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Some direct links to sections and html references will not work if followed from the news below (they were either deleted, renamed or moved). The majority of URLs should still work without problems.
NEW ADDITIONS: 1.) Baldur's Gate Adventurer's Companion Guide v1.01 (now with spelling errors fixed), 2.) Baldur's Gate II FAQ, 3.) Icewind Dale FAQ
Yet another remake of the good ol' site! Ok, maybe not that old. In fact, the site's been around for only a little more than 3 months. I dare say quite a lot has changed since then. Numerous additions, site changes etc. The Baldur's Gate section is more or less complete and now features a plethora of goodies, everything from maps, cap removers to solutions, tips, guides...you name it. A big ×thank you× to all of the people who've sent me e-mail with commendations. As always, if you have any questions regarding Baldur's Gate (I or II), do not hesitate to mail me.
And yet, I still manage to find stuff to add. The newest addition to Baldur's Gate section is the Adventurer's Companion Guide. This guide is intended for players who want to experience the game to its fullest and learn more about the Forgotten Realms as they play. Remember all those books you find in the game? If you're like me, you probably read most of them. But the in-game format is not really handy for long term reading and you must have the game running all the time if you want to read them. But wait, there's a solution. The Companion Guide contains the text from ALL of the books that can be found in the game, all neatly sorted into one Word document. (Tip: Print the whole document, it makes an excellent bedtime reading ;). Download it at Baldur's Gate section. As for the new FAQ, well, I kinda noticed the previous one was a bit too limited. So I separated the press release and the FAQ so you can read them one at a time (mind you, the FAQ is HUGE :). Head to Baldur's Gate 2 section to read them.
I was getting a lot of requests from people who wanted me to add their banner to my site so I decided to make a Fan Links section (it will appear in the Related Links section). So if you think you have a site worth seeing, e-mail me and I'll check your site out and if I think it's suitable, I'll add your banner. Some rules apply though: 1.) Your site must be in English (use a spelling & grammar checker if you are having trouble with it), 2.) There should be NO broken links on the site, 3.) Banners shouldn't be bigger than 450×100, 4.) Adding banners goes two ways. I add yours, you add mine. Well, this is more or less it. If I think of anything else, I'll post it here.
New additions: Gawd...almost too many to list! I took my time and put together a lot of stuff that's been patiently waiting on my "to do" list for some time now. First, there's the Forgotten Realms History section. It contains a wealth of background information that will help people who aren't very familiar with the whole FR setting to understand it a little better (if this is all new to you, I recommend you start with the History of the Sisters of Light and Darkness).
The second big addition is the Planescape: Torment section. Same as with the Baldur's Gate section, I'll bring you the best stuff from the net I can find. For starters, check out the glossary and tips for playing Torment. The Gallery contains some very cool art too...with more to follow.
Just a small update today...I have a new Winamp skin in the Baldur's Gate section...very cool. There's also a new poll as you can see ;).
New additions: A new tip in Hints for playing Torment txt, a new version of Planescape: Torment Character Control (v1.1.2) and 2 new guides/walkthroughs for Planescape: Torment. Get them from the PS: Torment section. I added two new sections on this page. They appear as links at the bottom of the Last week's poll results. The new sections are Old News and Old Poll Results. Check em out and see what you've missed if you haven't been around for some time.
New additions: A new walkthrough for Torment by GameSpot and TormentHack v1.0, which can edit savegames to modify your stats, items etc. It's very small in size and not as user-friendly as Character Control, but well worth the download. Now, for all of you who still play Baldur's Gate, this is a thing you won't want to miss. Banelord sent me a collection of chars (Sarevok, Elminster, Gorion etc.) that you can play with. They have some impressive new spells and items. Download from the appropriate section.
New additions: History of the Nameless One in PS: Torment section and a custom made bookmark icon! Sorcerer's Place will be much easier to find among your bookmarks now ;). In order for it to work, you must delete your old bookmark and bookmark my site anew. It should appear if you bookmark any of the main pages, that is the one you are reading now, or BG and Torment section. Of course, you need the latest browser in order for this to work...
New additions: Planescape FAQ (put together from the info available at the official site), PS: Torment Problems & Solutions (again, put together by yours truly) AND a download link to the official patch! Rush to the PS: Torment section :). Last but not least is the return of the EFnet Channels section. Well, it's up again and this time, all of the information in there is correct and up to date. Oh yeah...there's a new version of the Official #BaldursGate History too (v1.4 already). I think I might be nearing the final version soon hehe. So, go look, read all about it and then join us at #BaldursGate on EFnet. Cya there!
