Writing is hard
Grimo88
Member Posts: 191
Writing is hard. I have a degree in creative writing (which makes me qualified to work at restaurants all over the country!), and teach it to high school kids for a living. What I tell them is that the most important tool in a writer's kit is fearlessness. Writing is a part of someone, out there, for everyone to see. It is deeply personal, but also embarrassingly public when you do it for a living. It takes grit. If you falter, doubt yourself for second, and you do it for living, you might not get paid. You have to be tough.
I personally think Amber and Andrew have done a great job. Yeah, there's some sloppiness, but most of it feels genuine, and taps into that BG vibe (which, btw, has some sloppy writing all its own). There are legitimate criticisms here, but many of them are, the most part, overblown and full of vitriol, and, ironically, done with 0 grammar or punctuation.
Whether you agree with what they've written or not, like their style or not, join me in saying thank you to our Beambards. Who here could actually say they could take a name as powerful, as well loved as BG and do even a tenth of what they've done with it? It really is a Herculean task, and they've handled it with aplomb.
I personally think Amber and Andrew have done a great job. Yeah, there's some sloppiness, but most of it feels genuine, and taps into that BG vibe (which, btw, has some sloppy writing all its own). There are legitimate criticisms here, but many of them are, the most part, overblown and full of vitriol, and, ironically, done with 0 grammar or punctuation.
Whether you agree with what they've written or not, like their style or not, join me in saying thank you to our Beambards. Who here could actually say they could take a name as powerful, as well loved as BG and do even a tenth of what they've done with it? It really is a Herculean task, and they've handled it with aplomb.
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Comments
Everything else is pretty damn good.
Not just that, but what was Safana's character in the first place? She had like, three lines in the original? If anything, with the work Amber has done on her, she's the Bill Finger to Bioware's Bob Kane (OBSCURE BATMAN HISTORIOGRAPHY REFERENCE).
@Rawgrim@Kaliesto references:"your average bitter female 30-something social keyboard warrior dines with cats and spends every night dampening their iPhone with tears shed while swiping through Tinder profiles"
Stop putting words into my mouth, please.
She was asked how she intended to improve upon the previous games and she stated that she wanted to add more depth to those characters. More layers than just a single 1 dimensional trope. I would have done the same thing if it were my job to improve those characters. She didn't take out the character traits that defined them previously, she simply added more to the characters overall. She respected the original work and pushed it further.
People seem to jump to the conclusion that the characters were destroyed and that she was calling the previous developers sexist. It's like a bunch of insecure man children that are terrified that a woman is in control of something they like. It's the fear that she has an agenda of her own and doesn't care about the game. This is ignorance on a high level. Amber has more experience with D&D and writing then any of these loud complainers have. She didn't join Beamdog as a way to push her agenda. She did her job.
Like all dev teams, Beamdog is made up of people that all have different beliefs and views. Some of them are probably offensive to others but that is life. Statues, paintings, books, films, and yes...games all have content that can offend others. It has been this way forever. If every artist conformed to a standard then all art would be the same and very boring.
I understand the annoyance with PC culture. There is a point where it intrudes on things. If every game has to have a perfectly balanced group of races, sexual orientations and beliefs it starts to feel forced and obtrusive. I think anyone creating a world and a story would like as much variety and complexity as possible. It actually makes the amount of content and realism flow with more ease. It shouldn't be a forced focus issue though. How these things are implemented will be criticized no matter how well it's written but it should be up to the writer to include it or not. NOT the fanbase.
If Amber and Andrew decided to make an all male cast with no romances then that is what they should do. I would hope that they would have a good reason for doing it this way but it's a creation that they are making. Complaining about the variety of characters and blaming it on the writing is a cheap cop out in my opinion. I don't get upset when an ogre says "Get out of the way Pinks" I don't complain that it's not an Oscar worthy line nor does anyone need to point out that ogres are stereotypically stupid. Nobody needs to get upset about stereotypes either. See how easy it is to complain? I just move on and ignore the bits I don't like and enjoy the ones I do. If the game isn't delivering more positive than negative then I stop playing and move on to other games. No use starting a riot. Some lines in the game might be poor but all games that have this much text are going to have a few stinkers. It's a shame that the transgender character didn't go over well but I think it would have been criticized regardless.
I do think poking fun at gamersgate was in poor taste from a logical standpoint because a large portion of your audience is on one side or the other and poking a stick at the audience you are trying to please and make money off of is risky. It's ok that members of the dev team feel one way or the other and if they want to let their opinions be known that is cool. They have the right to put it in the game but just like everything else I discussed, as an artist you have to consider your audience and the overarching point of the art. Gamersgate had nothing to do with SOD as a game and that easter egg was obviously going to polarize the two camps involved with gamersgate. It's the development teams right to put it in the game but the result is not good for the game's sales or the community. As writers that is something that needs to be considered as well. It's a hot button topic at the moment which increases the risk.
I would like to state that I can take a joke and personally am not offended by anything in the game that I have heard complaints about. From what I have seen and from what I have heard from others, the game is well written and a seamless continuation of the original Baldur's Gate. I have not experienced the bulk of SOD because of LOB mode needing a fix but I would like to say thanks anyway. This is a very rare and special game and Beamdog has done something very rare and special by supporting the game, improving the engine, and adding optional content. You guys have written many books worth of content in an effort to please the fanbase and it is appreciated.
You make some valid points, though. By all means. Do you think she fleshed out all the stereotypical male characters from BG1, though? She did seem very focused on the females in her interview.
Write your OWN stories.
Adding a new chapter to the Bhaalspawn saga that was originally not your work to begin with is going to make people have high expectations. I finally understand the old Star Wars fans even more after Phantom Menace was released. I refused to play Siege of Dragonspear more, because I didn't want to destroy my imagination entirely in what happened between the events of Sarevok's death and being captured by Jon Irenicus.
...and the changes for existing characters didn't do them any justice. Imagine if someone made a fan fiction of "Game of Thrones" and wanted to include King Joffery and Ramsay Bolton, but found these characters too evil for their liking and wanted to change their personalities a 'little'.
New ideas, stories, characters are always welcome. Forgotten Realms is a massive world with lots of stories untold. Bhaalspawn saga was already done.
BTW, Heavyline I do understand and respect where you are coming from. I don't see anything wrong with voicing your opinion if you dislike something. How else will things improve? Still, there is a large difference between your honest criticism and the mindless rampage that hit the forum this week. Some criticism is based off of intolerance and hate for others and I don't think it's fair to the game or the people that made it but that's my opinion.