On the Xvart Village map, Nexlit the Xvart tells you Ursa the Cave Bear will protect them. But the first thing Ursa does is attack Nexlit himself! Easy to see if you use an invisibility potion as soon as Ursa appears.
I recently came across the xvart village and checked this for myself, and it is indeed correct. Good thing too, because I didn't even see Ursa creeping up on us, and before I knew it, she was standing right next to Dynaheir! Fortunately, she was on a path toward Nexlit, and probably would've walked past my party altogether if I hadn't killed Nexlit first (which most people probably do).
I think the whole thing is done deliberately as a joke to show how stupid Nexlit is - first he accuses you of attacking his villagers without provocation (when the exact opposite is true), then he summons a supposed "friend" who attacks him without provocation.
Pretty sure this is an EE feature the reasoning being Ursa doesn't take well to being summoned! (Did not occur in BG1 Vanilla)
Nope. I play lots of BG1 Vanilla (yes vanilla, not TuTu) and it happened there too.
Some Underdark stuff since I'm currently playing though it:
The imprisonment dome in the Underdark had a facet which I missed for many years because it was quite hard to notice: Gont of Ritavin, a thief who was part of a recent adventuring party. He is quite sane and tells you a little bit about the drow city.
If you complain to Vithal about your reward for helping him, he'll give you some high level scrolls. If you complain more he'll attack you and you can get some incredible items including: Skull of Death, Wail of the Banshee, Time Stop (!). Shame, I rather like him so I can never do it.
You can actually reveal your surfacer cover to Solaufein when you're told to kill him and he won't reveal it to anyone if he likes you.
If you kill the djinn being tortured near the entrance of the city, you can lie about needing more time and not have to pay. If you do this when you need to escape anyway (or kill everyone in the city) you get some exp without having to pay a dime.
You can threaten Visaj and he'll give you the rope for free instead of making you pay.
Did you know that there are actually a number of items in BG1 that can be imported into BG2, if they're in your char's inventory when he or she is imported?
"If you have completed Baldur's Gate & the Tales of the Sword Coast and your main character has certain items in his/her inventory they can carry them over into Baldur's Gate II. You can bring one item from each list (below) which is presented in order (i.e. if you have two items from one list, the item higher up the list is imported). There is a default item for each list so that if you never imported an item from each list you will still get something in BG2. You should consider carefully which is the best of each list if you are playing the whole saga through to Throne of Bhaal. Also note that you should hang onto the Golden Pantaloons (not listed below) as they will also carry over into BG2."
See the link above for lists of the items.
As I understand it, the item(s) won't actually be in your char's inventory at the start of the game, but they will be found somewhere along the way as you explore Irenicus' dungeon.
"At night talk to the ghost of Ulcaster several times until your journal is updated. He wants a book, History of the Darkness, from the Vampiric Wolves room in the Ulcaster Ruins. Return with the book. Two of these books can also be found in Gullykin and one in W Baldur's Gate. Return with these books for more experience."
-I never knew that there was more than one book that you could bring to the ghost.
Also:
"Talk to Ulcaster while carrying the Ancient Armor from the Firewine Ruins and the Idol of Kozah from the Archaeological Site. He will swap these for the Cursed Vampiric Sword. The Doomsayer from the Archaeological Site must be dead for this to work."
-From what I understand, the vampiric sword does damage to the wielder while healing the target.
"At night talk to the ghost of Ulcaster several times until your journal is updated. He wants a book, History of the Darkness, from the Vampiric Wolves room in the Ulcaster Ruins. Return with the book. Two of these books can also be found in Gullykin and one in W Baldur's Gate. Return with these books for more experience."
-I never knew that there was more than one book that you could bring to the ghost.
That has been fixed in the EE, copies of that book have been removed of the game.
The same guy who voices Dawnbringer Sain and Nallabir also voices Klaus on American Dad.
Also the same guy who voices Garren Windspear, Demson, and Dermin also has been providing the voice of the disney character Goofy since 1987 (and been largely the only actor voicing that character throughout the last 27 years).
IF I remember correctly, in the planar sphere, you run across a few wayward lost knights. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they were Knights of Solamnia, right? The Knights of Solamnia were from the Dragonlance universe, another campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons of which a great number of novels were written. As PnP goes, Faerun and Krynn (Dragonlance's world), existed on separate planes in the same universe, which explains how they got lost in the planar sphere.
In the Planar Sphere, too, I believe the halflings you encounter are supposed to be the feral halflings you'd find in the Dark Sun setting. There's not as much to prove that as with the Knights of Solamnia, but I definitely think it's a shoutout of sorts.
