Thanks, I understand. Hmm, must think of a new question!
Ooh. This kind-of applies to both games. What kinds of enhancements and updates can we look forward to in respect to co-op multi-player? And if one person has a small tweak (like higher hp on level up), does the other person have to have it as well to connect? Or will it only work with pure vanilla settings?
Am I right that you said there would be no change to the xp cap in BG2EE? If there is much extra content, is there a risk of hitting that cap during the game? It would seem odd, gameplay wise, for you to stop gaining power a little while before you ascend to godhood.
Am I right that you said there would be no change to the xp cap in BG2EE? If there is much extra content, is there a risk of hitting that cap during the game? It would seem odd, gameplay wise, for you to stop gaining power a little while before you ascend to godhood.
That's correct, the XP cap has not been changed. However, the cap itself is pretty close to the limit of what the engine can handle in terms of class levels anyway.
How will custom portraits be handled for multiplayer games? Will the other player just see the question mark face?
This game is very much resource-driven, so in order for things to work in multiplayer every player needs to have the same resources. So if you're using a custom portrait, everyone will need to have that same portrait (or a portrait with the same file name), or they'll just see the question-mark, yes.
We've done a lot of things to fix the journal, but if you're referring to the issue with quests being marooned even after they're completed, that should be fixed now, yes.
In the original Baldurs Gate Series the number of voices were limited. Was this due to budget reasons?
I also note on the screenshots of BG II:EE the sprites look less pixelated. Have they also been remastered?
We haven't done anything more to the sprites in-game. It's likely that they look less pixelated in the screenshots and the trailer because of the zoom level.
Thank you for your hard work so far and apologies if this question has already been asked. I have a question regarding stuttering of the game. While the game is running fine for me most of the time (my specifications can be found at the bottom of this post), it happens occasionally that it noticeably slows down – the most glaring example would be sewers beneath the city of Baldur's Gate where the game is stuttering pretty badly and the reason for that is probably a large number of carrion crawlers.
So, my question is: is this stuttering a matter of proper hardware suitable for the game or does the game slows down occasionally (for example, when lots of spells were cast or there are lots of enemies in one location) on all modern computers and nothing can be done about it?
My specifications: Laptop Samsung r580 Processor: Intel Core i5 CPU RAM: 4,00 GB Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M System: Windows 7, 64-bit
Check to see if your computer uses switchable graphics; if it is, set the game to always use the NVIDIA card. The stuttering you describe sounds like one of the symptoms of Intel problems. You may also want to double-check that your drivers are all up to date and that you don't have any Windows Updates pending.
Am I right that you said there would be no change to the xp cap in BG2EE? If there is much extra content, is there a risk of hitting that cap during the game? It would seem odd, gameplay wise, for you to stop gaining power a little while before you ascend to godhood.
That's correct, the XP cap has not been changed. However, the cap itself is pretty close to the limit of what the engine can handle in terms of class levels anyway.
Thanks @Dee. Although there are those xp cap removers, so I'm not really sure what you mean by the limit of the engine. The actual power progresses slowly that high up anyway, unless you are a mutliclass, where you could still be gaining a few spells.
The level progressions for each class only go up to level 40; the 8 million XP cap brings most classes very nearly to that level (with a few exceptions), so removing it would only affect you if you're playing a druid, for instance, or a multi-class or dual-class character.
With 8k xp, fighters, barbarians, thieves / bards, clerics and monks do get to 40 (6 classes of 11). But paladins and rangers get to 34th level, mages and sorcerors get 31, and finally druids also 31 (5 classes of 11 get to 31 or 34).
That's not the same as "most classes [get] very nearly to that level with a few exceptions."
Just saying that removing xp limit would affect almost half the single classes... but also ALL the dual and multi classes, as you noted. So i think you can't just reject this request by saying it would affect too few players... because actually, it would be quite the opposite.
Could we ask for a more insightful response to this issue? Is the XP cap something you are allowed to change and if so, is there a chance you might decide to change it?
Dear Dee, is there any hope whatsoever of having anything even slightly random in BG2:EE?
