Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[laclongquan]

Skull Trap is too much like a trap or a single-target strike rather than an area bombardment tool that we love to throw around. I say the doublesize radius of Fireball make it worthwhile more than the higher damage bracket of Skull Trap. We lose damage on single, centered, target, but we make it back on splash.

 

[aloeh]

Finished BG1 some days ago, meh. The experience was not sooooo different when I played BG1EE "with my ass"* rushing the main quest in story mode and using save game editor. Yes I am ashamed of my performance in beamdog turd.

*do with ass: do something very lazy, do just you have to do. Example : this Explanation.

Played a little BG2, made a sorcerer, to a more variation of spell, (because just magic missel it's sad). I became a smeagol everytime I found a scroll in BG1 "My Precious", now I don't need anymore I have THOUSANDS (maybe 15). Life is cruel.

Guys, is better I play Icewind Dale (launched before) or keep in BG train?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Butter]

Icewind Dale is the best IE game. I'd rather play that than BG2.

 

[Kliwer]

2) I'm not sure anyone should be taking advice from someone who installs NPC mods.

Xan is the only NPC mod I have installed. I just really like this character, sorry (I agree that most NPC mods are shit). In terms of strategic considerations, he won't change anything - you can exchange him for Edwin, who is even more powerful (slightly better stats, slightly better specialization) or Nalia. The only change that could be considered as a "cheat" is Minsca's transformation into a barbarian. But again - exchange it for Korgana and you get the same, only better.

BTW:
I just traded Jan for Imoen. What a pain... Imoen is behind the rest of the teammates by 1 million xp. Besides, it does not offer Detect Ilussion skill, unlike Jan. It hurts the most, even more than I thought. And she won't have a thieving HLAs.

Even if we assume Imoen doesn't have a xp lag, I still think that Jan is stronger and more useful. Yes - Imoen can be the team's main mage. But as an auxiliary mage, Jan does better. It is better to have: mage + thief/mage (multi) in your team than: mage + thief-->mage (dual). The mere Detect Illusion skill is invaluable (unless we have an inquisitor). There are also traps (regular and HLAs) - I personally hardly use them, but it's good to have them at our disposal in case of a really overcomplicated fight.

It's a pity. My conscience would not let me leave poor Imoen alone. Farewell brave Jan, hero of turnips! Hello, retarded sister!

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Enchanter is ok - even strong - as long as we have a second mage. Enchatment spells do nothing if a saving throw is successful. So each hinder of the saving throw is very valuable.

Besides, it all depends on the playstyle. Some people beat the game mainly with offensive spells. I use them very rarely. Most of the damage is done by warriors; mages and priests are mainly for buffs, debuffs, summons and crowd control.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Conjurer isn't necessarily the best, certainly not in BG1. It's an easy choice recommended for most new players since Conjurers give up the least amount of spells while retaining the specialist slots, but in BG1 an Enchanter only loses out on Evocation spells which aren't all that important. The +2 DC to Enchantment spells that Enchanters get in BG is way stronger than anything a Conjurer will bring to the table.

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Consider that Fireballs shot with a WoF can't roll a 1 on their damage rolls. All 1's will be converted to 2's, making the damage potential higher. Using a Wand also frees up 3rd level slots for other useful spells such as Haste or Dire Charm. An Enchanter can use Wands to cast Fireballs, so they don't actually lose out on anything important.

Magic Missile is good but overrated. You can easily interrupt casters with a bow, which are insanely strong in BG1 and you're most likely going to have at least one guy who is good at them.

 

[Nano]

Magic Missile is good but overrated.

Nah. Enchanters are undervalued, but there's nothing overrated about bitchslapping an enemy five times in a row.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

FIGHT !

 

[octavius]

My conscience would not let me leave poor Imoen alone. Farewell brave Jan, hero of turnips! Hello, retarded sister!

Undisarmable chunking trap in Spellhold, meet Imoen.
Hello, Jan. Is that a turnip in your trouser pocket, or are you just happy to see us again?

 

[ga♥]

Conjurer isn't necessarily the best, certainly not in BG1. It's an easy choice recommended for most new players since Conjurers give up the least amount of spells while retaining the specialist slots, but in BG1 an Enchanter only loses out on Evocation spells which aren't all that important. The +2 DC to Enchantment spells that Enchanters get in BG is way stronger than anything a Conjurer will bring to the table.

What about giving up magic missle and fireball, is the +2 worth it?

Consider that Fireballs shot with a WoF can't roll a 1 on their damage rolls. All 1's will be converted to 2's, making the damage potential higher. Using a Wand also frees up 3rd level slots for other useful spells such as Haste or Dire Charm. An Enchanter can use Wands to cast Fireballs, so they don't actually lose out on anything important.

Magic Missile is good but overrated. You can easily interrupt casters with a bow, which are insanely strong in BG1 and you're most likely going to have at least one guy who is good at them.

Fireballl by wand is capped at 6d6... while fireball by Edwin will reach 9d6 in BG1, where's the higher damage potential?
On magic missle being easily to interrupt, this only applies to you, not the AI, so not sure about the argument.

