Even if they are supposedly bad, the books are still canon and it is good to know your canon.
Are they? Are they really? If that is the shoreline mages' official take on things then, to put it simply, they are wrong. What reason would those things have for being canon? BG the GAME came FIRST and was the original creation! The books were based on the game, not the other way around! Is it because they are written on paper instead of computer chips and that makes them more important? Rubbish! Besides there is a trump card, and it belongs to Beamdog! Beamdog can now change the canon of the game itself (by, say, adding a whole new chapter to the game ) and that ought to beat out some dopey old books. Disagree as you will shoreline mages... I don't care about a thing you say since 4e happened. You are not important in my eyes.
I like Chateau Irenicus and don't understand people who don't.
I'm sad BG2EE slightly cut off the battle theme of level 1. The music's starting sequence is gone and it just instantly skips to the "looped" part now.
Didn't know that. Maybe you should report it as a bug?
@DragonKingTrolling is strictly against the site rules You can't justify violating the site rules by anything.
You know a book is bad (so bad that forcing someone to read it legally counts as torture) when expressing love for it automatically counts as trolling. And not a single person alive (save perhaps the author, should he be especially drunk) would deny it.
My unpopular opinion is ahead and contains a rant and spoilers, so read at your own risk:
I began to really dislike R.A. Salvatore's characters after their initial books. Drizzt's books were good for the first few, but I felt like they fell into this horrible cycle of "wow, I'm so happy with my True Friends --> oh no, one of my True Friends is in trouble and I must awesome them out of it! --> Ah, I experience racism and hatred but it's ok because I have my True Friends who really understand me." And Regis always bothered me. He felt like comic relief who really shouldn't be with this team of actually useful people. Plus, after the Spellplague every other author had to give up their go-to characters or those people were severely depowered (like Elminster) but nope, not Drizzt. All of his magical artifacts work just fine still, he still has all of his skills and all of his moping. And after the Spellplague, Bruenor, Regis, and Catti-Brie get reincarnated as straight upgrade versions of their old selves.
Plus he wrote that awful Dahlia Sin'Fell (I'm probably misspelling her name) character. She's an elf and less than a hundred years old but she seduces and assassinates her way up the Thayan chain of command until she somehow becomes this powerful figure. Where did she get her magical weapon? How did she master it so fast? How are the Red Wizards so stupid as to KEEP dying to her seduction plan? She's literally killed about 6 or more high ranking, powerful wizards who must constantly scheme to stay alive in undead ruled Thay.
His elaborate sword fighting also comes across to me as "hey, look how great Drizzt is!" stuff. Drizzt will get a whole page or more dedicated to a sword fight with some nameless bandit and elaborately outclasses this thug. It honest just got boring hearing how he "rolled his scimitars". We get it. Drizzt is a great swordsman.
Cadderly also got a "just before the Spellplague" story that confused me. He apparently managed to muster a number of clerics and mages to study the collapsing weave. I'm sorry, but the blue fire took EVERYONE by surprise. Why does this special little snowflake get to know in advance when no one, literally not even gods, knew about it? Plus Cadderly decided to be an agnostic at some point and question if the gods were even real... while drawing power from one and communing with him. It felt like someone was trying too hard to make an edgy cleric.
...
I'm so sorry for that rant everyone, but I've been bottling this up for so long. This is why I make a point of killing Drizzt in BGI and BGII. Forget the loot, I have a higher purpose.
I really miss the old BG2 Human Male Fighter leather armor animation. A massive lump of brown on your shoulders, complete with bracers and some really short pants. Come on, how awesome is that?
BG2 is one of the best cRPGs ever and definitely superior to BG1 in many aspects. That's not the unpopular opinion, though...
It is one ugly game.
The portraits are mostly okay but definitely inferior to BG1s. Everything else looks horrible - the UI, the paperdolls, the inventory BAMs. I guess it's supposed to follow 3E's aesthetic which was also terrible.
The original BG1 might be dated by now but it's still a beautiful game. In that regard I consider it superior to every other IE game, including the enhanced editions.
I don't like strongholds and usually never accept them after doing the quests. I think they add very little to the game and are quite poorly made and implemented.
I don't like strongholds and usually never accept them after doing the quests. I think they add very little to the game and are quite poorly made and implemented.
Then the Shaman class should have an additional "pro" trait for you
I also dislike the strongholds, turning them down nearly every game. Only the Fighter stronghold feels fleshed out. And the Druid stronghold has how many quests: 2? 3?
Two that I can recall. Killing that troll shaman and her lackeys, and then protecting the little boy.
