Reward for killing Sarevok

OlleDenStore

One of my biggest pet peeves with the end of BG1 was that there's really no point in fighting Sarevok. You can import into bg2 just fine from an earlier save and you don't miss out on anything in doing so.
I think there should be a reward of some kind for finishing the fight that you get to carry over into bg2 and if you import the character into a new game.
Either an item like his sword/armor or maybe a new bhaalspawn ability.

ShapiroKeatsDarkMage

The Sword of Chaos!

Xasil

I vote for a new map only available if you killed Saverok in Bg1

The_New_Romance

Xasil said:

I vote for a new map only available if you killed Saverok in Bg1

How would that be justified? I mean, if you didn't kill him, the whole of SoA and ToB don't make sense and wouldn't have happened that way, I guess.

mch202

Problem is that in bg2 you are striped from all your possessions at the beginning ,so Item reward doesn't make any sense.

OlleDenStore said:

One of my biggest pet peeves with the end of BG1 was that there's really no point in fighting Sarevok. You can import into bg2 just fine from an earlier save and you don't miss out on anything in doing so.

Well in that line of thought, you can say that there is no point to even bother entering the city, or you can say that once you hit the exp cap you can begin BG2 and there is no point to continue from there.

You dont really finish the game if you dont kill the end boss, its like clearing the Watchers Keep without killing demogorgon.

O_Bruce

Mr. mch202 made an exellent point IMO.

But if players are so eager to have a reward for killing Sarevok (like satisfation from finishing game wasn't enough), then maybe after importing to BG2EE there will be "Sarevok" in "toughest kill" (he normaly dies from scripts I believe, so it wasn't possible before to have him as "toughest kill".

mch202

Or not having Sarevok available as an NPC later in ToB ;-)

Konabuga

This is actually not a bad idea. I really like Sarevok as a villain (even more than Jon Irenicus) and the idea that you could get to carry a kind of a trophy with you for defeating him, sounds great to me. The Sword of Chaos could be great, but only for fighter characters. Same for the armor, as awesome as it is (best looking armor in all the saga). Now that I think about it, any items you could get for it, would eventually be overshadowed by the more powerful items you find in BG2 and I'm not sure I like the idea that Sarevok was wearing some cheap jewelry around his neck. In my mind Sarevok is the biggest, baddest mofo in town.

An ability might be nice, but it would probably be too useless to ever be used, like most of the abilities. So, let's just bring back Sarevok at the beginning of BG2EE as a possible party member and not wait for ToB. Agreed?

All in all, this is a question more for BG2EE than BGEE.

Xasil

The_New_Romance said:

How would that be justified? I mean, if you didn't kill him, the whole of SoA and ToB don't make sense and wouldn't have happened that way, I guess.

The new map does'nt need to be plot related

Linkamus

The game shouldn't let you import a BG1 char if you haven't killed Sarevok, pure and simple. Either beat BG1, or create a new char in BG2.

Corvino

They could just mix things around a bit so that instead of the exported "Game complete" character being from the start of the final battle it's from the end, so you actually get the XP for killing the git.

Leaf_Eater

Linkamus said:

The game shouldn't let you import a BG1 char if you haven't killed Sarevok, pure and simple. Either beat BG1, or create a new char in BG2.

I feel the same way completely, the only advantage you should get in BG2 after killing sarevok would be keeping your characters.

If you create a new character in BG2, it is assumed that they already DID kill sarevok for the purposes of quest line

OlleDenStore

mch202 said:

Well in that line of thought, you can say that there is no point to even bother entering the city, or you can say that once you hit the exp cap you can begin BG2 and there is no point to continue from there.

You dont really finish the game if you dont kill the end boss, its like clearing the Watchers Keep without killing demogorgon.

Well...

With each chapter you progress in the story you get a new power and some of the tomes that raise your stats can only be accessed by following the plot. So there's your incentive.
I think it makes sense storywise to give some kind of bhaal power when you kill Sarevok. After all that's the moment when the character truly understands what it means to be a child of bhaal.

shout27

I'd prefer some tags set so you can keep a few of the more unique items from BG1 if you killed Sarevok (they're with those damnable golden pantaloons or something). That or add an encounter with some goons carrying some of your old gear and you have to fight them to get it back.

