Author Topic: Quayle continuity  (Read 4657 times)

Offline SixOfSpades

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Quayle continuity
« on: July 25, 2011, 10:47:31 PM »
I don't know why this hasn't really come to my forebrain before now, but the more I think about it, the more clear it seems to be that Quayle in BG2 is not the same Quayle from BG1.

First off, his personality is completely different. In BG1, he's a smartassed, condescending braggart who still manages to make stupid mistakes (because, as everyone knows, short people aren't good for anything but comic-relief characters), and doesn't care whom he offends. Come BG2, and he's a reserved, polite, compassionate humanitarian, always trying to play it safe and provide a stable home for those under his care. Next, BG2 Quayle makes no mention of ever having previously met Charname, or traveled in the Sword Coast, and neither does Aerie--and her tales describing her captivity and life in the circus seem to indicate having traveled with Quayle for longer than one year, the timespan between BG1 & BG2. And finally, I'm not buying the whole transition from "I'm Chaotic Neutral, so I'll wait by this road & join the first adventuring party that comes along, because I sure do love adventuring" to "Oh, hi, I decided to settle down and own & operate this circus, and preach the gospel of my Gnomish gods to those under my employ."

Apart from the "remove Quayle portrait" component (of the . . . G3 Tweakpack?), is there any mod out there that
a) alters the BG2 and/or BG1 Quayle to smooth out their relative differences,
b) changes either character's name,
c) adds a conversation option to ask BG2 Quayle if you've met before (and get a negative response), or
d) at least acknowledges that Quayle is a rather common name among Gnomes, making having met 2 of them not a remarkable occurance?

Offline Kulyok

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2011, 11:54:57 PM »
Four 'no''s for me, or at least I haven't seen such a mod. But mod NPCs interactions/interjections in BG2 usually take note of Quayle's BG1 personality and acknowledge him as an old companion/party member(Kivan, Xan, Coran, Tiax, etc). Also, it's possible that after rescuing Aerie and feeling responsible for other circus workers Qualye's personality simply took a turn for the better.

Offline SixOfSpades

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2011, 10:44:30 PM »
it's possible that . . . Qualye's personality simply took a turn for the better.
One hell of a turn for the better. The kind of turn that would seem to suggest slipping on a Helm of Opposite Alignment, or actually taking one's court-ordered presciption medication. No, I guess BioWare really just has a thing for screwing over Gnomes, if Tiax's stats and Jan's quest are anything to judge by.

Offline Miloch

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2011, 08:05:57 AM »
You forgot to mention that one Quayle's god is Baravar and the other's is Baervan, a careless yet stupid conflation.

Offline Echon

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2011, 08:38:56 AM »
I agree with Six and much prefer the BG version of him. Baravar Cloakshadow is more fitting.

Offline Rodman49

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2011, 10:34:44 PM »
No, I guess BioWare really just has a thing for screwing over Gnomes, if Tiax's stats and Jan's quest are anything to judge by.

Sounds good to me.  I hate gnomes.

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2011, 07:02:18 PM »
In BG2, he is a Cleric/Mage (Enchanter) which is not allowed for Gnomes in conventional 2E rules! This is also different to what he was in BG1.

String ref 10204 in Icewind Gate 2, can't find it in BG2:
"When asked about his past, QUAYLE talks for a good hour about his worship of Baravar Cloakshadow, how he is well on his way to mastering sorcery, and just generally how incredibly smart he is compared to everyone else in the party.  He was apparently encouraged to strike out on his own as soon as he came of age because, as he claims, he was simply too gifted to remain in that stifling environment. You get the feeling, however, that no one was terribly broken up over his leaving. He says that he apprenticed in the arts of magic and the worship of Baravar under a gnome named Gifos, though it was not long before this teacher also sent him on his way. Since then, Quayle has wandered the Sword Coast looking for people who were willing to accept his "his wisdom and instruction." It has likely been a long walk."

Offline Reverendratbastard

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2011, 01:48:47 PM »
 
  hey, it's the icewind gate guinea pig (though that usage may be unfair to guinea pigs, since you seem to have subjected yourself to the experience)!  have you progressed in that endeavor since [by bioware forum reckoning] 5 months ago?
 
  until a transition-smoothing (or -shattering) mod comes along, my personal judgment is that BG1-Quayle undergoes a profound religious conversion (as Baravar and Baervan are in fact discrete & canonical gnomish deities)... i'll even throw in that while in Candlekeep (either sneaking in using deceptive powers granted by Baravar, or accompanying Charname) he finds a Bag of Holding full of Tomes of Leadership & Influence (resolving the odd notion that someone with a Charisma of 6 could run any organization, let alone a circus - though if he's an illegally-designed Enchanter, that could be a slightly-less-ridiculous excuse - and riffing on a closer-to-druidic-stats edge for the Baervan [portfolio: forests, nature] conversion (though the Druid class requirement of Charisma 15 has never actually made sense to me anyway)...
 
  curiously, his unexplained change of deity is sort of a reverse parallel of the published ('80, '82 and '92) design of the gnomish mythos.  Baravar (portfolio: illusions, deception) seems to have been retconned in - a decade after 5 'core' gnome-gods had been identified - to lend weight to the longstanding gnomes-were-the-only-nonhumans-who-could-be-illusionists-but-they-couldn't-be-any-other-sort-of-arcane-caster thing.  well, that and the repeated emphasis on all the most prominent gnome-gods being pranksters...
  (also added at this point were Callarduran Smoothhands [who finally provided svirfneblin representation - though understandably late since 'deep gnomes' were NPC-only for quite some time], Nebelun [portfolio: invention, seems inserted for the sake of the 'tinker gnome' aspect introduced by the Dragonlance world and/or to sidestep the previous lazy appropriation of a chunk of gnomish worshipers by the FR human pantheon's Gond [the first five gnome-gods were originally established in the Greyhawk setting]], and Gaerdal Ironhand, who seems added merely to establish that it's conceivable for a gnome to not be a prankster (the other [and not-particularly-PC-concept-friendly] exception being Urdlen, who is essentially a monstrous psychotic mole))
the lord of murder shall perish, yadda yadda yadda.

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Quayle continuity
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2011, 07:45:49 PM »
Icewind Gate 2 Delta version is quite good, Beta version is another matter. Attempts to use Bioware NPCs in this game have lead to slow-downs in certain dungeons. Slowdowns I don't understand and can't fix.

Any connection between Quayle from BG1 and Quayle from BG2 seems to be pure coincidence.

 

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