Continuation between BG1 and BG2

[Guest Guest]

When importing a BG1 game into BG2, how much of the BG1 game gets carried over?

 

For example, how are weapon proficiencies handled (since the two games have different systems)? If Dynaheir is dead in BG1, does Minsc still speak of her as being killed by Irenicus? For that matter, is it always Minsc and Jaheira in that opening dungeon?

 

I'm debating whether to install Tutu or not. I've never played BG1 before, so in a sense I'd like to play the game as the developers intended. The use of the BG2 engine sounds really cool, but I'm worried about the Beregost crash bug (and other potential bugs). One of my main motivations for using Tutu would be to play through SCS.

 

Sorry, just rambling a bit here. If anyone has any insight I would be thankful if you could provide it.

[KIrving]

Maybe you could play the unmodded BG1 the first time through and then you will not wonder what the original game was meant to be like.

I highly recommend a tutu play through at some stage and checking out the great npc mods that are available for it.

As for bugs with tutu, I had no troubles in my recent game and I also thought that the Beregost bug was actually a vanilla BG1 bug not tutu.(I could be wrong.)

[theacefes]

When importing a BG1 game into BG2, how much of the BG1 game gets carried over?

 

For example, how are weapon proficiencies handled (since the two games have different systems)? If Dynaheir is dead in BG1, does Minsc still speak of her as being killed by Irenicus? For that matter, is it always Minsc and Jaheira in that opening dungeon?

 

I'm debating whether to install Tutu or not. I've never played BG1 before, so in a sense I'd like to play the game as the developers intended. The use of the BG2 engine sounds really cool, but I'm worried about the Beregost crash bug (and other potential bugs). One of my main motivations for using Tutu would be to play through SCS.

 

Sorry, just rambling a bit here. If anyone has any insight I would be thankful if you could provide it.

 

I would highly recommend Tutu, and while you're at it, use Easy Tutu. It creates an entirely new directory so you can still play bg1 and bg2 unaltered. I'm currently playing TuTu and I went through Beregost a few times and haven't experienced any bugs. Plus Gavin = .

 

SCS II is available for BG2, but there are also several mods available for Tutu, such as the BG1 NPC project and others.

 

Give it a shot!

[Jarno Mikkola]

Sorry to say, that in the originals, nothing much is carried over from from one to another, unless you keep the exact original class(no kit's), which gives the exact hit points, but that doesn't help much as in BG2, you can get the max by lowering the difficulty settings to low. And you get the chars stats, and a few items(Helm of Balduran eventually)...

 

That's not much, but have you thought of giving BGT(-Weidu, forum) a try? It's as compatible with SCS, as Tutu is, and it uses the same data thought the whole adventure saga(BG,BGTotSC, BG2:SoA, BG2:ToB) of course you need to have all of them installed first, but...

 

Sorry G3 forumites, if I try to convert him/her.

[Miloch]

As Jarno says, you might eventually want to check out BGT if you're concerned about continuity (it merges BG1 and BG2 and, I believe, makes an attempt at some sort of continuity). But it is a fairly complex install, and I would recommend trying BG1 and/or EasyTutu first (it's mainly a question of which engine you prefer, and which mods you want to use, if any).

[Kulyok]

If Dynaheir is dead in BG1, does Minsc still speak of her as being killed by Irenicus? For that matter, is it always Minsc and Jaheira in that opening dungeon?

 

Yes and yes. There are gaps between these games, and so far, all efforts to eliminate them on any platform have been fruitless and/or immersion breaking. I do not think any would succeed in the future, either.

[jester]

Slightly offtopic, but I think continuation is a big problem for any game developer nicely described in an interview by Feargus Urquhart for Fallout 2

 

Desslock: Fallout 2 is set approximately 80 years after the end of the original game. Why did you choose that time frame for the sequel, instead of starting it immediately after Fallout? How has our favorite little post-apocalyptic world changed since the events in the original game?

 

Feargus Urquhart: We chose the time frame because we wanted to tell a new story, not just continue the story of the player's character from Fallout 1. If we had the player continue from Fallout 1 then we would be tied to starting with him leaving the Vault and players who would have wanted to go back and kick the Overseer's ass.

