Imagine an "alternate 'evil' beginning" for BG2
SharGuidesMyHand
Member Posts: 2,580
One of the biggest complaints about BG2 that is consistently expressed on this forum is the lack of transition between BG1 and BG2 - BG2 assumes that you finished the first game with a predominantly "good" party, and based on Minsc's dialogue, seems to even imply that you were a "good" character in BG1.
But what if BG2 had allowed the option for choosing an "evil" beginning, or at least, auto adjusted the beginning to suit an evil aligned PC? I know there's about a 0.00000000000000000000000000000001% chance of this being done in BG2:EE, but we can always pretend, can't we? :-)
I imagine...
You awaken in a cell. In the distance, sounds of combat can be heard. The sounds rattle around in your aching head like thunderbolts.
Suddenly, the door to your cell is thrown open, and the figure of a large Amazonian woman stands before you.
"Get up, you lazy b@$tard!" she yells, then sneers, "Men are pathetic!"
The woman is SHAR-TEEL! She is currently, say, a level 8 or 9 thief, after having been dual classed from a fighter at level 6. She has extra proficiency points in long sword and/or long bow.
"Shar... Teel..." you weakly mumble. "What's going on?"
"We've been trapped by some creep that has been doing tests and torturing us," she says. "But don't worry about me... I don't have time to bleed."
"We won't get far on our own," you mutter. "Is there anyone here that can help us?"
Shar-Teel replies, "KAIGAN and XAN are in cells to the east of here, sorta like yours."
Shar-Teel then drags you to your feet, and says, "Now stay by me! Remember: If it bleeds, I can kill it."
You think to yourself, "Well, I guess you ain't killing that golem in the other room, them..." ;-)
Thoughts?
But what if BG2 had allowed the option for choosing an "evil" beginning, or at least, auto adjusted the beginning to suit an evil aligned PC? I know there's about a 0.00000000000000000000000000000001% chance of this being done in BG2:EE, but we can always pretend, can't we? :-)
I imagine...
You awaken in a cell. In the distance, sounds of combat can be heard. The sounds rattle around in your aching head like thunderbolts.
Suddenly, the door to your cell is thrown open, and the figure of a large Amazonian woman stands before you.
"Get up, you lazy b@$tard!" she yells, then sneers, "Men are pathetic!"
The woman is SHAR-TEEL! She is currently, say, a level 8 or 9 thief, after having been dual classed from a fighter at level 6. She has extra proficiency points in long sword and/or long bow.
"Shar... Teel..." you weakly mumble. "What's going on?"
"We've been trapped by some creep that has been doing tests and torturing us," she says. "But don't worry about me... I don't have time to bleed."
"We won't get far on our own," you mutter. "Is there anyone here that can help us?"
Shar-Teel replies, "KAIGAN and XAN are in cells to the east of here, sorta like yours."
Shar-Teel then drags you to your feet, and says, "Now stay by me! Remember: If it bleeds, I can kill it."
You think to yourself, "Well, I guess you ain't killing that golem in the other room, them..." ;-)
Thoughts?
8
Comments
Either way you're suggesting no Imoen, I don't think it's possible without Imoen. It doesn't have to assume you brought anyone, but Imoen is a necessity.
She doesn't even have to of been in your party, he wants her even if you left early.
Imoen: I can't believe you left me for dead back in the sword coast. I should kill you where you stand, but i'd never get out of this place alone.
PC: I told you from the start, if you slowed me down, i'd leave you where you fell. Now hurry up and open the cage and try not to die again. *Looks over at Shar-teel in her cage.* I kept asking her to cage dance for me but she's such an uptight ***ch. This place is quite boring.
Imoen: *still holding the dagger in her hand, but watching you closely as she opens the cage* You're not actually going to free these madmen are you? *She looks around, S-T growling, Tiax explaining to a rat in his cage why he rules the rat, and xzar chewing on his own fist and telling it that it's been a bad boy.* I think this place has enough crazy without them.
PC: Just shut up and open the cages, i don't plan to be here all day. *walks over to shar-teel's cage, and smiles at her.* So, you wouldn't dance for me, why should i let you out?
anyways, i could go on, but i see it more like that. As far as saving imoen, well, the evil option has always been that you're chasing immy or jon, so the rest could remain mostly unchanged.
I agree, it would probably make more sense to have Xzar in there instead, find Montaron's body, break down hysterically weeping, and then remember, "Wait, I never loved you!"
I also thought of putting Eldoth in there, then find Skie's body and say, "Awwwww, too bad!"
Or perhaps, vice versa: Skie finds Eldoth's body and wails, "Eldoth! You can't die, Eldoth!"
...but I figured that people would quickly lose interest in my scenario if it included Skie and/or Eldoth. ;-)
Now forget it.
Hell, replace Imoen with Skie and you have your new half-sister Bhall spawn!
... Or Tiax. [Oh, no, Spellhold, forgot about that.]
I like where a lot of people have taken this.
Imoen still opens your cage. She's too integral to the overall plot of the game, and people forget despite being Neutral Good, she'll never quit your party due to low reputation. I believe it was that way even in BG1. She's your best friend regardless of how much of a twerp you are toward her and how much of a sadistic bastard you decide to be.
Replace Minsc with Shar-Teel. She'd have a more coherent rage-induced cage breaking, but you wouldn't even really need to alter the overall chain of events that lead to freeing her.
