If they were allowed to fiddle with original content, what would you have liked to see added?
DeathMachineMiyagi
Member Posts: 120
If anything at all?
For me, as several discussions around here have reminded me, I would not have complained to see changes to the reputation/alignment system. Above all, the treatment of evil PCs. For example:
1) If your reputation hits rock bottom, the Flaming Fist act more like the Cowled Wizards in BG2; they keep sending powerful groups to stop you, but once they've sent their best and you've wiped the floor with them they learn their lesson and leave you alone, for the most part. For a mercenary army on the cusp of a major war with an enormous empire, they seem awful keen to throw away their men's lives in pursuit of little ol' me, long past the point when the cost-benefit analysis would suggest that this behavior is utterly stupid.
2) The entire world does not go hostile just because you have a low rep. Guards, yes. Unarmed commoners who would die in two seconds if they openly confronted you, no.
3) Shopkeepers would provide discounts both for high AND low rep. The high rep discount is because of your nobility and heroism. The low rep discount is because the merchant in question doesn't want to die horribly.
4) Since BG is well-covered in the field of 'evil PC as obnoxious psychotic jerkass', dialogue and quest solutions for 'evil PC as clever cold-blooded manipulative monster' would be added, with accompanying rewards and consequences for that behavior.
And so on. All but the last would be gameplay tweaks, albeit big ones, while the last (involving drastic content change) might function as a DLC or some such.
I can understand not changing the original game too much, and how too much change can ruin what's great about the original, but like I say...I would not have complained to see changes like the above.
For me, as several discussions around here have reminded me, I would not have complained to see changes to the reputation/alignment system. Above all, the treatment of evil PCs. For example:
1) If your reputation hits rock bottom, the Flaming Fist act more like the Cowled Wizards in BG2; they keep sending powerful groups to stop you, but once they've sent their best and you've wiped the floor with them they learn their lesson and leave you alone, for the most part. For a mercenary army on the cusp of a major war with an enormous empire, they seem awful keen to throw away their men's lives in pursuit of little ol' me, long past the point when the cost-benefit analysis would suggest that this behavior is utterly stupid.
2) The entire world does not go hostile just because you have a low rep. Guards, yes. Unarmed commoners who would die in two seconds if they openly confronted you, no.
3) Shopkeepers would provide discounts both for high AND low rep. The high rep discount is because of your nobility and heroism. The low rep discount is because the merchant in question doesn't want to die horribly.
4) Since BG is well-covered in the field of 'evil PC as obnoxious psychotic jerkass', dialogue and quest solutions for 'evil PC as clever cold-blooded manipulative monster' would be added, with accompanying rewards and consequences for that behavior.
And so on. All but the last would be gameplay tweaks, albeit big ones, while the last (involving drastic content change) might function as a DLC or some such.
I can understand not changing the original game too much, and how too much change can ruin what's great about the original, but like I say...I would not have complained to see changes like the above.
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I'd also like it if there was a vendor who would buy stolen (from another vendors inventory) goods.
I also agree be nice to see more banters between NPCs as in BG2. It would help with consistency between both games. And this too. Although it could open up an infinite gold exploit.
EDIT: OHMYGOSH THEY FIXED IT. HOLY CRAP YES.
- Refined/extended game dialogue that takes your intelligence, wisdom and charisma into account much (much) more. If you're significantly smarter and/or wiser than almost everyone around you, the dialogue should reflect it - even allowing the capacity to change quests around, like for example predicting Jarlaxle's manipulation in BG2 and managing to turn the tables on him, instead. Stuff like that.
And conversely, if you dumped int or wis you should be getting taken advantage of and manipulated throughout the game.
I'd also like to see more game-mechanical benefits of high intelligence, like bonus arcane spells or shorter casting times, immunity/resistance to certain illusion-based spells and maze, etc.
(Edit: a good principal example of this is provided in the SCS component that improves Balduran's island in TotSC. Among other things, it makes your character able to negotiate a peace with Kaishas on the premise that the party knew for a long time that the inhabitants were all werewolves, but still helped them. This component doesn't take INT into account, but it adheres to the principle. Considering such a case, a smart PC would likely realize within a few hours of setting foot on the island what was really going on, whereas someone with int 7 would be shocked and appalled when everyone turned into werewolves all around him.)
- Refined/extended game dialogue that takes your class and alignment into account. A paladin is likely to express himself quite differently from a thief, and a chaotic character different from a lawful one. Even if it makes the dialogue file 20 times as big, I'd like each class to feel like a separate experience in dialogue as well as in game mechanics.
- A greater degree of connection between BG1 and 2 and between BG2 and ToB. A BGT-like setup that kept track of the state of all BG1 NPCs when BG2 started, and also throwbacks in BG2 to choices you made in BG - I felt the Mass Effect trilogy handled this rather well.
- As for BG2 and ToB, I'd like a little more integration of the bhaalspawn storyline in BG2. Stories of certain bhaalspawn becoming powerful, rumours of war on the horizon, etc. For everything I like about BG2, I'd still like to remedy the feeling that the bhaalspawn story takes a hiatus there and then continues again in ToB.
Look at Fallout 1 or 2. If your intellect was too low, you talked like a retard
There should be also more dialogue options for evil or neutral characters. Some of the dialogue options are too heroic, and you can't choose anything else.
I would like to have seen more spawning groups of intelligent enemies. There are plenty of random creatures but what about other adventuring parties that must be around, to stumble across? Especially in the towns. Would be good if a band of drunken a**holes would fall out of an inn looking for a fight.
But the game is meant to be very mod friendly. I've already got some ideas ready.
For me, I wouldn't want to see the original game altered too much in terms of content or game mechanics, but some BG2-style NPC banters would be nice, even if on a much lesser scale. There are certain points in the game where I found myself feeling a bit cheated that my companions had absolutely nothing to say about the situation. I mean, come on Jaheira. My foster father died and I am alone in the world, so I didn't really have any option but to follow you to Nashkel. Nonetheless, I cleared out the mines and solved the mystery of the tainted ore almost single handed (Khalid was busy fleeing for his life and you were busy healing him). Aren't you and your husband going to thank me? Just...a little bit of acknowledgement, please?
Aside from this, probably just more NPC banters; a Gnoll Stronghold Interior; BG2 NPCs given their BG2 stats and portraits.... Aaaaand.. Yeah, plenty more trivial things, no doubt!
As George Lucas has well and truly taught the world, adding stuff to existing content does not always improve it, but in the case of Baldur's Gate there actually are a number of things about the original game and its content which are pretty lacking by modern standards. If fixes for those things are option, everybody wins.
I would love to see that same kind of inter-party banter done by a professional writer or writers with a consistent vision of who these characters are, how they talk, how they react to events and so on. Basically, a professionally done version of the BG1 NPC Project would be all I could hope for from a DLC.
I just really hope they CAN do that, and are willing to do it if they can.