is it just me or does bg2 have a gloomy setting .. i thought tht bg had a chirpy setting ... it had more outdoor thingss... and they where NICE forests not these haunted woods crap bg2 has... but i still thk bg2 is good they just need new forest scenery...

Yeah, it is pretty d*mn hard to even see where you can walk and where you can't in BG2. Stupid shadow forest.

I preferred the BG1 woods too. BG2 had almost no forests in it, I really missed the pointless wandering.

am i the only one that thinks bg1 and 2 should have merged into one seamless world/map?your right about the difference apart from minsc theres not that much light relief!(if u know what i mean!!);)

your right they should do that..... i try to avoid going in forests cause they dark gloomy and depressing and you cant see where you going... and minsc is the only one with regular funny coments.

I like the BG2 forests, I think that both BG1 and its sequel are as good as each other, sure the shadow forest is a bit gloomy but perhaps you didn't notice it is a Shadow, Shadow Forest and therfor meant to be gloomy and after completeing the quest there it becomes easier to navigate and less gloomy

still in bg1 there was alot of pleasent happy forests... and the druid forest suked to. and the windspear hills was kinda c@#p also the ONLY good one is suldensar forests. wich that comes at the end of the game and it isnt all that big

Let's just say that you don't feel 'home' if you are an elf :)

my point exactly

Elf, eh?

Druid Grove - Trolls live there, what wouls you expect?
Windspear Hills - Not really a forest.
The North Forest and Forest of Tethir - I think they're pretty good, so is the Underdark Exit.
Small Teeth Pass - A paved forest?

I don't find BG2 particularly gloomy. Okay, I never played BG1 - perhaps it was particularly cheerful.
If you want gloomy, go play Diablo.

I love the forest around Keep De'Arnise. It has moose and pheasants and cute little bunnies.

How about the land around the Windspear Hills?
Majestic peaks, wide canyons for easy walking and a pretty little Faerie Grove on the side. Okay, I admit they have an entrance to a dungeon and a cabin with the mangled corpse of a ranger inside, but you can't have everything. ;)

And of course there's the Umar Hills. A pleasant town with a nice village where the people are friendly - even the monsters!
Agreed, people do tend to meet gruesome and bloody deaths on occasion, but that's part of the charm. I like the place and the river makes for some pleasant scenery.

People also mentioned Minsc as the only cheerful NPC.
What about Jan Jansen? I *never* leave home with Jan. His quips have creased me up on many occasions and left me laughing for the rest of the session. :lol:

Nope, sorry guys. I've gotta disagree with you on this one.
BG2 has gloomy areas on occasion, but I don't find it gloomy overall.

[This message has been edited by Hardcase Von Crudd (edited June 30, 2002).]

bg1 was always cheerful fun and NEVER gloomy ( exemot in dungeuon) and i have played diablo and d. 2 it realy gloomy but bg2 need to chirp up . . . . ther isnt half the number of inocent forest that there should be . . . .

It is a bit gloomy, thats true, but I like it that way, it fits the story! Well you guys are right, there must come a special edition or something, in wich you could travel to all places from BG1 BG2 and TOB, and keep your party, that would rock!

I love the gloomy shadow forest, it looks so peacefull after the quests :)

I don't mind the darker settings, but I don't like the fact that in some areas,(the Temple Ruins area pops to mind) I cannot walk in 70% of the space! That's how it feels to me, anyway.

Stefanina

Does anyone realise here...that the Story is very 'gloomy' and dark in BG2, and therefore the Setting would be very gloomy too?
I think Bioware did an extremely good job of making the setting relevant to the story.

You said it Gopher!

I think one of the things people are forgetting is that BG1 wasn't all chirp and nature, it got gloomier as the plot progressed. What IMO made BG1 so much better than BG2 was the incredible plot progression. You could really see your character just wandering through the forests with nothing much to do, iron crisis here, mad priest there etc etc. But as the plot progressed, we learnt more and more about the nature of our character, and who was hunting us and such, and the game did change to reflect that, culminating in the great (and almost superior to Amn) city of Baldur's Gate. Who can forget the underground of the city, or the maze with the terribly hard (at the time) skel. warriors, which lead to the final battle. The whole thing reaked of gloominess once the plot became revealed.

While BG2 did almost the opposite. Firstly, they basically gave away the majority of the plot, besides some major details, at the very beginning, and second, we started in the gloomy atmosphere, it was almost as if it got less and less gloomy.... well... that is until we got to hell, but you get my drift? I know, I'll go stand in the corner....

Here - Imagine you are the protagonist for a moment - ** spoilers galore **

and you suddenly wake up in a cage in some dank dungeon, with some Irenicus dude alternately cooking you or hammering you down with repeated magics. Scary looking hooks, razors, saws and chains are clanging around you. You escape by killing a few dozen beasties, then start having these weird dreams, you walk into some bar and this guy starts screaming then explodes, you begin changing at random into this big ugly juggernaut called the slayer, and you gradually discover you are one of the chosen offspring of the God of Murder?!!?! No WONDER it seems a bit gloomy! My assassin has NOT had an easy couple of months, here! :grin:

You want cheery? Go buy PowerPuff Girls for yer X-Box. :p

[This message has been edited by Nivek The Mad (edited July 02, 2002).]

The story isn't really all that gloomy. A few vampires and a freaky dungeon in the beginning, and that's that. But all those dark dungeons (no, not the comic) and forests and other places you can't see where you're going are simply annoying.

Well if you think about it: BG1 wandering around with no real reason you have the time to look around at the forests you now wander in search of yourself

BG2 some psycho has taken your childhood friend/sister and stolen her soul and soon yours, you must seek answers in dark places with even darker motives and search onward in the cold uninviting wilderness in hope of aid

No real reason? How about stopping the iron crisis and preventing war between Amn and Baldur's Gate? Guess the player needs to do all that, as Elminster and friends are smoking pipe instead of helping out (with their levels it would be easy, and take next to no time). It always buggered me that you had to run around killing stuff in forests, simply because following the main plot you don't get enough experience. :rolleyes:

I always thought the banter between the NPCs in SoA is quite cheery and that is lacking in the original. Edwin is funny, Anomen is to a certain degree. Viconia's pulling tactics in an evil party are also amusing. I've never found Minsc the funniest NPC but he is amusing as is Jan until he says "Turnip reflex" for the 100th time. No totally wrong methinks BG2 is not gloomy.

The best two things (IMHO) about BG2 are the murder mystery in the bridge district and the copper coronet. The coronet's music is great and it -feels- like a fantasy adventurer inn should. The bridge stuff is just.. I don't know I love that part of the game its got this thick atmosphere. But these are gloomy. They are gritty. They are nasty.

Shadow forest is just dark (Except for the bit where you turn the mirror, thats well done with the huge horde coming at you getting ready to overwhelm you...)

BG2 is a much darker story. In BG1, you travelled in search of yourself and as was said earlier, once you discover, the story gets darker. In BG2, you already know who you are, so the story would be a bit darker from the start.

As Parvini said, the banter between the NPCs does lift the story up somewhat, and at times is quite humorous.

I do not think the zones are especially gloomy, except for the shadow forest before you convert it.