For instance:
- A minor quest triggered by drinking in a (random) bar; someone walks up to you and starts talking and there you go. At the moment, drinking in a bar never leads to anything meaningful. - A brawl between two thugs which you will witness (in a random city / town location) and which may or may not trigger a small quest as well, depending on what you do. And maybe, after reacting to this, one of the kids in the street somewhere else may notice you when you pass by and say "Hey! You helped/killed my dad", and that may have its own repercussions...
This sort of stuff would be just lovely, in my view. For me, BG2 is the best game ever, but sometimes it gets a bit annoying that you know where everybody and everyone is, and you know exactly what happens in the places you go.
The world of Ultima V, for instance, had way more unpredictability to it! And that was aeons ago...
Is there hope? Sure, there's always hope.
Something that might be worth noting, though, is that BG is all story, at its heart. Everything in the game is there for a reason; nothing is random. When you walk into Feldepost's inn in Beregost, the random drunk challenging you to a duel is a scripted event that always happens the first time you enter the inn.
Think of it like this: Baldur's Gate plays a bit like a D&D campaign. In a campaign, the DM might roll some dice behind the scenes to determine some random encounters, and how the player reacts might inadvertently give the DM an idea for a side-quest, and then the DM has to sort of make things up on the fly. So the party walks into the tavern, the DM introduces a random drunk who tries to pick a fight with one of the players; that player, being quick on his feet, offers a solution that doesn't require fighting the man in the middle of a tavern, and the DM decides to reward the player's cleverness by having the man back down. The player gets a bit of roleplaying XP for his efforts, and the game goes on as normal from there.
Baldur's Gate does that in simulation; there are instances where you might choose a dialogue option that appears to "think outside the box", which unlocks a different outcome to an encounter or might even present you with a side-quest opportunity. They're meant to simulate those "random encounters", but because it's a video game they have to be scripted.
Of course, if this is your fifth or sixth or ninety-eighth play-through, it won't feel "random" anymore, it will just be "that Marl encounter, remember to choose option 3 for 900 XP".
I may have lost my train of thought, but I think you get the idea. No encounter in these games is random, but there are a great many that seem random because of the way they're written.
Dee: A very good answer, thank you. Nothing wrong with any of that, and I understand it very well.
I still think that a small genuinely random element would add a marvelous touch to an otherwise brilliant game. It would obviously have to be inconsequential in terms of the overall story and not too big in terms of items gained (although I think that the random stuff should enable you to get at least some unique items). Having four, five, six or even ten of these things in the game would give people nice surprises and generate healthy amazement and discussion on the forums. "Hey guys, I just drank some beer at the Five Flagons and this strange fellow came up to me, started talking, and now I'm supposed to go to Umar Hills to fetch some kind of shipment. Seems very suspicious. Anyone else seen this?" A lot of people would then, obviously, try the same thing at the same inn and have it NOT happen to them, whereas a few people would be able to report to having seen the same thing happen in some other inn.
Surely you know the sewer key that can be found in Firkraag's dungeon? The one that's used to unlock the illithid dungeon door underneath Athkatla? That's part of what I'm talking about: when you first find the key, you have no idea what to do with it and where it fits. This is excellent! This kind of stuff is too rare in the game. You can take this idea a little further and, for example, assign a strange potion (description: "This potion contains some mysterious, slightly sweet-smelling liquid. It is obviously not magical, but neither does it seem to have any kind of nutritional or other obvious properties.") for a random monster to carry. Let's say that only a monster encountered randomly in the city or the wilderness can carry it, so you can basically get it very early, very late or never. If you keep this potion in your inventory and then happen to go shopping at Joluv's, for instance, he'll recognize the smell and be totally baffled: how and where on earth did you get that? Turns out it's an ingredient for something he's been developing, and it was stolen from him during a nasty encounter on his most recent trip, and now he's more than happy to pay to get it back, it's important to him. You can be nice for money and experience or nasty for potential problems or, perhaps, more money and experience.
This sort of stuff. Small additional pieces of fun. I think this is the only thing the game lacks at the moment.
(If you want more ideas, in detail, you know where to get them. Just drop a note. :-D )
Certainly interesting; I recommend dropping a thread in the Feature Requests forum. You can even flesh out specific ideas if you have them, and I can guarantee they'll get a look (although I can't guarantee they'll be implemented).
