A way to pass through the Xvart village without burning it to the ground
Syntia13
Member Posts: 514
A different thread in 'General' reminded me of one of the gripes I had with BG, and that is...
...the game seems to be OK with killing off entire villages as long as they are not human/elvish/halfling villages.
The most obvious example is, of course, the Xvart village. It blocks the only way to the upper portion of the map, and the only way to go through it is to slaughter the poor smurfs. My good and neutral CHARNAMEs are very indignant with that design! (And remember, you might be killing one of (Larry, Darryl & Darryl)'s mums!)
What I'd like to see is the Xvarts in the village to be neutral, and only become hostile if I enter their premises without permission. And getting the permission could be as simple as the Guards halting me at the gate, and then after a short dialog letting me through in exchange for small amount of cash, or doing a small quest for the village (getting a pot of honey for their pet bear, maybe? I'm sure there is a beehive south of the village - those bears aren't there without reason!).
This way people who don't give a squat about other sentient races, and/or play evil character, can still commit their ethnic cleanse, while more overthinking players can choose the peaceful solution without much hassle.
There is a precedence in BG1 - a patrol of gnolls halts you and demands that you pay a toll for passing through their land. If you refuse, they attack you, if you pay, they leave you well alone.
I usually pay, since it IS their land, and I'm trespassing. (Unless, of course, I'm playing a trigger-happy evil-doer).
...the game seems to be OK with killing off entire villages as long as they are not human/elvish/halfling villages.
The most obvious example is, of course, the Xvart village. It blocks the only way to the upper portion of the map, and the only way to go through it is to slaughter the poor smurfs. My good and neutral CHARNAMEs are very indignant with that design! (And remember, you might be killing one of (Larry, Darryl & Darryl)'s mums!)
What I'd like to see is the Xvarts in the village to be neutral, and only become hostile if I enter their premises without permission. And getting the permission could be as simple as the Guards halting me at the gate, and then after a short dialog letting me through in exchange for small amount of cash, or doing a small quest for the village (getting a pot of honey for their pet bear, maybe? I'm sure there is a beehive south of the village - those bears aren't there without reason!).
This way people who don't give a squat about other sentient races, and/or play evil character, can still commit their ethnic cleanse, while more overthinking players can choose the peaceful solution without much hassle.
There is a precedence in BG1 - a patrol of gnolls halts you and demands that you pay a toll for passing through their land. If you refuse, they attack you, if you pay, they leave you well alone.
I usually pay, since it IS their land, and I'm trespassing. (Unless, of course, I'm playing a trigger-happy evil-doer).
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Comments
Its actually not a patrol of gnolls, its a pair of ogrillons. They're actually just a pair of thugs extorting money off of travelers.
This is one thing, as it is with others, that people might like to option to have. Especialyl being able to enter into the Xvart village huts.
Now... that elven salesman off to the left... I ALWAYS enjoyed killing that con artist a**hole... selling me cursed items... FOR SHAME
Those are the guys I meant, thanks for backing me, GrandeC!
But I also remember those ogrillon guys, they were blocking the bridge leading to Gnoll fortress, correct? I always found them fishy, as they were out of place ('tis no ogrillon land!) and the sum they demanded was considerably higher than what the gnolls wanted. My treatment of them usually depended on combination of 1) my financial situation, 2) how my PC felt about non-humans, 3) flip of a coin. :P
now if i'm playing a evil git, then yes, murder the lot of them, but i want the CHOICE to do it, its not evil if i have no choice in the matter.
1) Die!
2) Can we pass through?
If 1 is selected then nothing much changes – xvarts turn hostile - you destroy the entire village as normal.
If 2 is selected then they could say yes, but can you help us with so and so. (a small opional quest if desired)
I won't even go into the whole good or evil debate, as it gives me a headache - Xvarts are identified by the game as evil, so technically, killing them is good deed. Still, killing without provocation or reasons beyond 'they were in my way' is something an evil character would do. So is destroying the village good, or evil square? Would letting them live be evil, because they are evil, or would it be good, because I am good and I won't be dragged down to their level? I don't know.
But I want my CHARNAMEs to have the option to choose accordingly with their believes, rather than have to a) kill them b) avoid the area.
This is one example though, and I think that this game needs more good/evil balance in it so that power gamers don't always choose the good choices (because it seems like this game is more based around being good)
I know I'll probably sound negative here, but I think its interesting that the game managed to manipulate some people into NOT rampaging through the Xvart village.
I mean sure, we own that to preconceived outlooks on the story (denial of moral determinism and the belief that even smurf lives are sacred) but then, that would all be more or less pointless if you aren't inconvenienced at all.
I don't know, its always interesting when the player acts against the expected.
Should there be an option to pass through peacefully? Maybe not necessarily so.. what if they don't want your group to pass through peacefully... though it would be nice to maybe avoid combat by leaving after they threaten you or maybe intimidating them into letting you pass through, etc.
I have no idea. You probably could get away with using invisibility on everyone, assuming you buy it and have enough mages at a high enough level to use it.