History Trivia / BaldursGate

** There was going to be a Platform/PlayStation port of the first ''Baldur's Gate''. A Platform/Dreamcast port was also planned.

** There was going to be a Platform/PlayStation port of the first ''Baldur's Gate''. A Platform/SegaDreamcast port was also planned.

** There was going to be a UsefulNotes/PlayStation port of the first ''Baldur's Gate''. A UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast port was also planned.

** There was going to be a UsefulNotes/PlayStation port of the first ''Baldur's Gate''.

* OldShame: Not the games, but rather the novelizations. Reportedly, Philip Athans was dismayed at the state the novels were released in, as they were first drafts based on early game development notes supplied by [=BioWare=]. He submitted his drafts to the publisher with the expectation that they would ask for editing and corrections, but the publisher decided to publish the novels as-is.

* TheWikiRule: The [[http://baldursgate.wikia.com/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate_Wiki Baldur's Gate Wiki]].

* NamesTheSame: The ProfessionalWrestling promotion Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} also had an Eye of Tyr, although there it was presented as a Myth/{{Norse Mytholog|y}}ical artifact that could be used to control minds.

* PreOrderBonus: In the UK, some pre-orders of the game came with a copy of VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}.

** Several quests were cut from ''II'' due to time constraints, which includes Haer'Dalis being framed for murder, and the kidnapping of Boo. The Unfinished Business mod restores several of them.

* FanNickname:
** Charname[[note]]From the code used in the scripts to stand in for their player-given name[[/note]] for the Bhaalspawn; kensage for a dual-classed kensai/mage; swashy for a swashbuckler.
** "Abduh", for the novel protagonist Abdel Adrian. Emphasis on the "[[DumbMuscle duh]]".

** Prior to the Larian Studios game, there were at least two prior attempts at ''Baldur's Gate III'':
*** The first one, subtitled ''The Black Hound'', was being developed under Creator/BlackIsleStudios alongside ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'', with both games sharing the "Jefferson" UsefulNotes/GameEngine. The story did not feature any of the characters or plotlines from the prior games, instead it had connections to ''VideoGame/IcewindDale II''. Both games were nearly finished, but Interplay suddenly cancelled ''The Black Hound'' and ''Van Buren'' in 2003 and shifted resources toward ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance Dark Alliance II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FalloutBrotherhoodOfSteel Brotherhood Of Steel 2]]'', of which only the former was released before Interplay declared bankruptcy.
*** Several years later, Atari wanted Obsidian to follow up ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' with ''Baldur's Gate III''. Unlike ''The Black Hound'' this would have continued plotlines and characters from the first two games. Josh Sawyer would only agree to it if Atari gave them a reasonable development schedule and enough money to legitimately finance the product. Atari grumbled over the demands, but eventually agreed since ''Baldur's Gate'' was such a well-known property that they would easily make their money back. Unfortunately, Atari ran into severe economic difficulties and ended up losing the D&D license, and nothing became of the game.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: It's commonly passed around that Nalia can become Minsc's witch, if Aerie doesn't. However, [[http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php?topic=17522.0 this is actually part of her romance mod]] and not part of the base game.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Alorgoth, the ArcVillain of Rasaad's personal quests and Rasaad's ArchEnemy, is technically native to the tabletop version of ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''; as such, ''Enhanced Edition'' creators [=BeamDog=] needed their permission to use him. They were given it on the condition that [[PlotArmor at no point was he allowed to die]]. The [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge nature of Rasaad's personal storyline]] meshed poorly with this, and not only was Alorgoth [[KarmaHoudini allowed to get off scot-free with no repurcussions for his actions]] and [[NeverFoundTheBody get away from situations]] [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat which should be impossible to escape from]], but actually [[TheBadGuyWins press the advantage and have Rasaad killed]]. What makes this situation even worse is that Alorgoth is an AscendedExtra by lore standards, while other ''Forgotten Realms'' personalities who were much more important (and, not helping much, heroic) than him were allowed to be killed, including ''[[IdealHero Drizzt do'Urden]]''. You could well say that Rasaad's storyline was ScrewedByTheLawyers.

** ''Shadows of Amn'''s companions underwent numerous cuts and changes:
*** Valygar and Haer'Dalis were meant to have romance content for female player characters.
*** Valygar was also going to be involved with Suna Seni at the Copper Coronet, and Haer'Dalis was going to have a quest where he gets accused of the murder of Acton Balthis, which is why the Balthis Estate serves no purpose in the final game. Both of these were restored in the "Unfinished Business" mod.
*** Solaufein was meant to be a recruitable character, but that was dropped at the last minute.
*** Minsc was going to have a sidequest where Boo would be kidnapped and must be found. This could not be implemented in time, as the quest would have required a new portrait and voice files for Minsc to account for Boo's absence. The "Unfinished Business" mod adds this quest back into the game.
*** A sidequest related to Aerie and the loss of her wings. The quest would have ended either in turning Aerie into a bird, fulfilling her desire to have wings again at the cost of nearly everything else she has, or by convincing her to finally move on, in which case she would have become a stronger and more confident character with her voice set changing to match. While the quest didn't make the game, the idea of a "hardened" voice set for Aerie was realized in ''Throne of Bhaal''.
*** Viconia had plans for a greater role in the Underdark section. She would have betrayed the party to Matron Mother Ardulace, only to assist the party in escaping when she finds out that Ardulace planned to sacrifice her as well.
*** An unused line for Yoshimo exists for entering Hell at the finale of the game, suggesting that he was meant to stick around after Spellhold at one point.
*** Some indications are that Garren Windspear's child (a male, Tarr, if your PC was female; a daughter, Iltha, if your PC was male) was possibly [[http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19051/bg2-malchor-harpell meant to be another romance option]] and also recruitable.
*** One change that had implications on the main quest was Imoen's planned death at Spellhold. The dream sequences were meant to serve as {{foreshadowing}}, and her death was to prod players into acting more ruthlessly and take full advantage of the Slayer form. After a poll placed her among the most well-liked companions from the first game, [=BioWare=] ran this plot point back so she would survive. This happened late enough in development that there was no time to rework the dream sequences or write much dialogue for her post-Spellhold.
** ''Throne of Bhaal'' was originally planned to be a full game, not an expansion pack. Unfortunately, it never got beyond the planning stage.

