Gunslinger
Mildly Dipped
Case in point: Baldur's Gate by Philip Athans.
Now, you've got to keep in mind that I write this with tongue in check. I'm personally a fan of Baldur's Gate, it's add-on Tales of the Sword Coast, it's sequel Shadows of Amn, and even the Icewind Dale series. All those games based on the Infinity engine are merely cult favorites, despite it's success, holding a major but exclusive fan base. And these fans seem to think that Baldur's Gate is and all ways will be the pinacle of D&D gaming in a PC game (don't even try to mention ToEE around a forum board filled with BG fans).
So you'd figure that you'd receive a biased report from BG fan, but that's not the case with me. I've got a broader horizon than the average fan, both in literature and gaming of all genres.
So I'm at the airport one day, taking a plane from Nevada back to California. It isn't such a long trip but I'd rather have something else to do than make small talk with the guy sitting next to me. I go into a gift shop to pick up some candy and maybe something to read. The small book rack had a dismal selection: romance (completely out of the question), a John Sandford thriller (I didn't have the heart to wade through that), "The Green Mile" by Stephen King (I had already read it, reminded me a bit of the Shawshank Redemption but I liked it), and last, "Baldur's Gate" by Philip Athans.
Now, I'm skeptical. At the time, I wasn't aware of the Warcraft books that weren't too shabby based on their premises. The only book I had read that was based on a game was Raymond Feist's "Krondor: The Betrayal" which was based on the game "Betrayal at Krondor". Now, Raymond Feist is an excellent writer in his own right (I had read all his books, I just had to give it a chance) and Betrayal at Krondor was a very innovative game with a stellar plot.
But I didn't just let my prior experience be my only judge. The Forgotten Realms setting was really interesting to me, moreso than the Grewyhawk setting. I had read all the books by R.A. Salvatore and they seemed pretty cool to me (I was in seventh grade at the time). The only problem was that I had only read the R.A. Salvatore books so many of the settings and politics of Faerun were still foreign to me. There were so many Forgotten Realms books at the time and it would take me forever to keep up. And a collection wasn't something I was looking forward to start (I've got a collection of more than sixty Star Wars books and I'm irrationaly fearful of falling behind).
So I just picked up Baldur's Gates on these whims.
I should've known better. I got on the plane and turned to the back page to read about the author (something I always do). Reading the first few words, "An evil genius bent on world domination" (I swear, his exact words!" I could tell that Mr. Athans wasn't a professional. That's not to say that I don't enjoy some goofiness in my books, it's just that the description of evil genius bent on world domination was so cliched, it made me cough "poser" at Mr. Athans.
Then I got into the inside of the book, plunging deeper into the abyss. The main character, Abdel, was a ferocious mercenary with nary an interesting thought, which was a far cry away from the Paladin hero I had played. Oh well. Then I read the death scene of Gorion. Funny, I don't recall mercenaries killing Gorion. Now, how could ol' Philip Athans get that wrong? I mean, the game's start shows how Gorion died. They take one in-game cinematic to *show* how Gorion dies (ambused by Sarevok and his half-ogre cronies).
This was but one of the many discrepencies in the game.
Then, the book progresses to Abdel recruiting allies. First are Xzar and Montaron. Second are Khalid and Jaheira. Athans manages to turn Xzar into a clairvoyant idiot savant who mutters a few prophetic sayings, Montaron into a good friend, Khalid into an arrogant Harper (Harper he was, arrogant he wasn't), and Jaheira into Abdel's love interest when she was already the wife of Khalid. Of course, Mr. Athans kills of Montaron and Xzar (no surprise), but then he has the gall to have Khalid suddenly ambushed by jelly-zombies that turns the Harper into one of their kind. I mean, it was so sudden and random. I figured Athans compromised the integrity of the original story line so that he could support his own willy-nilly love story.
Okay, so at this point, I'm completely disgusted with Athans. I'm wondering if he actually played the game past the beginning. The numerous NPC companions in the game are just about ignored (except for Yeslick who makes a very short cameo) and most of the plot is obscured or simplified.
But the thing that had me throwing the book against the wall (I had returned home at this point) was the ending. It was sooo fucking short. Maybe Athans was nearing his deadline. Or maybe he's just a lame writer. Either one of those cases. Anywho, Athans spends more time explaining the battle scene with Abdel and Sarevok (with lame choreography like: "Abdel dodged Sarevok's blade and did a twirling, two-handed sword plant across his enemy's sword) than trying to clarify the plot and story line. It basically leaves the story feeling unfinished.
The thing that really pisses me off is that Athans had the entire story-line provided for him. The plot is the hard thing. He just had to do the easy thing, which is just to get his material together and write. I'm an amateur writer myself and plot is the only thing that's hard, writing is a breeze once you start. I mean, it's such an easy job. You get to sit down and play a game, summarize what happened, and get paid for it. Either Athans didn't actually finish the game or he felt that the storyline needed more beefing up by adding lame choreography and off-sided love interest.
