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Where are you from and what do you prefer?

DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
edited September 2012 in Archive (General Discussion)
I am interested in where people are from and how the feel about changes to the game.
  1. Where are you from and what do you prefer?59 votes
    1. I'm European & game improvements are more important than being true to the storyline
      33.90%
    2. I'm European & being true to the storyline is more important than improvements
      20.34%
    3. I'm N. American & game improvements are more important than being true to the storyline
        6.78%
    4. I'm N. American & being true to the storyline is more important than improvements
      27.12%
    5. I'm from elsewhere & game improvements are more important than being true to the storyline
      10.17%
    6. I'm from elsewhere & being true to the storyline is more important than improvements
        1.69%

Comments

  • DiscoCatDiscoCat Member Posts: 73
    Can you explain how and why "improvements" are at odds with storyline? How is the relationship zero-sum? And what do you mean by improvements? It's such a broad word.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    To expand on my vote (jeebus, with the polls, here!):

    The story that was originally written in 1998 needs to be maintained. This means that the characters' personalities need to be the same, the plot points need to remain the same, and that's pretty much it.

    Engine-side, the game should still play like Baldur's Gate, because players should be able to jump right into the game knowing what the mechanics are and what to expect.

    Beyond that, I'm more or less open to ideas and concepts. I usually install at least a few mods (Item Revisions is one of my favorites), and if there's something that makes sense to implement (see also, "reduce the gold destruction wild surge effect to a percentage so that it doesn't risk a no-solution scenario for BG2"), then I'm usually a fan of improving on what was released fourteen years ago.

    New content is always a plus, as long as it doesn't contradict the old content. That means new NPCs, new side quests for existing NPCs, and so on. I'm not so much a fan of bringing old NPCs back to life after the story has been written with the assumption that they're dead (for instance). :)
  • CaerdonCaerdon Member Posts: 10
    This is an odd poll.

    Improvement is an improvement, whether it alters the storyline or not. I'm all for improvements, but that doesn't mean that the story or characters should be changed unnecessarily.

    While I love the storyline (BG1 & SoA, ToB not so much), it has its weak spots and it's hardly above criticism - and it could be improved in any number of ways. But it goes without saying that not every change is an improvement.

    I can understand that many in their nostalgia want to experience what they experienced some fourteen years ago - has it really been that long? - but wouldn't it be great to have something that's familiar yet has some new flavour that makes it even better? If you only ever want more of the same, you'll never get to experience anything greater.

    Then again, we already know that Overhaul isn't going to touch the story...

    I'm from Europe. I can't help it, please forgive me.

    P.S.

    My first post here, so I hereby declare myself warmly welcome to this forum! I'm a BG1 veteran, and I'm excited for the Enhanced Edition. :)
  • GoodSteveGoodSteve Member Posts: 607
    This is indeed a weird poll. I had to pick the answer that best represents me but I'm still all for game improvements. If they want to improve the game I say "Go ahead, chief. You're the man now, dog!" (It's true, I often say that) but if any of the changes needs to alter the storyline than it's not really an "improvement" in my eyes.

    Also, eat more cheese.
  • FredjoFredjo Member Posts: 477
    The improvements that affect the storyline are such as being able to choose who survives BG1 (Khalid or Jah, Dyna or Minsc etc), thus I voted for improvements because there's a great potential of being able to continue through BGII with the party one had in BGI. I have to say I've always wanted Dynaheir back as listening to Minsc dolphine-IQ isn't something I'm fond of. Changes like this would need many Mbs of new banter, but I think it'd become one of the future DLCs.
  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    ajwz said:

    I think 99% of the suggestions listed on the feature requests forum wouldn't affect the storyline in any way, so I'm not entirely sure that Improving the game and not modifying the original story would be mutually exclusive.

    Hi Ajwz

    You're right, not all changes would affect the storyline, but some might, and I wanted to test out something I detected in another discussion

  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    DiscoCat said:

    Can you explain how and why "improvements" are at odds with storyline? How is the relationship zero-sum? And what do you mean by improvements? It's such a broad word.

    Hi Discocat

    Again, you're right, not all improvement would affect the storyline, but in the event that they might, I wanted to test an idea.
  • TetraploidTetraploid Member Posts: 252
    Well, I don't want to see the storyline changed...if you want a different storyline, make a different game. Of course, there are many improvements that wouldn't change the storyline, so it shouldn't be a problem.
  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    Aosaw said:

    .... New content is always a plus, as long as it doesn't contradict the old content. That means new NPCs, new side quests for existing NPCs, and so on. I'm not so much a fan of bringing old NPCs back to life after the story has been written with the assumption that they're dead (for instance). :)

    HI Aaosaw

    I think I may have discovered the cause of some of our earlier disagreement. If these early results in this poll are maintained, it lloks as though we were looking at the whole idea of the purpose of improving the game from different perspectives.

