@Balrog99 - alas, I don't have access to such goodies yet. But I swear I will come back and cloudkilled them all so hard, they'll scare their kobold-children with me. So sayeth Artona Unwise.
@CheckmateSanderson The plot to IWD is there, it's just that the game is more hack 'n slash than character interaction. It's actually a pretty good plot in my opinion.
Other things that annoy me. 2. the hallway with the two skeleton warriors and all the traps in the Theives Guild 3. Pathfinding (especially back when I was playing the Vanilla game) 4. The 2nd floor of Durlag's Tower (although let's face it, that dungeon is awesome) 5. The Xvart Village attacks you when you did nothing to them and then has the audacity to say that you attacked them when they did nothing to you. 6. None of the other Bhaalspawn (except Sarevok) disintegrate when they die. 7. Low-level party in IWD is forced to fight a Maralith, and not just a Maralith, but a Maralith and her high level goons all at once(my only real major issue with IWD) 8. There is no way to resurrect Ajantis despite him dying in a relatively normal way unlike Dynaheir, Khalid and Tiax. I understand that Ajantis has a mod, but I'm talking specifically about the unmodded game. 9. Only party members can spring traps. 10. SOA gives you protection from +1 weapons or lower at the end and then TOB throws armies at you with +2 weapons or more, rendering your ability pointless and virtually unusable.
@ZaramMaldovar Yeah, it would be nice to summon a creature and run him ahead to check for traps. It's that number 9 that is a little off in all the games. At least one can use summons to blow a skull bomb that never went off.
The entire plot of IWD1. (Maybe not a "little" thing per se but...well, I certainly have to squint my eyes to discern any sign of it)
Try the entire plot of IWD2. It starts out making sense...
1. Kill goblins at Targos. 2. Kill orcs at Shaengarne. 3. Kill orcs and goblins at the Horde Fortress.
...but then it starts getting increasingly weird.
4. Go fly in a balloon to meet with the Neverwinter troops. 5. You crashed! You'll have to walk. 6. Destroy this giant ice wall that apparently is created by Aurilite priests working with Talos, all of whom are working with the Legion of the Chimera. They built this extremely expensive wall to block the pass, even though practically nobody but you was trying to get through it anyway. Also, there are demons there for some reason, Xhaan and his group, but they're perfectly friendly to you as long as you're not bleeding. 7. You got past the wall! Now you have to go through the woods. But the villagers won't tell you the way until you figure out why their children are going missing. 8. "I'm Limha the witch! I turned all their children into furry critters for some reason! Kill me and they'll be free!" 9. "blargh i'm dead" 10. "Thank you for saving our children! Now go murder some flashing lights!" 11. "We're flashing lights!" 12. "nooooo we died too" 13. "Thank you for murdering the flashing lights. Now I can tell you the way to--" 14. "Ho ho! It is I, Isair the freaky-looking sorcerer. And this is my freaky-looking sister, Madae!" 15. "Hi." 16. "Shut up, sister; I'm not done talking. Anyhoo, stop trying to thwart our plans, because it's not very nice. Well, bye!" 17. "Hi, we're doppelgangers! Go kill that dragon over there!" 18. "Wait, did I say we were doppelgangers? I meant we were--" 20. "blargh no i died too" 21. "Hello, I'm Dargy Dergdop. I enslave orcs. I'll give you a pickaxe if you promise to kill a bunch of monks." 22. "blargh no why does this keep happening" 23. "Hello, I'm Salimshibby Haberdasher. Oh, you need to get to the Underdark to rendezvous with the Neverwinter troops who don't know you're coming and have probably already moved on in the weeks since you've been missing? Well, talk to Aruma Blane; she's currently making out with that tiefling fellow, Dolon." 24. "Hi, I'm Dolon's letters. I explain all of his secret plans to seduce Aruma Blane and prevent the Black Raven Monastery from getting involved in the increasingly complicated war with the Legion of the Chimera! By the way, don't show me to Aruma." 25. "*gasp* Dolon, how could you?" 26. "Come on, Aruma. I might be working for an evil empire, but I swear I enjoyed banging you!" 27. "Oh, okay, I forgive you. You adventurers can run along now." 28. "I am Malavon Despana, the drow sorcerer! The Malavon who died several decades ago was actually a crazy clone who created other clones of me, but I'm the real deal, I swear! Also, I'm totes not evil, so track down my sister and find out where all the creepy spider people are coming from." 29. "I am Malavon's sister. Oh, he wants to see me? Sure; I wasn't really hiding anyway." 