Right click on a throwing axe quickslot icon to switch between using the axe as a throwing or melee weapon.
Right click on an arrows/bolts/slings icon to switch between the different types of ammo in your quiver without having to visit the inventory screen (despite knowing this, I still use the inventory screen to switch ammo - old habits die hard!).
All this talk about voice actors and nobody mentioned the guy who played Evil inTime Bandits and R'as Al-Ghul on the Batman Animated series also voiced Irenicus? Or is that something that everyone actually does know?
All this talk about voice actors and nobody mentioned the guy who played Evil inTime Bandits and R'as Al-Ghul on the Batman Animated series also voiced Irenicus? Or is that something that everyone actually does know?
It's something that actually everyone knows. SoA's plot is based in Time Bandits, so... Who won't catch that one?
All this talk about voice actors and nobody mentioned the guy who played Evil inTime Bandits and R'as Al-Ghul on the Batman Animated series also voiced Irenicus? Or is that something that everyone actually does know?
It's something that actually everyone knows. SoA's plot is based in Time Bandits, so... Who won't catch that one?
It's because David Warner doesn't really change up his voice much for any character he voices or acts, so he's very easy to recognize. But then again why would he, his normal voice is just awesome.
Not sure if this was mentioned yet, but Coran has a kid in Baldur's Gate. The lady that gives you the quest to get Yago's book of curses or whatever is the child's mother. This only becomes apparent if Coran is in your party. If you refuse the quest he will leave. However, after completing it, he doesn't want to have anything to do with his kid.
@CrevsDaak, I had actually never made the connection that David Warner played Evil in Time Bandits until @AndrewFoley just brought it up. That may be because I haven't watched that movie since the 1980's when it first came out, and by the time Baldur's Gate was released, I had mostly forgotten it. Now I may watch Time Bandits again just to watch David Warner and pretend Evil is Irenicus.
@SirK8, the only time I ever got that baby story with Coran was when I was doing a romance with him using the NPC Project, so I did not realize that it was in the vanilla game. I had thought it was an NPC Project addition.
In Time Bandits, Evil sends dreams/mental images to Randall & Co. and in BG2 Irenicus sends those to the PC. Irenicus' opening scene after you escape from the Dungeon is pretty much like the ending from Time Bandits, where he goes shooting spells and killing stuff. Also, he attracts you to Spellhold for something you have (Map gets replaced by Soul) like Evil does with the Time Bandits.
"At night talk to the ghost of Ulcaster several times until your journal is updated. He wants a book, History of the Darkness, from the Vampiric Wolves room in the Ulcaster Ruins. Return with the book. Two of these books can also be found in Gullykin and one in W Baldur's Gate. Return with these books for more experience."
-I never knew that there was more than one book that you could bring to the ghost.
That has been fixed in the EE, copies of that book have been removed of the game.
@CrevsDaak Actually, the other copies weren't removed. The one in the ruins of Ulcaster was simply renamed and the quest requirement was changed so that only this one would be accepted. This was also done with several other quest items, but I forget which ones.
Speaking of the history books...
The History of the Fateful Coin (the book that Firebead wants you to buy for him) is actually slightly relevant to Charname's situation. There are several references in the games which state/imply that Charname's coin has landed on edge- meaning that Charname is one of the few people in existence who is the master of their own fate rather than the gods. In BG1 Portalbendarwinden, the strange hermit two areas south of Beregost who apparently has prophetic abilities, clearly states that Charname has their coin on edge amongst other things. Jaheira also mentions this in BG2 in one of her early romance dialogs if you choose a certain response:
Jaheira: "So! Where to now, fearless leader?"
Charname: "Perhaps an inn. I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?"
Jaheira: "It doesn't? I hope you'll come up with something better than that. I will not be put in a position where survival depends on the toss of a coin. Not everyone's coins land on edge, you know."
Speaking of Firebead...
The book that he gives you in exchange for The History of the Fateful Coin is also slightly relevant to Charname's situation. The History of the Dead Three provides some backstory about Bhaal and how he became a god.
There are several references in the games which state/imply that Charname's coin has landed on edge- meaning that Charname is one of the few people in existence who is the master of their own fate rather than the gods.
Indeed. @cmorgan (I believe) even worked this into one of the romances of the BG2 romantic encounters mod, where Charname gets a chance to do a cointoss regarding the future between him and a seductive bardess.
