[Idea/Discussion] You are not the Bhaalspawn
Thalamond
Member Posts: 108
in BG:EE Mods
Hello all.
Part of what has always fascinated me about Baldur's Gate is the Sword coast region itself. The different cities, VIP persons, and V(U)IP persons like Noober.
Now, in Baldur's Gate we are forced into the role of the protagonist. The region will stand or fall with our and Sarevok's actions. This sets the tone for the game; the sense of paranoia (when will the next bounty hunter attack), of being important, etc.
I think it would be interesting to play the game without being the bhaalspawn. Being just another guy that grew up in Candlekeep or maybe someplace else. Creating such a mod would likely be a fairly large undertaking; the things having to be removed/changed would be:
1. Cutscenes/dreams mentioning your Bhaalspawn background or anything related to that.
2. Any encounter from the main quest, which refers to you as important (through your background as a BSpawn). This includes the most obvious ones such as Sarevok and Angelo, but also simple encounters like most of the assassins.
3. the escape with Gorion.
4. Items such as bounty notice, Gorion's scroll, Daeveron's papers, etc.
Potentially this could be expanded even further, so you don't even have to be from Candlekeep. You can start the game at the Friendly Arm Inn, Nashkel, or Beregost perhaps. That the player isn't the bhaalspawn doesn't mean that the bhaalspawn doesn't exist. An addition here could be that the vanilla rumors and comments about the player (protagonist) will not be about the player, but about an NPC which is the bhaalspawn. Taking that even further, maybe you could actually meet the bhaalspawn sporadically or he could even be a full fledged joinable NPC.
These are all just ideas though and I simply want to start a discussion about this topic.
Part of what has always fascinated me about Baldur's Gate is the Sword coast region itself. The different cities, VIP persons, and V(U)IP persons like Noober.
Now, in Baldur's Gate we are forced into the role of the protagonist. The region will stand or fall with our and Sarevok's actions. This sets the tone for the game; the sense of paranoia (when will the next bounty hunter attack), of being important, etc.
I think it would be interesting to play the game without being the bhaalspawn. Being just another guy that grew up in Candlekeep or maybe someplace else. Creating such a mod would likely be a fairly large undertaking; the things having to be removed/changed would be:
1. Cutscenes/dreams mentioning your Bhaalspawn background or anything related to that.
2. Any encounter from the main quest, which refers to you as important (through your background as a BSpawn). This includes the most obvious ones such as Sarevok and Angelo, but also simple encounters like most of the assassins.
3. the escape with Gorion.
4. Items such as bounty notice, Gorion's scroll, Daeveron's papers, etc.
Potentially this could be expanded even further, so you don't even have to be from Candlekeep. You can start the game at the Friendly Arm Inn, Nashkel, or Beregost perhaps. That the player isn't the bhaalspawn doesn't mean that the bhaalspawn doesn't exist. An addition here could be that the vanilla rumors and comments about the player (protagonist) will not be about the player, but about an NPC which is the bhaalspawn. Taking that even further, maybe you could actually meet the bhaalspawn sporadically or he could even be a full fledged joinable NPC.
These are all just ideas though and I simply want to start a discussion about this topic.
1
Comments
Actually, this is an interesting idea. A major undertaking no doubt - to remove all Bhaalspawn related-stuff - but an interesting idea.
Imagine the Bhaalspawn being upset if you go off and solo an encounter or two...
Having "The Bhaalspawn" (with a capital T) as an NPC is a cool idea, but usually if the player is forced to play the role of supporting the protagonist, rather than being the protagonist, there is a sense of resentment that develops as the NPC reaps the rewards of the player's hard work (through their character). (See: Kormir in Guild Wars 1, or Trahearne in Guild Wars 2).
About the NPC taking credit: Well the difference between Guild Wars 1 & 2 and even TES Oblivion (Martin saves the world while the player is the sidekick) is that Baldur's Gate has more real roleplaying potential. Personally I don't mind being a sidekick in a roleplaying situation. Sure, if you play a competitive game, or a game that requires the player to get certain 'BiS' items to complete stuff then being the sidekick isn't nice. Baldur's Gate has a lot of potential for possibilities though
@agb1
Yes this would be great! But that would require huge amounts of work to be done. My original idea was simply to remove the dialogue refering to you as the protagonist, but otherwise making as few alterations as possible. On top of that, however, suggestions such as yours could be made.
@AstroBryGuy Yeah, meeting him would be interesting. Wow, if someone would make a full NPC out of him that would be amazing.
Bgee2:
What if Irececus kidnapped the wrong guy/girl? He still does the damage, gets part of your soul, but, of course, it doesn't help him
*Why isn't this working?*
"It is time for more... experiments."
(he kidnaps Abdel later when he realizes his mistake)
But, he won't give you back your soul... So, you still have to confront him as well.
Solar: You must now choose between living as a mortal or taking your place among the gods... Oh wait, crap, what do you mean you're just some plain mortal??? Whoops! Our bad! Go about your puny life. Hey, Imoen, wanna be a god?
Also, achieving compatibility with NPCs mods would be a lot of work. You'd need code to tweak every Bioware NPC and mod NPC that has a "so you're the Bhaalspawn" conversation to skip those dialogs.