30. "I'm the Viciscamera, the hideous giant blob monster thing that's been creating all the spider people. I love my little spider babies so much! Just the other day, they were playing tag and--" 31. "blargh blargh blargh" 32. "Thank you for finding my sister. Go kill some mind flayers and you'll be free!" 33. "blargh blargh blargh" 34. "Wow, Mirabel, you tracked down the adventurers!" 35. "Of course I did, Majrash. I did not spend all those years studying expository dialogue for nothing." 36. "Let's kill them! Surely these blood-soaked warriors are no threat to us!" 37. "blargh how unexpected" 38. "Hi, I'm Oswald! And this is my niece, Maralie!" 39. "My head won't fit in the root jar." 40. "Oh, you want to meet with the Neverwinter troops, the mission that you've been struggling to accomplish for the past six months? Nah, we're going to Kuldahar instead." 41. "I'm Iselore, the archdruid of Kuldahar. Isair and Madae are half-demons who started the Legion of the Chimera as a home for multi-ethnic war criminals. Say, would you hop through that portal to the distant jungles of Chult and kill all the Yuan-ti who inexplicably decided to chop up Kuldahar?" 42. "Hello, initiates. I can tell you humanoids are trustworthy acolytes of Sseth because you're wearing white robes. Welcome to our temple! We're always glad to see new recruits. So, what is the black flower of the world?" 43. "Wait, you don't know the answer? Hey everybody in the entire temple! Let's kill the new recruits!" 44. "blargh i died et cetera" 45. "Iselore, it is I, Madae, the freaky-looking sister of Isair! I have come to establish a utopia by painting your town with the brains of your children. But I'm too busy, so my minions can do it. Bye!" 46. "*sigh* Blargh. There. I said it. Happy?" 47. "Thank you for saving our town! Now go kill everyone in Dragon's Eye." 48. "Hi, I'm Nheero Futma. You can't progress in the game unless you find a root buried under a rock somewhere in this giant cave. Good luck! I sure hope you didn't already find it, or else you just caused a game-breaking bug." 49. "Thanks for the root. Now I can turn you into a brainless zombie lizard!" 50. "Hi, I'm Thorasskus! Thank you for murdering all those fire genies. Would you like some happy juice?" 51. "Hello again. Now that you've walked all around the dungeon looking for clues and have no idea what you're doing, would you like to guess my true identity?" 52. "blargh, whatever" 53. "Hi, I'm Venomin! Allow me to start the most complicated questline ever by throwing myself into the lava!" 54. "Hi, I'm Jasper. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress." 55. "Hi, I'm Lother. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress." 56. "Hi, I'm Pyros. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress." 57. "Hi, I'm Izbelah. I'm about to trap you in the worst questline ever for all eternity!" 58. "#blargh" 59. "Hi, we're 30 different side quests at the Severed Hand! You'd better complete us all if you want enough XP to win the final battle. After all, it's probably been three years since you last got a level up..." 60. "I'm Iyachtu Xvim! I'm a legit god of this world!" 61. "blargh no how could I be so easily defeateeeeeed" 62. "It is I, Isair, and my equally obnoxious sister, Madae! Go ahead, just try to use Diplomacy in this dialogue! I bet you haven't found a use for it since the prologue!" 63. "They punched me! Owie owie owie! Let's go to the fountain, Madae." 64. "No! You poisoned the water! Why did we leave this room completely unguarded this whole time?" 65. "I'm Orrick the Grey. The mythal's collapsing, so... maybe you should get out of here. Or don't; I don't care; I'm True Neutral." 66. "blarghity blargh blargh blargh" 67. You saved Icewind Dale! The end!
@semiticgod great list. My most vivid memory of IWD2 is the extraordinary number of dead cats you can find throughout the game. Like, every map seems to have a container with a dead cat inside - it's perverse!
64. "No! You poisoned the water! Why did we leave this room completely unguarded this whole time?"
Well, they didn't leave it unguarded. That place has a powerful priest and a bunch of Slayer Knights of Xvim guarding it. It's one of the tougher battles of Chapter 6.
It doesn't exist. It never existed. And if it did exist it wouldn't provide any benefit over leather. Hollywood and TSR invented it because it looks cool.
@ZaramMaldovar - oh man, she is the worst. Ad rem - combat, especially those filler fights. I noticed that I am currently enjoying conversations and exploration much more than combat. Is it how being old feels like?
