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Max Wilco posted:- Up to this point, I've had Minsc use dual maces. Currently, he has a single point in the Mace skill, and three points in Dual Wielding. Is there a better weapon setup I could be using; one that might improve his attack? (Also, I tried equipping Minsc with a Long Bow, but for some reason, he won't use it.) Max Wilco posted:I think that was the reasoning behind the recommendation; it was so it would be in continuity with BG2. In any case, I don't think I'll try dual-classing. The only reason I thought it'd be worth doing is so I could get some spells that neither Jaheria or Dynaheir can learn.
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Jul 23, 2014 06:23
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Factor_VIII posted:I agree you shouldn't bother with it. You'd be left without a thief for a large chunk of the game. You'd probably need to recruit another thief, at which point you might as well skip dual-classing and get a second mage who'd be higher level than level 1 mage Imoen. That reminds me of something else I was meaning to ask. If you remove people from your party, do they disappear permanently, or do they return to where you originally recruited them? Keep in mind that I'm playing BG1 via the Trilogy mod. Also, if you don't recruit certain characters when you first meet them, do they disappear from the game permanently? I didn't recruit Garrick or Edwin when I met them, and they disappeared after I finished speaking to them.
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Jul 23, 2014 07:14
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Max Wilco posted:- What's the difference between 'THAC0' and 'Base THAC0'? Base thac0 is literally just the thac0 listing from these charts http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur%27s_Gate:_Progression_Charts thac0 is that, plus or minus any bonuses you get from proficiency, strength, weapon enchantment and spell effects. That's the number you need to look at to see if using one weapon or another works better. Max Wilco posted:That reminds me of something else I was meaning to ask. If you remove people from your party, do they disappear permanently, or do they return to where you originally recruited them? Keep in mind that I'm playing BG1 via the Trilogy mod. Air Skwirl fucked around with this message at 07:37 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 07:34
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BG2:EE is awful. I played through the original EE up until ToB until I was forced to quit due to a game-breaking bug with unkillable Sendai that I couldn't get past no matter what workaround I tried short of actually teleporting my party to the next location and tinkering with the console to manually advance the plot. It was apparently due to the SCS mod (which is actually listed as 100% compatible on their forum sticky). Not to mention only a select few decent mods (tweakpack, rogue rebalancing) are even listed as 'compatible' (barely meaningful, if my SCS experience is anything to go by). DG's Ascension isn't listed, for one, and it's a highly recommended one for ToB, being the original developer's vision of what 'should have been'. There were a ton of 'minor' (i.e. not completely game-breaking but still annoying) bugs as well, like shadows not disappearing after having cleared the shadow temple, and some side-quests being totally broken (e.g. ranger stronghold). One of the worst things for me as well was the lack of assignable hotkeys (in BG2 vanilla, you could assign *any* action to a hotkey which sped up the gameplay massively for a spellcaster). In BG2:EE, only about 1/4 of all spells (mostly minor, low level ones) are available. Talking about added content... the new NPCs are all poorly written/voiced compared to the original Bioware companions, but they are also completely avoidable so it's a non-issue for me. The only good thing is the new interface - massive save/load speed-up, zoom, widescreen support. I really tried to like EE, persevering through all the bugs and annoyances (spent ~80 hrs on it). Unfortunately, as of right now vanilla BG2 + mods is the way to go. Kubla Khan fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 08:05
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Dude if you install a mod and it breaks your game it's not a fault of the EE developers, no matter if they have said mod listed as compatible or not. I have ran through BG2EE 4 times now and encountered no bugs (not counting MP, that thing's unusable).
