Speaking of durlags did they ever try to put the scale of the skeleton dragon into consideration, when compared to how actual dragon models look in bg2? =p
Fast critters they are, and talk about some wicked poison. There's another 4 (all at once with a couple sword spiders to boot under Firewine Bridge with NTotSC installed. Fun times.
SoA logic: hey, you're a good cleric? Get Lathander symbol even if you worship Baervan! Evil? Talos, then! What? Shar? Never heard of her I'm so glad they changed it in EE
I'm also glad for even more expanded Cleric options. A bit upset it takes mods to make Branwen a Priest of Tempus though.
Try not to take the game's limitations (especially in the original) too personally. 100% customization and choice are for tabletop games. At the end of the day, Baldur's Gate has still been praised for the amount of customization and choice it gives you to begin with, and now it has even more choice.
And then there's the dialogue trees, which are a joke in most modern RPGs.
But of course as far as those go, Baldur's Gate can't compare to the dialogue Biosphere that is Planescape: Torment, at least from what I've heard anyway.
I can't remember if I've already used this one, but does anyone else find it impossible that Dorn has already heard of the prowess of a party that is probably only Level 1 or 2 by the time they run into him?
@ZaramMaldovar Maybe he is one of those "with evil intent" mentioned in all your wanted posters. He has done work as amercenary in the past, so it's possible he appraoched to hunt you down as well.
Also let's talk about that "All those of evil intent"
Not only is that notice a bit on the nose but it's also stretching things quite a bit to assume that:
1. All Bounty Hunters are evil 2. Those of Evil Intent are all willing to hunt bounties and don't have something better to do 3. That posting something that wide-spread with a calling as blantant as "All those of evil intent" would not result in the authorities being alerted in some way.
It's all very unprofessional.
That being said, I could totally believe Dorn was hunting bounties in his spare time, he would've likely picked up on such things in one of the seedier taverns on his way to Nashkel.
@Montresor_SP Actually Viekang isn't even mentioned in the books. Abdel and Viekang's fight appears to be canon to the Baldur's Gate adventuring modules which assume the books are canon.
In the actual game canon, I choose to believe it's highly possible that Viekang died if not when leaving Saradush then at some point before Charname's encounter with Mellisan.
@Montresor_SP I'm glad you mentioned Viekang because I plan to expand a bit on him in my adaption of the story. It'll be a long time before I get to TOB, but Viekang's (albeit very minor) part in my story will help propel another party member's story as well.
Let's start 2019 off with a logic flaw that will hopefully spark an interesting discussion.
1. Thief's Guildmaster in Baldur's Gate speaks of how you have been in town only a few days and yet you have made yourself known. Despite the fact that you have possibly only been in town for about an hour before taking his quest. 2. Similarly Lothander will mention that Marek poisoned you while you slept, despite the fact that you haven't slept since meeting Marek.
Time flows differently within the city of Baldur's Gate I guess.
Let's start 2019 off with a logic flaw that will hopefully spark an interesting discussion.
1. Thief's Guildmaster in Baldur's Gate speaks of how you have been in town only a few days and yet you have made yourself known. Despite the fact that you have possibly only been in town for about an hour before taking his quest. 2. Similarly Lothander will mention that Marek poisoned you while you slept, despite the fact that you haven't slept since meeting Marek.
Time flows differently within the city of Baldur's Gate I guess.
Brushed it off at first but actually that's a good point.
Most games don't have a timekeeping system, so they can just assign any time value to any adventure and the player won't question it.
Baldur's Gate went out of its way to make a time system though. So the player can time the exact number of in-universe hours passed since they came into town. Yet they then go on to ignore that timer.
Was there some engine limitation that prevented the dialogue from checking how long you've been in town? The save file seems to keep track of the total hours passed so I'd think that means there's already an internal mechanism for keeping track of time, and beyond that it's just a matter of creating some sort of checkpoint when you enter the town for the first time. I know these things are always easier said than done but it sounds weird.
@Chronicler Not at all, in fact there are several points in the series where how long you take to do something matters, even in the vanilla version of the original game it was rigged to kill you in 10 days if you didn't solve the Poison Quest in Baldur's Gate. So the game has always been fully capable of knowing how much time has passed, but I guess the quests assume that time has passed regardless of what you actually do.
Melissan logic: Charname arrives in Saradush with Imoen and Sarevok in tow.
Melissan: "What's this? A Bhaalspawn appears out of nowhere?"
No Melissan, three Bhaalspawns appear out of nowhere!
(OK, we may have to grant her this: Sarevok no longer has any Bhaal essence, and Imoen doesn't have a whole lot.)
----------------
Charname logic: Who should I trust to give me sound advice and lead me on to godhood? Let me see ... my companions through the last several months, who stood by me all the way through Shadows of Amn? One of whom I might have fallen in love with? Or maybe the priest of the nearby temple? Or the Solar? No wait, I got it: The woman I just met five minutes ago, who lured hundreds of other Bhaalspawn into a death trap! She's totally trustworthy!
----------------
Sarevok logic: In my youth, I spent much time looking into the lore of the dead Bhaal priesthood. ... The Sword Coast will run red with blood but the battles will culminate in a great struggle within a city to the south, the Tethyrian city of Saradush.
So I concluded that I should start a war in Baldur's Gate to the north and become lord of murder, before this struggle had happened!
----------------
Melissan logic: The best way to become the new lady of murder is to let Charname & Co kill off The Five, reaching epic levels in the process, and then have a great showdown against a group of six level 30+ adventurers, one of whom is a powerful Bhaalspawn.
