StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I never made it out of Chapter 2 of BG2 when I first played it (I still played a whole lot of the game - I kept doing various sidequests even after I had gotten enough money, and had most of my party close to max level) and honestly that's probably a good thing because I had put a lot of personal investment into Yoshimo.
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
the brother of one of Sarevok's accomplices from BG1, interestingly enough
It's a damn shame you couldn't bring him back, though you could do something with his heart, right?
oh no way
pretty sure that gal was sarevok's girlfriend
and yeah if you take his heart to the small church in waukeen's promenade, you can cleanse it
it doesn't do much, aside from give you a big pile of XP, but it's nice nonetheless
Okay I looked it up and I may be totally off base with that stuff, I thought it was mentioned before but now I can't find anything
I did find it touching that Sarevok's Throne Of Bhaal ending has him burying her in her homeland
I think it may be only confirmed in some deleted content for BG2 (restorable with Unfinished Buisness mod), but I am also not sure, it's been some time.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
Yeah, party rotation was not really a thing in the BG games. Especially because there were significant swathes of BG2 where you literally could not.
I think there might have been some idea, especially in the first game, that a character could die and that would just be the end of their story. Like, you weren't supposed to be able to afford resurrections, and if you don't reload, then whoops, find a new party member.
That's completely conjecture based mostly just on the number of NPCs available in BG1 though.
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
Yeah, party rotation was not really a thing in the BG games. Especially because there were significant swathes of BG2 where you literally could not.
I think there might have been some idea, especially in the first game, that a character could die and that would just be the end of their story. Like, you weren't supposed to be able to afford resurrections, and if you don't reload, then whoops, find a new party member.
That's completely conjecture based mostly just on the number of NPCs available in BG1 though.
it would make sense
I can't imagine why else they'd give you so many gat dang rogues
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
Yeah, party rotation was not really a thing in the BG games. Especially because there were significant swathes of BG2 where you literally could not.
I think there might have been some idea, especially in the first game, that a character could die and that would just be the end of their story. Like, you weren't supposed to be able to afford resurrections, and if you don't reload, then whoops, find a new party member.
That's completely conjecture based mostly just on the number of NPCs available in BG1 though.
There was also the bit where party members could get exploded/disintegrated/dissolved and just be... gone.
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
Yeah, party rotation was not really a thing in the BG games. Especially because there were significant swathes of BG2 where you literally could not.
I think there might have been some idea, especially in the first game, that a character could die and that would just be the end of their story. Like, you weren't supposed to be able to afford resurrections, and if you don't reload, then whoops, find a new party member.
That's completely conjecture based mostly just on the number of NPCs available in BG1 though.
There was also the bit where party members could get exploded/disintegrated/dissolved and just be... gone.
Yeah like, that always just meant it was time to reload for me, but I can see the idea that you wouldn't.
The games have an interesting relationship with death and resurrection, between resurrecting at temples for relatively cheap and the whole thing that if the Bhaalspawn died you got an instant game over even if everyone was toting around their own rod of resurrection.
that said, The Boss was pretty great, Meryl was alright, and I think that "Mama" as a (nick?)name in a world where magic-science-babies are the key to humanity is not necessarily a bad thing, depending how that plays out
Fragile being a woman who mostly cries in the trailer on the other hand...eh
e: one other thing that bothers me is the doll-face-like, perfect, uncanny valley skin the female characters have. That's a thing in many japanese games I could do without. DmC5 I think moved away from that, and I like that look better. Of course, weebs across the interwebs were angry about it, but they always are, so
Fragile also seems to have another look that's heavy on the fascist regalia, so she may have something else going on there too.
Not everyone agrees with this sentiment, however. Freelance games writer and narrative designer Chris Avellone believes stories can be apolitical, and that his are. “They may become political as societal norms change, but I believe it’s possible to do apolitical games,” he says. “I also don’t condone developers who want to do political games or make a statement – I think a game is served better by asking a question, provide a range of perspectives on the question, but then leaving the answer to the player. I try to frame any politics in the parameters of the world, the lore, and the franchise.
“The reason I take this approach is because I view games as entertainment. If you’re purposely pushing an agenda or point of view in your game – especially a real-world one that’s clearly divorced from the game world – and you’re dictating that perspective as correct vs. asking a question or examining the perspective more broadly, then it’s left the gaming realm and the ‘game’ has become a pulpit.”
