One thing that's become really clear to me over the last couple of weeks is that this really is an exceptional place to come and talk about our shared hobby, as well as any other thing. I've spent a lot of time on the Obsidian forums recently just looking for info about mostly technical info about PoE. I have to wade through pages of rudeness to get to the info I'm looking for most of the time. Many kudos to everyone, and especially all the moderators, for keeping it classy here!
Thank you:) It's interesting, really, that this forum, although it is about BG, may still be a better place to discuss PoE than the Obsidian boards;)
It absolutely is. I haven't been participating in the discussions on PoE too much because I'm playing REALLY slowly and actually restarted...I haven't even made it past act 1 yet!
I actually joined back in October 2012 (Just had to go and check my profile for the date), I figure this was when I first heard you guys were rereleasing the Baldur's Gates.
Then I ended up going back to college, didn't have much free time and I never got around to buying the enhanced editions. Fast forward to a month or so ago and I finally picked up BG1&2 EE, and found myself back to the forums.
Truth be told I had forgotten all about joining in the first place, when I tried to sign up to the site I got a message about my e-mail address already being registered on the site, a password recovery later and I was back on the site.
On another note, back then I vaguely remember there being talk of a possible IWD & PST EE once you finished with the Baldur's Gates. I see you have got around to updating the Icewind games (Which I plan to move onto pretty soon), is Planescape still on the cards or did that get scrapped?
No word on Planescape yet, if they do release it they'll probably keep it secret until very near release so they don't get pressured (same thing they did with Icewind dale)
If anything doesn't make sense, you'll have to pardon me and understand that autocorrect has been hijacking me badly tonighy. It's made worse by the fact that it's too late in the evening to catch the usual errors.
I had been lurking for a little between this site and a few others in order to maximize my BG playthroughs on Android. I generally hate joining forums because there is either (a) a dearth of reasonable people or (b) a paucity of senses of humor, the latter of which is complicated by the fact that mine is twisted, ranging from absurdist to dark with seldom anything held sacred.
When I initially joined, it was to share an underwhelming glitch that resulted from importing a character into BG1 with a flaming sword from BG2. Unbeknownst to me, the results were not uncommon and occurred with many different items, including Black Razor. At that point, I was pretty much expecting to get flamed, most notably by vets who were versed in modding, and while I was prepared to grin it and bear it, it is that kind of thing that also detracts from my message board experience, making me despise joining them even though recognizing it's an inevitable rite of passage. To my surprise, I was not greeted with that at all. Some of those newer to the game were intrigued while the vets kindly explained away the novelty. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the reaction. Was it an aberration or business as usual on this site?
Determined to test my mettle, I started using the forum as an outlet to express my love for these kinds of games and my overall silly nature, much of which is tempered in my professional life. I found both very well-received, almost unexpectedly so (especially my peculiar sense of humor), making me feel amongst like-minded ruffians and rogues. I also found myself impressed with the diverse alternative interests that many have brought to bear on their contributions to topics. It is an impressive gathering of personalities, doubtless made special by expert moderation. In all of my message board use, whether lurking or using, I've discovered that the quality of the board as a whole is directly proportionate to the quality the moderation.
So here I am, and I thank everyone who has contributed to the enhancement and enjoyment of my overall user experience. This site allows me to share my humor and thoughtfulness with others in a way that I am unable on the other forums to which I belong (if only I can get that movie thread going...). I also don't feel like there is a post-count snobbery or join-date elitism that you sometimes find on message boards. I tire easily from trivial arguments and petty disagreements, but I haven't noticed the kind of meaningless quibble I have in mind here (at least not to the degree one finds elsewhere). Posts are often hilarious, informative, interesting, engaging, and / or helpful. The site affords me a great break from everyday demands.
I lurked on the forums for a while. But after I read the Aerie vs. Quayle thread I realized that my opinions needed to be expressed, and so I joined in order to do so. And as far as I am concerned, I've done that. By the way, Quayle.
I joined because I'd heard that the series was making an Enhanced (TM) comeback, and this seemed like the best place to keep track of the development. I was a very late comer to Baldur's Gate, learning about the trilogy at the time of KOTOR, which I loved; essentially, played it soon after (eBay was the only way I could get it then) and my children grew up with memories of mostly Minsc...
And others. My oldest once bravely smashed a spider, while she cried, "Die, foul creature, and feed the earth." No joke - she really did that. I bought her BG:EE, too, actually, but I digress.
Anyway, far more than learning about the new game, and what was going to be included in the Enhancement of Beamdog (10th level mage spell, can only cast on certain software because of the counter spell: Injunction of Lawyer, as well as Protection of Copyright spells), it became more of a connection with other players. I learned far more than I thought I could about the game, and classes, and weapons...
This led to some role playing on the forums (thanks @LadyRhian) and some connections with other players who share the memories and experiences of The Sword Coast. Also told me about Numenara, Pillars of Eternity and some others. That, with a very low Rate of Trolling (RoT), keeps bringing me back.
@reedmilfam , That story about your daughter using Jaheira's battle cry while killing a spider is adorable! I am totally going to shout that the next time I have to stomp a bug.
Why did you join the forum? What did you do when you first joined? What, if any, were the turning points of your forum story? What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum? What other members were important to your forum story? What was your best experience on the forums? What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
Why did I join the forums?
Well you see, none of my IRL friends play Baldur's Gate including the ones that I would normally play D&D with. It was weird talking to people about my admittedly weird obsession with necromancy and shorties. I joined to the forums first to ask merely factual questions about the game.
What did you do when you first joined?
I had an old account, now deleted, that I forgot the password to but I'm sure my first discussion was probably asking something about necromancy. On this account I wanted to ask about necromancy builds and got a few great links to mods but other than that I felt as though the information was lacking.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum?
