Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Nano]

^ Lame.

BG1's OST is indeed much better. BG1's wilderness maps can get old, but this track is still awesome:



BG2 doesn't have music as haunting and evocative as this.

 

[Chippy]

When you enter Ulgoth's Beard, you get the description of the village and a list/hint of all the quest available. That was pretty well done IMO. I've just noticed that they mention:

• The ancient cult
• Durlag's Tower
• Strange goings on in the house of Shandalar

And "unsubstantiated tales of a murderous creature stalking the night". So is that last one there for flavour, is it referring to the island quest and a certain person in the village, or is it referring to the creature from the cult quest, or have I actually missed a quest in all these years? Pretty sure I talked to everyone.

 

[agris]

Nano and all the others-

I’ve beaten BG2 with and without SCS more times than I can count, but I’ve always used the shield of balduran for the unseeing eye. How does one get through all the beholders, at a level appropriate power level, without the shield? And without cheesy PfM scrolls / potions, and MR potions.

Ive always thought the shield was added to BG2 specifically to address this area. Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

 

[underground nymph]

BG 1 was atmospheric af.
Same goes for fallout 1.
Both sequels were more of an amusement ride.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

If you don't consider getting the staff of the magi a little early-on as cheese, then a wizard using it to be invisible at will can clear the whole area using cloudkill and/or death fog or whatever damaging AOE spell he has at his disposal.

 

[Nano]

Nano and all the others-

I’ve beaten BG2 with and without SCS more times than I can count, but I’ve always used the shield of balduran for the unseeing eye. How does one get through all the beholders, at a level appropriate power level, without the shield? And without cheesy PfM scrolls / potions, and MR potions.

Ive always thought the shield was added to BG2 specifically to address this area. Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

Don't remember the exact details because it happened a while ago, but here are the main things I used:

- Some Potions of Speed
- A lot of Potions of Extra Healing to use during combat (had a big stack of them going into the dungeon, almost ran out by the end)
- The Ring of Regeneration (pickpocketed from Ribald) to recover some HP outside of combat
- All of the cool BG2 parties have Viconia in them, so you should already have a companion with high MR

That's the gist of it, though I'm pretty sure I also had Viconia use a few healing scrolls. I definitely didn't use any PfM potions or scrolls, though.

 

[Yamchu]

Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

The one tactic that works for everything. Summon cannon fodder (iirc skeleton and skeleton warriors worked well). But if you cannot beat them, theres always the stealthy method to get to your goal, but who wants to miss out on all that EP

 

[Melcar]

Summons work for Beholders. Skeletons were my favorite, but Elementals can work too.
BG1's music I found to be more atmospheric and on point, even if it was limited and repetitive. BG2 has a good few tracks, but most of the OST is forgettable. Athkatla's Bridge District, Waukeen's Promenade, the Druid Grove, Brynnlaw I always liked. In ToB, Yaga Shura's Lair was the only one I liked.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I find that the fabled Mage duels are a bit over hyped.

Are you playing with SCS?

 

[laclongquan]

Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

The one tactic that works for everything. Summon cannon fodder (iirc skeleton and skeleton warriors worked well). But if you cannot beat them, theres always the stealthy method to get to your goal, but who wants to miss out on all that EP

Polymorph Self Mustard Jelly to deal with their spells. Jelly can gradually bite them to death. Death Fog can acid eat them

 

[hell bovine]

Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

The one tactic that works for everything. Summon cannon fodder (iirc skeleton and skeleton warriors worked well). But if you cannot beat them, theres always the stealthy method to get to your goal, but who wants to miss out on all that EP

Polymorph Self Mustard Jelly to deal with their spells. Jelly can gradually bite them to death. Death Fog can acid eat them

I haven't played the most recent scs version, but I think beholders get a nasty bite attack (not 100% sure about this, though), while the elder orbs use imprisonment. For scs I've used skellies as distraction, followed by Korgan equipped with the inertial barrier belt and anything that lowers saves, followed by spellcasters who'd cast an aoe and retreat. But they are quite aggressive with their rays, and sometimes one floats by from the side tunnel and catches a spellcaster, so.

 

[Hobo Elf]

The music is a huge nosedive down the shitter as well; I think this pisses me off the most in BG2. I'm not really sure what happened here as it was made by the same composer. BG1 music is manly and heroic. It feels like it's calling you to go on an adventure. And BG2 music is.. it's just there.

Really? I enjoy both, but I feel like BG2's soundtrack has the edge, especially in terms of manliness:

It's good. One of the few decent tracks in BG2, along with the menu theme. You only hear these themes for a few minutes throughout the entire campaign, while the vast majority is spent listening to music that fails to make a lasting impact. The music you'll hear the most in BG2 will be combat music and it's really bad. BG1 has a ton of tracks for combat and they all range from good to awesome. Comparing the best music in BG2 with BG1's offering still puts BG2 as the obvous loser every time.

 

[laclongquan]

Jellies are 100% resistant to their magic rays I think.

Also Keldorn with his high MR.

Also one by one clean up riff raff before you deal with Elder Beholder. So that you only need to fight EB and two minions. Using the rift device to cut off his Maze animation in the middle (require timing).

 

[hell bovine]

Jellies are 100% resistant to their magic rays I think.

Also Keldorn with his high MR.

MR protects from rays, but I'm not sure the jelly has enough hps to withstand the biting (though I'm also not sure if they do that in scs). I've just used Korgan.

Last version I've played the elder orb was basically a spellcaster and started out buffed like a xmas ornament, so I'd not be able to tell when he was casting imprisonment.

