Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Nikanuur]

Btw stumbled on a guy who do BG/BG2 no damage runs - how cool/hard/un/usual is this?
We all know Davaeorn I guess, he do just ironman, but no damage...

Since this is an adaptation of D20 system where D20 is prone to happen at least sometimes, I don't actually believe this possible without some shady practices. But if someone corrects me, I'll be gladly schooled :]

 

[Nikanuur]

Ehmm ... because she is my stepsister and childhood friend? Because LN heroes act honorably? Because my character has no other family around the wide world?

Doesn't make her any less of an annoying twat tho. The LN thing to do would be to rescue her, but not necesserily have her tag along. And you do have plenty of other step-siblings. Balthazar, Yaga Shura, Sendai, etc, etc.

Imoen has to be the least annoying of the NPCs. She barely had any lines outside of the main quest ones.

I never found her quotes annoying. Her voice is high in spirits and soothing, I can imagine how this can have some impact on the bitter no-girlfriend people tho :D

 

[Storyfag]

Ehmm ... because she is my stepsister and childhood friend? Because LN heroes act honorably? Because my character has no other family around the wide world?

Doesn't make her any less of an annoying twat tho. The LN thing to do would be to rescue her, but not necesserily have her tag along. And you do have plenty of other step-siblings. Balthazar, Yaga Shura, Sendai, etc, etc.

Imoen has to be the least annoying of the NPCs. She barely had any lines outside of the main quest ones.

I never found her quotes annoying. Her voice is high in spirits and soothing, I can imagine how this can have some impact on the bitter no-girlfriend people tho :D

Bitch please, you have so much to learn. So put that patron tag to good use.

 

[Testownia]

Btw stumbled on a guy who do BG/BG2 no damage runs - how cool/hard/un/usual is this?
We all know Davaeorn I guess, he do just ironman, but no damage...

I did a full run of PoE, and taken 12.4 damage for the entire game.

 

[Fenix]

Btw stumbled on a guy who do BG/BG2 no damage runs - how cool/hard/un/usual is this?
We all know Davaeorn I guess, he do just ironman, but no damage...

Since this is an adaptation of D20 system where D20 is prone to happen at least sometimes, I don't actually believe this possible without some shady practices. But if someone corrects me, I'll be gladly schooled :]

Well, last part I watched went lie this - always with Stone Skin on, Invisibility (improved?) and spell immunity to divination. And most most of fights done with sling. And bunch of protections of course - fire,cold, etc. And probably not everything was done.

Here is the guy.

 

[Nikanuur]

Slings always ftw!

 

[Desiderius]

Btw stumbled on a guy who do BG/BG2 no damage runs - how cool/hard/un/usual is this?
We all know Davaeorn I guess, he do just ironman, but no damage...

I'd be more impressed if he dealt no damage:

https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7234

Cheats, Tricks, Bugs, and Easter Eggs
If you can finish a level without destroying any cars, you will receive a 50000 point bonus.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I think a pacifist Baldur's Gate run could be possible...technically. The chapters generally trigger when you find the letters and messages, not by killing the bosses that stand in your way. I think the only exceptions are Daveron and Sarevok. You could theoretically use the confusion spell to get their minions to kill them for you, but that would be a monumental challenge. All of this would be especially difficult in that you would earn exceedingly little experience throughout the whole game. You would probably have to solo a dual class theif->mage in order to get access to the confusion spell in time. Even then, all bets are off. You'd have to crutch on getting BG2 engine levels of experience for scroll memorization and traps/locks, which is basically an exploit.

 

[Testownia]

I think a pacifist Baldur's Gate run could be possible...technically. The chapters generally trigger when you find the letters and messages, not by killing the bosses that stand in your way. I think the only exceptions are Daveron and Sarevok. You could theoretically use the confusion spell to get their minions to kill them for you, but that would be a monumental challenge. All of this would be especially difficult in that you would earn exceedingly little experience throughout the whole game. You would probably have to solo a dual class theif->mage in order to get access to the confusion spell in time. Even then, all bets are off. You'd have to crutch on getting BG2 engine levels of experience for scroll memorization and traps/locks, which is basically an exploit.

Can't you skip Daveron by charming him?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

That might actually work.

 

[Testownia]

That might actually work.

