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How did we all know not to rescue Imoen as soon as we had the money?

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  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited March 2015

    Hm interesting. Then I must have skipped a couple of things that came up only in Chapter 3 (as well as quests I'd simply failed to discover).
    It's all a bit of blur now, 15 years later...

    Talk to Gaelen Bayle - Cinematic with Irenicus and Imoen in front of the leader of the Cowled Wizards.
    First dream - Imoen guides you around Candlekeep
    Second dream - Irenicus talks about the woman and her children "And now she is dead, her lands will be divided..."
    Third dream - Irenicus summons up the Vampire, Ililthid, Lich and Demon to show how powerful you can be.
    Spend the 15 000 gold - Irenicus escapes.

    Should be like that if i remember right.
    kcwiseBaron_BathoryJuliusBorisov
  • Baron_BathoryBaron_Bathory Member Posts: 46
    Great replies guys. I couldn't have said it better myself. Pretty much a combo of all above statements on my end. I too got sidetracked by the million quests that smacked you in the face right out of the dungeon, that and wanting to explore the world, the already mentioned RPG logic, etc.

    Thanks a bunch, was a nice little trip back in time for me. :D
    kcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • thar_thaazdhenthar_thaazdhen Member Posts: 16
    I know this is a super late reply but I wanted to get it off my chest :smile: .

    I played BG2 when I was about 12 years old. I could not bear the thought of Imoen being in an asylum and so I rushed there as soon as I had those 15k gp. My soul got stolen in the asylum and then I rushed after Irenicus. I completed BG2 without ever going to de'Arnise Keep or any such location. It was very difficult because of low XP. I think I had to use cheats as a kid.

    I think the story should have been constructed differently. I know Imoen was supposed to die. I love her very much but I would prefer if Irenicus turned her into stone on the promenade and then crushed her into pieces with a magic missle. That would be a strong reason to go chase after him to Spellhold.

    I played the game again as a 30 yo and suppressed my instincts and enjoyed the beautiful locations and side quests instead. It still feels weird but I am glad I explored the wonderful game.
  • MaurvirMaurvir Member Posts: 1,090
    When you realize the developers originally intended to pull a bait and switch and have you discover her dead, imagine how much more ticked off you would have been.

    Yeah, it was an asinine mechanic, and one that shouldn't have been greenlit. I still love BG2, but not having Imoen's capture hanging over the party's head makes it vastly more enjoyable.
  • ReticentReticent Member Posts: 122
    My very first playthrough, I focused on the out-of-town content first, so I actually had a fair chunk of Ch2 under my belt before I got the prompts to start Ch3.

    But after Spellhold I never realized going with Saemon was an option, dove right through the Underdark portal, found the Kuo-toa tunnels before I found the Drow city, and ended up exiting the Underdark without seeing most of the content.

    Also, I had Yoshimo with me the whole way to the reunion with Jon, and was pretty gutted when the twist came.
  • ilduderinoilduderino Member Posts: 773
    It’s also annoying that even if you rush Spellhold, the plot urgently pushes you towards the endgame, so at some point you have to put on hold rescuing your friend or getting your souls back to do the side quests.
    jastey
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    Because Irenicus has already been shown to be horrifically powerful and has effortlessly kidnapped the party once. Not to mention that as far as charname knows, Imoen isn't in any immiediate danger. She's just in a prison for spellcasters. I always thought it made perfect sense to not go after them until I was as ready as possible.
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    Yes I agree the game could have been written better and it's very easy to feel rushed through the main plot for the entirety of the game, and subsequently miss out on the side quests and simply letting the gameworld breathe a bit.

    HOWEVER I don't think it's the major achilles heel that most people say it is, and it doesn't ruin my enjoyment. The fact is I'm a big roleplayer and it's not too hard to imagine some headcanon around why you would wait around (whether you're missing Imoen in Ch. 2/3 or your soul in Ch. 6).

