It was funny, really. I just played through BGTutu recently and noticed there was no Elven Chain for my Blade (aside from killing Drizzt, but I'm a good guy). It's not something I would have noticed unless I had been playing a bard.
Heartwarming romances indeed! A monk that will probably have to stay on the backlines of the party for half the game, a murderous dark knight with one helluva looks for being a half-orc and a girl... that could spit lava into you as you kiss her.
The choice is yours! Well, it'll be interesting at least to have carry-over romances!
It should be pretty awkward in BG2 seeing as none of the other NPC's will have any kind of banter with the new characters, as if they were invisible.
That's not correct, adding banter for the old characters with the new NPC's is allowed. I'm sorry I can't find the source, but if I remember well it was said by the developers on this forum when talking about the restricitions: changing old dialogue (accept for minor error-removal) can't be done, but new lines with the new npc's can be added.
The bad news is not, the old npc's not having banter with the new ones in BG2 (as that won't be true), the bad news is, the old npc's not bantering among themselves, only with the new ones in BG1.
Female characters no longer have to put up with Anomen?
Huzzah!
I don't think much of my new choices as a "female". At least Anomen is handsome and buff - Joe Manganiello handsome and buff.
Why do male game writers usually feel the need to pick such butt-ugly portraits for male "romanceable" characters (as the Beamdog team has done), while choosing such beautiful, hot portraits of women? It must come from some kind of fantasy that a woman would actually choose homely, lonely, them irl.
Kudos to the vanilla game artists for making Anomen actually good-looking and body-builder, almost superhuman strong. I'm a big fan of Ano, and I romance him all the time, but I usually just bite my tongue and ignore all the Ano hate in the forums. What am I gonna do, haters gonna hate .
I will never use either the half-orc blackguard (evil) or the monk (hideous, not to mention horrible AC in BG1 levels).
I will probably never use Neera, either, because I am a no-reloader, and wild mages are tactical suicide, good for nothing I see or understand other than comedy (e.g. Esmerelda or Aunt Clara from Bewitched), or an interesting, handicapped character story as Neera seems to be written. Actually, I might play with her at some point, tolerating the many, many reloads she will cause, just to read what sounds like a fascinating relationship with a handicapped character.
For the most part, though, I'm sorry to say (and please don't flame me for expressing my honest opinion here), the new NPC's are a pretty bad miss for me.
I will be buying and supporting BG:EE for other reasons than the new NPC's, which, IMO, are about like adding three new character mods that ship with the game.
On-topic: (I think, and I apologize if I have derailed it), I play females sometimes because I am a gay male and I want to fantasize about having relationships with fantasy game men, and I think Ano is totally hot. I would date him and bed him in an instant if I met him IRL and he was interested in me. LOL
@belgarathmth I don't hate Anomen. I just dislike him. He seemed an okay character... until the romance dialogues started, and then he was just an arse. To be told of how I/CHARNAME saved the Sword Coast from the machinations of Sarevok and the Iron Throne and to then be told, in essence, "You couldn't have done all that, you're just a woman!" made me grind my teeth. That bad impression, for me, was never really dispelled.
@LadyRhian, fair enough. But, in his defense, since I am a rare person who understands and loves characters like him, probably since his mindset and backstory resonate with my own real-life upbringing (alcoholic, drug-addicted mother, in my case), please consider that the poor guy acts like that because he is an emotionally abused young man when you meet him, trying to find his way to loving himself and being an effective man who fits into his world in a way he can be proud of himself for, and that you, as a woman, can save him from his own darker, egotistical impulses by loving him.
The fantasy of woman-as-savior of an emotionally wounded man may not resonate with you, but it does with me as a man, and from what I've read and seen in film, it does with a lot of women who love "bad boys" and want to save their men through love. I guess most of those women just don't play RPG's - maybe the kind of women who like RPG's tend to be really strong types like Jaheira, who will bristle and become very hostile when interacting with a man who is boastful or macho in his nature.
@Belgarathmth I find Bioware's obsession with "Love as psychiatric therapy" to be problematic. Sometimes you want someone more put together. Who isn't tortured by some horrible issue in their past...
@LadyRhian, interesting insight. Unfortunately, that applies to *all* the romances in the game, and I'm not seeing any indication of a different direction being taken with the teaser info about the new NPC's.
Oh well, the romances still make the game more interesting and replayable, even if they, as a group, succumb to tendencies toward a certain trope.
One tendency that even NPC mods tend to fall into (for the most part) is that 99% of the focus is entirely on the love-interests problems, dilemmas and development, and no attention is really paid to what you are going through. Some characters may go "oh, you feel helpless because your childhood friend has been captured and is probably being tortured as we speak? Poor you. Anyway, about my problems-". I like the scenes in Spellhold where you change into the slayer for the 2nd time and after you start walking through the first floor, because thats when your LI steps up and talks about YOU for a change. Things like that make the relationship feel less one-sided, and relays that sometimes even bhaalspawn need saving too
The bad news is not, the old npc's not having banter with the new ones in BG2 (as that won't be true), the bad news is, the old npc's not bantering among themselves, only with the new ones in BG1.
