@Jaxbudgie: I certainly always assumed that was the case. Torgal also mentions that the guards were bribed into deserting, and Nalia mentions that they were Amnish trained, so Isaea's army connections would make it easier to suborn the garrison. And given that Nalia's father had been dragging his feet on the marriage that Isaea wanted, that provides the proximate cause for the invasion; he'd grown tired of waiting.
@Jaxbudgie: I certainly always assumed that was the case. Torgal also mentions that the guards were bribed into deserting, and Nalia mentions that they were Amnish trained, so Isaea's army connections would make it easier to suborn the garrison. And given that Nalia's father had been dragging his feet on the marriage that Isaea wanted, that provides the proximate cause for the invasion; he'd grown tired of waiting.
Yuh-huh! I'd forgotten about that... I also wish the Guarded Compound in the Temple Disctrict was better tied into the Nalia / Isaea quest. And what the hell were those empty bottles meant to be used for?!
Gorion has no real personality. Imoen's kidnapping is meaningful because she's likeable; Gorion's death is meaningless because the player only knows him for two minutes.
Gorion could have benefited from the status of crutch character, a high-level ally carrying you during the very early parts of the game. It would have allowed his personality to be fleshed out and to make the player care about him (since you depend on him for survival).
On the other hand, it would have been hard to balance. You'd need enemies strong enough to warrant the protection but if you could do nothing but hide behind Gorion, the early game would be very boring.
I've never really understood why Irenicus dungeon is so tedious to people, so much that a specific mod was created to bypass it altogether. I can think of other games that have far longer introductions, that could be a lot more frustrating when replaying the game.
You have Imoen to haste you, traps are minimal and the enemies are hardly tougher than gibberlings.
Having restarted a few playthroughs in BG2 recently, I've noticed that Irenicus' dungeon doesn't seem as grueling as it used to. It's mostly fairly straightforward and has some good story to unravel.
BUT the thing which will forever annoy me is the djinni in the pocket plane of air. We get to the door, it's locked and we have to circle around to find the statuette to open the door. Get to the djinni, talk to him, then have to go back out, circle ALL the way back to the dryads and ask for the flask, then circle ALL the way back to the pocket plane. Get the sword, then again circle ALL the way back to the portal to get to the next level. And since the entire party is required to enter the pocket plane, we can't even send one NPC to speak to the dryads and leave the rest of the party right by the djinni to complete the quest immediately.
It's nice that there is some amount of reactivity (if we already fought Illyich and have the acorns, we can tell this to the dryads and don't have to make more stops) but this is an example of a poorly designed quest where it's basically just walking back and forth between distant parts of a map. There's nothing enjoyable about it and it boils down to doing something else while waiting for the party to slowly walk around.
Pickpocket the flask with imoen before you go in. There is a potion of master thievery you can chug before making the attempt. Now you only have to go in and go out.
Gorion could have benefited from the status of crutch character, a high-level ally carrying you during the very early parts of the game. It would have allowed his personality to be fleshed out and to make the player care about him (since you depend on him for survival).
On the other hand, it would have been hard to balance. You'd need enemies strong enough to warrant the protection but if you could do nothing but hide behind Gorion, the early game would be very boring.
I'm conflicted
It would be cool if you could have Gorion in your party even just for a while like the first area with wolves and gibberlings and the cut scene with Sarevok and his goons would happen when your leaving the area.
Having restarted a few playthroughs in BG2 recently, I've noticed that Irenicus' dungeon doesn't seem as grueling as it used to. It's mostly fairly straightforward and has some good story to unravel.
BUT the thing which will forever annoy me is the djinni in the pocket plane of air. We get to the door, it's locked and we have to circle around to find the statuette to open the door. Get to the djinni, talk to him, then have to go back out, circle ALL the way back to the dryads and ask for the flask, then circle ALL the way back to the pocket plane. Get the sword, then again circle ALL the way back to the portal to get to the next level. And since the entire party is required to enter the pocket plane, we can't even send one NPC to speak to the dryads and leave the rest of the party right by the djinni to complete the quest immediately.
It's nice that there is some amount of reactivity (if we already fought Illyich and have the acorns, we can tell this to the dryads and don't have to make more stops) but this is an example of a poorly designed quest where it's basically just walking back and forth between distant parts of a map. There's nothing enjoyable about it and it boils down to doing something else while waiting for the party to slowly walk around.
Agreed. This quest alone is grounds for cheating - that is, teleporting around the map or getting those cheat weapons (the killsw01 or Godbow) to at least be permanently hasted while running around.
The 'Gorion's Death' cutscene was better in the original game than in BGEE.
Irenicus' dungeon is quite fun to play and has heaps of atmosphere.
Creating a character at the start of BG2 without first having taken them through BG1 is weird. No-one sits down to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and decides to skip Fellowship and start with The Two Towers.
The BG1 NPC Project mod is not very good.
Archers are still great in ToB. Improved Haste + Called Shot spam still kills everything. And what it doesn't kill, is crippled with huge STR and THAC0 penalties.
Aerie has the single best interjection in the entire game.
Weapon sets make dual-wielding even more overpowered than it already is.