 

[Gargaune]

It's good. One of the few decent tracks in BG2, along with the menu theme. You only hear these themes for a few minutes throughout the entire campaign, while the vast majority is spent listening to music that fails to make a lasting impact. The music you'll hear the most in BG2 will be combat music and it's really bad. BG1 has a ton of tracks for combat and they all range from good to awesome. Comparing the best music in BG2 with BG1's offering still puts BG2 as the obvous loser every time.

There's plenty of tracks I like BG2, especially dungeon ones, but if you're talking about combat music in particular, yes, I'd agree they're mostly better in BG1. That said, I'm not a huge fan of either game in that department, I'm a sucker for Disciples 2's battle themes:

Granted, their tempo probably works better in a TB context.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I find that the fabled Mage duels are a bit over hyped.

Are you playing with SCS?

You indicated you're not so that's the problem. Without SCS all you need is one mage, one cleric, and four guys hacking everything to death. With SCS enemy mages use contingencies, spell triggers, CC, spell defenses, dispel your defenses, precast defensive spells (can be tweaked several ways), and use high level abilities. Basically everything you can do the AI does too. Not to mention the changes to liches, demons, vampires, mind flayers, and other monsters. Overall a much more satisfying experience.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

mage duels are a meme, you just memorize exactly which spell counters what or just bring keldorn/a bard to dispel

 

[oldmanpaco]

mage duels are a meme, you just memorize exactly which spell counters what or just bring keldorn/a bard to dispel

Keldorn is boring. But hey if you want to play on story mode that's your call. People can enjoy the game anyway they want.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

People can enjoy the game anyway they want.

wrong

 

[Hobo Elf]

I find that the fabled Mage duels are a bit over hyped.

Are you playing with SCS?

You indicated you're not so that's the problem. Without SCS all you need is one mage, one cleric, and four guys hacking everything to death. With SCS enemy mages use contingencies, spell triggers, CC, spell defenses, dispel your defenses, precast defensive spells (can be tweaked several ways), and use high level abilities. Basically everything you can do the AI does too. Not to mention the changes to liches, demons, vampires, mind flayers, and other monsters. Overall a much more satisfying experience.

Some day, perhaps. I'm not going to do my first full run with mods, especially anything that changes gameplay so drastically, although one might argue that EE already does that. Less so for BG2, but still.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I find that the fabled Mage duels are a bit over hyped.

Are you playing with SCS?

You indicated you're not so that's the problem. Without SCS all you need is one mage, one cleric, and four guys hacking everything to death. With SCS enemy mages use contingencies, spell triggers, CC, spell defenses, dispel your defenses, precast defensive spells (can be tweaked several ways), and use high level abilities. Basically everything you can do the AI does too. Not to mention the changes to liches, demons, vampires, mind flayers, and other monsters. Overall a much more satisfying experience.

Some day, perhaps. I'm not going to do my first full run with mods, especially anything that changes gameplay so drastically, although one might argue that EE already does that. Less so for BG2, but still.

People say that, but it doesn't add anything new to the game. If bioware could properly code AI then SCS would not be needed.

 

[Melcar]

SCS can change the rules/mechanics in such a way that the game would differentiate from the vanilla experience greatly. Even if one were to say those are fixes and the way things should be, some things were purposely nerfed/changed for the final game.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Trying to play through BG2 for the first time and this game is such a slog compared to BG1. Constant reloading, level drain, never have the right spells memorized, spells and weapons ineffective, mini beholders machine gunning me with spells. The unseeing eye quest took me like 4 hours to complete. I think I'm too unfamiliar with all the high level spells in BG2.

I envy you getting to play it for the first time.

Nano and all the others-

I’ve beaten BG2 with and without SCS more times than I can count, but I’ve always used the shield of balduran for the unseeing eye. How does one get through all the beholders, at a level appropriate power level, without the shield? And without cheesy PfM scrolls / potions, and MR potions.

Ive always thought the shield was added to BG2 specifically to address this area. Is there an actual non-cheese way to deal with the beholders?

It takes a variety of tactics that have to be mixed. There are alot of Level 2 spells which are useful. Web, Stinking Cloud, and Glitterdust can take down most Gauths. Beholders will do better on the saves, but it still works. Animating dead for the sacrificial first wave is a good idea. Summoning demons helps. Bows are valuable, as you don't have to close the gap. Using potions to pump magic resistance is obviously good. Not perfect, but will help a great deal. Potions of Insulation are basically a win button against Gauths, as their damage is primarily electrical. If you have them--using reflection spells (even the minor ones) can give you the time you need to take them out. Risky to do, but can be worth it. Wands of Paralysis are also a good option. Squencers and Contingencies stacking Flame Arrow are good choices. Don't discount barraging magic missiles either, as the volume gives you a good chance to destroy eye stalks. In short, you've got to give them everything you've got unless you're cheesing with Baldur's Shield or Cloak of Mirroring.

Once you're in the Underdark, there are better options. Nishruus and Hakeshars are take a beating, but they will also be met by death spells. For a mage, casting Project Image and then mixing spell reflections and spell trap with spell immunities is a great route. For warriors, this is where Deathblow and Greater Deathblow earn their keep. Put Improved Haste on your archer. Use DB and GDB. Everything except a Hive Mother and Elder Orb will die instantly on hit. Use Power Word: Blind on those, then hit them with everything you're worth. These are good fights because you have to think creatively and try your best.

 

[Poseidon00]

Someone should implement the actual "spellcaster duel" ruleset within 2E. What a massively complex, but enjoyable, shitshow that was.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The spellcaster duels existed in vanilla BG2, but they didn't gain notoriety until SCS. That AI is excellent and makes phenomenal use of the rules and spells. Even clerics and non-caster classes (particularly rogues) are far more fearsome. The best part is that it's all done fairly. If you want the experience that is hyped about, you need to use SCS.