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Cloakwood Cutscene

BasillicumBasillicum Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 400
As we all know many of the cutscenes in vanilla were removed from BG:EE because they simply did not meet the desired level of quality. In most cases I'm fine with that; the video for Gnoll Stronghold, for instance, was never very interesting.

The Cloakwood cutscene however, always felt like an important part of the road to the Cloakwood Mines. It's easy to forget what a dangerous and massive forest Cloakwood actually is, but with the vanilla cutscene travelling through Cloakwood had a feeling of having gone too far astray, which I think is the way it's supposed to be. For new players, at least.

Yes, I know that the cutscene only shows up close to the end of the hazardous trip through Cloakwood, but that's the whole point. It's always the last impression that sticks, and it's by the end of the woods the player should start feeling homesick.

Without the cutscene Cloakwood just feels like a sequence of areas that lay far apart from each other and contain many annoyingly poisonous creatures.

On a less important note, the cutscene was also a nice way of warning the player that this is it - now you're going to meet wyverns! Carrying the cow demonstred the wyvern's badassery.
Post edited by Basillicum on
lunarPalanthisalnairXerxesVSirK8MessiwojtekEudaemoniumSyntia13JuliusBorisovGemHound

Comments

  • ShinShin Member Posts: 2,345
    Iirc there was a mod/hack that brought old cutscenes back, though not sure if this one was included. I can agree that it wasn't an entirely motivated removal, anyhow.
  • LordRumfishLordRumfish Member Posts: 937
    Yeah, the Cloakwood was probably my favorite cutscene out of the old ones, it's very disappointing they didn't decide to remake that one.
    PalanthisJuliusBorisov
  • 10thLich10thLich Member Posts: 99
    @Basillicum
    I got the impression that the Gnoll Stronghold cutscene is equally important, if not more so. And that's because it actually gives you a clue where to possibly find Dynaheir.
    Syntia13GemHound
  • BasillicumBasillicum Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 400
    @10thLich That's another reason I don't like that cutscene. It's too meta. How should my character know exactly where to find Dynaheir before even entering the stronghold? We're supposed to have to look for her.
  • ChildofBhaal599ChildofBhaal599 Member Posts: 1,781
    Shin said:

    Iirc there was a mod/hack that brought old cutscenes back, though not sure if this one was included. I can agree that it wasn't an entirely motivated removal, anyhow.

    it does. it was long ago I asked someone to do it and somebody did. all cutscenes return and returning ones are replaced. I preferred the originals and still use the mod :)
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    I'm for including any quote ending with "So sayeth the wise Alaundo."
    SCARY_WIZARDlolien
  • BasillicumBasillicum Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 400
    You score many good goals, @Messi, and you're absolutely right that the Nashkel cutscene also was an important element of the original game. I miss that one too.

    It's very possible I might get the mod that returns the original cutscenes.

    In some ways it seems like BG:EE was made only for the players that have played the original since its release, and not for potential new players. When essential first impression material like the Cloakwood and Nashkel cutscenes are removed, the game simply won't live up the experiences I had when I played it the first time.
    JuliusBorisov
  • MessiMessi Member Posts: 738

    In some ways it seems like BG:EE was made only for the players that have played the original since its release, and not for potential new players. When essential first impression material like the Cloakwood and Nashkel cutscenes are removed, the game simply won't live up the experiences I had when I played it the first time.

    Again I agree! The most disappointing thing about this is exactly that the experience a completely new person who only plays BGEE gets, simply doesn't live up to the original BG in this regard. As I said in my post I think the zone introduction movies were actually a very important part of the BG1 game experience.

    I really wish OG would do something about this. Probably the easiest, and cheapest, solution would be to make the original movies the default ones, and make the BGEE movies an option in the Graphics menu. They already said BG2EE will use the original movies, why not BGEE too?

