Please add some random elements into BG2:EE (ideas included)
xzar_monty
Member Posts: 631
In my view, BG2 is the best game of all time, but even the best game lacks one thing: a random element. Everything is fairly clear-cut and you always know what's going on and where you have to go. The only "strange" thing in the whole game that comes to mind is the sewer key found in Firkraag's dungeon. When you first get it, you don't know how and where to use it. This is wonderful! But the game could use way more unpredictability and even some random elements. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:
1) At the moment, drinking in bars results in nothing. Well, why not introduce a minor quest that begins at a bar, drinking beer. It could be any of the inns, at any time. You go for your mug of ale, and suddenly you're stopped by a stranger who tells you a tale and gives you, possibly, a minor quest to fulfill. The inn and the availability of the quest are determined at random, which means that a lot of people could go through the entire game without ever getting the quest.
2) Some randomly determined humanoid monster encountered in a wilderness area could be a carrying a strange bottle. The description: "This bottle is obviously not a magical potion. It contains a strong, slightly sweet-smelling liquid." That's all. If you drink it, you get confused for a while but nothing else happens - except that you lose the potential quest. For if you happen to go shopping at Joluv's (for example) while carrying the potion, he will notice the smell and be totally baffled: you have recovered the potion he lost at a nasty encounter during his most recent expedition! It's an important ingredient for something he's developing, and he'll be happy to buy it off you. If you're a good guy, you can sell it for good money and experience. If not, you can possibly want to know what Joluv is up to, and this could lead to any number of things...
3) You find a dead body in a randomly-determined wilderness area. Obviously, someone's been killed. He was clad in reasonably good non-magical armor, was carrying a sword and a sealed letter. A messenger of some kind, perhaps? If you open the letter, you lose some reputation points and find that he was carrying a message for the High Hall of the Radiant Heart. Taking the message there, you'll receive serious flak for opening the letter, but they'll be pleased, nevertheless, for receiving the information. Without opening the letter, there will be difficulties in determining its intended recipient. Maybe someone in the government building would know? Or, perhaps, Ribald? Yes, maybe... If you find out where it's supposed to go and deliver it unopened, the guys in high places will be mightily pleased and suggest another job for you...
If the game contained five, four, six or even ten things like this, which occur randomly and in different areas during different points of the game, it would add a nice touch of "aliveness" and unpredictability into the whole experience. All of these incidents would naturally have to be inconsequential to the major story line, but they should give you two or three nice and unique magic items.
The less the players knew about these things beforehand, the nicer it would be, of course. Imagine the discussions on the forums. "Hey guys, I saw some thugs fighting in the bridge district and decided to intervene. I really had to threaten one of them, and at one point, they both almost attacked me! Well, nothing more became of that in the end. But can you imagine my surprise when one of the kids in the slums district came up to me some time later and told me how he'd heard that I'd saved his dad! The kid wanted to thank me in the best way he could, so he gave me this map he couldn't understand a thing about. It appears there's something buried in the Temple ruins area, something old and potentially dangerous..." Plenty of people would then immediately rush to the bridge district in their games and find... possibly nothing at all. Someone else might report that he'd encountered the beginning of that particular quest in Trademeet.
Dev team take note: more ideas available on request. :-)
1) At the moment, drinking in bars results in nothing. Well, why not introduce a minor quest that begins at a bar, drinking beer. It could be any of the inns, at any time. You go for your mug of ale, and suddenly you're stopped by a stranger who tells you a tale and gives you, possibly, a minor quest to fulfill. The inn and the availability of the quest are determined at random, which means that a lot of people could go through the entire game without ever getting the quest.
2) Some randomly determined humanoid monster encountered in a wilderness area could be a carrying a strange bottle. The description: "This bottle is obviously not a magical potion. It contains a strong, slightly sweet-smelling liquid." That's all. If you drink it, you get confused for a while but nothing else happens - except that you lose the potential quest. For if you happen to go shopping at Joluv's (for example) while carrying the potion, he will notice the smell and be totally baffled: you have recovered the potion he lost at a nasty encounter during his most recent expedition! It's an important ingredient for something he's developing, and he'll be happy to buy it off you. If you're a good guy, you can sell it for good money and experience. If not, you can possibly want to know what Joluv is up to, and this could lead to any number of things...
3) You find a dead body in a randomly-determined wilderness area. Obviously, someone's been killed. He was clad in reasonably good non-magical armor, was carrying a sword and a sealed letter. A messenger of some kind, perhaps? If you open the letter, you lose some reputation points and find that he was carrying a message for the High Hall of the Radiant Heart. Taking the message there, you'll receive serious flak for opening the letter, but they'll be pleased, nevertheless, for receiving the information. Without opening the letter, there will be difficulties in determining its intended recipient. Maybe someone in the government building would know? Or, perhaps, Ribald? Yes, maybe... If you find out where it's supposed to go and deliver it unopened, the guys in high places will be mightily pleased and suggest another job for you...
If the game contained five, four, six or even ten things like this, which occur randomly and in different areas during different points of the game, it would add a nice touch of "aliveness" and unpredictability into the whole experience. All of these incidents would naturally have to be inconsequential to the major story line, but they should give you two or three nice and unique magic items.
The less the players knew about these things beforehand, the nicer it would be, of course. Imagine the discussions on the forums. "Hey guys, I saw some thugs fighting in the bridge district and decided to intervene. I really had to threaten one of them, and at one point, they both almost attacked me! Well, nothing more became of that in the end. But can you imagine my surprise when one of the kids in the slums district came up to me some time later and told me how he'd heard that I'd saved his dad! The kid wanted to thank me in the best way he could, so he gave me this map he couldn't understand a thing about. It appears there's something buried in the Temple ruins area, something old and potentially dangerous..." Plenty of people would then immediately rush to the bridge district in their games and find... possibly nothing at all. Someone else might report that he'd encountered the beginning of that particular quest in Trademeet.
Dev team take note: more ideas available on request. :-)
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