There is a general lack of halflings/gnomes/dwarves as NPCs in BG2. I reckon I'd pay for an additional novel NPC, a svirfneblin fighter/mage or somesuch.
Really... *another* human? As if I didn't see enough of those already crawling beyond my doorstep. A bearded gnome lass would have been so much more loveable in my eyes.
I respect people's opinions on short races, but unfortunately I don't share it. The only such NPC I ever really liked in the Baldur's Gate games was Finch (from a PocketPlane.net mod, long un-updated).
I wouldn't say that such an NPC could never be interesting, but I never found any of the official ones particularly compelling.
Really... *another* human? As if I didn't see enough of those already crawling beyond my doorstep. A bearded gnome lass would have been so much more loveable in my eyes.
Athkatla's population varies greatly by season. Roughly 130,000 natives live within its confines during the winter and spring. The population is greatly bolstered during the summer, rising to around 400,000. The populace is roughly 90% human and 10% other races.
Yeah, but I see no reason as to why Hexxat has to be a registrated citizen of Athkatla. She could just as well be from Waterdeep or any other settlement in Faerun. We still don't know her background after all.
After a maddening long pausing and zooming session on that youtube clip, I came to think there's at least a possibility that Hexxat could be a halfling. While D&D third edition and above had changed halflings to shorties with elongated heads, in AD&D they were basically just short humans with somewhat pointed ears and helluva hairy feet. Hexxat's portrait doesn't reveal her ears, much less her feet, but the head proportions seems to be a tad smaller than those of the other characters. Of course this may very well be just hopeful wishing on my part.
@Kamigoroshi: I'm reasonably certain halfling sprites look different than humans - assuming Hexxat is the hooded figure with the bow in the Youtube clip, she's pretty clearly either human or elf.
@DarkDogg: Check again - Caravella is the CHARNAME. There's a sequence towards the end of the trailer where Caravella gets hit by a Color Spray, and the thief character is nowhere near the spell area. Also, in the forest scene a bit earlier, the player specifically picks the thief to attack a bear and the name in the dialogue window is Hexxat.
Well, using a lot of x and z in a name is just a shortcut for making sure people know that the character is evil. I mean look at Xzar and Tiax. Drizzt SHOULD have been evil given that he was a drow after all.
So evil half elf (we have enough elves and humans already) thief seems most likely to me.
Or they could have just started the game in multiplayer and moved to single player after character creation to confuse us.
@MERLANCE Her sprite is a human thief, which is as tall as the other human sprites in the party. Half-elves use the Elf sprite, which is noticeably shorter and thinner than the human one.
Since Neera is a Half-Elf, I think the chances of the fourth new NPC being a Half-Elf is pretty unlikely.
Dual-classing would be completely pointless for the party she was designed to fit into, though: there's no need for another fighter if you already have Dorn and Korgan, or another cleric if you have Viconia. And if you make her a mage... you might as well have taken Imoen with you, then.
Well the evil party in BG2EE would be charname, Edwin, Korgan, Dorn, Viconia and Hexxat. Seems very nicely balanced allowing the charname class to be almost anything.
Apparently Trent let it slip at Penny Arcade Expo that her class is vanilla Thief. Human thief sounds a bit bland to me, lets keep our fingers crossed that there is something interesting about her.
Hail to the thief.Whatever she is,she's more than welcome.My one and only gripe about BG2 was the NPC choice you had-a traitorous bastard,a useless dualled Princess(not bad at mage though) or a sibling who you didn't get until a third of the game was over.
I think the original developers were having a having a chuckle-BG1 more thieves than you can handle for areas you don't really need them for.BG2-needed for almost every map and the choice of the above three.Nice work Beamdog-"Hail to the Thief"
Hail to the thief.Whatever she is,she's more than welcome.My one and only gripe about BG2 was the NPC choice you had-a traitorous bastard,a useless dualled Princess(not bad at mage though) or a sibling who you didn't get until a third of the game was over.
Theres Jan too.
Wish she was a Shadowdancer though, those are crazy good (though less so in BG1 because you can either sneak or do traps/locks but not both).
Good thieves tend to be intelligent hence why its so common for em to dual to mage. Since it looks like shes using a bow, some proficiency points will be wasted if she is wise enough to be a Cleric. Assuming that bow was a low level choice I mean.
Comments
Looks like they've put the Staves of Nebuchadnezzar in the game as well. Yay!
I wouldn't say that such an NPC could never be interesting, but I never found any of the official ones particularly compelling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athkatla
Population
Athkatla's population varies greatly by season. Roughly 130,000 natives live within its confines during the winter and spring. The population is greatly bolstered during the summer, rising to around 400,000. The populace is roughly 90% human and 10% other races.
After a maddening long pausing and zooming session on that youtube clip, I came to think there's at least a possibility that Hexxat could be a halfling. While D&D third edition and above had changed halflings to shorties with elongated heads, in AD&D they were basically just short humans with somewhat pointed ears and helluva hairy feet. Hexxat's portrait doesn't reveal her ears, much less her feet, but the head proportions seems to be a tad smaller than those of the other characters. Of course this may very well be just hopeful wishing on my part.
Hexxat is the CHARNAME.
And yes, she is a human.
P.S.:
spyinfo 100%
at 00:25 the Nymph is casting Hold Person on the first party member Caravella...
OMG NPC name - Hexxat? R U serious?!?!?
Naming an NPC like Hexxit ?
Just downloaded the video
A shitty name for an NPC...
So evil half elf (we have enough elves and humans already) thief seems most likely to me.
Or they could have just started the game in multiplayer and moved to single player after character creation to confuse us.
Since Neera is a Half-Elf, I think the chances of the fourth new NPC being a Half-Elf is pretty unlikely.
She's a human. Pretty obvious from this screenshot.
Massive sarcasm. On a serious note I agree, a dual-classing option for her could be neat. As long as it's not Mage.
LOL, wow that'd probably be the worst prank Overhaul could do..
I think the original developers were having a having a chuckle-BG1 more thieves than you can handle for areas you don't really need them for.BG2-needed for almost every map and the choice of the above three.Nice work Beamdog-"Hail to the Thief"
Wish she was a Shadowdancer though, those are crazy good (though less so in BG1 because you can either sneak or do traps/locks but not both).
Good thieves tend to be intelligent hence why its so common for em to dual to mage. Since it looks like shes using a bow, some proficiency points will be wasted if she is wise enough to be a Cleric. Assuming that bow was a low level choice I mean.