Hi, I'm confused about "Turn Undead". Isn't Jaheira supposed to have it? I've looked under "Special Abilities" and under "Spells" in the quick commands (I've forgotten where it's supposed to be) and my level 2 Jaheira doesn't seem to have Turn Undead. Is it perhaps something that only appears on the menu when there are undead around? I get the feeling I'm missing something really basic.
Aah, thanks Aedan. I see where I went wrong - I took the word "generic" in cleric section of the manual to mean that these were generic abilities of all Priests (as it's the first para in the Priest section). I shall just grieve the loss of something that never existed!
If we're doing old-school D&D modules as BG:EE DLC I'd just as soon have Tomb of Horrors.
I think no D&D module benefits/suffers as much from a load/save function as the Tomb of Horrors. Entire parties have been wasted on the first corridor alone.
It would be within the spirit of Tomb of Horrors to add a trap that deletes all your save games.
Tomb of Horrors needs to be a roguelike: you can only save the game to take a break, and there will be no loading if a precious party member dies, or indeed if the entire mission fails.
Sorry about the slowness of responses. I'll try to get something up this weekend. Lots of great questions, though; I don't know if we'll be able to answer all of them, but we'll give it a shot, eh?
Branwen's "turn undead" failed to turn away a vampiric wolf (which then proceeded to kill Khalid). As anything "vampiric" is undead by definition, I don't understand.
I picked up Branwen, even though I already have a healer in Jaheira, specifically so I could use turn undead, so I'm feeling pretty disappointed.
Branwen's "turn undead" failed to turn away a vampiric wolf (which then proceeded to kill Khalid). As anything "vampiric" is undead by definition, I don't understand.
I picked up Branwen, even though I already have a healer in Jaheira, specifically so I could use turn undead, so I'm feeling pretty disappointed.
Vampiric wolf isn't undead. It is listed as humanoid, which it definitely shouldn't though. It should be changed to either undead or monster.
BG does have some interesting definitions. The vampiric wolf definition actually sounds to me like it could almost qualify as a bug. And I can't see how it could be called a live monster - anything vampiric must be undead, or the label "vampiric" is meaningless, the way I'm looking at it.
In an earlier answer you said most of the new content will be related to the new NPC's. I have the feeling, in original BG1 and BG2 you could do a large part of the quests that were related to NPC's without needing to add those NPC's to your party (for example, you weren't forced to add Nalia in order to do the D'Arnise keep quest, you didn't need to be a paladin to do Firkraag quest and in BG you didn't need Minsc to save Dynaheir..). In BG:EE however we are forced to add the new NPC's in our party in order to enjoy the new content AND to get a lot of the new equipment.
Just out of interest (not to criticize): What made you decide to make a lot of the new content exclusively NPC-related?
Hello, This topic is very interesting, so i have a question about Unfinished Business for BG1 and BG2. These mod are designed to restore many of the cut items, quests, and encounters from the game's final release. So Beamdog team can explore this, can't it? It isn't a modification of original game because the text is already in the game, isn't it? Many people would like to play with UB, why do you not make restoration of cut quests?
Two questions: ( @coryivm is curious) Will BG2EE allow you to choose a kit if you are importing a character in the character selection screen that was a vanilla class in BGEE? Like if I made a regular paladin in BGEE would I be prompted with the option of becoming say a Cavalier in BG2EE?
Also will you be updating the manuals to include descriptions of the new kits (Dwarven Defender, Shadowdancer, Dragon Disciple, Dark Moon Monk and Sun Soul Monk)?
In vanilla game, there used to be this exploit where ranger/clerics get all druid spells, even from higher levels that rangers would never have. Is BG2:EE going to address this any?
In vanilla game, there used to be this exploit where ranger/clerics get all druid spells, even from higher levels that rangers would never have. Is BG2:EE going to address this any?
Okay, so I didn't quite make it to the weekend. But here are the answers for most of the questions that have been asked so far:
Are you able to use BG1 monsters in BG2? Yes, in the sense that we have all of the resources for them. You probably won't see Gibberlings running around in the Underdark, though.
Will you ever release a level editor or mod interface? If we do, it won't be for a while. The modding community has developed some great tools over the years, and we want to encourage those tools to be improved and expanded.
