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Overanalyzing the New Screenshots

So in case you haven't seen the new screenshots yet:
http://www.beamdog.com/products/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition

They are on the right side.

1/12
We obviously have the new menu here. Separated with Tutorial, The Black Pits, and the main Baldur's Gate. Proving once again, if anyone was still confused about this, The Black Pits are separate from the main game.

2/12
Record screen and Dorn's stats! (19 STR, 16 DEX, 14 CON, 10 INT, 15 WIS, 16 CHA) Evil parties get to plan ahead it seems. Interestingly, we seem to have separate charts for actual armor class and hit points, and base armor class and damage from your weapon. An interesting addition.
Furthermore we have learned some new things just from this. It would appear that the Blackguard kit can be played by any Evil alignment, although NPCs have been known to break a rule from time to time so that isn't completely solid. Most of us were guessing Blackguards would have to be Lawful Evil, so this is surprising indeed.
Also, his Charisma is 16. It would seem that either Blackguards don't have to have a 17 Minimum, or Dorn is an exception. Low stat point exceptions are rare amongst NPCs (only Minsc and Quayle), but it's possible.
At this point I have to give props to Beamdog already. Dorn's combat stats are actually balanced with the rest of the fighters in the game ... well done, indeed. I dig his strength. Get owned, Minsc.

3/12
Candlekeep.
Between this pic and screenshots number 6 and 8 it can be deduced that there will still be the original sound files in the game, or else they have been remade similarly. It'd be hard to forget "A waste of my talents!"

4/12
This screenshot is one of about 3 in this area, which would of course appear to be the new area tied to Rasaad. Throughout all these screenshots we have seen them attacking "Dark Moon Monks," who appear to have a Chill Touch fetish.
Dorn appears to have a special sword. Whether it is his, or a new sword added separately from him in the game is unknown, although I would hazard a guess it is his sword.

5/12
Sorcerous Sundries.
I'm really confused about the circle colors in this one. Also I'm noticing, the portraits of the new characters seem to be colored differently than when we all originally saw them, throughout all these screenshots. Rasaad looks pink and Dorn looks blue. It's a little weird.

6/12
Bandit Camp.
It would seem, of course, running the Baldur's Gate II engine makes the "selected rares" likely to show up just telling someone what to do. This is gonna be awkward as hell, I gotta say.
Also, we now have a new line known from Rasaad, "Selûne guides my hand." Yeah, I'm really surprised by a line like that, too.

7/12
Black Pits. Fire Elementals and Fire Giants? Holy snap! The place will be tough indeed.

8/12
Once again, circle colors weirding me out. It is interesting in this screenshot we have a few extra buttons on the side, whereas in a few others those extra buttons were gone.

9/12
Black Pits. I wonder what's up with the Beholder and the other captives? Seems like we'll have breaks between fighting to have some dialogue or whatnot. So, to fools like me saying "The Black Pits has no plot wahh wahh!" we may be wrong.

10/12
New Inventory screen! It would seem that we will now have the fortune of obtaining a Potion Case in Baldur's Gate 1! Oh thank you God! It seems likely to me that there will be other such containers as well, which will be a very welcome addition. Furthermore, there is a very normal looking belt, and a necklace that was not in BG1. Also, notice the helmet. An interesting rework of BG1 helmet graphics to make it look similar to the BGII helmets, yet not quite ... Sort of a middle ground, so to speak.
It appears we'll be able to throw things on the ground in greater droves. Hooray!
Once again we have a grotesque amount of details for our character just like the Record screen. Our Armor Class explained in great detail, our Hit Points explained, even Base THAC0 and true THAC0. Once again, we have the addition of our damage threshold with our equipped weapon, as well.

11/12
Candlekeep.
You make Imoen sad! You meanie. I would like to take this fairly uninteresting screenshot to point something out ... a lot of us complained about the new UI having no distance between the portraits. Well guess what, they added a small border. Yup.

12/12
Baldur's Gate, outside of Ramazith's Tower.
I have no idea what battle is going on here. Possibly they ascended the tower and decided to run away from the scary Ghasts, and got followed. Once again the circle colors are looking weird.
Most interestingly, we have Neera's spell list at the bottom. There are two eye-grabbing details here: She has Spell Thrust and Fire Shield: Red, which obviously weren't found before in Baldur's Gate 1. They must have added these scrolls somewhere. Second, wtf new spell icon wtf hax0r? Probably has something to do with being a Wild Mage.

-------

What other details have y'all noticed from overanalyzing these screenshots? Anyone have any theories as to why the circle colors are strange? Discuss!
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Comments

  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    Wow, the character in screenshot no. 3 looks like a really cool person.
    IcallhimlecobraWolkTJ_HookerMedullaOblongata
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356
    @Quartz

    I now know who's getting the Manual of Bodily Health in my party. :)
    QuartzMornmagorOxford_Guy
  • Greenman019Greenman019 Member Posts: 206
    edited November 2012
    Disappointed if these are part of the pre-load media dump.
    Not because they're bad or anything, just want MOAR eye-candy tomorrow.

