Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Lacrymas]

You can't use SCS without somehow transferring BG1 into the BG2 engine, and I don't know of any other way outside of BGT. Maybe look that up.

 

[Yosharian]

Talk about fucking changing the goal posts.

 

[smaug]

So, having no idea what a majority of the settings do. I put everything on smarter, and more tactical in general. These settings look scary as shit, hope my first playthrough will be exciting!

 

[Yosharian]

So, having no idea what a majority of the settings do. I put everything on smarter, and more tactical in general. These settings look scary as shit, hope my first playthrough will be exciting!

I hope you didn't enable the one that makes enemy thieves backstab you with infinite invisibility potions. That shit is beyond fucking annoying.

 

[smaug]

So, having no idea what a majority of the settings do. I put everything on smarter, and more tactical in general. These settings look scary as shit, hope my first playthrough will be exciting!

I hope you didn't enable the one that makes enemy thieves backstab you with infinite invisibility potions. That shit is beyond fucking annoying.

I don’t remember it. Though I gave priest the ability to cast spells in sight of my PC along with mages.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Ah ok, so that's what call for help means. They don't actually call in more enemies, they just move as a mob.

(1) Any creature shouts when it sees you. Any creature of the same faction that hears that shout will move towards the party.

(2) For intelligent creatures (e.g., gnolls, hobgoblins - but not spiders or skeletons) any creature that hears a shout will give a differently coded shout. Any same-faction creature that hears the differently-coded shout will move towards the party, but won't shout in turn.

There are also some range subtleties. The idea is that if you run into unintelligent creatures, the whole group will attack you; if you run into intelligent creatures, the whole group and any other groups in earshot will attack you; but you won't have the whole map descend on you. (In very rare cases - notably the bandit camp - 'the whole map descends on you' is intended behavior: in those cases, anyone who sees you will call for help, anyone hearing that call will call in the same way, and so on.)

Bandit camp is no joke with SCS.

 

[JDR13]

1) Any creature shouts when it sees you. Any creature of the same faction that hears that shout will move towards the party.

(2) For intelligent creatures (e.g., gnolls, hobgoblins - but not spiders or skeletons) any creature that hears a shout will give a differently coded shout. Any same-faction creature that hears the differently-coded shout will move towards the party, but won't shout in turn.

There are also some range subtleties. The idea is that if you run into unintelligent creatures, the whole group will attack you; if you run into intelligent creatures, the whole group and any other groups in earshot will attack you; but you won't have the whole map descend on you. (In very rare cases - notably the bandit camp - 'the whole map descends on you' is intended behavior: in those cases, anyone who sees you will call for help, anyone hearing that call will call in the same way, and so on.)

Probably a stupid question, but.. Did they actually implement an animation and/or sound effect of these creatures shouting, or is it just an assumed shout?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Bandit camp is no joke with SCS.

My last run was EET + SCS with all the hard/hardcore options turned on. The bandit camp was bad and so was the syrene (or siren?) battle. Lots of tough ones. I ended up losing steam through BG2 like always. SCS makes BG2 a bit of a nightmare IMO.

 

[Twizman]

I feel SCS works great in BG1 to add more encounters. In BG2 it felt off and oversaturated.
I found the added ambush encounters often tough, such as the Ogre-Magi.

 

[Anomander Rake]

oh and you are not immune to backstab but you still have a fighter with High DR? Don't you know that SCS makes the enemies read your resistances so they won't aim for you? Forget about warriors focusing your barbarian. They know he has DR, they won't aim for him.

I'm just imagining an enemy looking at a massive barbarian and then at a mage wearing a dress and thinking "wow, I should definitely stop and go toe to toe with the barbarian!"
Are you mentally challenged?

Who wouldn't do that in a AD&D game? Games of D&D are famous because people actually dive into enemy parties like if it was a moba game.

it's now Heroes of the gate instead of baldur's gate. Or defence of the Anci...ehm mages (at low level, I mean)

But, I guess I'm mentally challenged if enemy fighters and mage know you can't cast stoneskin and every fight you are going to meet they will always adopt the same tactics, that will start to slightly change once your mage has stoneskin and protection from normal missiles. How can't I understand how beautiful it is, maybe it's my bad because I should know that when I'm fighting against enemy mages I should always dive or focus them. A shame I can't read their spellbooks as enemies do with me so I will be on par with me.

It's a matter of immersion. I'm not criticizing SCS per se, I'm criticizing who blindly defends it without seeing his flaws; and I say that as a player who played it and enjoyed it (provided that I went in with an appropriate mindset).

Anyway, everyone read the exchange and will think about it (hopefully)

Regards


Edit: Now that I think about it, there is another thing that screams unfair that and that must be mentioned. Yosharian already told it, it's the infinite backstabbing thief. I'm not against it per se, I'm against the fact that you can face enemies that resorts to tactics you can't use.
So... what do I mean? Have you met any potion sellers with infinite potions of invisibility? or infinite potions of extra-healing?

Is it fair? You decide

++++++++++++

Another thing that happened in my last playthrough, can't remember if it was BG1 or BG2. It was a rare occurence but the disgust still invades me. I faced a single enemy (can't remember who was honestly, I think the fat girl in the spider's grove). Maybe someone else, I should have written it in my notes but honestly it was a turning point for me.
So... when I pre-buffed against this enemy with potions, as soon as the fight started I would get a (contingency of 3-6 remove magic all at once) to get dispelled.
Funny, isn't it?