Probably I can talk about necromancy and gnome/halfling/dwarf girls to my heart's content and there are people that share my weird obsessions with fantasy and roleplaying.
What other members were important to your forum story.
Well, I first saw @typo_tilly 's Tilly Wigglebottom run and was like wait, YOU'RE SAYING I CAN WRITE MY OWN STORY USING BALDUR'S GATE AMG, I NEED TO DO THAT. So I thank her mostly for the start of my account.
Then there's @Aquadrizzt making the Tome and Blood mod which is the COOLEST mod to me because it has the Pale Master, White Necromancer, and Fey Bloodline sorcerer .
Also @Dee for that amazing enlightenment he brought upon me in our discussion on why Animate Dead is evil or not. It's the first time I've seen an intellectual post on the matter rather than IT'S EVIL BECAUSE NECROMANCY IS EVIL DERP.
What was your best experience on the forums?
Best experience? Hmmm that's a hard one. I guess it'd be anytime I be weird me and other people reinforce the weird me. XD I assure you while on the forums I might only talk about the necrotic arts in IRL I rarely speak of such things. It's on this forum I can pursue my passion of a thing that doesn't even exist. I even got to write my huge post on analyzing necromancy within the games n_n
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
Well, it's been really great! This community is one of the nicest communities I've ever been a part of and I'm glad to call of you my friend even if I've never actually never met any of you n_n
I originally was going to do the post in-character as Val'myr but saw you wanted avoid silliness and Val'myr is very much full of himself and therefore quite silly.
Just joined couple a months ago but been playing BG since it first came out and got back in with the EE editions and now finding out about using mods to really "enhance" everything and finding the BG forum has really helped. BG is best game hands down and glad to be chatting with people who enjoy all the aspects of this great series and now new "adventure Y" to hopefully see this continue to grow
I joined when I first heard of Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition (July 2012); although oddly enough I never bough the game until the spring of this year (2015). Well the reason why I am here is because I originally started to get frustrated with with gameplay with 'Turld of Wankers' and I quit that game but I started to post about new developing tank 'tech trees' (game specific term) and well then I got sick and tired of the sh*t community and I got a Baldur's Gate urge and well I 'restarted' Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast and I started posting and writing threads here and Lo and behold a difficult game creates beautiful communities (thanks everyone) and then I bought Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition.. Well I think that is sh*tty in areas and great in others 71/100 for the 'new changes' (taken from a 2015 perspective). So I dusted off my Baldur's Gate section of my game development projects file and started planning a super expansion for the Original Baldur's Gate. Well enough of that, I am currently working on smaller modules of said super expansion and that has fueled my forum posting. I find this forum very very useful for asking how to use modding tools and learning of new things that I did not know. I used to frequent deviantART and be social there but now I rather this community. Although if you are this far into my post I will tell you my true history of why I am here.. Well it all started in World of Warcraft, no it Started in my grandparents basement when I was 9 years old. My older sister had this 'cool old game' that I might like and when I clicked the brown skull and well it is ten years later I never left. I could not read at the age of nine (bad original house hold kept my schooling under my potential), I played Baldur's Gate without being able to understand what people were saying in their text so I had to click random options and hope for the best; although the first voiced line helped me out.. at times.. I always fought Marl in Feldepost's Inn.. I felt kind of bad that Imoen seemed kind of upset afterwords, although in my eyes I had just defended myself from the guys who turned red at random. I figured out that "THAC0" was better if it was Lower and that what ever was "A.C." was best to keep it as low as possible. I was playing along side my brother (whom is three years older than I) and we kept overwriting our save file for we both used the top save slot and we used autosave a lot without realizing that it over rights the last save with the most recent player's progress.. So my grandmother got myself and my brother to play Baldur's Gate on separate computers for I guess we bitched a lot about "he saved over my file" or something.. Oh I remember my sister being so lazy that she did not want to explain how the 'save and recall' buttons worked when rolling an Ability Scores on a character.. Although I sh*t you not, one of my first characters (a male fighter / thief with 'generic man 2' portrait) rolled Five 18's and a 9 for charisma.. I am not lying nor would I make that up, my brother was there and we were like *Holy Cr*p, uh SAVE SAVE DONE YES YES!*. Oh and back to my first 'play through': I somehow got to The City of Baldur's Gate at the age of nine but I was in a competition with my brother to see who had the most days rested.. Well I ended up in Baldur's Gate with no clue with what to do so I went in every building and then I eventually found the Iron Throne and killed everyone with no definition as to who they were. I killed that guy with the golden heavy crossbow on the 'bridge' and then I saved my game like usual and.. Two minutes later *CHUNK! -Hand dissolving movie* I reload and again it happens and it kept happening.. Well some how I learned to read some English by then while playing the game and I figured out how to import and export characters (damn I was nine too, hmm) anyway I had a mad dash to put all of my magical items into my main character's inventory and import him within two minutes. I did it and started over again.. I never did complete Baldur's Gate properly, with no modifications, no cheating.. I have never done a strictly 'vanilla' play through of Baldur's Gate in all of my Decade of playing this game. Hell I played this game so much that I discovered a few items and added them to the Wikipedia page ("PLAT99"). I love this game. I have played World of Warcraft from its glory days from the middle of the Burning Crusade up and to the middle of Wrath of the Lich King, I was 12 to 15 and I was the Guild Leader of my own 300+ player guild. I stopped playing World of Warcraft at the very last weeks of Wrath of the Lich King.. I still came back to this game.. It is just special. I want to be a Video Game Designer and I have fought hard to keep my dreams alive and well, I want to start with The Original Baldur's Gate.