 

We also chose the timeframe because we were very worried with allowing the player to continue with his character at the end of Fallout 1. We had little to no idea what level, type of character, items etc. that the player's character might have at the end of the game, so balancing a new game under those conditions would be almost impossible. We talked about normalizing the player's character against some sort of default character, but we felt that would just irritate players more than make them happy that they got to keep their characters.

 

from: Ten years of Fallout, baby

[Kulyok]

I guess it's slightly (no, not slightly at all) different: in BG2 the character *is* BG1 character a few months later; the game happens one year after BG1, the character is imported - it's supposed to be the continuation of the game.

 

I guess if they just made *all* your BG1 companions slaughtered("Like, yes, sure, you journeyed with whomever in BG1, but they're all dead now, since Irenicus specified he only needed you alive, sorry") and never introduced them in BG2, even in cameos; if they never used Imoen as a plot device, but used "Irenicus has stolen a tiny piece of your essence while you were in his dungeon, and now the hole in your soul is gaping wide" or some such, and so on - then, I believe, it would work seamlessly, or close.

[jester]

That is exactly what I mean. I hate to have characters forced on me, be it PCs and NPCs. For any continuation to work you have to get the key elements right AND get a new stripdown situation, hence no goody hunt, cue amnesia, robbed, kidnapped, under assault, freshly arrived and the only survivor.

 

BG2 handles it alright. In doubt I'd rather salvage the general "feeling", than the actual character to stay save.

 

EDIT: On a second thought, alright is still too good a word for it. After levelling (I am kidnapped not leveldrained) my character to previous levels and loosing all the deadweight I seek out and find companions I care about to find a girl I mostly don't, so not alright, but soso is a much better choice. Perhaps you could have something like the questions in Vampires:Bloodlines to let the player determine who sits in the cages and swap the NPCs around to make it work and prevent unwanted cameos.

 

Since my BG2 games are so heavily modded that they remind me more of PS:T (when it comes to the amount of reading I am doing) and there are heaps of NPCs to choose from, what the underlying game does is probably a moot point at this stage anyhow. If anything I'll stick with legends, brave adventurers that were never heard of again, but saved the day....

[Domi]

I think BG2 handles it horribly, personally. Anyways, it does not even have to be a 'small piece' and it doesn't have to be 'all are dead'. Simply new character instead of Imoen who altruistically comes to your help, and you were kidnapped alone, w/o any party members, so they are all in BG somewhre, clueless as to what have happened to you. Because with MoTB it is incredibly annoying to see how some NWN2 characters died, and some - didn't. And I am cursed somewhat because all my favs always die/dissappear and the characters I can't stand survive and clamour to join your party.

[jester]

*Spoiler*

So I assume that the only ranger dies. :-P

[Domi]

You assume correctly. Gonna have to bring a modding sledge-hammer to my run through MoTB.

[Simbul]

And I am cursed somewhat because all my favs always die/dissappear and the characters I can't stand survive and clamour to join your party.

Heh, at least they didn't resurrect Shandra

 

About BG, I also hate forcing Imoen/Jaheira/etc. upon me, when there were so many other interesting characters (much more interesting than most BG2 NPCs, imho) in BG1. But then, I sorta prefer heavily modded Tutu/BGT BG1 to modded BG2. Strange, really.

[Domi]

Yeah, but her grandfather....

[dizzyorange]

Yeah, but her grandfather....

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I suppose the continuation can be 'forced' by taking along BG2 NPCs in my BG1 party. Actually this was probably what I would have done anyway; I've gotten quite fond of the BG2 NPCs and it should be fun to finally understand some of the BG1 references that always mystify me in BG2.

 

I'm leaning heavily towards Tutu now, to play the BG1NPC mod and SCS. It is reassuring to hear others have had crash-free runs through the entire game. The Tutu readme paints the Beregost crash bug as something that is likely to happen in many games, hence my concern.

 

I'm considering playing an NPC mod for the first time, as my planned party leaves one open slot. Does anyone have suggestions for an NPC mod that they highly enjoyed?

 

My preferences are:

1. Content through the entire BG saga.

2. Thoughtful, complex, polished writing (like the Bioware NPCs)

3. Voicing

 

I am leaning towards Xan at this point, as many of you seem to have enjoyed this mod and it is one of the few that extends continously from BG1 to ToB. For those who have experience with Xan, is taking him along worth it if I don't plan to pursue a romance?