New additions: Nothing today (now that's a first ;). There is a new poll though. And the first one about Torment too! I hope you'll vote at least as much as you did last week, when the voting stopped at 128 votes (highest yet). What can I say, keep it up :). You can see the final results below in the Old Poll Results section.
*WANTED* Torment walkthrus! If you made one yourself or know of someone who might want to contribute it, e-mail me! You will get full credit for it (not to mention publicity). Same goes for ANYTHING related to Torment, whether it be an NPC list with descriptions...whatever. I just don't have the time to do everything so a little help would be appreciated.
New additions: A new version of TormentHack (now v1.12) and a game data browser called Infinity Explorer (current version is 0.2). Check 'em out.
New additions: Descriptions & stats for all the special abilities of (N)PCs in Planescape: Torment and an updated Icewind Dale FAQ. The first was taken straight from the boards and incorporated into a new page. The Icewind Dale FAQ was updated with the new info that was posted on the official site. It got a lot bigger since you last checked so now might be the time to read it again ;). Most of the new stuff in the FAQ was added below the question about the release date.
New additions: An updated version of TormentHack (v1.14) and two more creature characters for Baldur's Gate (a vampiric wolf and winter wolf rangers). They were added to the collection that already existed in the Baldur's Gate section on my site, so just download it from there.
New additions: As you can see, I removed the buttons...I hope you like the new menu. If you drag your mouse over a section some useful info will pop up now ;). I also added a table with all of the NPCs that can join you in Baldur's Gate, complete with their stats and locations. Another update is the Infinity Explorer (now v0.35). Download it from the Planescape: Torment section.
New additions: A pack of powerful *dragon* characters for Baldur's Gate (TOSC needed). You get three of them in one pack, a Gold, Bronze and a Silver dragon. Thanks for those go to my faithful contributor, Banelord! There's something new in the Planescape: Torment section as well...a collection of quotes from the game, put together by fLiNk and me. The list is not complete by far and if you have a quote you'd like to see there, send it to me and you'll get the credit for it. This is a minor update though, I intend to put up a lot of stuff about Torment (and NWN) very soon, so stay tuned. Sigh...as you might have noticed the new poll didn't fare well...almost no one voted so I decided to switch back again (I guess the question was just too specific). So here you have another poll, and make up for the lost votes in this one ;).
New additions: Another *massive* update (whew, it took some time to get all this done ;). Ok, let's start. First, there's a very good new Planescape: Torment walkthrough entitled The Definitive (?) Planescape: Torment Walkthrough. It was checked and updated by yours truly so you can be sure it's worth downloading. Next is the excellent Planescape: Torment FAQ/Walkthrough that contains (almost) everything you ever wanted to know about PS: T. Now about factions...you might have noticed the gallery I had in the Torment section. It didn't contain much except some very cool pics of the faction leaders before, but here's the good news. I made an entire new section called Sorcerer's Guide to All Things Factional (pun intended ;) where you'll find detailed descriptions of all factions, pictures of their factols/representatives and information how to join them in the game. All of the above is available from the Planescape: Torment section of course. There have also been a couple of new banner submissions to the Related Links section so check that out too!
New additions: A new page with some nice features in the EFnet Channels section. It's called Top talkers and shows who chats the most in our main channel. You're all invited to join us. There has been a minor update to the Hints & Tricks page in the Baldur's Gate section among other things.
New additions: An interesting story dealing with Lord Soth. Yes, I know it isn't FR, but still. I think it's worth reading because it's very well written. Since I don't have a separate section for Dragonlance I put it at the bottom of the Forgotten Realms History page. Enjoy!
New additions: In celebration of St. Patrick's Day and an excuse to thank all of us for buying and playing Torment, the Torment team made a cool modified Annah character you can put into your game. Instructions for install are included with the file. As always, get it from the Planescape: Torment section. I also found a site worth visiting if you want to download some Baldur's Gate & Torment music. It probably won't take long for it to be removed due to copyright violation, but still ;). Click here to go there (you can extract music from both games with Acm2wav tool available from my Baldur's Gate section too yourself, should that link fail).
