We complain alot on this forum, about new content, old content, about how our level 1 bard just got shanked for the fifth time in a row officially making me give up on no reload challenges.
So what would you have done different? I'd like to make a request that this not become a debate over whats good or bad. Everyone has a right to like or hate what they want and more often then not its a matter of taste. In the same spirit of posting try to keep complaints down as well unless you have a change you think would make it better. I want this to be about expressing ideas and flexing creativity or balance skills. If its about how you would have made a fight harder, balance classes, re-write certain things, completely replace large bits, please post it and if you like someone's idea please click like so they get that warm little glow inside.
That all being said let me start with one of my biggest problems in the entire series. Melissan. Putting my ideas behind spoiler boxes, cause I'm about to do a few big text walls here.
1.Change her design.
[spoiler] One of my biggest problems with Melissan is that she was advertised everywhere. Right on the box art. Looking like a druid with a claw fetish rather then a super evil villain. Look at Sarevok, he looks like the kind of dark lord that'd make Sauron go "Daaaamn, looking good boy!". Look at Irenecus, he looks as mad as he is and as tortured as he feels. Melissan? Druid with a claw fetish. Worse of all, her face is *right there*. You could see it from the very beginning. You knew she was the final boss and were expected to just go along with it. Nothing will ruin immersion like this.
I remember back in my days on City of Heroes(God I miss that game) we had a member of our anti-hero/vigilante group who was evil. He said how evil he was out of character *constantly*. Made no attempt to hide it and was bad at hiding it in character as well, but we couldn't call him out on it. Why? Because that'd be metagaming (using out of character knowledge in character). Never mind your excuses, you got labeled as metagaming. It was the most frustrating thing ever and its basically what you go through in ToB. You *know* shes evil but part of you spends the whole time wondering if its because shes bad at hiding it or if you've had it spoiled for you already. Its immersion breaking and frustrating at the same time.
So what would I do? Change her design considerably. Consider Sarevok, remove his helmet and tattoos and you can't tell its him. Do the same with Melissan. Heck, make her look inhuman. Shes full of Bhaal essences, right? make her take on a slightly more humanoid slayer like look. Have her claw armor extend to cover her entire arm, a good portion of her upper body and her neck and mouth. Suddenly all you can see is eyes, yellow and glowing and her breasts are hidden so gender is not so obvious. Replace the feathers with horns. There you go. I think this design would be nicer looking and wouldn't ruin the surprise of her being the big bad...Well, okay. It'd still be ruined for other reasons, wich I will move onto now. [/spoiler]
2.Change her voice/dialogue.
[spoiler] Now, I want you to understand. I think her voice actoress was mostly fine. Once she revealed herself to be evil her voice was wonderful and fitting. Up til then? No. It was like Aladin trusting Jafar (I know I made a disney reference and yes I am ashamed.) Everything about the guy's voice drips of evil, as does Mellisan's. It doesn't help that she comes off as a terrible actor.
Take the whole indecent after you kill the mace wielding bhaalspawn super orc. She shouts "NOOOOO!!!" in the most horribly and ridiculously exaggerated way. Seriously. Its just screams of bad acting. What did she think would happen? We come to a gentleman's agreement and shake hands? He was a mad half-orc and we're *both* bhaalspawn. She should have simply expressed regret but not surprise, not shouted like a maniac. In this I can't blame the voice actress. Thats the sort of line that you can't do much with because its not a realistic reaction to the situation. Regardless, it doesn't end there.
When Saradash was destroyed her reaction was...underwhelming. Considering how she reacted to you killing a insane and violent orc it just came off as insincere. What they should have done was have her express deep regret, possibly even cry, but put on a brave face as there was still more work to be done. Maybe it was just me but she seemed awfully unashamed of the fact that her attempt to "help" got all those she swore to "protect" horribly murdered. Like I said, I can't blame the voice actress too much here, the writing was horrid. Regardless, moving on! [/spoiler]
3.Change villain's reaction to her.
[Spoiler] This is a minor one, at most, but I remember growing so frustrated that two of the game's main villains said "She was up to something" and I couldn't suspect a thing, because apparently I was captain McDumbButt. I find ToB in general has far too many cut scenes that lead to things I couldn't have possibly known. Really, I can see keeping the whole orc warlord taking her away because hes suppose to be insane and paranoid (though I'd try to give examples of him acting this way prior to him taking away Mellisan to enforce this). When Balthazar (I think I'm missing an A there) does it its just...annoying. They should have had him just mention it happened and possibly even have him be the exposition that reveals that Mellisan was up to no good the whole time. Much more natural flowing then summoning fire giants back from the dead to tell you, and then you chase her down, find her, she teleports you to your own pocket plane as a demonstration of how powerful shes become then BEGIN FINAL BATTLE! After being given the choice to ask about her motivations of course.