No, I mean I THINK he has unique dialogue if charmed, where you can just talk to him, get what information you want, and leave? I know for sure that Mulahey had that possibility.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

He does. It shouldn't effect the quest though. What it would do, is give you an opportunity to pickpocket the river plug key and the documents off of him. After you give the key to Rill, he would technically be the one who "drowned some folks". Thus you could complete the chapter without having killed anyone directly. So that just leaves Sarevok who would have to be killed by confused companions.

 

[Erebus]

One of the many problems of Throne of Bhaal is that the villains are pretty terrible.

Obviously, Melissan is nowhere as good as Irenicus or Sarevok. But then she’s a surprise villain, and surprise villains are almost never good. At least she’s somewhat developed and active. The Five – the guys you’ll be busy opposing during 90% of the game - are completely bland and uninspiring.

I was trying to determine which one of the Five is actually the worst and it’s not an easy question to answer.

Balthazar and Yaga-Shura are probably the least terrible ones (though they’re still pretty bad).

Balthazar is the only one who has a personality and motives that show a very slight hint of creativity. And though he doesn’t actually do anything (other than try to kill you after you’ve done his job for him), he at least gives the impression that he has plans and is making preparations to execute them.

Yaga-Shura is the only one who actually tries to make the entire region run red with blood. You see his army, you visit the city he’s besieging, and that makes him look like a significant threat, someone worth defeating. His personality is utterly bland, but the fact that he removed his heart from his body in order to become invulnerable is kind of interesting.

One might think that Illasera is the worst of the Five, because her entire purpose in the story is being defeated by the PC in the very first fight of the game. But at least she does have a purpose in the story and she is trying to accomplish something, which is more than can be said for some of her colleagues.

Sendai and Abazigal, on the other hand, are not doing anything at all. You’re told that they’re a threat, but they’re never shown to be doing anything, or even to be planning on doing anything. And they somehow manage to have even shallower personalities than Yaga-Shura and Illasera.

In the end, Sendai is slightly more developed. She has servants (though she’s not really using them for any purpose until you come for her head) and you get to see her talk to them in a few cutscenes (that mostly show her shitting her pants because you’re coming for her head).

That leaves Abazigal as the worst of the Five. The guy’s literally just a fucking dragon waiting in his lair until you show up and kill him.

 

[octavius]

Melissan is the worst since she is not a surprise villain for very long. Just as in Morrowind Tribunal with Almalexia (even less subtle) you're forced to follow the straight path and can never challenge her.

 

[Storyfag]

Melissan is the worst since she is not a surprise villain for very long. Just as in Morrowind Tribunal with Almalexia (even less subtle) you're forced to follow the straight path and can never challenge her.

Yes, her duplicity was painfully obvious since Saradush.

 

[Erebus]

Surprise villains mostly fall into two categories : (1) the villains who come out of nowhere and thus mean nothing to you, and (2) the villains pretending to be friendly whose betrayal you can see coming a mile away.

Melissan clearly belongs to the second category and I agree that it's frustrating to have to follow her advice anyway. But I think it'd be less of a problem if the villains she has you fight were more interesting and felt more threatening.

The first time I played the game, I started suspecting Melissan after meeting the teleporting Bhaalspawn that she'd "cured", thus trapping him in Saradush. After the fight with Gromnir, I was almost certain that she was a villain ("no please don't fight you shouldn't oooops too late teehee I guess you'll have to take care of Yaga-Shura now"). Though it made sense to act quickly against Yaga-Shura, it was annoying to be forced to leave a likely traitor in Saradush.

After Yaga-Shura, I knew for sure that Melissan was a villain and it really annoyed me that I still had no choice but to do what she said. But it might have been more bearable if only Sendai and Abazigal had been better villains. You know nothing about them or their plans, and they don't seem to be doing anything anyway, so you don't have any strong motivation to act against them.

If the Five had been better villains (more developed, more impressive, more active...), Melissan would still be an obvious surprise villain, but having to fight them before we can finally deal with her would feel less frustrating.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Wasn't it Balthazar that technically sends you against Abazigal and Sendai? You go to his monastery to find out more about "The Five" who were responsible for Yaga-Shura's assault. He says they are too raising armies, I believe. That's why he's raising his own to defend against them (allegedly). Even still, I agree that fighting with them is definitely railroaded, and those villains most exist as excuses for a dungeon and boss fight. I just wish that they had written and voice acted Sendai better. Very grating.