You make it sound that those +2 to enchanter spells makes a difference, while I never noticed super saves when using sleep with Edwin.

 

[Nano]

Fireballl by wand is capped at 6d6...

But wands in BG2 use a casting level of 10. As for BG1, big whoop, whether it's 6d6 or 9d6 it's more than enough to blast the enemies there.

There's just no good reason to memorize Fireball unless you're an Invoker. Level 3 mage spells are way too competitive for it.

 

[Alrik]

Losing Web/Stinking Cloud is a much bigger problem than losing Fireball.

 

[Ninjerk]

Idk how they compare damage wise b/c who cares, but I love the availability of explosive arrows in BG1.

 

[slymer]

Idk how they compare damage wise b/c who cares, but I love the availability of explosive arrows in BG1.

i always forget to unequip them, then the next thing I know my party is being blasted and it takes me a minute to realize what's going on.

 

[Ninjerk]

Idk how they compare damage wise b/c who cares, but I love the availability of explosive arrows in BG1.

i always forget to unequip them, then the next thing I know my party is being blasted and it takes me a minute to realize what's going on.

Gotta stay nimble!

 

[Ninjerk]

And not nimble like Nimble, but like... you know.

 

[Melcar]

It's not like web and stinking cloud are must have spells in a full party based playthrough. The game is perfectly playable with an Enchanter (BG1). Just different ways to approach encounters.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk

 

[slymer]

Finally completed Throne of Bhaal tonight. That final boss fight was a doozy. Completed the entire saga in a little over a month, I believe I started on January 5th. I finished the game as a 24th level Stalker. Got a little burnt out at the end and didn't finish all of watchers keep. I'd give BG1 a 9/10, SoD 5/10, and BG2/TOB a 7.5/10. I might give BG2 a higher score on a 2nd playthrough now that I'm more familiar with the high level spells and abilities. The lower score is mainly due to frustration and a lot of reloading. I probably wouldn't ever replay SoD if I did do another play through.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

slymer I'm just about to enter SoD for the first time. Leery, since BG is my all time favorite series. I've put more hours into them than I could attempt to recollect. What about SoD did you dislike so strongly?

 

[slymer]

slymer I'm just about to enter SoD for the first time. Leery, since BG is my all time favorite series. I've put more hours into them than I could attempt to recollect. What about SoD did you dislike so strongly?

It just felt really unnecessary to me. It probably would've been fine under a different name as a regular D&D Forgotten Realms adventure.

 

[Hobo Elf]

For Me SoD was a solid 8/10. It had great dungeon and encounter design with some cool questing as well. The final chapter was atrocious, however, and I would never replay that again, but the parts after you leave Baldur's Gate and before the final assault are pretty good.

Just don't expect the expansion to bridge BG1 with BG2 like Beamdog said that it would. It doesn't. It's just some extra adventures you can go on before BG2.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I thought SoD was ok. It wasn't bad, although there were some cringe bits, and it wasn't great even though it did have some interesting encounters, areas, and ideas. I'd probably put it around a 7-8/10. It's definitely worth at least a playthrough to see if you like it or not.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

SoD writing/plot is awful.
Dungeons are good, so are the encounters. The boareskyr bridge(sp?) encounters were probably the most memorable. Art is really good.
Also, the archer they introduce

Spoiler

just completely fucks you over at the end no matter how well she liked you. Asshole.
Plus one of the major plotlines is never going to be resolved unless larian is kind enough to give it a nod somewhere in BG3.

Kinda feel bad for everyone who worked on it except for the writers because the writers really pulled them down.

 

[Yosharian]

BTW:
I just traded Jan for Imoen. What a pain... Imoen is behind the rest of the teammates by 1 million xp. Besides, it does not offer Detect Ilussion skill, unlike Jan. It hurts the most, even more than I thought. And she won't have a thieving HLAs.

Even if we assume Imoen doesn't have a xp lag, I still think that Jan is stronger and more useful. Yes - Imoen can be the team's main mage. But as an auxiliary mage, Jan does better. It is better to have: mage + thief/mage (multi) in your team than: mage + thief-->mage (dual). The mere Detect Illusion skill is invaluable (unless we have an inquisitor). There are also traps (regular and HLAs) - I personally hardly use them, but it's good to have them at our disposal in case of a really overcomplicated fight.

It's a pity. My conscience would not let me leave poor Imoen alone. Farewell brave Jan, hero of turnips! Hello, retarded sister!

You can fix all of these problems with Shadowkeeper or whatever it's called. You can modify what skills Imoen has invested in, and bring her up to your level.

Also I'm pretty sure CDTweaks already does the latter? You are using that right?

 

[Gargaune]

Yeah, I'll go to bat for SoD as well, it's a decent module. It's really let down by bad writing, but it's got great dungeons and itemisation and solid combat. I think people come down quite hard on it in measuring it against either main campaign, when the proper comparison is with ToB.

 

[ScrotumBroth]

TOB's writing was like a retarded step child compared to OG campaigns, so...