So I know my talents and I know my strengths and weaknesses and I want to give this gaming community something to remember and cherish. I come from nothing, hardship and odds stacked against myself. I know my direction and I want my dreams. I don't want to fad away and become nothing, I don't want to be forgotten and a failure. I want to break my mold and walk my own path of destiny. I did not learn three grades in one year and defeat my 'old demons' and run so far from my old life to fight for a chance at a highschool diploma and a future to end up short working all of my life in a stiff man's job with a broken soul and a spirit that was sold for a truck, house and food on the table. No that won't do for me, I have been hungry and I have been in dept and I know what it is like to stare death in the face and feel like a failure.. A complete failure. I want to live life on my own terms and I am a body of passion that loves my mortal human heart and is true to my dreams. I dream of becoming a video game designer and so help me god I will have to go screaming and bloody in the clutches of death in order to stop my dreams. Don't you forget that no one will or can ever hit you as hard as what life can and will. It will hit you so hard that will shatter all of your hopes and aspirations and remember that only your spirit and your will to thrive will get your broken and shattered mind back to its feet. Never forget who you are and what your dreams are; never lose yourself.
I am on these forums because I am alive and well, I live and I dream and times get hard but I get harder and I keep on plugging away at this game and I keep on pushing forward in an uncertain future. I am here because I love this game and I want to add to it for I just cannot lose myself. I am here for I enjoy the company of the other lonely fan boys and girls of this game and their exploits and antics. I like to have a change where I can relate to people instead of filtering out crap people from my life. I like to work with people and here I can do this. Although I want to work face to face, but for now this will do. I am here for I honour my passions and I am passionate about creating video games, and the Original Baldur's Gate is my favourite game of all time. I love to be with other die hard Baldur's Gate fans so far I see '188' of them http://forums.beamdog.com/badge/insightful-100
Although mainly I am here because it is a nice change of pace to know people like myself for the first time in my life.
There, I Have Told You Of My Honest Baldur's Gate Forum Story.
When I was younger, I used to always fight Marl in Feldepost's Inn too, @WithinAmnesia . The dialogue with him is not the most obvious in terms of choices and their consequences. Thanks a lot for a detailed insight into your first BG impressions. Things like these show why these games are great.
This thing has been here for over 3 years! Damn! It feels like 3 months, tops. I so didn't need to be reminded of mortality right now...
Well, what's done is done. I don't really have a story, either, I just joined because there was no question about it. I've been a Baldur's Gate worshiper ever since I first played BG1 as a teenager, and this place was the place to find actual BG-related news for the first time in, like, a decade. As I said, it wasn't really a choice.
I'm quite impressed though, this has turned out to be a great place, with a lot of people consistently paying attention to a 15 year old game. Normally, that doesn't happen.
I forgot. Likely to look for a bug fix or mods or both, since those are the only reasons I go to game related forums. Most I don't join, not sure why I joined this. My join date says Dec 2012, not sure if I actually started posting then. I did pre-order after reading about EE somewhere, but 3 years is an eternity if your short term memory rivals that of a goldfish. I don't remember what I had for dinner, and that's just been a few hours ago.
What did you do when you first joined?
Download mods or bug fixes, I guess? I have no idea why or when I started to post, just a vague memory of discussing bard kits with @Oxford_Guy. Over time, I realized that my true calling is to serve Helm as a paladin, go on a crusade against broccoli in the name of Queen Ester of Cauli, recruit a noble group of heroes to escape the Black Pits and utterly destroy the very essence of Neera the Half Elf of D00m (still working on that one).
What, if any, were the turning points of your forum story?
Obviously, there was a turning point. Some people know why I needed a break. I won't go into details; it was pretty evenly split 50/50 between forum reasons and rl reasons.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum?
It gives me a chance to educate people about the struggles as a person of multiple eyes, and fight the discrimination of abberations across the realms.
What other members were important to your forum story?
Here is where my shitty short term memory will get me. I'll forget people and then it's all "ugh that evil beholder didn't mention me, it's obviously because he is evil and a beholder, totally not because his short term memory is shitty" again. My gnomish red wizard familiar, @Eudaemonium, who sadly seems absent, obviously had a big part in my adventures. Fittingly, he made my bard a personal throwing dagger called "The Long Goodbye" shortly before we both left the forum. @Pecca, who I should probably apologize to for never fully testing the Spontanous Casting mod. His mods were, no, are, among my favorites and I did sneak into the forum on several occassions to look if he had something new. @Anduin, a fellow follower of the teachings of Cauli (if not the founding father of the faith), who has been a regular on all non sequitur runs. @Samus/Bhaaldog, who got disabled along the way, but will always be remembered as one of the Original Six in her role as half-invisible drow jester in the first Black Pits documented run. @OneAngryMushroom, the myonid ranger, @Kamigoroshi, the green ooze druid, @FinneousPJ, the rakshasa berzerker and @Southpaw, the mind flayer priest of lathander from non sequitur runs. @Metalloman, dear sir/madam metall man please consider offer buy real estate rashemen CHEAP LIMITED OFFER NOW!!!! @Shandyr, Lord of Castle Wisdom and probably a lot people the evil beholder forgot.
What was your best experience on the forums?
Two, actually. One would be the semi-obvious; the first Non Sequitur Black Pits run. I'm absolutely terrible with staying invested and interested in documenting well, anything. My "updated twice a year" movie blog is a perfect example, and several attempts to do a full BG run are testaments to this as well. It's not just the nature of the run, it's also me actually finishing the guide.
The other... involves most of the Pits party, but in a multi-pm conversation. Watching a Eurovision Contest, probably 2013, after realizing we are all European. It was silly, but a great deal of fun.
