Baldur's Gate Any balance changes in Icewind Dale EE?

[YES!]

I should have realized IWD2 was a good game and bought it when it come out.

I would probably rate IWD2 at the bottom of the pile as regards to the original IWD/BG games. It had some interesting encounter design but there were some extended puzzles that were more annoying than fun and got in the way of the core gameplay. Also the storyline never grabbed me (rejected half-demons decide to take out their angst on everyone - precursor SJWs?) and the level design wasn't coherent and jumped all over the place (why am I in a jungle again?).

Great implementation of the 3rd Edition rules though.

I'm specifically talking about chardev and consistent combat challenge/need for player input and thought. It is the only IE game with any sort of significant chardev and the only IE games where I was provided with not just a challenge, but a consistent challenge throughout the game. I did not enjoy some of the puzzles (like the fucking guess which way to go forest of constantly being lost) and a lot of the maps were just too long and drawn out. But the maps were long in drawn out by combat that at least required me to think and come up with ways to win and sometimes restart on trash fights. I have no idea how anyone could beat the ice cave arena thing without traveling back at a much higher level, which I never did and don't even know if it is possible. So this would be the only IE game with content I couldn't just destroy and breeze through but had content I could not beat period.

If a game doesn't have the mechanics to support or warrant the playing of the game to me it is a failure to be what it is - a game. A shit game that tells a good story can never be more than a shit game that picked the wrong story telling medium if story is all it has to offer.

 

[Viata]

A shit game that tells a good story can never be more than a shit game that picked the wrong story telling medium if story is all it has to offer.

 

[anvi]

How hard is it to just modify the original IWD? I planned to play IWD EE soon but all this noobification sounds bad.

 

[Nevill]

Modify how, and for what? Installing mods is easy enough, just unpack the files, copy the to the game directory, and run the executable (some mods come with an installer that does everything for you), then answer the prompts about what needs to be installed. There, done. The real difficulty is to understand what you really are installing, and whether you really want to install that.

In theory, the mod format allows for uninstalling and reinstalling mods during the game, so you can experiment with what you want. In practice, I know you can bork your install by doing that depending on the changes, so do it at your own risk. Ideally, you choose your preferred setup at the beginning of the game and do not touch it afterwards.

Installing the Fixpack and Widescreen Mod should be no trouble at all.

Understanding how to get the mods to work if they don't, i.e. the game files format (the logic behind *.bcs (scripts) and *.dlg (self-explanatory) files) is a bit harder. You can download the latest version of NearInfinity and just examine the existing game files to learn how it behaves.

 

[the_shadow]

GOG version comes with both Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster patched up to v1.42. Most people playing the 'vanilla game' nowadays would play this one, simply because it's the one that is most easily obtained and installed.

They have disabled/removed/changed a few items between the original v1.00 and the latest expansion, but that's not reason enough to put up with all the bugs. God knows the game has enough of them left even with all the patches.

As someone who has played both the original and patched HoW/TotL versions, I can say that the final patched version fixes most of the bugs without changing the underlying balance of the game. Off the top of my head, in my unpatched version Prayer/Recitation gave a penalty to hit and saves for the caster and his allies, and a bonus to your enemies. Righteous Wrath of the Faithful also gave the extra bonuses (eg. extra attack per round) to allies who did *not* have exactly the same alignment as the caster, which is the exact opposite of the spell description. These are the worst sort of bugs, since you have no idea you are handicapping yourself unless you actually check your party's stats after casting the spell, instead of just assuming it is working as documented.

 

[anvi]

Installing the Fixpack and Widescreen Mod should be no trouble at all.

Thanks sounds easy. And yea the fixes and widescreen is all I need.

 

[Jvegi]

So, this bonus xp based on the difficulty level... What's the deal with that? Was it added in the EE? Can it be removed with a mod of some kind?

Because I've been playing BG for years without making things easy, and a 100% xp bonus on Insane, doesnt's sound like something I want to have.