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Baldur's Gate: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{quote|''"[[Rant
[[File:Minsc_and_Boo.jpg|link=Ensemble Darkhorse|frame|Minsc and Boo, series mascot(s).]]
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* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: It happens to a few characters throughout the series, and if you've got a mage in your party you can do it to enemies.
* [[Barbarian Hero]]: A few characters fit the archetype, though no party members actually use the game's barbarian class.
* [[Bare
* [[Battle Couple]]: The player character and their love interest. From the first game, Khalid and Jaheira are a notable example.
* [[Battle Cry]]: Every party member has a few.
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* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: All spells within the same school will have the same primary color in their visual effect.
** Also, the circles around a character's feet tell you if they're a recruitable NPC (green), a neutral NPC (cyan), Fleeing/Berserk (yellow) or hostile (red).
* [[Colour
* [[Combat By Champion]]: The fight with Faldorn, one of the arena types in Ust Natha, and an encounter in ToB.
* [[Compilation Rerelease]]: For BG1 with TotSC as ''The Original Saga'', BG2 with ToB as ''The Collection'', and now all four in one.
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* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Happens to a number of playable characters from ''Baldur's Gate'' who don't have [[Dropped a Bridge On Him|bridges dropped on them]] between games. Altough, as this troper knows from looking at the realm map, the second game is placed over 200 miles away, which means that someone around level 7 (your starting place in the second game) would take several in-game months to get to there without high-level magical help, which would break their bank as a single NPC. of course, you get teleport-kidnapped, saving a lot of time.
* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything/Baldurs Gate|Has its own page.]]
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: The [[Bonus Boss]] battle against {{spoiler|Demogorgon, the ''D&D'' multiverse's most powerful Demon Lord}} in a straight fight. {{spoiler|Amelyssan}} also counts, seeing as how she was almost 99.99% the Goddess of Murder by the time you fought her.
** Considering {{spoiler|that the remaining .01% of Murder God is the ''[[Player Character]]''}}, any "normal" monster that manages to kill ''you'' might also qualify.
** To be fair, punching out Cthulhu is not all that uncommon in the setting. [[Forgotten Realms]] deities are not invulnerable or immortal, and in fact there's a fair amount of turnover in the pantheon.
* [[Disadvantageous Disintegration]]: Disintegration is a [[One
* [[Discard and Draw]]: CHARNAME losing Bhaalspawn powers {{spoiler|and much of his soul}} is replaced by being able to transform into the Slayer.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: In Athkatla, any mages caught casting any form of magic are imprisoned and horrifically tortured for the rest of their lives.
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* [[Dronejam]]: Common in the first game due to the atrocious pathfinding. Alleviated in the sequel as party members gained the ability to push other people out of the way.
* [[Dropped a Bridge On Him]]: Several party members from the first game turn up dead in rather anti-climactic fashion. Inverted when, due to the open nature of the games, several characters who ''should'' (If you got them killed) be dead after the first game can still show up for a cameo in the second. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when the PC can actually ask them 'Didn't you die?' This is in fact perfectly reasonable in a D&D world.
* [[Drop the Hammer]]: The Hammer of Thunderbolts + 3 qualifies on its own, but becomes an [[Infinity
* [[Dual
* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]: Justified in the first game, as the party's feats are ostensibly being hidden by the Iron Throne. Also justified at the beginning of the sequel, as the citizens of Amn have no reason to care about what happens in the north. Played straight after that. Averted in Throne of Bhaal, in which the party will be showed respect.
** If you talk to the right citizens in Nashkel, Beregost, and Baldur's Gate in BG1, they will thank you for what you have done (sometimes you have to leave town and come back later for it to work).
* [[Dungeon Bypass]]: The Underwater City can be skipped entirely by choosing to leave Brynnlaw via a portal instead of a ship. Doing this will cause the player to miss out on one of the best cloaks in the game, though.