Whoa... I can hardly believe it but it's finally done. You're looking at the entirely new/redesigned/updated/upgraded Sorcerer's Place (now with it's own domain name too! ;). You wouldn't believe it if I told you how long and how much work it took to convert everything, add new backgrounds, change colors, add stuff... the list goes on for a mile. I won't even try to list everything new, so you'll just have to see and experience it for yourself. A new section I will mention though is the Fantasy Books section. This section is very special to me, since the books I listed there are all my personal favorites and I can guarantee you'll like them (or at least you should! ;). So whenever you feel like buying some good fantasy come here, more books will be added constantly. Another new addition is the Guestbook. Use it to tell me what you think of the site, if you're missing anything, what you liked/didn't like... Whatever you can think of. Well that about does it. As I said, look around, see what's new and enjoy!
New additions: A very good Planescape: Torment skin (best one I've seen yet) in the Planescape: Torment section and eleven new books in the Fantasy Books section. Five are about Drizzt & co. (continuation of the Icewind Dale trilogy), one is a sequel to the Daughter of the Drow (Tangled Webs), three were added to the Elfshadow novel so that now the whole series is up and another two that aren't part of any series.
Among other things is a change concerning the poll; I've decided to let each one run for two weeks now. There are two reasons for this. One is the fact that since cheating on the poll has been more or less eliminated it gets a lot less votes now (I could set the poll to pop up and get more votes that way but since people don't like them I won't) and the second is the problem with getting new (read good) ideas for questions to ask. Some folks from our channel have been helpful enough to provide me with good questions in the past but it's really hard to find something I haven't used yet. So again, I urge anybody that has a good idea for a poll question to let me know (either in the guestbook, on IRC or by e-mail).
New additions: A mailing list! Now you can get the news concerning the site delivered straight to your mailbox. From now on all news that will be posted here will also be sent out to all who subscribed to the mailing list below (it's easy, you just need to type in your e-mail). Updates are plenty so be sure to sign up. That way you'll be the first to know when I come up with something new ;).
New additions: Well, I wouldn't really call it a new addition since the poll has been a kind of a trademark of this site for quite a while but still... I decided to revert back to weekly poll (instead of biweekly). It seems that over a period of one week just about everybody sees and votes in the poll so it doesn't make much sense to leave the same on run any longer. This week's poll is a multiple-choices one again and is also set to pop up when the site is loaded so's that no one can miss it ;). Well that about does if for the site part, since there hasn't really been anything new to add. Still, I did find some things that you might not have seen before and I think you'd want to check out.
GameSpot has had some very interesting articles as a part of their "Dungeons & Dragons" week so in case you missed out on that, click on the links to see the previews of Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II and Neverwinter Nights. If you're a Tolkien fan too (and you should be) then you must take a look at the Lord of the Rings movie trailer too.
New additions: Something I'm sure you'll all like. I have retouched the Icewind Dale section and added two* chat logs from our EFnet Channel #icewinddale. We talked with Black Isle's own Scott Warner, a designer hard at work on Icewind Dale. The topics we covered were Icewind Dale (of course), Planescape: Torment and a lot of other things that came to our minds at that moment. Read all about it in the Icewind Dale section.
I just added another short chat log with Scott. The reason it's so short is because he had a meeting to attend and couldn't stay around and chat for long. He did say he'll try to come back after the meeting though, so I'll ask him what the meeting was all about later. Another thing you might've noticed is a change of backgrounds (about time eh?). Ah yes...in the spirit of anticipation of Baldur's Gate II you could say ;)
New additions: Where should I start? If you visit Sorcerer's Place regularly (and you should!) you will probably notice quite a lot of new additions, but let's start at the beginning. A new addition to the Planescape: Torment section is the Story of Torment by Rhys Hess (who also wrote the excellent History of Nameless One), a recommended reading for all berks out there™. And since it's Easter (Happy Easter everyone!), the Torment Team cooked up another nice surprise for us. Remember Leprechaun Annah? Well now we also have Easter Egg Morte! Download the egghead for the game and the Basket-o-Morte wallpaper now!
Moving on to the Icewind Dale section, we have a brand new (well almost) chat log with Scott Warner up and a FAQ with corrections to reflect the fact that the 1st quarter of the year is gone and there is still no Icewind Dale so I set the release date to the end of June (it will hopefully be released by then).