    Also anyone know if black pits can be played/accessed in main game? Don't like it being totally stand-alone.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Greenman019

    It can't. Its completely separate from the main game.

    The most you can do is import your character as one of the party members in the Black Pits.
    QuartzMikeMasters
  • JalilyJalily Member Posts: 4,681
    edited November 2012
    @Greenman019 The Black Pits is completely standalone.

    Edit: Now I post slow.
  • Greenman019Greenman019 Member Posts: 206
    Sad face ((
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    elminster said:

    I'm assuming Rancor is the name of Dorn's weapon and is not relating to his roll concerning the chance of him hitting (and the damage against) a certain beast in the Star Wars universe.

    Good catch!
    Wolk
  • Greenman019Greenman019 Member Posts: 206
    Forgot to add, my only criticism is the stretched "satchel" icon in inventory where it says how much a character can carry, looks pretty bad.
    Oxford_Guy
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    I still can't stand the UI colour, eeeuuggghhh :(
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315

    Forgot to add, my only criticism is the stretched "satchel" icon in inventory where it says how much a character can carry, looks pretty bad.

    Yea that does look very stretched. But to be honest I don't manage my inventory well enough to even care much :p
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Mungri said:

    I still can't stand the UI colour, eeeuuggghhh :(

    That was my initial reaction but you know what its something different. I like the old stone background of BG1, and maybe someone will mod it in for people wanting to change it to something else, but I think this is actually for the most part a good UI.
    Quartzcory5694LordsDarkKnight185Aristillius
  • IcallhimlecobraIcallhimlecobra Member Posts: 59
    edited November 2012
    I like pretty much everything I am seeing here. Bit confused as to why sometimes your party have single and other times double circles around them?

    Game looks great by the way!!!
    Oxford_Guy
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    Some screenshot are from older builds - this explains the inconsistancy in some areas of the UI
    elminsterAnduinTanthalas
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited November 2012
    Mortianna said:

    @Quartz

    I now know who's getting the Manual of Bodily Health in my party. :)

    Haha yeah. I'm probably gonna give him the Strength Tome for the lulz.
    Dorn's stats got me thinking though, because he's balanced for BG1, he'll probably be beefier in BGII just like the other NPCs that got transferred. I'm guessing 17 Dex and 16 Con at that point, or some such. 14 Con seems to hint at him getting a Constitution bonus come BGII:EE.
    EDIT: Also, 90 total stat points. Dorn has Ajantis beat for highest NPC roll by 2 points.
    MortiannaOxford_Guy
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356
    So why does Dorn's THACO with Rancor say "-5" to hit? Shouldn't it be +5 to the die roll?
  • DukeGrDukeGr Member Posts: 43
    Overall i believe the team did a very good job. I was pleasantly surprised to see the UI work and i firmly believe theres alot more to come.
    MortiannaQuartz
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited November 2012
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • JalilyJalily Member Posts: 4,681
    Mortianna said:

    So why does Dorn's THACO with Rancor say "-5" to hit? Shouldn't it be +5 to the die roll?

    The breakdown shows how you mathematically get a final THAC0 of 8 from a base of 13. So -5 is what the +5 bonus translates into.
    QuartzelminsterDiscoCat
  • allhailsteveallhailsteve Member Posts: 210
    The different coloured circles are a nice idea.
    RisingsunOxford_GuyLordsDarkKnight185theoricus
  • KilivitzKilivitz Member Posts: 1,459
    Look at that main menu screen. I feel spoiled!

    How about the paperdoll in the inventory screenshot? It's the BG1 version!
    cory5694Oxford_GuyLordsDarkKnight185
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    Jalily said:

    Mortianna said:

    So why does Dorn's THACO with Rancor say "-5" to hit? Shouldn't it be +5 to the die roll?

    The breakdown shows how you mathematically get a final THAC0 of 8 from a base of 13. So -5 is what the +5 bonus translates into.
    Yeah... Volo is quick to point out just how convoluted THAC0 is.

    Attack rolls have come a long way since AD&D, haven't they?
    LordsDarkKnight185
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356
    @Jalily Simplification?!? In AD&D?!? Nonsense! :)

    I suppose it does make sense to do that, given AD&D's sometimes byzantine game mechanics.
    DeeOxford_Guy
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    edited November 2012
    I can't figure something out.

    Dorn has Base THAC0 13 from lvl 8. That is correct.

    He has STR 19 a.k.a. +3 to hit from it. Which modifies his THACO to 10.

    He has +1 to hit from his mastery, and +1 from his +1 Greatsword, Rancor. A further decrease of THACO to 8.

    In the side bar, it shows "THAC0 8" correctly, why is the table above, showing THAC0 7?

    An item perhaps or something else? Or a mistake?
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited November 2012
    elminster said:

    I'm assuming Rancor is the name of Dorn's weapon and is not relating to his roll concerning the chance of him hitting (and the damage against) a certain beast in the Star Wars universe.

    Rancor |ˈra ng kər|
    Noun
    Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will.
    DiscoCat
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