There's one thing that I'd really like to know about the three lovable NPCs we're bonded with in BG:EE. In BG1 (and now BG:EE) certain characters had a series of attributes that were raised when they made an appearance in BG2. (I'm talking about Viconia who got extra wisdom, Jaheira who got extra dexterity, etc) It was a great thing because it suggested a bit of character growth... they not only learnt more about the world (xp) but became wiser, stronger as they faced more and more dangerous foes.
Will Dorn, Neera and Rasaad receive the same stat increase for BG2:EE? I know that their stats aren't that low and I don't think they need 3 extra points in any one attribute like Jaheira received, but even a +1/+2 in wisdom for Rasaad (to show that he's learnt something from the whole ordeal with the Dark Moon monks) or a +1 strength for Dorn (who is growing closer to his patron and receiving more 'blessings') would be welcome from a RP point of view.
What characters will be available with the purchase of BG2EE and which, if any, will have to be purchased separately? As I recall, computor players got all characters, but users from other devices such as ipad only got Rasaad and had to buy Dorn and Neera separately. Will you be going with a similar business model for BG2EE?
What characters will be available with the purchase of BG2EE and which, if any, will have to be purchased separately? As I recall, computor players got all characters, but users from other devices such as ipad only got Rasaad and had to buy Dorn and Neera separately. Will you be going with a similar business model for BG2EE?
BG2EE will follow the same model, yes.
In the event that people don't know this, the iPad uses the in-app purchase model for the NPCs as a way to reduce its base price. We're aware that $20 (and $25) is a lot to spend on an iPad app, so making some of the new content optional is our way of making it more affordable on that platform.
There's one thing that I'd really like to know about the three lovable NPCs we're bonded with in BG:EE. In BG1 (and now BG:EE) certain characters had a series of attributes that were raised when they made an appearance in BG2. (I'm talking about Viconia who got extra wisdom, Jaheira who got extra dexterity, etc) It was a great thing because it suggested a bit of character growth... they not only learnt more about the world (xp) but became wiser, stronger as they faced more and more dangerous foes.
Will Dorn, Neera and Rasaad receive the same stat increase for BG2:EE? I know that their stats aren't that low and I don't think they need 3 extra points in any one attribute like Jaheira received, but even a +1/+2 in wisdom for Rasaad (to show that he's learnt something from the whole ordeal with the Dark Moon monks) or a +1 strength for Dorn (who is growing closer to his patron and receiving more 'blessings') would be welcome from a RP point of view.
Is it something you've considered for BG2:EE?
I'm going to invoke @Kaeloree here, because I think if I tried he would probably make me do laps around the Australian outback.
Ok, thanks @dee for answering the question. In the original BG II were the sprites improved? What about the question about the voice actors? Is the reason there is mainly text in Baldurs gate due to budget reasons at the time?
@Dee I notice that BGEEII is available for prepurchase for Mac directly through Beamdog (aka not through the Apple Store). Does this mean we could actually get patches on time and participate in betas like the one currently for BGEE?
Is the reason there is mainly text in Baldurs gate due to budget reasons at the time?
I was under the impression that older games tended to be mainly text due to file size constraints, audio files are much larger then text files. Although I am sure the budget also played a roll it in.
Comments
Thanks, I understand. Hmm, must think of a new question!
Ooh. This kind-of applies to both games. What kinds of enhancements and updates can we look forward to in respect to co-op multi-player? And if one person has a small tweak (like higher hp on level up), does the other person have to have it as well to connect? Or will it only work with pure vanilla settings?
I also note on the screenshots of BG II:EE the sprites look less pixelated. Have they also been remastered?
With 8k xp, fighters, barbarians, thieves / bards, clerics and monks do get to 40 (6 classes of 11).
But paladins and rangers get to 34th level, mages and sorcerors get 31, and finally druids also 31 (5 classes of 11 get to 31 or 34).
That's not the same as "most classes [get] very nearly to that level with a few exceptions."
Just saying that removing xp limit would affect almost half the single classes... but also ALL the dual and multi classes, as you noted.
So i think you can't just reject this request by saying it would affect too few players... because actually, it would be quite the opposite.
