I would really like to see Greater Dopplegangers better used in the games... those things were creepy with their ability to copy a victims memory and even personality...
Just ask yourself this: how sure are you that the npcs you run into aren't dopplegangers? Hull and Fuller seem nice enough when you meet them again, but can you really be sure?
A couple days ago I came across a topic on Obsidian forums, where someone posted a very interesting article: Baldur's Gate II: The Anatomy of a Sequel Written in 2001 by Ray Muzyka, about the design of Baldur's Gate II. There are some great details about the game, how the whole process was working from their perspective. I haven't seen it before and learned quite a bit from it. It would be awesome if the game creators would post similar blogs about their games. I would love to read something similar for BG1.
While reading this I had a small revelation. When he lists the major feature list and later the design guidelines that they were following, I noticed that almost all the points are what made me not like the game. I actually never was the target audience for BG2. A bit sad, but I respect their decision.
Did you know that it would have been a really good idea to start making notes when this thread first appeared? (Goes back to page one again and curses Random Delete Memory).
Did you know that you can enter chapter 4 without killing everyone in Tazok's tent?
I had Imoen chug an invisibility potion and slipped inside, disarmed the chest trap, and took all the loot--including the plot documents, thus triggering the move from chapter 3 to 4. I fully expected everyone in the tent to turn aggro upon the potion wearing off, but nope. They just stood there. Unmoving.
Awkwardly, I had her speak with Ender Sai and cut him loose. He walked out of that tent without any of the bandits batting an eyelash. Then I waited very patiently for Imoen's Hide in Shadow/Move Silently to successfully turn her invisible again, and walked out without a lick of combat.
Course, my inner powergamer just couldn't let go of all that experience and loot, so I walked back in swords-blazing and killed them all anyway.
If you tell Firkraag you're going to attack him, Edwin will leave your party, saying you're crazy for wanting to fight a dragon. But if you just attack Firkraag without saying so in the dialogue, which is how most people do it, then Edwin won't leave.
Did you know that in watchers keep, if you summon a mordakin's sword in front of the cambion with the deck of many things, his entire party will attack it? This didn't happen when I summoned a deva.
Apparently they have bad memories of that sword...
Did you know that the grand dukes will kill you if you fail to bring documents to them implicating Sarevok. By this point you could have saved Duke Eltan and you obviously saved at least one of the others from the dopplegangers. They don't even give you further time to look for them. Talk about ungrateful!
Just ask yourself this: how sure are you that the npcs you run into aren't dopplegangers? Hull and Fuller seem nice enough when you meet them again, but can you really be sure?
I got the feeling that, although dopplegangers are fierce assassins and clever shapeshifters , they show great difficulty showing true emotions or faking compassion.
Did you know that Jardak (or whatever his name is, the guy who has the charisma-boosting helmet) thinks you killed his butler, even if you didn't and the butler followed you upstairs? Of course it's pretty obvious why this happens, and even if his dialogue changed if he saw that the butler was still alive, the encounter would still probably end in violence.
In the maze under the thieves' guild in Baldur's Gate, if you see a green spot on the wall, beware. There's a trap there. Not every trap has a green spot, but every green spot has a trap or three.
If you dominate a Tarnished Sentry and make it fight another Tarnished Sentry, they can't kill each other, since they use normal weapons and are immune to normal weapons.
I've only done this in the original non-enchanced Icewind Dale; I'm not sure if Tarnished Sentries can still be dominated.
This might not be news to some of you, but it's devastatingly powerful, and I've never seen anyone mention it. Durlag's Goblet in BG1 is a 6-use full-heal potion that drastically lowers morale for 24 hours when used. Most people seem to know about the trick of using Kiel's Helmet to negate the downside, but I've never seen anyone mention that, as a charged item, it can be sold and repurchased to reset its charges. It's not even expensive. Rebuying it costs roughly 1k gold (depending on reputation and Charisma, of course) and sets the Goblet to 20 charges.
This might not be news to some of you, but it's devastatingly powerful, and I've never seen anyone mention it. Durlag's Goblet in BG1 is a 6-use full-heal potion that drastically lowers morale for 24 hours when used. Most people seem to know about the trick of using Kiel's Helmet to negate the downside, but I've never seen anyone mention that, as a charged item, it can be sold and repurchased to reset its charges. It's not even expensive. Rebuying it costs roughly 1k gold (depending on reputation and Charisma, of course) and sets the Goblet to 20 charges.
@deltago, I believe so, so long as the bard is singing constantly. Of course it'll have to be the vanilla bard song, as the Skald song doesn't grant fear immunity until 15th level. Cavaliers are also just straight-up immune to the downsides.
@deltago, I believe so, so long as the bard is singing constantly. Of course it'll have to be the vanilla bard song, as the Skald song doesn't grant fear immunity until 15th level. Cavaliers are also just straight-up immune to the downsides.
You wouldn't have to constantly sing as bardbsong resets the moral of nearby allies.
@deltago, I just tested, and it doesn't seem to work that way. In fact, the bard song doesn't even seem to be very effective when it's up. The character spends about half the time panicked when the bard is singing, and 100% of the time panicked when the bard stops.