Already at the Baldur's Gate II section... I finally made it a real section with more than the FAQ (which has also been updated here and there) and the press release. Now you can download and read the chat logs with the BioWare dev team (although reading the FAQ is probably a preferred choice since the chat sucked at any rate). And no, we still didn't get the official Aye, thar be Dragons in Baldur's Gate II (even though we all KNOW that they will be in ;).
Probably the greatest work I'm currently working on (or time consuming if you will) is the Sorcerer's Guide to Kits. The main page with class/kit descriptions is finished and the bard kits are done too, so check it out. I will be adding all of the kits listed there and also descriptions of specialized wizards very soon (i.e. check back every few hours).
As far as the other parts of the site are concerned there have also been quite a lot of changes. Some new links have been added to the Related Links section and the fan sites have been separated from the official ones for easier navigation. I have finally gotten rid of the last legacy part of my old site, that is the Various Links. No, it hasn't been removed, more like remade. All the links that are there now have been verified, a lot of them were removed and many new ones added.
Well this about covers it (the biggest update ever huh?). I've also decided to let this page become a bit bigger and won't be moving the news to the Old News section every other day (although they will end up there eventually). Comments are, as always, welcome.
New additions: Some new links were added to the Related Links section and more kits to the Sorcerer's Guide to Kits (Bard, Cleric and Druid are finished now). More will be added every day until it's complete, of course.
Among other news (if not exactly additions) are the Top Ten Baldur's Gate and Top Ten Planescape: Torment buttons (thanks for reminding me, Kamil). If you like the site and find it a useful resource then please vote for Sorcerer's Place. Since I've only put them up today it'll be a tough fight against the sites that have been there for months, so we need all the votes we can get. Click at will please! ;)
New additions: Sorcerer's Guide to Kits is nearing completion. There are only six more kits to add and it should be finished by Saturday. Recently added to the guide were the Wizard Specialists. Those are not exactly kits, but since wizards won't be getting any special new kits a closer look at the schools of magic is in order, especially since they'll be implemented right in Baldur's Gate II (or so I hear).
Another neat addition is the Elminster Scripts page where I've listed all the scripts your favorite bot is currently running in #baldursgate and #IcewindDale on EFnet. Finally, all you chat regulars will be able to bring out it's full potential (for better or worse heh). Check it out in the IRC EFnet Channels section.
If you can't wait for Icewind Dale to ship (don't we all), check out this new preview at CGO! First one in ages that actually tells you something you haven't heard fifty times before.
*More additions: Brian Frappier informed me that he has made two savegame editors; one for Baldur's Gate and one for Planescape: Torment. Look for BGEdit and TormEdit in the appropriate sections of the site. Three new kits have also been added to the Sorcerer's Guide to Kits (Ranger kits this time), so we now have only three more to go. Related Links section got another makeover and a new site or two added.
**And even more additions: Damn, this has been an interesting day. I read these two articles and the first one (interview with Scott Warner, an Icewind Dale designer) was kinda refreshing, so I decided to put it here for you to check out. The second (a report on recent godly activity) was so funny that I decided I just HAVE to promote it a bit. Enjoy ;)
New additions: Sorcerer's Guide to Kits is finally complete. The latest addition are the thief kits and BioWare's notice that 3 new classes from 3rd edition D&D will also be included in Baldur's Gate II (Barbarian, Monk and Sorcerer). Check it out in Baldur's Gate II section.
Sirduck notified me that he completed the remake of Librarius Ex Balduran 2 which can now be accessed online at his site (the link is in the Baldur's Gate section).
PS Sorry about this week's poll. I had to use a replacement because the regular one's servers were down for a few hours and it turned out worse than I expected (the poll was down for like a day). Sigh. Hopefully, this is the first, last and only time this happened.
New additions: A new version of probably the best Baldur's Gate walkthrough out there, The Definitive Baldur's Gate Walkthrough, now version 3.0. That's about it as far as new downloads go (it's been a slow week really).
Now for some of the more interesting news regarding the eagerly awaited CRPGs. GA-RPG has some new Icewind Dale concept artwork and screenshots up on their site, which you should check out. Elfan at Ice Winds of Dale has interviewed David Ray, software engineer over at Black Isle Studios. They talked about what Mr. Ray's ordinary day looks like and about some programming issues. Incite has a new Baldur's Gate II mpg movie on their site. Download it, but I can't guarantee that you'll be able to see (or hear) much since it was very poorly recorded (and I downloaded the 15 MB version...).