Yea, I think people who like the character dialogue may feel pressured to have all three new NPCs in the party while the other 2 are mostly mute.
"With some modder help, We've radically improved the spells, beefed up Gorion's spell selection and made the battle feel much more exciting. Gorion no longer goes to his staff as his weapon of choice." -Trent ___________________
[-]Kholdsigma89 Oh, I almost forgot a question I meant to ask from the beginning of this! Will there be any sort of Elven-chain for bard characters? I can't think of any other armor they can wear in vanilla BG1 that lets them use their spells. [–]DaigleDopple Hmm... I don't think we've thought about this one. We'll check it out. [–]OverhaulTrent Phil, add some Elven chain. [–]DaigleDopple ok done __________________
I love small companies. Works so much more efficiently :-D
That Elven chain question was mine. I was so giddy to see it answered in that way so fast!
So glad you did, it cemented my desire to play a bard with my first play through!
@LadyRhian, interesting insight. Unfortunately, that applies to *all* the romances in the game, and I'm not seeing any indication of a different direction being taken with the teaser info about the new NPC's.
Oh well, the romances still make the game more interesting and replayable, even if they, as a group, succumb to tendencies toward a certain trope.
The adventure's portrayed in baldur's gate, and most adventure's I've followed in many a campaign setting have their issues, and in the vast majority of cases, end up killing people, traveling in harsh conditions, face all sorts of adversity such as death, torture, bloodshed, and other suffering. They come hand in hand with all sorts of traumatic experiences, whether they be those who try and quell them and bring more good to the worlds they reside in through their abilities, or whether they be the instigator's of murder and theft, or even the accidental cause of an innocent's loss of life. The NPC who isn't in need of a little love and/or psychiatry would have to be one hell of character to exist in the midst of all the crisis and drama that is Baldur's Gate, or any other roleplaying game I've played. If anyone can pull off a well adjusted NPC with a well adjusted romance I'll be happy as a clam, but I'm not surprised or disappointed if there's a certain sort of love that's more the focus of troubled times.
Pleased to read good conversation and receive some food for thought from y'all!
@Belgarathmth I find Bioware's obsession with "Love as psychiatric therapy" to be problematic. Sometimes you want someone more put together. Who isn't tortured by some horrible issue in their past...
Either that or they are as promiscuous as greek deities.
@Schneidend It always makes me laugh. Also, Nick Tate used to be an actor back in the 70's. He's in the orange space suit in the opening credits, but not credited.
Comments
My future fighter/mage thanks you!
A monk that will probably have to stay on the backlines of the party for half the game, a murderous dark knight with one helluva looks for being a half-orc and a girl... that could spit lava into you as you kiss her.
The choice is yours!
Well, it'll be interesting at least to have carry-over romances!
The bad news is not, the old npc's not having banter with the new ones in BG2 (as that won't be true), the bad news is, the old npc's not bantering among themselves, only with the new ones in BG1.
Why do male game writers usually feel the need to pick such butt-ugly portraits for male "romanceable" characters (as the Beamdog team has done), while choosing such beautiful, hot portraits of women? It must come from some kind of fantasy that a woman would actually choose homely, lonely, them irl.
Kudos to the vanilla game artists for making Anomen actually good-looking and body-builder, almost superhuman strong. I'm a big fan of Ano, and I romance him all the time, but I usually just bite my tongue and ignore all the Ano hate in the forums. What am I gonna do, haters gonna hate .
I will never use either the half-orc blackguard (evil) or the monk (hideous, not to mention horrible AC in BG1 levels).
I will probably never use Neera, either, because I am a no-reloader, and wild mages are tactical suicide, good for nothing I see or understand other than comedy (e.g. Esmerelda or Aunt Clara from Bewitched), or an interesting, handicapped character story as Neera seems to be written. Actually, I might play with her at some point, tolerating the many, many reloads she will cause, just to read what sounds like a fascinating relationship with a handicapped character.
For the most part, though, I'm sorry to say (and please don't flame me for expressing my honest opinion here), the new NPC's are a pretty bad miss for me.
I will be buying and supporting BG:EE for other reasons than the new NPC's, which, IMO, are about like adding three new character mods that ship with the game.
On-topic: (I think, and I apologize if I have derailed it), I play females sometimes because I am a gay male and I want to fantasize about having relationships with fantasy game men, and I think Ano is totally hot. I would date him and bed him in an instant if I met him IRL and he was interested in me. LOL
The fantasy of woman-as-savior of an emotionally wounded man may not resonate with you, but it does with me as a man, and from what I've read and seen in film, it does with a lot of women who love "bad boys" and want to save their men through love. I guess most of those women just don't play RPG's - maybe the kind of women who like RPG's tend to be really strong types like Jaheira, who will bristle and become very hostile when interacting with a man who is boastful or macho in his nature.
Oh well, the romances still make the game more interesting and replayable, even if they, as a group, succumb to tendencies toward a certain trope.
Pleased to read good conversation and receive some food for thought from y'all!
That video was quite possibly the greatest thing that has ever happened.
@Schneidend It always makes me laugh. Also, Nick Tate used to be an actor back in the 70's. He's in the orange space suit in the opening credits, but not credited.