After this, I don't have the heart to read the sequel, Shadows of Amn by the same author, much less anything in the Forgotten Realms setting. Fare thee well, Forgotten Realms, I hardly want to know you after this,
Now, you've got to keep in mind that I write this with tongue in check. I'm personally a fan of Baldur's Gate, it's add-on Tales of the Sword Coast, it's sequel Shadows of Amn, and even the Icewind Dale series. All those games based on the Infinity engine are merely cult favorites, despite it's success, holding a major but exclusive fan base. And these fans seem to think that Baldur's Gate is and all ways will be the pinacle of D&D gaming in a PC game (don't even try to mention ToEE around a forum board filled with BG fans).
So you'd figure that you'd receive a biased report from BG fan, but that's not the case with me. I've got a broader horizon than the average fan, both in literature and gaming of all genres.
So I'm at the airport one day, taking a plane from Nevada back to California. It isn't such a long trip but I'd rather have something else to do than make small talk with the guy sitting next to me. I go into a gift shop to pick up some candy and maybe something to read. The small book rack had a dismal selection: romance (completely out of the question), a John Sandford thriller (I didn't have the heart to wade through that), "The Green Mile" by Stephen King (I had already read it, reminded me a bit of the Shawshank Redemption but I liked it), and last, "Baldur's Gate" by Philip Athans.
Now, I'm skeptical. At the time, I wasn't aware of the Warcraft books that weren't too shabby based on their premises. The only book I had read that was based on a game was Raymond Feist's "Krondor: The Betrayal" which was based on the game "Betrayal at Krondor". Now, Raymond Feist is an excellent writer in his own right (I had read all his books, I just had to give it a chance) and Betrayal at Krondor was a very innovative game with a stellar plot.
But I didn't just let my prior experience be my only judge. The Forgotten Realms setting was really interesting to me, moreso than the Grewyhawk setting. I had read all the books by R.A. Salvatore and they seemed pretty cool to me (I was in seventh grade at the time). The only problem was that I had only read the R.A. Salvatore books so many of the settings and politics of Faerun were still foreign to me. There were so many Forgotten Realms books at the time and it would take me forever to keep up. And a collection wasn't something I was looking forward to start (I've got a collection of more than sixty Star Wars books and I'm irrationaly fearful of falling behind).
So I just picked up Baldur's Gates on these whims.
I should've known better. I got on the plane and turned to the back page to read about the author (something I always do). Reading the first few words, "An evil genius bent on world domination" (I swear, his exact words!" I could tell that Mr. Athans wasn't a professional. That's not to say that I don't enjoy some goofiness in my books, it's just that the description of evil genius bent on world domination was so cliched, it made me cough "poser" at Mr. Athans.
Then I got into the inside of the book, plunging deeper into the abyss. The main character, Abdel, was a ferocious mercenary with nary an interesting thought, which was a far cry away from the Paladin hero I had played. Oh well. Then I read the death scene of Gorion. Funny, I don't recall mercenaries killing Gorion. Now, how could ol' Philip Athans get that wrong? I mean, the game's start shows how Gorion died. They take one in-game cinematic to *show* how Gorion dies (ambused by Sarevok and his half-ogre cronies).
This was but one of the many discrepencies in the game.
Then, the book progresses to Abdel recruiting allies. First are Xzar and Montaron. Second are Khalid and Jaheira. Athans manages to turn Xzar into a clairvoyant idiot savant who mutters a few prophetic sayings, Montaron into a good friend, Khalid into an arrogant Harper (Harper he was, arrogant he wasn't), and Jaheira into Abdel's love interest when she was already the wife of Khalid. Of course, Mr. Athans kills of Montaron and Xzar (no surprise), but then he has the gall to have Khalid suddenly ambushed by jelly-zombies that turns the Harper into one of their kind. I mean, it was so sudden and random. I figured Athans compromised the integrity of the original story line so that he could support his own willy-nilly love story.
Okay, so at this point, I'm completely disgusted with Athans. I'm wondering if he actually played the game past the beginning. The numerous NPC companions in the game are just about ignored (except for Yeslick who makes a very short cameo) and most of the plot is obscured or simplified.
But the thing that had me throwing the book against the wall (I had returned home at this point) was the ending. It was sooo fucking short. Maybe Athans was nearing his deadline. Or maybe he's just a lame writer. Either one of those cases. Anywho, Athans spends more time explaining the battle scene with Abdel and Sarevok (with lame choreography like: "Abdel dodged Sarevok's blade and did a twirling, two-handed sword plant across his enemy's sword) than trying to clarify the plot and story line. It basically leaves the story feeling unfinished.
The thing that really pisses me off is that Athans had the entire story-line provided for him. The plot is the hard thing. He just had to do the easy thing, which is just to get his material together and write. I'm an amateur writer myself and plot is the only thing that's hard, writing is a breeze once you start. I mean, it's such an easy job. You get to sit down and play a game, summarize what happened, and get paid for it. Either Athans didn't actually finish the game or he felt that the storyline needed more beefing up by adding lame choreography and off-sided love interest.
After this, I don't have the heart to read the sequel, Shadows of Amn by the same author, much less anything in the Forgotten Realms setting. Fare thee well, Forgotten Realms, I hardly want to know you after this,
I wouldn't mind "The Lone Wanderers" as a book 