Any news on getting the latest patches to steam users? I realise it's currently in Atari's hands, but has there been any communication back from their side, and if not, have you tried contacting steam directly? Atari has total control over the build that makes it to Steam, and it would be...impolite, to say the least, to circumvent their part in the process. We certainly wish we could push updates directly to Steam, but if Atari's not on-board with that we have to respect their decision.
Any developments on Atari's "situation"? None that we can reveal, no. It was published recently that Atari is selling off some of their assets, but it hasn't been confirmed yet whether Baldur's Gate is one of the assets being sold.
Once the patch is released will we start hearing news about BG2:EE? Difficult to say for certain, but this next patch is intended to be "the big one". When we're able to release information about BG2, it's going to be an exciting day.
Will the upcoming patch fix the iPad issues? Yes. (They can't all be really long answers, can they?)
Will the Dragon Disciple use the Mage stronghold in BG2? Yes, like the sorcerer it will use the Mage's stronghold.
Is the Dragon Disciple going to be fixed in the next patch, one way or another (making the abilities match the description or vice versa)? Yes. The description has been updated to match the kit's abilities. (To wit: It casts one fewer spell of each level per day, rather than learning one fewer spell per level.)
How will cloud saving work? We haven't started working on it yet, so it's difficult to say exactly how it would work. The "goal" is to allow people to save on one platform and load that same save on another, but whether it ends up working that way depends on feasibility.
Will the Externalization Requests be implemented? A great number of them have already been done. Once the patch is released we'll post an updated list.
Do the IWD art assets still exist, or were they lost as well? We don't know for certain, but if they were stored in the same way as the art for BG, it doesn't look especially promising.
Will future DLC affect the main game, or will it take the form of stand-alone adventures? We're exploring a number of possibilities, including both stand-alone adventures and in-game content.
Will there be a "Black Pits 2"? I can't say anything about what's involved, but you may have heard us say something about Baeloth not being a playable NPC during BG2 because he's "busy in that time".
What made you decide to make a lot of the content exclusive to NPCs? Trent made a post about this a while ago, let me see if I can find it. ... ... Here it is. NPC-related quests offer a different sort of storytelling opportunity that allow us to delve into a character's history and personality, as well as more directly addressing that character's goals. There were some quests like this in the original game, although for the most part they tended to be normal side quests that had some additional content if you had a particular character in your party. It's a bit of a paradigm shift, but one that we think can be worthwhile if done well.
What's stopping you from using Unfinished Business? A major obstacle in incorporating some of the more popular content mods is getting permissions from the original authors of those mods. For Unfinished Business, there have been so many co-authors over the years, and so many of them are no longer around in the modding community, that getting permission to use their content simply isn't feasible. If we can somehow find those authors sometime in the future we may take another look, but our energy is better spent creating new content and polishing existing content.
Will the manuals be updated to include the new kits? BG2:EE will have its own manuals, much like BG1:EE did. They will include descriptions of the new kits, as well as updated descriptions for all (or almost all) of the game's spells.
Will the Cleric/Ranger's spell list be fixed? This is an engine limitation, which makes it a fair bit more complicated to fix. Since a great many people like the existence of this exploit, we'll probably leave it the way it is.
Somehow I doubt the UB authors will mind. Let us not forgot that in some cases they were 'activating' existing content which many of your guys ran out of time on.
We don't operate on assumptions, unfortunately. When it comes to user-created content, we're committed to making sure that all authors involved sign off before it's implemented in an official capacity.
Comments
Only clerics have "Turn Undead" ability. Jaheira is a fighter/druid.
Sorry about the slowness of responses. I'll try to get something up this weekend. Lots of great questions, though; I don't know if we'll be able to answer all of them, but we'll give it a shot, eh?
I picked up Branwen, even though I already have a healer in Jaheira, specifically so I could use turn undead, so I'm feeling pretty disappointed.
Would it work in the future ? Tks,
I have the feeling, in original BG1 and BG2 you could do a large part of the quests that were related to NPC's without needing to add those NPC's to your party (for example, you weren't forced to add Nalia in order to do the D'Arnise keep quest, you didn't need to be a paladin to do Firkraag quest and in BG you didn't need Minsc to save Dynaheir..).
In BG:EE however we are forced to add the new NPC's in our party in order to enjoy the new content AND to get a lot of the new equipment.
Just out of interest (not to criticize): What made you decide to make a lot of the new content exclusively NPC-related?