The trickier thing is replacing Jaheira. Plot-wise, I could see Xzar being here to "weep" over a dead Montaron, but you'd need a divine spellcaster. All of the evil divine spellcasters are already represented in BG2, though. Tiax in Spellhold, Viconia obvious is her own returning NPC... Even Faldorn is vital to the Druid Grove quests. Maybe Xzar will be a dual-classed Necromancer/Cleric now, with stats boosted to allow this change. Level 7 Necro, level 8 Cleric. It'd be interesting at the very least. Or you could have Branwen. They could even boost Branwen's strength to 17 like they boosted Jaheira's dexterity and she'd fall in line with the better stats everyone in BG2 has.
I also think this should be done for neutral parties as well. True enough that taking Minsc with you would make some sense, and it's actually kind of odd to know that any fighter classes in the game ACTUALLY belong to either good or evil people. There aren't any Neutral fighters in BG1...
Now I think there needs to be A neutral fighter type there.... hmmm....
Furthermore, there's no reason why you can't imagine that some events occurred between BG1 and BG2. You don't have to be apprehended by Irenicus immediately after slaying Sarevok. Your party may well have went in several directions at some point, and you ended up with the 5 that are assumed to be in your party at the beginning of BG2. Jaheira seems to acknowledge that she travelled with you and Viconia both at one point, expressing an opinion about the Cleric's attitude before you even save her from the fanatics. *shrug*
People shouldn't be throwing expectations of versatility upon a game that was made at the turn of the century. 'Shaping the world' and consequence of decision are both relatively new concepts to RPG games, ie. Fable, DA:O, Mass Effect
< ducks the barrage of rotten tomatoes and bananas thrown by this crowd >
Branwen would just be outclassed. Without significant changes to her stats, extra ability or something, she'd be fourth tier cleric. I know people dislike Anomen from a character standpoint but he's an amazing NPC in combat. Viconia would be a better raw cleric. Jaheira is pretty amazing with a sling and functions quite well in that fighter/druid role. And then Aerie is simply amazing as is any cleric/mage multi-class.
Perhaps Entar Silvershield knew Skie was a Bhaalspawn, and adopted, raised, and sheltered her in much the same way Gorion did with the PC. That would coincide with the way Entar is actually described as sheltering her in the game, and also Skie's yearning to get away and see the outside world in a similar way as the PC did while in Candlekeep. You could even throw in an additional subplot about Eldoth actually knowing all along that Skie is a Bhaalspawn, and perhaps the real reason he is trying to seduce and kidnap her is to unlock that power.
Alternatively, you could make Shar-Teel the Bhaalspawn sister, and perhaps her father secretly knew this and this was the reason he had abandoned her, so that she would be as far away from Sarevok as possible when he began his quest to kill other Bhaalspawn.
It's true that the game seems to imply that other NPCs were in your party at other times, but the opening movie indicates that you were mugged while leaving BG shortly after killing Sarevok - meaning that there was little, if any, time for other events to happen in between the two games.
Besides, I usually antagonize Minsc into attacking me as soon as I meet him, and then kill him - hence, ANY sequel beginning in which I am somehow on friendly terms with Minsc is frustrating.
Then you and Irenicus open a Jamba Juice.
I think as a cleric, Branwen fits both evil and neutral parties since she is a priestess to the god of war and may not care about being in conflict with the local authorities.
Evil:
Imoen opens the door
Top Cages: Shar-Teel/Kagain and Branwen / Xzar dualed to Cleric ( of Cyric )
Neutral:
Imoen opens the door
Top Cages: Kivan/Safana and Branwen / Xan (an exception Cleric/Mage like Aerie.. hmm... which would make her redundant :-??) (He'd make a perfect Cleric of Kelemvor with his attitude about the death)
Hell, even a good party would look better with
Imoen opening the door
Dynaheir alive (Minsc dead) [Dynaheir is the more moderate version of Jaheira in terms of bossiness]
Yeslick [Yeslick is the more moderate version of Minsc in terms of ...wits]
Sadly I don't think this is going to happen. The best we can probably hope for is that Dorn will take the place of Minsc if an Evil character is created and even this is just wishful thinking.
@sandmanCCL having more choices in any game is redundant when putting it that way. "Why have Branwen when Viconia is there?" Maybe because I would rather use Branwen? in BG1 for instance, you have a choice between Imoen, Skie, or Safana. Aside from either of them being found late or early, they're all pretty much the same character when you take away the personality. Maybe the stats are slightly off, but are those small numbers really making that big of a difference? Part of BG1 that was great that BG2 was lacking, was that essence of being able to choose your party... as opposed to only getting one theif who could actually level up in BG2.
to top this off, EVERY NPC you meet in BG2, it is implied you met them or traveled with them at one point or another. Tiax, Xzar, Gharrik, Coran, Safana, Quayle, and Ajantis. I might be missing a few, but the fact is, that you can either claim you knew them or claim you didn't, but some party members might remember them. It's actually kind of screwed up that old favorites die in the second game just by being there or close to you.
To finish this off, you really have to think about starting a new BG2 game in the first place, and really think on whether or not an Evil or even Neutral PC would have traveled with someone like Minsc, AT ALL during their time in the sword coast, or even Jaheira. If I personally played evil, I might have traveled with Shar-Teel or Kagain instead of Minsc, so in those events, him being there is just silly and makes little sense.
***SPOILERS***
Not that neutrals are any better, with only 5 NPCs, one of which may change alignment, and one other will die at some point...
***END SPOILERS***
Even good parties, with only 7 characters, aren't that free to choose, actually.
Though I usually like that every character has their deep story in BG2, sometimes having so few NPCs is a bit frustrating, compared to BG1. (But I also liked the idea, in BG1, of sometimes just picking up a random character with no particular missions attatched, like Shar-Tel, Imoen, Kivan or Branwen.)