“When I do apolitical design, I don’t view the narrative as having nothing to say: instead, the stories may have something to say in the context of the game world – the game’s commentary may be simply on the game world, gods, factions, or some other aspect of the lore or franchise itself and ideally, the player is part of the story and not simply there to passively listen to what the game is saying, but what they can bring to the story and the world through interacting with it,” Avellone explains. “I think a game, especially a role-playing game, can have a considerable amount to say by examining what the player brings to the equation and players asking themselves what kind of character and what kind of player they are when confronted with a situation that’s not clearly black and white.”
As mentioned before, Mazzy is probably the best companion in BG2. She's just not in the overall conversation as much because she wasn't in BG1, she's kind of hidden away on the eastern edge of the map, and by the time players find her they've probably decided on who's in their party for the long haul. I don't think the BGs shared XP to people who aren't in the party, right? That strongly disincentivizes the sort of party rotation that was a great part of later BioWare titles.
There were different level versions of the character when you first recruited them based on the PC’s level, but yeah after that nothing
I played through BG2 (full runs, 100% with expansion) at least 15 times...the first couple to make sure I was able to do specific party comps with the built-in NPCs, a few runs mixing in modded NPCs and a few where I did single player multiplayer with my own min-maxed characters. Probably over 2000 hours of total playtime in that game.
I also did a couple runs with a mod that updated BG1 to the BG2 ruleset and ran with my own characters from 0xp in Candle’s Keep to gibbing Melissan. Probably another 1000 hours there.
I played through the IW:D series, Planescape and the NWN series after that. Haven’t played a BioWare or Black Isle->Obsidian game since BW moves to consoles.
Sounds like I have quite a backlog to get to now...
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
Not everyone agrees with this sentiment, however. Freelance games writer and narrative designer Chris Avellone believes stories can be apolitical, and that his are. “They may become political as societal norms change, but I believe it’s possible to do apolitical games,” he says. “I also don’t condone developers who want to do political games or make a statement – I think a game is served better by asking a question, provide a range of perspectives on the question, but then leaving the answer to the player. I try to frame any politics in the parameters of the world, the lore, and the franchise.
“The reason I take this approach is because I view games as entertainment. If you’re purposely pushing an agenda or point of view in your game – especially a real-world one that’s clearly divorced from the game world – and you’re dictating that perspective as correct vs. asking a question or examining the perspective more broadly, then it’s left the gaming realm and the ‘game’ has become a pulpit.”
“When I do apolitical design, I don’t view the narrative as having nothing to say: instead, the stories may have something to say in the context of the game world – the game’s commentary may be simply on the game world, gods, factions, or some other aspect of the lore or franchise itself and ideally, the player is part of the story and not simply there to passively listen to what the game is saying, but what they can bring to the story and the world through interacting with it,” Avellone explains. “I think a game, especially a role-playing game, can have a considerable amount to say by examining what the player brings to the equation and players asking themselves what kind of character and what kind of player they are when confronted with a situation that’s not clearly black and white.”
All of that sounds extremely political.
well it took a long time but chris avellone finally said something dumb
The best part of the Mobile game thing is it is designed that you run out of energy at the child dying
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StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
Actually, now that I think of it, one of my college roommates did a super hardcore Baldur's Gate 2 game where he wouldn't reload when he lost a party member (other than the Bhaalspawn, for obvious reasons) or resurrect anyone or anything, all at the highest difficulty
He didn't use the stock NPCs though (or if he did, they didn't last very long), and instead would do it like, XCOM style making people that we knew into whatever he needed at the time to replace a fallen party member
Not everyone agrees with this sentiment, however. Freelance games writer and narrative designer Chris Avellone believes stories can be apolitical, and that his are. “They may become political as societal norms change, but I believe it’s possible to do apolitical games,” he says. “I also don’t condone developers who want to do political games or make a statement – I think a game is served better by asking a question, provide a range of perspectives on the question, but then leaving the answer to the player. I try to frame any politics in the parameters of the world, the lore, and the franchise.
“The reason I take this approach is because I view games as entertainment. If you’re purposely pushing an agenda or point of view in your game – especially a real-world one that’s clearly divorced from the game world – and you’re dictating that perspective as correct vs. asking a question or examining the perspective more broadly, then it’s left the gaming realm and the ‘game’ has become a pulpit.”
“When I do apolitical design, I don’t view the narrative as having nothing to say: instead, the stories may have something to say in the context of the game world – the game’s commentary may be simply on the game world, gods, factions, or some other aspect of the lore or franchise itself and ideally, the player is part of the story and not simply there to passively listen to what the game is saying, but what they can bring to the story and the world through interacting with it,” Avellone explains. “I think a game, especially a role-playing game, can have a considerable amount to say by examining what the player brings to the equation and players asking themselves what kind of character and what kind of player they are when confronted with a situation that’s not clearly black and white.”