    For instance, my last playthrough was with an Avenger Druid. I RPed him as though he felt it was his responsbility to constantly & angrily attempt to "rebalance" things in the world that he considered imbalanced/overpowered/abusive, resorting to violence sometimes if he had too. While Imoen was a close friend, his higher calling was always about his responsibility to balance. Pretty soon after being in Athkatla, he realized the Cowled Wizards were way too powerful an organization and decided he would have no choice but to confront them and cut them down to size at some point. Luckily this would also lead to rescuing Imoen and gauging how much of a threat this Irenicus truly was.

    In the meantime, he had to make sure he could form a strong and experienced-enough party to rival them, and while doing so wanted to restore some natural balance to Trademeet (which introduced him to the Druid Grove...), deliver acorns to some Dryads (which got him involved w/ Firkraag...), and attempt to gain more info from the Cowled Wizards from this guy Valygar in the Umar Hills (thus getting involved in the shadow dungeon, and then planar sphere...).

    I had done much of the game in Chapter 2/3, except a sizable portion of the Athkatla quests which I left alone. I felt like I was true to my character but didn't have to rush unnecessarily. When I felt powerful enough (the bigger sidequest ran their course), I deided I would confront the Cowled Wizards, I started in on the Aran Linvail/Vampire stuff, Spellhold/Underdark, then back to the real world. (obvs. the Cowled Wizards were already dealt with but my char didn't know that).

    My motives at this point were to continue to restore balance, my resolve only strengthened by recent events. Obviously Irenicus was the endgame threat, but I had vowed I would slay the Shadow Dragon in the Umar Hills too which I wasn't strong enough for back in Ch. 3. So in chapter 6, I basically took a quick detour to kill the dragon before finishing the game (lack of soul didn't look like it was going to kill me in the next couple weeks...no physical effects at all)

    Now my CURRENT playthrough is with a Wizard Slayer>Thief, he's Neutral Good. He wants to see Imoen again, but he considers it more of a misunderstanding--he actually kind of agrees with what the Cowled Wizards do, keeping tabs on unlicensed magic users. Imoen shouldn't be in the jail and he absolutely wants to see her again, but he wants to do it the RIGHT way, and that's by first ingratiating himself with the larger Athkatlan community and seeing what alliances he can form and information he can receive, especially about the CWs and Irenicus (who he is very anxious/nervous to confront).

    So, it's all headcanon. We can play all play a logically consistent campaign and still take weeks/months to explore.
    Son_of_Imoen
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,325
    For me it was just RPG meta-game experience. XD Once you've had a few RPGs under your belt, you kind of know not to head to the BBEG's lair until you've gone around and done all the available side-quests you could and explored every area possible.

    This DID kinda backfire on me when Imoen asks me "What took you so long?!" after I rescued her though. *guilty look*
  • BlackbɨrdBlackbɨrd Member Posts: 293
    If your Char doesn't care about Imoen, then you have no reason to rush after her. You can just take your time, relax and kick back.
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    I rushed to Spellhold as soon as possible in my first run-through and would still say that's a perfectly defensible choice for a good-aligned CHARNAME. That said, there are a lot of reasons why you might do side quests before heading there even if you lean toward good. For one thing, you know from Chateau Irenicus that he's much stronger than you are so you might legitimately think you need as many power-ups as you can find to raise the odds of a successful rescue. You might also be moved by the pleas for help you receive from Umar and the like, which would help the world more than rescuing a single person and hence merit postponement of your rescue attempt. Finally, you might not trust the Shadow Thieves to fulfill their promise to help you and would do other quests until you belatedly realize no other (well, almost no other) avenues for reaching Spellhold have revealed themselves.
    ThacoBell
  • borntodieborntodie Member Posts: 199
    SionIV wrote: »
    (Quote)
    the problem is the cost of rescuing Imoen, it's too low. If they had raised the cost (like in SCS) to around 50 000 - 80 000 people would have more time to travel around and do things to collect money for the rescue. As it is right now most people only have to do one or two major quest lines at the most to gain the money they need.

    Yeah, I think so too. Plus, it makes the offer from Bodhi sound a little absurd. "Hey, you want to betray your allies? I can get you to Imoen for two pennies less, you know."
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