13 replies to this topic

[aVENGER]

Ascension64, on Dec 10 2008, 03:49 AM, said:

Since v1.06, 'the positions of Ulgoth's Beard (take the same exit as the entry into Baldur's Gate) and the zombie farm (can only be accessed on the west side of Wyrm's Crossing) have changed'.

Any particular reason for this change?

In the original (unmodded) BG1+ToTSC it's possible to go to Ulgoth's Beard at any time by simply taking the northeast map exit at Wyrm's Crossing (just above Tenya's house). OTOH, the change which was made in BGT 1.06 forces the player to wait until Chapter 5 before being allowed to go to Ulgoth's Beard as access to the Baldur's Gate entrance (i.e. the northwest side of the bridge) requires flooding the Cloakwood Mines first.

Edited by aVENGER, 20 December 2008 - 12:30 AM.

[Ascension64]

I think it was a design move by BioWare to allow you to access the expansion straight away. I've opted for the more lore-correct option with this change.

[aVENGER]

Ascension64, on Dec 20 2008, 02:13 PM, said:

I've opted for the more lore-correct option with this change.

In that case, I'd humbly suggest reverting the change.

Although it does make sense lore-wise, it strongly diverges from the original BG1 experience and belongs into the tweak category. Personally, I'd rather see it as a component of BGT Tweaks than a part of the core BGT package.

[Leomar]

Here was the discussion about the desicion:
http://www.shsforums...&...st&p=401270

Greetings Leomar

[lac]

Can you make the early access to Ulgoth Beard optional? As well as the ability to find Durlog's Tower simply by walking to it? If your game does not allow shopkeepers to buy stolen items, you need to sell to the fence Erbane outside of DT even if you do not intend to enter the place. I've never appreciated the 'we won't open up these areas so you are forced to do the game in our preferred order' approach, even if it did originate with Bioware, and have always been happy for the 'open up the cloakwood areas early' tweak. Other problems you may not have considered -- if you are Romancing Gavin, who originally comes from Ulgoth Beard, there comes a time when you might really want to go there, and meet his family. And it is not as if Gavin doesn't know how to get there ...

There may be other mods that assume that you can get to UB whenever you want, and are not set up for 'while you really may have a need to visit your relatives, we have to get out of chapter 2 first, and then do chapters 3 and 4'. I don't think that Gavin actually leaves if you take forever to visit UB, but other NPCs may be far more demanding.

[Ascension64]

OK, it's easy to make things optional. The question becomes what should be the default that comes with BGT? Sounds like a poll (http://www.shsforums...showtopic=38173).

[aVENGER]

As long as we get the early access option either by default or through BGT Tweaks I'm satisfied.

Cheers!

[erebusant]

I'm for making it a "tweak". Other than Wenric's farm, many of the quests you get thru the northern areas are higher level quests anyway. Specifically, Durlag Tower, & the NTotSC quests, among others.

[lac]

Okay, I went and voted. As long we can change things with a Tweak, I will be happy. But one final comment --
I think that, even if you decide to make the DT area unaccessable by walking, it is 'that you accept the quest from Durlog's descendent in the UB tavern' and not 'Ike's tour' that should open up the area. Avoiding Ike like the plague, I think, should always be an option.

But then, since I will always be tweaking things in that case for the open-early option, maybe this opinion is irrelevant.

Thank you.

[Leomar]

Why we have not think about it before...

Now, it sounds all clearly and we should go back to the roots, for what BGT is.

BGT imports BG1 in BG2 and fixes bugs in BG1. That's it.

So, my vote was to put this to the tweaks, because it changes the BG1 part and doesn't fix a bug.

Greetings Leomar

Edited by Leomar, 23 December 2008 - 01:41 AM.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Leomar, on Dec 23 2008, 11:39 AM, said:

Why we have not think about it before...

well, we have, and the thing is not so simple, as the town is not in north, but in the west from Baldur's Gate, and the reason why it's there.
So the exit should be here:

[Ascension64]

Because it is inconsistent, we originally thought it can be classified as a bug, but since it significantly affects gameplay, it probably qualifies as a tweak instead. This is one of those issues that falls right into the grey area between bug and tweak, that's why I'm putting it to the vote.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Guest, on Dec 26 2008, 02:50 PM, said:

@Jarno Mikkola: That doesn't make sense, because there is no way between the harbor of Baldur's Gate and the Chionthar. I think there could be the following three ways: walk around BG in the north, cross the river from cloakwood in the south or use a ship from BG harbor.

It actually would, if the game would use different Forgotten Realms lore, as the harbor would be in the upper right corner after the bridge.