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* [[Enemy Chatter]]: Several scripted encounters which may or may not end in a fight.
* [[Epic Flail]]: The Flail of Ages on its own makes having a character with proficiency in flails worthwhile.
* [[
{{quote| '''[[Hello, Insert Name Here|CHARNAME]]:''' [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe|Forsooth! Methinks]] you are no ordinary talking chicken!}}
** Alternatively...
{{quote| '''CHARNAME:''' Unholy magics are afoot! This '''chicken is possessed'''! This '''[[A Worldwide Punomenon|bird is FOUL]]'''!!!}}
* [[
** One of the quests in the first game requires you to rescue a farmer's cow from Xvarts. Doing so grants you reputation, XP and a useful tip from her owner.
** A Wild Mage surge in BG2 can cause a cow to materialize and fall on one of your party members.
* [[
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: More like "Even Chaotic Neutral Has Standards" due to the implications of the alignment system, but the Shadow Thieves are this to the Assassins Guild in the second game.
* [[Every Man Has His Price]]: In ''Shadows of Amn'', the mercenary mages an old enemy, a former slaver, of Jaheira's hires to curse her can be convinced to abandon their employer if you offer to pay them more money when you track them down. Pay extra and they will even backstab him the moment he tries to summon them to his aid. You even ask their leader how much you would have to pay to get them to betray their contract. This adds an extra layer of defeat for the slaver since he spent his last savings on this revenge scheme while the few thousand gold you pay to turn his own mercs against him might be chicken feed to you at this point.
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* [[Evil Pays Better]]: Not by a long shot. Good characters get more XP, more rare artifacts, lower shop prices, less bounty hunter chases, and a larger selection of party members. About the only advantage evil gets is that the evil NPCs you can add to your party are better specialists -- Korgan (later {{spoiler|Sarevok}}) is the best fighter, Viconia is the best cleric, and Edwin is the best mage.
** Even that's a mixed bag, however, as unlike, say, Minsc, Anomen, and Nalia, all three are one-trick ponies. Besides, you don't have to be evil to keep an evil party and two of the above characters {{spoiler|can be convinced to do a [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
*** Especially since the most Lawful Good NPC in the game Keldorn is the only one who can wield [[Infinity
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: One of the more common villain types.
* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: Played straight with Sarevok, who was voiced by deep-voiced villain specialist [[Kevin Michael Richardson]]. Averted with Irenicus, who speaks in a normal register, as well as major female villains Bodhi and {{spoiler|Amelissan}}.
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* [[First Town]]: In BG2, the starting town of Athkala is also one of the most active areas for quests and encounters.
* [[Fishing for Mooks]]: "Pulling" single enemies away from larger groups is an essential tactic.
* [[Five
** You could make a similar case for the "default good party" the second game assumes you had in the first, although there is obvious overlap since there are six of them. Jaheira -- [[The Lancer]], Khalid -- [[The Chick]] (but only literal if he is wearing the gender switching girdle), Minsc -- [[The Big Guy]], Dynaheir -- [[The Smart Guy]] (she certainly thinks she is and her stats say so, and with so little dialogue for the playable characters in the first game that's about as good as you're going to get), Imoen -- [[The Lancer]]/[[The Chick]].
*** Although Imoen, despite being of comparable age to the protagonist, could also be considered the [[Tagalong Kid]] due to her kid-sister attitude and childlike demeanor.
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* [[Go Mad From the Revelation]]: What put a few of the inmates in Spellhold. {{spoiler|Imoen}} flirts with it as well.
* [[Gondor Calls for Aid]]: Attacking Bodhi's guild in ''Baldur's Gate II''.
* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: In Baldur's Gate, the only characters with visible scars are Ajantis, Montaron, and Shar-Teel. Ajantis has a single scar running neatly along his cheek, which almost adds to his dignity if anything. Montaron's face is heavily scarred, which goes along with him being intended to be an ugly character, and Shar-Teel has single scar on her chin which is barely visible. Scarring is very common in the BG2 portraits regardless of alignment.