This is less an unpopular opinion but a heavily biased one coming from a Blade lover:
Haer'Dalis is the most powerful NPC in Baldur's Gate 2, better than Jan, Keldorn and Aerie. His exclusive bonuses makes him one of the only characters able to compete with a PC blade, he skips the bard's weak early levels, he comes with decent weapons along with armor in his quest line, his spells get powerful real fast due to fast levelling, and he's the closest thing to an NPC fighter/mage.
This is less an unpopular opinion but a heavily biased one coming from a Blade lover:
Haer'Dalis is the most powerful NPC in Baldur's Gate 2, better than Jan, Keldorn and Aerie. His exclusive bonuses makes him one of the only characters able to compete with a PC blade, he skips the bard's weak early levels, he comes with decent weapons along with armor in his quest line, his spells get powerful real fast due to fast levelling, and he's the closest thing to an NPC fighter/mage.
Haer'Dalis > all.
Well I DO like me some Haer'Dalis. His personal weapons get even better if you've got the Item Upgrade mod installed.
Drizzt should leave after chapter 4. Especially if the gnolls are dead. The bandit situation he references has long since been addressed (a chapter earlier) and there really isn't any reason for him to not continue on his journey to Icewind Dale
I don't like the fact that after you romance Viconia and you choose to accept your right to god hood, her epilogue doesn't have her becoming your highest priestess. Seriously, why wouldn't that be a thing, in the romance she hints at that she just might do it and if you're evil, you are basically the lord of murder, something right up her ally since you can't be a priestess of lolth without embracing murder along side deception and manipulation.
Plus,he lover would now be a freaking god, I mean even if he is evil she is practically guaranteed his favor plus benefits and being his highest cleric would basically make her his avatar and would give her a significant amount of protection, why wouldn't she become his priestess again? Plus I bet the sex would be mind blowing for even a drow, I mean he is a god some I'm pretty sure the stamina would be beyond anything she has ever slept with up to that point.
The shadow thief guild in bg1 is absolutely laughable. A handful of low level thieves no better than hobgoblins. Even the big boss having terrible equipment aswell and only taking a few extra hits. The salty mage is the only thing "remotely" dangerous. When I played through this section with my co-op friend who is new to d&d, I tried scaring him by comparing these guys to a mafia. Then we accidently killed everyone with nearly zero effort and I was just ashamed of the game. A couple ghasts would have been more dangerous.
I find Arkanis Gath a cool thing in bg2 because you can't just get away from threatening an entire guild. You pay the price for it.
Reading this thread forced me to rethink many of the "obvious" assumptions about the game, for which I am truly thankful. This however will not withold me from throwing my personal unpopular top 3 on the already burning stack of fan's favourite sacred cows
1) I already saw someone mentioning that, but it deserves to be addressed once more. Minsc is one of the worst characters in the whole saga. Not combat-wise, but story-wise. When I first played BG II his explanation about how he apparently managed to hide the "giant space hamster" in his anus made me cringe. And it only gets worse, as he seems to be tailor-made to become the walking representation of the worst nerdcore humour imaginable. Even his punchlines resemble some cruel writer's mockery of the mentally disabled people. And he cheats with his stats / profession. Seriously, if there is one thing I don't get regarding BG franchise, it is his immense popularity. Just off the record, I usually play lawful evil characters, which may or may not explain my opinion about the poor Minsc.
2) Black Pits (especially the second iteration) are something that should have beeen included along with the ToB expansion: it is an awesome tactical polygon that allowes you to test the most insane party compositions agains very powerfull foes, without the need to "story grind" the content. Just plug and play, how awesome is that in a combat-driven title? [not sure if this is truly unpopular, but I've seen enough sheiting on this part of Beamdog's work on the internetz to consider it at least "controversial"]
3) Neera is fun, nice and unobtrusive. For further reference, please compare with point no 1) :P
playing most kits is really difficult to explain in roleplaying terms. a real deep RP run would have to eschew many kits.
- you became a wizard slayer in candlekeep? ehhm no. - dwarven defender? definitely not - barbarian? most certainly no - beastmaster? impossible - avenger? avenging what? ...
Halflings need another combat bonus to differentiate them from dwarves. 19 dexterity and +1 to slings is kind of ehh compared to dwarves getting exceptional strength, 19 constitution, and access to the fighter/cleric.
Comments
Similiar things can be said about world of warcraft and fun, but people still play it.
@grum, yea heresy is made out of rich milk chocolate, and melts in the mouth, not in the hand lmao.
@Kilivitz Its all for the lolz.
Ok, ok; I'm sorry.
