I really like the Walking Dead reference with Kryll's zombies. All characters piss me off so bad in the show, and it's pretty clear that Rick won't die since he's the main character. It is very... satisfying to see his skeleton pop out. I assume over time, I'll start to overlook it though; I'm not watching TWD anymore and have a bad memory. Once I forgot the show exists or why exactly I didn't like it, the reference will fade into background noise like most others.

deltago

The Popular culture in BG is fine and spread out enough that if it does break immersion for me, it is a welcome break.

And they can also be educational. Hands up of people who actually heard of the show Newhart before playing Baldur's gate and getting an ee-lek-tronik autograph.

BelgarathMTH

-Larry, Darryl, and Darryl: This is a reference to the second Bob Newhart show.

-Jaheira's command line: "By your command." Spoken in a robotic tone. This is a reference to the original "Battlestar Galactica" series. The cylons would say "By your command" whenever given orders by Baltar or one of the command cylons such as Lucifer.

Starlily

deltago said:

The Popular culture in BG is fine and spread out enough that if it does break immersion for me, it is a welcome break.

And they can also be educational. Hands up of people who actually heard of the show Newhart before playing Baldur's gate and getting an ee-lek-tronik autograph.

*raises hand* But then, I'm older than most people here. I was in my early 30's when the first DND came out. I'm in my late 60's now.

I like the few 'Easter eggs' I get. The newer shows and references I don't get because I don't watch them. My son explains some of them to me. He's the one who got me this game and is playing it himself.

atcDave

deltago said:

The Popular culture in BG is fine and spread out enough that if it does break immersion for me, it is a welcome break.

And they can also be educational. Hands up of people who actually heard of the show Newhart before playing Baldur's gate and getting an ee-lek-tronik autograph.

It's just a reminder for some of us that we're really old...

Maelora69

I'm 43, Starlily... You're never too old for gaming! I'm running a session this weekend for a dozen friends!

Of course, BG is now 15 years old, so some of the pop-culture references are a bit dated!

Eudaemonium

People tell me where the Larry, Darryl and Darryl thing is from and I *still* have no idea what they're talking about.

(Am almost 29)

atcDave

Eudaemonium said:

People tell me where the Larry, Darryl and Darryl thing is from and I *still* have no idea what they're talking about.

(Am almost 29)

It's from the show "Newhart" ran in the late 80s/early 90s starring Bob Newhart. Larry, Darryl and Darryl are three brothers who run two businesses during the run of the show; "Anything For A Buck" and "The Minute Man Cafe". But they are as eccentric as they are stupid and disgusting. But very funny. Their signature introduction was "Hi I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl." That same intro is used even when greeting people they've known for years. They are morons after all. Maybe Kobold, or even Xvart level of moron. Somehow that's all fitting.

DetroitRedWings25

What is the Breaking Bad reference? it must have gone over my head, huge fan of the show thanks.

Eudaemonium

I've never seen it, so I'm just going by what I've heard here, but I believe it's during one of Dorn's dialogues. Charname basically tells Dorn:

"I'm not in danger, Dorn. I am the danger."

deltago

Eudaemonium said:

People tell me where the Larry, Darryl and Darryl thing is from and I *still* have no idea what they're talking about.

(Am almost 29)

here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjl6bh9oFGo

Starlily

atcDave said:

Eudaemonium said:

People tell me where the Larry, Darryl and Darryl thing is from and I *still* have no idea what they're talking about.

(Am almost 29)

It's from the show "Newhart" ran in the late 80s/early 90s starring Bob Newhart. Larry, Darryl and Darryl are three brothers who run two businesses during the run of the show; "Anything For A Buck" and "The Minute Man Cafe". But they are as eccentric as they are stupid and disgusting. But very funny. Their signature introduction was "Hi I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl." That same intro is used even when greeting people they've known for years. They are morons after all. Maybe Kobold, or even Xvart level of moron. Somehow that's all fitting.

Also, Darryl and Darryl never did any talking. Only Larry did. I think the Darryl's had an int of 3 and Larry had one of 6.

atcDave

Starlily said:

atcDave said:

Eudaemonium said:

People tell me where the Larry, Darryl and Darryl thing is from and I *still* have no idea what they're talking about.