    For me at least this is the only part where BGEE has actually managed to make the game worse instead of enhancing it.
    AonghasDubh
  • TetraploidTetraploid Member Posts: 252
    Yeah, I thought it was a shame the cloakwood cutscene had gone too - it was always one of my favourites!
  • BasillicumBasillicum Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 400
    Who should be tagged to get some valuable input on the feasibility of implementing old cutscenes (where there's currently no cutscenes) and/or changing the new ones?
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    jackjack said:

    I'm for including any quote ending with "So sayeth the wise Alaundo."

    I think most quotes and fortune cookies are improved by adding this phrase to the end. So sayeth the wise Alaundo.
    jackjackonan
  • onanonan Member Posts: 223
    I too miss the old cutscenes. If I have one gripe about BGEE, that is it. The original cutscenes didn't age as well as the rest of the game but they did offer a better feeling of immersion IMHO.
  • PalanthisPalanthis Member Posts: 283
    edited October 2013
    Nashkel, Cloakwood, and the final ending cinematics are the only 3 i really miss. But i do miss them a lot. i hope, too, they will someday give us new versions of these scenes in BGEE (but respectful of the original game's spirit).

    PS : i've not seen the ending cinematci (Sarevok's death) in its redone version, so i'm not sure about this one, but the original was really great.
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    Palanthis said:

    Nashkel, Cloakwood, and the final ending cinematics are the only 3 i really miss. But i do miss them a lot. i hope, too, they will someday give us new versions of these scenes in BGEE (but respectful of the original game's spirit).

    PS : i've not seen the ending cinematci (Sarevok's death) in its redone version, so i'm not sure about this one, but the original was really great.

    I think the original was slightly better, maybe, but the new one is pretty good (IMO). For me its mainly the smaller ones. I have to admit I really hate the Bandit Camp one.
    Syntia13
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    I remember seeing the Nashkel cutscene the first time and thinking there'd be kobolds lurking in town, or an attack that the party would have to repulse. But, apparently, the kobolds were scared off by the kid in the cutscene. ;-)
    jackjack
  • Time4TiddyTime4Tiddy Member Posts: 262

    @10thLich That's another reason I don't like that cutscene. It's too meta. How should my character know exactly where to find Dynaheir before even entering the stronghold? We're supposed to have to look for her.

    I think it was important because you actually couldn't see the bottom of the pits when walking around the stronghold, even though it looked like you could. If you didn't actually go down the stairs into the pit you'd never see Dynaheir at all, and you might never find her. The cutscene was like a clue.

    Similarly, when Ender is pushed into the big tent in the Bandit Camp, it's a clue where to look for him.
    alnair10thLich
  • Time4TiddyTime4Tiddy Member Posts: 262
    I have to agree with everyone - when I first started up BG:EE all those months ago, I was really excited by the re-imagined artwork on the opening cinematic. Then at FAI I thought, hmm, not so interesting. Then Beregost I wondered if I had messed something up and caused it not to play. The Nashkel cutscene is actually gone, not replaced. The new "cutscene" is actually the Chapter narrative, which was there in the vanilla game, too. I wasn't expecting a Cloakwood scene by that point in the game, more's the pity, it was also my favorite in the original. Honestly I expected MORE cutscenes, like all the original ones plus new ones for the new character quests.
    Nome22KolonKu
  • Syntia13Syntia13 Member Posts: 514
    @Messi Also while looking for those on Youtube I actually noticed someone had done their version of it in BGEE style as the author of the movie, I thank you for appreciation and promotion. :) It was actually first posted here on the board, as an entry in a fanart contest, you needn't have go all the way to YouTube to find it. ;)


    @SaithMasu
    SaithMasu said:
    How does it work? It's an exe file, and I'm wary of clicking it, for fear of messing up the game. Is it patch 1.2 compatible? Can I control which cutscenes are replaced? Is it easily de-installable if I want to go back to pure EE? (I'll remember to thank you later, after I've tried it ;p )

  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511

    I remember seeing the Nashkel cutscene the first time and thinking there'd be kobolds lurking in town, or an attack that the party would have to repulse. But, apparently, the kobolds were scared off by the kid in the cutscene. ;-)

    The kobolds are on the carnival map, which directly abutts the main part of town.
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