Nostalgia for each portion of the BG series
Zaghoul
Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
I just thought I would ask a question concerning moving on to each new portion of the BG series.
I often find myself not wanting to move on from the land of BG. There is just something about it that is extra special.
It is not that I don't look forward to going into SoD and esp. BG2. But I always go into that last battle with Saervok thinking it will be missed.
Same with moving on from BG2 to ToB. Maybe because it brings that particular character closer to the end of the game, and having to move to another character. Maybe because it is where CHARNAME cuts his teeth on getting stronger. Those first forays out of CK always seem the most exciting. I know I, and I imagine others get attached to certain characters, but there is something else to it as well. It may just be because it was the first as well.
I have always enjoyed the little mods that add a little more adventure to the land of BG.
Anyone have similar thoughts? Just curious.
I often find myself not wanting to move on from the land of BG. There is just something about it that is extra special.
It is not that I don't look forward to going into SoD and esp. BG2. But I always go into that last battle with Saervok thinking it will be missed.
Same with moving on from BG2 to ToB. Maybe because it brings that particular character closer to the end of the game, and having to move to another character. Maybe because it is where CHARNAME cuts his teeth on getting stronger. Those first forays out of CK always seem the most exciting. I know I, and I imagine others get attached to certain characters, but there is something else to it as well. It may just be because it was the first as well.
I have always enjoyed the little mods that add a little more adventure to the land of BG.
Anyone have similar thoughts? Just curious.
6
Comments
Each very much had their place and their own special charm.
And yeah...
I know it's Canadian, but the accents, the Monty Pythonesque humour, the towns/villages, it's an England that perhaps never really existed but we want to believe it did.
Would anyone be that surprised if you bumped into Robin Hood, Will Scarlet or Little John in the Wood of Sharp Teeth?
Or met a knight from Camelot?
Or a pilgrim on their way to Canterbury?
You could put them all into BG and they would fit seamlessly.
@cabusha Yeah, ToB really gets crazy on a power lvl, probably my least favorite, but entering Saradush is kinda interesting each time. Sort of the beginning of the end for me. I tend to enjoy low to mid lvls the best it seems.
@Flashburn Agreed, the crossover at the bridge is like the opening of a new half of the game for me, in a sense. So many places to look into.
@batoor I do like the trials and the choices to make. The scrape with Irenicus and his bad of demons that join in is always a bit of excitement as well, happens so fast. The fight music does seem to liven one up for it.
@UnderstandMouseMagic That's part of the reason I like these fantasy settings the most, pretty close to RL at those times, well, sans magic. I always took a liking in school to medieval studies. But even with that, I can imagine ppls views on magic and other worldliness were more open than we are now.
We each seem to have our favorite bits, which is good, and probably helped keep the game going for so long.
Beating Werdna in Wizardry was close but I was much younger then...
@lroumen That does seem to be a common thing we share with many here. After a point it gets to where in the ToB portion that every man, brother, cousin and his dog has magic weapons and smack down potential. By the time we get to the end of BG we are pretty powerful, then t is start over again as the low man in the field in BG2, a little similar, but way more dangerous than BG start.
@kanisatha That has been one of turning points if I don't like a CHARNAME, the bridge. Honestly though, years ago when I first started out with PnP, we rarely got past 10th lvl because it was more roleplay and less constant fighting, and certainly not littered with magic items. That may be why I tend to enjoy the lower lvls. Seems like one has to put more careful thought into surviving.
Shoot, I remember being around age 12 or so and even the giant rats in the Caves of Chaos module (one of THE best) scared the dickens out of us, hehheh.
So it's kinda hard to put my feeling for Throne of Bhaal in words (I'm sure I would have trouble even in my first language), because n comparison to my limited (and pretty ignorant, given my age) experience with Baldur's Gate 1, Throne of Bhaal looked... well. Unreal. It was like something out of Iliad, and hell - that expansion molded certain aspect of my aesthetic views so much, that I'm not reminded of Iliad while playing ToB, but Iliad reminds me of ToB. It might sound stupid, but those haunting horns and drums from menu... It suddenly stopped being medieval adventure about swords and dragons and wizards - but rather something like a mythos on biblical scale.