Hey, six out of eleven is technically "most".
...
Yeah.
Something that might be worth noting, though, is that BG is all story, at its heart. Everything in the game is there for a reason; nothing is random. When you walk into Feldepost's inn in Beregost, the random drunk challenging you to a duel is a scripted event that always happens the first time you enter the inn.
Think of it like this: Baldur's Gate plays a bit like a D&D campaign. In a campaign, the DM might roll some dice behind the scenes to determine some random encounters, and how the player reacts might inadvertently give the DM an idea for a side-quest, and then the DM has to sort of make things up on the fly. So the party walks into the tavern, the DM introduces a random drunk who tries to pick a fight with one of the players; that player, being quick on his feet, offers a solution that doesn't require fighting the man in the middle of a tavern, and the DM decides to reward the player's cleverness by having the man back down. The player gets a bit of roleplaying XP for his efforts, and the game goes on as normal from there.
Baldur's Gate does that in simulation; there are instances where you might choose a dialogue option that appears to "think outside the box", which unlocks a different outcome to an encounter or might even present you with a side-quest opportunity. They're meant to simulate those "random encounters", but because it's a video game they have to be scripted.
Of course, if this is your fifth or sixth or ninety-eighth play-through, it won't feel "random" anymore, it will just be "that Marl encounter, remember to choose option 3 for 900 XP".
I may have lost my train of thought, but I think you get the idea. No encounter in these games is random, but there are a great many that seem random because of the way they're written.
And here I thought 8k would only get me to lvl 3-4. Need to find me that level unlocker for the next play through!
I still think that a small genuinely random element would add a marvelous touch to an otherwise brilliant game. It would obviously have to be inconsequential in terms of the overall story and not too big in terms of items gained (although I think that the random stuff should enable you to get at least some unique items). Having four, five, six or even ten of these things in the game would give people nice surprises and generate healthy amazement and discussion on the forums. "Hey guys, I just drank some beer at the Five Flagons and this strange fellow came up to me, started talking, and now I'm supposed to go to Umar Hills to fetch some kind of shipment. Seems very suspicious. Anyone else seen this?" A lot of people would then, obviously, try the same thing at the same inn and have it NOT happen to them, whereas a few people would be able to report to having seen the same thing happen in some other inn.
Surely you know the sewer key that can be found in Firkraag's dungeon? The one that's used to unlock the illithid dungeon door underneath Athkatla? That's part of what I'm talking about: when you first find the key, you have no idea what to do with it and where it fits. This is excellent! This kind of stuff is too rare in the game. You can take this idea a little further and, for example, assign a strange potion (description: "This potion contains some mysterious, slightly sweet-smelling liquid. It is obviously not magical, but neither does it seem to have any kind of nutritional or other obvious properties.") for a random monster to carry. Let's say that only a monster encountered randomly in the city or the wilderness can carry it, so you can basically get it very early, very late or never. If you keep this potion in your inventory and then happen to go shopping at Joluv's, for instance, he'll recognize the smell and be totally baffled: how and where on earth did you get that? Turns out it's an ingredient for something he's been developing, and it was stolen from him during a nasty encounter on his most recent trip, and now he's more than happy to pay to get it back, it's important to him. You can be nice for money and experience or nasty for potential problems or, perhaps, more money and experience.
This sort of stuff. Small additional pieces of fun. I think this is the only thing the game lacks at the moment.
(If you want more ideas, in detail, you know where to get them. Just drop a note. :-D )
Will Dorn, Neera and Rasaad receive the same stat increase for BG2:EE? I know that their stats aren't that low and I don't think they need 3 extra points in any one attribute like Jaheira received, but even a +1/+2 in wisdom for Rasaad (to show that he's learnt something from the whole ordeal with the Dark Moon monks) or a +1 strength for Dorn (who is growing closer to his patron and receiving more 'blessings') would be welcome from a RP point of view.
Is it something you've considered for BG2:EE?
In the event that people don't know this, the iPad uses the in-app purchase model for the NPCs as a way to reduce its base price. We're aware that $20 (and $25) is a lot to spend on an iPad app, so making some of the new content optional is our way of making it more affordable on that platform.