Ironworks Gaming Forum - Latest news on Throne of Bhaal -updated regularly

Finally, another update (and a bit of a look back at BG2 as well).

PlanetBaldursGate (where I source this information from) hadn't had any news for a while because the Black Isle boards have been down. But here's the latest.

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Throne of Bhaal
Kevin Martens (Lead Designer)
Jan Jansen being chaotic neutral alignment and the Lissa story line: People of all alignments fall in love. Even a chaotic evil person could easily do everything in his power to save the woman he loved and her daughter. Love transcends alignment. Of course, once he was with her, that doesn't necessarily mean that a CE person would make a better husband than the person he saved her from.

In Jan's case, Lissa is his lifelong love and definitely the biggest regret of his life. Though this isn't necessarily made clear in the game, she is the reason that he left home and began his adventures in the first place. Also, though I think I made it too subtle, Jaella could be his daughter. He was with Lissa before Vaelag took her away and the girl could be his.

To make a long story short, I would consider a youth in a game like this to be unformed as far as alignment goes and it is the experiences that he/she goes through in early life that forms their alignment. Lissa leaving him is one of the reasons that Jan is CN, if not the main reason. If she had stayed with him, I suspect he would have been neutral or neutral good. The Jansen family pull might have kept the good part out of the equation however.

BTW: regarding this plot, originally, the plot was going to take you to the Library of Athkatla, where Jan would stumble upon a book that opened a portal into the realm of the Hidden. The Hidden's realm was going to be full of intellectual puzzles and riddles and one would have to prove one's intellect in order to gain audience with the Hidden.

As far as the Hidden goes, he has ties with the illithids and with an Illumnati-style organization that recruits in secret throughout Amn. The Hidden himself is being tracked by githyanki bounty hunters, although I never clarified exactly why this was for the player.

Why Jan’s plot was cut: Simply because it was far too complicated and big for a quest that only people who took Jan would have access to. Plus, I kept using all of puzzle ideas in other dungeons. I liked the fact that the current implementation of the Hidden made so many people wonder what's going on. It just makes the world seem richer with an undercurrent of intrigue.
David Gaider (Senior Designer)
Jan Jansen being chaotic neutral alignment and the cut plot line: I don't think CN characters need to be pigeon-holed as erratic and psychotic. There is lots of wiggle-room in any alignment for personal playing style, and I wouldn't let anyone tell me that an alignment is a particular way. I've seen LG played as both soft-spoken, righteous do-gooder and merciless inquisitor who sees evil everywhere...and both were valid.

To me, a Chaotic character is one who doesn't abide by law, structure or authority. Jan is a thief...and shows many times that he enjoys being disruptive and flouting authority. I couldn't imagine law and order having any impact on him whatsoever.

And Neutral is someone whose self-interest out-weighs their desire to do good, but not so much that they do out-right evil (although doing either isn't beyond them...it just wouldn't be for the same reasons as someone who is Good or Evil). It can also mean an interest in maintaining a balance (but I tend to mentally relegate that to True Neutral only...and if any alignment is hard to portray, it's that one). Jan may have some good tendencies, but he is still a thief...and he happily goes along with the party regardless of the acts they commit. He might not like out-right evil acts, but I imagine him rolling his eyes at overt acts of charity, too. Keep in mind that Jan talks numerous times about being a con-man...he just doesn't put it in those words.

So I think CN fits Jan just fine.

I agree that your interpretation of CN is fair enough, too. But that doesn't have to be all it is, and that's my only point.

There was a lot of quests and ideas that never made it into the game. Some were cut because they couldn't be made to work. As for the rest, there came a point where we just had to say 'enough!'...or the game would never have gotten finished.

As I recall, the big ending to Jan's quest was shortened by Kevin simply to reduce its overall complexity...there wasn't enough time to write the dialogue or create the extra areas that were needed for the Hidden's more intricate plot.
Jonathan Epp (Quality Assurance)
Weapons changing hands when turning (animations): This is done for a reason. The animations for characters are only rendered for the left facings, and are mirrored for the right facings (or is it the other way around? - ah, whatever). There are already something like 300,000 frames of animations for your characters. If we rendered for both ways, that number would double, which would take a lot more cd space, and a lot more RAM when running the game.

I'm not an animator, I don't really know any more details on it than that - so don't ask me!

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