    Even if the current pattern doesn't continue, on geographical lines, it is at least clear that different people have different approaches to what a role playing game is, and different attitudes to what is and isn't permissible from the process of improvement.

    So, sorry for being at crossed purposes earlier :)

  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    Caerdon said:

    This is an odd poll. :)

    It is, I agree, but I wanted to test out an odd idea :)
  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    edited September 2012
    Thanks Tetraploid :)
  • MoomintrollMoomintroll Member Posts: 1,498
    I'm from Europe and I don't understand this poll.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    Moomintroll said:

    I'm from Europe and I don't understand this poll.

    I'm Aosaw, and I approve this message.

    In any case, I don't see what being North American or European has to do with it. I'm all for gameplay enhancements and for adding new content. I'm not in favor of completely rewriting entire characters on a whim.

    Also, your poll is slanted. The fact that most of the people voting here have had to clarify what they meant should tell you something.
  • GriegGrieg Member Posts: 507
    In the first instance I wanted to say how your birth place, or place where you live have to do with your ideas about a game.
    But now after your (@Dougle) explanation I'm taking part with your strange experiment. I hope you get enough of statistical population to get decent results. Will you share your results with public?
  • FredjoFredjo Member Posts: 477
    Aosaw said:

    Moomintroll said:

    I'm from Europe and I don't understand this poll.

    I'm Aosaw, and I approve this message.

    In any case, I don't see what being North American or European has to do with it. I'm all for gameplay enhancements and for adding new content. I'm not in favor of completely rewriting entire characters on a whim.

    Also, your poll is slanted. The fact that most of the people voting here have had to clarify what they meant should tell you something.
    The geographical stats are in my opinion just additional info and I don't see any reason why it couldn't be added as such. So far I've seen clarifications on every poll on this website, it might do something with this being a forum and not a polling site. Approving @Moomintroll's message that you also don't understand this poll, I'm not sure if it was wise to vote in the first place.
  • DougieDougie Member Posts: 34
    Hi Grieg

    Thank you for your patience and your open-mindedness.

    If I'm wrong, everyone can be assured that they play the game in the same way general way, with the same kind of expectations, and that would probably indicate that developers only have to satisfy one constituency of views in the changes that they make to the game.

    However, if my hunch is correct, the results will tell the story themselves, and it could indicate that the developers may need to think about different expectations from different populations, which is a challenge, but not impossible to resolve. Listening only to the needs of those who feel most strongly about a particular issue may mean that they fail to satisfy many who approach the game in a different way.

    There may be other group differences, such as male v female, but this is the aspect that got me thinking.
  • RajickRajick Member Posts: 207
    I'm from the u.s.and I love the game as is but the improvements to the game that have been announced sound amazing and keep to the feel of the game perfectly if done right plus they change nothing about storyline so yeah all good. You want to change the story a bit make a mod
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    Well my vote would be: I'm from europe and I think keeping true to the storyline is more important than making improvements, except in the case of ToB where the opposite is true.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    Fredjo said:

    Aosaw said:

    Moomintroll said:

    I'm from Europe and I don't understand this poll.

    I'm Aosaw, and I approve this message.

    In any case, I don't see what being North American or European has to do with it. I'm all for gameplay enhancements and for adding new content. I'm not in favor of completely rewriting entire characters on a whim.

    Also, your poll is slanted. The fact that most of the people voting here have had to clarify what they meant should tell you something.
    The geographical stats are in my opinion just additional info and I don't see any reason why it couldn't be added as such. So far I've seen clarifications on every poll on this website, it might do something with this being a forum and not a polling site. Approving @Moomintroll's message that you also don't understand this poll, I'm not sure if it was wise to vote in the first place.
    I was approving the phrasing that @Moomintroll used. :)
  • darrenkuodarrenkuo Member Posts: 366
    Baldur's Gate has great storyline already , after 15 years , the some features of game are outdated must be done some improvement to extend its life.
  • etaglocetagloc Member Posts: 349
    if i only wanted the original I would just play the original. already know they cant change anything crucial, so improve your asses off
  • NWN_babaYagaNWN_babaYaga Member Posts: 732
    i´m from the outarim wood cottage and i prefer a cooked hansel & gretel over any boo type hamster.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    I don't think you really need another topic for what is basically the same question.

    I'm pretty sure the geographical question was just to make this poll seem different. >_>
This discussion has been closed.

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