Thunder Storms

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Wed Jun 05, 2002 4:36 pm

Thunder Storms (Spam-o-Rama)

Sorry if this is just wasting space on the board, but I just thought it was slightly odd, and I wonder if it's happened to anyone else...?

So I was doing the De' Arnise Keep, right? The usual party- Jahiera, Minsc, Anomen, Yoshimo, PC Totemic Druid, and Jan.

Well, we're sitting on the roof of the Keep so we can kill the dogs and make the soup to distract Umberhulks. Well, it just so happens it was raining (It was raining in real-life too, so I shouldn't have been on the computer anyway.

I wonder if this was a sign?) and then all of a sudden, Yoshimo is struck by lightning. Odd and unlikely, but it did. I waved it off as bad luck and continued on (without healing Yoshimo).

So I send Minsc and Anomen ahead to turn the wheel that will allow Nalia's guards in the main gate. Just as random as it was before, a bolt of lightning comes down and hits Anomen. Wierd, huh? He's injured, but I had him cast Cure Critical Wounds on himself and kept playing. HOWEVER, that's not the end of it.

It was only a few seconds after did Yoshimo's portrait black out, signaling he was dead. I had no idea what happened because I was focused on Minsc and Anomen. By this time, I was like "What the !@#$ ???" So I scrolled up a little on my dialogue menu, and, of course, it read

"Yoshmo: Lightning"
"Yoshimo: Death"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Anyone else have the gods sending lightning bolts at Yoshi to help my mentallyslow-but-godchild PC figure out he's bad?

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Jun 05, 2002 5:43 pm

I've taken the "spam-o-rama" part of the thread title out. @Aqua-chan, Buck Satan-cha...Buck does not permit spamming outside the SYM (Speak Your Mind) forums. If you want to spam, by all means, check it out.

Caster13 · Post by **Caster13** » Wed Jun 05, 2002 6:14 pm

Jaheira was struck by lightning. TWICE!

Heh. I quickly casted healing spells on here after the second strike =P

-Caster

jerubal · Post by **jerubal** » Wed Jun 05, 2002 6:45 pm

There's only one group of people stupid enough to wander around encased in metal during a thunder storm. You really have no right to complain.

mynamewasstolen · Post by **mynamewasstolen** » Thu Jun 06, 2002 2:42 am

It happened to me the first time in Tales of the Sword Coast. It happens pretty often actually... It must be the whole Bhaal Spawn thing.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Thu Jun 06, 2002 2:47 am

If i´m not mistaken the lightning part is random, and it didn´t happend to me in BG2 that much.
In BG1 on the other hand, you get hit less often (in my experience)
but lighning there is a killer.

Weird that you got hit 3/4 times in a row

Nae'run · Post by **Nae'run** » Thu Jun 06, 2002 4:42 am

Wow, now that is what happened, once in BG1 i was walking through a storm or something like that, and suddenly i saw that minsc lost about 40 hp.... I thought that I was attacked, but no attacker... hmmm

I didn't knew that there was a lightning aspect in the game!

Auch

Perroxx · Post by **Perroxx** » Thu Jun 06, 2002 4:43 am

hm, wierd... i've NEVER had lightning during my storms...

am i not good enough to draw the Gods attention...?

Aqua-chan · Post by **Aqua-chan** » Thu Jun 06, 2002 7:41 am

At first I thought it was just a glitch or something. You know, like the game was buggin' out and it sent waaaay to many lightning bolts my way on purpse. I guess I'll never find out now...

But it was kind of funny, seing as the gods already don't like Yoshimo and he hasn't even stabbed me in the back yet.

On another note, sorry 'bout that, Fable. I wasn't thinking for a minute there.

As a matter-of-fact, I haven't been thinking a lot lately. If I had been, then I wouldn't have been sitting in the rain with four guys wearing metal armor in the first place (But of course, it's the guy with the leather that gets killed).

boo's daddy · Post by **boo's daddy** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:42 am

This happened to me last night for the first time. I laughed out loud. I must congratulate the game designers on a groovy piece of badness, though I might not feel so well disposed had I not recently done a quick-save.

Interesting that no "damage taken" dialogue appeared. I just got
"Keldorn: Lightning: Keldorn
Keldorn: Death"

I wonder if it's an instant kill if you're wearing particularly kinds of armour. Anyone know?

Cuchulain82 · Post by **Cuchulain82** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:42 am

Do you really think that it would be an insta-kill? That seems like a rather ignominious ending for the child of Bhaal.

However, if I were a designer I would cackle with glee thinking about how a gamer could get so far in the game, just to have their character get zapped randomly... another reason to hit the "q" button every so often!

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 7:53 am

Insta-kill does seem a little...final, for a joke. I have to wonder if the developers first do a check to make sure you have an easy means for raising the dead, such a cleric with the properly spell memorized, in advance.

I've had that lightning attack hit characters in my parties at one time or another, but never as a kill. Can't say I would object to seeing it happen to Anomen if he wasn't in my party, however; though that would require his stepping away from the tavern where he pontificates and broods.

boo's daddy · Post by **boo's daddy** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:47 am

Well, Keldorn was down to about half his hit points (we'd just completed the first sortie through Bodhi's lair after all), so maybe that was a factor. I assumed that it was an instant kill because there was no "Damage taken: X" in the dialogue box.

As for designers' badness, who knows? I've often thought how reality throws much more randomness at us than is ever represented in media like films, books etc. If I was writing a book or script I would be really tempted to throw in a meaningless ending, like the protagonist getting run over by a bus as he crosses the road to confront the Boss Baddie. Maybe Jan Jansen was on the design team for BG2 and had a similar thought.

(Having said that, I'm sure I've seen a film that ended like this but can't remember what it was)

Nimiety · Post by **Nimiety** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:28 am

I remember reading (and I don't remember where now) that there was a certain programming variable that they had to put in to allow some lightning to "mood up" the game and make it seem a little stormier, and that the probability that a character being hit by lightning was around 1/100 or 1/1000, so they had figured it was rare enough to be worth getting the stormier atmosphere.

It may have been UserUnfriendly here... maybe.

It is part of the game though and not Mr. Jansen throwing his weight around for leaving him behind... Ha!

N...

flounder · Post by **flounder** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:41 pm

I've been struck by lightning multiple times on the same character many times myself. Once I was playing and REALLY into it, of course forgot to save for some time, it killed one of my NPC's, and because I had went so far w/o saving, I just had to grin and say "thank you sir, may I have another."

On a side note: 2 Boo's Daddy, out of curiosity was the film called "Love and Fate"?

boo's daddy · Post by **boo's daddy** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:38 am

Doesn't ring any bells. I have a feeling it was one of those films you watch accidentally, usually when you come in from the pub, that captures you with its sheer bizarreness and you don't know at the time what it's called. A favourite of these was Polanski's Cul-de-Sac.

Back to randomness: another instance last night. Decided to take out Mae-Var's guild (to see if my dualled Kensai/Theif would get the stronghold) and when I entered from the street, the barman (can't remember his name) just keeled over, presumably from a heart attack, as soon as we entered.

Got 14xp for it

flounder · Post by **flounder** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 6:20 am

Ha, ha! So the barkeep was so terrified at the site of (insert name here) he just keeled over. That's funny. I've never had anything like that happen, but that's got to be kind of cool.

I was just curious because a good friend mine actually directed that film.