@Artona Perhaps, bu I'm 21 and when it comes to Siege of Dragonspear, the story is the best part, but the combat is so diverse and the character interaction so frequent that I truly believe it to be a masterpiece.
Corwin on the other hand, I have a serious problem with. If she was listed as a Lawful Neutral Fighter with grand mastery in Long Bows instead of a Lawful Good Archer, then I'd have less of a problem.
But as it stands we have a LG Ranger or is clearly LN and is more concerned with following orders than anything else and flat out refuses to see anything from any point of view but her/the Flaming Fist's.
Chaotic Evil Necromancer? No problem as long as you help get what we need done. Drows? Goblins? Half-Orcs? They MUST be evil. Lawful Good Paladin with rep 20? Doesn't matter, you killed Skie and that's that, she isn't even going to question it. Take time away from the main quest to help your party members? She complains about it and insists that you return to the main quest. Hell, I even had her do that when we diverged from the main quest to heal her fellow soldiers.
Plainly put, everything about Corwin screams LN and she isn't very pleasant about it, even characters like Xan and Anomen are so hell-bent at being as fundamental and order focused as Corwin is.
Now I'll give Corwin that she cares about her family (and Rohma is so cute) but anyone can care about their family, so that in and of itself is not a redeemable quality.
@ZaramMaldovar How often do we get a legit member of law enforcement in our party in games like this? I fully agree that she should be TN, but considering her job, I fully understand her stances ( not that I agree with her, the abysmal conduct of my countries law enforcement may be coloring my view of her here). FWIW you CAN convince her that you are innocent, but being tied to the system, admits that there is nothing she can do. I think its worth taking her at least once though, she some interesting reactions to a few of the other party members, kind of a "straight man" to the chaos if you will. Her interactions with M'Khiin are great, going from outright racism to a mutual respect with one another.
@ThacoBell No sir, LN. But I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinions. There is a BIG difference between LN and TN. Then again, I am one who believes every alignment is unique and complex rather than being a simple archetype. LN is the most rigid of all, but not everyone is necessarily rigid.
LN doesn't get enough love in the Baldur's Gate universe (Xan is the only pure LN character in the entire series) and while I originally hated it, I'm considering playing through as a LN character in the future (most likely a Cleric)
My next playthrough though is going to be a LE Blackguard.
While I'm at it, you know what really grinds my gears? Kobolds. Like they aren't difficult to kill, but the numbers are ridiculous. And then when you get to BG2 they start casting Entangle. Oh and let's not forget the snipers in Firewine Bridge with fire arrows in the tight hallways
All the quests that require you to break into random houses. Seriously, do normal people reward you with quests after you break into their domiciles? Are they sitting around waiting for a master thief to break in???
Thinking about gold pieces found in random chests. Anybody remember the Gold Box games where they actually used currency other than gold? It was much more believable when coppers were the norm and finding electrum pieces for the first time was a memorable experience. Would it have been that hard to implement something like that in Baldur's Gate?
I guess everything, including a head of lettuce or a safety pin has a minimum price of 1 gp. Good thing they don't have Jolly Ranchers in Baldur's Gate or people would be going broke once they tasted the watermelon flavor!
Comments
No you don't; you're a fighter/cleric.
Yay.
But I swear I will come back and cloudkilled them all so hard, they'll scare their kobold-children with me. So sayeth Artona Unwise.
Proceeds to go North instead of South.
The plot to IWD is there, it's just that the game is more hack 'n slash than character interaction. It's actually a pretty good plot in my opinion.
Other things that annoy me.
2. the hallway with the two skeleton warriors and all the traps in the Theives Guild
3. Pathfinding (especially back when I was playing the Vanilla game)
4. The 2nd floor of Durlag's Tower (although let's face it, that dungeon is awesome)
5. The Xvart Village attacks you when you did nothing to them and then has the audacity to say that you attacked them when they did nothing to you.
6. None of the other Bhaalspawn (except Sarevok) disintegrate when they die.
7. Low-level party in IWD is forced to fight a Maralith, and not just a Maralith, but a Maralith and her high level goons all at once(my only real major issue with IWD)
8. There is no way to resurrect Ajantis despite him dying in a relatively normal way unlike Dynaheir, Khalid and Tiax. I understand that Ajantis has a mod, but I'm talking specifically about the unmodded game.
9. Only party members can spring traps.
10. SOA gives you protection from +1 weapons or lower at the end and then TOB throws armies at you with +2 weapons or more, rendering your ability pointless and virtually unusable.
