They are both kind of idiots to assume that you are not a threat just because you have no soul...
Ah villains... ever complacent.
Irencus and Bohdi are such amateurs... if I were a villain, I'd surely make sure that the hero was actually dead, and I won't send my minions in waves of gradually increasing competence, or leave convenient equipment scattered throughout my dungeons...
I mean I love Immy and I hate all the crap she went through, but her arc in BG2 is a huge part of the immersive plot of SoA. I love how brutal the BG2 opening is, it's like Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones was a thing! Playing blind for the first time, I was genuinely shocked, but in a good way. Never had I felt so eager to hurt a video game villain, or wanted to wrap up Imoen in cotton wool and keep her safe from all the nastiness once I got her back. If Irenicus never took Imoen, then hunting Irenicus would just be a "revenge-thing" for Dynaheir and Khalid, but Imoen made things even more desperate, even more personal and even more urgent... and all the more satisfying when I got her back and poked 100 holes in Irenicus.
@Heindrich Good points all, but the plan from the beginning was for her to die from Irenicus's spell. At the last minute they decided the fans wouldn't like this and kept her alive. As a result she has next to no dialog or interaction in SoA and this leaves a humongous gap in any character development she could have had. This is the SECOND time that including Imoen was a last minute decision as they also did something like this in BG1. It may make for a good story but I think it would have been 100 times better had they not went with the "kill off Imoen" idea first thing.
@Tresset I disagree, but that's partly because I've already filled my head canon with the idea that Imoen survives.
In an ideal world, Imoen would be more fleshed out with more interactions in SoA. However I would not be opposed to an option where Imoen's fate was randomised to an extent. For example the game rolls 2d20+(number of days that has passed since Imoen's capture). If the value is above, say 40 (so there is always a chance that she dies even if u rush straight to her), you find her dead. I think this would reward players who really care about her, whilst also driving home the point that heroes don't always save the day, and that Irenicus truly is a monstrous villain devoid of empathy and mercy.
This kind of mechanism exists in other games. In Avernum 3, you get teleported to major disaster on a specific day that occurs regardless of what you have done, what you were doing and where you are. Also cities gradually decline, NPCs die and entire cities and regions are destroyed if you take too long in dealing with the main story quests.
I agree with @Heindrich although I think that the original story where she dies in Spellhold would have been even better. First Irenicus messes with your best friend's mind, then he makes her be arrested and finally he kills her. This would certainly put anyone in a murderous predisposition...
They are both kind of idiots to assume that you are not a threat just because you have no soul...
Ah villains... ever complacent.
Irencus and Bohdi are such amateurs... if I were a villain, I'd surely make sure that the hero was actually dead, and I won't send my minions in waves of gradually increasing competence, or leave convenient equipment scattered throughout my dungeons...
I'm not lawful evil, I promise!
At least he has the sense not to give you the traditional "villain's exposition".
@mlnevese@Heindrich Remind me to never hire you two to do any of my writing...
I really hate dark twists and killing off my favorite characters. The conquering hero should be able to rescue fair maiden and such and there should always ultimately be happy ending. Killing off Imoen just to make you mad at Irenicus would be very effective... but likely too effective if you know what I mean. It would likely make me hate the people who are REALLY responsible for her death: the writers. It was the best decision they made to keep her alive, but in some ways it was too little too late. Her planned death meant they were not able to finish writing her story and thus when you rescue her she is like "YayI I am rescued!" and that is about it for her development. The rest is implied, even once you get to ToB. What I am truly upset about by this is that, and you have to admit to this, it could have been SOOOOOOOOOO much better if they had not planned to not have her die from the start and thus actually had been able to give her some more story and development. The way things turned out were really good. But the way things could have been...
And besides, had they killed of Imoen I would probably have been so disgusted (just like, from what I hear, most people are with ME3's ending) that I doubt I would have ever played BG2 and I probably wouldn't be here on the forums at all... You wouldn't want that now, would you?
They are both kind of idiots to assume that you are not a threat just because you have no soul...
Ah villains... ever complacent.
