Newsgroup: it.comp.giochi.rpg
Titolo: Un'altra intervista su BGII: ToB

Da rpgvault
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal Interview
April 04, 2001 
 Your life in the stronghold of Candlekeep was a peaceful one under
the eye of your kindly mentor, Gorion. But in an instant, it changed.
Gorion was dead, sacrificing himself to save you, and you found
yourself involved with powerful forces you did not understand. While
searching for the hidden secrets of your heritage, you solved a
sinister plot, saved the great city of Baldur's Gate from war with its
neighbor, Amn, and prevented the return to life of your father Bhaal,
the god of murder, by defeating your half-brother in a climactic
battle. Then, still seeking to learn about your past, you became
embroiled in an even more epic adventure that ranged into different
lands and even a different plane before you found and defeated an even
more imposing adversary. 
In the upcoming Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, your
epic tale will finally end. You will uncover the mysteries of your
dark heritage, unleash monstrously powerful abilities and engage in
another exhilarating adventure that will result in the fulfillment of
your ultimate destiny. The moment the product was announced last
month, it sparked tremendous interest among the series' huge fan base,
and that interest is sure to grow during the next few months as the
title progresses toward release. Being huge fans and deeply interested
ourselves, we were very pleased when we were able to track down Lead
Designer Kevin Martens in the Edmonton, Alberta offices of developer
BioWare for this extensive and enlightening Baldur's Gate II: Throne
of Bhaal Interview.
Jonric: To begin with, we've seen references to Throne of Bhaal that
talk about both an Add-In and an Add-On. Please explain about these
and the difference. 
 Kevin Martens: The Add-In section is a massive dungeon complex called
The Watcher's Keep. When you install Throne of Bhaal, the area is
added to your existing Shadows of Amn map. You can play it whenever
you access to it although you should have an average party level of at
least 10 to venture in. The Watcher's Keep makes up approximately half
of the expansion, and can be accessed from both Shadows of Amn and
Throne of Bhaal. The area is on both maps.
The Add-On section continues the main story after the final
confrontation in Shadows of Amn. An Ill-wind sweeps across the Sword
Coast and the party drives southward in an attempt to learn more about
the Prophecy of Alaundo and to find his or her place (as a Child of
Bhaal) in that prophecy. We give you an entire new WorldMap with tons
of stuff to do. This new map is made up of Southern Tethyr and
Northern Calimshan. Just like the transition from BG1 to BG2,
everything is new.
Jonric: How does Throne of Bhaal mesh with Shadows of Amn? Is it an
extension of the original story, a series of side quests or a mix of
both?
Kevin Martens: As far as playing the Add-On Section goes, we have
several options:
1) You can import from your final save in Shadows of Amn. Like BG1,
this is just before the end encounter. All of the equipment that
you've loaded yourself out with for the final battle will be imported
over into Throne of Bhaal. Alternately, you can do the final battle
and the game will flow directly in Throne of Bhaal from the end movie
of Shadows of Amn.
2) We have tons of importation options. You can import from any other
Shadows of Amn save games. If you left something behind or have not
yet finished Shadows of Amn, you can still import into Throne of
Bhaal. You can also import any of your created characters into the
game. Any characters that are below two million XP will be bumped up
and be given a bag of holding full of appropriately powerful goodies.
We insure that you will be at an appropriate level to be able to face
the new challenges in the Add-On section regardless of where you've
imported from.
3) You can start a new game in Throne of Bhaal - you can go through
the character creation just like in Shadows of Amn, including new
options like the Wild Mage, which is also available from the start of
Shadows of Amn. You will build a two million XP character who will
also be given tons of spells and items appropriate to his or her class
and/or level. 
4) All of these import or new game options give you access, in your
new stronghold, to all of the Shadows of Amn characters who are not
dead. There is also a new joinable-NPC who you meet in your new
stronghold.
In short, you have options. Approximately half of the expansion takes
place in Shadows of Amn, although it is also accessible in Throne of
Bhaal. So, anyone who's worried about items or tying up loose ends
should take some time there and gather up everything you want to take
with you before moving on. If you're not interested in this, we always
make sure that you have enough good loot to make it through the game,
regardless of what you have when you start the Add-On section.
Jonric: What led to the decision to end the Bhaal spawn's story cycle
instead of completing the trilogy that was originally planned? And how
will exporting to NWN work? 
Kevin Martens: The Child of Bhaal Saga has been going for 300 hours of
play, split over one enormous game, one expansion pack, and one even
bigger game. It's drawing to its logical conclusion. That conclusion,
I must say, is an epic in and of itself. The expansion appears to be
about 40 hours long - 30 to 60 depending on play style - and it ends
the Child of Bhaal Saga in style. 
 As far as importing characters into NWN goes, I don't think it's been
completely decided, though I suspect that the characters will be run
through a filter so that they arrive in NWN at an appropriate level of
balance.
Jonric: Is there anything more that you might be willing to reveal
about the new area that you mentioned earlier, the Dungeon of
Watcher's Keep?
Kevin Martens: Here is a bit of a teaser from the introduction that
the player sees when he/she reaches the outskirts of the Watcher's
Keep area: 
Rumors of ancient ruins and incredible treasures often reach the ears
of the party as they travel the length of the Sword Coast, but no tale
is so lucrative as that of Watcher's Keep. The ruin still stands, it
is said, and a religious order known as the Knights of the Vigil have
made a call wide and far for heroes to aid their dangerous cause.
Details are scarce, and curiosity leads the party quickly to the glade
of the Keep itself, a deserted place that whispers in the wind of the
most ancient evils…
Jonric: In terms of the storyline, how far along do the new areas fit
in? Approximately what levels should your characters be before it's
reasonable to venture into them?
Kevin Martens: For the Add-On section, which continues the main
storyline, you'll naturally want to be quite high level. Similar to
the transition of Baldur's Gate to Shadows of Amn, we automatically
set you to a high level of experience as well as outfitting your
character with appropriately powerful items to be able to face the new
challenges.
For the Add-In section, which can be played at anytime, we added
several layers of scripting for the dungeon, specifically the first
three levels, to balance the challenge according to you party.
Basically, you'll want to be a minimum average party level of 10 to
even approach the dungeon. Basically, parties can attempt the first
few levels as early as Chapter 2. The dungeon can and will appeal to
people of any level. 
Jonric: Will you be borrowing and adapting any more game play elements
from the 3rd Edition rules? 
 
Kevin Martens: Our High Level Abilities certainly have elements of 3rd
Edition Feats, although the 2nd Edition High Level Campaign Sourcebook
has similar types of powers. A couple of examples would be Whirlwind
Attack, which temporarily sets a warrior's number of attacks to 10,
with a THAC0 penalty, or Deathblow, which allows the warrior to slay
low level opponents with a single blow due to a lifetime of battle and
martial experience.
Jonric: What options if any will players who import their parties from
Shadows of Amn have in terms of being able to modify their player
characters or the composition of their parties?
Kevin Martens: An imported character will remain identical, including
equipment, and the player can change the same things that he or she
could when importing into Shadows of Amn. Party composition can be
completely changed. In the player's Abyssal Stronghold, they can, at
will, summon any previous Shadows of Amn characters who are not dead.
These characters or any existing party members can be asked to wait in
the stronghold and the player switch party members in and out at will.
This allows players to have a simple means of seeing and playing with
all of our complex characters as well as allowing them to tackle any
challenge with a variety of party compositions if they so wish.

 the stronghold and the player switch party members in and out at will.
Questo è carino.
--
Ciao - Pibaro
pib...@libero.it
ICQ n. 57584065
Planescape: Torment. Italian translation project
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