Has anyone ever skipped Sahuagin City?
Nonnahswriter
Member Posts: 2,520
So here's the thing. My Evil!Charname just destroyed Irenicus (or he was GOING TO before the slimy mage ran away), and he needs to find a way outta Spellhold when low and behold, good ol' Saemon Havarian shows up. He offers the party a ride on his boat, and explains that there's also a portal somewhere that likely leads to the Underdark which I could take as well.
Now I already know that Saemon Havarian is a treacherous b-word who's about to set me up big-time if I take a go with him on the ship. And although my Evil!Charname doesn't have the meta-game knowledge that I do, he's already been crossed by Saemon once, and he's not stupid enough to throw his life and his party's lives in with a proven traitor. So my Evil!Charname kindly gives Saemon the finger and decides to take the portal to the Underdark. (After throwing some spells at him before he teleports away. Darn it!)
Mind you, the power-gamer in me always goes with Saemon anyway because that leads into Sahuagin City and an awesome storyline and a nice chunk of experience, buuuuut... This time I just couldn't justify it. And since I almost always go with Saemon anyway, I had no idea that by refusing his offer, I have entirely skipped all of Sahuagin City and delved straight into the Underdark quests. Oops.
Too late now! I've already overwritten my save file. (I should really learn to back up these things.
) But it got me thinking, has anyone else made this decision before? With or without knowing what would happen?
Now I already know that Saemon Havarian is a treacherous b-word who's about to set me up big-time if I take a go with him on the ship. And although my Evil!Charname doesn't have the meta-game knowledge that I do, he's already been crossed by Saemon once, and he's not stupid enough to throw his life and his party's lives in with a proven traitor. So my Evil!Charname kindly gives Saemon the finger and decides to take the portal to the Underdark. (After throwing some spells at him before he teleports away. Darn it!)
Mind you, the power-gamer in me always goes with Saemon anyway because that leads into Sahuagin City and an awesome storyline and a nice chunk of experience, buuuuut... This time I just couldn't justify it. And since I almost always go with Saemon anyway, I had no idea that by refusing his offer, I have entirely skipped all of Sahuagin City and delved straight into the Underdark quests. Oops.
Too late now! I've already overwritten my save file. (I should really learn to back up these things.
) But it got me thinking, has anyone else made this decision before? With or without knowing what would happen? 9
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I did once, and I didn't know that it would skip a whole section of the game. I remember torturing myself over it, too. Since then, though, I've always taken the boat ride, even when it didn't make much sense, because goodies.
Never once did I dare to skip Baldur's Gate's very own Innsmouth chapter!
As a result the storyline seemed to flow better without the bad acid trip feeling of the seriously weird undersea city.
OK so I missed some XP but I certainly don't feel like I've missed an immersive, intriguing or essential chapter of a good book.
In the long run I don't think my characters will be significantly weaker come the endgame so I'll probably give it a miss in future games as well - especially as I find it very hard from a roleplaying perspective to waste time on irrelevant side quests when hot on the heels of Irenicus.
Yes compared to the rest of the game it's very much different, the water and the environment is unique and so are the enemies you face. The riddle is also quite fun and you do get some neat gear. Last but not least it's one of the few places where you can chose side, one of two evil sides depending on how you look at it.
I know some people are against using console commands, but if you can come up with an RP reason why your character might have trusted Saemon then I think it would be fair to just hop your characters directly to the city since you no longer have an older save to work with. That way you won't miss out on the XP and loot. Then again, it might worth it to lose the XP for a chance to tell that lying weasel where to go.
I only found out looking at a map years after I played BG2. Its very easy to miss if you aren't paying attention. I thought I would end up skipping the Underdark.
Two words.
Sahuagin City Mirroring Cloak
By the way, I've been thinking on this particular question just recently - while doing my totemic druid's run. I so much want to complete it as fast as possible. But still I couldn't skip going to Sahuagin City. Entirely because of the Cloak of Mirroring.
While I like it, i don't think it goes well in the flow of the game: you should be in an urgency to find Irenicus. Going to a boat trip rather than the dangerous direct route seems a very weird choice.
Lets be honest, first time through you don't even know about the Sahuagin City, let alone that you can get there or that going there is an option, and if you are roleplaying (and this is marketed as an RPG don't forget) there is absolutely no reason on God's green Earth for not following Irenicus down the rabbit hole (there are no quests in Brynnlaw that require you to go to Spellhold and then come back, Saemon has proven to be untrustworthy and Irenicus has just run off your soul). So basically the City is a gratuitous add-on that provides some entertainment, experience and items as a bonus for using pre-knowledge, but contributes nothing to the development of either the plot or the NPCs.
-Story (slightly delirious, Walking sushis, Chat with the Beholder, Kill a so-called god, Chapter 5/6 Githyanki encounters)
-XP (I don't know how much)
-Weapons (wave blade if you're mad about halberds, silver sword, gauntlets of crushing for monks (is this still availaible ?)
-and if you want to be a god before your time : the shameful cloak of ultra cheese.
I can't be the only one who plays characters who enter a killing field in this stage of the game:
* All the sahuagin in the city? Gone.
* All the mindflayers, beholders and saguarin in the underdark? Gone.
* All the drow in the city? Gone.
Seems appropriate for the spawn of the God of Murder. Usually, you have innocents around you and have to hold off to avoid collateral damage. Now you use a Detect Evil spell and the room lights up like a Christmas tree. It is kind of like Superman when he can finally let his reserve go and let loose in a fight.
Missing anything? The gnomes can stay and now they can finally flourish!
When you do somewhat implausibly decide to go with Saemon anyway it turns out he was just setting you up to die in his place at the hands of the Gith. Then, after you survive THAT, by any reasonable expectation you really ought to drown at sea when the ship is destroyed out from under you.
For some reason, instead such a bad call leading to your ultimate demise, you're dropped into a relatively easy area with some of the best loot in the game. An area that also just coincidentally happens to have an exit that leads to the exact place Jon's portal would have dropped you off at. Hmmm.
I'm not really complaining; more game is a good thing. On the whole though it is kind of one of the weaker moments in the writing of the game for sure. Maybe it would feel a bit better to me if you really were on a timer where you had to get your soul back before X amount of time passes or game-over or something. Some sort of at least token penalty for making what should be an awful choice but really, really isn't.
Since then, I've had several characters who should be smart enough not to go with him or angry and desperate enough to charge straight after Irenicus ... but I love the Cloak Of Cheese so much! Besides, the Spectator Beholder may be my favourite NPC in the whole trilogy.
This is a place?
I didn't even know it existed.
/blinks