Black Isle Studios Forum Updates

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(Originally posted by Darien)

Here are some more comments from the developers at Black Isle Studios message boards. I hope you all enjoy reading these, because these guys seem to have a lot to say lately. Check out Dave's thoughts on the romances. He makes some good points, that I happen to agree with.

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Derek French:

On a worldwide release for ToB: Worldwide releases are very hard to do. The reason for this, especially in a game like BG, is that many text and dialog lines end up changing at the last minute. When they change, the new lines must be sent out so that they can be translated. The returned text needs to be verified, rebuilt into the game, then sent off to Interplay for testing by someone who speaks that language. Now if that tester is actually in Europe it may take even longer. If text for spoken lines change, then VO might need to be done again. More delays.

What it comes down to is the distance between BioWare and Interplay and Virgin Europe all contribute to delays in getting the game out outside of North America. The farther away your publisher, the longer the lag time between finished and published and store shelves.

Heh, what I don't understand is why they don't release English, Spanish, and French in North America. =]

David Gaider, Senior Designer:

On new NPC sounds: A few of the characters get some updated sounds... Nalia, in particular, was one I wanted to alter very badly, since as you point out she's hardly the naive little mage/thief she started out as. Didn't have room to change all the characters but we got the important ones. So no more 'For the needy!'

This was the original plan, actually. In the dialogue where Aerie and Haer'Dalis break up, Aerie sets a "AerieHardened" global and was supposed to get new dialogue... but at the beginning we couldn't 'replace' NPC dialogue with scripting and so we ended up not recording any for her.So Aerie's battle cries now change when either the Hardened global is set OR you enter the expansion... either one.

Personally, I think Nalia is WAAAY easier to take, now.

Nalia: (battle cry) "Evil falls today!

So is the CN Anomen.

Anomen: (rare action) So long as I never have to breathe the same stuffy air as those rusted suits of armor in the Order; well, I'm with you.

On more dialogue and the book: We've got lots of new dialogue for Imoen in the expansion, which is nice as we would have liked to have had Imoen talk more in BG2 after you rescued her. If you're wondering if we're adding dialogue to her for BG2 itself, though, the answer is no... Just the expansion.

As for the book, if you didn't like the first two you might still want to check out the Throne of Bhaal BG book when it comes out... Our very own Drew Karpyshyn (one of the writers on ToB) is writing it this time around.

On NPC romances (again!) and female players: Anomen's is not longer in length, but it is longer and was more difficult to script because it has two seperate paths, 'lovetalk' globals notwithstanding.

And personally I'm getting pretty tired of the whole claim at how 'unfair' it was for us to have only one option for female PC's. Sure, it would have been nice (great, in fact) to have more options... but there are just as many guys out there wanting Nalia or Mazzy to be included (if not every NPC in the game) as romances as there are girls who want another option besides Anomen, and believe me... everyone has a different idea on who would be more 'suitable'.

It'd be great if we could accomodate every player, but the plain fact is we only had time for four romance stories, period. We had wanted to include a fifth romance (Haer'Dalis, in fact), but just didn't have the time to complete it. I'm happy that we got four in with the resources we had (it is, after all, just an added bonus and not a focus of the game), and I'm happy with how Anomen's romance turned out. And, yes, Anomen's not for everyone... but neither is Viconia, Jaheira or Aerie.

Considering the timespan of the expansion, fitting a new romance into it is hardly feasible. It's more important, I think, to bring the four romance plots we have to a satisfactory conclusion. As I said, it would have been nice to do more, but there's no satisfying everyone.

Well, there you go. While many might agree, many would also disagree. I've heard from fans who enjoyed Anomen thoroughly just as often as I've heard from those who hated him. People's tastes on something like this are very personal... I imagine that even had we done one or two or even three more romances there would still be those who would be incredulous at our choices.

Oh, I know. I accept the criticism and know where people are coming from. Everyone has a different idea on what they'd like to see in the game, and romances are no different. Personally, I think a lot of the reaction to Anomen comes from the fact that he's the only choice... some people were obviously expecting to have an opportunity for romance with every character.

And, again, that would have been nice to try. Had it been a focus of the game, maybe we would have gone that route...darn it, though, the game has to go and be an adventure instead of a romance.

Thanks for your comments, though. I always love passing along these posts to James and Kevin...next time we dabble in this kind of thing, maybe we'll approach it a bit differently. Who knows?

Incidentally, what do you think the balance ratio is with relation to male players and female players? Notwithstanding the fact that of course we'd like to promote more girls becoming interested in playing our game, ideally, I'd still suspect that it's something along the lines of 10 to 1 (if not more). When you look at a harsh number like that, I'm glad we were given the green light to plan two (even if we only got to put one in, in the end).

Of course...is it 10 to 1 because, normally, those kinds of female-friendly options aren't there? Hard to judge. Part of me says that had we made made four male-PC romance and none for females, there wouldn't have been much said at all...we'd have simply been living up to low expectations.

Of course, I could be wrong. And hopefully the industry will continue to gravitate towards a situation where such a thing as considering the female point-of-view in an RPG (or computer game) is a given rather than something you have to work at. I'd like to see way more girls working in the industry, itself, personally. (You know what, though? Hardly any women apply. Not sure exactly why that is.)

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter

Steve Bokkes, Designer:

Heart of Winter music: Good news. I've heard tell that the HoW music scores composed by Jeremy Soule will be released as part of a CD compilation. Supposedly, the CD will include music from the BG2 expansion as well. Happy days are here again.