So, Baldurs Gate

[Excidium]

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

 

[TedNugent]

I read every book in the game

You mean the Forgotten Realms sourcebook excerpts they copy-pasted into the game? WTF?

lol Drog

Yes, I read every one of those. And it was an awful experience. I wish I hadn't.

 

[Lhynn]

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

There are a couple bushes and a couple cats in candlekeep.

 

[TedNugent]

I agree this game is terrible. You won't even get your health back when you rest (only a tiny amount) and your companions don't get up after combat if they fell unconscious during the struggle. Purest suckage. At least in The Elder Scrolls I can drink 20 health potions all at once when I'm low on health but here can I only drink one per combat round and to add insult to injury, it heals for a ridiculously low amount of HP. Do not play this game!

You actually do get all of your health back when you rest if you have 20 constitution, and healing spells are automatically cast on rest.

BTW, the potions in this game include a potion that gives you +5 to all of your saves and AC set to 0. AC+10 vs crushing and immunity to electricity, Strength set to 24. You can use a potion that gives you 50% resistance to all magic. I walked into the Sarevok fight with -7 to all saves. If I had wanted to I could have baited Sarevok away from the traps on the throne and his caster buddies and beaten him to death.

There's even a potion that gives you 50% resistance to all magic damage and makes you automatically pass your saves.

So if you're trying to imply that this game was hard, I think you're mistaken, and I didn't say anywhere that the game was hard. I meant to imply that the game is extremely tedious and not worth playing.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I know the vanilla game isn't very hard. Also, I know what kind of items are in the game, thank you. I probably misinterpreted all the whining how the game tries to (successfully) kill you all the time, my bad. I also know the traps in the game are not very hard to detect and disarm. However, if disarming traps that actually pose a threat (instead of being a minor inconvenience when set off) and using a scroll of protection from petrification (works for 12 h) when fighting basilisks, is too much tedium for you, I'm happy to inform you that Bioware listened to similar complaints when making Neverwinter Nights. It's a great game, where you can cast Protection from Evil and Stoneskin on the half-orc companion and watch him beat the game for you on the highest difficulty level. You can have your mage shoot his crossbow too, but that is optional. Rewarding gameplay.

 

[Excidium]

I sense butthurt

 

[Lhynn]

I know the vanilla game isn't very hard. Also, I know what kind of items are in the game, thank you. I probably misinterpreted all the whining how the game tries to (successfully) kill you all the time, my bad. I also know the traps in the game are not very hard to detect and disarm. However, if disarming traps that actually pose a threat (instead of being a minor inconvenience when set off) and using a scroll of protection from petrification (works for 12 h) when fighting basilisks, is too much tedium for you, I'm happy to inform you that Bioware listened to similar complaints when making Neverwinter Nights. It's a great game, where you can cast Protection from Evil and Stoneskin on the half-orc companion and watch him beat the game for you on the highest difficulty level. You can have your mage shoot his crossbow too, but that is optional. Rewarding gameplay.

Actually water elementals could wreck your shit, so could gorgons, insta death was an issue in nwn, just not in the OC for the most part, but there are some wicked modules that can make your life a living hell. fun fun.
Turning off resting mechanics was common in most modules. Heck there were even modules where acid based attacks could literally leave you naked against superior foes, or facing powerful Githyankis.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Yes, neither the NWN nor the NWN2 engine are to blame for the design of the campaigns and their difficulty, I know modules which are on par with the best stuff of the IE games.

 

[Excidium]

They are certainly to blame for the awful combat that renders the quality of the content irrelevant

 

[TedNugent]

In Fallout 1 I killed the last boss in 2 eyeball hits (I'm not exaggerating). I don't generally rate RPGs based on how difficult the combat (or exploration) is.

I'm a storyfag. I said that at the beginning of my first post.

I liked the dungeons in Baldurs Gate 1, they were cool. If this game had better pathing and a run/walk toggle I would have liked it.

 

[Lhynn]

They are certainly to blame for the awful combat that renders the quality of the content irrelevant

The quality of the combat is bland and boring, but its far from being agony, so its ok.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

The story of BG1 is p. pathetic, If you are going to allow a wide variety of backgrounds for PCs the least you can do is create a starting point that doesn't make most choices nonsensical.

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

The whole plot is pathetic simply because one of the optional starting classes may make a little less sense than the others?

 

[Excidium]

Not only one. And no sense at all.

