As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
We're funding a new Acquisitions Incorporated series on Kickstarter right now! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pennyarcade/acquisitions-incorporated-the-series-2

Baldur's Gate II - A nostalgic look back

1464749515263

Posts

  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    It makes me really happy that people still play and enjoy BG2 even now more than seven years after the game came out.

    It's weird, but I feel like I have a personal stake in people playing and liking the game.

    It's a part of me.
    Join the club, Pancake. I think this is my favourite game series, it's just a fucking shame that we'll probably never see anything close to the BG series again..
    At least until people who can actually write characters well pop up again.

    Xagarath on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Why am I not using any of the good mods? Probably just can't be arsed to, that's why. I installed the game after seeing this thread and fired it up. I'm also getting a weird bug trying to edit baldur.ini. Vista is telling me it can't the file to save it because I might have gotten the path wrong (??), then when I specify the location it tells me it the same damn thing.
    I had the same, it's Vista protecting you from yourself by protecting every file from being edited. Right click menu on the map of BG, go to Security and make sure you are allowed to do whatever you want with it.

    I'm running a Dutch version, so I'm not sure what everything is called in English, but it was fairly easy to understand what you had to do.

    Aldo on
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I had so many problems with NWN on a UI level. NWN2 was simply awful for me, and I never finished it. The odd thing is that The Witcher uses basically the same interface tools and makes them highly bearable and even fun (though the pathfinding and sound still glitches the same way that NWN2 did).

    Dracomicron on
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    It makes me really happy that people still play and enjoy BG2 even now more than seven years after the game came out.

    It's weird, but I feel like I have a personal stake in people playing and liking the game.

    It's a part of me.
    Join the club, Pancake. I think this is my favourite game series, it's just a fucking shame that we'll probably never see anything close to the BG series again..
    At least until people who can actually write characters well pop up again.
    No see, we have these people. To get another BGII we just need Obsidian to pair up with Bioware. Someone work on this pronto!

    Cilla Black on
  • SilpheedSilpheed Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    It makes me really happy that people still play and enjoy BG2 even now more than seven years after the game came out.

    It's weird, but I feel like I have a personal stake in people playing and liking the game.

    It's a part of me.
    Join the club, Pancake. I think this is my favourite game series, it's just a fucking shame that we'll probably never see anything close to the BG series again..
    At least until people who can actually write characters well pop up again.
    No see, we have these people. To get another BGII we just need Obsidian to pair up with Bioware. Someone work on this pronto!
    I wouldn't bet on this. Bioware doesn't believe in long, involved RPG's anymore. It doesn't tickle the average players fancy, you see. As much as I love Mass Effect it sure as hell wasn't close to give me as much playtime or general satisfaction as Baldurs Gate 2.

    Silpheed on
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Part of it is simply the technical demands of modern games. BG2 had a lower level of necessary graphics and a much simpler game engine. Plus it didn't need nearly as much in the way of voice acting. Full 3d action RPGs require a lot more effort to produce and have a lot less time to add in quest/character/flavor/choice content.

    Plus, they sell better than stuff like BG2, unfortunately. I liked Mass Effect a lot, but it still can't hold a candle to Baldur's Gate.

    Professor Phobos on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I really don't understand why it's so hard to find voice actors, by the way. Especially Oblivion suffered from it, there were like 3 or 4 actors for all the NPCs (and the Picard dude for the guy who bloody dies in the first 15 minutes). Come on, get some guys in the office behind the mic and let them say some random things.

    BGII had a lot more voices and a lot more flavour to it, did they spend so much more of their funds on it or were they just smart enough to pick some folks off the street?

    Aldo on
  • Adhesive to plasticAdhesive to plastic Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I keep resintalling this, only to get to one of the sidequest places like Umar Hills and then just giving up. I used to play through it every couple of months, now I can barely get five hours out of it. What's wrong with me? :(

    Adhesive to plastic on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I keep resintalling this, only to get to one of the sidequest places like Umar Hills and then just giving up. I used to play through it every couple of months, now I can barely get five hours out of it. What's wrong with me? :(
    A game gets boring after playing it a few times? That's not really shocking?

    Aldo on
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    I keep resintalling this, only to get to one of the sidequest places like Umar Hills and then just giving up. I used to play through it every couple of months, now I can barely get five hours out of it. What's wrong with me? :(
    A game gets boring after playing it a few times? That's not really shocking?

    Yeah, I've gone through BGII like 7 or 8 times, and it's starting to feel like I've seen enough. I love the game to death, but I'm not sure I'll be playing it for a few years(trying to forget stuff, so that I can enjoy parts of it again).

    Rhan9 on
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    Come on, get some guys in the office behind the mic and let them say some random things.
    No, please don't do this. It's not 1996 any more, and bad voice acting is a lot worse than no voice acting in my opinion.

