Your first time through chapter 4
JoenSo
Member Posts: 910
How did you feel the first time you played through chapter 4 with the asylum, the City of caverns and all? What did you think was going to happen storywise and did you think it should have been different?
The first time I played this game I was fourteen. And I had a really... uneasy feeling about the chapter. I had no idea where the story was going and it felt like the game was slowly slipping out of my control. I mean, Irenicus ran off with my soul. I wasn't sure if Imoen was actually sane again or if she might snap. I couldn't decide for myself where to go. I'm turning into this weird monster I can't control. I'm alienating my party and having sinister dreams that urge me to abandon them and just go insane.
At that point I worried that it might actually happen. That I would have to play to the end-game abandoned by friends and with a charname that I couldn't entirely control. Now I think it could have been kind of neat if Charname just descended into this evil madness and you had to drag yourself through it all to find Irenicus before it was too late. Back then I didn't like this thought at all.
The first time I played this game I was fourteen. And I had a really... uneasy feeling about the chapter. I had no idea where the story was going and it felt like the game was slowly slipping out of my control. I mean, Irenicus ran off with my soul. I wasn't sure if Imoen was actually sane again or if she might snap. I couldn't decide for myself where to go. I'm turning into this weird monster I can't control. I'm alienating my party and having sinister dreams that urge me to abandon them and just go insane.
At that point I worried that it might actually happen. That I would have to play to the end-game abandoned by friends and with a charname that I couldn't entirely control. Now I think it could have been kind of neat if Charname just descended into this evil madness and you had to drag yourself through it all to find Irenicus before it was too late. Back then I didn't like this thought at all.
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I know it makes sense in plot terms, you are a child of Bhaal after all, and if you are a descendant of the Lord of Murder you will have some pretty impressive inner demons, but after that point I really found myself playing to find out what happened rather than because I was enjoying it.
Take the story for what it is, for bad or for worse and let yourself enjoy. If you spend the whole day analyzing a story arc and picking it a part, you can find fault in all things.
I love chapter 4 just like I love all the other chapters in the whole series. I did feel helpless when I turned into the slayer and honestly I feel like that was what they were going for.
Just my thoughts, sorry about the rambling.
@RVNS - well, I never said that I didn't like chapter 4, or that it was bad and should be different. Or that I spent the whole day picking it apart. It's just an interesting part of the game where the story could have taken several different paths. Discussing the story and those paths it didn't take doesn't mean that you didn't enjoy the game.
"Wow, BG has really jumped the shark"
Remember giggling inanely at my own wit (nothing new, I am sad enough to laugh at my own jokes) and just deciding to go along with it all.
My first thought was “Oh crap”. Back in my PnP days, one of the DMs bough a module where the climax was fighting a sahuagin invasion. It must have been this one https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Enemy
It wasn’t as tough as I thought, I think with the old module we were a bit under leveled.
I never really knew whether the makers were taking the micky with the Beholders and Illithids, Beholders in particular.
The Sahuagin came across as the cherry on the cake, all part of a massive joke that the writers had going on and making up stuff as they went.
All I remember is being transported into the maze with Haer'Dalis dead and pretty much all my spells exhausted.
When Bohdi, gave me the time warning, I started grinding through the first level of the maze as quickly as possible.
When my entire party was near death, I finally gave up, saved and rested having Aerie, my romantic partner memorize all healing spells and one raise dead for Haer.
After resting, Aerie said something along the lines "you dont look well my love," where I proceeded to turn into an uncontrollable slayer, chunking her. Minsc went berzerk and also got himself killed while I hustled Imoen and Anomen as far away to safety as possible.
I was like wtf just happened as I paused the game attempting to grasp the situation.
I had to go back to my auto save but I determined I was under leveled for the area and restarted the entire game.
Two things I hardly ever do now because of it:
1. Take Haer'Dalis (although I have broken that as I got better at the game)
2. Never ever rest in the asylum, ever.
"Oh dearie me, never mind, better luck next time".
However it did make me laugh.
I do miss that element of the game where because you don't know the game, things go catastophically wrong and then go wrong a bit more just to make sure.
But the quests were well done in fact. I enjoyed it... it's like desperately doing whatever you must to get to Imoen but I didn't rush it... because simply I like to read over the dialogue a lot
Then spellhold. I took the way in as a deviant and it was jokes seeing Tiax back... it's funny because I didn't like him in bg1, but I giggled when I saw him again (same with feldorn and Xzar) But Irenicus' damn he was slick in his plans... I mean I was spoiled a bit by the story and throughout chapter 4 I understood why everyone liked him as a villain. He's honestly the best character in the game. I enjoyed the cutscenes with him. But yoshimo..... damn bro I'm still hurt over that. at first when it was revealed yoshimo as Irenicus' puppet I was pissed, but then as you fight him for the final time and told you about the geas and he accepted his fate. I saw him as a complete badass... Yoshimo's character development was prefect in chapter 3 to chapter 4. (The little hints in the banters, the random outbursts in dialogue) Also Saemon Havarian, honestly Saemon is too funny for you to be mad at him. First he snakes you by going on Bodhi's side and he snakes you again by giving you a silver blade which leads to an ambush and snakes you again by selling you out to the githyanki. And then says to you "good luck in your travels" as the ship is breakign about and then ditches you while he swims away. When I saw that I couldn't stop laughing, like damn this guy is the prefect pirate... his sleezy dialogue, him being a smart mouthed idiot and just being plain witty.
Now I'm at the Sahuagin City. I currently like this bonus addition to chapter 4 to help these guys out. But so far chapter 4 in baldur's gate 2 has to be the best written chapter in both games so far.
So good to read a players first time impressions of the game.
Let us know how you get on with the rest of the chapter.
It reminds you just how damn good BG/BG2 is.
And of course why oh why can't somebody/anybody make something comparable.
But as for chapter 4 I finished it currently and I'm at the underdark.
Now I await to see what the underdark brings to me
I'm really curious to see what you think of the Underdark. Its my favorite part of the whole series, but a good chunk of players hate that part of the game.
You have no idea what you have started here. Let me enlighten you.
Lion versus Tuna
I rest my case.