@RomulanPaladin Here. This should be your plan 1. Find group of people who have never played BG. 2. Play D&D. 3. Be pessimistic doomed individual. 4. ??? 5. Profit!
Hrmmph. An appreciated though worthless sentiment. The presence of the BG series in D&D groups is monolithic and the chances of cobbling together any group unaware of it is suitably pitiful. I suppose I could try to create a complex character, instead, as a transparently vain attempt to add some depth to the group, though, after all these years, I hardly know why I try.
Regardless, I do thank you for trying to provide hope to this thread, even though, as I'm sure is obvious, hope is just a word for the murder of a man's peace of mind.
So just find some folks from a different sphere of nerd-dom and teach them to play D&D.
Or, look harder. I personally have met an almost depressingly large number of D&D players who have never even HEARD of Baldur's Gate.
@Quartz I was just talking about people who've never even heard of it, period. But you are right, the people who think you're talking about Dark Alliance are ten times more depressing to think about. Especially when they are all like oh yeah I have played Baldur's Gate and I love it and you start talking about it and then they give you a LOOK and then you have that horrible realization that they were just talking about DA. I had forgotten about those people. Pretty sure my mind was trying to blot them out from my memory.
Xan is wiser than you think. Derogatory/pessimistic comments are simply how he goes about expressing himself. He doesn't actually feel hopeless all the time (for all we know, that's all on the surface - do remember that we're dealing with an Enchanter here). I know for a fact that at least half the time he is only being sarcastic, or openly criticizing someone without being too confrontational (usually by berating himself, rather offhandedly, in process). He's one of the game's more interesting characters, a walking contradiction much like Haer'Dalis in BG2. He obviously knows more about what's happening behind the scenes than he lets on. A pity he doesn't get enough character development in the original BG1. You -know- Xan is an agent of Evereska, and you -know- he didn't end up finding (and being captured by) Mulahey because he spent his time twiddling his thumbs and spouting pessimistic nonsense. You know from his banter that he does give a lot of thought about the current state of things (even your choice of companions), you know that he takes his mission seriously and yet he never volunteers information/his thoughts as things unfold.
I'd bombard his depressed face in with magic missiles to end his pitiful drama, while mocking his inability of being able to cast magic missiles himself.
"Do not think I will endure your insults indefinitely."
Cant be worse than accepting him into my party, and marching him off alone against a basillisk, and yay! Leaving him as a statue for the rest of his existence, to which I might later return to to cast stone to flesh on, and he will see me and ask ...
'What, you? The last I remember it was you who sent me off to fight a basilisk, only to have me turned into ...'
Bam, flesh to stone! *Chortle*.
"I cannot abide by these actions! I must take my leave from this barbaric fellowship!"
*Scandalized at the abject cursedness he is forced to suffer at the cruel hands of these despiteous tantalizers, Xan, wrinkled nose heavenward, pointedly flings his resplendently violaceous cloak over his shoulder in a generous arc. Adequately contented with the awkward mélange of deep-seated feelings of loss and shame his imminent and palpably soignée departure will indubitably instill in his iniquitous malefactors, the illustrious Elf abruptly turns on his heels. He would endure the brazen scrurrility that would no doubt accompany his next steps, hurled at him by vicous hyenas! Futile as it may be, at least now he would face doom with dignity, away from the insufferable stench of this dismal company. Onward... to futility. *
On the topic of powergaming, Xan's niche is in how he is still a character with a +3 weapon early game and how he is the only character who can make himself completely immune to fire with just a few buffs/items, because his Moonblade already gives him 50% resistance. Fire will actually heal him, if you go over 100%. Who needs Magic Missile when you can just have him run in and spam fireballs on himself via the Wand of Fire or the Necklace of Missiles? Real power is beginning the last battle with at least 4 different Fireballs going off at once, and another 4 going off near Xan every round (can't have him die on us now, can we? Keep healing him with those explosions).
