Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[d1r]

No love for Watcher's Keep? Tough crowd.

Not as memorable as Durlag's Tower, but still a great addition to the game. Wish they implemented Durlag's Keep a little bit more to the game, instead of just giving you a map marker and be done with it.

Umm, there is a questline that leads you there from Ulgoth's Beard.

Whoops. Should have been Watcher's Keep.

 

[janior]

any mod/tweak that removes the need for pixel hunting? not tutu and not EE

 

[Nano]

any mod/tweak that removes the need for pixel hunting? not tutu and not EE

No. Only thing you can do is use a guide.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Decided to go muck around in Baldur's Gate before heading off to Durlag's Tower. What a cool city. It is so finely and intricately crafted. So many things to discover and explore, both small and grand. Good amounts of investigation. Quests woven across the city to encourage exploration and guide the player to stumble across even more content. Outstanding atmosphere. Believable and distinctive NPCs. I had it in my memory that once you get to Baldur's Gate, the game is practically over. I'm realizing that's only because I had memorized everything about it and could breeze through efficiently.

Revisiting this game after not having played it for...5-6 years has really been a treat. I thought it would feel archaic after PFKM, but all of it really holds up. The visuals appeared a bit dated when I first loaded it up, but once I turned off Beamdog's crap and adjust the resolution, they still look great. Combat is still fun and flows really well. Everything about this game is just top notch. I was worried about nostalgic retrospection, but I'm having a great time.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

The visuals appeared a bit dated

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The visuals appeared a bit dated

The visuals appeared a bit dated when I first loaded it up, but once I turned off Beamdog's crap and adjust the resolution, they still look great.

 

[hell bovine]

I'm thinking of playing the series again soon with SCS since I haven't tried it yet.

For BG1: do you guys recommend to use the BG trilogy mod or Tutu?

BGT, it's more popular than tutu, so likely got more testing / bugfixes. Install G3 BG2 fixpack before SCS.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It's still the same prerendered backgrounds. What Beamdog did was to change UI to a shitty one.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Beamdog added outlines and changed from nearest neighbor to linear scaling on sprites. It doesn't look right. Shading colors are also brighter and of different hues. The smoother look of the sprites contrasts to the background. It pushes them out of the scenery. Turning these changes off and just using a higher resolution looks much better. You know, like we did before the game was enhanced.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Didn't know that. Now your post makes sense

This is what happens when you don't have a first hand experience with Beamdog abominations.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Agreed. Having migrated to Linux 100% influenced my decision, but I also wanted to check out the beamdog changes and EE content myself. Outside of load times and save file management, my outlook on their changes are grim. I should begin Siege of Dragonspear in about a week. I am eager for new IE experiences, but doubtful based on what I have seen thus far.

 

[Gargaune]

It's still the same prerendered backgrounds. What Beamdog did was to change UI to a shitty one.

I dunno, I like some of the EE features, like setting my own zoom level and Quick Loot. Plus not having to mess around with Direct Draw libraries and choppy framerates, like I do with IWD2. Granted, their default UI schema isn't great, but I use Lefreut's UI mods and I'm happy.

I should begin Siege of Dragonspear in about a week. I am eager for new IE experiences, but doubtful based on what I have seen thus far.

SoD is pretty linear and its writing suffers from issues such as a lukewarm antagonist and a severe overdose of "random" humour (like most contemporary entertainment), but I think you'll find the combat, itemisation and dungeons are up to scratch. Especially the dungeons, I thought they were quite excellent. Oh, and the world map encounters are a fun development, they're not random spawns anymore but unmarked locations, really.

 

[slymer]

Finally completed BG2 today. Even though I thought some parts were kind of a slog it grew on me once I figured out what spells to use in certain situations. The last battle with Irenicus only took 2 tries. I still hate the mind flayer and beholder lairs in the underdark.

I'm about 2 hours into Throne of Bhaal now. I ended up dropping my 2nd mage Jan Jansen to pick up Sarevok.

 

[Butter]

ToB is unfortunately a real slog. There are a couple cool fights with Yaga-Shura and Sendai, but it's hardly worth the rest of it.

 

[Mexi]

ToB is unfortunately a real slog. There are a couple cool fights with Yaga-Shura and Sendai, but it's hardly worth the rest of it.

I played BG1 so many fucking times, and I've never beaten ToB. I think I defeated Yaga-Shura then I stopped playing. Only reason I want to finish is for the ending slides. IDKWTF happens in the end, and I've gotten some spoilers but not the entire story. Anyways, I thought ToB was pretty damn fun, at least the parts I played. Actually, I think I got to the lair where you find out

Spoiler

who your mother was or something, IIRC

.

The only thing that *kind of* bored me was my party being overpowered.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I always got bored with it in ToB and gave up tbh.

 

[hell bovine]

The only thing that *kind of* bored me was my party being overpowered.

Try SCS/Ascension on the highest difficulty setting. Even with an overpowered party the final ToB battle can be a challenge.

