Hello everyone!

Have any of you noticed any odd patterns in the IE games? Whether it's the story, gameplay, or something else? I'll break the ice:

BG 1 & 2: The Sword Coast has a child killer epidemic
BG 2: Every female character (except Viconia) has braids

IWD 1: The game is obsessed with virgins

Such things are not endemic to I.E. games. As for braids, only in BG2. None have braids in BG1.

Not particularly for IE games, but people calling others "fools" generally have a bleak future.

BG2: I wonder how the hell Imoen so easily escaped from the 'prison' when we didn't take her back to the party.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha !!!
Hilarious!

:)

Really? That's your contribution? Such bitterness. You should be careful.

I'm not sure what you mean by that first part.

"Fool! Now we'll need another mule!"

Isn't it just the same guy in both games? Or maybe there are others I'm forgetting.

Here's one: There seems to always be some class or build that is more powerful than the others.

In Baldur's Gate 1: Archers, especially with movement being slow and the prevalence of things like Arrows of Detonation. (I wish Throne of Bhaal had them so that I could use them with Greater Deathblow or Smite to make them affect big areas.)

In Baldur's Gate 2: Mages and Sorcerers, mainly due to all the powerful spells in the game (Project Image, Mordenkainen's Sword, Time Stop, Chain Contingency) combined with the fact that they can tank better than fighters with their spells.

In Icewind Dale: Clerics, as undead are abundant, and scrolls are scarce. Clerics, unlike Mages, automatically learn their spells, so they don't need to look for scrolls. (In the Enhanced Edition and in IWD2, Sorcerers exist and are quite useful because they, like Clerics, don't need to find scrolls; they learn their spells just by reaching the correct levels.)

Some other AD&D games have dominant classes as well. For example:

Dungeon Hack: Clerics, for the same reasons as IWD (minus undead being common), plus you get spells to nullify many of the dangers present. You can even negate the need to find food with a spell! Also, Spiritual Hammer is *really* good in this particular game.

Secret of the Silver Blades: From what I hear, giants are common and rangers get a huge damage bonus against them.

Pools of Darkness: High levels favor spellcasters here, especially since they can bypass enemy magic resistance at high levels. (This also applies to Dark Queen of Krynn.)

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands: Fighter types benefit from high Strength scores and one particular weapon that makes all your attacks steal HP from the enemy. Psionicists get a few powerful abilities (Disintegrate and Mass Dominate) that are not level gated, so you can learn them the first time you level up (instead of having to wait for high levels to learn them).

Child killers in...

Baldur's Gate 1:

Neb - A serial killer who resides in prison. He disturbingly know how to escape the prison easily.

The Talonites - They are close to the bridge to Baldur's Gate and were conspiring to murder a 12 year old girl

Ankhegs - A farmer by the entrance to Baldur's Gate will ask you to retrieve his son. His son was killed by ankhegs and you are charged with bringing his body back to the father.

The spider quest - On your way to Cloakwood, a young man by a waterfall will ask you to help rescue his brother. Turns out his brother is actually dead and you have to bring his body back to finish the quest.

Durlag - Went insane and murdered his family. I think it's suggested that the dopplegangers killed his kids before Durlag went mad.

Church of Umberlee - A priest's son was playing near a church of Umberlee and wandered in by accident. The child was killed for trespassing. Another quest where you have to recover a dead child's body.

Baldur's Gate 2:

Neb - Makes a cameo. If I remember correctly the quest that leads to fighting him is given to you by the church of Helm after the unseeing eye quest.

Slavers - If or when you lay siege to the slaver compound in the slums district in Athkatla, you are able to rescue several children. It's probable that these aren't the first or last kids to be kidnapped for labour. Any child captured this way will either be killed by dangerous conditions, or die trying to escape their captors.

Jan's relative - If Jan sticks around long enough in your party, you will eventually get a quest where you have to go to his house in the slums district. There's a girl (I forgot how she's related to Jan) with an illness in her brain. If you don't recruit Jan to finish the quest it's probable the girl will perish. Edit: I forgot to mention that the illness itself is unnatural.

Paladin at the graveyard - A paladin in the graveyard district mourns his son whom he unfortunately wasn't able to save.

Little Man - In the graveyard district at night the ghost of a gnome boy will approach you and ask for his teddy bear named Little Man. He was killed by a dwarven burglar and the villain can be found in the Copper Coronet in the backrooms.

ToB - Various Bhaalspawn have acquired wealth, power, and armies and attempt to achieve godhood through megadeath. Saradush and all of it's civilians are eventually slaughtered. The Bhaalspawn conflict isn't limited to this area and it's safe to assume that various hamlets, villages, and towns are eventually razed.

Those are the ones I can remember.

Wow, I guess you're right. There are tons of murdered kids in these games.

Actually, the doppelgangers killed and replaced his entire family. He just killed the doppelgangers. Either way, his children were murdered, though I think both of them were adults at the time.