[Memnoch]

Just a general message to everyone - you're all more than welcome to post information here about ToB, but please don't include spoiler info if you can, since none of us have played the game yet. There are a couple of sites in particular that have posted spoiler info, if you are going to link to those sites please have spoiler tags on your post, ok?

Archaeon, don't be silly. Everyone makes mistakes, the key is to learn from them.

Here's today's info!


Throne of Bhaal
David Gaider (Senior Designer)
Romances: Anomen's is not longer in length, but it is longer and was more difficult to script because it has two separate paths, 'lovetalk' globals notwithstanding.

And personally I'm getting pretty tired of the whole claim at how 'unfair' it was for us to have only one option for female PC's. Sure, it would have been nice (great, in fact) to have more options...but there are just as many guys out there wanting Nalia or Mazzy to be included (if not every NPC in the game) as romances as there are girls who want another option besides Anomen, and believe me...everyone has a different idea on who would be more 'suitable'.

It'd be great if we could accommodate every player, but the plain fact is we only had time for four romance stories, period. We had wanted to include a fifth romance (Haer'Dalis, in fact), but just didn't have the time to complete it. I'm happy that we got four in with the resources we had (it is, after all, just an added bonus and not a focus of the game), and I'm happy with how Anomen's romance turned out. And, yes, Anomen's not for everyone...but neither is Viconia, Jaheira or Aerie.

Considering the time span of the expansion, fitting a new romance into it is hardly feasible. It's more important, I think, to bring the four romance plots we have to a satisfactory conclusion. As I said, it would have been nice to do more, but there's no satisfying everyone.

Well, there you go. While many might agree, many would also disagree. I've heard from fans who enjoyed Anomen thoroughly just as often as I've heard from those who hated him. People's tastes on something like this are very personal...I imagine that even had we done one or two or even three more romances there would still be those who would be incredulous at our choices.

Oh, I know. I accept the criticism and know where people are coming from. Everyone has a different idea on what they'd like to see in the game, and romances are no different. Personally, I think a lot of the reaction to Anomen comes from the fact that he's the only choice...some people were obviously expecting to have an opportunity for romance with every character.

And, again, that would have been nice to try. Had it been a focus of the game, maybe we would have gone that route...darn it, though, the game has to go and be an adventure instead of a romance.

Thanks for your comments, though. I always love passing along these posts to James and Kevin...next time we dabble in this kind of thing, maybe we'll approach it a bit differently. Who knows?

Updated NPC sounds: A few of the characters get some updated sounds...Nalia, in particular, was one I wanted to alter very badly, since as you point out she's hardly the naive little mage/thief she started out as. Didn't have room to change all the characters but we got the important ones. So no more 'For the needy!'

More dialogue and the book: We've got lots of new dialogue for Imoen in the expansion, which is nice as we would have liked to have had Imoen talk more in BG2 after you rescued her. If you're wondering if we're adding dialogue to her for BG2 itself, though, the answer is no...just the expansion.

As for the book, if you didn't like the first two you might still want to check out the Throne of Bhaal BG book when it comes out...our very own Drew Karpyshyn (one of the writers on ToB) is writing it this time around.

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