 

[Gahbreeil]

haha, no. BG2 is superior and there's no real plot reason to do so.

You are an average manatee. Baldur's Gate the First is a wonderful game with a story that sets the pace for Baldur's Gate the Second. You would rather enjoy half of a game?

 

[Dzupakazul]

In addition, Cleric is a complete waste because BG2 combat encounter design doesn't require their staying power.

Typical Codex shitposter. The number one authoritative source of knowledge on all matters SCS (only including select components and playing the game on Core Rules) says that "At the end of the day Aerie is probably the most powerful companion in the campaign. Not even Jan and Jaheira are on her level. This is due to her having access to both arcane and divine spheres of spellcasting." Now that companion takes extra 3,000,000 XP to get level 9 spells and lags behind on spell progression behind mediocre NPCs like Edwin and Nalia, but Cleric spells are clearly worth it, otherwise they would not have been mentioned in an authoritative SCS playthrough that shows every fight is designed the same way through slamming multiple sources of AoE at the same time outside of the enemy's visual range.

Sorry but I prefer actual authoritative blogs instead of Codex shitposters. Xvarts from here never taught me how to stack THAC0 over the soft cap on a physical character, overkilling it by -20 points and get the effect of the Critical Strike HLA wrong.

 

[Alrik]

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?

I abandoned my last SCS run in the Underdark. I cleared out the Beholders, but it was by far the most difficult fight I've done in any RPG and I got burned out by the experience so I dropped the game after carelessly losing to the Drow ambush at the bridge. I don't recall my exact install, but I'm pretty sure I installed all the tougher/PnP versions of monsters and I definitely installed the "Beholders steal the Shield of Balduran" and "Beholders burn through spell turning/deflection" components. SCS not only significantly increases the difficulty of the Beholder Lair but making each type of Beholder more powerful, but also has more Elder Orbs and Hive Mothers than vanilla. But that wasn't the worst part, the worst part is that whenever you encounter one group of Beholders (aside from the one at the entrance) a chain reaction sets off and the entire hive comes after you at once and due to the map design there are no chokepoints to be had so they will attack you from all directions. Buffing? Doesn't work, everything instantly dispelled. Buffing Viconia's MR to the highest you can get? Only got to ~90% which allows her to survive for ~20-30s at best, which isn't nearly enough to mow down 20+ Beholders even with Improved Haste, dual wielding and all the OP Cleric buffs. IIRC I pulled through by stacking tons of Stinking Clouds (Beholders are immune to the superior Web since they levitate) and Cloudkills while doing MMM skirmishes. In the end only two party members survived but none were permakilled (on my nth attempt). Funnily enough one of their attacks was counterproductive, it stunned you for an eternity but also blew you to the other end of the map which meant that the character was at least put out of harm's way.

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.

What made the SCS mage fights the most difficult for me was that they almost always had a significant caster level advantage. I'm not talking about the few extra damage dice or even the high level spells, but the fact that Remove Magic (RM/DM are the only spells that can take down spell protections on an invisible caster) works on level difference so they will dispel everything you have with a single cast of a level 3 spell but you can't dispel any of their buffs with the same method and need to peel them off one by one (and rely on Jan's extremely unreliable "100%" Detect Illusion to get rid of their invisibility so you can actually target them). It does get a little better when you get Spell Immunity, but you still need to choose between Divination (protects against everything but DM/RM) and Abjuration (protects against DM/RM but gets taken down by the conventional counterspells). But that works both ways and since the designers knew the enemies would have caster level advantage they all pick SI:Divination since your Remove Magic doesn't do shit to them (which is why you need to use the buggy Detect Illusion skill). I guess I should've used Keldorn (though I think SCS significantly nerfs Inquisitors' dispel).

Jhor the Bleeder helps a lot though, getting in even one hit before their contingency reapplies the full protection battery puts them in insect plague mode. They might be protected, but they can no longer cast spells.

 

[oldmanpaco]

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?

I abandoned my last SCS run in the Underdark. I cleared out the Beholders, but it was by far the most difficult fight I've done in any RPG and I got burned out by the experience so I dropped the game after carelessly losing to the Drow ambush at the bridge. I don't recall my exact install, but I'm pretty sure I installed all the tougher/PnP versions of monsters and I definitely installed the "Beholders steal the Shield of Balduran" and "Beholders burn through spell turning/deflection" components. SCS not only significantly increases the difficulty of the Beholder Lair but making each type of Beholder more powerful, but also has more Elder Orbs and Hive Mothers than vanilla. But that wasn't the worst part, the worst part is that whenever you encounter one group of Beholders (aside from the one at the entrance) a chain reaction sets off and the entire hive comes after you at once and due to the map design there are no chokepoints to be had so they will attack you from all directions. Buffing? Doesn't work, everything instantly dispelled. Buffing Viconia's MR to the highest you can get? Only got to ~90% which allows her to survive for ~20-30s at best, which isn't nearly enough to mow down 20+ Beholders even with Improved Haste, dual wielding and all the OP Cleric buffs. IIRC I pulled through by stacking tons of Stinking Clouds (Beholders are immune to the superior Web since they levitate) and Cloudkills while doing MMM skirmishes. In the end only two party members survived but none were permakilled (on my nth attempt). Funnily enough one of their attacks was counterproductive, it stunned you for an eternity but also blew you to the other end of the map which meant that the character was at least put out of harm's way.