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
I think I probably left much too big shoes to walk in again. From what I read, I'm a legend or something among posters, with tales of my deeds told to the newer generation and what not. By Helm, I don't think I can live up to this reputation again. I just started playing some Black Pits 2 and Icewind Dale EE (aspiring to play with a party of yetis) last week, but still split my time with rl and other games (most notably Star Trek Online, in the middle of a summer event). I feel neither knowledgable nor up to date enough to contribute many actual insights, so yeah. I left myself some big shoes to fill.
Oh, so much time has passed. I have literally dozens of unfinished mods on my drive from an age when time didn't mean anything. It feels like a decade ago. @KidCarnival I should join your bad memory club, because I don't remember at all, that you were supposed to be testing it .
The problem with the bad memory club is that people keep forgetting to turn in their applications... If they remember their applications they forget when the next meeting is scheduled...
There are other problems but I just can't remember what they are...
@Pecca: I did test it and it worked fine. I found a savegame in Black Pits where I had a rather atypical party with nothing but casters and remembered that was why. I had Spontanous Casting and the updated version of mage staffs in this game. After updating without thinking, half the party had no weapons at all because they were mages with imprinted staffs... that no longer existed. Oops.
Eh, why the hell not. First, how Baldur's Gate effected my life.
Growing up I first got into RPGs with Final Fantasy 7. I imagine many children did. It was fun and I played and replayed it tons of times. I still have a soft spot for it but am unsure I could ever play it again due to the sheer amount of times I played it. From there I got into JRPGs. Again, fun. Stories and characters were usually pretty good.
Then I discovered Baldur's Gate and everything changed. Suddenly I could choose who I wanted to be. This wasn't just me watching a story, I was *making* it. I chose my own character. I chose my own path. It was amazing compared to what I had before. Eventually it got me interested in DnD and all those stories I wrote as a child had an outlet. I had grown older, playing pretend wasn't allowed anymore, but my imagination found an outlet that was acceptable for someone who was not a child. Most of my early stories suck. No surprise there, they were also a bit drow obsessed mostly because drow women were so frequently depicted wearing only strands of spider silk. Hey, I was a young teenaged boy. We're easily influenced by the boobies.
Then, I hear the game is being re-released with extra content. Also better graphics. Insert "Shut up and take my money" here. One problem. I always cheated back when I was a kid. I needed to figure out how to actually play. Simple enough, in thought. I went to the forums, saw a board specifically for this and wala, got help. Awesome.
I stuck around a bit. Asking people about their views and opinions on the game. It was almost looking at a parallel world full of different people where previously only my characters stood. As I played BG with more DnD experience I just realized how silly some of the scenarios would be in an actual DnD game. Any DM whos experienced a character with maxed lock pick rolling a natural 20 to open a door that you can't let them open for plot reasons or that opening circumvents alot of content he worked on knows just how badly that goes over with the players. Soon they'll be talking about how you make picking locks "Totally worthless" and how anyone in your campaigns should "Never play a thief." and don't get me started on the Sarevok fight. Those traps were just a great big middle finger to the player. Yes, if you know about them they're fine but I have a hard time believing anyone won that fight the first time around without being told about the traps ahead of time.
So I made a thread about these problems and it turned out very popular and even inspiring others to make similar jokes. The thread went on much longer then my interest in it did and I'm quite proud of this. Eventually I decided to make a "Choose your own adventure" stick figure game. I've done this before and its always fun.
...I did not expect the response I got. People liked my stories. People liked my comic. People seemed to even think I had something resembling wisdom or int at times. This forum was good for my self-confidence, wich I have little enough of, and so I come back when I remember too. I often find myself thinking about @Boointheyes and a few of the other people who made me feel welcomed and as if I belonged here. Hopefully this time around I'll stick to updating my comic. Once I settle in with this new cat I got.
Listen my friends, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Dragonspear!!!!! But no, seriously, here we go. I may include more extras at the end, we'll see.
Why did you join the forum?
I first joined, because well, Baldur's Gate was and continues to be my favorite game series of all time. In fact, only Mass Effect comes close to holding the same spot in my heart. But I suppose the real reason is that the gamefaqs forums, particularly for the first baldur's gate, had all but died right as this game was being announced.
I want to say I joined the gamefaqs forums, and by extension, Alaundo's Alehouse, by 2001. They were really my community that I bounced ideas off of, but also they were that, a community. And I joined here hoping to find what I lost. I may not be active all the time, I realize it's in bursts, but it's always a sense of community that I can return to.
What did you do when you first joined? I joined in very early, probably only a few days after @elminster himself joined, and there were a lot fewer subforums back in those days. It quickly changed from "OMG, are we imagining this" to, ok, we'll lets all go through the old baldur's gate one last time, so we can understand the changes, and actually voice the things we're looking for. But it also, provided yet a new RP and character springboard.
I remember @sandmanCCL introducing me to playithardcore. In fact, sandman and @Quartz are probably the two forumites I wish would come back the most.
What, if any, were the turning points of your forum story? I think the real turning point, was trying to make a multiplayer game with sandman and Quartz, and due to work and raiding at the time, finding it hard to narrow down times we could run. And with the WoW raiding picking up, I slowly found myself drifting away from these forums and those more devoted to what I was doing in WoW.
I would say my biggest regret is that, by the time I came back, they were gone =/ I came back, and realized there were a lot more new faces that I didn't recognize. And now I have friends like @CrevsDaak, @Latronis_Prime (whom I lured here from gamefaqs), and @HamsterOfBoo when I come back.
