Recruiting some help for a BG game wiki!
sandmanCCL
Member Posts: 1,389
Some friends and I a number of years ago got together and made a wiki for all things Baldur's Gate, with an emphasis on playing it "hardcore," which is to say if you die even once, you start completely over. It's a blast of a way to play the game, but even if you choose not to our site is a pretty good resource.
It used to be an even better resource but we were hacked awhile ago and never got around to repopulating some of the segments. Specifically, maps. Maps would be cool. Maps are easily the most important thing we never did back around to re-creating.
SO: If you guys want to help get it in shape for the upcoming EE or want to help add stuff EE brings once that hits, the site is
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate
At the beginning of summer, I was able to get a lot of the tables and charts back into working condition and my opinions about classes, kits and whatnot are all up to date.
Note that we lumped the entire series onto the same page so stuff goes beyond just BG1 levels.
It used to be an even better resource but we were hacked awhile ago and never got around to repopulating some of the segments. Specifically, maps. Maps would be cool. Maps are easily the most important thing we never did back around to re-creating.
SO: If you guys want to help get it in shape for the upcoming EE or want to help add stuff EE brings once that hits, the site is
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate
At the beginning of summer, I was able to get a lot of the tables and charts back into working condition and my opinions about classes, kits and whatnot are all up to date.
Note that we lumped the entire series onto the same page so stuff goes beyond just BG1 levels.
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Comments
In regards to the Forgotten Realms wiki, that's about the universe and not specifically the game.
In regards to the "anemic" baldursgate.wikia, you said it yourself. It's anemic. It's also decidedly bland, if you ask me. Even unfinished, the work I put in at PIH still surpasses that wikia already. It also doesn't talk about game mechanics and strategies to help you win, which is kind of the point of a strategy guide. Also also I don't personally have creative control on it to help create a quality end-result.
In regards to our idea of "playing it hardcore," it isn't for everyone. But it does make you better at a game! I only personally made it through the entire saga "hardcore" a single time because I'd usually die to some silly thing while I wasn't paying attention and would just give up on the idea because I didn't feel like redoing hours of playtime. Guides aimed in our style still help out every player.
It doesn't really matter to me if anyone wants to help or not. It would be nice and all, but I'm going to be busy at work with it as much as I can be while school is going on once BG:EE comes out regardless. The reason I contribute is mostly for my own enjoyment because I just happen to find documenting the hell out of games I play a ton of to be fun, like the sick masochist I am. I just figured I would share it with you all.
"Keldorn's Firecam Family Plate is wearable if you have 15 strength, 17 constitution, 12 intelligence, and 18 Charisma. It is just a Full Plate +1 that also confers +1 to all saving throws and Free Action, so it isn't that noteworthy. Artificially raising your stats will NOT allow you to equip these armors."
Did'ya'know Monks can equip this armour with no penalty (I think) if they meet the stat pre-reqs?
That said, I'd love to contribute to a proper Baldur's Gate wiki though my contributions will have to wait until the EE version comes out (last year my 4th disc literally exploded in my hard drive as I loaded it in during a session of the original BG...I haven't been able to play it since. *cries*). Once I refresh my memory I'd be glad to do my part.
The game is a decade+ old. There are a lot of guides online. I am aware of this. However, there is not a good wiki for it because that concept didn't really happen til post game's relevance.
Also, most the guides I see simply say "Go here to get X loot." I like stuff a little more in depth than that. Like, say, at the Beregost Temple. Typically I only have my own character and Imoen in my party til I hit level 4 with both characters simply because then every other NPC will come at a higher level so it makes the overall XP grind less. There's the two vampiric wolves in the corner. When you write your own guide, your own wiki, you can then write a strat about how to take them out at level 2, reliably, and probably gain an entire level because of it.
Which, btw, is to stealth til you see just one of the wolves, hit it with an arrow, and pull it backwards. Spam the shiz out of fireball scrolls, magic wands, you name it. IIRC it was fairly easy to get a big wand of missiles really early as well as a few cheap damage magic scrolls.
People who haven't played BG1 may find it confusing when they select on Kits and see classes on the web page that aren't in BG1. eg. the Cleric and Druid kits. It doesn't say which classes are in BG1 or BG2.
If you're trying to incorporate a game guide into the wiki, then it would be better to have it in a separate part of the wiki. Web sites like Planet Baludurs Gate have different links for Characters / NPCs / Walkthroughs / Media / etc. for the IE games.
I've always used the Dudleyville walkthrough for BG1 as it has a great printable check list.
http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/index.htm
With BG2/ToB, I have the hard copy Prima game guide that I bought when BG2 was released which is pretty awesome.
If you think you can do a better job than Gamebanshee go for it. Wiki software is interesting in that it lets you easily link articles - however actual decent layout and content creation is remarkably dated given the lack of a rich text or even WYSIWIG editor (to think that I designed entire websites with just a no syntax highlighting Notepad is plain crazy to me 14 years later). It is going to take a metric ton of gametime to write strats for every encounter. You may want to consider narrated videos and such to make your site stand out (at least that's what I would do).
@Metal_Hurlant
I agree with your point about not playing the game with mods if he is going to make a guide. I love mods, I think they make the game better/allow me to customize it, and provide a fresh experience everytime I come back to the game. Having said that in order to build a wiki/guide correctly he'll need to essentially document the entire game mod-free, and then slowly add the mods he likes, play through it, document it, and then post the additional content to his guide with some kind of marking or flag to classify as mod XXX or YYY. That's an epic amount of work.
I always looked at them before creating a new char
We also used to have a lot more stuff on there but were hit with a hacker and had to roll back the entire website. We lost my entire completely comprehensive PIH guide to Final Fantasy Tactics, for example. It's why there is only like a single map page any more. Recreating it takes time and effort, something I have had in short supply since me and my friends started this back in 2007.
I figure when BG:EE comes out, the BG Wikia will take off simply because it's still the first thing that pops up when googling for a BG wiki. I realize it's an uphill battle and purely for something that is a passion. (We don't have any advertising. It's all hosted on soulmata's expense.)
It's still something I care about, and figured their might be some like minded individuals. If you think it's a waste of time, don't participate! No one is forcing you to, obviously. We'd love to have input and help from you or anyone, though. If you find any part of what we've got useful, feel free to share it.
Well if you are already #1 on Google rankings for "BG Wiki" then you might as well keep building on that. +1 to your efforts for not making another ad-infested hell hole of site (god I hate ads, I never put them on any site that I build).