Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Valtiel]

yes rushing to her it's the only thing working for phase 1 and 2, so It's what i've tried.

For Whatcher's Keep, No i didn't, I guess I could go there, it's a content worth some time?

 

[Sigourn]

First World problems. 3D Acceleration corrects dithering and makes for nice spell effects, but introduces fucked up boxes into the game.

Why must I suffer?

 

[Valtiel]

And

Thanks for all the suggestions, i'm on vanilla game btw, it's my very first playthrough and i'm lame at it. The thing is my party is underleveled (my pc is lvl 21, imoen 22, the other guys range from 22 to 24) and not equipped well (even tough tanks are equipped with
+5 swords and decent armors), because I had to rush this final part of the game and also I got a little bit tired tbh. Anyway i've mastered phase 1 and 2 of Amelyssan and I manage to beat her without wasting useful spells, and I also arrive at that point with 2 wishes for the two mages, but anyway when this phase start I get RECKT everytime, I feel like it's just too much, she teleport right after summoning a lot of fuckers, my party get disbanded while following her and at that point she just start spamming a ton of other beasts and time stop just to fuck with me, when the tanks arrive to her it's just all too messed up and the minions basically kill Sarevok and Dorn right after. I feel my Korgan it isn't being effective as it should, viconia feels not that useful, also fuck Imoen.

My only option I guess is to go back, try to complete some unfinished business, level up a bit and find a proper equipment for all party members, but I'm getting bored

I recall winning that fight back when I still played Vanilla by using Hardiness and then spamming Whirlwind + Energy Blades, running from the trash she summons and focusing solely on her. Probably seems obvious but did you try that?

Also, what do you mean by shit gear? If you've got Cespenar-upgraded +5 weapons on your frontline, the rest shouldn't be that crucial on Vanilla.

Yes I think the swords for Sarevok and Dorn are Cespenar+5

 

[ga♥]

yes rushing to her it's the only thing working for phase 1 and 2, so It's what i've tried.

For Whatcher's Keep, No i didn't, I guess I could go there, it's a content worth some time?

Lot of XP and lot of gear. Pretty sure you would find the final fight easier after it.
Also it is a pretty good dungeon while the remaining parts of ToB are pretty meh.

 

[octavius]

The question is whether you're on Ascension/SCS. That can make the fight difficult. Though I still think one of if not the toughest fights in the entire saga is SCS'ed BG1 end battle. God fucking damn that fight is some bullshit without optimised party. It's not that hard if you use un-SCS'd Protection From Magic scrolls to kill Angelo and Semaj, but if you don't, it's tough as balls.

I found that the main problem was that Sarevok does like 100 melee damage per round, so I had have one character just running away from him while the rest of the party deals with Angelo&CO. Since Sarevok can't be killed before with SCS anyway, so it's a good but cheesy tactic.

 

[Jason Liang]

The problem seems to be that you aren't playing with Ascension. ToB is trash without it, which is why it's boring you so much that you can't even bring yourself to play through it properly. That's a common reaction to vanilla ToB.

 

[Valtiel]

The problem seems to be that you aren't playing with Ascension. ToB is trash without it, which is why it's boring you so much that you can't even bring yourself to play through it properly. That's a common reaction to vanilla ToB.

yeah the thing literally slipped out of my mind, but at this point I guess it would fuck my savegame. I'm reading that it is even more difficult, is it true? I'm reading also that it gives more bhaalspawn abilities after the confrontations in the pocket place, makes sense since beating those rewarded nothing, I was expecting that, I would have unleashed those abilities carelessy since i'm playing evil

 

[Anomander Rake]

Ascension is good but the only mod I couldnt play without are

wheels of prophecy
the longer road

These two make tob bearable. Add on top of throne of bhaal revisited.

A shame both wheels and revisited were left rotting

 

[ga♥]

yeah the thing literally slipped out of my mind, but at this point I guess it would fuck my savegame. I'm reading that it is even more difficult, is it true? I'm reading also that it gives more bhaalspawn abilities after the confrontations in the pocket place, makes sense since beating those rewarded nothing, I was expecting that, I would have unleashed those abilities carelessy since i'm playing evil

It makes the final fight several magnituto of difficulty harder with no real reward attached to it (like a super new weapon or something), if you are having trouble with vanilla I really doubt you would manage it.

