Baldur's Gate 2 sent us on a lot of unusual detours: running a playhouse, going undercover in the Underdark disguised as a drow, becoming trapped inside a magically-transformed circus tent. I love 'em all, but now I know we missed out on possibly the most audacious detour—one that would have involved time travel, alternate dimensions and the return of BG1 villain Sarevok.
James Ohlen is the man behind this quest-that-was-not-to-be. The co-lead designer on Baldur's Gate 2—now taking a break from games to recover from burnout—had an understandable desire: "I wanted to have a time travel plot."
Athkatla's market area is Waukeen's Promenade, the first location you visit when you escape the twisted laboratory right at the start of Baldur's Gate 2. It's by no means a tiny area, and I imagine quite a lot would need have been added, removed and tweaked to make it fit a version of the future where the mad child of a dead god was in charge of a whole region—though not, it's worth noting, the region in which BG2 takes place.
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It's hard not to feel like we missed out—but every big RPG has unfinished ideas like this, sitting on the cutting room floor. At some point, you've got to say, as Martens did, that it's enough. And BG2 certainly had no dearth of fantastic quests. Still, let's pour one out for the alternate dimension where horrible Sarevok got everything he wanted.
Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.
Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt