Darnoc

Yes, of course. I mean, I wouldn't get far with writing a novel about BG2 without actually playing the game constantly in order to look up this and that.

There's a reason why I create so many save games, so that it is easier for me to look a specific scene up... I often reload an older save game, look at something specific, then jump to another place in the game etc. etc.

Update:

OK, aside from correcting many mistakes, there are some new elements inside the story now.

1st: Tamoko plays now a little role - Yoshimo is her brother and the reason why he works with Irenicus and betrays Mainchar is because Mainchar drove Tamoko into madness by killing Sarevok. Now Yoshimo wants to do the same to Mainchar. First he has to witness Imoen being insane (just like Yoshimo's sister) and then he dies (or at least that was the plan Yoshimo devised together with Irenicus).

2nd: Imoen and Mainchar now have fights - like every ordinary couple in life, they do not agree on everything. Which is also my criticism at the mod created by Lord Mirrabbo - during the mod, Imoen and Mainchar never have a real fight or argument over something.

3rd: Both Imoen and Mainchar often talk about, how it's dangerous to be together like that, since their something like siblings (although biologically speaking, they aren't really - that is explained in the story), but nothing ever really happened. Now something does happen - it's perhaps also my revenge upon the paladins, I never really liked them and I think they're a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous bastards. They arrest Imoen and Mainchar and want to execute them by burning them ("inquisition" and "witch-trials" ring a bell?), the charge being of course "committment of incest".

I'm also thinking about letting Imoen lead the first worker's resistance movement or something. It's almost a inevitable development, since during the story she gets quite angry at Mainchar for not heeding the problems of his subjects - so she should actually take matters into her own hands and do something. I need to work on that, though...

Well, I've just finished reading it, and I like it! Bow.gif
Tons of DUNE references, which is cool, but I somehow wanted it to be more elaborate (in ToB, maybe?).
Who's the other guy, by the way?

So you noticed  

I will elaborate in the later parts - especially in the interludes and the epilogue. Be prepared for some nasty surprises, though. It's not going to be a happy ending, this I can promise.

Why Dune? First, because in Dune certain philosophies I also include are adressed. And if there is something like the multiverse with infinite universes in it, the universe in which "Dune" takes place of course also exists. "Dune" is of course an alternate Earth-Universe, but still, the number of universes is infinite, so it is possible that there could be a connection between the primal plane of Toril and the one of Dune, right?

Silkar Daukon, you mean? Well, he's one of the main characters in my original Fantasy novel "Melir - Part 1: Armament" (although not published - yet; finding a publisher in German is difficult, so I'm translating the whole thing into English). Actually, he's the "villain", but he isn't really the villain, it's difficult to explain. In my world, good and evil are as relative as on Earth, and from a certain point of view he could be considered a good guy, who simply does, what is necessary, although it's brutal, while the "good guys" are idiots, who hinder this necessity. And no one is completely good or evil, everyone has dirty secrets and does things, which could be considered evil. For example, the main characters are terrorists of a certain ethnic-religious group fighting for independence against an imperialistic dictatorship. But it's not clear, who is really good or evil. Even the so called "free and democratic" nations on my world are selfish and do lots of dirty business (for example supporting dictatorships in the poorer parts of my world, selling weapons to different parties in civil wars etc.). The terrorists are all religious fanatics, who believe they act in "the name of Sratua" (their name for "god") and kill innocent people with bombs or in raids. But the Empire they're fighting is not better, using systematic genocide to get the better of those rebellious people.

On the German Gothic forums there is a heavy discussion since years, which game is better: Gothic 2 or Morrowind. And everyone, I really mean everyone, brings forth the following arguments against Morrowind and in favor of Gothic:

- MW world is dead, Gothic world is alive (you can not only interact with your world to a great deal in Gothic, the world itself changes; characters do things, animals do things, for example hunt, eat, sleep etc.; characters and animals react to their surroundings; if, for example, you draw your weapon in a public place, this will certainly bring forth a reaction by the population)

- Characters in MW are unreal, they have no life; in Gothic they do (in Gothic all characters, even animals, have a daily routine, which they follow; for humans this could be: stand up, eat breakfast, wash face, go to work, work, chat sometimes, drink a beer and eat dinner, work on, eat supper, go back to house, sit around a little, drink beer, chat, play music, smoke joints, go to bed)

- Voice acting and gestures in Gothic improves the quality of the characters compared to MW (in Gothic all characters have a voice and gestures)

And that is the reason why they think Morrowind is boring and the Gothic-Series is interesting. I do not agree fully with them, since I also think the world of Morrowind has more complexity in it (for example books) and is a lot huger, so there is more to explore and you also have a lot more freedom. But real Gothic freaks always answer to this: Quality comes before quantity. Perhaps they're right.

So, if you are bored by Morrowind, I recommend the Gothic-Series as an alternative. Soon Gothic 3 will appear on the market - somewhen in 2006, date is not clear.

If you want another reason why Gothic was not that popular, take that the control was a true nightmare, especially in the first one.

I never had much problems with it, to be honest, I actually believe that their method of "control" is actually in the long run better than most I have seen in other games, especially the improved version of Gothic 2 is very good in my opinion. And "control" is not a criterium with me in RPGs. It is story, atmosphere, setting, characters... And those were all very good, even superb in my opinion. The second one was way better with the controls, by the way.

OK, perhaps I am a little biased, since I am German-speaking and actually quite proud of Pyranha Bytes' achievement. Not many good things come from Germany and Gothic certainly is one. And I just love the band "In Extremo", which appears in the first Gothic^^ *goes rolling himself a swampweed-joint, anyone wanna have some, eh?*