    Orogogus on
  • themocawthemocaw Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Come on, get some guys in the office behind the mic and let them say some random things.
    No, please don't do this. It's not 1996 any more, and bad voice acting is a lot worse than no voice acting in my opinion.

    Take the BGII or NWN route: not all lines were voice-acted. Some of them actually required you to (GASP!!!!) READ!!!! What's wrong with hearing someone say, "Hello!" and then reading the text that follows?

    themocaw on
  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    It makes me really happy that people still play and enjoy BG2 even now more than seven years after the game came out.

    It's weird, but I feel like I have a personal stake in people playing and liking the game.

    It's a part of me.
    Join the club, Pancake. I think this is my favourite game series, it's just a fucking shame that we'll probably never see anything close to the BG series again..
    At least until people who can actually write characters well pop up again.
    No see, we have these people. To get another BGII we just need Obsidian to pair up with Bioware. Someone work on this pronto!
    I wouldn't bet on this. Bioware doesn't believe in long, involved RPG's anymore. It doesn't tickle the average players fancy, you see. As much as I love Mass Effect it sure as hell wasn't close to give me as much playtime or general satisfaction as Baldurs Gate 2.

    What we actually need to do is resurrect Black Isle, and maybe Troika.

    Xagarath on
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Man I would kill for a nWoD version of Bloodlines without all the bugs and, you know, executed better. And Baldur's Gate 3? As a faithful modern adaption? Hells yes.

    Professor Phobos on
  • Cilla BlackCilla Black Priscilla!!! Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Silpheed wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    It makes me really happy that people still play and enjoy BG2 even now more than seven years after the game came out.

    It's weird, but I feel like I have a personal stake in people playing and liking the game.

    It's a part of me.
    Join the club, Pancake. I think this is my favourite game series, it's just a fucking shame that we'll probably never see anything close to the BG series again..
    At least until people who can actually write characters well pop up again.
    No see, we have these people. To get another BGII we just need Obsidian to pair up with Bioware. Someone work on this pronto!
    I wouldn't bet on this. Bioware doesn't believe in long, involved RPG's anymore. It doesn't tickle the average players fancy, you see. As much as I love Mass Effect it sure as hell wasn't close to give me as much playtime or general satisfaction as Baldurs Gate 2.

    What we actually need to do is resurrect Black Isle, and maybe Troika.
    Obsidian essentially is Black Isle though. Not all the employees made the jump, but the more important ones imo did.

    Cilla Black on
  • XagarathXagarath Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Man I would kill for a nWoD version of Bloodlines without all the bugs and, you know, executed better. And Baldur's Gate 3? As a faithful modern adaption? Hells yes.

    There's nowhere left for the Baldur's Gate story to go, surely?

    Xagarath on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Come on, get some guys in the office behind the mic and let them say some random things.
    No, please don't do this. It's not 1996 any more, and bad voice acting is a lot worse than no voice acting in my opinion.

    I'm not quite sure you understand how bad the voice acting was in Oblivion. For the better part of the game you hear the same voices talking to each other, that's just painful.

    Aldo on
  • themocawthemocaw Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Man I would kill for a nWoD version of Bloodlines without all the bugs and, you know, executed better. And Baldur's Gate 3? As a faithful modern adaption? Hells yes.

    There's nowhere left for the Baldur's Gate story to go, surely?

    Yes, there is.

    Baldur's Gate 3 will be the first TRULY epic game in the Baldur's Gate trilogy.

    For in Baldur's Gate 3, you will play as. . .

    NAME, the new GOD OF _____!

    The following characters are confirmed as NPC companions:

    Garl Glittergold (Thief character)

    Helm (Tank character)

    Elistree (takes up Aerie's position as whiny elf bitch)

    Lolth (love interest for evil characters, because everyone knows that drow women are hawt. The whole half-spider thing adds even more spice)

    Mystra (spellcaster)

    And if you had a romantic interest in BGII, they now appear as the high priest/priestess of your cult.

    . . . actually, that could be awesome.

    themocaw on
  • OrogogusOrogogus San DiegoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    Orogogus wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    Come on, get some guys in the office behind the mic and let them say some random things.
    No, please don't do this. It's not 1996 any more, and bad voice acting is a lot worse than no voice acting in my opinion.

    I'm not quite sure you understand how bad the voice acting was in Oblivion. For the better part of the game you hear the same voices talking to each other, that's just painful.

    So use less voice acting, as was suggested. Don't record anything, if it comes to that. Using guys from the office to record your voices is absolutely not the answer unless you're releasing a free mod and not a commercial game. There are lots of games out there with professional voice acting that still came out badly (I played some of Baten Kaitos a week ago, for example, and thought it was pretty bad), but with the possible exception of House of the Dead 2 / Typing of the Dead 1, they're still leagues above what you get when you get random people to do the voiceovers. In my opinion getting non-professional voice actors to do your game is like getting random guys to do your 3D models or networking code.