Also, I think the Alehouse, in the off topic forums is a turning point for me. As that gives me something to at least regularly check in on.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum? The sense of community here. We've been brought together from all over the globe by Baldur's gate. And, even more than the games themselves, the community around Baldur's Gate, originally at gamefaqs and now here, provides me one of my many places I feel at home on the internet. Possibly the only place that comes close in my WoW guild of 7 years.
I feel like I can slip right back in, and feel like I've barely missed a step in the times I've been away.
What other members were important to your forum story? @Dee and @LadyRhian have both been rather important to my forum story, although it's taken until now in this survey to bring them up. Although I don't want to get into most of the details, they've both encouraged me to just open up and be who I am, and they've been quite accepting of that. And by extension, so have the rest of the forums.
What was your best experience on the forums? @bengoshi almost brought me to tears with his feature request a couple days ago. Other than that, the community is the best experience. There is very little flaming or vitriol, and, at least in the early days when there was, it was quickly tamped down upon. I won't go into details of the ones that I remember, because I don't wanna possibly rehash those topics again. But treat your mods lightly, they take this forum incredibly seriously, and want it to feel inclusive and welcoming as a community.
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history? I love this forum, this community, and the life it's brought to a now 18 year old game. About the only thing I wish, is that even when I'm not looking to run another round of BG or something similar, I came to the forums more, and it's something I am going to actively try to do. Make at least 10-15 minutes for this place every day.
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Then I ended up going back to college, didn't have much free time and I never got around to buying the enhanced editions. Fast forward to a month or so ago and I finally picked up BG1&2 EE, and found myself back to the forums.
Truth be told I had forgotten all about joining in the first place, when I tried to sign up to the site I got a message about my e-mail address already being registered on the site, a password recovery later and I was back on the site.
On another note, back then I vaguely remember there being talk of a possible IWD & PST EE once you finished with the Baldur's Gates. I see you have got around to updating the Icewind games (Which I plan to move onto pretty soon), is Planescape still on the cards or did that get scrapped?
I had been lurking for a little between this site and a few others in order to maximize my BG playthroughs on Android. I generally hate joining forums because there is either (a) a dearth of reasonable people or (b) a paucity of senses of humor, the latter of which is complicated by the fact that mine is twisted, ranging from absurdist to dark with seldom anything held sacred.
When I initially joined, it was to share an underwhelming glitch that resulted from importing a character into BG1 with a flaming sword from BG2. Unbeknownst to me, the results were not uncommon and occurred with many different items, including Black Razor. At that point, I was pretty much expecting to get flamed, most notably by vets who were versed in modding, and while I was prepared to grin it and bear it, it is that kind of thing that also detracts from my message board experience, making me despise joining them even though recognizing it's an inevitable rite of passage. To my surprise, I was not greeted with that at all. Some of those newer to the game were intrigued while the vets kindly explained away the novelty. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the reaction. Was it an aberration or business as usual on this site?
Determined to test my mettle, I started using the forum as an outlet to express my love for these kinds of games and my overall silly nature, much of which is tempered in my professional life. I found both very well-received, almost unexpectedly so (especially my peculiar sense of humor), making me feel amongst like-minded ruffians and rogues. I also found myself impressed with the diverse alternative interests that many have brought to bear on their contributions to topics. It is an impressive gathering of personalities, doubtless made special by expert moderation. In all of my message board use, whether lurking or using, I've discovered that the quality of the board as a whole is directly proportionate to the quality the moderation.
So here I am, and I thank everyone who has contributed to the enhancement and enjoyment of my overall user experience. This site allows me to share my humor and thoughtfulness with others in a way that I am unable on the other forums to which I belong (if only I can get that movie thread going...). I also don't feel like there is a post-count snobbery or join-date elitism that you sometimes find on message boards. I tire easily from trivial arguments and petty disagreements, but I haven't noticed the kind of meaningless quibble I have in mind here (at least not to the degree one finds elsewhere). Posts are often hilarious, informative, interesting, engaging, and / or helpful. The site affords me a great break from everyday demands.
By the way, Quayle.
I joined because I'd heard that the series was making an Enhanced (TM) comeback, and this seemed like the best place to keep track of the development. I was a very late comer to Baldur's Gate, learning about the trilogy at the time of KOTOR, which I loved; essentially, played it soon after (eBay was the only way I could get it then) and my children grew up with memories of mostly Minsc...
And others. My oldest once bravely smashed a spider, while she cried, "Die, foul creature, and feed the earth." No joke - she really did that. I bought her BG:EE, too, actually, but I digress.
Anyway, far more than learning about the new game, and what was going to be included in the Enhancement of Beamdog (10th level mage spell, can only cast on certain software because of the counter spell: Injunction of Lawyer, as well as Protection of Copyright spells), it became more of a connection with other players. I learned far more than I thought I could about the game, and classes, and weapons...
This led to some role playing on the forums (thanks @LadyRhian) and some connections with other players who share the memories and experiences of The Sword Coast. Also told me about Numenara, Pillars of Eternity and some others. That, with a very low Rate of Trolling (RoT), keeps bringing me back.
For those that don't:
TL/DR
Why did I join the forums?
Well you see, none of my IRL friends play Baldur's Gate including the ones that I would normally play D&D with. It was weird talking to people about my admittedly weird obsession with necromancy and shorties. I joined to the forums first to ask merely factual questions about the game.
What did you do when you first joined?
I had an old account, now deleted, that I forgot the password to but I'm sure my first discussion was probably asking something about necromancy. On this account I wanted to ask about necromancy builds and got a few great links to mods but other than that I felt as though the information was lacking.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum?
Probably I can talk about necromancy and gnome/halfling/dwarf girls to my heart's content and there are people that share my weird obsessions with fantasy and roleplaying.
What other members were important to your forum story.