This topic is very interesting, so i have a question about Unfinished Business for BG1 and BG2. These mod are designed to restore many of the cut items, quests, and encounters from the game's final release. So Beamdog team can explore this, can't it? It isn't a modification of original game because the text is already in the game, isn't it? Many people would like to play with UB, why do you not make restoration of cut quests?
Thank a lot
Also will you be updating the manuals to include descriptions of the new kits (Dwarven Defender, Shadowdancer, Dragon Disciple, Dark Moon Monk and Sun Soul Monk)?
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/3231/opinion-of-cleric-rangers/p1
and several discussions:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/9184/ranger-cleric/p1
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2908/dual-class-ranger-cleric-gets-access-to-druid-spells-with-cleric-level-progession/p1
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/2441/cleric-ranger-in-bg-ee/p1
Are you able to use BG1 monsters in BG2?
Yes, in the sense that we have all of the resources for them. You probably won't see Gibberlings running around in the Underdark, though.
Will you ever release a level editor or mod interface?
If we do, it won't be for a while. The modding community has developed some great tools over the years, and we want to encourage those tools to be improved and expanded.
Any news on getting the latest patches to steam users?
I realise it's currently in Atari's hands, but has there been any communication back from their side, and if not, have you tried contacting steam directly?
Atari has total control over the build that makes it to Steam, and it would be...impolite, to say the least, to circumvent their part in the process. We certainly wish we could push updates directly to Steam, but if Atari's not on-board with that we have to respect their decision.
Any developments on Atari's "situation"?
None that we can reveal, no. It was published recently that Atari is selling off some of their assets, but it hasn't been confirmed yet whether Baldur's Gate is one of the assets being sold.
Once the patch is released will we start hearing news about BG2:EE?
Difficult to say for certain, but this next patch is intended to be "the big one". When we're able to release information about BG2, it's going to be an exciting day.
Will the upcoming patch fix the iPad issues?
Yes.
(They can't all be really long answers, can they?)
Will the Dragon Disciple use the Mage stronghold in BG2?
Yes, like the sorcerer it will use the Mage's stronghold.
Is the Dragon Disciple going to be fixed in the next patch, one way or another (making the abilities match the description or vice versa)?
Yes. The description has been updated to match the kit's abilities. (To wit: It casts one fewer spell of each level per day, rather than learning one fewer spell per level.)
How will cloud saving work?
We haven't started working on it yet, so it's difficult to say exactly how it would work. The "goal" is to allow people to save on one platform and load that same save on another, but whether it ends up working that way depends on feasibility.
Will the Externalization Requests be implemented?
A great number of them have already been done. Once the patch is released we'll post an updated list.
Do the IWD art assets still exist, or were they lost as well?
We don't know for certain, but if they were stored in the same way as the art for BG, it doesn't look especially promising.
Will future DLC affect the main game, or will it take the form of stand-alone adventures?
We're exploring a number of possibilities, including both stand-alone adventures and in-game content.
Will there be a "Black Pits 2"?
I can't say anything about what's involved, but you may have heard us say something about Baeloth not being a playable NPC during BG2 because he's "busy in that time".
What made you decide to make a lot of the content exclusive to NPCs?
Trent made a post about this a while ago, let me see if I can find it.
...
...
Here it is.
NPC-related quests offer a different sort of storytelling opportunity that allow us to delve into a character's history and personality, as well as more directly addressing that character's goals. There were some quests like this in the original game, although for the most part they tended to be normal side quests that had some additional content if you had a particular character in your party. It's a bit of a paradigm shift, but one that we think can be worthwhile if done well.
What's stopping you from using Unfinished Business?
A major obstacle in incorporating some of the more popular content mods is getting permissions from the original authors of those mods. For Unfinished Business, there have been so many co-authors over the years, and so many of them are no longer around in the modding community, that getting permission to use their content simply isn't feasible. If we can somehow find those authors sometime in the future we may take another look, but our energy is better spent creating new content and polishing existing content.
Will the manuals be updated to include the new kits?
BG2:EE will have its own manuals, much like BG1:EE did. They will include descriptions of the new kits, as well as updated descriptions for all (or almost all) of the game's spells.
Will the Cleric/Ranger's spell list be fixed?
This is an engine limitation, which makes it a fair bit more complicated to fix. Since a great many people like the existence of this exploit, we'll probably leave it the way it is.