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Protagonist's biography

RhulqdahrRhulqdahr Member Posts: 28
edited August 2012 in Archive (General Discussion)
As you know, it wasn't possible to write a custom biography during character creation in Baldur's Gate. New adventurers were described by some default ones, consisting of two paragraphs. The first one was based on the chosen race and class while the second one was the same for every new character.
In Baldur's Gate II those who wanted additional ways to customize their characters got what they asked for. Below the character portrait was a button that allowed to preview a default biography (the same for everyone) or even erase everything that was written there and enter a custom text.

My question is, will Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition allow players to customize the biography of their characters? I assume so, given the fact that the game takes the most from Throne of Bhaal. Will it be possible to edit biography during the adventures? (Really hope so!)

I'm also curious how many players actually bother writing their own characters' biographies. To be honest, I've never done that myself in any Baldur's Gate game because I thought that the default ones are already well written. But this time I think I'll give it a try.

Comments

  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Not being able to write/change your biography is an engine limitation (probably they just gave it no thought when making the game) and seeing as BG:EE uses BG2's engine, we should be able to do so this time around.

    For BG2 I've never written my own biography, though I've edited it (and the journal) to make it less annoying to read; for some reason it irks me immensely how they often use double or triple spaces.

    In ID2 I wrote full biographies for 2 of my parties though, but that had a bit to do with playing it in multiplayer now and then and the vanilla biographies there are very bad imo.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    In a MP game with other players that would make sense. But for a SP game there's no one to read it but me, so nope.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    The only thing I need is a journal which I can edit. No sense in keeping a record of my evil deeds for others to find.
  • CCarluNNCCarluNN Member Posts: 200
    I always wondered how CHARNAME grew up in Candlekeep. The prologue intro in BG gave only so much info. Most of the 20 years are unknown. The option to write an extensive bio could fill this gap nicely. Or better yet, a bio generated by the game based on your race/class/alignment/etc.
  • Tr_ondTr_ond Member Posts: 496
    edited August 2012
    @elminster
    What`s the point of doing evil deeds if no-one finds out?
    Why bother farting in an elevator if no-one knows who`s bowels they are enjoying.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    Tr_ond said:

    @elminster
    What`s the point of doing evil deeds if no-one finds out?
    Why bother farting in an elevator if no-one knows who`s bowels they are enjoying.

    Well I'd like to avoid jail for one thing. The last thing I want is to end up next to Jan and hear him jabbering all the time.
  • taletotelltaletotell Member Posts: 74
    I made bios in iwd. I edited my bg2 bio a little. Since no one else reads it and it dorsn't change anything I don't really see it as worth the effort. There is plenty of plot without me adding to it.
    Iwd needed it.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    elminster said:

    The only thing I need is a journal which I can edit. No sense in keeping a record of my evil deeds for others to find.

    Actually, a journal that is interactive with the NPCs could be kind of fun. There might be a creative and clever way to to do that in a mod, although NPC reactions would have to be static regardless of what the player writes. Eg, at some point an NPC (Imoen?) shares a journal page selected at random, etc. NPCs react, hilarity ensues.

    Or perhaps a side-quest develops simply by virtue of having and keeping one, eg, it gets pick-pocketed, lost, etc.

    In the dim recesses of my memory, I'm recalling that it is possible to make your own journal entries in BG. Or is this a feature of a mod? Maybe another game than BG altogether? I can no longer recall...
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Lemernis said:

    In the dim recesses of my memory, I'm recalling that it is possible to make your own journal entries in BG. Or is this a feature of a mod? Maybe another game than BG altogether? I can no longer recall...

    In #2 you can add your own entries or edit the ones the game provides.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    @Silverstar

    Thanks, it's all hazy both due to time and distance from the game, and the fact that I played BGT exclusively after a while.
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