A couple of comments on dialog

swatter555

I don't want to start with a negative, so let me just say I really enjoy the enhanced edition. You guys have done a great job in making a very old game (a classic) into something enjoyable in 2016. It has exceeded my expectations.

However, some of the dialog is out of place in the context of the old game. At least to me, it is easy to spot characters added to the game since release (having completely forgotten almost all of them in the original). The original dialog was witty and pithy with more than a touch of humor. Despite the intense pull of the narrative, the game didn't take itself too seriously.

In the EE I am now running into beggars who are too proud to beg and who don't mind lecturing you about judging them. I hardly remember what beggars said in the original, but I doubt it was that. My character is a good character who goes out of her way to help the poor, only to be told something to the effect of "I'm a pathetic beggar who needs sympathy not ridicule". Sure this is a tiny issue, but I hope this sort of social and moral sanitizing of the original is an isolated case as I finish playing through the game.

If you people want to get on a pedestal and lecture about social values, make sure it is completely within the context of the time and place the story is set within. It's needs to be seamless. The best stories are the ones that force the player to make hard moral choices, not tell them what to think about those moral choices.

Kurona

Eeeeh, that's the Nashkel beggar with the randomized lines. Pretty sure he was already present in the original game.

elminster

The beggar in question is from the original game and none of their lines have been changed.

mashedtaters

The dialogue in the original definitely had the condescendingly fourth wall-breakage theme about it that you are criticizing. That irreverence and lack of player deference was part of its charm.
As a matter of fact, it is my opinion that the new writing would have been better served with more of what you are incorrectly accusing the new writers of adding.
It's a difficult role to adjust a masterpiece. You can't please everyone, obviously. And in this case, even undeserved grievances get placed at the "meddler's" doorstep.
I think that they did/are doing a great job given the challenge and the nitpickiness of the fanbase.

Gallenger

With the exception of the added NPCs, interactions with those NPCs, and their special quests/areas, virtually nothing else from the original games was touched as far as dialogue goes (with the exception of spelling mistakes/typos etc). So, in general, if you're in an area from the original game, and not talking to an NPC added by one of the EE Npcs or their related quests, or an EE NPC themselves, you're dealing with something from the original game.

swatter555

My apologies to Beamdog then. I haven't played BG since release, but I have played BG2 several times where beggars acted like beggars and you could give them money in some cases. I did watch or read something about the Beamdog expansion and how they altered old characters. I mistakenly assumed that is what they did here. Sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

As I stated in my post, I do think they have done a great job making the enhanced edition. I agree, they have a tough job and picky people like me are hard to please. I'll be a little more careful in the future and perhaps I will look a little less foolish.

mf2112

swatter555 said:

My apologies to Beamdog then. I haven't played BG since release, but I have played BG2 several times where beggars acted like beggars and you could give them money in some cases. I did watch or read something about the Beamdog expansion and how they altered old characters. I mistakenly assumed that is what they did here. Sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

As I stated in my post, I do think they have done a great job making the enhanced edition. I agree, they have a tough job and picky people like me are hard to please. I'll be a little more careful in the future and perhaps I will look a little less foolish.

No worries, we have all looked foolish here at one point or another when we learn new things we did not know about our favorite game.

Mr2150

I don't think you look foolish - it's hard to remember what an inconsequential character might've said in a game 17-years ago.

I do think you should play and rate the games based on the merits of the games, however, and not worry about what other reviewers might suggest. If you find stuff you don't like, fair enough, but I'd be surprised if you did.

Yeah, there are a few bugs, problems and issues (but far less than the originals) and ultimately if you go looking for something to dislike, you'll probably end up finding it.

mashedtaters

The game is basically much the same as it was, in my opinion. The general plot is the same and the characters are the same. About the only differences in story are the addition of some side plots and a few new areas and characters. Most of the work that Beamdog has done has been programming and engine enhancements and improvements, which is huge. Instead of modding the game for hours in order to get it tweaked to your preferences and bug free, you can now play out of the box. Any mods on top of the EEs are basically fluff and niceties, rather than essentials (although I consider some mods absolutely essential because I am pampered and lazy).

Most of the over-excited, loud, and fervent criticism of the writing is generally exaggerated and blown out of proportion by trolls and hypersensitive nitpickers. Even generally justified Hexxat-haters tend to forget that some of their favorites from the original are flawed in the same overpowered, underwritten, cliche, overdramatic ways.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely have issues with some of the new writing and implementation (for example, it grates my nerves that the new joinable NPCs have to voice...every...freaking...line!!!), but again, it's because I am a pampered, hypersensitive nitpicker (or maybe just a troll, you never know) and I own that. I am as much of a victim of my own nostalgia goggles as the louder players out there. But, I can generally say that the new EEs are a big improvement over the old games, and that I prefer them and enjoy them more than the originals.