Skip to content

The latest interview with Trent Oster on BG:EE and BG2:EE

2»

Comments

  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited October 2013

    SionIV said:


    The NPC's stand out. You can easily notice that it's not the same people who made the original cast of NPC's and the new ones introduced by BGEE.

    Then I suppose my lack of understanding of this position stems from the fact that this seems like the least important criterion to complain about I have ever heard. As far as I'm concerned, having more dialogue than the baseline NPCs can only be a positive.

    When you're really immersed into a game, it only requires a very little thing to blow it up for you. It's like when you're watching the avengers or resident evil in the cinema and they have done something that really stands out in a bad way, it can ruin quite a bit on it's own.

    It's like when watching resident evil 2 and you notice that jill is a side character, and you got this mary sue that runs the show who also happens to have been very close to Nemesis of all things.

    When i play BGEE i'm running around in an enhanced world of a game that is still true to it's roots. But when i end up seeing Neera in Beregost it just sticks out like a sore thumb.

    I'm not really that interested in modded NPC's either, and i have played with quite a bit of them. Ofcourse BGEE does a much better work than the modded NPC's you can find online. But the fact remains that they are a part of the game, and everytime i walk past Neera in beregost i'm reminded of that. I'm also a perfectionist when i play the game and i always try to complete everything, it's kind of annoying and hard to ignore them if i want to complete everything yet i'm not interested in them for what they bring.

    I think BGEE is a nice edition and i have very high hopes for 1.2, but one of the few things i dislike about it are the new NPC's and changes to the original game.

    In the end it's all about personal opinion.

    If i could have BGEE with all the enhancements but without the new NPC, that would be great.
  • CutlassJackCutlassJack Member Posts: 493
    I guess I feel the complete opposite. The original NPCs in BG were horribly undeveloped for the most part, but that was fixed in a huge way in BG2. The new guys to me feel more like BG2 companions, so having someone on that level added to the original for me.

    Not really seeing the issue with the Neera encounter. The initial encounter isn't all that different from other companion encounters in the vanilla game. (Viconia for example) And you can just send her on her way afterwards if you don't want her around. Same thing with Dorn.

    Raasaad doesnt force an encounter at all, but I find him more invasive because he wont stop trying to 'Show you justice' every time you stroll by. The other two never bother you again unless you seek them out.
    CoryNewb
  • ghostowlghostowl Member Posts: 171

    Then you should have picked it up last weekend. where it was the price of a DLC. :P

    I'm not talking about BG:EE...I'm talking about BG2:EE..
  • SchneidendSchneidend Member Posts: 3,190
    SionIV said:



    If i could have BGEE with all the enhancements but without the new NPC, that would be great.

    Unfortunately for you, I suppose, more companions and companions of particular race/class/religion/mindset combinations are the number one things people ask for when it comes to games like this. New NPCs are an enhancement, and it's what the people want. Overhaul would have been stupid not to oblige.
    SionIValnairMalicronJuliusBorisov
  • ArcalianArcalian Member Posts: 359
    bengoshi said:

    This interview must once and for all put to bed all the negative remarks towards the enhancement of this edition.

    In a rational world, you would be correct. Here in internet-land, however...

    MalicronJuliusBorisov
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited October 2013

    I guess I feel the complete opposite. The original NPCs in BG were horribly undeveloped for the most part

    They were underdeveloped to a degree but its also the case that some of their dialogue is difficult to encounter in the game (so they aren't as fleshed out as they could be).
    alnairCoryNewb
  • XanarXanar Member Posts: 96
    Neera is the only one to force an encounter. Dorn does nothing if you don't speak to him at the FAI. Rasaad is annoying because he interferes with Nimbul and his quest line can ruin the encounter with Wiven in AR1101 in SW BG.

    The good news is, Neera's and Rasaad's quests can be done without them in party (once the necessary dialogs have triggered and maps updated). The plan for future runs is to do one to get a stoneskin scroll and then kill them all.
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689

    SionIV said:



    If i could have BGEE with all the enhancements but without the new NPC, that would be great.

    Unfortunately for you, I suppose, more companions and companions of particular race/class/religion/mindset combinations are the number one things people ask for when it comes to games like this. New NPCs are an enhancement, and it's what the people want. Overhaul would have been stupid not to oblige.
    I fully agree with you here.

    I just happen to be in the minority that dislike them and would like to keep it as close to the original game as possible with just an upgrade to the interface and improve the graphic.
    Xanar
  • CutlassJackCutlassJack Member Posts: 493
    ghostowl said:

    Then you should have picked it up last weekend. where it was the price of a DLC. :P

    I'm not talking about BG:EE...I'm talking about BG2:EE..
    Which will eventually be priced similarly if you feel its not worth what they are asking. So the point still stands really. Wait until it costs what you feel its worth.
    elminsterJuliusBorisov
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    The EE NPCs were never going to mesh perfectly with vanilla NPCs, if only because the vanilla NPCs have so little dialogue. The EE NPCs have a moderate amount of dialogues which in itself makes them stand out, though nowhere near as many as the vanilla BG2 NPCs.

    Baeloth blends in the best because after his initial joining banters all of his contributions are in the form of 1-2 sentence interjections about locations. He's an Easter Egg NPC, done as a bit of an in-joke and without the depth of the other new NPCs and this arguably is what makes him fit in.

    None of the new NPCs is overpowered, and none pull focus from CHARNAME's quest to avenge Gorion/get to the bottom of the iron crisis. Dorn and Neera fit in well in terms of balance, while Rasaad starts out a bit underpowered. I'd say that while I don't rate the new NPCs among my all-time favorites, Beamdog has done solid work and I look forward to seeing how things unford in BG2:EE.
    MalicronKilivitzelminster
  • ArcalianArcalian Member Posts: 359
    The bonus party members are what brought me to the dance.
    CoryNewb
  • SouthpawSouthpaw Member Posts: 2,026
    I would quote Law Abiding Citizen at this time: "It's (BG2EE) going to be biblical."
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    Trent Oster: "I'm certain even those stalwarts will re-evaluate their choice and agree that weve gone far beyond what the original title can offer from a graphics and feel standpoint."

    This, for the next patch.

    What will happen in the next patch that will make the graphics better? Will the sprites stop being pixelated suddenly, or will they look vastly improved compared to the already better backrounds?

    When i look at the two games side by side (enhanced vs original), the enhanced is more blurred because of the upscale filter. If it turn that off, it's the same, with a different ui.

    /scratch head
  • MornmagorMornmagor Member Posts: 1,160
    edited October 2013
    Aaaaaaand, where people post smartazz comments to look cool.

    And we all love it.

    It's called critisism btw.
Sign In or Register to comment.