    Orogogus on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Orogogus wrote: »
    So use less voice acting, as was suggested. Don't record anything, if it comes to that. Using guys from the office to record your voices is absolutely not the answer unless you're releasing a free mod and not a commercial game. There are lots of games out there with professional voice acting that still came out badly (I played some of Baten Kaitos a week ago, for example, and thought it was pretty bad), but with the possible exception of House of the Dead 2 / Typing of the Dead 1, they're still leagues above what you get when you get random people to do the voiceovers. In my opinion getting non-professional voice actors to do your game is like getting random guys to do your 3D models or networking code.
    What is so difficult about convincingly say some lines?

    Aldo on
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    What is so difficult about convincingly say some lines?

    Ask the Screen Actor's Guild.

    Dracomicron on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    What is so difficult about convincingly say some lines?

    Ask the Screen Actor's Guild.

    ...
    Lets try again.

    Baldur's Gate II has fantastic voice acting and a lot of different voices
    Oblivion has horrible voice acting and only 3 or 4 different voices.

    Did Bioware dump half their budget in getting half a battalion of voice actors for every NPC and did Oblivion waste all their money on one famous guy and a few potheads for all the other voices?

    Voice actors are not like brain surgeons or whatever. With a bit of practise and some guts anyone can convincingly say some lines.

    Aldo on
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Your point is taken, and I do agree; it's just that SAG tends to get cranky when someone minimizes the "ability" to act as something anyone can do.

    Rita at the receptionist desk might be able to do fine, but she might take awhile to get coached into the right inflection and cadence, and studio time just isn't cheap.

    Dracomicron on
  • Professor PhobosProfessor Phobos Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Man I would kill for a nWoD version of Bloodlines without all the bugs and, you know, executed better. And Baldur's Gate 3? As a faithful modern adaption? Hells yes.

    There's nowhere left for the Baldur's Gate story to go, surely?

    Descendants of the main character- Aerie's/Viconia's/Jaheira's/Main Character if Female's kid, basically, has been floated.

    Professor Phobos on
  • BurnageBurnage Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Xagarath wrote: »
    Man I would kill for a nWoD version of Bloodlines without all the bugs and, you know, executed better. And Baldur's Gate 3? As a faithful modern adaption? Hells yes.

    There's nowhere left for the Baldur's Gate story to go, surely?

    Descendants of the main character- Aerie's/Viconia's/Jaheira's/Main Character if Female's kid, basically, has been floated.

    Much as that sounds fantastic, I'm not certain how well it'd work story-wise. There are just too many branching pathways in BG2 to keep everyone happy.

    But hey, now that the topic's been brought up, who do we reckon the canonical partner was? :P

    Burnage on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    But hey, now that the topic's been brought up, who do we reckon the canonical partner was?
    All of them. :winky:

    Couscous on
  • BurnageBurnage Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    titmouse wrote: »
    But hey, now that the topic's been brought up, who do we reckon the canonical partner was?
    All of them. :winky:

    In a four-way relationship, Aerie was everyone's bitch

    Burnage on
  • ShadowenShadowen Snores in the morning LoserdomRegistered User regular
    edited January 2008
    titmouse wrote: »
    But hey, now that the topic's been brought up, who do we reckon the canonical partner was?
    All of them. :winky:

    There was actually a mod that let all three happen, even if you did something that would normally break the relationship. The creator's suggestion was, "Bring some viagra."

    I always wanted to see a more extensive version of the mod that would change dialogue and so on and allow you to get all three in a happy polyamorous relationship at the end. Stat requirements would be pretty steep, but it would be doable.

    Anyway, considering the work that went into giving Jaheira's romance little moments and even a dialogue sequence unnecessary to the romance, as well as linking her romance into a fairly important subplot of the game (the Harpers), and that the novels featured it, it would seem that hers is canonical.
    Descendants of the main character- Aerie's/Viconia's/Jaheira's/Main Character if Female's kid, basically, has been floated.

    And since the character would, in the case of a male protagonist, have at least some elfin blood, as well as some possible lingering effects from being a god's grandchild, it would be perfectly plausible for him to just be reaching his or her prime in time for the "100 years later" thing be done in the Forgotten Realms for 4th Edition...

    Shadowen on
  • DisruptorX2DisruptorX2 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Obsidian essentially is Black Isle though. Not all the employees made the jump, but the more important ones imo did.

    Except that the worst Black Isle title, IWD 1, was still better than anything Obsidian has given us.

    They can't get by on their credentials, they need to show us the money.

    DisruptorX2 on
    1208768734831.jpg
  • DivebommahDivebommah Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Wasn't the writer for the BG series working on a NWN2 mod that was essentially BG3? Or something to that effect?

