DF - Cut pages from review, Final thoughts on the ending, Durlag’s tower

Cut pages

Some of these paragraphs are disorganized. Usually try to brainstorm what to say then slot those in. Everything here didn't make the cut. My Nietzsche thoughts I was so close to adding, but decided not to. Sigh...

after finishing with the character creation. You are launched into the world of Forgotten Realm(A campaign setting from DND)(link) lands primarily in the Sword Coast. As the ward to a mage Gorion. Who took you in when you were but a baby. You both live in the library fortress of Candlekeep. Where life is peaceful here, with a childhood friend along for the ride.

Sadly these Questioning them yields no results. And after defending yourself, Gorion tells you they must flee. Leaving the bastion which once stood as a place of respite and comfort. So away they go off into the night. To hopefully find answers and what lies beyond the castle walls.

I found it more enriching and worthwhile to explore here than my time exploring the wasteland in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. Where back then I would be scared to explore, here I felt the difficulty was reasonably balanced in tune to your levels compared to the static levels in the old Fallout games. Not a knock against Interplay & Black Isle works at all. Just a point of comparison.

Due to certain events unraveling upon leaving Candlekeep leaving me intrigued. An unexpected transition emerges filling my adventurer spirit with awe and wanderlust.  Now I have the absolute freedom to explore east, south, west, and north. Without restrictions to invisible walls. Each place in the world map is different. An unnamed territory, a town, a keep, a city, caves, etc. You can explore whenever and wherever you wish. All with their own dangers and opportunities.

Opening paragraph below

*”He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster…when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you…”* - *Friedrich Nietzcshe*

Nietzsche’s quote is displayed before you see the main menu in Baldurs Gate 1 Enhanced Edition(BG1). And its interesting when games offer a real world quote instead of a fictional character's iconic lines. Like say Kaine from Nier Replicant. In her infamous speech(link) to Weiss you can hear the sheer emotion she delivers to remarkable effect. By comparison we don’t hear any voices for Nietzsche. Simply a black background. His lines are given ominously in white(link). Yet both, I would say accomplishes the goal engaging the player to be intrigued and perhaps niggle the part of their critical thinking brain. Finding meaning/context can be easy/difficult. For the former, you need to play the game to witness her iconic lines, yet for the latter it is demanding to ask the player to think deeply. Can be simple yet in the opposite vein not so simple. Other’s(link) have taken the task of finding meaning to Nietzsche’s quote. An endeavor I find fascinating since each individual offers their own thoughts and perspective. For me, I couldn’t give my proper thoughts on the matter since I feel it would be inadequate without first playing the game. So I’ll save that in the very end.

Final paragraph below

And so we are now at the final leg of our journey. And I did mention earlier what I thought of Nietzsche’s quote huh. In my honest opinion. I believe the quote is **very fitting if not clever.** If we were to contextualize it first, to my experience after the end credits are rolling. Then for ‘monsters,’ I think everytime I fight enemies am I desensitized to the point it becomes rinse and repeat? Where my actions become daily motions as I rend and tear every bandit or foolish creature who dares strike at me? And am I a monster for choosing to eliminate those whose paths diverge? I’ve encountered NPC’s who seek my destruction. Encountered slimy people who sought nothing but selfish greed. And encountered those who are morally gray and hard to discern. Playing as an evil paladin who strives to be a lawful good guy and help everyone in need naively. Is paradoxical and ironic to my class beliefs. Yet what remains after looking at the ‘abyss?’ What am I? After trying so hard not to become a monster? NPC’s call me a ‘monster’ at times during alternate timelines where I decided to stray from the light path and go full evil. Yet quick loading puts me right back in my canon timeline to the result of the same NPC thanking me profusely. Nietzsche’s quote reminded me of Yoko Taro. A man who’s works primarily hit the topics of existential nihilism. Specifically when he talks about Philosophies of Violence(link). Here he says:

*“One of these restrictions or invisible walls is the demand to create games in which we kill things. That’s the objective for a vast majority of games out on the market. If we’re not killing, we’re gaining an advantage over someone. What do we do in sports games? You defeat your opponent and strive to become the champs. There are so many examples of similar games and, actually, it appears that consumers prefer this mechanic.”*

To add context and not take his words out of context. His quote is in regards to the newest installment of Drakengard 3 and violence. A series full of killing endlessly, wacky cast, beyond insane villains and bloo- oof I should head back to BG1. Anyways! The two authors share remarkably similar wavelengths. “Monster,” “abyss,” “fights'' to “kill,” “advantage,” “defeat,” and “champs.” Thus, perhaps both authors are trying to deliver us a message asking us to be wary of our actions and seek reflection by means of not losing your innermost ‘self.’ In the act of killing, what message are we sending to the player and by extension their actions they undertake. Are we the monster who has gazed long into the abyss to become the champ? Defeating our enemies using overwhelming force constantly and thinking little of the act itself? If we try to seek various interpretations given by other users from philosophy stack exchange, in the web, friends and family perhaps then we might come across answers enlightening to ponder.
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Spoilers below. Only for those who beat BG1!
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BG1 Final Boss my experience on the fight