Like I said, this is minor, but still annoying. [/spoiler]
4.Change her "past"
[spoiler] If I remember right Mellisan's whole deal was "I help the bhaalspawn and protect them because reasons and yes." She had no motivation in her fake story and that got me suspicious ASAP. It wouldn't have been hard to change this either. Say shes a cleric of Illmator, who knows how the bhaalspawn suffer and wishes to help them through it.
Better yet, have her say her child was a bhaalspawn who was killed for what he was. After that she became dedicated to making sure no other bhaalspawn suffered the way her son did, at the hands of an angry mob, riping him apart as he was set aflame and she was held back, helpless and unheeded.
Also, make the story partly true. She did have a son with Bhaal (seriously. Look at her. If I was Bhaal I'd hit that so hard she'd have twins). Her son was murdered by another spawn of Bhaal and in her grief she may have beseeched what little of Bhaal remained in this world and asked how to bring her son back, the one who was destined to be the new lord of murder, and Bhaal? He just laughed. His time was coming closer and he cared not whom his vessel was nor for his priestess's pitiful whining.
And so she hunting down the bhaalspawn who murdered her son, killed him herself, took upon her bhaal's essence and felt her son had, in some way, returned to her. She knew then what she had to do. Become the new lord of murder, forsake Bhaal for how he threw her away, and then perhaps she could even bring back her son.
After all, even chaotic evil is capable of loving their children. Mind you, at the end battle you could point out how just a bit of Bhaal's essence brought back Sarevok, that Mellisan may have been able to bring her child back the whole time but did not, that perhaps her child was not the reason, but the excuse. She used his death to make a grab for power she always wanted regardless. Such an argument would make her wroth and angry, I mean, foam at the mouth angry...And god damn would that be satisfying to say. You might even be able to offer to bring her child back yourself, something wich would only anger her more. Possibly because she never wanted to bring him back, only the power to do so, or she never thought to try. Either way, she would have to kill you now for being a smartass.
Regardless, this might turn Mellisan from a MWAHAHAHA I AM EVIL villain to a somewhat sympathetic villain. Her motivation is love, or at least her excuse is. [/spoiler]
I don't claim to be the best writer, or super awesome, but I think these few changes would greatly enhance Mellisan in terms of character and story. If you disagree, please, post your own ideas. Be it for Mellisan, an NPC, gameplay, a kit change, or whatever. Tell us what you would do different if you had the power to do so.
So what would you have done different? I'd like to make a request that this not become a debate over whats good or bad. Everyone has a right to like or hate what they want and more often then not its a matter of taste. In the same spirit of posting try to keep complaints down as well unless you have a change you think would make it better. I want this to be about expressing ideas and flexing creativity or balance skills. If its about how you would have made a fight harder, balance classes, re-write certain things, completely replace large bits, please post it and if you like someone's idea please click like so they get that warm little glow inside.
That all being said let me start with one of my biggest problems in the entire series. Melissan. Putting my ideas behind spoiler boxes, cause I'm about to do a few big text walls here.
1.Change her design.
[spoiler] One of my biggest problems with Melissan is that she was advertised everywhere. Right on the box art. Looking like a druid with a claw fetish rather then a super evil villain. Look at Sarevok, he looks like the kind of dark lord that'd make Sauron go "Daaaamn, looking good boy!". Look at Irenecus, he looks as mad as he is and as tortured as he feels. Melissan? Druid with a claw fetish. Worse of all, her face is *right there*. You could see it from the very beginning. You knew she was the final boss and were expected to just go along with it. Nothing will ruin immersion like this.
I remember back in my days on City of Heroes(God I miss that game) we had a member of our anti-hero/vigilante group who was evil. He said how evil he was out of character *constantly*. Made no attempt to hide it and was bad at hiding it in character as well, but we couldn't call him out on it. Why? Because that'd be metagaming (using out of character knowledge in character). Never mind your excuses, you got labeled as metagaming. It was the most frustrating thing ever and its basically what you go through in ToB. You *know* shes evil but part of you spends the whole time wondering if its because shes bad at hiding it or if you've had it spoiled for you already. Its immersion breaking and frustrating at the same time.
So what would I do? Change her design considerably. Consider Sarevok, remove his helmet and tattoos and you can't tell its him. Do the same with Melissan. Heck, make her look inhuman. Shes full of Bhaal essences, right? make her take on a slightly more humanoid slayer like look. Have her claw armor extend to cover her entire arm, a good portion of her upper body and her neck and mouth. Suddenly all you can see is eyes, yellow and glowing and her breasts are hidden so gender is not so obvious. Replace the feathers with horns. There you go. I think this design would be nicer looking and wouldn't ruin the surprise of her being the big bad...Well, okay. It'd still be ruined for other reasons, wich I will move onto now. [/spoiler]
2.Change her voice/dialogue.
