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Things that make you go "Hmmm..."

HaHaCharadeHaHaCharade Member Posts: 1,644
edited September 2012 in Archive (General Discussion)
Our love for the games aside, what are those plot points in BG, BG2, or IWD that just make you scratch your head?

YES I know it's a game, and some AD&D rules/tactics just can't translate... but its still funny to me when I think how it would pan out in a pen/paper game session.

Here's a few from me, though some are debatable I'm sure --

BG - How the *hell* did those two weak assassins in the prologue get into Candlekeep? With their uber-rare tome? Oh well they snuck in. Really? REALLY? They are like 1st level thieves. Gorion is right -- It's NOT safe here... At all! I guess they could have had help, in theory... but man, send someone better lol.

BG - Why doesn't Gorion, the uber-level dual-classed Mage/Cleric, use oh I dunno... Teleport? Planeshift? Invisibility? Let's just walk through the woods, at night, alone.

BG - Where the hell is Kagain's "underling" that he leaves to run his business in Beregost? That place is empty everytime I go in there! Hope no one needs to hire any mercenaries!

BG - If Amn is literally *crawling* with soldiers, why don't they, oh I dunno, send fifty of them into the mine's lower levels to kill the few scattered kobolds and one dumb half-orc that's down there. Sorry - No matter how awesome I am, if my adventuring party of 6 dudes could do it, your army could do it. I don't care what the rumors are about what's further down.

IWD1 - How can the messenger sent to Kuldahar succumb to his wounds after getting to the Temple of Tempus. Ever hear of a Cure Light?

IWD1 - How can Hrothgar, a legendary high-level adventurer, be killed in an avalanche in the Kuldahar pass while my 1st level mage with 4 hit points survives without a scratch? In fact my whole party is fine. Whew!

IWD1 - Ever wonder in the back of your mind, how an evil party could ever be made to really work in IWD? Why would they help Hrothgar? Why would they help save the grove of Silvanus. "Oh but you're trapped here too unless you help!" Please. Where BG1 leaves it wide open to be evil, IWD1 is just completely designed for a good-aligned party in my opinion, certain snarky/mean-spirited dialogue choices aside...
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Comments

  • g314g314 Member Posts: 201
    Here you can find many "Hmmm moments" across the entire game (not surprisingly most of them are from ToB).

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Headscratchers/BaldursGate
  • ramagonsramagons Member Posts: 96
    When Gaelan Bayle keeps saying "Coo"

    Is it slang or something more sinister? (Stroke, brain damage from too many potions of master thievery.)
  • RedcoatRedcoat Member Posts: 31
    Most of these are examples of Gameplay and Story Segregation

    For instance:

    Viconia is murdered by her vengeful kin in her ToB ending if the PC romanced her. Why doesn't he just haul her down to the nearest temple and fork over a few thousand gold to resurrect her?
  • JaxsbudgieJaxsbudgie Member Posts: 600
    Redcoat said:

    Most of these are examples of Gameplay and Story Segregation

    For instance:

    Viconia is murdered by her vengeful kin in her ToB ending if the PC romanced her. Why doesn't he just haul her down to the nearest temple and fork over a few thousand gold to resurrect her?
    My ToB Viconia had 100% resistance to poison and magic, if anything the poison should have healed her.
  • ramagonsramagons Member Posts: 96
    Zafiro said:

    @mch202, image

    The best kind of quest NPC: the kind that doubles as food.

  • mch202mch202 Member Posts: 1,455
    @Zafiro Looks tasty! chicken is my favorite meat.. almost ate Melicamp :-)
  • JaxsbudgieJaxsbudgie Member Posts: 600
    What always made me hmmmmm was when rescuing Skie, I get her to open the chests and wardrobes in her own room, to discover that doing so beckons the guards. Wait, what?
  • ramagonsramagons Member Posts: 96
    When I had aggressive scripts on my fighters and they killed the ust natha lich while it was walking towards my party in the cutscene.
  • JomeroJomero Member Posts: 6
    First rule of all Dungeon Master's handbooks: Your ruling is law over all other written rules.