* [[Gossip Evolution]]: After clearing Nashkel Mines, this can be noticed among the commoners.
* [[Grand Finale]]: ''Throne of Bhaal''
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** You can get some pretty great items through pick-pocketing, but good luck finding the right marks on your own. You'll probably just end up with a handful of petty cash or, more likely, everyone just hating your guts.
* [[Guilt Based Gaming]]: Trying to quit BG2 with Alt-F4 will remind you that "Boo will miss you".
* [[Half
** There are also half-ogres in BG1, as well as the Ogrillon, which is a half-orc/half-ogre hybrid.
** The second game introduced the Orog, another type of orc/ogre hybrid (much like mules and hinnies are two different types of horse/donkey hybrid, although they look a lot more similar to each other than orogs and ogrillons).
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*** Actually it's based on your reputation at the time of the dream not your alignment, 10+ is good, 9- is evil. In the 2nd game, if you make a fresh character then it does generic them for your alignment (to a degree. LG has all good, CE has all bad, TN has 1 of each, and the rest are random)
* [[Health Damage Asymmetry]]: Averted.
* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]]: CHARNAME, as s/he is affectionately called by the community.
* [[Sociopathic Hero]]: Several of the evil party members qualify. As might the Player Character, depending on how one plays.
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: Suldanesselar, which is an entire [[Hidden Elf Village|Hidden Elf Capital City]].
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* [[Hollywood Torches]]: All over the place, including in many areas that have supposedly been abandoned for hundreds of years. [[A Wizard Did It|They're probably magical.]]
* [[Homing Boulders]]: Projectiles will change their flight path if the target moves. This could actually be justified for enchanted projectiles, but happens to all of them.
* [[Honest
** The people at the Adventurer's Mart in BG2 reek of this, but will never actually screw the player over.
* [[Hot Skitty On Wailord Action]]: As stated above, Bhaal seems to have bred with just about anything. His children seem to inherit the ability.
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{{quote| '''Ogrillon:''' Time for some carnage!}}
* [[Humans Are Average]]: They receive no penalties or bonuses to their attributes, and their only special ability is dual-classing, which replaces multiclassing for them. Dual-classing, however, can be used to make some [[Game Breaker|ridiculously imbalanced combinations]], which may actually make this an indirect example of [[Humanity Is Superior]].
** There are a handful of human-only classes and kits, such as Paladins. They get a class specific [[Infinity
* [[Humans Are White]]: Averted. There are lots of non-white humans in addition to all the dwarves, elves, and gnomes.
* [[Hundred Percent Heroism Rating]]: Actually, having a high reputation doesn't have as much of an effect as it could. Besides lower shop prices and the occasional dialogue that uses reputation as a script condition, the games are very inconsistent on whether townspeople actually recognize a high-reputation hero, or if they do, whether they care.
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* [[Inept Mage]]: The Wild Mage class.
* [[Infant Immortality]]
* [[Infinity
* [[Infinity
** Then there's the Staff of the Magi, which despite being for mages only is just as good if not ''better'' than Carsomyr. Makes it very good for use by a fighter-mage variant.
* [[Informed Attribute]]: The player character's alignment. Since there's no real penalty for acting against alignment, even players who intend to be evil will usually pick a Good alignment for the [[Villain With Good Publicity|reputation bonus]].
