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These old screenshots !

SeldarSeldar Member Posts: 438
edited August 2012 in Archive (General Discussion)
Just found these old screenshots of BG2, I didn't know them :

http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/images/image.asp?/bg2/media/screenshots/initial/soa111099l.jpg

and charachters have BG1 appearance !

Does anyone remember this ?
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Comments

  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    That looks... better and cleaner than what ended up in bg2
  • ShadowShadow Member Posts: 20
    In some ways it looks nice but you can tell it wasn't really a finished design by the colours which are contrasting too much between the horizontal and vertical bar.
  • ShapiroKeatsDarkMageShapiroKeatsDarkMage Member Posts: 2,428
    They come from the demo version.
  • DelvonDelvon Member Posts: 77
    This is great! I hate BG2 animations now! Well, not with a passion, but I have a greater preference for the older stuff now. I really wish they could change them, but noooooo...
  • NimzNimz Member Posts: 44
    I wonder when a stone hit their heads and they decided to change the BG1 animations...
    Is there anywhere I can see a comparison
    I've not played bg1 but keep seeing people mentioning it having better animations than BG2
  • CheesebellyCheesebelly Member Posts: 1,727
    Allow me to ask a question :
    WHAT were they thinking? It looks better than SoA! D:
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    @Nimz - the screenshot in the OP features BG1 animations (which I love with a passion).
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    mch202 said:

    I wonder when a stone hit their heads and they decided to change the BG1 animations...

    It must have been a HUGE stone, since they used mirroring in those animations and made them aesthetically lamer than ever.

    It was too difficult to add dual wielding but it was ok to alter everything and make it worse i guess.

    /facepalm /sigh
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    Yeah, I've been wondering a lot about it. Was it really harder to add dual-wielding to existing animations and paperdolls than to create new ones from scratch?
  • CheesebellyCheesebelly Member Posts: 1,727
    @AndreaColombo : Oster complained about the old code a LOT through twitter... maybe it really was :/
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    They probably thought they could do a better job.

    We all saw what happened right?

    More pixelated avatars, half animations replaced with mirroring effect, some avatars looking like others, like gnome and halfling females, female and male dwarves, bleh i won't even continue. It was a half assed attempt. I find the BG2 models uglier by far.

    @AndreaColombo, do we know if they managed to do anything about enabling BG1 animations? Like the dual wield crashing etc? I can't imagine i will be forced to play as a human male with bg2 animations >_<
  • SceptenarSceptenar Member Posts: 606
    I strongly prefer the BG2 animations, they just look cleaner and crisper. Animations and models in BG were NOT good. I mean, they even made a joke about it in the Icewind Dale starting area about how both male and female dwarves used the same model, with beards and everything.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    @Mornmagor - no news since the last time I checked. I figured I'd give the devs a rest about it since the release is so close. I will inquire again in the future, though, as it is a matter of importance to me. However, even if the crash was fixed, it would still take a lot of time to do the missing animation work, so unless you gave up on dual-wielding you would still have to play with the BG2 animations for a (long) while.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    @Sceptenar - BG2 dwarves also use the same avatar and have a beard. You need 1PP to get beardless lady dwarves.
  • DelvonDelvon Member Posts: 77
    But what if I like my woman with a five o'clock shadow?!


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aIBF9hSI-I
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    Or with a five week shadow.

    Five month.

    Five inches.
  • DelvonDelvon Member Posts: 77
    All the more fluffy lovin'!
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    I'm happy with the BG games I played. 'Nuff said.
  • lordkimlordkim Member Posts: 1,063
    Kitteh_On_A_Cloud said:

    I'm happy with the BG games I played. 'Nuff said.

    So am i..... But Nuff isnt Nuff..... New stuff is a nice sound in my ears. !!! So ill take what i get.. Im not blinded by the love of the game. Im looking at the future with a smile :O) Hence BG III / New thingy´s

  • NWN_babaYagaNWN_babaYaga Member Posts: 732
    I should just avoid these topics not to be disturbed then in the future for BG2EE... I´m happy dadada how they are:D
  • IchigoRXCIchigoRXC Member Posts: 1,001
    changing each sprite in BG 1 with dual wielding would be a serious ball ache, without the original assets there is really no choice but to use the BG2 animations or not have dual wielding (possibly other stuff)
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    edited August 2012
    Yeah, that was why we ponder why didn't they just add dual wield to BG1 animations when they first created BG2, instead of what they did.

    I have a funny feeling Bioware lost the art assets to both games 2 days after they shipped.

    How do you manage to lose the art of BG, damnit?
  • Kitteh_On_A_CloudKitteh_On_A_Cloud Member Posts: 1,629
    Mornmagor said:

    How do you manage to lose the art of BG, damnit?

    Capitalism.
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    @Kitteh_On_A_Cloud I have no doubt the original art still exists in a box in someone's attic. But where's the incentive to keep hold of it for over a decade when you're more concerned with what happens on release day?

    Apart from inflated self-confidence, how could they have known they were sitting on a Jen-U-Wine, Grade A classic all those years ago? For a similar personal comparison - where are all your tax returns for the past 10 years, and are they available in a digital form? I'd put it down more to human sort-term-ism than anything else ;)
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    It was a rhetorical question anyway, it takes an amount of irresponsibility to do it, or incompetence, or, if you like conspiracy theories, someone might even be too bored to look properly and just said "sorry we've lost them". There are some other rumors here and there but they are probably far fetched, although even if not far fetched, can't be proven anyway.
  • RushAndAPushRushAndAPush Member Posts: 25
    Is duel wielding even worth it? I know it would be a huge blow if it was taken out of the game, but maybe the broadness of the weapon skills in BG1 would make up for it not being included in bg1: EE or bg2: EE.
  • dandydandy Member Posts: 35
    Female dwarves have beards though
  • MoomintrollMoomintroll Member Posts: 1,498
    dandy said:

    Female dwarves have beards though

    That's true in Middle Earth and on The Disc, but I couldn't find that mentioned anywhere for AD&D 2E, the current Forgotten Realms Wiki says it's a "common misconception."
  • DelvonDelvon Member Posts: 77
    Mornmagor said:

    How do you manage to lose the art of BG, damnit?

    Back then storage was sparse and expensive (compared to now). A lot of older movies were lost as well due to the necessity to re-record onto older film rolls that already went into distribution. Even masters of songs from way back when have been lost like this. It's easy now with cheap storage options, but back then they didn't think the originals were needed, as much as new cash-cows. The distribution copies should suffice, was the mentality I'd imagine.

    I don't know how hulking massive Interplay's wallet was back then, but I'd imagine they didn't have the funds to keep all those floppy disks! And if they were already working on BG2 and wanted to "upgrade" the graphics, they didn't have an incentive to keep the old stuff that "wouldn't matter after this!".
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