Baldur's Gate II Board Update

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(Originally posted by Darien)

Here are a few comments from the Official Baldur's Gate II board.

Lead Designer Kevin Martens talked about introducing a new NPC in the expansion.

We are aware of the late NPC syndrome which is why every NPC in BGII could be accessed in Chapter 2.

We're also aware that people wanted an NPC for Tales of the Sword Coast so we really wanted to add one for Throne of Bhaal.

Solution - a very cool NPC that the player has a history. This is someone the player knows, not a brand new personality. Even if the NPC doesn't end up fitting a player's party in the long run, I still think that everyone will want to try the NPC. We've made sure that the NPC is extremely useful.

I remember a discussion on our own BGII board about how to roleplay the choice between the Shadow Theives and Bodhi. Here's what Senior Designer Dave Gaider had to say about justifying that choice.

We actually argued a fair bit, ourselves, about including a third option to get into Chapter 3. We finally decided that the situation should be an unpleasant one, having to choose between the lesser of two evils. Had we had more time, we probably could have done a third option (through the Radiant Heart, was the idea being bandied about)...but the complexity and length of the quests involved in each side sort of prohibited it.

The Shadow Thieves aren't evil per se...just unethical. Even Linvail himself is simple True Neutral...although the fact that the Shadow Thieves have assassins certainly wouldn't bode well for them in the eyes of any paladin.

What it boils down to is, basically, whether you are willing to do the tasks that a side asks you to. I don't remember off-hand, but I'm pretty sure the Shadow Thieves' tasks are more benign.

But I'm glad you found a role-playing reason to justify going forward. That's the important thing...and until a game can encompass every decision or attitude a player might take (like a human GM could), justifying their actions is something that's going to crop up once in a while.