Tons of info from the BG2 board

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(Originally posted by NightKin)

Hey everyone, here comes a truckload of news from the BG2 board, so enjoy.

From Kevin Martens, BG2 co-Lead Designer

How the strongholds work:

There seems to be some confusion.

Their are 8 huge major class-specific subplots. Each of them is split into 2 parts:
1) Critical Game Section.
2) Class Only Section.

Anyone can go on the major part of the plot, the Critical Game Section. If you are of the correct class, you will receive the option to work for or take over the stronghold, The Class Only Section. If you are not of the correct class, you will get a reward but no stronghold that you can run or work for.

EG: Let's say that the fighter plot was one in which you were to rescue a princess. If you are a fighter (we'll act on the assumption of you being male) you would get the Princess' hand in marriage and a duchy as a reward when you saved her. If you were any other class, you would get a bunch of cool crap and the king's everlasting thanks.

The fighter would begin running his duchy (if he chose to take the reward - it is optional for those who aren't interested in this sort of thing). This is the Class Only Section. The other classes would move on to another plot.

The Class Only Section is a smaller and much more focused series of plots that are specifically appropriate to the class that is playing them. Thieves' Guild for the thief, Temple for the cleric, and so on.

Note: the 3 new classes go on the strongholds that are appropriate (eg: sorceror goes on the mage section)

Kensai and armor:

Kensais get a natural ac bonus. In addition, there are rings, amulets and numerous other items that also affect AC.

From David Gaider, BG2 Designer

Importing:

Playing multiplayer solo is definitely still included, if you're so inclined. And I was being misquoted... I said that importing characters after the start of the game was too often used to cheat instead of what it was originally put into the game to do. Regardless, importing after the beginning of the game is definitely still in BG2, no worries.

The Length of game:

We're saying 250-300 hours if you do all the side quests with one PC, which includes one stronghold. If we slapped all the other strongholds into one game, it would be significantly longer than that.

Some info on the figurines of power:

There are various figurines of wondrous power in the game. One of them, the Moon Dog, is available only to a Ranger PC. The others can be used by anyone, generally.

With regards to the Moon Dog Figurine, no... only the Ranger can use it once she receives it. With regards to the other Figurines, yes, anyone can use them.

Testing and bug killing:

Both Interplay and Bioware have learned a lot about both making RPGs and testing RPGs since BG came out.

I'm not sure how you think we QA our games... you obviously seem to have picked up on your own some of the things that get done by the QA department regularly (play the game with the intention of 'breaking' it, do the area transfers repeatedly, etc.). Problem is, with the PC platform, the chances of getting rid of all bugs when you're dealing with hundreds of variations of hardware set-up, is pretty remote. Take something as utterly huge and complex as BG2 and the chance is even less. That's why we've got two huge teams working on the game right now, and the amount of bugs we've had to fix is staggering... but they are getting fixed. I wouldn't fool myself to think that we will find every little thing that someone out there could think to do to break a plot (although we're coming damn close)... and I wouldn't be surprised if we have a situation that works fine for us on the various systems we use (which is a lot) but breaks on one weird card/processor combo out there.

We're professionals and we're also interested in making BG2 as relatively bug-free as BG was... so it's not going to go out until it's ready. Greg and Ray (BioWare's CEO's) are determined to make that happen, which makes designers like me happy, as I can only imagine what it must be like to work for a company that wants to ship a game before it's done.

Characters being too powerful?:

Monks are too powerful. Kensai are too powerful. Mages are too powerful. Barbarians are too powerful. Fighter/thieves are too powerful. Ah, yes, this will never change.

Everyone has a different opinion on what is 'too powerful' or even 'too weak'. Thing is to find something that works for you and not worry about what classes other people might be picking. I think the classes are pretty balanced, overall, through the levels... although likely everyone will disagree with me (because that's what you do).

Also, there's little point in looking at any given class and seeing what their power level will be at the highest level they can achieve (like level 21 or whatever). ANY class at level 21 SHOULD be god-awful powerful. And besides that, there's little chance of reaching the XP cap during the course of the game. Only the most hardcore will actually do so. And even they, unless they cheat, will still play 75% at the 12th level and up mark (the XP needed between each level in the teens is pretty huge). Those people who play the game fairly and manage to reach 17th level and above will be doing so at the end of the game... where you'll need it.

I, however, have played through the game with most of the classes and the only one that made my eyes bug out was a souped-up kensai. Of course, that was only in particular situations... taking him against a mage with Protection from Normal Weapons up was death without a mage in the party.

The size of dragons:

The dragons are all the same size, and the first time we (the designers) got to see them was in 640x480, where they take up more than a single screen (by far). That's when you heard us talking about it.

That's the largest we could do a monster, actually... if we made a creature that was larger than a screen in 800x600 it would be too large to use in 640x480.

The dragon looks a little less impressive in 800x600 (although much more detailed and fluid), but it's still pretty huge. If we were to do a game exclusively for 800x600 (and exclude 640x480) then the animations could get larger, yet.

Internet portraits:

Through some of the screenshots in IGN I think you can see the small, in-progress (black-and-white) portraits of Anomen and Mazzy. Those are pretty old, though... they don't look much like they did back in those pics at all.

By the way, for the person who asked about Yoshimo's old pic... no, that will not ship with the game. Likely it will be made available on the net later, though, should people wish it.

Confusion around the stronghold quests:

I'll use an example (which isn't in the game). Let's say there is a quest to rescue a princess. Anyone can go on that quest. Let's say that this princess-rescue quest is the lead-up to the ranger quest... upon her rescue, if the PC is a ranger, he is given his cabin and all that goes with it (including the stronghold quests that continue on from that point). If the PC isn't a ranger, she says thank you and you get a reward or whatever.

The stronghold quests would be a series of stories that involved the ranger cabin, then, and would center around the PC being a ranger. One of the rewards for the ranger stronghold is the moon dog figurine.

Which, YES, means that the ONLY way to get the moon dog is to have the PC as a ranger. Equally, a PC ranger would get the moon dog and not see any of the other rewards for the strongholds.

What we mean when we say that anyone can go on these class quests is the lead-up... if the PC is not a ranger does not mean that he will not get the quest to rescue said princess. As a matter of fact, you would never know which quests led to a stronghold, either, unless you were playing as a particular class (no 'I'll give you this keep if you do this' or anything of the like).

Does this make sense, now?