Chickenator quest issue

merc1136

Ok, as much as I love BG I haven't played in years so this is completely from memory.
At some point you do a quest to save an NPC that has been turned into a chicken.

Current Behavior:
Upon completion of the quest the NPC makes a saving throw - passing restores him to human form, failing causes him to die.

Expected Behavior:
This is pure opinion but he should always pass the saving throw. This first time I played the game he died and I though that was what was supposed to happen. The second time through he passed and I think I got an item I didn't get otherwise? Anyhow I was pissed, and always saved the game before turning the quest in and reloaded it if he failed on future attempts.

I'm curious about the communities consensus - is it cool that this quest can fail? My apologies if this has already been addressed.

pacek

Antichickenator is a very dangerous spell, luckily it's not available to mere player characters.

Bhryaen

I think it's quite interesting that it can fail. It might be nice if there was some side quest or something else you could do to boost Mellicamp's chances of de-chickenization, but that there's a chance you'll kill him is good. Are you willing to kill him? Is he willing to die rather than stay a chicken?

Wisp

@Bhryaen
If only that stupid PRNG did not have it in for you.

Aranneas

It's one basically inconsequential quest, with the only reward being some rep and experience. I look at it as another sort of nod to old school style gaming and don't really mind the failure rate too much. (Any more. I used to be really OCD about that kind of thing )

Zeckul

That's by design, not a bug. Thalantyr has dialogue specifically for the case where Melicamp dies.

Quests may have different outcomes and that may very well be not in the control of the player. In this case, it's rolling a dice. That's one of the charms of BG1, that it does so many unconventional things. In modern RPGs, everything must either be deterministic or the result of the player's choice. Here, Mystra has her way. Fine by me!

merc1136

Well I will still roll my eyes and reload a save game when he fails the save, but I'm glad to hear other people's opinions on the matter. If nothing else it's a great reminder of the mindset of 2nd edition AD&D - save or DIE. :-)

Bhryaen

Moving this to the Feature Requests section given that, however irksome the random death thingy is for the quest, it's nevertheless clearly not a bug. ;-)

Aranneas

That's by design, not a bug. Thalantyr has dialogue specifically for the case where Melicamp dies.

Quests may have different outcomes and that may very well be not in the control of the player. In this case, it's rolling a dice. That's one of the charms of BG1, that it does so many unconventional things. In modern RPGs, everything must either be deterministic or the result of the player's choice. Here, Mystra has her way. Fine by me!

It's not a philosophy I disagree with, to be honest. Specifically in the medium of a single player game, I think that player agency should be the final determinant of the course of the story. Even if you don't know necessarily what your choices will result in, because outside factors should have influence, it is you shaping your own story.

Chance elements are good for a breather, but if they overtake choice as a driving force you're left with a story that cares nothing for what you do. Fine for Call of Cthulhu. Not so good for high fantasy. (Also gets better as you add more players, providing the arbitrator with easier resolution of conflicts of interest.)