 

[hell bovine]

For Whatcher's Keep, No i didn't, I guess I could go there, it's a content worth some time?

WK's story and the boss battle are better than the rest of ToB, imo. (though nowhere near as good as Durlag's Tower)

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Why must I suffer?

because you are using those blurry deviant art portraits instead of the clearly superior (somewhat porn inspired) originals?

 

[agris]

Grunker you're playing BG1 in Tutu, right? Does the current unified SCS (technically SCS 2 I believe) work with Tutu, or at you using the deprecated SCS 1?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

the longer road

As much as I liked the idea of giving Irenicus the Scorpius from Farscape anime villain treatment and recruiting him into the party, the writing on that was just so melodramatic that I couldn't bear it after a while.

Though in fairness, I'm not sure better writing would cure all its problems. It took an already edgy emo character and examined all his edgy emoness with a magnifying glass - repeatedly. There was a bit of this at the end of BG2 and that was more than enough. Irenicus worked as a mysterious and powerful antagonist, but once his mystery was solved, he lost much of his allure.

Also, at the end, the battle was very personal and closed up most lose ends. It was satisfying and dredging him up again seems unnecessary.

Ascension isn't too bad. Just a little odd that whats her face has the power to raise random dead souls like Khalid's. I get that she's supposed to be practically a demi-god at this point, but a demi-god of murder, not a demi-god with power over death itself. That's another's domain in the Forgotten Realms. Raising other bhaalspawn makes sense though.

On an unrelated note, I think a sequel to ToB where you murder Cyric would be p fun. Discuss.

 

[Jason Liang]

Yes but making new content in IE is not nearly as easy as making a module in NWN.

Unless you are giving Beamdog a suggestion?

 

[ga♥]

On an unrelated note, I think a sequel to ToB where you murder Cyric would be p fun. Discuss.

Adnd high level was already ultra boring in ToB. Don't know about 3/3.5/5 but I suspect it would be the same (I am intentionally leaving out 4).

I would love another game in the forgotten realms though (isometric and with a party!).

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Yes but making new content in IE is not nearly as easy as making a module in NWN.

Unless you are giving Beamdog a suggestion?

Assuming they somehow cure themselves of their SJW parasites that ruin the shit out of everything and learn to code properly instead of turning a working game into a buggy mess that they fix over the course of a few years? Maybe.

Though Beamdog actually used most of the same modding tools that modders use because they didn't have access to the original tools - and supposedly those tools were even more difficult to use. The main issues for making mods is a lack of time/resources/skill as it's fairly difficult work. It's conceivable that a group of highly motivated autists could do it, but then yo run into issues like writing and the inevitable drama, balance and scope-creep issues that arise from employing autists.

 

[Baardhaas]

n an unrelated note, I think a sequel to ToB where you murder Cyric would be p fun. Discuss.

Great basis for a story if you ask me. But the AD&D framework isn't really capable of simulating a godlike protagonist, it's best at levels 7 to 15. It was already struggling in ToB by giving HLA's to high level char's, and many classes (fighters) had no development at all after lvl 20 save for a few abilities.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Adnd high level was already ultra boring in ToB.

Meh. Just make it SCS on steroids and throw balance to the wind. Also, give the player some fun power trip style side quests like saving an entire kingdom from a Sarevok style villain (who is only about level 14) or enslaving a nation with your powerful necromancy™. Then of course the standard impossible level quests befitting of your insane level etc and OP minor antagonists to prod you along the way. You can even revisit places you've been to before - sweet, sweet reused assets - as part of the main quest and see how things have progressed.

Main quest can focus around Cyric doing a bad ritual to eventually usurp all the powers of death. Problem is, it's going to take the deaths of at least one nation of millions in the process. You see a first attempt go wrong when a small nation is wiped out. Solar tells you it will take time for him to try again, etc etc, but she can't interfere because reasons.