1. Kill goblins at Targos.
2. Kill orcs at Shaengarne.
3. Kill orcs and goblins at the Horde Fortress.
...but then it starts getting increasingly weird.
4. Go fly in a balloon to meet with the Neverwinter troops.
5. You crashed! You'll have to walk.
6. Destroy this giant ice wall that apparently is created by Aurilite priests working with Talos, all of whom are working with the Legion of the Chimera. They built this extremely expensive wall to block the pass, even though practically nobody but you was trying to get through it anyway. Also, there are demons there for some reason, Xhaan and his group, but they're perfectly friendly to you as long as you're not bleeding.
7. You got past the wall! Now you have to go through the woods. But the villagers won't tell you the way until you figure out why their children are going missing.
8. "I'm Limha the witch! I turned all their children into furry critters for some reason! Kill me and they'll be free!"
9. "blargh i'm dead"
10. "Thank you for saving our children! Now go murder some flashing lights!"
11. "We're flashing lights!"
12. "nooooo we died too"
13. "Thank you for murdering the flashing lights. Now I can tell you the way to--"
14. "Ho ho! It is I, Isair the freaky-looking sorcerer. And this is my freaky-looking sister, Madae!"
15. "Hi."
16. "Shut up, sister; I'm not done talking. Anyhoo, stop trying to thwart our plans, because it's not very nice. Well, bye!"
17. "Hi, we're doppelgangers! Go kill that dragon over there!"
18. "Wait, did I say we were doppelgangers? I meant we were--"
20. "blargh no i died too"
21. "Hello, I'm Dargy Dergdop. I enslave orcs. I'll give you a pickaxe if you promise to kill a bunch of monks."
22. "blargh no why does this keep happening"
23. "Hello, I'm Salimshibby Haberdasher. Oh, you need to get to the Underdark to rendezvous with the Neverwinter troops who don't know you're coming and have probably already moved on in the weeks since you've been missing? Well, talk to Aruma Blane; she's currently making out with that tiefling fellow, Dolon."
24. "Hi, I'm Dolon's letters. I explain all of his secret plans to seduce Aruma Blane and prevent the Black Raven Monastery from getting involved in the increasingly complicated war with the Legion of the Chimera! By the way, don't show me to Aruma."
25. "*gasp* Dolon, how could you?"
26. "Come on, Aruma. I might be working for an evil empire, but I swear I enjoyed banging you!"
27. "Oh, okay, I forgive you. You adventurers can run along now."
28. "I am Malavon Despana, the drow sorcerer! The Malavon who died several decades ago was actually a crazy clone who created other clones of me, but I'm the real deal, I swear! Also, I'm totes not evil, so track down my sister and find out where all the creepy spider people are coming from."
29. "I am Malavon's sister. Oh, he wants to see me? Sure; I wasn't really hiding anyway."
30. "I'm the Viciscamera, the hideous giant blob monster thing that's been creating all the spider people. I love my little spider babies so much! Just the other day, they were playing tag and--"
31. "blargh blargh blargh"
32. "Thank you for finding my sister. Go kill some mind flayers and you'll be free!"
33. "blargh blargh blargh"
34. "Wow, Mirabel, you tracked down the adventurers!"
35. "Of course I did, Majrash. I did not spend all those years studying expository dialogue for nothing."
36. "Let's kill them! Surely these blood-soaked warriors are no threat to us!"
37. "blargh how unexpected"
38. "Hi, I'm Oswald! And this is my niece, Maralie!"
39. "My head won't fit in the root jar."
40. "Oh, you want to meet with the Neverwinter troops, the mission that you've been struggling to accomplish for the past six months? Nah, we're going to Kuldahar instead."
41. "I'm Iselore, the archdruid of Kuldahar. Isair and Madae are half-demons who started the Legion of the Chimera as a home for multi-ethnic war criminals. Say, would you hop through that portal to the distant jungles of Chult and kill all the Yuan-ti who inexplicably decided to chop up Kuldahar?"
42. "Hello, initiates. I can tell you humanoids are trustworthy acolytes of Sseth because you're wearing white robes. Welcome to our temple! We're always glad to see new recruits. So, what is the black flower of the world?"
43. "Wait, you don't know the answer? Hey everybody in the entire temple! Let's kill the new recruits!"