 

[Rake]

In Fallout 1 I killed the last boss in 2 eyeball hits (I'm not exaggerating). I don't generally rate RPGs based on how difficult the combat (or exploration) is.

I'm a storyfag. I said that at the beginning of my first post.

Most of us probably misinterpreted your whining in your first post.
If you look at it from a storyfag view, BG1 is bad, no doubt about it. BG2 is way better. Not PS:T, sure, but good. And it has the best companions Bioware has ever written.

 

[TedNugent]

Most of us probably misinterpreted your whining in your first post.
If you look at it from a storyfag view, BG1 is bad, no doubt about it. BG2 is way better. Not PS:T, sure, but good. And it has the best companions Bioware has ever written.

I just started Shadows of Amn tonight and I'm pleased with the first dungeon. It's definitely a lot weirder than the first game, and my companions are even talking to each other. There hasn't even been a single mention of iron cartels.

Best companions Bioware has ever written...not saying much? (Minsc) At least they got rid of the most annoying companion

Spoiler

Khalid

I'm definitely planning on finishing BG2, IWD, and IWD2 this year. Wish me luck!

 

[Longshanks]

I played this game for storyfag reasons because some asshole told me that Baldur's Gate 2 had a good story.

There's your mistake. Playing BG1 for its story is like playing Telltale's QTE games for their combat. BG2 definitely improves on BG1 in terms of story but not to the point where I'd consider it a must play. Both games are only worthwhile as a sum of their parts, the parts themselves are not outstanding.

 

[Jaesun]

Joined: Dec 15, 2013

It's really hard to figure out.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Why does BG get so much flak for the story here?

It is told in diverse ways - scripted events, dreams you have, ingame books & letters you can find, conversations you can have, rumors you can pick up in taverns, etc. Many of these things are optional, so a player who plays the game more thoroughly would pick up much more of this stuff, hints and foreshadowing or simply some additional flavor. The story unfolds slowly while the player tries to piece together the all different elements he picks up on his own pace.

On the content side there is ..

Spoiler

...among other things: the murder of your step-dad and the rape of your biological mother; mysterious assassination attempts; the possibility of a war looming over a politically destabilized region; a sophisticated economical cabal including sabotage, bandit raids, slavery and secret takeovers via doppelgangers; yet another cabal on top of that; a few surprising twists .. like the imprisonment of the PC or the revelation that the PC is actually a child of an evil god..

That seems to me like a relatively decent story told in a relatively interesting way.

 

[octavius]

The BG1 story certainly is better than what you find in your average CRPG.
Sure, the setting is very generic and the writing could be better, but the story itself is better than just about any old school CRPG I can think of.
Yes, CHARNAME is a Chosen One, but unlike most other CRPGs (s)he is only one of several Chosen Ones.

 

[Shannow]

Yes, neither the NWN nor the NWN2 engine are to blame for the design of the campaigns and their difficulty, I know modules which are on par with the best stuff of the IE games.

You do? I bought NWN2 Complete on GOG's this winter sale because I didn't play Mysteries of Westgate and only had a borrowed version of SoZ. (Both of which I intend to (re-)play beginning next year.)
The only mod so far, that I intend to try is Dark Waters. Might have another look at Pool of Radiance Remastered if it has been updated since my last try. Otherwise I'm not aware of any worthwhile mods for NWN2, so recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

There are a couple bushes and a couple cats in candlekeep.

And remember that one of the obvious strengths of 2nd ed D&D is that housecats are badass enough to have a 50% chance of downing a lvl 1 mage (i.e. an adult human, even if he's not particularly learned at magic yet),

 

[octavius]

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

There are a couple bushes and a couple cats in candlekeep.

And remember that one of the obvious strengths of 2nd ed D&D is that housecats are badass enough to have a 50% chance of downing a lvl 1 mage (i.e. an adult human, even if he's not particularly learned at magic yet),

50% of mages are allergic to cats. Combine that with a mage's typically low Endurance.

 

[TedNugent]

Joined: Dec 15, 2013

It's really hard to figure out.

I wrote 10 solid-block paragraphs in my first post, and the best thing you can come up with for a response is a snarky, cryptic one-liner suggesting that I'm a troll or a sock-puppet? Seriously?

 

[Crooked Bee]

BG1 is great.

Onwards to BG2 I go.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Magic doesn't explain a ranger who lived his entire life cloistered in a library fortress

Level 1 ranger, bro. You're basically a hippie with a bow.