(Am almost 29)

It's from the show "Newhart" ran in the late 80s/early 90s starring Bob Newhart. Larry, Darryl and Darryl are three brothers who run two businesses during the run of the show; "Anything For A Buck" and "The Minute Man Cafe". But they are as eccentric as they are stupid and disgusting. But very funny. Their signature introduction was "Hi I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl." That same intro is used even when greeting people they've known for years. They are morons after all. Maybe Kobold, or even Xvart level of moron. Somehow that's all fitting.

Also, Darryl and Darryl never did any talking. Only Larry did. I think the Darryl's had an int of 3 and Larry had one of 6.

And ditto on charisma! (and probably wisdom too...)

Larry just rolled really well!

Maelora69

I'm a Brit, I never got the 'Newhart' reference anyway...

The only other game I recall with so many pop-culture references was 'Fallout 2' and that got quite a bit of flak for them.

I notice that recent Bioware games, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, have really dialled back the in-jokes... Aiming for something more 'serious' maybe? Or maybe now I'm old, I just don't get them any more?

DetroitRedWings25

Eudaemonium said:

I've never seen it, so I'm just going by what I've heard here, but I believe it's during one of Dorn's dialogues. Charname basically tells Dorn:

"I'm not in danger, Dorn. I am the danger."

Thank you

I personally think they found a great middle ground, the references and jokes are entertaining and they don't take away from the overall world and story, when I was a youngster the majority of them went right over my head, which makes them all the more enjoyable now honestly. When you've been playing a game for 15 years a good 20+ times start to finish and still manage to discover new things, its really a delight and makes you realize just how much was put into this game.

Eudaemonium

Maelora69 said:

I'm a Brit, I never got the 'Newhart' reference anyway...

The only other game I recall with so many pop-culture references was 'Fallout 2' and that got quite a bit of flak for them.

I notice that recent Bioware games, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, have really dialled back the in-jokes... Aiming for something more 'serious' maybe? Or maybe now I'm old, I just don't get them any more?

Dragon Age Origins had quite a number of pop-culture references in it, from what i remember. "Bhelen ignominiously slain. Epic Fail." springs to mind. That one got a lot of flak on the boards, but I personally found it hilarious. Mass Effect has things like Blasto, which is a parody of classic action movies, James Bond, etc.

Later they started to have a lot of Bioware in-jokes. The Mark of the Assassin DLC for DA2 had many, including the wonderful "heavy risk... but the priiiiiize."

Maelora69

Eudaemonium said:

Dragon Age Origins had quite a number of pop-culture references in it, from what i remember. "Bhelen ignominiously slain. Epic Fail." springs to mind. That one got a lot of flak on the boards, but I personally found it hilarious. Mass Effect has things like Blasto, which is a parody of classic action movies, James Bond, etc.
Later they started to have a lot of Bioware in-jokes. The Mark of the Assassin DLC for DA2 had many, including the wonderful "heavy risk... but the priiiiiize."

Fair point.

But self-reference like Blasto isn't so bad... The ME universe must have exploitation films after all!

Likewise the horrible Jacob romance... I guess the later references are just being more subtle, maybe...

Eudaemonium

Jacob's romance was clearly the pinnacle of deep and subtle characterisation.

Maelora69

Eudaemonium said:

Jacob's romance was clearly the pinnacle of deep and subtle characterisation.

Which it wasn't, evidently, but a reference to it might be!

Stradlin

Obvioiusly this isn't in Baldur's Gate but hay.

Star Wars: The Old Republic, Bioware's flop of an MMORPG has this red haired, spicy NPC lass named Kira joining your party. During her introduction quest as she is activating some sort of a personal stealth field, she goes " Now you see me..now you don't"´ Nice little nod to roots right there.

SCARY_WIZARD

Maelora69 said:

NPCs called 'Bub Snikt'... The 'Peter North' conversation... References to the development staff... And a lot more.

How generally do the old-time fans view these?

Fun easter-eggs that bring a knowing smile to your face?

Or pointless fourth-wall breaking silliness that detracts from immersion?

Just curious...

I like a lot of the references. Many of them were before my time, yes, but my mother taught me well. Pity there aren't any Sanford & Son references...

Mathmick

BG is hardly a serious game. It's got the "big epic quest thing" storyline but is extremely light about it. I think that amusing references fit in with all the wacky characters, dialogues and hidden easter eggs there are.

BG2 is another matter entirely, though.

Lemernis

I think the pop culture references are done subtly enough, sprinkled in in about the right measure, and they're fun. I enjoy them.