Carsomyr is overrated. It's not as if Keldorn really needs it.
The Robe of Vecna is overrated and (in the original BG2) had a horrible green colour that prevented me from ever wanting to use it.
The old 'lightning globe' effect for Spell Trap and the like was better than the new swirly-swirly thing. It looked more 'Magey'.
If you really want to be a terrible person, you need to do more than name Charname Abdel. Give him blue hair and install the Chloe mod so she can romance Imoen. Then romance Jaheira, leave Minsc in the Copper Coronet and dual Sarevok to Mage. For full horror, install Romantic Encounters and have sex with Bodhi.
Then shave your head and become a monk as atonement for your crime against video games.
If you really want to be a terrible person, you need to do more than name Charname Abdel. Give him blue hair and install the Chloe mod so she can romance Imoen. Then romance Jaheira, leave Minsc in the Copper Coronet and dual Sarevok to Mage.
Then shave your head and become a monk as atonement for your crime against video games.
Dualing sarevok to mage? I could only explain that heresy should Gorion's spirit possess his body and dual him to level 1 mage!
If you really want to be a terrible person, you need to do more than name Charname Abdel. Give him blue hair and install the Chloe mod so she can romance Imoen. Then romance Jaheira, leave Minsc in the Copper Coronet and dual Sarevok to Mage.
Gorion could have benefited from the status of crutch character, a high-level ally carrying you during the very early parts of the game. It would have allowed his personality to be fleshed out and to make the player care about him (since you depend on him for survival).
On the other hand, it would have been hard to balance. You'd need enemies strong enough to warrant the protection but if you could do nothing but hide behind Gorion, the early game would be very boring.
I'm conflicted
It would be cool if you could have Gorion in your party even just for a while like the first area with wolves and gibberlings and the cut scene with Sarevok and his goons would happen when your leaving the area.
Perhaps Beamdog's next project could be a BG prequel focussing on Gorion's party, and their adventures! His origins as an adventurer, his involvement with the Harpers, leading up to a final confrontation and the retrieval of little baby Charname Bhaalspawn. If the PC was still customisable and Gorion was your compulsory protege/partner in crime, you would still have the option to make choices which Gorion wouldn't like, whilst building up the character, and making his inevitable BG1 fate hit harder.
Technically this is an idea rather than an opinion, and I've got no idea whether it would be a popular/unpopular storyline...
Perhaps Beamdog's next project could be a BG prequel focussing on Gorion's party, and their adventures! His origins as an adventurer, his involvement with the Harpers, leading up to a final confrontation and the retrieval of little baby Charname Bhaalspawn. If the PC was still customisable and Gorion was your compulsory protege/partner in crime, you would still have the option to make choices which Gorion wouldn't like, whilst building up the character, and making his inevitable BG1 fate hit harder.
Technically this is an idea rather than an opinion, and I've got no idea whether it would be a popular/unpopular storyline...
It may be way faster, but the player used cheats to increase the character's movement speed and exploited a bug in the Durlag's tower. If we're using such things, why not simply use cluaconsole or EE-Keeper at the start of BG2?
Perhaps Beamdog's next project could be a BG prequel focussing on Gorion's party, and their adventures! His origins as an adventurer, his involvement with the Harpers, leading up to a final confrontation and the retrieval of little baby Charname Bhaalspawn. If the PC was still customisable and Gorion was your compulsory protege/partner in crime, you would still have the option to make choices which Gorion wouldn't like, whilst building up the character, and making his inevitable BG1 fate hit harder.
Technically this is an idea rather than an opinion, and I've got no idea whether it would be a popular/unpopular storyline...
That's a really cool idea!
Since they've pretty much said they're not using the Infinity Engine for their new thing, this would make a fantastic last hurrah of the IE engine itself, as updated as it is!
Comments
On the other hand, it would have been hard to balance. You'd need enemies strong enough to warrant the protection but if you could do nothing but hide behind Gorion, the early game would be very boring.
I'm conflicted
Irenicus' dungeon is quite fun to play and has heaps of atmosphere.
Creating a character at the start of BG2 without first having taken them through BG1 is weird. No-one sits down to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy and decides to skip Fellowship and start with The Two Towers.
The BG1 NPC Project mod is not very good.
Archers are still great in ToB. Improved Haste + Called Shot spam still kills everything. And what it doesn't kill, is crippled with huge STR and THAC0 penalties.
Aerie has the single best interjection in the entire game.
Weapon sets make dual-wielding even more overpowered than it already is.
Carsomyr is overrated. It's not as if Keldorn really needs it.
The Robe of Vecna is overrated and (in the original BG2) had a horrible green colour that prevented me from ever wanting to use it.
The old 'lightning globe' effect for Spell Trap and the like was better than the new swirly-swirly thing. It looked more 'Magey'.
Isn't that name already in game, one of the preselect classes.
(I'm not allowed to comment, I've lost all posting privileges)
Then shave your head and become a monk as atonement for your crime against video games.
Technically this is an idea rather than an opinion, and I've got no idea whether it would be a popular/unpopular storyline...
WAAAY faster: