I recently purchased a copy of Baldurs Gate:Enhanced Edition and so far, I must admit that I absolutely do enjoy the aesthetic and gameplay rule changes. There have been a few inconvenient bugs but I expected at least something of that nature from what I have read already in previous posts. None of them were bad enough to ruin the game thus far but the strangest bug worth mentioning is also the most humorous. Somewhere along playing through the second chapter, a clone of Rasaad randomly appeared. Now there are two identical sun soul monks side by side throwing punches and kicks whilst screaming I WILL SHOW YOU JUSTICE!!!! And yes, the sound effect is also duplicated as well. I chuckle every time I walk by. But anyways, getting into the topic that this post is really meant to cover, I honestly expected the quest for Shoal the nereid to be modified and.... wah wah waaaaaah... it wasn't. I mean I have read posts on other sites in the past discussing different ways to go about it like having the character initiating dialogue being forced to save vs. breath weapons at a penalty or simply having Shoal turn hostile when her proposal for a kiss is rejected. I would even have accepted it being a normal attack roll against AC. But nope, still just the plain old "you have no choice but to be insta killed" bull. Really? In my opinion, this is the most absurd and certainly the most cheesy moment in the game even surpassing the ghostly web and stinking cloud orbs forming from remote locations during the final Sarevok confrontation. Bad, bad, bad plot line.

They were not allowed to change any original content, for a very good reason: it would not have stopped there. You would have ended up with a game even less like the original BG than you have now. A very good decision.

I am not insinuating that you are incorrect when I say this as I find your claim entirely plausible but I have to wonder to myself what exactly the definition of original content is to those who worked on BG:EE. The reason for this is because I am pretty sure that I have already found dialogue changes with certain original characters although it was not severe and essentially conveyed the same messages just in a slightly different way. I could be incorrect, but it appears that descriptions for original items have been changed or tweaked a bit as well. Would these not be changes to the original content? It seems like a fine line. I guess I am glad that they did not have full reign because I have seen many games I once loved torn apart by companies who later purchased the rights from the original failing company. Although in that case, it was always the "sequel" they put out that was an abomination and not a return to improve the original. And yet again, everything I hate about seeing some of my favorite game series turn into monstrosities, I actually see people celebrating in reviews and forums while I just recoil in disgust hahaha.

They were allowed to make improvements (debatable) to things like UI, fonts, icons, platform compatibility, etc, and also were allowed to fix known bugs, but they were *not* allowed to change anything about the storyline or quests. That was a legal requirement. The dialogue changes you note could have been bug fixes or grammar corrections, etc.

But this "Shoal" is not from the original BG1 or BG2. so, is free from this limitation.

Hmmm? No, Shoal is from the original BG1. I remember running into her on my very first playthrough back in 98. CHARNAME walked up to her, not knowing any better. Whoops.


But anyway, yes, the people at Beamdog weren't allowed to make any changes to the game itself. In some ways that's a good thing, in other ways it's a bit of a drag (here was I hoping Quayle might actually get a decent WIS score)

Yes she is. She is Ogre Droth's concubine in the original BG1. She is found on the Shipwreck Coast map, north of Mad Arcand. Her quest, therefore, is bound by the legal requirements.

You might find the Wikia links in http://www.gog.com/forum/baldurs_gate_series/baldurs_gate_original_vs_enhanced_edition/post4 interesting. I haven't checked their assertions myself, though; I'm just passing them on.

I can't remember the placements on the north bridge in the EE edition -- there are wandering hobgoblins and two Ogre Berserkers on that bridge in original BG -- but that wiki article about a polar bear not being in the original is misleading. You get a polar bear that is called a mountain bear. There are 3 creature files for this particular enemy, and ALL are called polar bears by default. Certain placements, as in this case, are mistakenly named. If you consider that you get the Boots of the North from Jared, it makes sense to be a polar bear.

Yeah, my error with the name, when I did the search was with Raasad not Shoal. But anyway, if Rasaad is made by BG EE (or by a previous mod) shoulb be similar case, or I'm missing something related to his custom character?

Rasaad in only available in the Enhanced Edition (not in any mods). So are Neera and Dorn. Hexxat is only avialable in BG2:EE.

I too also have the same bug where there are two Rasaads standing next to each other in Nashkel.