[spoiler] Now, I want you to understand. I think her voice actoress was mostly fine. Once she revealed herself to be evil her voice was wonderful and fitting. Up til then? No. It was like Aladin trusting Jafar (I know I made a disney reference and yes I am ashamed.) Everything about the guy's voice drips of evil, as does Mellisan's. It doesn't help that she comes off as a terrible actor.
Take the whole indecent after you kill the mace wielding bhaalspawn super orc. She shouts "NOOOOO!!!" in the most horribly and ridiculously exaggerated way. Seriously. Its just screams of bad acting. What did she think would happen? We come to a gentleman's agreement and shake hands? He was a mad half-orc and we're *both* bhaalspawn. She should have simply expressed regret but not surprise, not shouted like a maniac. In this I can't blame the voice actress. Thats the sort of line that you can't do much with because its not a realistic reaction to the situation. Regardless, it doesn't end there.
When Saradash was destroyed her reaction was...underwhelming. Considering how she reacted to you killing a insane and violent orc it just came off as insincere. What they should have done was have her express deep regret, possibly even cry, but put on a brave face as there was still more work to be done. Maybe it was just me but she seemed awfully unashamed of the fact that her attempt to "help" got all those she swore to "protect" horribly murdered. Like I said, I can't blame the voice actress too much here, the writing was horrid. Regardless, moving on! [/spoiler]
3.Change villain's reaction to her.
[Spoiler] This is a minor one, at most, but I remember growing so frustrated that two of the game's main villains said "She was up to something" and I couldn't suspect a thing, because apparently I was captain McDumbButt. I find ToB in general has far too many cut scenes that lead to things I couldn't have possibly known. Really, I can see keeping the whole orc warlord taking her away because hes suppose to be insane and paranoid (though I'd try to give examples of him acting this way prior to him taking away Mellisan to enforce this). When Balthazar (I think I'm missing an A there) does it its just...annoying. They should have had him just mention it happened and possibly even have him be the exposition that reveals that Mellisan was up to no good the whole time. Much more natural flowing then summoning fire giants back from the dead to tell you, and then you chase her down, find her, she teleports you to your own pocket plane as a demonstration of how powerful shes become then BEGIN FINAL BATTLE! After being given the choice to ask about her motivations of course.
Like I said, this is minor, but still annoying. [/spoiler]
4.Change her "past"
[spoiler] If I remember right Mellisan's whole deal was "I help the bhaalspawn and protect them because reasons and yes." She had no motivation in her fake story and that got me suspicious ASAP. It wouldn't have been hard to change this either. Say shes a cleric of Illmator, who knows how the bhaalspawn suffer and wishes to help them through it.
Better yet, have her say her child was a bhaalspawn who was killed for what he was. After that she became dedicated to making sure no other bhaalspawn suffered the way her son did, at the hands of an angry mob, riping him apart as he was set aflame and she was held back, helpless and unheeded.
Also, make the story partly true. She did have a son with Bhaal (seriously. Look at her. If I was Bhaal I'd hit that so hard she'd have twins). Her son was murdered by another spawn of Bhaal and in her grief she may have beseeched what little of Bhaal remained in this world and asked how to bring her son back, the one who was destined to be the new lord of murder, and Bhaal? He just laughed. His time was coming closer and he cared not whom his vessel was nor for his priestess's pitiful whining.
And so she hunting down the bhaalspawn who murdered her son, killed him herself, took upon her bhaal's essence and felt her son had, in some way, returned to her. She knew then what she had to do. Become the new lord of murder, forsake Bhaal for how he threw her away, and then perhaps she could even bring back her son.
After all, even chaotic evil is capable of loving their children. Mind you, at the end battle you could point out how just a bit of Bhaal's essence brought back Sarevok, that Mellisan may have been able to bring her child back the whole time but did not, that perhaps her child was not the reason, but the excuse. She used his death to make a grab for power she always wanted regardless. Such an argument would make her wroth and angry, I mean, foam at the mouth angry...And god damn would that be satisfying to say. You might even be able to offer to bring her child back yourself, something wich would only anger her more. Possibly because she never wanted to bring him back, only the power to do so, or she never thought to try. Either way, she would have to kill you now for being a smartass.
Regardless, this might turn Mellisan from a MWAHAHAHA I AM EVIL villain to a somewhat sympathetic villain. Her motivation is love, or at least her excuse is. [/spoiler]
I don't claim to be the best writer, or super awesome, but I think these few changes would greatly enhance Mellisan in terms of character and story. If you disagree, please, post your own ideas. Be it for Mellisan, an NPC, gameplay, a kit change, or whatever. Tell us what you would do different if you had the power to do so.