Borda (the evil merchant you encounter west of the Xvart village in BG1) is mechanically actually a thief/mage multiclass (levels 9/8). For the longest time I always assumed he was a bard.
I've just discovered that there was a 12th century monk named John Irenicus who was condemned by the Eastern Orthodox Church as a heretic.
1166 A council met under the presidency of the emperor Manuel Comnenus to address the interpretation of John 14.28: “My father is greater than I.” Demetrius of Lampe, a Roman (Byzantine) diplomat recently returned from the West, raised the issue to the emperor’s attention. Demetrius ridiculed the way the verse was interpreted there: Christ was inferior to his father in his humanity, but equal in his divinity. The emperor thought the Western interpretation made good sense. Eventually, he called a council to settle the matter. The council met on March 2. The following anathemas were directed against Constantine the Bulgarian, formerly Metropolitan of Corfu, and John Irenicus, by a synod in 1166. They are included in the Synodicon of Orthodoxy (see year 842).
(38) Constantine the Bulgarian, who says that “My father is greater than I” refers only to Christ's human nature, taken in abstraction; whereas the Fathers use such an abstraction only to explain statements implying servitude or ignorance, and explain the statement "My father is greater than I" in various ways, one of which is that the statement refers to the fact that Christ's human nature retained its properties in the hypostatic union; (39) those who agree with Constantine of Bulgaria; (40) John Irenicus, who held the same view.
Did you now every time I do the quest in BG1 to clear out the house of spiders I think of @Semiticgod and the adorable spider picture and then feel absolutely horrible about killing the giant spiders /just did this quest for my documented play-through QQ I'M SO SORRY
@bengoshi This just hit me. Irenicus in Greek would be "Irinikos" (Ee-ree-nee-KOS) translated as "Peaceful", similar to Irene which comes from Irini (Ee-REE-nee) which means "Peace".
John Irenicus = John the Peaceful. Fitting name for a monk. Ironic name for Irenicus.
Comments
Baldur's Gate II: The Anatomy of a Sequel
Written in 2001 by Ray Muzyka, about the design of Baldur's Gate II. There are some great details about the game, how the whole process was working from their perspective. I haven't seen it before and learned quite a bit from it. It would be awesome if the game creators would post similar blogs about their games. I would love to read something similar for BG1.
While reading this I had a small revelation. When he lists the major feature list and later the design guidelines that they were following, I noticed that almost all the points are what made me not like the game. I actually never was the target audience for BG2. A bit sad, but I respect their decision.
I had Imoen chug an invisibility potion and slipped inside, disarmed the chest trap, and took all the loot--including the plot documents, thus triggering the move from chapter 3 to 4. I fully expected everyone in the tent to turn aggro upon the potion wearing off, but nope. They just stood there. Unmoving.
Awkwardly, I had her speak with Ender Sai and cut him loose. He walked out of that tent without any of the bandits batting an eyelash. Then I waited very patiently for Imoen's Hide in Shadow/Move Silently to successfully turn her invisible again, and walked out without a lick of combat.
Course, my inner powergamer just couldn't let go of all that experience and loot, so I walked back in swords-blazing and killed them all anyway.
Still. I learned something new!
Also, did you know that electric eels aren't eels?
http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Electrophorus_electricus/
Apparently they have bad memories of that sword...
I've only done this in the original non-enchanced Icewind Dale; I'm not sure if Tarnished Sentries can still be dominated.
1166 A council met under the presidency of the emperor Manuel Comnenus to address the interpretation of John 14.28: “My father is greater than I.” Demetrius of Lampe, a Roman (Byzantine) diplomat recently returned from the West, raised the issue to the emperor’s attention. Demetrius ridiculed the way the verse was interpreted there: Christ was inferior to his father in his humanity, but equal in his divinity. The emperor thought the Western interpretation made good sense. Eventually, he called a council to settle the matter. The council met on March 2. The following anathemas were directed against Constantine the Bulgarian, formerly Metropolitan of Corfu, and John Irenicus, by a synod in 1166. They are included in the Synodicon of Orthodoxy (see year 842).
(38) Constantine the Bulgarian, who says that “My father is greater than I” refers only to Christ's human nature, taken in abstraction; whereas the Fathers use such an abstraction only to explain statements implying servitude or ignorance, and explain the statement "My father is greater than I" in various ways, one of which is that the statement refers to the fact that Christ's human nature retained its properties in the hypostatic union;
(39) those who agree with Constantine of Bulgaria;
(40) John Irenicus, who held the same view.
http://www.geocities.ws/Heartland/Pines/7224/History/chrono12.htm
/just did this quest for my documented play-through QQ I'M SO SORRY
Irenicus in Greek would be "Irinikos" (Ee-ree-nee-KOS) translated as "Peaceful", similar to Irene which comes from Irini (Ee-REE-nee) which means "Peace".
John Irenicus = John the Peaceful. Fitting name for a monk. Ironic name for Irenicus. I'm going to say one thing only: Rapture of the Father.