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* [[Insane Troll Logic]]: We get some of this logic coming from an actual [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|insane]] [[All Trolls Are Different|troll]]. Here's the conversation if you try to keep a dialogue going as long as possible instead of attacking him right after he says:
{{quote| '''Troll Cook''': Hello there foodthing. You are just in time. Please just jump onto the grill over there.<br />
'''[[Hello, Insert Name Here|Protagonist]]''': Pardon me?<br />
'''Troll Cook''': The grill. That big metal thing. Jump on. Be careful, it's hot!<br />
'''Protagonist''': [[Lampshade Hanging|You speak well for a troll]].<br />
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* [[Lineage Comes From the Father]]
* [[Linear Warriors Quadratic Wizards]]: And how. At the beginning of the first game, it's ''much'' easier to survive if your main character is a warrior of some sort. Melee class characters are still quite effective in ''Baldur's Gate II'' and ''Throne of Bhaal'', but by the end of the latter in particular magic-oriented characters can acquire truly godlike offensive abilities.
** Similarly with enemies, taking out plain old melee mooks becomes decidedly easier in the late game than taking out liches, beholders and other highly skilled magic users. On the flip side, a melee PC with the Inquisitor class wielding [[Infinity
* [[Literal Genie]]: In ''Baldur's Gate II''; "Limited Wish" spell, and indeed the "Wish" spell.
* [[Live Item]]: The mage's familiar, who can be let out of the backpack but probably shouldn't be.
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* [[Loyal Phlebotinum]]: Some equipment can only be used by specific NPCs or people of specific alignments. [[Game Breaker|Or a thief with Use Any Item.]]
* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: There's a ''gore'' setting in the PC version of the game that allows you to toggle this on and off. For some reason, it doesn't work in the Mac version.
* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]
* [[Mad Oracle]]: {{spoiler|Gromnir}} in ''Throne of Bhaal''. If only you were [[Stupidity Is the Only Option|given the opportunity]] to listen to him...
* [[Magic Knight]]: The fighter/mage multiclass. The bard, while supposed to be a little of everything, can also be considered this.
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* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: In the Drow city this is joined with [[Alien Geometries]].
* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Oh, so many.
* [[Mayfly
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Early in the first game, you meet one "Count Foreshadow", whose dialogue consists of plugs for the second game and for ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''.
** Ribald Barterman is a merchant.
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* [[The Munchausen]]: Jan Jansen. He will often come up with completely ludicrous stories that are only slightly relevant to the topic or danger at hand, not to mention surreal. {{spoiler|The only thing to render him speechless is when your party descends to hell.}}
* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: Haer'Dalis will do try and do this to ''you'' if you romance Aerie with him in your party and your relationship with Aerie isn't yet solid when you get him. If you have solidified your romance with Aerie, he [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|gracefully backs down]].
* [[Murder, Inc.]]: The Shadow Thieves seem to be bigger on assassination than actual theft.
* [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules]]: Some enemy mages are subject to this, as they not only have multiple contingencies or spell triggers ready at once but their contingencies aren't subject to the same restrictions as the player's.
* [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]: Umar Hills contains a group of peaceful ogres just who want to trade with the town, but keep getting chased away because of the peoples' belief that ogres are [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. Some of the townspeople also blame them for the village's problems, even though the ogres were also affected by the problem and were even trying to help.
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* [[Never Got to Say Goodbye]]: The protagonist.
* [[New Game Plus]]: Character importation.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: {{spoiler|Kangaxx}} congratulates you for yours after you release him. There's also the [[Bonus Boss]] battle against {{spoiler|Demogorgon}}, in which defeating him results in sending him back to his home plane of existence rather than re-sealing him in his prison. Whoops.
** Hey, at least he's not terrorizing the Material Plane, which is what would've happened if you didn't stop him.
* [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]]: Definitely possible with some of the more [[Munchkin|Munchkinesque]] character builds, such as a samurai archmage [[Dual
* [[Nintendo Hard]]
* [[No Fourth Wall]]: At times. Particularly [[Genre Savvy]] characters often make suggestions to the player right out of the basic RPG strategy book, and in-jokes and [[Shout Out|Shout Outs]] are sprinkled throughout the story.
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** Probably the same person everyone else in your party is talking to, judging by the occasional reference to the player's mouse cursor and Jaheira calling you "Mr. Omnipresent Authority Figure" in the first game.
