First, a bit of backstory:
I got the D&D Master Collection (BG, BG2, PS:T, IWD, IWD2, ToEE) sometime in January of this year. I started by playing Baldur's Gate 1, because I planned to play through the entire trilogy and finish with PS:T, ignoring the other games in the collection because of their emphasis on combat over story. I completed BG+TotSC vanilla i.e. without mods or EasyTutu or anything and I LOVED it. I couldn't believe that I could do things like voice my own character--I've never seen that in an RPG before! I started BG2 immediately after completing 1, but stopped after an hour or two (for various reasons, none having to do with the game). A few weeks later, I thought I'd give BG2 another shot, but it didn't work out. I'd finally completed Chateau Irenicus for the second time, and an old Gamespot review assured me that once I reached Athkatla, the game really started to pick up. Yeah, right.
I soon realized that Chapter 2 consists of nothing more than doing quest after quest with the purpose of reaching the whopping 20,000 gold you need to pay Gaelyn so he can find Imoen and Irenicus. Now, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't care too much for 100+ hour "epics," so I like to focus on the main quest for the first run.
But I absolutely HATE filler! You know, where a developer feels the need to drag things out for as long as possible with the hopes of making you feel you got your money's worth? For every quest I attempt to complete, I inadvertently open up another series of sub-quests, which often required my immediate attention. I try to rest at an Inn, and Jaheira ends up getting cursed. Immediately after the Avatar disappears upon completion of the Unseeing Eye quest, Jaheira decides to start pouring her heart out...in the middle of the Temple...and then Viconia starts talking right after (can you say "awkward"?). As soon as I reach the surface, Nalia begs me to attend her father's funeral before I can even inform High Watcher Oisig of my victory. BG2, much like Skyrim, makes me afraid of exploring. "Don't enter that new area!" my conscience says. "There's a legion of NPCs waiting to force you into conversation!"
When I finally make it back to Gaelyn after checking off a few more boxes on my ever-expanding to-do list, he informs me that there's "something else" I must do. And just like in Neverwinter Nights 2, expressing my outrage does nothing to stop this quest from entering my journal. When a game sets up my expectations ("Yes! 20k gold! Plot advancement time!) and disappoints them ("WHAT?! MORE fed-ex quest filler?!) it's filler. And boy, is it INFURIATING.
So I stopped at Chapter 3. I've yet to see what all the fuss is about. Anyone care to convince me otherwise? Is there some mind-altering plot twist I've yet to reach that will glue me to the computer screen?
I got the D&D Master Collection (BG, BG2, PS:T, IWD, IWD2, ToEE) sometime in January of this year. I started by playing Baldur's Gate 1, because I planned to play through the entire trilogy and finish with PS:T, ignoring the other games in the collection because of their emphasis on combat over story. I completed BG+TotSC vanilla i.e. without mods or EasyTutu or anything and I LOVED it. I couldn't believe that I could do things like voice my own character--I've never seen that in an RPG before! I started BG2 immediately after completing 1, but stopped after an hour or two (for various reasons, none having to do with the game). A few weeks later, I thought I'd give BG2 another shot, but it didn't work out. I'd finally completed Chateau Irenicus for the second time, and an old Gamespot review assured me that once I reached Athkatla, the game really started to pick up. Yeah, right.
I soon realized that Chapter 2 consists of nothing more than doing quest after quest with the purpose of reaching the whopping 20,000 gold you need to pay Gaelyn so he can find Imoen and Irenicus. Now, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't care too much for 100+ hour "epics," so I like to focus on the main quest for the first run.
But I absolutely HATE filler! You know, where a developer feels the need to drag things out for as long as possible with the hopes of making you feel you got your money's worth? For every quest I attempt to complete, I inadvertently open up another series of sub-quests, which often required my immediate attention. I try to rest at an Inn, and Jaheira ends up getting cursed. Immediately after the Avatar disappears upon completion of the Unseeing Eye quest, Jaheira decides to start pouring her heart out...in the middle of the Temple...and then Viconia starts talking right after (can you say "awkward"?). As soon as I reach the surface, Nalia begs me to attend her father's funeral before I can even inform High Watcher Oisig of my victory. BG2, much like Skyrim, makes me afraid of exploring. "Don't enter that new area!" my conscience says. "There's a legion of NPCs waiting to force you into conversation!"
When I finally make it back to Gaelyn after checking off a few more boxes on my ever-expanding to-do list, he informs me that there's "something else" I must do. And just like in Neverwinter Nights 2, expressing my outrage does nothing to stop this quest from entering my journal. When a game sets up my expectations ("Yes! 20k gold! Plot advancement time!) and disappoints them ("WHAT?! MORE fed-ex quest filler?!) it's filler. And boy, is it INFURIATING.
So I stopped at Chapter 3. I've yet to see what all the fuss is about. Anyone care to convince me otherwise? Is there some mind-altering plot twist I've yet to reach that will glue me to the computer screen?