After having killed Marl, if you click on his friend Dunkin he will say "Hey don't click me! I don't want any trouble!"
In the Nashkel Carnival, in one of the tents, you can find a fat commoner who claims that he is "Big Boned". Taken straight from South Park.
Two of Yeslick's more uncommon speeches are fairly amusing. In one he says: "You owe 16 tons, what do you get?" and in another he whistles the same theme that the Dwarves do in Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.
I'd like to pass along a useless bit of information that you may or may not know about one of Yeslick's lines you mentioned, "You owe 16 tons, what do you get?" This line is part of a song by Tennessee Ernie Ford which is called, shockingly enough, Sixteen Tons. It goes something like this:
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine I picked up me shovel and walked to the mine I loaded sixteen tons of #9 coal The straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"
You load sixteen tons and what do you get? You get one day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store
Well, some people say a man is made out of mud I say a poor man's made out of muscle and blood Muscle and blood, and skin and bone A mind that's weak and a back that's strong
You load sixteen tons and what do you get? You get one day older and deeper in debt Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go I owe my soul to the company store
Since @elminster mentioned it. Irenicus does look like Evil (David Warner's character in Time Bandits) with his head cap but also his blue eyes and generally aged look.
And also, Sarevok looks a LOT like Kevin Michael Richardson (his voice actor).
Black guy, shaved head, goatee. Even his ears are similar and both have an earring in one ear.
Did you know that Alorgoth (from Rasaad's quest) is apparently a canon character? A Champions of Ruin 3.5ed sourcebook reference Alorgoth, the Bringer of Doom as a leader of monks of the Dark Moon sect. That caught me by surprise.
Just noticed this today - did you know that in the Thieves' maze at the end of BG1 there are greenish splotches on the walls that indicate that traps are nearby? They mostly come in pairs (though there is one splotch by itself), and there are typically several traps between the two. They don't catch all of the traps in the area, but it does get enough of them for you to get through the maze safely (the unmarked traps are located in dead ends.)
Did you know that Alorgoth (from Rasaad's quest) is apparently a canon character? A Champions of Ruin 3.5ed sourcebook reference Alorgoth, the Bringer of Doom as a leader of monks of the Dark Moon sect. That caught me by surprise.
I'm just gonna be blunt: most of the eyes on the original portraits drive me nuts. They're usually in the wrong place, slightly inconsistent with each other, or slanted beyond creepiness (especially on the elf/half elf females: BGII Jaheira, Aerie.)
I think there is a "fixed" version of Anomen's portrait out there somewhere, though.
Did you know that Alorgoth (from Rasaad's quest) is apparently a canon character? A Champions of Ruin 3.5ed sourcebook reference Alorgoth, the Bringer of Doom as a leader of monks of the Dark Moon sect. That caught me by surprise.
Well, then! That explains why
the game won't let you kill him!
Hrmph.
Is that so? That is actually kinda odd considering
you can kill just about every other cannon character you meet including: Drizzt (x2) and friends, Szass Tam, Demogorgon, and so on. If I knew more about cannon that list would have been longer...
Is that so? That is actually kinda odd considering [spoiler] you can kill just about every other cannon character you meet including: Drizzt (x2) and friends, Szass Tam, Demogorgon, and so on. If I knew more about cannon that list would have been longer...
Szass Tam talks to the PC and turns neutral after you beat him for the first (second if you refuse to go after the first one) time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND0w54ZJ-y0& You can kill him, but he initiates dialogue before you can kill him, maybe a Vorpal Hit or such and done, but that might ruin (I am not sure enough) Neera's quest storyline.
Comments
The imprisonment dome in the Underdark had a facet which I missed for many years because it was quite hard to notice: Gont of Ritavin, a thief who was part of a recent adventuring party. He is quite sane and tells you a little bit about the drow city.
If you complain to Vithal about your reward for helping him, he'll give you some high level scrolls. If you complain more he'll attack you and you can get some incredible items including: Skull of Death, Wail of the Banshee, Time Stop (!). Shame, I rather like him so I can never do it.
You can actually reveal your surfacer cover to Solaufein when you're told to kill him and he won't reveal it to anyone if he likes you.
If you kill the djinn being tortured near the entrance of the city, you can lie about needing more time and not have to pay. If you do this when you need to escape anyway (or kill everyone in the city) you get some exp without having to pay a dime.
You can threaten Visaj and he'll give you the rope for free instead of making you pay.