New additions: Some downloads were added to the Baldur's Gate section. Now you can download all the patches for Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast directly from here. I've also added BioWare's Script Compiler, a tool you can use to create your own custom character scripts.
There were some interesting new developments regarding Baldur's Gate II this week. GameSpot has a short but interesting report on it along with 9 new screenshots (crappy small size but still) and a great new mpg movie (it puts the one on Incite to shame). It's also 15 MB in size but well worth the download. Another site worth checking out is the RPG Arena - they have about 10 new screenshots of Baldur's Gate II.
Not forgetting Icewind Dale, here's something for you to drool over. GA-RPG has 13 new screenshots and 5 new character portraits looking mighty fine. Diablo II, say aaargh!
Notice: I'm aware that all TeamBG utilities that are not stored on this site will not download. The problem is not on this end though, but in the fact that the official TeamBG site is down. As soon as it will be back up all of the files will be replaced with newer version and links fixed.
New additions: Aside from the new poll (and last week's poll results) not much. I rewrote the EFnet Channels section with some updated info that actually reflects the situation now that I've left #baldursgate (Official #BaldursGate history was also corrected). The new channel now is #sorcerers, and guess what? Yes, you're all invited. All the info on how to join the chats can be found here.
There's also a new E3 Icewind Dale mpg movie that I didn't list yesterday so check it out now if you haven't already. It's size is 12 MB (unzipped) and it's every bit as good as the one of Baldur's Gate II I posted yesterday. Drool some more I guess :).
New additions: A final (?) version of the Definitive Planescape: Torment Walkthrough. I've gone through it again for the last time and updated it in all places where needed and I can safely say that it is complete now. A small addition was made to the Baldur's Gate II section, a report from E3 on Baldur's Gate II. Note that those were both uploaded a few days ago but I didn't make a new entry here just for that (in case you were wondering).
I've been getting more mail lately telling me that the TeamBG linked files don't work... As I've said here before I'm aware of that but there's nothing I can do until their servers go back online (I was assured that it was just temporary but it's been over two weeks now). In the meantime I've marked in red all of the files on my site that aren't available right now, so that you'll know what doesn't work. But if you're desperate to get some of their tools check the temporary TeamBG site but note that a lot of the tools are still missing from there.
As I've been browsing through the CRPG news in the last few days I was very surprised to find out that there is STILL no major site covering Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (or Pool of Radiance 2 if you want). With the game scheduled to release this winter this is quite concerning. Some of you who have played the original Pool of Radiance more than 10 years ago still remember the title and know what it is (was) all about, so for you it'll suffice to say that a new pool of radiance has opened beneath Myth Drannor (no cliché at all here) and it's up to you, yes you to stop it. Oh by the way, guess who's doing the recruiting? Yes, it's the old meddling I-love-red-robes Elminster (again).
The game will be using 3rd Edition D&D rules which allow for many new options, including class blending. It will use lushly painted 2D textures as backgrounds but all objects, characters, enemies and structures will be 3D in nature. The look will be 3/4 isometric (like Diablo) and similar to Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. You will be able to control a party of up to 6. Setting is the ancient elven city of Myth Drannor, now an abandoned ruin with plenty of dungeons for you to explore.
In order to promote the game a bit I've listed a few links you should check out: The official PoR site, Daily Radar preview, Computer Games Online preview part 1, part 2 and an E3 Mattel report (Myst 3 and Pool of Radiance).
New additions: For starters, a simple character generation reference for Baldur's Gate by Corey Armstrong. TeamBG site seems to have settled at their new domain, so I've relinked all of the files that were listed as unavailable again so that they work now. New versions of all of their utilities were added (check out Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment sections for the new stuff). Last week's poll results are also available now.
Interesting links: Gamecenter posted a new Neverwinter Nights movie a few days ago. It's 14.2MB and well worth the download.
ZDTV (GamespotTV) has a short article along with a ton of movies from Baldur's Gate II up on their site (or so I read). I couldn't actually get any of those movies running no matter what I did. Ok, I'm lying. I DID see the 30 second commercial add, but unfortunately it didn't do anything for me (hehe). Give it a shot, maybe it'll work for you.
Last (but not least) is Icewind Dale. Daily Radar is having an "Icewind Dale Week". They'll be showing movies of the game, music previews and interviews with the BIS folks making the game. Don't miss that one.