    I get that the story is over -- I do. But I'd love to see another game anyway. Also, a quite pissed that the Bhaalspawn fiasco basically never made a dent in the Faerun book series. It doesn't appear to be part of canon, just some random offshoot miniseries. Meh.

    Divebommah on
  • themocawthemocaw Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Burnage wrote: »
    titmouse wrote: »
    But hey, now that the topic's been brought up, who do we reckon the canonical partner was?
    All of them. :winky:

    In a four-way relationship, Aerie was everyone's bitch

    Why only four? Who's to say that Anomen the Lawful Good Cleric didn't also join in the giant Bhaalspawn Sandwich? Who's to say that the Bhaalspawn didn't go around with one hand tied behind his back? :winky:

    themocaw on
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Obsidian essentially is Black Isle though. Not all the employees made the jump, but the more important ones imo did.

    Except that the worst Black Isle title, IWD 1, was still better than anything Obsidian has given us.

    They can't get by on their credentials, they need to show us the money.

    Er, KotOR II was wonderful, except for the ending... and that wasn't their fault in any way, shape, or form.

    I read that Let's Play KotOR II where they restored all the cut content, and... jesus, that was good stuff.

    Dracomicron on
  • DisruptorX2DisruptorX2 Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Divebommah wrote: »
    Wasn't the writer for the BG series working on a NWN2 mod that was essentially BG3? Or something to that effect?

    I get that the story is over -- I do. But I'd love to see another game anyway. Also, a quite pissed that the Bhaalspawn fiasco basically never made a dent in the Faerun book series. It doesn't appear to be part of canon, just some random offshoot miniseries. Meh.

    FR "canon" is just Greenwood's masterbatory self insertion fantasies and Drizzt, as far as I can see.

    BG 2 is good despite being FR. Just like Kotor is good despite being Star Wars.

    DisruptorX2 on
    1208768734831.jpg
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    I'm wondering about one thing: I yelled at Aerie after she got tired and made some remarks about Jaheira's dead husband that would even make Korgan go "now now there..", so she ran off blaming everything on me or something. (I didn't pay attention, we were at my castle and Jaheira was obviously in need of my soft shoulder)

    What happened to her? I couldn't find her in the circus, but her 'uncle' didn't seem worried. I kinda suspect she jumped off a cliff or something, but nothing hints at this.

    Aldo on
  • BurnageBurnage Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    I kinda suspect she jumped off a cliff or something, but nothing hints at this.
    You don't call her completely disappearing a hint?

    Burnage on
  • thejazzmanthejazzman Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    As far as the Obsidian thing goes, when i played KotOR 2 my mind was kinda like this as the game progressed:

    Cautiously optimistic..enjoying self..man this is very good...this is better than KotOR 1..christ I fucking love this god damned game...this is the best 80% of an RPG in a long time!....What's going on?..why are things all non-sensical and buggy...It's over?

    So basically I still love obsidian but I'm angry that they weren't allowed to finish their game properly because it would have been amazing.

    Right here's what I actually wanted to say:

    I play BG2 with my buddy at my house. We are either running off a router or a hub, and I host the game using TCP/IP connection with a local IP like 192.168.0.3

    Now he's far away we need to continue in a different way. He did not sucessfully connect to my general IP of 87.113.77.12 I'm wondering if I need to direct him to my specific port on the hub/router or if BG will jsut look on my whole network for games.

    Have any of you done long distance BG2 multiplayer? How do I get this shit working?

    Ty people

    thejazzman on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Burnage wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    I kinda suspect she jumped off a cliff or something, but nothing hints at this.
    You don't call her completely disappearing a hint?
    No body? She's a first class attention whore, there must be a body. :(

    Aldo on
  • BurnageBurnage Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo wrote: »
    Burnage wrote: »
    Aldo wrote: »
    I kinda suspect she jumped off a cliff or something, but nothing hints at this.
    You don't call her completely disappearing a hint?
    No body? She's a first class attention whore, there must be a body. :(
    Just pretend she got eaten by bears or something.

    Burnage on
  • DivebommahDivebommah Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Aldo,
    Maybe it is a scripted event, and she'll eventually come back? If you've played the game before, look for a spoiler on GameFAQs to see all the events relating to that character. For my part, I don't ever remember her disappearing at any time.

    Divebommah on
  • AldoAldo Hippo Hooray Registered User regular
    edited January 2008
    Divebommah wrote: »
    Aldo,
    Maybe it is a scripted event, and she'll eventually come back? If you've played the game before, look for a spoiler on GameFAQs to see all the events relating to that character. For my part, I don't ever remember her disappearing at any time.
    That's probably because you didn't yell at her and told her to shut her ugly mouth. :P
    Bears..sounds like an appropriate way for her to go down and out.

    Aldo on
Sign In or Register to comment.