Dudleyville explains it better than I can:
http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/miscellany.htm
"If you have completed Baldur's Gate & the Tales of the Sword Coast and your main character has certain items in his/her inventory they can carry them over into Baldur's Gate II. You can bring one item from each list (below) which is presented in order (i.e. if you have two items from one list, the item higher up the list is imported). There is a default item for each list so that if you never imported an item from each list you will still get something in BG2. You should consider carefully which is the best of each list if you are playing the whole saga through to Throne of Bhaal. Also note that you should hang onto the Golden Pantaloons (not listed below) as they will also carry over into BG2."
See the link above for lists of the items.
As I understand it, the item(s) won't actually be in your char's inventory at the start of the game, but they will be found somewhere along the way as you explore Irenicus' dungeon.
http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/ar3900.htm
"At night talk to the ghost of Ulcaster several times until your journal is updated. He wants a book, History of the Darkness, from the Vampiric Wolves room in the Ulcaster Ruins. Return with the book. Two of these books can also be found in Gullykin and one in W Baldur's Gate. Return with these books for more experience."
-I never knew that there was more than one book that you could bring to the ghost.
Also:
"Talk to Ulcaster while carrying the Ancient Armor from the Firewine Ruins and the Idol of Kozah from the Archaeological Site. He will swap these for the Cursed Vampiric Sword. The Doomsayer from the Archaeological Site must be dead for this to work."
-From what I understand, the vampiric sword does damage to the wielder while healing the target.
Also the same guy who voices Garren Windspear, Demson, and Dermin also has been providing the voice of the disney character Goofy since 1987 (and been largely the only actor voicing that character throughout the last 27 years).
Can they pick up some things from Mystara or Greyhawk, I wonder?
Right click on an arrows/bolts/slings icon to switch between the different types of ammo in your quiver without having to visit the inventory screen (despite knowing this, I still use the inventory screen to switch ammo - old habits die hard!).
SoA's plot is based in Time Bandits, so... Who won't catch that one?
@SirK8, the only time I ever got that baby story with Coran was when I was doing a romance with him using the NPC Project, so I did not realize that it was in the vanilla game. I had thought it was an NPC Project addition.
Speaking of the history books...
The History of the Fateful Coin (the book that Firebead wants you to buy for him) is actually slightly relevant to Charname's situation. There are several references in the games which state/imply that Charname's coin has landed on edge- meaning that Charname is one of the few people in existence who is the master of their own fate rather than the gods.
In BG1 Portalbendarwinden, the strange hermit two areas south of Beregost who apparently has prophetic abilities, clearly states that Charname has their coin on edge amongst other things. Jaheira also mentions this in BG2 in one of her early romance dialogs if you choose a certain response:
Jaheira: "So! Where to now, fearless leader?"
Charname: "Perhaps an inn. I guess it doesn't really matter, does it?"
Jaheira: "It doesn't? I hope you'll come up with something better than that. I will not be put in a position where survival depends on the toss of a coin. Not everyone's coins land on edge, you know."
Speaking of Firebead...
The book that he gives you in exchange for The History of the Fateful Coin is also slightly relevant to Charname's situation. The History of the Dead Three provides some backstory about Bhaal and how he became a god.
don't click me! I don't want any trouble!"
In the Nashkel Carnival, in one of the tents, you can find a fat commoner
who claims that he is "Big Boned". Taken straight from South Park.
Two of Yeslick's more uncommon speeches are fairly amusing. In one he says:
"You owe 16 tons, what do you get?" and in another he whistles the same
theme that the Dwarves do in Snow White and the 7 Dwarves.
I'd like to pass along a useless bit of information that you may or may
not know about one of Yeslick's lines you mentioned, "You owe 16 tons,
what do you get?" This line is part of a song by Tennessee Ernie Ford
which is called, shockingly enough, Sixteen Tons. It goes something
like this:
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine
I picked up me shovel and walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of #9 coal
The straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
You get one day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
Well, some people say a man is made out of mud
I say a poor man's made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood, and skin and bone
A mind that's weak and a back that's strong
You load sixteen tons and what do you get?
You get one day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
And also, Sarevok looks a LOT like Kevin Michael Richardson (his voice actor).
Black guy, shaved head, goatee. Even his ears are similar and both have an earring in one ear.
Hrmph.
Edit: found a bit of info on him here: http://www.realmshelps.net/npc/alorgoth.shtml
I think there is a "fixed" version of Anomen's portrait out there somewhere, though.
You can kill him, but he initiates dialogue before you can kill him, maybe a Vorpal Hit or such and done, but that might ruin (I am not sure enough) Neera's quest storyline.