Well, I first saw @typo_tilly 's Tilly Wigglebottom run and was like wait, YOU'RE SAYING I CAN WRITE MY OWN STORY USING BALDUR'S GATE AMG, I NEED TO DO THAT. So I thank her mostly for the start of my account.
Then there's @Aquadrizzt making the Tome and Blood mod which is the COOLEST mod to me because it has the Pale Master, White Necromancer, and Fey Bloodline sorcerer
Also @Dee for that amazing enlightenment he brought upon me in our discussion on why Animate Dead is evil or not. It's the first time I've seen an intellectual post on the matter rather than IT'S EVIL BECAUSE NECROMANCY IS EVIL DERP.
What was your best experience on the forums?
Best experience? Hmmm that's a hard one. I guess it'd be anytime I be weird me and other people reinforce the weird me. XD I assure you while on the forums I might only talk about the necrotic arts in IRL I rarely speak of such things. It's on this forum I can pursue my passion of a thing that doesn't even exist. I even got to write my huge post on analyzing necromancy within the games n_n
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
Well, it's been really great! This community is one of the nicest communities I've ever been a part of and I'm glad to call of you my friend even if I've never actually never met any of you n_n
I originally was going to do the post in-character as Val'myr but saw you wanted avoid silliness and Val'myr is very much full of himself and therefore quite silly.
I joined when I first heard of Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition (July 2012); although oddly enough I never bough the game until the spring of this year (2015). Well the reason why I am here is because I originally started to get frustrated with with gameplay with 'Turld of Wankers' and I quit that game but I started to post about new developing tank 'tech trees' (game specific term) and well then I got sick and tired of the sh*t community and I got a Baldur's Gate urge and well I 'restarted' Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast and I started posting and writing threads here and Lo and behold a difficult game creates beautiful communities (thanks everyone) and then I bought Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition.. Well I think that is sh*tty in areas and great in others 71/100 for the 'new changes' (taken from a 2015 perspective). So I dusted off my Baldur's Gate section of my game development projects file and started planning a super expansion for the Original Baldur's Gate. Well enough of that, I am currently working on smaller modules of said super expansion and that has fueled my forum posting. I find this forum very very useful for asking how to use modding tools and learning of new things that I did not know. I used to frequent deviantART and be social there but now I rather this community. Although if you are this far into my post I will tell you my true history of why I am here.. Well it all started in World of Warcraft, no it Started in my grandparents basement when I was 9 years old. My older sister had this 'cool old game' that I might like and when I clicked the brown skull and well it is ten years later I never left. I could not read at the age of nine (bad original house hold kept my schooling under my potential), I played Baldur's Gate without being able to understand what people were saying in their text so I had to click random options and hope for the best; although the first voiced line helped me out.. at times.. I always fought Marl in Feldepost's Inn.. I felt kind of bad that Imoen seemed kind of upset afterwords, although in my eyes I had just defended myself from the guys who turned red at random. I figured out that "THAC0" was better if it was Lower and that what ever was "A.C." was best to keep it as low as possible. I was playing along side my brother (whom is three years older than I) and we kept overwriting our save file for we both used the top save slot and we used autosave a lot without realizing that it over rights the last save with the most recent player's progress.. So my grandmother got myself and my brother to play Baldur's Gate on separate computers for I guess we bitched a lot about "he saved over my file" or something.. Oh I remember my sister being so lazy that she did not want to explain how the 'save and recall' buttons worked when rolling an Ability Scores on a character.. Although I sh*t you not, one of my first characters (a male fighter / thief with 'generic man 2' portrait) rolled Five 18's and a 9 for charisma.. I am not lying nor would I make that up, my brother was there and we were like *Holy Cr*p, uh SAVE SAVE DONE YES YES!*. Oh and back to my first 'play through': I somehow got to The City of Baldur's Gate at the age of nine but I was in a competition with my brother to see who had the most days rested.. Well I ended up in Baldur's Gate with no clue with what to do so I went in every building and then I eventually found the Iron Throne and killed everyone with no definition as to who they were. I killed that guy with the golden heavy crossbow on the 'bridge' and then I saved my game like usual and.. Two minutes later *CHUNK! -Hand dissolving movie* I reload and again it happens and it kept happening.. Well some how I learned to read some English by then while playing the game and I figured out how to import and export characters (damn I was nine too, hmm) anyway I had a mad dash to put all of my magical items into my main character's inventory and import him within two minutes. I did it and started over again.. I never did complete Baldur's Gate properly, with no modifications, no cheating.. I have never done a strictly 'vanilla' play through of Baldur's Gate in all of my Decade of playing this game. Hell I played this game so much that I discovered a few items and added them to the Wikipedia page ("PLAT99"). I love this game. I have played World of Warcraft from its glory days from the middle of the Burning Crusade up and to the middle of Wrath of the Lich King, I was 12 to 15 and I was the Guild Leader of my own 300+ player guild. I stopped playing World of Warcraft at the very last weeks of Wrath of the Lich King.. I still came back to this game.. It is just special. I want to be a Video Game Designer and I have fought hard to keep my dreams alive and well, I want to start with The Original Baldur's Gate.