44. "blargh i died et cetera"
45. "Iselore, it is I, Madae, the freaky-looking sister of Isair! I have come to establish a utopia by painting your town with the brains of your children. But I'm too busy, so my minions can do it. Bye!"
46. "*sigh* Blargh. There. I said it. Happy?"
47. "Thank you for saving our town! Now go kill everyone in Dragon's Eye."
48. "Hi, I'm Nheero Futma. You can't progress in the game unless you find a root buried under a rock somewhere in this giant cave. Good luck! I sure hope you didn't already find it, or else you just caused a game-breaking bug."
49. "Thanks for the root. Now I can turn you into a brainless zombie lizard!"
50. "Hi, I'm Thorasskus! Thank you for murdering all those fire genies. Would you like some happy juice?"
51. "Hello again. Now that you've walked all around the dungeon looking for clues and have no idea what you're doing, would you like to guess my true identity?"
52. "blargh, whatever"
53. "Hi, I'm Venomin! Allow me to start the most complicated questline ever by throwing myself into the lava!"
54. "Hi, I'm Jasper. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress."
55. "Hi, I'm Lother. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress."
56. "Hi, I'm Pyros. I don't add anything to the plot, but you have to talk to me anyway to progress."
57. "Hi, I'm Izbelah. I'm about to trap you in the worst questline ever for all eternity!"
58. "#blargh"
59. "Hi, we're 30 different side quests at the Severed Hand! You'd better complete us all if you want enough XP to win the final battle. After all, it's probably been three years since you last got a level up..."
60. "I'm Iyachtu Xvim! I'm a legit god of this world!"
61. "blargh no how could I be so easily defeateeeeeed"
62. "It is I, Isair, and my equally obnoxious sister, Madae! Go ahead, just try to use Diplomacy in this dialogue! I bet you haven't found a use for it since the prologue!"
63. "They punched me! Owie owie owie! Let's go to the fountain, Madae."
64. "No! You poisoned the water! Why did we leave this room completely unguarded this whole time?"
65. "I'm Orrick the Grey. The mythal's collapsing, so... maybe you should get out of here. Or don't; I don't care; I'm True Neutral."
66. "blarghity blargh blargh blargh"
67. You saved Icewind Dale! The end!
It doesn't exist. It never existed. And if it did exist it wouldn't provide any benefit over leather. Hollywood and TSR invented it because it looks cool.
Ad rem - combat, especially those filler fights. I noticed that I am currently enjoying conversations and exploration much more than combat. Is it how being old feels like?
Perhaps, bu I'm 21 and when it comes to Siege of Dragonspear, the story is the best part, but the combat is so diverse and the character interaction so frequent that I truly believe it to be a masterpiece.
Corwin on the other hand, I have a serious problem with. If she was listed as a Lawful Neutral Fighter with grand mastery in Long Bows instead of a Lawful Good Archer, then I'd have less of a problem.
But as it stands we have a LG Ranger or is clearly LN and is more concerned with following orders than anything else and flat out refuses to see anything from any point of view but her/the Flaming Fist's.
Chaotic Evil Necromancer? No problem as long as you help get what we need done.
Drows? Goblins? Half-Orcs? They MUST be evil.
Lawful Good Paladin with rep 20? Doesn't matter, you killed Skie and that's that, she isn't even going to question it.
Take time away from the main quest to help your party members? She complains about it and insists that you return to the main quest. Hell, I even had her do that when we diverged from the main quest to heal her fellow soldiers.
Plainly put, everything about Corwin screams LN and she isn't very pleasant about it, even characters like Xan and Anomen are so hell-bent at being as fundamental and order focused as Corwin is.
Now I'll give Corwin that she cares about her family (and Rohma is so cute) but anyone can care about their family, so that in and of itself is not a redeemable quality.
No sir, LN. But I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinions. There is a BIG difference between LN and TN. Then again, I am one who believes every alignment is unique and complex rather than being a simple archetype. LN is the most rigid of all, but not everyone is necessarily rigid.
LN doesn't get enough love in the Baldur's Gate universe (Xan is the only pure LN character in the entire series) and while I originally hated it, I'm considering playing through as a LN character in the future (most likely a Cleric)
My next playthrough though is going to be a LE Blackguard.
Hey it happens.
While I'm at it, you know what really grinds my gears? Kobolds. Like they aren't difficult to kill, but the numbers are ridiculous. And then when you get to BG2 they start casting Entangle. Oh and let's not forget the snipers in Firewine Bridge with fire arrows in the tight hallways
How else can you get any change back on a purchase?