Looks of monsters

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The funny thing about Goblins is that they wield (well the archers anyway) a composite longbow - which requires a strength of 18 to use...
I never knew those lil buggers were so strong

 

Well, since BG is based solely on 2nd edition AD&D, using the FR world, pretty much everything was bang on with the descriptions.

From the Monstrous Compendium for 2nd edition D&D:
"The physical frame appears thin and frail, but trolls possess surprising strength...Their arms and legs are long and ungainly."

For D&D rules, a golem (flesh, clay, stone or iron) can be made in almost any shape, but are generally human shaped. As a construct, their intended use (such as a guard, servant, etc.) will therefore determine the more exact form. And they can only obey and follow very simple rules (protect this room, pick up this box, open that door, etc.). No brain transplant involved

Elementals weren't *that* bad - except maybe the fire elementals.

Goblins should certainly not have been able to use compound long bows! But I thought they looked great.

The orcs were pretty good too - being a barbaric, militant species they needed to look more like warriors and less like blobby brutes.

The 'tall' elves from LotR (and others as well) are the celtic/ghaulic version of elves - tall, powerful, yet beautiful and graceful (ie, 'super human'). The traditional 'fairy-tale' elves are usually tiny and cute - these became prominent as elves in Victorian times (like the short kilt). D&D elves are kind of a mixture of the two.

I was most disappointed with how gnomes were rendered in the game - just like dwarves, with no discernable difference!

 

Some more gripes:

The ogres don't look anything like I thought they'd be. I expected just a larger orc.

The imps. In myths, you see imps as short, horned demons. In BGII, they look like overgrown, long-legged bats. Same goes for mephits; they're much more humanoid. (and they don't have tendencies toward evil, IIRC)

However, the ta'anari looked very frightening and evil; great appearance. However, the Pit Fiends and the Balors (the four-armed ones) didn't look too much like demons, although they were very imposing.

[This message has been edited by C'Jakob (edited April 04, 2002).]

 

You should check out the official NWN forums. They've had a couple of huge debates about the looks of monsters in that game - fire giants and flesh golems. Someone brought up that a flesh golem needed five corpses, and suggested that maybe they were cut up and stitched together so that every bit of each was used. Now that could allow for some very goulish models, if you have distorted hands, faces etc. in places where they just shouldn't be...

 

i suppose that it is a completely different game system, but i also expected trolls to be alot more... fat. pot bellied, in fact.
just like warhammer trolls - crude clubs and picks, can be stone, river or chaos (incessently evil) types.

GOLEMS R COOL - some variation could be incorporated into their current design though. hard to discriminate between flesh and clay!

i was quite disappointed with the design of goblins. there could be a few variations of gobbos. axe and shield is prety boring.

 

First of all: golem shapes are okay, they just need more looks variation in size and colour
Second:elves look like they've been dehydrated completely, the BGI elves were way better.
Third:the trolls have been badly mistreated, as if they were all competing in Big Diet and such crap -sheesh- they should be huge, dumb, muscular, kinda fat,lub-wielding, rock-throwing juggernauths

 

The Flesh Golem concept looks a bit like a demented Frankenstein

The Golems in the game look like they got there heads shrunk, or my friends attempt at clay people.

The trolls are okay I think, seeming as the big rocky ones are mountain trolls and the fat ones are the ones under bridges and live near towns or whatever

 

Trolls should look more like they do in LOTR movie. It was made in New Zealand you know? But back to the point:

Trolls should be taller than humans or elves and alot thicker. Should be extremely dumb and able to be manipulated by smarter creatures, like goblins or even orcs. Should have lots of dirty snot and even more stick body texture and a grey green skin tone. But most of all a BIG!!!!!!!! club! Where is a troll without his trusty club. Even Harry Potter (the childish dumb movie it is ) gets it slightly right.

P.S. NO magic resistance (man i got peeved at torgal,only had one fighter two and a half mages and one and a half thieves.)

 

Generally the looks of monsters in BG2 are taken from the AD&D game. I like most of them but there are some exceptions:

- Svirfneblins: In the description of deep gnomes these are slim and not bearded, but they use the same bald gnome avatar.

- Demons in general: I like the scary look of the demon avatar, but I don't like them to use the same avatar for all of them. A glabrezu is very different of a nabassu or a balor, and they use the same look for the three (and some more).
However, I like the look of the Cambion (and it is a demon too!)