* [[No Points for Neutrality]]: Most quests can only be done in a good or an evil fashion. The most neutral way would be to not do them, which of course means no rewards.
* [[Not
* [[Not
* [[Now Where Was I Going Again]]: Check your journal and find out, duh.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Jan comes across most of the time as a turnip-obsessed, [[Chaotic Stupid]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]] with a penchant for telling meandering, pointless stories, but if the player undertakes the sidequest to save his former lover, he's revealed to be quite lucid and clever.
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* [[Poke in The Third Eye]]
* [[Police Are Useless]]: When investigating a string of murders in the Bridge district, if you present evidence to the guards' investigator instead of acting on it yourself, he'll get himself killed.
* [[Pre
* [[Preorder Bonus]]: Pre-orders of Baldur's Gate 2 came with a bonus disc containing an extra merchant who sold exclusive, powerful items. In the UK, some pre-orders of the first game came with a copy of [[Fallout 1 (Video Game)|Fallout 1]].
* [[Promoted to Unlockable]]: Sarevok in "Throne of Bhaal".
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* [[Rainbow Pimp Gear]]: Many of the heavier armor pieces suffer from this, the abundance of pink suggesting the developers couldn't figure out how to do shades of red.
* [[Random Encounters]]: Some random encounters provide you with very respectable quantities of gold and valuable [[Vendor Trash]], and others occur randomly but tie directly into plotline events or subquests and as such aren't pointless.
* [[Rant
* [[Real Time With Pause]]: One of the first western role-playing games to cross over from classic turn-based combat into this. Although it may look like real-time, the combat is actually simultaneous turn-based.
* [[Rebellious Princess]]: A few different characters fit this description.
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* [[Selective Condemnation]]: Even if you play these games in the most pacifistic, [[Lawful Good]] manner possible, you will still end up killing, at minimum, hundreds of people. Despite that, you only succumb to [[The Dark Side]] if you behave evilly towards a few, arbitrarily important characters.
** The first game features a huge example. Despite slaughtering your way across the Sword Coast, leaving large piles of butchered enemies behind you... and, if you so feel like it, being allowed to kill just about anyone else you meet with only a drop in reputation that can be fixed with a temple donation... you are charged with murder and labelled a horrible criminal only ''after'' the deaths of the Iron Throne leaders at Candlekeep. This, of course, even if you barged into their tower earlier in the game in broad daylight and massacred everyone in sight.
* [[Sequel Hook]]: Retroactively. The standard BG series storyline is a perfect example of how to wrap up a plot so completely that there is practically no way to continue it without feeling forced. But David Gaider's Ascension mod, in addition to its gameplay changes, restores [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue|epilogue text]] that was written but not implemented in game. The romance endings all indicate that CHARNAME's offspring with his chosen love interest (including Jaheira, who doesn't have children in the vanilla ending) grow up to become adventurers as prolific as their parents are. This was probably scrapped when Bioware realized how [[Spin Offspring|corny that would be as a basis for a sequel]].
* [[Serial Killer]]: Rejiek Hidesman, complete with [[Creepy Basement]].
** Also Neb the child-killing dwarf.
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*** Zeus transformed himself into the shower to get in the tower where the woman was held, but he didn't impregnate her that way. However, Zeus did impregnated Leda while shapeshifted as a swan. Whether Bhaal's powers were based on Zeus' are debatable, but they are similar.
* [[Short Cuts Make Long Delays]]: When investigating the Cult of the Unseeing Eye, you are told that the easiest way to kill the Unseeing Eye is to reassemble a specific artifact. This involves going to an underground city to get half of it, then through a town of undead, then through a lair of beholders, before you finally get the other half. Alternatively, a well prepared party can complete the quest much more quickly by simply entering the lair and hacking away. But where's the fun in that?
* [[Shout Out]]: Has its [[
* [[Simple Staff]]: The only melee weapon that can be used by anyone. Or you could get the Staff +1, which can do that too.