And these things can be matched if you play Solo because you can use a potion of magic shielding or magic resistance and so on, but start playing with a party and things will be really really different. Especially because potions are not limitless (for certain enemies they are, see potion of invisibility for enemy thieves).
So you are telling me that SCS play fair, but you can't have the same amount of potions enemy thieves have?
I know, I should have brought Keldorn with me with his true sight. A shame I don't like grandpas in my party

 

[Yosharian]

The infinity part isn't even the whole problem, there's also the fact that any Invisibility counters you can produce at early levels cannot counter it at all. By the time you've cast the anti-Invisibility spell, he's hit your mage and gone Invisible again from another potion! It's absolutely absurd.

 

[Anomander Rake]

Yup, but you can counter that with Keldorn's true sight. That's what I was hinting to, but thanks for explaining it better than me.

 

[Yosharian]

Yeah, normally True Sight is mid/late spell. Inquisitor is broken, so you get it for free.

 

[Gorn]

I’m playing Vanilla BG I kind of want to play with SCS. Should I download BGT, along with it?

No.
- Going back to BG1 areas after starting BG2 makes no sense lore-wise, the world has moved on and so has your character.
- Transferring overpowered items from BG1 (esp addon areas) makes BG2 start too easy even with SCS on max - why would you ruin the game's best part for yourself?
I started off with BGT on my last SCS replay then just reinstalled normally after seeing the decline.

 

[Lacrymas]

Since you can pick and choose what parts of SCS to install, I don't see the reason for the butthurt.

 

[Xeon]

I am pretty sure transferring more items than the default is caused by another mod than BGT, BGT only makes it so you play BG1 in the BG2 engine. I don't remember you being able to travel back to BG1 areas in BG2 tho I never tried so I am not completely sure on that.

Like everyone said if you never played BG than SCS is kinda hard, not so much for BG1 except for the last fight, BG2 especially will have some preparations to make for fights with mages. But its pretty fun adding some spice to the game if you want it.

 

[Alpan]

I am pretty sure transferring more items than the default is caused by another mod than BGT, BGT only makes it so you play BG1 in the BG2 engine. I don't remember you being able to travel back to BG1 areas in BG2 tho I never tried so I am not completely sure on that.

Like everyone said if you never played BG than SCS is kinda hard, not so much for BG1 except for the last fight, BG2 especially will have some preparations to make for fights with mages. But its pretty fun adding some spice to the game if you want it.

BGT does lift travel restrictions -- it's the alternative, EasyTutu, which only makes it so that you play BG1 in the BG2 engine.

EDIT: Never mind, I have it mixed up with the trilogy mod for the Enhanced Edition.

 

[smaug]

I’m playing Vanilla BG I kind of want to play with SCS. Should I download BGT, along with it?

No.
- Going back to BG1 areas after starting BG2 makes no sense lore-wise, the world has moved on and so has your character.
- Transferring overpowered items from BG1 (esp addon areas) makes BG2 start too easy even with SCS on max - why would you ruin the game's best part for yourself?
I started off with BGT on my last SCS replay then just reinstalled normally after seeing the decline.

Going back to BG1 areas after BG2? What are you talking about?

 

[pomenitul]

Don't listen to the edgelords, play the vanilla version before trying SCS. You will want to revisit the BG series sooner or later anyway.

 

[smaug]

Don't listen to the edgelords, play the vanilla version before trying SCS. You will want to revisit the BG series sooner or later anyway.

Nope, already installed.

 

[hell bovine]

I’m playing Vanilla BG I kind of want to play with SCS. Should I download BGT, along with it?

No.
- Going back to BG1 areas after starting BG2 makes no sense lore-wise, the world has moved on and so has your character.
- Transferring overpowered items from BG1 (esp addon areas) makes BG2 start too easy even with SCS on max - why would you ruin the game's best part for yourself?
I started off with BGT on my last SCS replay then just reinstalled normally after seeing the decline.

Going back to BG1 areas after BG2? What are you talking about?

It's an option, since BGT combines both games into one. Tbh, I never returned to BG1 areas in my BGT runs.

I'd suggest getting the current beta version of SCS, because with it you can change a lot of difficulty options in game. Now if you install e.g. improved mages and find them too tough, you can just switch them off in the game, no need to reinstall the mod.
https://github.com/Gibberlings3/SwordCoastStratagems/releases/tag/SCSv32-RC10

 

[smaug]

The only thing I hate about BGT is the inventory screen is so small.

And the text.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The only thing I hate about BGT is the inventory screen is so small.

And the text.

If only there was a more recent version you could play that was designed for resolutions bigger than 800x600.

 

[laclongquan]

If you're posting on this site you should be capable of handling SCS going in blind
And I say that as someone who detests D&D

Bitch please~ You are overestimating Codexers with tactic-savvy. That kind is a minority around here. Always has been.

SCS is a good method to gauge tactical savvyness. If nothing else, the Irenicus dungeon should test their mettle, to speak nothing else of chapter 2's area. Instead of goblin and gibberling, duegar in full rigs will bugger you hard. Get the lubes!~

 

[rusty_shackleford]

So you're telling me you like SCS? Ah, I get that every mage you face always cast the same contingencies, the same spells, and you read every time always the same spells, provided that the guy you are currently facing is the same level of the other guys you will be facing?
Funny, isn't it?

This isn't true, by the way. The spellbooks of mages vary greatly even at lower levels.
Here's the memorized spells of the four conjurers(that is, the same exact kit) which are low level(level 3,4,5,6) in Spider Wood just to prove it:

The only constant is mirror image.
Your entire post is fake news.