Anyway Magic Missile is overrated in BG1. While it's a staple in BG2, most BG1 players will tell you to avoid that spell until very late in the game.
Hm. I drew this stupid doodle on Monday night at like 4 AM when I was half asleep and most of the lights were off. But. I think it is relevant to this thread.
@Nuin: interesting to know fire will heal if fire resistance goes over 100%. Will definitely try it out as a tactic one time. Also (especially) helpful in BG2, where you can get several characters have over 100% fire resistance.
Erm, he can't cast a lot of useful higher level damage spells though.
He can cast Necromancy spells, no? So In theory could cast Horrid Wilting which is an AWESOME party-friendly severe damage spell, although it'll take a while to get him there...
I've never really appreciated Xan before, but I happened to have a spare place in my party at the bottom of the mines on my current playthrough so I picked him up and I'm quite liking him. Not having the more commonly used damaging spells means I use a wider variety of other spells than I normally would, and having him use a sword instead of a ranged weapon means I make more use of the various mage buffs. He's still a bit fragile at his current level but once he gets some level 3 and 4 spells I think he'll complement my group quite nicely. Also, personality-wise, I kind of like how he perseveres despite his assertion that we're all doomed. It's one thing to do what you think is right when you're confident of success, but another entirely when you believe you can't possibly succeed.
Comments
Or, look harder. I personally have met an almost depressingly large number of D&D players who have never even HEARD of Baldur's Gate.
(Note: Congrats you just inspired me to post on the meme thread...
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/3079/baldurs-gate-meme-thread-spoilers-all-over-the-place/p41)
I was just talking about people who've never even heard of it, period.
But you are right, the people who think you're talking about Dark Alliance are ten times more depressing to think about. Especially when they are all like oh yeah I have played Baldur's Gate and I love it and you start talking about it and then they give you a LOOK and then you have that horrible realization that they were just talking about DA.
I had forgotten about those people. Pretty sure my mind was trying to blot them out from my memory.
He's one of the game's more interesting characters, a walking contradiction much like Haer'Dalis in BG2. He obviously knows more about what's happening behind the scenes than he lets on. A pity he doesn't get enough character development in the original BG1. You -know- Xan is an agent of Evereska, and you -know- he didn't end up finding (and being captured by) Mulahey because he spent his time twiddling his thumbs and spouting pessimistic nonsense. You know from his banter that he does give a lot of thought about the current state of things (even your choice of companions), you know that he takes his mission seriously and yet he never volunteers information/his thoughts as things unfold.
"If I had wanted your opinion I would have asked for it."
"Do not think I will endure your insults indefinitely."
"I cannot abide by these actions! I must take my leave from this barbaric fellowship!"
*Scandalized at the abject cursedness he is forced to suffer at the cruel hands of these despiteous tantalizers, Xan, wrinkled nose heavenward, pointedly flings his resplendently violaceous cloak over his shoulder in a generous arc. Adequately contented with the awkward mélange of deep-seated feelings of loss and shame his imminent and palpably soignée departure will indubitably instill in his iniquitous malefactors, the illustrious Elf abruptly turns on his heels. He would endure the brazen scrurrility that would no doubt accompany his next steps, hurled at him by vicous hyenas!
Futile as it may be, at least now he would face doom with dignity, away from the insufferable stench of this dismal company.
Onward... to futility. *
Anyway Magic Missile is overrated in BG1. While it's a staple in BG2, most BG1 players will tell you to avoid that spell until very late in the game.
you are the best ever
let me love you
XanVision™ - Making ordinary melodramatics lie down and die since 1997
But. I think it is relevant to this thread.
@belgarathmth: thanks :-)
However, since we're talking about Xan here, we're all doomed! ...Hes also one of my favorite characters...ever, after Coran, and Kivan.
That's all I can see when I look at this guy.
Sorry if I'm being dense, but who is that guy, anyway? Is he from a movie or something, or is it just a random picture off the internet?
...Whoever he is, I can certainly see the resemblence.