TeamBG (yea, the guys who made all those BG/PS:T editors and the experience cap remover) are putting together an unofficial Baldur's Gate addon called "Dark Side of the Sword Coast" (how appropriate). It is an unauthorized add-on mission pack similar in nature to TotSC. Speaking of which, you are required to have TotSC already installed and fully patched prior to installing DSotSC. Currently DSotSC is in "closed beta" testing with an expected/hopeful release date of sometime next week.
You'll be able to get it from my site as soon as it will be released. Meanwhile check out the official Dark Side of the Sword Coast site. If you want to skip straight to some screenshots of it, check out Soldier Armories.
Site update: There's a new poll as you can see, and YES I know, I've done that one already (I'm beating myself over the head because I forgot as it is). But judging by the results now, the outcome won't be the same as it was the last time so it's not so bad. The results of the last week's favorite Planescape: Torment NPC poll are available here.
Interesting links: GA-RPG has an interesting interview with J.E. Sawyer about Icewind Dale. Hungry for more Icewind Dale previews? See what FiringSquad writes about it.
Moving on to Baldur's Gate II. FiringSquad (again) has a small preview of it. For a somewhat more extensive report on Baldur's Gate II check this E3 coverage at PCGame Review. Quote from that one: Some favorite characters return, such as Minsc, along with less popular characters, such as Imoen and Jaheira. Imoen a less popular character? Which reality are those guys living in?
Seems like no one is devoting much text to Neverwinter Nights so here you have a few more mpg movies. I haven't checked them out yet, so I couldn't say what they're like (no kidding). Download them anyway.
New additions: The Baldur's Gate section has been updated with Dark Side of the Sword Coast, an unofficial addon for the game, released by TeamBG. No direct links to TeamBG's tools are available anymore, due to the fact that their new host doesn't allow direct linking to files, so you'll have to rummage around their site and find what you need for yourself.
I've added a log from a chat RPG Vault had with the developers of Icewind Dale and I must say that this one is a lot more interesting than the one about Baldur's Gate II. There's also an Icewind Dale Winamp skin available for download.
Site changes: As the new poll indicates, there are going to be a lot of changes at Sorcerer's Place. The text you're reading right now should already be loading from the GA (Gamer's Alliance) servers, my new host (sorry about the poll change/site update delay, we had some slight complications ;). This week's poll will be a guideline for me as to what people would like to see here, and I'll do my best to provide all that.
In the poll I've listed some of the most commonly expressed wishes that were relayed to me via e-mail and the guestbook, but if you have anything else to add, please leave a comment after you vote in the poll (scroll to the bottom of the results window and use the form there).
Interesting links: There are some links you wouldn't want to miss here. Let's start with Icewind Dale - RPG Vault has posted an Icewind Dale Interview (it's a mile long, but quite interesting) and an Icewind Dale Preview (a bit shorter, with some new screenshots). CNET Gamecenter also had a sneak peek at Icewind Dale.
incite is offering exclusive Baldur's Gate II gameplay footage and producer interviews originally aired on the incite PC Gaming CD-ROM for download at their site. Don't let the incorrect mpeg size posted on their site fool you, though. That baby is 48.5 MB in size! (I hope I'll be able download it before the game is released :p).
Now for some info on the title that is getting far too little attention due to the Bioware/BIS CRPG mania (don't get me wrong, but I keep getting the feeling that everyone is ignoring the new Pool of Radiance and I don't see any valid reasons for that).
Anyway, check out 5 new PoR: Ruins of Myth Drannor screenshots at ZDnet Gamespot. To satisfy you curiosity, Wizards of the Coast have 3 interviews with the game developers. Things discussed: The Ruins of Myth Drannor: a 3rd Edition D&D game, Fighters and their feats and Animating monks.
New additions: A new chat log with the Baldur's Gate II development team has been added to the BGII section of the site, along with an updated Frequently Asked Questions page.
Site changes: I noticed (a bit late) that some of the pages displayed rather awkward in resolutions higher than 800×600. Hopefully I've found all of these and corrected the errors, but if there's still anything I missed please let me know. Some minor things (like double spacing on some pages) have also been fixed, as well as centered text alignment on this page. Thanks go to Tom for pointing those things out.
