It's a bit hard to discover it for the first time now, yes. Graphics obviously are ...symbolic. And I use this term to stay nice to BG. Mostly items graphics though, maps were drawn by hand so a picture doesn't really age badly lol.
Few minors systems are archaic but overall BG2 really doesn't stand far away from modern RPG. Like....there's a reason there's a sequel to it. Mostly due to people who wrote the dialogues + quests. It was the main feature for BG.
Oh dont get me wrong, i never tryed to convince you that BG2 is "old piece of s**t" or anything like that ...
Im simply stating reasons for why this game is not atractive for myself, nothing more.
We can see it totally different and i believe its fine ... but those are mine reasons, you can either understand them or not ... aswell as i can, or not understand yours ... but that is i would guess probably all we can do.
The thing is having a Stronghold has to "make sense" in the story.
Could be ...
But what makes sence for developer, could not make sence for player. :-/
You know i may not play BG2 ... but i played a lot of other RPGs and i noticed long ago, that developers tend to tune all the places to "match the class" ...
And i have no reason to believe Larian (who put symbol of Shar on Shadowhearts forehead, and still try to look like her worshiping its perfectly hidden secret) is any different.
For example:
When you look at that list, that was written in OP ... and focus on last two sentences specificaly:
Thief Thieves' Guild Stronghold
Bard Running the Five Flagons
> This is exactly wasted opourtunity in my eyes ... since if i would like to play Thief, i want my surrounding *not* knowing that im Thief ... that would mean to get litteraly any other building, than something called "Thieves' Guild Stronghold". :-/
I admit that i have litteraly no idea how "Thieves' Guild Stronghold"
looked like (i googled
and it ended kinda how i imagined it), so maybe my opinion here is blurred a little ... but *i* imagine perfect building for my Thief to be a Tavern, maybe with some backroom, where shady deals can be made ...
And as you can see, there is a Tavern ... but only for Bards. :-/
And that is precisely what im talking about here, CHOICES! OPTIONS!
To be completely honest?
If every class get at least two, or three building to choose from, where:
1) One would be speficifcly for that Specialization
(Crypt for Necromancer, Fighting pits for Barbarian, Castle for Palain, Church for Cleric, Temple for Monk, Grove for Druid, etc.)
2) Another one would be something a little more common, more for Classes
(Library for casting classes, Stronghold with training grounds for meele classes, Tavern with some space to socialize for talking classes, some old Warehouse for i dunno hoarders
, etc.)
3) And third one will be simple, boring, generic house in town ...
(Wich honestly is probably not even necesary, but it would be nice to have some option for characters who just want to have some place they can call home, withou being hero all the time.)
Where first option will be tied to your max leveled specialisation ... second options should be all presented at all time ... and third one aswell, just for fun of it. :P
I would be totally happy!
It that case world is no longer shaped by your class choice, yet it matters.
In BG2 they used it as a pretext for quests + story building kind of thing. You were gaining power, influence etc and your possession was a proof of it. You needed it to face your enemy. You needed allies.
The fact it's bind to a class makes sense after me. Kinda adds to replayability and makes it easier to tell a specific story. Doesn't have to be, granted. It can be done in a lot of different ways mechanically but HOW would it work is not my point( for now).
That is still possible, if you ask me ...
In one case, you would be gaining power as Barbarian who is getting thrust of other Barbarians ...
In other case, you would be gaining power as non-Barbarian, who need to do *much more*, to get to that same level of their thrust.
But i just cant see how choice of your class could make it totally unable to work your way up ...
Except some obvious examples ... like Necromancer would probably not stand as High Cleric of Kelemvor, in his Church
... so *some* limitations would be welcome ... even tho, in game where you can play Benevolent Light Cleric of Shar, well ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
IF ( and that's a very big IF, they said they were going for ACT 1+2+3 kind of thing similar to DOS2 in which case "housing" makes little sense). But IF they go for housing in any way it should after me be a pretext to some kind of quests, dialogues, anything. If it's housing for the sake of it then it's kinda a waste of time. On the bright side Larian doesn't seem to add systems for the sake of doing it so there's that.
I would i agree on that ...
In BG2 the paste of the story was way slower. At the very start the games literally tells you : You need this, this and this to go forward so fuck off. You're staying in Baldur's Gate for a while.
In BG3 for now we are supposed to be in a hurry to remove the tadpole. This idea of urgency ( regardless of it being real or not gameplay wise ) makes any developed way of housing have little sense. If the main quests keeps pushing us forward as fast as possible ( even if it's only theoretical) then I would straight up be against any Stronghold. If it doesn't then... why not.
There's a couple of way of doing it where it could be fun. Especially with their graphics ^^.
Well ... i presume that *if* (and its a very big if, even tho not as big if as your IF) we will be dealing with some housing ... it would be after our tadpolisation will be resolved, at least so much so we would be enough time to address other issues.