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Jul 23, 2014 08:34
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Mr. Neutron posted:Dude if you install a mod and it breaks your game it's not a fault of the EE developers, no matter if they have said mod listed as compatible or not. It *is* very upsetting that there would a major mod listed as 100% compatible on their official forum sticky when it's actually buggy to the point of breaking the game when I'm so close to the end. I've had a few other major bugs with SCS in EE but they were all fixable with minor tinkering. I don't care to find if it's the modders or the EE devs or the forum admins that are responsible, I just want to play. To provide some context, there are two content mods that I consider essential to my BG2 replay experience - SCS (for *massive* improvements to AI and removing a lot of "I win!" buttons, at the very least) and Ascension - and none of them are compatible. But hey, at least I can use the numerous NPC mods! (right... no thanks, I do value my sanity). SCS and Ascension are both major, well-respected mods that are highly recommended for adding replay value to BG2 with in-game content quality FAR above compared to what Beamdog's team can offer. Mod issues notwithstanding, there is still enough bad stuff for me not to want to use EE again: * Want to play a spellcaster with proper hotkeys, like in vanilla? Screw you, fella! Time to go clicking around the menus. No, seriously, why did they CUT the hotkeys interface that was so readily available in vanilla?! * Sub-par new content. Interface improvements were OK (very good, in fact), but not good enough to tip the scales from Kubla Khan fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 09:24
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quote:It *is* very upsetting that there would a major mod listed as 100% compatible on their official forum sticky when it's actually buggy to the point of breaking the game when I'm so close to the end. What probably happened is that the mod makers went through their specific content once or twice, didn't note any bugs, and passed it off to the EE people as being compatible. The EE devs did not make SCS, they are under no obligation whatsoever to bug test something they didn't make (nor advertise for things they didn't make) and couldn't even if they wanted to, so they did the best they could and took the people who are actually responsible for making sure modded games work at their word (which was an undeserved kindness!). And the BG series was never meant to be moddable so you can't even go at Beamdog for their tools / code structure. If people want to gently caress with the code and it bugs out the game, that's their problem, not Beamdog's. So if you want to be mad about a stickied forum post, get mad at the dudes who failed to do their due diligence before giving assurances that their mod didn't gently caress things up. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Jul 23, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 11:39
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Yeah I don't see how a mod not working is on Beamdog. That's on the modder(s). What Beamdog should be criticized for is not patching BG2EE in 8 months. I played through when it was released and hadn't even checked up on the game until recently and I found out that nothing's been done in the interim. That's pretty absurd, even for a very small company.
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Jul 23, 2014 12:32
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He wasn't saying that the broken mod is Beamdog's fault. It doesn't matter whose fault the forum sticky is. He was saying that since he prefers the modded game, EE is the inferior experience.
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Jul 23, 2014 14:47
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Factor_VIII posted:The Stupefier, a mace found in Beregost on the second floor of Burning Wizard in a locked chest is one of the best weapons in the game. Equip that in his main hand and dual maces are a great way to go with Minsc. Just spend your next proficiency point on maces. I went to get the mace, but it wasn't there. I did a search, and it looks like Stupefier was something that was added to the Enhanced Edition.
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Jul 23, 2014 20:36
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Max Wilco posted:I went to get the mace, but it wasn't there. I did a search, and it looks like Stupefier was something that was added to the Enhanced Edition. Mzbundifund posted:He wasn't saying that the broken mod is Beamdog's fault. It doesn't matter whose fault the forum sticky is. He was saying that since he prefers the modded game, EE is the inferior experience.
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Jul 23, 2014 20:41
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The only bugs I've experienced were or are mildly inconvenient with vanilla EE. First, I couldn't interract with Neera on her quest once I got to the Wild Forest. I reloaded and that fixed it. The other bug is Hexxat's helmet ended up getting stuck in my inventory after she left. Problem is, I can't move it at all, not even to change its spot. There is a fix on the forums that involves an override file though.