No other game managed to restore that feeling of pure "hyborian" heroism I had while playing ToB.
I still havent done a whole BG2EE run actually.
Or maybe it's because I was eager to explore the city, since I couldn't access it earlier.
I have other fond memories as well, but that one sticks the most. Nonetheless, I try to keep healthy distance from feeling nostalgic while playing. While nostalgia is beautiful feeling, it is also a terrible advisor, reality filter and can bring out the worst in people, if my experience iwth internet is anything to go by.
Would you speak a little more on the worst of ppl , regarding nostalgia, please? I'm interested in that concept.
When speaking "dark side" of nostalgia, I mean mostly:
1. Nostalgia can prevent people from moving on and experience other games/shows. Example: "I was raised on X. X is the best, and Y, Z and other ones are inferior by default".
2. Nostalgia can create a strong bias, which can make people go ballistic if next game/show/book is somehow different than others. I can understand that one if the difference is drastic, but not about small insignificant changes. As an example, there was an topic on this forum which title suggested the OP is going to talk about huge problems of Enhanced Editions. Turned out, he meant minor things like monster spawing system or thieving mechanics (which sucks, regardless if we talk about vanilla or EEs).
Example2: Genwunners in Pokemon.
3. Further about bias, it can make person to ignore obvious, glaring flaws in work of culture they enjoy. Examples: the stash space in Diablo 3 is too small and need sorting system, but stash in Diablo 2 is perfect, despite being several times smaller, had no sorting system and you couldn't safely transfer items from one character to the other.
Example 2: "Lightsabers duels in prequel trilogy of Star Wars are bad and are lacking any mood or substance", but Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader in Episode IV is excelelnt, despite everything being wrong with it: pacing, choreography, montage, mood etc. I cannot literally point of worse lightsaber fight scene.
Example 3: The ending scene in Godzilla (2014). Many people who were raised on watching movies featuring the titular monster appreciated people (in the movie) cheering that Godzilla was alive, I found that scene insulting to my intelligence. People lost their homes, many died and they still cheered that this huge monster that contributed in destroying their city was alive? And naming it a hero? Sorry, in-universe avarage citizen doesn't know a damn about Kaijus and has every reason to be afraid of his/her future at that point.
4. Also that bias can make a person unable or unvilling to acknowledge good features of choosen product of culture. The opposite of point 3. Let's take me as an example. I can hate the living daylights of Fallout 4 and the company behind it, but even I can accept that it has some good features, like improved gunplay or graphic in comparison to Fallout 3 and Fallotut New Vegas.
5. And finally, I experienced that (at least I think so) due to nostalgia people can put themselves in higher position than you in conversation ("I watched/played original xyz so I know better. You're stupid, the new xyz is for retards"). I don't need to explain why thinink yourself as superior because you have memories of playing/watching particual entry in the franchise is stupid and rude. Worst yet if such person insults other people and all of 4 previous points are applied.
And lastly, which is related to points 3 and 4. I do think that if a person truly considers himself/herself a great fan of something (due to nostalgia or not), he or she should be able to notice both advantages of disadvantages of their beloved franchises. Abillity to take notice of both is important when giving a feedback, which can affect next entry in the franchise. If person who is blinded by nostalgia gives feedback and demands a features that were not-so great or ignore new solutions, it's not good. Feedback like that is worthless.
High School seems to be where we often have many likes that stick with us for a long time, formative period it is and all.
But I'm hearing ya. I just see positive and negative aspects is all. Interesting comments, thanks for expounding on them.
It seems to me that "nostalgia" used as a negative is only used when something new needs selling.
Nobody suggests that listening to the Beatles is "nostalgic", or that a person who says "Beatles, greatest band ever" is suffering from nostalgia. It's recognised as legitimate opinion. It can be argued with, fair enough, but the argument is not dismissed with a catch all phrase that belittles the person holding that opinion.
(and don't believe for an instant that those selling wouldn't use "nostalgia" if they could get away with it about the Beatles, just that they would sound like a dick)
We live in an age where consumerism rules everything, selling is the holy grail.
Don't be taken in by the idea that just because something is new, it has some intrinsic value. It can be judged objectively against what has come before, and it can be lacking, objectively.