Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Here's where all things related to Book II are being discussed!
Post Reply
smeghead
Initiate
Posts: 8
Joined: May 12th, 2010, 1:24 pm

Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Post by smeghead »

As much as I like Books 1 & 2, it would be nice if it was more like Baldur's Gate. Let me specify how :

1. The towns are really empty in Book2. There are no NPCs wandering the streets to talk to (they're mute) :(

2. There are very few houses to walk into that are not (a) empty (b) one of the shop-types. (it started off good with Wendy and the quest in East Willow, but then all the other towns seemed to have just the shops in them.) I'd like it where there are 10 or more houses, each populated with NPCs (yes, plural!!) and all of them have quests for you (sometimes more than 1). Port Kuudad is borderline what I'm talking about, but it still felt "empty" to me somehow. We need more things like the captain drunk in the street.

If anyone remembers the big city of Baldur's Gate, you'll remember lots of houses, NPCs, inns that were full of people - not just the innkeeper. Basically, I'd like more NPCs, quests and "specials" to give the game more depth.

I know it's asking for a lot, but if it's not possible could we have a map editor, that lets us design our own campaign? Did I hear BW mention this might be a possibility for Book 3? Then we can design our own campaigns and post them online. :D

Still, just finished Book 2 today, and really enjoyed it. The big reveal about the Orakur at the end was nice (no spoilers don't worry!!) - even though it wasn't exactly original - reminded me of the early Might and Magic series.

Speaking of M&M, here's a thought - why not scrap the quick travel option?? Yes, that's right, get rid of it completely. In its place I'd have stables in all the major cities where you can buy a trip on a horse to another city with stables for a small sum of gold (more for distant cities). It works in exactly the same way as Quick Travel, but can only be used in cities (because you can't quick travel when in dungeons anyway), and is a bit more realistic. Plus it gives you the option of having a different shop type. You could even add balloon rides or ship rides in ports.

What do you think? :?:


/end of post. There is no more text down here. Please stop reading.
User avatar
Drixx
Fellowcraft Apprentice
Posts: 47
Joined: May 31st, 2009, 4:45 am

Re: Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Post by Drixx »

One of the biggest things that small indie dev teams have to watch out for is feature creep. I think for book 2, BW mentioned that a lot of tools were created to help make content generation easier ... so I think, book 2 sales allowing, book 3 will be massive.

I'm really hoping for an editor also. The things this community would be able to dream up would be outstanding.
Randomizer
Captain Magnate
Captain Magnate
Posts: 1469
Joined: December 11th, 2007, 6:51 am
Location: Wandering the Rift

Re: Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Post by Randomizer »

There aren't more NPCs to talk to because except for shopkeepers and the main quest NPCS they were all added at the end. The game had already taken too long to create so things were left out.
Krafen
Council Member
Posts: 163
Joined: January 25th, 2008, 11:34 am

Re: Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Post by Krafen »

I believe this topic needs a spoiler tag.
User avatar
TheSlue
Initiate
Posts: 8
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 3:18 pm

Re: Make the towns more like Baldur's Gate!!

Post by TheSlue »

Yeah I got a similar feeling when I was running around the cities... Port Kuudad wasn't really filled either. I remember walking into an inn somewhere in the slums of Baldur's Gate and some drunk fools insulted my main character and challenged him to a duel. It would be cool to see that sort of thing in Eschalon.
Post Reply