Which Playable NPC from the BG series would you like to see in BG3??

[RBitG]

Originally Posted by Celacena

it would be much more challenging for the PC to start out - not as a child of bhaal but as something less exotic and nothing like as powerful. back to the point where a couple of orcs were quite frightening and an ogre was something you ran from rather than summoned as decoy/cannon fodder.

Agreed, although it is fun to play a demi-god, and be slaying Dragons for breakfast, there is a real old fashioned 'RP' feel to being a level two mage with 6 hitpoints, fleeing from a band of poorly equppied goblins. BGIII (or BG's sequel) should absolutely start of from a low level again.

[Celacena]

Originally Posted by RBitG

there is a real old fashioned 'RP' feel to being a level two mage with 6 hitpoints, fleeing from a band of poorly equppied goblins. BGIII (or BG's sequel) should absolutely start of from a low level again.

heck - back to the pnp days and 2 HP MU - if somebody broke wind near a candle, you had a chance of ending the game as toast.

the early encounters need to be very carefully balanced and in pnp, DMs would find ways to avoid killing off the players - they wanted you to suffer, but not die. I think that early quest need to either be on the coat-tails of somebody more powerful, like as a squire, or non-combat. as most weapons do more damage in one hit than the entire HP of a character, some way to balance play needs to be found.

it is worth looking to history: men-at-arms in real life would go through quite a few encounters and gain experience from them without necessarily killing or being in direct danger themselves. sometimes they were just a mobile hedge to impede cavalry manoevres, yet they would, in RPG terms be gaining xp.
a soldier who had been present on the battlefield would learn about coping with fear, even if he did not get to deliver any blows. even a veteran might have killed almost nobody except men fallen with wounds - for example at Agincourt, I recall that the men-at-arms killed more than anybody else by slaughtering the fallen. (they also reputedly did it half naked as many suffered severe diarrhoea, so they gave up on trying to keep their privates covered) Even surviving a barrage is also worthy of some xp.
translated into RPG terms, low-level characters can earn enough xp to become veterans without necessarily acquiring skill at arms and without being at particular risk. simply surviving a battle when you know that there is the possibility of risk even if not actualised, should gain xp. things like that can be used to allow a character to start weak without endangering a game's playability.

the choice is between a patient build up or not starting at 0 xp. i'd rather start at 0.

[RBitG]

But, the question is, can BG III effectively replicate this? Will they give the characters all the experience for every soldiers kill? Will that cut down on realism? I love the idea, but can they do it? Will there be a real feel of a classic PnP adventure?

[Celacena]

younger gamers who did not have the circle of friends to get together a bunch of people for a day's fun and games, may not easily adapt from fast-paced shootemups to proper RPG. when you spent a day gaming, it was not all about the game, it was a social event around a game and it was not the DMs role to cut short the entertainment by having unbalanced game-play or killing off characters too early. the interaction was a lot of it - sometimes playing roles that could annoy your friends. I remember a friend playing an elf, threatening to let my lvl9 dwarven warrior die. in real life, we were good friends, but in character, he would have been justified had he done so.

Perhaps there is hope for RPG

look at LotR - the film version - and take the role of the hobbits in that - they are present at battles, they even fight, but they are not uber-warriors like Legolas, Gimli or Aragorn. they are the little people - representing regular home-loving folk who may like some adventure, but go to war with a heavy heart and don't want to lose their friends. if people can identify with hobbits and how they grow through the story, then they can take role-playing that doesn't start with killing 50 goblins with a butter-knife.

[I heard that LotR may have been conceived as Tolkein's reaction to WWI and my view of the hobbits certainly fit in with that idea.]

[RBitG]

Originally Posted by Celacena

Perhaps there is hope for RPG

Of this i am not so sure, as countless people have commented, RPGs of late have been mostly based on combat, and the game interface. We no longer see the good old DnD adventure where you really get into your character. I'm not saying BG lacks these things, but that i hope that (Whoever makes them, Obsidion?) will think first about the gamer, and second about all the lovely money.

