"History of Blah Blah Blah"

Remove all ads!

Am I the only one who completely and utterly ignores all the "histories" in the game? You come across so many "Histories of" books and scrolls that it just bogs down the game having to stop and read each individual one - especially when they drone on and on about this town or that king (yawn, getting sleepy just thinking about them). The Forgotten Realms just does not interest me, as far as its history. So about a third of the way through Icewind Dale, I just started ignoring them, and I haven't looked back. I haven't read a single one in BG2. Am I the only one bored by these little texts in the game? I feel guilty and bad and wrong and ungrateful for not reading them, like I'm hurting the game designers' feelings or something. Like they care. God, I'm such a dork.

And will this have any consequences for me later on (i.e., is there important, quest-relevant info in these histories that my characters need to know)? Or are they the filler and fluff they appear to be?

 

Yes, they are fillers to add some history to the setting. You don't have to read them, they are there for those who want some depth in the game.

 

In CRPGs they're useless, unless you WANT to read them. In P&P it's quite necessary and important to read books about the region you're traveling in or about to travel. Each piece of information COULD be useful and your mage normally just freaks out finding a library od some sort.

 

Ya know, ever since BG1 I have never read one of those books. I recall a few in BG1 having entertaining stories, but more often than not, its just boring filler.

 

BTW
BG2 is based on books right? can someone direct me to some information about it?

 

Well I for one know little about the forgotten realms, so I look at each story at least once. My only gripe is that there are sooo many duplicate copies in the game, and really none of the stories have any meaning in the game world as I remember it. Anyway, (plug for sorcerer) it's a lot more convenient to read forgotten realms history on this site as Taluntain has a large section of info on the subject. I don't know, I guess I feel it allows the player to get into the game world more if he knows something about it.

 

Well I read some of the and found them reasonably interesting, because they give the story a wee bit more `depth´ (I´m a Tolkien freak and I read even the Silmarillion several times, so I´m battle hardened).

Playing BG-2 the second time time they started to be really tedious so I ignored them.
I still do so.

 

Cool, very good! Just read the History of Myth Drannor. Tal may I ask where you got that info? I've grown a bit leery of all info about Myth Drannor due to the fact that there are so many versions of what happened.

 

Holy cow Taluntain! How did you get that? They actually gave it for free? Most companies would not do that!

Are there any other like products? I'm looking for Hellbound: The Blood War right now but am out of luck.

 

Hmmm, I tried to surf the site but couldn't get anything else. Is there some kind of "trick" to it?

 

I believe the books add a little role-playing aspect to the game. I haven't read all of the history books, but I have read many of them. I do have to agree that they aren't action packed or entirely well written, but that is realistic. They are just kind of F.Y.I. (If you care)

 

The books are a nice adicion to the game,but its nothing there to help you in the game. You just get to know more about the world of BG II, I use Shadow keep the read the books in the game, they are the same of BG I but the Book about Thetir was remove and that is a good thing since that country have now a new King and Queen.
Besides not everthing in there is to help you.