So I know my talents and I know my strengths and weaknesses and I want to give this gaming community something to remember and cherish. I come from nothing, hardship and odds stacked against myself. I know my direction and I want my dreams. I don't want to fad away and become nothing, I don't want to be forgotten and a failure. I want to break my mold and walk my own path of destiny. I did not learn three grades in one year and defeat my 'old demons' and run so far from my old life to fight for a chance at a highschool diploma and a future to end up short working all of my life in a stiff man's job with a broken soul and a spirit that was sold for a truck, house and food on the table. No that won't do for me, I have been hungry and I have been in dept and I know what it is like to stare death in the face and feel like a failure.. A complete failure. I want to live life on my own terms and I am a body of passion that loves my mortal human heart and is true to my dreams. I dream of becoming a video game designer and so help me god I will have to go screaming and bloody in the clutches of death in order to stop my dreams. Don't you forget that no one will or can ever hit you as hard as what life can and will. It will hit you so hard that will shatter all of your hopes and aspirations and remember that only your spirit and your will to thrive will get your broken and shattered mind back to its feet. Never forget who you are and what your dreams are; never lose yourself.
I am on these forums because I am alive and well, I live and I dream and times get hard but I get harder and I keep on plugging away at this game and I keep on pushing forward in an uncertain future. I am here because I love this game and I want to add to it for I just cannot lose myself. I am here for I enjoy the company of the other lonely fan boys and girls of this game and their exploits and antics. I like to have a change where I can relate to people instead of filtering out crap people from my life. I like to work with people and here I can do this. Although I want to work face to face, but for now this will do. I am here for I honour my passions and I am passionate about creating video games, and the Original Baldur's Gate is my favourite game of all time. I love to be with other die hard Baldur's Gate fans so far I see '188' of them http://forums.beamdog.com/badge/insightful-100
Although mainly I am here because it is a nice change of pace to know people like myself for the first time in my life.
There, I Have Told You Of My Honest Baldur's Gate Forum Story.
Well, what's done is done. I don't really have a story, either, I just joined because there was no question about it. I've been a Baldur's Gate worshiper ever since I first played BG1 as a teenager, and this place was the place to find actual BG-related news for the first time in, like, a decade. As I said, it wasn't really a choice.
I'm quite impressed though, this has turned out to be a great place, with a lot of people consistently paying attention to a 15 year old game. Normally, that doesn't happen.
Why did you join the forum?
I forgot. Likely to look for a bug fix or mods or both, since those are the only reasons I go to game related forums. Most I don't join, not sure why I joined this.
My join date says Dec 2012, not sure if I actually started posting then. I did pre-order after reading about EE somewhere, but 3 years is an eternity if your short term memory rivals that of a goldfish. I don't remember what I had for dinner, and that's just been a few hours ago.
What did you do when you first joined?
Download mods or bug fixes, I guess? I have no idea why or when I started to post, just a vague memory of discussing bard kits with @Oxford_Guy.
Over time, I realized that my true calling is to serve Helm as a paladin, go on a crusade against broccoli in the name of Queen Ester of Cauli, recruit a noble group of heroes to escape the Black Pits and utterly destroy the very essence of Neera the Half Elf of D00m (still working on that one).
What, if any, were the turning points of your forum story?
Obviously, there was a turning point. Some people know why I needed a break. I won't go into details; it was pretty evenly split 50/50 between forum reasons and rl reasons.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum?
It gives me a chance to educate people about the struggles as a person of multiple eyes, and fight the discrimination of abberations across the realms.
What other members were important to your forum story?
Here is where my shitty short term memory will get me. I'll forget people and then it's all "ugh that evil beholder didn't mention me, it's obviously because he is evil and a beholder, totally not because his short term memory is shitty" again. My gnomish red wizard familiar, @Eudaemonium, who sadly seems absent, obviously had a big part in my adventures. Fittingly, he made my bard a personal throwing dagger called "The Long Goodbye" shortly before we both left the forum. @Pecca, who I should probably apologize to for never fully testing the Spontanous Casting mod. His mods were, no, are, among my favorites and I did sneak into the forum on several occassions to look if he had something new. @Anduin, a fellow follower of the teachings of Cauli (if not the founding father of the faith), who has been a regular on all non sequitur runs. @Samus/Bhaaldog, who got disabled along the way, but will always be remembered as one of the Original Six in her role as half-invisible drow jester in the first Black Pits documented run. @OneAngryMushroom, the myonid ranger, @Kamigoroshi, the green ooze druid, @FinneousPJ, the rakshasa berzerker and @Southpaw, the mind flayer priest of lathander from non sequitur runs. @Metalloman, dear sir/madam metall man please consider offer buy real estate rashemen CHEAP LIMITED OFFER NOW!!!! @Shandyr, Lord of Castle Wisdom and probably a lot people the evil beholder forgot.
What was your best experience on the forums?
Two, actually. One would be the semi-obvious; the first Non Sequitur Black Pits run. I'm absolutely terrible with staying invested and interested in documenting well, anything. My "updated twice a year" movie blog is a perfect example, and several attempts to do a full BG run are testaments to this as well. It's not just the nature of the run, it's also me actually finishing the guide.
The other... involves most of the Pits party, but in a multi-pm conversation. Watching a Eurovision Contest, probably 2013, after realizing we are all European. It was silly, but a great deal of fun.
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
I think I probably left much too big shoes to walk in again. From what I read, I'm a legend or something among posters, with tales of my deeds told to the newer generation and what not. By Helm, I don't think I can live up to this reputation again.
I just started playing some Black Pits 2 and Icewind Dale EE (aspiring to play with a party of yetis) last week, but still split my time with rl and other games (most notably Star Trek Online, in the middle of a summer event). I feel neither knowledgable nor up to date enough to contribute many actual insights, so yeah. I left myself some big shoes to fill.
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There are other problems but I just can't remember what they are...
@Pecca: I did test it and it worked fine. I found a savegame in Black Pits where I had a rather atypical party with nothing but casters and remembered that was why. I had Spontanous Casting and the updated version of mage staffs in this game. After updating without thinking, half the party had no weapons at all because they were mages with imprinted staffs... that no longer existed. Oops.