Edit: Sorry about the off-topicness, but i've already given my opinion on the thread title.

[Crenshinibon]

I'd like to see Jan, his stories are hilarious.

Whatever happened to Eifol(sp) by the way? He was one of my favorite characters.

Although it doesn't look like there will be a BGIII, I heard a long time ago that it would be unrelated to the previous games.

[Berethor]

i just realized something. Certain NPC's died in their adventures after the Bhall saga. This includes:

Edwin-died in a battle with Elminster of Shadowdale himself.
Minsc-Died while adventuring
Viconia(if romanced in BG2)-Got poisoned and died
Keldorn-Died after a battle with giants in athkatla

there may be more but at least those NPC's with the possible exeption of Viconia won't be in BG3 if there EVER is one. Maybe they will bring Branwen back.

[VonDondu]

Originally Posted by Berethor

Edwin-died in a battle with Elminster of Shadowdale himself.

I'm sorry, but you might have misunderstood the Epilogue. While it is technically true that Edwin's existence was ended by Elminster, Edwin did not die; Elminster turned Edwin into the woman, Edwina. She tends bar in a Waterdeep tavern, and she is a bitter, bitter woman. Remember the Nether Scroll?

By the way, most of the NPCs from BG1 who appeared in BG2 met horrible fates: Khalid, Dynaheir, Montaron, Xzar, Coran, Safana, Tiax, Faldorn, and Ajantis were killed, and Garrick was completely humiliated. Excluding the five NPCs who can join you (Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Edwin, and Viconia), only Quayle escaped unscathed. (Xan, Branwen, Kagain, Shar-Teel, Alora, Kivan, Yeslick, Eldoth, and Skie did not appear in BG2.) Being a joinable NPC seems to result in really bad luck.

[RBitG]

Nalia, what about Nalia? Nobody ever mentions her and she does so much to try and help you 'less fortunate' people! I think she may be my favourite character, i definately want her back in the next one, maybe helping the poor little protagonist to get started with a sincere gift of a few gp, how about it? You know you want her back.

[Berethor]

Originally Posted by VonDondu

I'm sorry, but you might have misunderstood the Epilogue. While it is technically true that Edwin's existence was ended by Elminster, Edwin did not die; Elminster turned Edwin into the woman, Edwina. She tends bar in a Waterdeep tavern, and she is a bitter, bitter woman. Remember the Nether Scroll? .

Actually, I never did the Edwin quest . I heard that he gets turned into Edwina, and when a guy comes to cure him, he thanks him by killing 'em. I thought that Edwina was a real person, and that Edwin died. O well.

[Invincible121]

Originally Posted by RBitG

Nalia, what about Nalia? Nobody ever mentions her and she does so much to try and help you 'less fortunate' people! I think she may be my favourite character, i definately want her back in the next one, maybe helping the poor little protagonist to get started with a sincere gift of a few gp, how about it? You know you want her back.

I'm sure I said I wanted her back ages ago, back when the thread was newer. I think you and I are the only ones in the whole forum who like her :P.

[RBitG]

Well, it seems that several people want Nalia back, she was a woefully underdeveloped character in BG II but had the potential for a great story, i'm certainly hoping for her to return in the next one. (If there is one)

[Luis Antonio]

I'd rather have Jan Jansen back. Nalia is coolio - aye - but she does need better voice acting and story next time. She had a whole stronghold of her own back then and she wasnt even a deeply written character IMO!

Anoweenie would be nice to see, specially if he would curse his past as a loser

[RBitG]

Originally Posted by Luis Antonio

Anoweenie would be nice to see, specially if he would curse his past as a loser

I hope he dies.

[Luis Antonio]

Originally Posted by RBitG

I hope he dies.

Why? Has he refused to date your neutral dwarfish berserker girl named Claire?

Anoweenie was one of SoA powerhouses. He deserves to be there in the future, and being Anoweenie as he is, he'd be successfull in surviving and bossing people around. Therefore, a questgiver.