Irencus and Bohdi are such amateurs... if I were a villain, I'd surely make sure that the hero was actually dead, and I won't send my minions in waves of gradually increasing competence, or leave convenient equipment scattered throughout my dungeons...
I'm not lawful evil, I promise!
I think you'll like the Evil Overlord List in the unlikely case you don't know it already.
They are both kind of idiots to assume that you are not a threat just because you have no soul...
Ah villains... ever complacent.
Irencus and Bohdi are such amateurs... if I were a villain, I'd surely make sure that the hero was actually dead, and I won't send my minions in waves of gradually increasing competence, or leave convenient equipment scattered throughout my dungeons...
I'm not lawful evil, I promise!
I think you'll like the Evil Overlord List in the unlikely case you don't know it already.
No no no no. Most cases of rule zero I've seen have just been examples of lazy GMing. You shouldn't invalidate a player's action just because you didn't plan for it.
Comments
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/farmers-itching-to-tap-neera-but-govt-keeps-them-waiting/article5103072.ece
You go Yoshimo!
R.I.P. *sigh*
Ah, Rasaad. I hate your character arc, but I love your character.
*shanks Alorgoth* That was for Gamaz, you son of a bitch! You escaped me in-game, but I'll get you in the fanon yet!
Jan, ever the joker.
To be honest, though, I usually reload against Tarnesh because of this:
Irencus and Bohdi are such amateurs... if I were a villain, I'd surely make sure that the hero was actually dead, and I won't send my minions in waves of gradually increasing competence, or leave convenient equipment scattered throughout my dungeons...
I'm not lawful evil, I promise!
I mean I love Immy and I hate all the crap she went through, but her arc in BG2 is a huge part of the immersive plot of SoA. I love how brutal the BG2 opening is, it's like Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones was a thing! Playing blind for the first time, I was genuinely shocked, but in a good way. Never had I felt so eager to hurt a video game villain, or wanted to wrap up Imoen in cotton wool and keep her safe from all the nastiness once I got her back. If Irenicus never took Imoen, then hunting Irenicus would just be a "revenge-thing" for Dynaheir and Khalid, but Imoen made things even more desperate, even more personal and even more urgent... and all the more satisfying when I got her back and poked 100 holes in Irenicus.
In an ideal world, Imoen would be more fleshed out with more interactions in SoA. However I would not be opposed to an option where Imoen's fate was randomised to an extent. For example the game rolls 2d20+(number of days that has passed since Imoen's capture). If the value is above, say 40 (so there is always a chance that she dies even if u rush straight to her), you find her dead. I think this would reward players who really care about her, whilst also driving home the point that heroes don't always save the day, and that Irenicus truly is a monstrous villain devoid of empathy and mercy.
This kind of mechanism exists in other games. In Avernum 3, you get teleported to major disaster on a specific day that occurs regardless of what you have done, what you were doing and where you are. Also cities gradually decline, NPCs die and entire cities and regions are destroyed if you take too long in dealing with the main story quests.
I really hate dark twists and killing off my favorite characters. The conquering hero should be able to rescue fair maiden and such and there should always ultimately be happy ending. Killing off Imoen just to make you mad at Irenicus would be very effective... but likely too effective if you know what I mean. It would likely make me hate the people who are REALLY responsible for her death: the writers. It was the best decision they made to keep her alive, but in some ways it was too little too late. Her planned death meant they were not able to finish writing her story and thus when you rescue her she is like "YayI I am rescued!" and that is about it for her development. The rest is implied, even once you get to ToB. What I am truly upset about by this is that, and you have to admit to this, it could have been SOOOOOOOOOO much better if they had not planned to not have her die from the start and thus actually had been able to give her some more story and development. The way things turned out were really good. But the way things could have been...
By D&D Demotivators
By LafulGoodness
The tower by Randowis
By middleearthtimelord
By nightxd
(Unless they're obviously cheating or exploiting broken rules, eg; Pun-Pun )
>:D
This isn't too much to ask for ... right?
And while we're on the subject...