# Baldur's Gate image controversy



## Merkuri (May 3, 2010)

Okay, this is driving me nuts.  A while ago I found a website saying that some of the original images in Baldur's Gate (I forget if it was the original or the sequel) were replaced in a patch because the artist copied photos of some celebrities.  Now for the life of me I can't find that page again.  I think it was in a wiki somewhere (MediaWiki style, but I don't think it was Wikipedia).

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?  My Google-fu is failing me.


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## Starman (May 3, 2010)

Are you sure it was BG? Wikipedia has nothing on it and a quick Google search turns up nothing.


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## Merkuri (May 3, 2010)

It was either Baldur's Gate (one of them) or Neverwinter Nights, and I was fairly certain it was Baldur's Gate because I recognized more of the characters.  I think allegedly Jahiera's portrait was based on Angelina Jolee.

I couldn't find anything either, which is why I posted here.  I'm beginning to wonder if the site was pulled down for some reason.  I think I originally found it while searching for portraits to use for NPCs in my MapTool D&D game and now I can't find it again.


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## Silverblade The Ench (May 10, 2010)

First I've heard of that, and I was around on the Baldurs Gate boards on Interplay when the game came out! (NPC named after me in BG#2, or so I was told)

There WAS some game that something like that happened, but I don't think it was BG or because they were merely like an actor's photo. It would have to be DAMN close and a series of them because the BG-type portraits are heavily painted, and given accoutrements.

So to cause issues it would probably need ot be:
a) almost untouched
b) several images too close to different well known, specific photos, thus proving a definitive intent.

if you look through D&D you'll find images where characters have a resemblance to famous images, artists do have inspiratiosn after all. one in 4th ed, PHB, half elf iirc, looks like the young dark-haired lady in CIS
and using a photo for a _basic _outline of a character's _shape _is not uncommon.

I'd suspect it would more likely have been a character pack some folks on the Web put up, not a studio and someone complained? Or some OTHER game with similar icons?


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## Merkuri (May 10, 2010)

When I found the wiki I remember recognizing the portraits.  They were not fan-made.  They were packaged with the game.  And whoever put together the wiki page showed the game portraits and the real-world photos side-by-side and they looked remarkably similar - same pose, same angle, and everything.  

They were very touched up so they were not immediately recognizable but when you saw it next to the original photo it was obvious, and I remember saying the game makers voluntarily pulled all of this artist's images and replaced them with images from other artists because the majority of said artist's portraits were like this.  He didn't just do one, he did five or six.

And I feel like it was Baldur's Gate because Jahiera was one of the images.  I think one copy of her looked like an Angelina Jolee photo.


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## Orius (May 11, 2010)

Merkuri said:


> I think allegedly Jahiera's portrait was based on Angelina Jolee.




I find that hard to believe; Jahiera's hotter than Angelina Jolie.


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## obiwansolo18 (May 16, 2010)

could it have been champions of norrath? that's very simular and i remember some kind of rumor about that back in the day.


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## Orius (May 16, 2010)

Champions of Norrath doesn't use portraits.  And it's not really like Baldur's Gate, is more like Diablo (you might be confusing it with the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance spin-offs).


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## LightPhoenix (May 16, 2010)

I vaguely remember this, and I'm pretty sure it was a Bioware game.  I want to say one of BG, BG2, or IWD.

[EDIT] It was actually NWN, according to this thread at Ars Technica.


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## JohnRTroy (May 18, 2010)

Part of the problem is the use of modern imaging techniques like Photoshop can make it way too easy to do "trace-style" art.

Artists have used models and references for decades, but there's a lot of difference between say, the late Frank Frazetta or some of the big name artists from the TSR art era (Elmore, Easley, Caldwell) hiring a model and doing original work and the current swiping methods of photos from magazines and others.  It's okay to use the computer as a tool in the toolbox, but you can't (and shouldn't) do everything with it.

I'm seeing this in comics more and more.  For instance, artist Greg Land is one of the worst.  

Hero Sandwich - Why Greg Land is a Rotten Excuse for an Artist


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## Steel_Wind (May 18, 2010)

No - it was not Baldur's Gate.

It was NWN1. The original portrait for the NPC Sharwyn was far too close to Catherine Zeta Jones.  The portrait is replaced when the game is patched.


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## Starman (May 18, 2010)

Steel_Wind said:


> No - it was not Baldur's Gate.
> 
> It was NWN1. The original portrait for the NPC Sharwyn was far too close to Catherine Zeta Jones.  The portrait is replaced when the game is patched.




Not seeing the problem here.


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## Redbranch (May 22, 2010)

Apparently, it wasn't just the above image:

Portrait - NWNWiki, the Neverwinter Nights Wiki - your guide to the game of NWN


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## Merkuri (May 22, 2010)

Redbranch said:


> Portrait - NWNWiki, the Neverwinter Nights Wiki - your guide to the game of NWN




And THAT would be the page I started this whole thread to find!  Thanks!


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## Redbranch (May 22, 2010)

Merkuri said:


> And THAT would be the page I started this whole thread to find!  Thanks!




I am glad I could help. I found the whole situation entertaining. Makes me want to fire up good old NWN again.


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