Baeloth & M'Khiin not at Coastway Crossing?
PaulGreystoke
Member Posts: 63
I started my second run through of SoD, & was planning to go evil this time after my goody two shoes LG Sunsoul Monk run. But right after I zone into the Coastway Crossing zone, I see a message that M'Khiin & Dimension Door. Not long after that I see a similar message for Baeloth. When I go to the ersatz Black Pits site, nobody is there - just a few chickens & the like - unlike my first run, where a crowd was watching (& heckling) the proceedings. Baeloth & M'Khiin are nowhere to be seen.
Is there a reason for this? I have no mods installed.
Is there a reason for this? I have no mods installed.
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I went ahead & used EE Keeper to change the Global line about the dead Baeloth sprite & that fixed it. Thanks @typo_tilly!
It seems to me a design flaw in SoD that M'Khiin's introduction was made dependent upon Baeloth's presence, when Baeloth wasn't necessarily present. I reckon the devs didn't think this through very well!
Of course it solves the mechanical problem if Baeloth is automatically resurrected without explanation, but it's nonsense in story terms. Of course resurrection exists in the Forgotten Realms universe, but not unconditionally: if a character was chunked (or otherwise irreparably damaged) then resurrection isn't meant to be possible. Since the designers can have no way to know how Baeloth might have met his death in any particular run, it can't be possible to devise any consistent justification for Baeloth to have been resurrected. The only way to make sense of guaranteeing Baeloth's presence would be to make Baeloth unkillable in BG1 ... which could have been made to work if Baeloth were not a joinable character, but obviously makes nonsense of BG1 gameplay when Baeloth is joinable.
Thus I don't think there's any logical answer to this, except changing the Coastway Crossing scenario so that M'Khiin can appear even if Baeloth isn't around. It needn't be a gigantic change - it could stay the same as now if Baeloth survived BG1, but with the addition of an alternate story thread in case Baeloth didn't survive BG1 (which would merge back into the existing storyline once M'Khiin is either recruited or declined). This alternate thread could be fairly basic - for example, with no Baeloth, the revived Black Pits could instead be merely some abandoned buildings which M'Khiin was exploring, but she slipped into the fighting pit and needed help to climb out, so you rescue her (new script), and thereby get the choice (new dialogue) to recruit or decline her - which wouldn't require too much new scripting and dialogue.
EDIT: Ok, I'm a dumbass.
But anyway, if you and @MrBungle are having this same problem on v2.3.67.3, then it looks as if the fix which was meant to be in v2.1.63.2 didn't work or didn't happen for some reason. Still, that was always rather a crude fix in story terms (being unconditional and unexplained resurrection of Baeloth, regardless of his fate in BG1ee), so the silver lining to this cloud might be a more nuanced fix next time ... perhaps more like what I suggested above.
Even if it turns out that nothing can be done to change the situation in your current run, then there are worse fates than being "stuck with Viconia and Edwin" - they're both pretty useful, after all.
An another character who got resurrected without an explanation in my game was Minsc. When the ranger asked me in Nashkel to save Dynaheir I refused... which enraged him, so I cut him down. Of course I went to the gnoll stronghold after that and released Dynaheir though. Think about the XP...
Now in the beginning of SoD Minsc was still quite alive and well with Dynaheir in Three Old Kegs. No explanation given in the discussion I had with them.
I guess nobody wanted to raise him. Yeah, I spose we could say Dorn's helper raised him, and maybe Monty and Xzar get dug up again by the Zhents. But, I mean really, I dumped alota folks into the swamps and I am sure most of the rest ended up as wolf scat or some such thing.
Actually it might change a few runs(and quests) if ANY of the deaths 'kept' into BG2. Spose that would have to be a major mod though, considering existing story lines. I realize Beamdog had to go with existing things with BG2 though.
But yep, hope the bug gets fixed.