Tanthalas

@shout27

If I'm not mistaken there's only a few items that are unique to BG1 and that don't appear in BG2+ToB.

TheIronRose

Er, couldn't you just give CHARNAME a boost to their primary class attribute? It'd be fairly useless to non-fighters/thieves/potentially clerics, but it'd still be something.

shout27

Eh, you get access to the stat enhancement tomes in the first game, so I wouln't go that route.

Tanthalas said:

@shout27

If I'm not mistaken there's only a few items that are unique to BG1 and that don't appear in BG2+ToB.

Yeah, I figured that the ones that do were the ones that were kept or sold by Irenicus for whatever reason. Like the Mail of the Dead that the Duerger was wearing or the Berserking Sword +3 carried by one of the adventurers in the inn.
However, there are at least a few that I don't remember seeing again. . . like the suit of Full Plate +1 that you get off the corpse of Sarevok's ex-lover.
Either way, I would like to see the enchanted Scale Mail suits that you obtain appear earlier than the enchanted Plate Mail. By the time I got it, everyone who could wear it already had +1 plate or full plate.

BLack_XIII

Maybe, the night after killing the Big brò, charname could make another dream, after which he will gain a key item and a new ability. The new item might (if stored) help sarevok to unlock something once you reached ToB. What you think? Obviously, that item was not sold by irenicus, but is in his dungeon, like other equipmente pieces.

caruga

This idea was already in the original game. Irenicus or his goons stripped you to your undies and shoved you in a cage, dividing the spoils of your capture in the process, but

part of Sarevok's gear is available in chapter 1

.

Communard

I thought the reward for killing Sarevok was saving the Sword Coast from a bloody war and not being personally executed (no doubt painfully) by the newly ascended Lord of Murder...

Grumpwagon

I had a discussion going about this in another thread, but I like this idea. What if we could keep playing after we kill Sarevok? Perhaps some of the DLC will be even harder than the final fight and some well-earned loot from Sarevok & Co. could be very helpful. A new Bhaalspawn power would also be very fitting. I'd vote we get both.

As for not being able to import characters that don't complete the Sarevok fight: it's a neat idea, and I originally though "Hecks yeah! Challenge accepted!" But it's a challenge players can easily set for themselves. And it doesn't really work when you take multiplayer into consideration. Maybe a non-protagonist PC couldn't play BG1 with you all the way through, but wants to rejoin your group in BG2 with the same character; is that player just out of luck? That leaves a sour taste in my mouth. We can split up with NPC's in BG1 and still see them later in BG2, but this would suddenly make this impossible for PC's. Not good.

kraed

It's definitely kind of disappointing that there's no reward for beating Sarevok in a game where your characters can import into the next game, but at the same time as someone said "Stopping a bloody war" is your reward really. BG2's plot assumes you killed Sarevok, and if you aren't playing Baldur's Gate for the plot you probably want to go have a look at Icewind Dale instead. BG is a franchise where 'because it advances the plot' should be justification enough for performing an action.

You can copy your save over to multiplayer and important a character at any point though, so if you really want to be gamey you can have the PCs join you anytime in any of the games. At the same time BG2 is set in a completely different country to BG1, it's a wonder that so many of the original characters are even there to begin with.

diggerb

I remember when I first finished BG1, I was pissed off that the game ended then and there. I was saving Durlag's Tower for after I had finished the main quests. So I wound up having to re-load the "Final Save," walk back up through the maze and the underground city, finish Durlag's Tower, then go all the way back and do the boss fight again.

I'd really like to just be able to collect the gear after killing Sarevok, Tranzig, and the rest, and then go off and finish any left-over side-quests.

Rasmus

I would prefer if BG1 and BG2 were made part of the same game, and that you could either start at the beginning of bg1 (lets call it "book I" or bg2 ("book II"), and once you complete bg 1 you instantly start bg2. In effect this implies that the only way to keep your bg 1 character is to beat the game. To add to this, all items you can find in bg 1 and not in bg 2 would be found in some random place in Irenicus prison, so you get to keep everything essential from bg 1 as a bonus.