 

[pomenitul]

 

[Storyfag]

After Yaga-Shura, I knew for sure that Melissan was a villain and it really annoyed me that I still had no choice but to do what she said. But it might have been more bearable if only Sendai and Abazigal had been better villains. You know nothing about them or their plans, and they don't seem to be doing anything anyway, so you don't have any strong motivation to act against them.

It largely depends on what kind of Bhaalspawn you play. My necromancer was of a firm "there can be only one" mindset, and Melissan's appeals to the goodnes of his heart were as unwelcome as they were unconvincing.

 

[Erebus]

He says they are too raising armies, I believe. That's why he's raising his own to defend against them (allegedly).

I think it's indeed mentioned that they're raising armies, but it's extremely vague and has no consequence whatsoever. Their armies never really appear or do anything (in fact, Abazigal only seems to have a few handfuls of random monsters under his orders, with no purpose other than to guard his lair).

Balthazar, at least, is shown to be recruiting mercenaries (who're causing trouble in Amkethran).

It largely depends on what kind of Bhaalspawn you play. My necromancer was of a firm "there can be only one" mindset, and Melissan's appeals to the goodnes of his heart were as unwelcome as they were unconvincing.

Yeah, an evil or selfish PC is really given very few reasons to care about the plans of the Five, including the siege of Saradush (since we can leave the city at will). It'd be better if Illasera wasn't the only one to seek us out in order to kill us. A few assassins sent by the other members of the Five could be an effective (if unoriginal) way of giving us a reason to get involved.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Speaking of obvious surprise villains, there's that dude in NWN's OC :

You could see him coming from miles away.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

So I've finally been playing SoD for the first time. Thus far, I'm actually liking it. The art direction is good and consistent with the series. They've reused assets to good effect and new ones are not out of place. Areas are decently sized with pretty good encounter design. They clearly expect the player to understand the game and err on challenge rather than hand-holding. They will occasionally throw in a few significant difficulty spikes, but I have enjoyed them. Last night I stumbled onto a green dragon. Hilariously, I polymorphed it into a squirrel (first time ever doing that to a dragon), so the fight was a bit anti-climactic. To add another laugh, being polymorphed didn't disable its breath weapon, so the squirrel still hit my party with a massive AoE dragon breath attack.

There is alot to say and I doubt I'm even half way through. So far, quite positive. I'm considering writing a review when I'm done.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

I keep toying with the idea of revisiting Baldur's Gate with SCS since I lost my trilogy save in the middle of ToB and it was so much fun, but the time investment is massive and I've vanilla BG 2 a ton before.

There are NPCs whom I've pretty much never too along, which might offer some novelty, but they're the usual boring suspects: Anomen, Cernd, Valygar, Nalia. Could you imagine a party consisting of these 4? I think I'd rather listen to the likes of Edwin, Minsc or Korgan for the Nth time. I'm pretty sure these 4 don't even react all that much to other NPCs too.

 

[Tigranes]

I keep toying with the idea of revisiting Baldur's Gate with SCS since I lost my trilogy save in the middle of ToB and it was so much fun, but the time investment is massive and I've vanilla BG 2 a ton before.

There are NPCs whom I've pretty much never too along, which might offer some novelty, but they're the usual boring suspects: Anomen, Cernd, Valygar, Nalia. Could you imagine a party consisting of these 4? I think I'd rather listen to the likes of Edwin, Minsc or Korgan for the Nth time. I'm pretty sure these 4 don't even react all that much to other NPCs too.

You can always go MP user-created party and go all in for trying unusual builds. But sure, you can make any party work on SCS Core. There's also mods to let you keep the character 'shell' and change their classes/etc.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

That's a cool idea, but a big part of BG for me is the NPCs interacting amongst themselves and with non-party NPCs. I also think it would devalue the challenge of SCS a lot if I could just munchkin 6 characters rather than just 1.

Come to think of it, that party I described + Edwin and maybe swap out Cernd for Jaheira doesn't sound half bad. Cernd is just too lame all around to carry, IMO.