Interesting links: The never-ending movie saga continues. incite put another new Icewind Dale mpeg on their site for download. They also have two Neverwinter Nights movies (movie #1 and movie #2) there, to make it even more interesting. If you have a really fast connection or maybe enjoy modern-day torture techniques (i.e. dial-up) there's 300 MB of Neverwinter Nights movies over at Daily Radar (a 30 minute presentation chopped into 19 separate clips).
Site update: Last week's poll results (not to mention comments and witty remarks) are available here. Enjoy.
Interesting links: GA-RPG has a poll where you can vote for Icewind Dale. The question is: If you could only afford one of these games this summer, which would you buy? Vote for you-know-what here.
Check out some new Pool of Radiance screenshots at CNET Gamecenter and a PoR2 preview at Daily Radar.
Site additions: I'm happy to announce that I have completed the installation of the message boards and that they are now fully operational. They cover all of the games I have sections for here, plus the new Pool of Radiance (I hope the new design will be finished soon, so that I can make a new section for it).
The usage of the boards is very simple and shouldn't represent any problems. Once you register on them, you will receive a password in your e-mail and that's it. You're now ready to begin posting. All site comments, suggestions and such should be posted in the Whatnots forum.
So, if you have a question regarding any of the games, a comment you would like the world to read, a moral dilemma or anything else deemed even remotely interesting you would like to share with the rest of us, please don't hesitate to. I hope that this will help bring more interactivity to Sorcerer's Place and that you will find the Boards O' Magick useful and helpful (not to mention fun).
In case you are wondering, I will be moderating all of them (for the time being). The nick I will use there is Taluntain.
See you all at the Boards O' Magick!
Section additions: There's a new guide at the Icewind Dale section, written by a Icewind Dale designer John Deiley. It is a strategy guide describing the four basic classes (fighters, clerics, wizards and thieves) and how they should be used in the game, plus some typical strategy tips. Note that this guide could apply to any Bioware/BIS CRPG, not just Icewind Dale.
Interesting Links: GA-RPG has a preview of Icewind Dale up on their site, along with a couple of new screenshots. Won't be long now.
On the other hand, Neverwinter Nights still seems awfully far away, but news about it keep trickling in anyway. If you missed most of it or don't even know what Neverwinter Nights is, check out the Neverwinter Nights Intelligence Report at RPG Vault. They also included 6 screenshots with it.
These two links are only semi-related to CRPGs, but they were very fun to read and I'm sure you'll think so too. Check out GameSpot's TenSpot The Ten Best Female Characters (you will find Annah among them) and GameSpot's TenSpot The Ten Best Sidekicks (they didn't forget Morte).
Site update: You can read the last week's poll results here. Enjoy.
Interesting links: Better late than never, check out Voodoo Extreme's interview with Scott Greig from the Neverwinter Team. They discuss the engine powering their upcoming 3D accelerated role-playing game, Neverwinter Nights (no kidding).
Wizards of the Coast have a new Pool of Radiance interview available for your reading pleasure. This month Jonathan Kromrey (Producer) "rages" about the barbarian class and discusses the games presentation at the E3 show in May.
Section additions: After a long time I have found another walkthrough for Baldur's Gate. This one is rather short, because it describes the shortest way possible to finish the game. Added to the walkthrough is a list of some subquests you might want to check out. Look for it in the Baldur's Gate section.
The Icewind Dale section has two new additions. First is the log of the yesterday's chat sponsored by BGC with the Icewind Dale development team (Black Isle Studios). I edited the log and fixed some of the worst spelling I've seen in a long time, all for your convenience, of course ;). (Bad spelling being attributed to the Norwegians asking questions, no doubt).
Second addition is a short guide called "Icewind Dale Spell Strategy". As you might have guessed, it describes which spells are most useful for the three types of spellcasters (mages, clerics and druids). This first installment of the guide describes the spells your characters should use at low levels (1-3). Credit for this one goes to Josh Sawyer (BIS).
Interesting links: As a proof that crack does bad things to one's brain, here is an article from GameSpy. They're accusing Boo (you know Boo, Minsc's hamster) of some horrible things, global domination included. See Boo the threat to all humankind and decide for yourself (scroll to the bottom of the page).
Ok, now that we are past the comic relief for today you might as well check out this Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor reader interview with the producer Jon Kromrey. The catch is that here the IGN readers asked the interview questions themselves. But don't let that fact turn you off, because it is an excellent interview with well picked questions.