This would in my mind be a very ellegant, and probably not to difficult solution that also adds to immersion.

fortuntek

I agree with the OP. I've often imported my party into BG2 after getting enough experience and all of the most powerful items that I want. I think we need an "incentive" to kill Sarevok:

-= lootable items/new abilities/stat gains? Well that would throw off game balance (according to devs, they are avoiding this as much as possible)

-= do not allow players to import until Sarevok is defeated? This takes away an option players had previously... not sure devs will want to do this, and I can see it being annoying for some players.

-= allow players to keep their old gear into bg2 (one person suggested finding it on random goons etc) well this is an interesting idea except that it's already possible by pausing before the initial bg2 cutscene as I'm sure all of you know. Therefore, not the greatest incentive


Maybe he could drop something that's useful but not balance breaking? A Bag of Holding? Some useful non-combat items? Anything else you can think of?

MooseChangerPat

Many people are saying that the incentive to kill Sarevok is to prevent a bloody war and prevent yourself from being arrested... but that happens after you expose his plans at the coronation ceremony. His plans are defeated and he runs off telling you that this is not over, so really you don't actually need to kill him at that point. He sort of already is defeated in his own right, and the bloody war was prevented. There are still many good reasons to kill him, but if you think it is saving Baldur's Gate from a bloody war with amn, I think you're mistaken.

Also am I the only one who really didn't have the heart to kill Sarevok's girlfriend? She helps you out and really is just trying to save the man she loves from himself and his horrible ambitions. Perhaps there should be something in Sarevok's epilogue that reflects if you allowed her to live? It always sort of made me sad that she died either way. But perhaps this is getting a wee bit off topic now.

As Sarevok stated in TOB, most of his equipment he channeled his bhaal's essence into to power them. Thus the reason why when you get his sword in SOA, it's only the +2 sword of chaos, which is a lot dinkier looking than what he used against you. In this respect getting his equipment wouldn't and shouldn't really do you a whole lot of good. I do still like the idea of some sort of achievement for defeating him, like some sort of extra carry over or something, but you do get the extra movie sequence you know. People who simply export their characters without fighting Sarevok miss that entirely, and as such miss out on a giant chunk of the idea of just HOW many bhaalspawn there are xD.

I think a good thing would perhaps be some sort of bhaalspawn ability as was suggested. Nothing too overpowered mind you since the bhaalspawn abilities only really went up to 3rd level mage spells and 2nd level priest spells. Maybe something like a stoneskin? That could be REALLY cool for fighter or thief classes before their capable of getting the gargoyle boots. (Although you should still lose it when you lose your soul) Or perhaps something a little more minor but more fitting to the idea of slaying Sarevok... something like... haste? Since he was hasted all throughout the last battle, so maybe it was due to a bhaalspawn ability, since I don't remember being able to dispel it.

So that's my two cents worth.

mch202

I WANT SAREVOK HEAD AS A QUICKSLOT ITEM OR ON MY BELT!

That's what I call reward!!!

cyberarmy

mch202 said:

I WANT SAREVOK HEAD AS A QUICKSLOT ITEM OR ON MY BELT!

That's what I call reward!!!

and he should walk around like headless horseman in Throne of Bhall

mch202

cyberarmy said:

mch202 said:

I WANT SAREVOK HEAD AS A QUICKSLOT ITEM OR ON MY BELT!

That's what I call reward!!!

and he should walk around like headless horseman in Throne of Bhall

Not necessarily, maybe you can tell him in ToB - "if you will be nice - I will give you your head back" :-)

or make him like Morte in PS:T

wariisop

Yeah, I am pissed you don't get Sarevok's armor. Give me the armor at the end of the game, that armor looks awesome and since I normally play evil, it would be great to have that armor.

Communard

Oh, come on you guys, if you really need a mechanical incentive to beat the mastermind villain in a story-driven game then you might as well just play hack-and-slash...