I think it was the hardest fight for me period. Like I got destroyed lol. But somehow I won on my 2nd try??? like my PC died but my party was able to move on after the credits but I couldn't continue since my screen told me I had to reload. So I did the fight multiple times to win with all party members and win with alll of them dead lol. Prolly took me less than 10 attempts iirc Final boss - I did not expect there would be traps. So I stayed and buffed my party with haste, shield, blur mirror image, globe and well all the buffs I could before starting the fight. Even had max II monster summons as well. Made imoen poke at Sravok then hightailed it back to front door. Stink cloud? iirc was a pain to deal with. But somehow enemy mage teleports very close to my party so I clocked him out, thenm tvarok, Was able to get tomoe to flee and not aid Svarog so that helps. Alone against my party Sravok did high damage on normal. Where I had to watch a bit for my PC to not die. Even when I had 115 HP. Best armor and gear. Man was still able to deal goo dmg. So I kited my PC around so Dorn can tank some hits. Since he was all alone it didn't take too much for him to die. But the setup and slight manuevering took sometime to do. I think going as a full party against his party is deadly since Sravok targets you almost always, while his buddies run interference.

Pots def helped. I bought defense, fortitude, speed, giant, heroism and I had spare invulnerability pots. Wasn't able to use them much early game since I barely had the gold. Used them sparingly in midgame, and used some of them during endgame. Should've used paralyze wand more ahhh would've helped in durlags tower lol

Personal experience with BG series -

I’ve been wanting to play through the Baldur’s gate series before Larian’s announcement they were working on Baldur's Gate 3(BG3). And even longer when I started playing Fallout 1 back in 2019. I’ve heard of the series mentioned before quite fondly and praised consistently. Although, I’ve never gotten the chance to try it. Until now. And I’ve been told countless times you don’t need to strictly play the 90s BG games to play BG3 and I think that’s fair. However, as a lorenut and as someone who wants to start from the beginning to see how the series evolved I’ve decided to go to the very start with BG1 in an effort to inform and educate others who are curious if this remarkable classic can hold up in modern times. Especially since the passage of time being 20+ years can be difficult to broadly reach newcomers and perhaps veterans in the genre. And the enhanced edition offers lots of love to revisit this classic. Well… If you can ignore some slight annoyances of the modified version of Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Honestly my satisfaction grew even more by watching the recent Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves film too since the cast mentioned topics, organizations, and places of interest which connect to BG1. Fitting since they’re both set in the same Forgotten Realm world. Adding background context like Harpers, Red wizards, Sword Coast literally made me go oooh(insert leo meme). While not required, my enthusiasm skyrocketed once I saw these details again.

Thoughts on the ending of BG1 -
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OMG NIetzsche’s quote goes full circle hard when you as the player character discover who you really are. As a demigod to the god of murder. And the main antagonist being your half brother. JFC. Where we grew up with love and care with Gorion. Saravok didn’t. He lived without love and has gazed into the abyss to become a monster. Our dreams we have intermittently during chapters tempt us to becoming evil, yet in the end by being **good** We are rewarded depending on our reputation. And this is fascinating because Imoen bless her heart and continues to bug me and care for me from my nightmarish dreams. She is our moral compass(if we answer her honestly and allay our true thoughts to her) and in effect we are given a gentle push to become righteous and good. Which is funny as hell because im a lawful good blackguard lmao. By comparison we don’t see Saravok’s childhood or upbringing. The most we get is Tamoko who pleads with us to spare his life even though she doesn’t go into exact detail. And Sarevok’s diary which finally dumps a huge amount of info and insight into his life before the events of BG1. Tamoko’s role is interesting. She could fight against us before fighting Sarevok but I was able to persuade her not to and in the end she walked away. Her dialogue teased that she loves Sarevok but would not go into more detail leading me to believe perhaps she is to what Imoen is to me. A moral compass? Regardless its interesting conversing with her and I wonder if we’ll see her again in BG2. In the end, Nietzsche’s quote could’ve been us who becomes a monster and we could’ve become the main antagonist with Sarevok easily becoming the protagonist who slays us. Ultimately in meme form. BG1 was a bro slaying a bro. Or if I played a female. A sister who slew her half bro lmao.

https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/The_Diary_of_Sarevok
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Tamoko

Durlag Tower Thoughts -

Love the puzzles, but I kid you not I facepalmed so hard once I saw the solutions. I got two solutions out of the four warders in the first floor(blind) and had an easier time from then on. Really awesome multi floor dungeon full of puzzles and traps. Epic loot here I love and the boss gimmick of having to break the mirror is ingenious.

Cut links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiMinixSXII - dungeons and dragons honor among thieves trailer
https://opencritic.com/game/9136/baldurs-gate-3
https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/19805/what-did-nietzsche-mean-by-monsters-and-the-abyss - quote interpretation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvyvQfn30uE - Kaine speech - Not a spoiler since this scene is given when players start the game before you reach the menu.
https://youtu.be/LD6xCLlF5dY?t=150 - Yoko Taro on Philosophies of Violence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate:_Enhanced_Edition#Gameplay