----------------
Jon Irenicus logic: With hundreds of Bhaalspawn roaming the Forgotten Realms, I ought to abduct two of the most most powerful, who are capable of escaping from my Dungeon in Athkatla, following me to Brynnlaw and Spellhold, pursue me through the Underdark, kill Bodhi, and then seek me out on the Tree of Life itself. It's not like I could capture and use a couple of nobodies like Gavid or Viekang.
Comments
I always thought that was a giant Wyvern, kinda like Wyvern Skeleton in the Cloakwood forest.
Plus many dragons practice powerful shapeshifting magics, which only further muddies the water.
I didn't know Dragons had more than two arms, I just thought they had two exceptionally large arms.
@Chronicler
Fair Point, both of you.
While we're on the subject of Durlag's Tower, isn't it weird it's the only place one can encounter Astral Phase Spiders?
I'm so glad they changed it in EE
I as well.
I'm also glad for even more expanded Cleric options. A bit upset it takes mods to make Branwen a Priest of Tempus though.
Try not to take the game's limitations (especially in the original) too personally. 100% customization and choice are for tabletop games. At the end of the day, Baldur's Gate has still been praised for the amount of customization and choice it gives you to begin with, and now it has even more choice.
And then there's the dialogue trees, which are a joke in most modern RPGs.
But of course as far as those go, Baldur's Gate can't compare to the dialogue Biosphere that is Planescape: Torment, at least from what I've heard anyway.
Did it? I must've not noticed.
That's good
Hmm, that's fair.
Also let's talk about that "All those of evil intent"
Not only is that notice a bit on the nose but it's also stretching things quite a bit to assume that:
1. All Bounty Hunters are evil
2. Those of Evil Intent are all willing to hunt bounties and don't have something better to do
3. That posting something that wide-spread with a calling as blantant as "All those of evil intent" would not result in the authorities being alerted in some way.
It's all very unprofessional.
That being said, I could totally believe Dorn was hunting bounties in his spare time, he would've likely picked up on such things in one of the seedier taverns on his way to Nashkel.
https://www.starwars.com/news/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-mos-eisley-cantina
I 'ate those money grubbin' scum.
Hectan tries to teleport out of Saradush: Chunked.
Viekang teleports out of Saradush: Survives.
But did he though?
Actually Viekang isn't even mentioned in the books. Abdel and Viekang's fight appears to be canon to the Baldur's Gate adventuring modules which assume the books are canon.
In the actual game canon, I choose to believe it's highly possible that Viekang died if not when leaving Saradush then at some point before Charname's encounter with Mellisan.
I'm glad you mentioned Viekang because I plan to expand a bit on him in my adaption of the story. It'll be a long time before I get to TOB, but Viekang's (albeit very minor) part in my story will help propel another party member's story as well.
1. Thief's Guildmaster in Baldur's Gate speaks of how you have been in town only a few days and yet you have made yourself known. Despite the fact that you have possibly only been in town for about an hour before taking his quest.
2. Similarly Lothander will mention that Marek poisoned you while you slept, despite the fact that you haven't slept since meeting Marek.
Time flows differently within the city of Baldur's Gate I guess.
Most games don't have a timekeeping system, so they can just assign any time value to any adventure and the player won't question it.
Baldur's Gate went out of its way to make a time system though. So the player can time the exact number of in-universe hours passed since they came into town. Yet they then go on to ignore that timer.
Was there some engine limitation that prevented the dialogue from checking how long you've been in town? The save file seems to keep track of the total hours passed so I'd think that means there's already an internal mechanism for keeping track of time, and beyond that it's just a matter of creating some sort of checkpoint when you enter the town for the first time. I know these things are always easier said than done but it sounds weird.
Not at all, in fact there are several points in the series where how long you take to do something matters, even in the vanilla version of the original game it was rigged to kill you in 10 days if you didn't solve the Poison Quest in Baldur's Gate. So the game has always been fully capable of knowing how much time has passed, but I guess the quests assume that time has passed regardless of what you actually do.
Melissan: "What's this? A Bhaalspawn appears out of nowhere?"
No Melissan, three Bhaalspawns appear out of nowhere!
(OK, we may have to grant her this: Sarevok no longer has any Bhaal essence, and Imoen doesn't have a whole lot.)
----------------
Charname logic: Who should I trust to give me sound advice and lead me on to godhood? Let me see ... my companions through the last several months, who stood by me all the way through Shadows of Amn? One of whom I might have fallen in love with? Or maybe the priest of the nearby temple? Or the Solar? No wait, I got it: The woman I just met five minutes ago, who lured hundreds of other Bhaalspawn into a death trap! She's totally trustworthy!
----------------
Sarevok logic: In my youth, I spent much time looking into the lore of the dead Bhaal priesthood. ... The Sword Coast will run red with blood but the battles will culminate in a great struggle within a city to the south, the Tethyrian city of Saradush.
So I concluded that I should start a war in Baldur's Gate to the north and become lord of murder, before this struggle had happened!
----------------
Melissan logic: The best way to become the new lady of murder is to let Charname & Co kill off The Five, reaching epic levels in the process, and then have a great showdown against a group of six level 30+ adventurers, one of whom is a powerful Bhaalspawn.
----------------
Jon Irenicus logic: With hundreds of Bhaalspawn roaming the Forgotten Realms, I ought to abduct two of the most most powerful, who are capable of escaping from my Dungeon in Athkatla, following me to Brynnlaw and Spellhold, pursue me through the Underdark, kill Bodhi, and then seek me out on the Tree of Life itself. It's not like I could capture and use a couple of nobodies like Gavid or Viekang.