Last but not least is an editorial that caught my eye at Planet Neverwinter. It is entitled "Persistent Worlds doomed from the Start?" and it offers an interesting perspective on the ever-popular power gaming that we are experiencing in computer RPGs.
Icewind Dale Gone Gold! Black Isle Studios, the role-playing game division of Interplay Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: IPLY), announced today that their latest computer game venture, Icewind Dale(tm), A Baldur's Gate(tm) engine adventure has gone gold! In the spirit of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons(r) adventure Tomb of Horrors, Icewind Dale is a classic dungeon crawl. It incorporates the award-winning gameplay elements from Baldur's Gate, offering players a chance to hone their combat skills while exploring the enormous caverns and dungeons beneath the Forgotten Realms(r). Icewind Dale was developed in-house at Black Isle, and will be available at retail for Windows(r) 95/98-based computers soon.
Using the award-winning BioWare Infinity Engine(tm) developed by BioWare for Baldur's Gate, players create a party of adventurers in the frigid north to combat monstrous cyclopses and frost giants that dwarf the player characters as they search for an evil lying deep within the Spine of the World. Icewind Dale offers character advancements from levels one through 15 in the most recent adaptation of the AD&D(r) rules under license from Wizards of the Coast.
If all goes according to plan, you will be able to see Icewind Dale in stores by the end of this week.
Site problems: Fear not, for Sorcerer's Place is still here. There have been some problems with the servers today, so probably everyone who was trying to access the site in the last 24 hours had no luck. Hopefully, this won't turn into a weekly event (hehe).
Section update: You might have read the Icewind Dale FAQ before, but you should give it another shot. I updated it with all the new info yesterday, so that it now reflects the fact that the game is out of development (and into heavy bug fixing *sarcasm*).
If anyone is/will be working on an Icewind Dale walkthrough/whatever, contact me and I will make sure that your work will get plenty of exposure (and you all the credit, of course).
Section update: The Planescape: Torment section received an addition in the form of a new walkthrough entitled the Unofficial Guide to Planescape: Torment. It's a big chunk of text, so if you're into details, check it out. By the way, it's in the pdf format (I have no idea why would anyone want to put plain text in pdf) so make sure you have the Acrobat Reader before you download it. If anyone feels like converting it to txt, please let me know.
Poll Results: Last poll's cleverly annotated results are available in the usual place. (Here for all you neophytes).
BIG Section update: Woohoo! I finally converted Sylvus' Icewind Dale Solution to fit my pages here and I must say it's looking very impressive (forgive me some html errors I made while at it, it'll be fixed when the new site design is up).
As you have probably guessed by now, a good friend of mine (you might have noticed him helping on my Icewind Dale forum, he goes by the name of Sylvus Moonbow) made a kickass walkthrough for the hottest CRPG in town at the moment. The solutions for Prologue and Chapter 1 are already there, and additional chapters will be added regularly, so check back often!
You can jump directly to it here.
Announcement: I decided to post this reply to all who keep me busy with tons of e-mail, so here goes.
I am aware of the fact that the links to TeamBG's download pages do not work. Unfortunately, I've changed them more than three times already, but they kept changing them every couple of days or so. I hope they've finally settled down now. In the meanwhile you can get their tools (including the new Icewind Dale editor) here.
You might be wondering why I haven't fixed them here myself... Well the thing is, I'm currently in the process of converting this entire site's content to match the new look and feel that the new design will add. So I've decided not to update these pages here anymore, because hopefully in a day or two I'll have converted at least the stuff that is available here now (to add all the extra new content you'll have to wait a bit longer. ;)
In short: if you liked Sorcerer's Place as it is now, you're going to love the new look and feel (thanks for all the kind words and support to everyone whom it concerns, you are the best and I wouldn't have made it this far without you).
Tomorrow's new poll will only be temporary too, because after I'll get the new layout online, I'll change the poll code too (probably, depends on the outcome of the poll below).
Tomorrow's poll question will therefor be:
How do you prefer the weekly poll to be implemented in the new Sorcerer's Place:
a) Site-embedded (no pop-up, but with a lot less options and space for the questions or answers in the sidebar, which consequently means less interesting polls) or
b) Pop-up (same as now, meaning I have a lot more space for the questions and answers, which makes for more interesting polls but can be annoying at times; though this way the poll would only pop-up when you checked the Site News, but would remain inactive on the main, Current News, page).
