Advanced Option: Slider Bar for Relocation of Major Game Items
Bhryaen
Member Posts: 2,874
This option clearly derives from the more extensive list of components of the mod "Item Randomizer:"
Item Randomizer: http://www.gibberlings3.net/item_rand/
Item Randomizer Readme: http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/readme-randomiser.html
The idea is to take the major items of the game- located in shops, containers, and on NPCs- including the "easter egg" ones, Bracers of Archery, Boots of Speed, Ring of Holiness, Stealth Armor, possibly Tomes, etc., and swap them out randomly between the locations. Thus the Ring of Holiness could end up in Taemrom's shop to displace the Stealth Armor... which could in turn move to Drasus to replace the Boots of Speed... which could in turn move to the hole in the Nashkell farm where the ankheg armor usually is. There is a further option to enable a small chance of losing one or more items to removal entirely, so you wouldn't know that the Ring of Wizardry and Algernon's Cloak had been deleted until the end when you'd never found them.
The complete list of items that "Item Randomizer" uses is found here:
http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/spoilers-randomiser.html
While this could potentially place key items in earlier locations, it could also place them in much later locations. The balance is the same, but it is also an option that makes it impossible to plan one's usual BG run itinerary by where to collect particular known items, and it thus adds surprises to veterans for every new game that employs it, not to mention the challenge of doing without some random items entirely.
The mod Item Randomizer uses a system that categorizes all the designated items by a "tier" and keeps the relocations within the assigned tier groups. A simpler version could remove the tier system and just relocate everything in one pool, from the +1 Bastard Sword in Taemrom's shop chest to the Staff of Striking in Durlag's Tower...
Note that placing this option anywhere other than on the #1 slider slot would auto-gray-out the option for Nerfing of Major Items mentioned here:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/142/advanced-option-checkbox-to-nerf-major-game-magic-items#latest
This would look like (from left to right):
1- No relocations. (DEFAULT)
2- Relocate the major magic equipment in the game randomly.
3- Relocate the major magic equipment in the game randomly with a chance for items to be lost entirely during the relocation.
This is one in a series of game features I'd like added in a separate settings section called Advanced Options that would be available in a new "Advanced Options" Tab on the regular Settings Screen. It would be entirely optional to even peruse it, clearly designated as "Advanced" (even throwing in "Intended for more experienced players only" if that's deemed necessary). It would mean an in-game tweaking mechanism that would no longer require a mod. This particular feature would be further designated by the clarifier: "This option will only affect new games and undoing it will not cause saved games to revert."
Item Randomizer: http://www.gibberlings3.net/item_rand/
Item Randomizer Readme: http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/readme-randomiser.html
The idea is to take the major items of the game- located in shops, containers, and on NPCs- including the "easter egg" ones, Bracers of Archery, Boots of Speed, Ring of Holiness, Stealth Armor, possibly Tomes, etc., and swap them out randomly between the locations. Thus the Ring of Holiness could end up in Taemrom's shop to displace the Stealth Armor... which could in turn move to Drasus to replace the Boots of Speed... which could in turn move to the hole in the Nashkell farm where the ankheg armor usually is. There is a further option to enable a small chance of losing one or more items to removal entirely, so you wouldn't know that the Ring of Wizardry and Algernon's Cloak had been deleted until the end when you'd never found them.
The complete list of items that "Item Randomizer" uses is found here:
http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/spoilers-randomiser.html
While this could potentially place key items in earlier locations, it could also place them in much later locations. The balance is the same, but it is also an option that makes it impossible to plan one's usual BG run itinerary by where to collect particular known items, and it thus adds surprises to veterans for every new game that employs it, not to mention the challenge of doing without some random items entirely.
The mod Item Randomizer uses a system that categorizes all the designated items by a "tier" and keeps the relocations within the assigned tier groups. A simpler version could remove the tier system and just relocate everything in one pool, from the +1 Bastard Sword in Taemrom's shop chest to the Staff of Striking in Durlag's Tower...
Note that placing this option anywhere other than on the #1 slider slot would auto-gray-out the option for Nerfing of Major Items mentioned here:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/142/advanced-option-checkbox-to-nerf-major-game-magic-items#latest
This would look like (from left to right):
1- No relocations. (DEFAULT)
2- Relocate the major magic equipment in the game randomly.