All of that sounds extremely political.
well it took a long time but chris avellone finally said something dumb
Actually, now that I think of it, one of my college roommates did a super hardcore Baldur's Gate 2 game where he wouldn't reload when he lost a party member (other than the Bhaalspawn, for obvious reasons) or resurrect anyone or anything, all at the highest difficulty
He didn't use the stock NPCs though (or if he did, they didn't last very long), and instead would do it like, XCOM style making people that we knew into whatever he needed at the time to replace a fallen party member
yeah you could do that if you played in multiplayer mode, but on your own. you'd have to save the game and go back to the lobby every time you made a new character though
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I have to assume he is working on some bizarro definition of political there, because so many of the games he's worked on are damn near explicitly political
I have to assume he is working on some bizarro definition of political there, because so many of the games he's worked on are damn near explicitly political
yeah it's kinda perplexing
I assume he means games that are specifically made to talk about a specific political thing, or something? I really can't figure it out, honestly.
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Edit: He is a character I liked when I was young but kind of grates on me now because I do not like that kind of comedic character.
but nowadays I'm like how soon can I get rid of this meathead goober
Bring back Xan, that's what I say
He was one of my favorites when I originally played it (at like... 12 to 14?), I always kept him in my party, even if I shifted around other people
And man, I cannot stand him if I go back to the games now
It's good times so far. The change in the Torturer talent is crazy good
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
Now look, let's not be mean.
It's a damn shame you couldn't bring him back, though you could do something with his heart, right?
pretty sure that gal was sarevok's girlfriend
and yeah if you take his heart to the small church in waukeen's promenade, you can cleanse it
it doesn't do much, aside from give you a big pile of XP, but it's nice nonetheless
I did find it touching that Sarevok's Throne Of Bhaal ending has him burying her in her homeland
I think it may be only confirmed in some deleted content for BG2 (restorable with Unfinished Buisness mod), but I am also not sure, it's been some time.
Yeah, party rotation was not really a thing in the BG games. Especially because there were significant swathes of BG2 where you literally could not.
I think there might have been some idea, especially in the first game, that a character could die and that would just be the end of their story. Like, you weren't supposed to be able to afford resurrections, and if you don't reload, then whoops, find a new party member.
That's completely conjecture based mostly just on the number of NPCs available in BG1 though.
They just add a bunch of written content for flavour, and dont change anything in gameplay.
it would make sense
I can't imagine why else they'd give you so many gat dang rogues
There was also the bit where party members could get exploded/disintegrated/dissolved and just be... gone.
Yeah like, that always just meant it was time to reload for me, but I can see the idea that you wouldn't.
The games have an interesting relationship with death and resurrection, between resurrecting at temples for relatively cheap and the whole thing that if the Bhaalspawn died you got an instant game over even if everyone was toting around their own rod of resurrection.
She comes across like a man-hating feminist stereotype, which is... euuughhhh
Fragile also seems to have another look that's heavy on the fascist regalia, so she may have something else going on there too.
I think I have myself (mage), Hexxat, Dorn, Vicona, Edwin and Korgan
gonna ditch Korgan for Sarevok come ToB
There were different level versions of the character when you first recruited them based on the PC’s level, but yeah after that nothing
I played through BG2 (full runs, 100% with expansion) at least 15 times...the first couple to make sure I was able to do specific party comps with the built-in NPCs, a few runs mixing in modded NPCs and a few where I did single player multiplayer with my own min-maxed characters. Probably over 2000 hours of total playtime in that game.
I also did a couple runs with a mod that updated BG1 to the BG2 ruleset and ran with my own characters from 0xp in Candle’s Keep to gibbing Melissan. Probably another 1000 hours there.
I played through the IW:D series, Planescape and the NWN series after that. Haven’t played a BioWare or Black Isle->Obsidian game since BW moves to consoles.
Sounds like I have quite a backlog to get to now...
well it took a long time but chris avellone finally said something dumb
He didn't use the stock NPCs though (or if he did, they didn't last very long), and instead would do it like, XCOM style making people that we knew into whatever he needed at the time to replace a fallen party member
not quite milkshake duck territory at least
yeah you could do that if you played in multiplayer mode, but on your own. you'd have to save the game and go back to the lobby every time you made a new character though
just one of the most competent and celebrated games writers, designers or narrative designs in the entire industry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Avellone
Like, I read that and thought "ok"
With the caveat that I think his stuff has been political in the past. At least I thought so
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
yeah it's kinda perplexing
I assume he means games that are specifically made to talk about a specific political thing, or something? I really can't figure it out, honestly.