    Second rule: If the players aren't having fun, you're doing your job wrong.

    BG used both of these rules to make a great game. Nobody wants to play a game where their character is splatted in the first few seconds.

    Well, maybe a couple people do...
  • MatteoTuriniMatteoTurini Member Posts: 105
    If I kill some good folk in the wilderness and no-one sees me doing it, how come I lose reputation? And if there are witnesses, but I kill them all so no-one can tell it was me, my reputation goes even more down!
  • ramagonsramagons Member Posts: 96
    MatteoTurini said:

    If I kill some good folk in the wilderness and no-one sees me doing it, how come I lose reputation? And if there are witnesses, but I kill them all so no-one can tell it was me, my reputation goes even more down!

    Maybe it's because your character stinks from getting all that innocent blood on their stuff.
  • MatteoTuriniMatteoTurini Member Posts: 105
    Riiight...
  • The_New_RomanceThe_New_Romance Member Posts: 839
    Jaxsbudgie said:

    I like it how it takes the PC 8 hours to walk from Beregost to High Hedge when you can actually see the concrete edge of Beregost's map on High Hedge's map!

    Shit, I never noticed that. I've wondered how it could be *that* far when Volo's Guide puts it in the vicinity of Beregost, but I thought they took some artistic licence with that. Now it seems like they just messed up.
  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    Just because something is close doesn't mean it's necessarily easy to get to. If there isn't a decent road travel time shoots waaay up. Then add in rough or confusing terrain.
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,586
    mch202 said:

    BG - a lot of types of drinks in the pubs, where is food?

    In the same vein, how is it that someone poisoned my party's food while they were sleeping in BG1? Since when does my party eat?? And how is it that someone got so close, unnoticed, to my party, and didn't either just kill them on the spot or give them a much quicker working poison? I always thought this was one of the most inane subplots in all of BG.

  • JaxsbudgieJaxsbudgie Member Posts: 600
    CaptRory said:

    Just because something is close doesn't mean it's necessarily easy to get to. If there isn't a decent road travel time shoots waaay up. Then add in rough or confusing terrain.

    But you can see the Beregost map ON the High Hedge map!
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356
    Jaxsbudgie said:

    I like it how it takes the PC 8 hours to walk from Beregost to High Hedge when you can actually see the concrete edge of Beregost's map on High Hedge's map!

    I always wondered about the boundaries of Beregost. If High Hedge is eight hours away and is still within Beregost, that would make it about 20 miles away from town (avg. walking speed being 2.5 mph). Recluse much, Thalantyr?

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    When I went from Beregost to Naskel it took 12 hours of walking, but when I went back from Naskel to Beregost it only took 8 hours.
  • CaptRoryCaptRory Member Posts: 1,660
    Must've been a tailwind. Hehehe
  • Syntia13Syntia13 Member Posts: 514
    elminster said:

    When I went from Beregost to Naskel it took 12 hours of walking, but when I went back from Naskel to Beregost it only took 8 hours.

    There are more instances in both BG1 and BG2 where traveling from point A to B takes longer than getting from point B to A. I always assumed that either road was uphill/downhill so depending on the direction you had to climb (slowly) or run down the slope (quickly), or there was a handy river flowing nearby, where you could hire a raft that would take you downstream fairly quickly, but the return trip was done on foot, therefore taking longer. I rather liked that imagination-poking inconsistency.
    Whether or not it was deliberate, I have no way of knowing. :)

    Anyone has other 'role-playing' explanation for the different time of travel?
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited September 2012
    Yea I guess that must be what it is.
  • SuiboonSuiboon Member Posts: 86
    The party must be having a hard time cleaving a path through all those bones on their way to High Hedge from Beregest... you know, from the endless skeleton army that occupies the High Hedge area. No matter how many you "kill" there's always more, and it's just too much of a bother to bury it all.
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    ramagons said:

    Every time the party goes from high hedge to beregost, there's a lost couple hours for the drunken orgy. What happens at High Hedge, stays at High Hedge.

    A drunken orgy with Thalantyr and the flesh golems? I'm not surprised no one wants to talk about it.
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