3- Relocate the major magic equipment in the game randomly with a chance for items to be lost entirely during the relocation.
This is one in a series of game features I'd like added in a separate settings section called Advanced Options that would be available in a new "Advanced Options" Tab on the regular Settings Screen. It would be entirely optional to even peruse it, clearly designated as "Advanced" (even throwing in "Intended for more experienced players only" if that's deemed necessary). It would mean an in-game tweaking mechanism that would no longer require a mod. This particular feature would be further designated by the clarifier: "This option will only affect new games and undoing it will not cause saved games to revert."
Post edited by Bhryaen on
7
Comments
Anyway, on point. I think it would be nice to have a randomiser available, my concerns however are twofold. Firstly this would involve tampering with existing content, big time. That is doubly so if you randomise items that individuals have on them (Boots of speed) which thereby alter how the encounters work.
Secondly flowing from that, there is a danger this will cause internal gameplay inconsistencies. If for example a quest time is accidentally not flagged as such, and therefore doesn't appear where it should, or has other unforeseen ramifications. I don't expect this one would be easy to implement.
Anyway, other than that I don't have any problem with it.
As for it tampering with existent content, I'm not sure if item drops are part of the content that can't be touched, that would be reaching some really draconian levels of control over BGEE.
Like @Tanthalas suggests, is it really tampering with existing content in a way that Trent said they'd oppose? I don't think so, but maybe I'm recalling the wording incorrectly... I think it's just the NPCs and storyline stuff, isn't it? The only big items that might be off-limits on a story basis would be things like Greywolf's +2 Longsword since it's actually called Greywolf's +2 Longsword, but even then, who's to say he didn't lose it in a tavern gamble or to a thief or something? This is more of a game mechanic it tampers with than anything affecting Hallowed 2E DnD rules or the Forgotten Realms that certain legal entities might resist.
And I'd like the option to randomise it for the odd rerun, but not as standard.
Yes, I've used Aurora's Shoes and Boots but I don't recall anything about realistic treasure, so like @smeagolheart I'm not sure what you mean... unless you're referring to the component that enables you to increase merchant prices. If you mean that I've already got a thread started here to include a slider for merchant price increases into an Advanced Options section.
Ah, right. Well, that would probably be a nice extra, so I'd agree... except that the main thing that I've been (at least trying to) keep in mind is to reduce the extensiveness of any Feature Request in order to make it that much easier to implement. The BGEE devs have, erm, quite a lot on their plate as it is, so proposing a Randomizer which involves simply drawing up a list of major items and relocating them at game start becomes more likely to have implemented than a Randomizer which also categorizes all items, accounts for potential destination realism, accounts for items that have been reduced in power by the Item Nerf feature, etc. Those sorts of things require the kind of time and effort that the modders of Aurora's, Item Randomizer, etc. had and devoted. I'd still like this one to go in without such extras.
One idea might be to add another Advanced Option for realistic treasure which, like my AO: Major Item Nerfer setting, would be mutually exclusive with the AO: Major Item Relocator... But I'll let you do that. I don't mind ogres dropping scrolls. >:-)
Ogre: "Look what me got! Dis hooman we kill, him have magic paper on him. Me have magic paper now, so me make magic fire finger too."
Tazok: "Uh... yeah. Good luck with that..."
From the second or third time I played the game it always follows a pattern, go there, pick that thing up, recruit that NPC. This would make opening chests interesting again.
I might even go so far as to say that there could be a chance that every item has a chance to not show up at all. Minsc would be more challenging without Gauntlets of Dex. Maybe the smithy in Beregost could make a special fur armor from Boo's hide....just a thought
But should be an feature to select in each playtrough and not an implement imposed to anyone that play the game, so if you want random mode you select it on character build initial screen, if not, if you want the game to run in the original configuration, just don't do nothing.
That's a great idea. I approve this suggestion. When you've played the game so much you've got your little plan all set up in your head of everything you're going to do, the items you're going to get and in what order and that gets dull and repetitive. A little bit of unpredictability is always a good thing (mostly for old timers). It's a nice idea to have it as an optional thing, I would surely play this way every single time.
I, too, definitely approve of this. Knowing exactly where to find certain items can make things a bit stale.