This is going to be a long post, cause I'll try to quote everyone and add my thoughts. If you have ADD, just skip to the parts that you recognize as yours.
I loved Baldur's Gate 2 on so many levels, one of the things I liked best was the character development and the whole storyline.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I had all three girls in my party at the same time for most of the game (Jahera, Airee, and Viconia) just to hear them fight over me!! I also thought the love interest things added a great touch, and really touched emotions in me that no computer game had in the past or since. Sure, it was a little corny, but the lines were delivered with such sincerity that you could overlook that. The personal touches that the dialog brought to the game really added to the overall immersion factor. I think you're probably right, it HAD to be a professional author/playwriter behind the scenes.
LordSteev - I 100% agree
Perhaps you'd like to join my Fan Club?
No dues, you just have to write "Im a supporter of the "Unleash the Fredster!!" Fan Club in your sig.
While I can't think of any way that the Baldur's Gate story could be reopened in any plausible way, it is still kinda sad to think that in all likelihood, Bioware will never again produce an RPG of such quality and scope.
Amen, Creston.
I can't think of any role playing game that has spent as much time on story and content, along with great game play, than BG2. I too have high hopes for KoTOR, but the fact that it's a cross-platform release for consoles scares me somewhat. Say what you will about consoles, most console gamers aren't as mature as PC gamers, and content gets dumbed down for them. I have a PS2, and bought Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance for it because it had the name Baldurs Gate in it. It was almost a third person hack'n'slash with jumping puzzles. Built on a rail. Even so, I STILL have high hopes for KoTOR, because at least it's coming to PC and it's from a very talented group of individuals. Keeping my fingers tightly crossed.
LordSteev, awesome post, I totally agree with you. I hated NWN for the same reasons.
Thank you!
Please see Fan Club Information above.
Yep, neverwinter nights (no caps for crap) had so many flaws, at least to me, that it couldn't hold a candle to BG. Not just the engine, but even the story was only average, and some of the reasons for doing the side quests were just plain stupid. And the voice acting!! That Paladin chick Arabella or whatever her name was, god, every time I heard her go of in her imperialistic tone, I just wanted to bludgen her with a cudgel, lol..
On that note i completed BG2, but only by cheating. I dont know wether it was me but it seemed every time i entered a battle (And im not kidding here) i would get hit by a confusion spell or some sort and then have to reload and specifically targets those that i know would be casting the spells and even then it was 50/50.
Yea, the confusion spells were VERY annoying, especially early in the game when your saves weren't high yet and your clerics didn't have the right spells to counter. A few things to make it more bearable: If your characters have high wisdom scores, they have a better chance to resist mind spells. I found that I had to play with both Airee and Viconia in my party, just to have enough "clear thought" spells to cast on my fighters before sending them in against mages. Dispell Magic works wonders, too. One place that was super frustrating early in the game was at some little runt house you had to clear out in the docks area. You go in the house, it's a small room, and the two mages would start casting confusion right away. Archers work great against spellcasters, and so did Jahera's Insect Swarm, but that took a long time to get with her.
That's why I was pretty stoked to see the new Greyhawk game that Troika is developing. Really looking forward to that one.
Hahaha, the Temple of Elemental Evil! Just gotta love that name! I've got high hopes for this one, too. Troika has never put out crap. I'm looking forward to the turn-based play, too, esp. since they say that all the monsters will take their turns at the same time to speed it up some. I like turn based games, too, but for some reason, I really liked the way Baldurs Gate handled things. Heck, I hit the space bar so often in those later, hairy battles, that it might as well have been turn based!
ToEE is the highest RPG currently on my looking forward to list, followed by Lionheart and KoTOR. Not to mention Vampire-Bloodlines, but that one is going to take a lot longer than the ones mentioned. And if you count Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 as roleplaying games, well, hehe, good time to be a gamer!
It saddened me when I heard BG3 would not be developed. I did not play NWN or IWD, my loyalitites to the BG series are that strong. No, I will not play a BG game on a console either. I love BG/BG2, I can only hope beyond hope a BG3 will come.
It saddened me, too.
I don't think your missing anything by skipping NWN, but that's just my opinion. As far as Icewind Dale, it's like a poor man's Baldur's Gate. Not anywhere near as much or as good of a story, but the same game engine, and even more enemies. Very challenging. One thing I'll say, is that while the Baldur's Gate series just kept getting better and better, the Icewind Dale series did the opposite. IceWind Dale 1 was actually a very fun game. It's expansion pack was short and not quite up to the quality of the original. IWD 2, while offering some unique character classes, didn't really captivate me at all compared to the first one.
Whew, ok, I'm done!
EDIT: Whoops! Guess not!
On a different note, I have to agree with all the NWN vs. BG comparisons. I found the NWN campaign (even when played co-op with my wife) tremendously dull. I've played some decent user mods, but the engine itself drives me crazy, from the sameness resulting from a tileset driven schema to the obnoxious henchman code. NWN felt very much like BG-lite.
I agree, the engine is WAY too clunky, and the haphazard and boring 3d environments dont help, but hurt the overall experience. I wanted to kill my henchman. Slowly. The only thing I would contest is that by calling it BG lite, you do a disservice to Baldur's Gate! ;)
O.K. Carpel Tunnel syndrome, here I come!
This comment was edited on Jun 10, 03:32.
-LordSteev
Supporter of the "Unleash the Fredster!!" Fan Club