It's called. Pin the shoe on the beholder!
Growing up I first got into RPGs with Final Fantasy 7. I imagine many children did. It was fun and I played and replayed it tons of times. I still have a soft spot for it but am unsure I could ever play it again due to the sheer amount of times I played it. From there I got into JRPGs. Again, fun. Stories and characters were usually pretty good.
Then I discovered Baldur's Gate and everything changed. Suddenly I could choose who I wanted to be. This wasn't just me watching a story, I was *making* it. I chose my own character. I chose my own path. It was amazing compared to what I had before. Eventually it got me interested in DnD and all those stories I wrote as a child had an outlet. I had grown older, playing pretend wasn't allowed anymore, but my imagination found an outlet that was acceptable for someone who was not a child. Most of my early stories suck. No surprise there, they were also a bit drow obsessed mostly because drow women were so frequently depicted wearing only strands of spider silk. Hey, I was a young teenaged boy. We're easily influenced by the boobies.
Then, I hear the game is being re-released with extra content. Also better graphics. Insert "Shut up and take my money" here. One problem. I always cheated back when I was a kid. I needed to figure out how to actually play. Simple enough, in thought. I went to the forums, saw a board specifically for this and wala, got help. Awesome.
I stuck around a bit. Asking people about their views and opinions on the game. It was almost looking at a parallel world full of different people where previously only my characters stood. As I played BG with more DnD experience I just realized how silly some of the scenarios would be in an actual DnD game. Any DM whos experienced a character with maxed lock pick rolling a natural 20 to open a door that you can't let them open for plot reasons or that opening circumvents alot of content he worked on knows just how badly that goes over with the players. Soon they'll be talking about how you make picking locks "Totally worthless" and how anyone in your campaigns should "Never play a thief." and don't get me started on the Sarevok fight. Those traps were just a great big middle finger to the player. Yes, if you know about them they're fine but I have a hard time believing anyone won that fight the first time around without being told about the traps ahead of time.
So I made a thread about these problems and it turned out very popular and even inspiring others to make similar jokes. The thread went on much longer then my interest in it did and I'm quite proud of this. Eventually I decided to make a "Choose your own adventure" stick figure game. I've done this before and its always fun.
...I did not expect the response I got. People liked my stories. People liked my comic. People seemed to even think I had something resembling wisdom or int at times. This forum was good for my self-confidence, wich I have little enough of, and so I come back when I remember too. I often find myself thinking about @Boointheyes and a few of the other people who made me feel welcomed and as if I belonged here. Hopefully this time around I'll stick to updating my comic. Once I settle in with this new cat I got.
Why did you join the forum?
I first joined, because well, Baldur's Gate was and continues to be my favorite game series of all time. In fact, only Mass Effect comes close to holding the same spot in my heart. But I suppose the real reason is that the gamefaqs forums, particularly for the first baldur's gate, had all but died right as this game was being announced.
I want to say I joined the gamefaqs forums, and by extension, Alaundo's Alehouse, by 2001. They were really my community that I bounced ideas off of, but also they were that, a community. And I joined here hoping to find what I lost. I may not be active all the time, I realize it's in bursts, but it's always a sense of community that I can return to.
What did you do when you first joined?
I joined in very early, probably only a few days after @elminster himself joined, and there were a lot fewer subforums back in those days. It quickly changed from "OMG, are we imagining this" to, ok, we'll lets all go through the old baldur's gate one last time, so we can understand the changes, and actually voice the things we're looking for. But it also, provided yet a new RP and character springboard.
I remember @sandmanCCL introducing me to playithardcore. In fact, sandman and @Quartz are probably the two forumites I wish would come back the most.
What, if any, were the turning points of your forum story?
I think the real turning point, was trying to make a multiplayer game with sandman and Quartz, and due to work and raiding at the time, finding it hard to narrow down times we could run. And with the WoW raiding picking up, I slowly found myself drifting away from these forums and those more devoted to what I was doing in WoW.
I would say my biggest regret is that, by the time I came back, they were gone =/ I came back, and realized there were a lot more new faces that I didn't recognize. And now I have friends like @CrevsDaak, @Latronis_Prime (whom I lured here from gamefaqs), and @HamsterOfBoo when I come back.
Also, I think the Alehouse, in the off topic forums is a turning point for me. As that gives me something to at least regularly check in on.
What is your favorite thing about being a member of the forum?
The sense of community here. We've been brought together from all over the globe by Baldur's gate. And, even more than the games themselves, the community around Baldur's Gate, originally at gamefaqs and now here, provides me one of my many places I feel at home on the internet. Possibly the only place that comes close in my WoW guild of 7 years.
I feel like I can slip right back in, and feel like I've barely missed a step in the times I've been away.
What other members were important to your forum story?
@Dee and @LadyRhian have both been rather important to my forum story, although it's taken until now in this survey to bring them up. Although I don't want to get into most of the details, they've both encouraged me to just open up and be who I am, and they've been quite accepting of that. And by extension, so have the rest of the forums.
What was your best experience on the forums?
@bengoshi almost brought me to tears with his feature request a couple days ago. Other than that, the community is the best experience. There is very little flaming or vitriol, and, at least in the early days when there was, it was quickly tamped down upon. I won't go into details of the ones that I remember, because I don't wanna possibly rehash those topics again. But treat your mods lightly, they take this forum incredibly seriously, and want it to feel inclusive and welcoming as a community.
What do you think now, looking back on your forum history?
I love this forum, this community, and the life it's brought to a now 18 year old game. About the only thing I wish, is that even when I'm not looking to run another round of BG or something similar, I came to the forums more, and it's something I am going to actively try to do. Make at least 10-15 minutes for this place every day.