Quote Originally Posted by Sporeegg View Post
Spoiler: A weird and confusing ramble - also probably partially wrong
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That is the problem point anyway. It is a decent work of art in a time where most games got away with a very simple plot. "This is the bad guy, just shoot him." Games like Diablo 2, Tomb Raider and even games that based on novels with much potential such as American McGee's Alice or the original Deus Ex that is based on an original story rather than using an established fantasy setting.

Baldur's Gate is good and has aged well. But it has its ... uhm moments too. Talos is cool as a tyrannical ruler in an absolute way. But having him share the district with other more sensible religions is bound to spawn a turf war. And one powered by the very gods themselves. What stops a Talos worshipper from going to next door and saying: "Uh, the priests of the storm god basically bully me into servitude although I hate this god. Help me." But many of these problems fall back onto standard fantasy and the setting itself.

One should never do an in depth analysis of fantasy economics, physics, metaphysics or even philosophy. Because if you want to know why Talos' ethos is the way it is you should not try and apply logic or even philosophy itself but Machiavelli on how these organisations keep their power and influence over the people.
Spoiler: In Fairness...
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In the setting, the gods are bound by an even bigger god, the "Overgod" Ao, who forces them to play nice. Well... nicer. The whole Bhaalspawn saga is more or less due to the gods pissing Ao off and getting kicked out of the god game for a while. During this "Time of Troubles", a number of gods died or went missing, including Bhaal. Bhaal just happened to have a backup plan in place. So not even Talos is stupid enough to start a holy war in the middle of a city. A little holy cold war, certainly, anything that can stay under the radar, but not even Talos wants to get on Ao's bad side.

Meanwhile, Talos does scratch a particular itch some people have: destruction and the power of destruction. It's easy to become fascinated with the raw power of the storm, and the potential to benefit from that power. I don't think Talos would give a rat's tail if someone went next door because the don't find Talos a fun god to worship. Such people are weak and not worth keeping, and if they ever face the storm again, it'll be as just another nameless face in the aftermath. Or, more likely, a recurrent source of lunch money for a true believer of Talos.

Put another way: Talos is like Electronic Arts. Everyone knows they're evil, but they provide enough resources to let a developer achieve things they couldn't dream of on their own. And then they own you and tear you down piece by piece, but somehow that slow death is far less frightening than returning to the nobodies you once were.

Funny you should mention economics, though. I always found it cool that there are a lot of stores in the games (primarily BG2) that you, as an adventurer, can't use, such as groceries and what not. Most often, the only three stores in a town are the one that sells you weapons, the one that sells you armor, and the one that sells you expendable items, so it's nice to see a game acknowledge that cities don't exist solely to serve the player.