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.

What made the SCS mage fights the most difficult for me was that they almost always had a significant caster level advantage. I'm not talking about the few extra damage dice or even the high level spells, but the fact that Remove Magic (RM/DM are the only spells that can take down spell protections on an invisible caster) works on level difference so they will dispel everything you have with a single cast of a level 3 spell but you can't dispel any of their buffs with the same method and need to peel them off one by one (and rely on Jan's extremely unreliable "100%" Detect Illusion to get rid of their invisibility so you can actually target them). It does get a little better when you get Spell Immunity, but you still need to choose between Divination (protects against everything but DM/RM) and Abjuration (protects against DM/RM but gets taken down by the conventional counterspells). But that works both ways and since the designers knew the enemies would have caster level advantage they all pick SI:Divination since your Remove Magic doesn't do shit to them (which is why you need to use the buggy Detect Illusion skill). I guess I should've used Keldorn (though I think SCS significantly nerfs Inquisitors' dispel).

Jhor the Bleeder helps a lot though, getting in even one hit before their contingency reapplies the full protection battery puts them in insect plague mode. They might be protected, but they can no longer cast spells.

Don't let SCS filter you! Not going to lie the highest levels of SCS are not fun. It's best to set the difficulty in the middle on all options. I've played SCS on max, and it gets tedious as hell about the time Irenicus drags you to hell. Also you need to understand that a SCS install requires at least 3 mages in your party - PC, Edwin, and a scrub. Maybe 2 scrubs. There is reason Berserker or Kensai/Mages are considered the most OP charname. My favorite SCS party is probably Berserker 9/Mage, Edwin, Jan, Jaheria, Viconia, Korgan. You can flip out Jaheria/Viconia for Aerie or Jan for Nalia/Imoen to get more arcane power.

 

[laclongquan]

Aerie with Minute Meteor is a good ranged attacker so everything else is just icings on cake~

 

[Kliwer]

Also you need to understand that a SCS install requires at least 3 mages in your party

This is completely untrue. One full mage + additional mage (e.g. a bard) is more than enough. We have tons of options to deal with enemies: items, potions, scrolls, clerical spells, inquisitor, summons. There are tons of ways to make a good team.

I'm playing BGT with SCS and SR at the moment. In addition, I have some quest mods, but also quite significantly reduced experience received (75% for quests, 50% for killed enemies, no experience for disarming traps and learning spells). My party:

- dwarf, fighter-cleric
-Jaheira, fighter-druid
-Minsc - in my installation I made him a barbarian
-Valygar - stalker
-Jan Jansen, thief-illusionist
-Xan (mod NPC), enchanter.

The game is delicious. Of course, some fights are quite difficult (I had a lot of problems with Firkraag). But others are a matter of developing a good strategy. I fought the Twisted Rune 4 times (team at levels 10-12 - after going through the entire 2nd Chapter). The first time I was terribly massacred, I didn't kill anyone. I won the third time, but I only had 2 characters alive. The fourth time I killed them all without any major losses.

The balance of the game breaks down, but only in ToB. All SoA is well balanced. The last time I was playing with a similar installation, the only SoA fight I didn't win was the Demogorgon. This devil is extremely difficult, but: a) it has to be like that, after all, he is the prince of hell, whom the gods themselves were afraid of b) you don't have to fight him to finish the quest.
I wonder if I can slay him this time.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Also you need to understand that a SCS install requires at least 3 mages in your party

This is completely untrue. One full mage + additional mage (e.g. a bard) is more than enough.

I feel like Bards are slightly undervalued in BG. One of the benefits of the class, which may not be immediate, is that they are magic-users with a thiefs experience table. This means that they are great at dispelling effects from enemy mages as Dispel Magic rolls the caster's level vs the enemy's level for success. It's a useless spell for your own mages and kind of useless on Clerics, but great with Bards.

 

[Cael]

Also you need to understand that a SCS install requires at least 3 mages in your party

This is completely untrue. One full mage + additional mage (e.g. a bard) is more than enough.

I feel like Bards are slightly undervalued in BG. One of the benefits of the class, which may not be immediate, is that they are magic-users with a thiefs experience table. This means that they are great at dispelling effects from enemy mages as Dispel Magic rolls the caster's level vs the enemy's level for success. It's a useless spell for your own mages and kind of useless on Clerics, but great with Bards.

Red Mages in the Krynn GB series has a lower XP required/level past level 11. It is the only class that comes close to level 40 after DQK in a normal single playthrough of the whole series.