I began to really dislike R.A. Salvatore's characters after their initial books. Drizzt's books were good for the first few, but I felt like they fell into this horrible cycle of "wow, I'm so happy with my True Friends --> oh no, one of my True Friends is in trouble and I must awesome them out of it! --> Ah, I experience racism and hatred but it's ok because I have my True Friends who really understand me." And Regis always bothered me. He felt like comic relief who really shouldn't be with this team of actually useful people. Plus, after the Spellplague every other author had to give up their go-to characters or those people were severely depowered (like Elminster) but nope, not Drizzt. All of his magical artifacts work just fine still, he still has all of his skills and all of his moping. And after the Spellplague, Bruenor, Regis, and Catti-Brie get reincarnated as straight upgrade versions of their old selves.
Plus he wrote that awful Dahlia Sin'Fell (I'm probably misspelling her name) character. She's an elf and less than a hundred years old but she seduces and assassinates her way up the Thayan chain of command until she somehow becomes this powerful figure. Where did she get her magical weapon? How did she master it so fast? How are the Red Wizards so stupid as to KEEP dying to her seduction plan? She's literally killed about 6 or more high ranking, powerful wizards who must constantly scheme to stay alive in undead ruled Thay.
His elaborate sword fighting also comes across to me as "hey, look how great Drizzt is!" stuff. Drizzt will get a whole page or more dedicated to a sword fight with some nameless bandit and elaborately outclasses this thug. It honest just got boring hearing how he "rolled his scimitars". We get it. Drizzt is a great swordsman.
Cadderly also got a "just before the Spellplague" story that confused me. He apparently managed to muster a number of clerics and mages to study the collapsing weave. I'm sorry, but the blue fire took EVERYONE by surprise. Why does this special little snowflake get to know in advance when no one, literally not even gods, knew about it? Plus Cadderly decided to be an agnostic at some point and question if the gods were even real... while drawing power from one and communing with him. It felt like someone was trying too hard to make an edgy cleric.
...
I'm so sorry for that rant everyone, but I've been bottling this up for so long. This is why I make a point of killing Drizzt in BGI and BGII. Forget the loot, I have a higher purpose.
It is one ugly game.
The portraits are mostly okay but definitely inferior to BG1s. Everything else looks horrible - the UI, the paperdolls, the inventory BAMs. I guess it's supposed to follow 3E's aesthetic which was also terrible.
The original BG1 might be dated by now but it's still a beautiful game. In that regard I consider it superior to every other IE game, including the enhanced editions.
Haer'Dalis is the most powerful NPC in Baldur's Gate 2, better than Jan, Keldorn and Aerie. His exclusive bonuses makes him one of the only characters able to compete with a PC blade, he skips the bard's weak early levels, he comes with decent weapons along with armor in his quest line, his spells get powerful real fast due to fast levelling, and he's the closest thing to an NPC fighter/mage.
Haer'Dalis > all.
Plus,he lover would now be a freaking god, I mean even if he is evil she is practically guaranteed his favor plus benefits and being his highest cleric would basically make her his avatar and would give her a significant amount of protection, why wouldn't she become his priestess again? Plus I bet the sex would be mind blowing for even a drow, I mean he is a god some I'm pretty sure the stamina would be beyond anything she has ever slept with up to that point.
I find Arkanis Gath a cool thing in bg2 because you can't just get away from threatening an entire guild. You pay the price for it.
1) I already saw someone mentioning that, but it deserves to be addressed once more. Minsc is one of the worst characters in the whole saga. Not combat-wise, but story-wise. When I first played BG II his explanation about how he apparently managed to hide the "giant space hamster" in his anus made me cringe. And it only gets worse, as he seems to be tailor-made to become the walking representation of the worst nerdcore humour imaginable. Even his punchlines resemble some cruel writer's mockery of the mentally disabled people. And he cheats with his stats / profession. Seriously, if there is one thing I don't get regarding BG franchise, it is his immense popularity.
Just off the record, I usually play lawful evil characters, which may or may not explain my opinion about the poor Minsc.
2) Black Pits (especially the second iteration) are something that should have beeen included along with the ToB expansion: it is an awesome tactical polygon that allowes you to test the most insane party compositions agains very powerfull foes, without the need to "story grind" the content. Just plug and play, how awesome is that in a combat-driven title? [not sure if this is truly unpopular, but I've seen enough sheiting on this part of Beamdog's work on the internetz to consider it at least "controversial"]
3) Neera is fun, nice and unobtrusive. For further reference, please compare with point no 1) :P
- you became a wizard slayer in candlekeep? ehhm no.
- dwarven defender? definitely not
- barbarian? most certainly no
- beastmaster? impossible
- avenger? avenging what?
...
LOL!!!!