Objectives can include either gathering worshipers through various deeds (if you picked the deity option) or building an alliance of minor gods/demi-gods if he picked the other option. Or both if you want, but then they will all turn on you at the end if you decide to try to complete Cyric's ritual yourself. Whatever, the point is that you have to develop the ability to kill a god in his own realm - whether you do it yourself or your army of minor deities seal his power somehow so that an uber-stronk mortal like you can thwack him.

Then there's romance followups and other lose ends that can be tied. Lots of paths that can generate at least ToB levels of content.

I just pulled most of this out of my ass, yeah, but I do vaguely recall some dev (or maybe beamdog) wanting a sequel where you played a demi-god trying to ascend to actual godhood.

edit: btw, I give anyone who wants to do this, free, unlimited license to do so without compensation or attribution. Just don't gay it up with SJW stuff.

 

[Dzupakazul]

Valtiel, if you're being swarmed by minions and can't focus on Melissan, try setting up Teleport Fields (a level 4 mage spell) all over the chamber - these should cause Amelyssan's defenses to chaotically teleport all over the room, unable to gang up on anyone. This should buy you some time. Otherwise just get a shitload of dispels and crowd control - don't waste time on damaging Mel herself, because her MR is ridiculous and any direct damage spells are a waste of time, unless they specifically ignore MR (try casting Implosion with Viconia if you have that High Level Ability, after you get rid of the final boss' stoneskin). Or unless you can slam her with 3x Lower Resist in a Spell Sequencer the moment she hits phase 3 or 4, but it seems like an expensive solution. I still believe that even if you feel underlevelled, buffing / enabling the shit out of your martials should be the top priority.

If you can backtrack a bit, maybe try just buying out scrolls with any and all dispelling magic you can muster. Throw consumables at it. Help tanking with PfMW on mages.

And get some summons if possible, Mordenkainen Swords are pretty good against the Slayer Shades or whatever they're called.

 

[Sigourn]

Why must I suffer?

because you are using those blurry deviant art portraits instead of the clearly superior (somewhat porn inspired) originals?

They look far better and consistent than the vanilla portraits, which look terrible to be honest. Pic related.

 

[Grunker]

Grunker you're playing BG1 in Tutu, right? Does the current unified SCS (technically SCS 2 I believe) work with Tutu, or at you using the deprecated SCS 1?

Are you using Tutu as a euphemism for for a Trilogy mod? Because even back in the day I used BGT over Tutu

I'm playing my first ever full EE playthrough partly to try Siege of Dragonspear. So I'm using Enhanced Edition Trilogy or EET (BGT/Tutu for the EEs) and it's hella good. Easily the best Trilogy mod we've seen. And it's got all your favourite mods in their most updated versions. Since I'm using Spell Revisions for the first time, I'm running with the modded SCS called Revised SCS that makes the SCS AI aware of Spell Revision changes.

EEs suck and don't add anything worthwhile to the game except the updated journal, but Lefreut's UI mod makes the UI actually bearable. Almost done with Siege of Dragonspear and it's... OK. In gameplay terms it's more Icewind Dale than Baldur's Gate, really.

 

[Jason Liang]

That's a good thing right?

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

Almost done with Siege of Dragonspear and it's... OK. In gameplay terms it's more Icewind Dale than Baldur's Gate, really.

Do you mean in terms of encounter design or structure?

 

[Grunker]

Structure. It's made up of sections in which you have access to - at most - two areas. These areas can be quite sprawling (caves under Dragonspear and crypts as examples) and have subplots and different themes within the areas itself (aforemenitoned caves have a sparkly mushroom section, for instance). They're actually pretty good examples of properly designed IE areas (though they don't reach the heights of the best), and many of them would slot pretty well into the base BG2 game.

But they feel out of place in Baldur's Gate due to the linearity. Even the villain feels very Icewind Dale-like.

That's a good thing right?

Not really. I mean I love Icewind Dale to bits, but Baldur's Gate is another beast, and SoD doesn't slot naturally into the saga, even if the content itself is actually fairly good and would slot pretty naturally into the base Icewind Dale game if given an aesthetic makeover.

 

[Lilura]

IWD was more open in structure and much more complex. Siege constantly locks you out and its areas are Bethesda-basic. There is nothing in Siege comparable to Dorn's Deep and its connecting areas.