*** The first one, subtitled ''The Black Hound'', was being developed under Creator/BlackIsleStudios alongside ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'', with both games sharing the "Jefferson" UsefulNotes/GameEngine. The story did not feature any of the characters or plotlines from the prior games, though it had some plot connections to ''VideoGame/IcewindDale II''. Both games were nearly finished, but Interplay suddenly cancelled ''The Black Hound'' and ''Van Buren'' in 2003 and shifted resources toward ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance Dark Alliance II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FalloutBrotherhoodOfSteel Brotherhood Of Steel 2]]'', of which only the former was released before Interplay declared bankruptcy.
*** Several years later, Atari wanted Obsidian to follow up ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' with a ''Baldur's Gate III''. Unlike ''The Black Hound'' this would have been a legitimate sequel to the first two games. Josh Sawyer would only agree to it if Atari gave them a reasonable development schedule and enough money to legitimately finance the product. Atari grumbled over the demands, but eventually agreed since ''Baldur's Gate'' was such a well-known property that they would easily make their money back. Unfortunately, Atari ran into severe economic difficulties and ended up losing the D&D license, and nothing became of the game.

*** The first one, subtitled ''The Black Hound'', was being developed under Creator/BlackIsleStudios alongside ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'', with both games sharing the "Jefferson" GameEngine. The story did not feature any of the characters or plotlines from the prior games, though it had some plot connections to ''VideoGame/IcewindDale II''. Both games were nearly finished, but Interplay suddenly cancelled ''The Black Hound'' and ''Van Buren'' in 2003 and shifted resources toward ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance Dark Alliance II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FalloutBrotherhoodOfSteel Brotherhood Of Steel 2]]'', of which only the former was released before Interplay declared bankruptcy.

*** A sidequest related Aerie and the loss of her wings. The quest would have ended either in turning Aerie into a bird, fulfilling her desire to have wings again at the cost of nearly everything else she has, or by convincing her to finally move on, in which case she would have become a stronger and more confident character with her voice set changing to match. While the quest didn't make the game, the idea of a "hardened" voice set for Aerie was realized in ''Throne of Bhaal''.
*** Viconia had plans for a greater role in the Underdark section. She would have betrayed the party to Matron Mother Ardulace, only to assist the party in escaping when she finds out that Ardulace planned to sacrifice her.

*** The first one, subtitled ''The Black Hound'', was being developed under Creator/BlackIsleStudios alongside ''VideoGame/FalloutVanBuren'', with both games sharing the "Jefferson" GameEngine. The story did not feature any of the characters or plotlines from the prior games, though it had some plot references to ''VideoGame/IcewindDale II''. Both games were nearly finished, but Interplay suddenly cancelled ''The Black Hound'' and ''Van Buren'' in 2003 and shifted resources toward ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance Dark Alliance II]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FalloutBrotherhoodOfSteel Brotherhood Of Steel 2]]'', of which only the former was released before Interplay declared bankruptcy.

*** Imoen's role in ''Shadows of Amn'' was only meant as a cameo and she had been planned to die at Spellhold until late in development, which is why she has little in the way of content or party interactions after Spellhold.

** In addition to recruitable NPC romances that didn't get implemented, in [=BG2=] Solaufein was meant to be a recruitable character that was dropped at the last minute. Some indications are that Garren Windspear's child (a male, Tarr, if your PC was female; a daughter, Iltha, if your PC was male) was possibly [[http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19051/bg2-malchor-harpell meant to be another romance option]] and also recruitable. The [=NPC=] Durlyle (if PC is female) or Delainy (if PC is male) was meant to have a bigger romance role than the brief flirtation that was actually implemented in ''Tales of the Sword Coast''.
** There were also quests for certain characters (such as Minsc, Haer'Dalis, and Valygar) that were not implemented due to time constraints.
*** The modding community and their good relationship with the developers of the games has prevented much of this content from being lost. The ''Unfinished Business'' mods added in a lot of the cut content or recreated the lost quests based on developer input; a Solaufein mod was made so he could be recruited (and romanced); romance mods were made or are being planned for the recruitable characters that never got theirs (Valygar and Haer'Dalis).
** The biggest one of all was that ''Throne of Bhaal'' was originally planned to be a full game, not an expansion pack. Unfortunately, it never got beyond the planning stage.
** Khalid was originally planned to be a [[MagicKnight Fighter/Mage]]. There's at least one GameMod out there that reverts him to this (and bumps his INT to 17 in the process).

* CreatorsPest: Creator/BioWare was not particularly fond of Imoen, and only stopped themselves from killing her off in ''Shadows of Amn'' out of concern of fan backlash.

** "Abduh", for the novel protagonist Abdel Adrian. Emphasis on the "duh".

*** Imoen's role in ''Shadows of Amn'' shifted throughout development. She was originally going to stay as a companion throughout the game. When that changed to her being captured by Irenicus, she had been planned to die at Spellhold until late in development, which is why she has little in the way of content or party interactions after Spellhold.