* [[Single Mom Stripper]]: One prostitute in the docks district says that she's never done it before but needs the money to support her family.
* [[The Six Stats]]
* [[Slap
* [[Slice and Dice Swordsmanship]]: Spears and daggers are often used with a slashing animation.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Lots and lots of villains (and a few party members as well).
* [[So Long and Thanks For All The Gear]]: If a character leaves your party for reasons other than being kicked out, they'll take all that expensive gear you bought them on their way out.
** Even if you kicked them out, if you wait too long to get them to join again they may not have the gear you gave them. At some point after their departure, the game will reset their equipment to the NPC's default.
* [[Somebody
** One mod [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshades]] this, by having Imoen muse that it must have been ages since anyone asked the PC how he was feeling, instead of, -->"O, mighty hero, do you have a minute? Of course you do."
* [[Songs in The Key of Lock]]
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** And there are ''[[Too Dumb to Live|four muggers attacking you]]''.
** Averted in Throne of Bhaal, when an entire vampire coven flees in terror at the sight of you.
* [[Super
** Until Throne of Bhaal, at least, where the Slayer form becomes much more powerful. Of course, by that point, you're essentially superpowered no matter what form you're in.
* [[Take That]]: In ''Throne of Bhaal'', Cespenar makes an off-hand comment about running out of recipes and needing to find "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Steward Martha]", who's somewhere around in Hell.
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* [[Tragic Monster]]: {{spoiler|Your love interest, if you have one, will be turned into a vampire by Bodhi}}. Fortunately they get better.
* [[True Companions]]: Canonically, the PC, Minsc, Jaheira, and Imoen.
* [[
* [[Tyop On the Cover]]: The Baldur's Gate 4 in 1 Boxset published by Atari shows its cheapness in both its contents and cover production. The back calls the expansion to BG "Sword of the Coast" and the blurbs were very clearly written by someone who has never actually played the games.
** Even worse: I have a copy of that boxset - but Tales of the Sword Coast doesn't work -- it breaks the game instead, forcing a re-installation. That's how low quality it is, the error message says my expansion disk is for the wrong region!
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* [[The War Sequence]]
* [[We Cannot Go On Without You]]: One of the classic examples, and at first it seems a bit odd; your allies can literally fall like leaves around you and the game won't care (in fact, the reason [[BG 1]] has so many recruitables who have somewhat thin characterization is that [[We Have Reserves|the developers assumed low-level D&D play would go through characters rather quickly]]), but the instant the protagonist hits 0 HP, BAM, game over. Of course, this does get justified ''very'' well in the games: {{spoiler|since the protag is a Bhaalspawn, when s/he dies, Bhaal's divine essence within them is returned to 'the pool'. Even IF the protag is resurrected, you just lost the abilities that let you beat the overarching plot.}}
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Good or Neutral-aligned party members will call you out on it if you do something truly dastardly, and eventually leave the party if you become too evil.
* [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]: Inverted in the second game -- {{spoiler|when Irenicus captures you in Spellhold, he wants the party disposed of instantly, but [[The Dragon|Bodhi]] overrules him (without his knowledge and consent) and tries to have you executed in a way that will amuse her. Needless to say, it backfires and Irenicus is none too pleased.}}
** Also in BG2, when you fight {{spoiler|Irenicus in Spellhold}} without adequate support, he simply casts Wish, and it is [[Total Party Kill]] time for you.
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=== The ''Baldur's Gate'' novels provide examples of: ===
* [[Cassandra Truth]]: Xzar tells the others [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]] pretty much at the start. No-one believes him because he's insane. Of course, he also doesn't care, because he's insane.
* [[
** Causing readers to wail, "No! Why did he not die?!"
* [[Faux Action Girl]]: Jaheira. A particularly egregious case in that she doesn't even ''try'' to fight anyone almost ever.
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