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Jul 23, 2014 20:51
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Kubla Khan posted:* Want to play a spellcaster with proper hotkeys, like in vanilla? Screw you, fella! Time to go clicking around the menus. No, seriously, why did they CUT the hotkeys interface that was so readily available in vanilla?! VVVVV Oh, sorry. That does kind of suck! gdsfjkl fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Jul 24, 2014 |
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Jul 23, 2014 23:10
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Mzbundifund posted:He wasn't saying that the broken mod is Beamdog's fault. It doesn't matter whose fault the forum sticky is. He was saying that since he prefers the modded game, EE is the inferior experience. Yes, precisely. To me, mods like SCS and Ascension are way too good to pass for what quality EE can offer, namely some graphical improvements. I can't complain about added NPCs and levels because they are all optional. I thought the new NPCs writing/design was sub-par compared to the Bioware bumpkins so I simply ignored them. gdsfjkl posted:Actually, EE still lets you set hotkeys! The button for it is at the top of the Gameplay options screen. I thought so too until I hit level 7 on my sorcerer. Unfortunately, it's way too limited. For Mage, it only covers up to until lvl4 with a few level 5 spells thrown in and even so, misses quite a few essentials at earlier levels (e.g. Fire/Ice Shield, Melf's too I think - can't remember for sure). This is quite ironic as you don't even need hotkeys that badly spells at the very early levels. I really enjoyed the "keyboard magic" feel back in vanilla - fast, fluid and efficient. Both fun and massively tedium-reducing. No longer possible, I'm afraid. Why they didn't go back to BG default interface that would let you setup ANY spell hotkey and settled on a gimped in-game menu, I have no idea.
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Jul 23, 2014 23:50
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I've played the game through about 6-8 times over the years and never once used a hotkey other than tab and quicksave. As far as "quality of NPC's" go, in terms or writing, party interactions, quests, personality, basically how fun they are to take in your party (not counting anything combat related), the list is like this (from worst to best): Cernd Valygar Nalia Haer'Dalis Korgan Anoman Hexxet Keldorn Minsk (controversial I know, but I find him more annoying than funny after a while) Dorn Mazzy Aerie Rasaad Neera Jan Edwin Viconia Serevok Jahira Yoshimo Imoen Although the fact that the EE NPC's come with new zones and actual real quests, puts them well ahead of any of the vanilla NPC's, especially if you have already played this game through before. This is how I would list them if you have never played this game and all the NPC's are brand new to you. GuyDudeBroMan fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jul 24, 2014 |
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Jul 24, 2014 00:59
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GuyDudeBroMan posted:Minsk (controversial I know, but I find him more annoying than funny after a while) Minsc was terrific back when I was 15 ("A miniature giant space hamster? HILARIOUS!"), but his personality becomes really grating as time goes by - both in-game, and as you, the player, get older. These days I prefer to use characters that say as little as possible. I'd roll with a party entirely of my own making, but I find the process to be pretty tedious. Also, XP from sidequests is nice.
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Jul 24, 2014 15:27
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inscrutable horse posted:Minsc was terrific back when I was 15 ("A miniature giant space hamster? HILARIOUS!"), but his personality becomes really grating as time goes by - both in-game, and as you, the player, get older. These days I prefer to use characters that say as little as possible. I'd roll with a party entirely of my own making, but I find the process to be pretty tedious. Also, XP from sidequests is nice. I've been rolling with my party of 5 in SoA, making room for my sixth when ToB starts. I cycle the sixth person in, meet them, do their quests and dump them at the Copper Coronet (or wherever) when I'm done. I'll pick them back up in ToB to do their quests there too. Lots of exp in that. EDIT: On the subject of making your own party, I'd love an EE of IWD2. I kind of wanted to try that Icewind Gate II mod for it but the EE of BGII has too many quality of life improvements. Levantine fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Jul 24, 2014 |
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Jul 24, 2014 15:30
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The only thing I ever found amusing about Minsc was how his hamster in his inventory would make that little squeaking sound and the message that would pop up when you tried to take it.
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Jul 24, 2014 15:31
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Does anything you say to Rasaad during his quests affect him? I tried to tell him his religion was kinda dumb and the heresy sounded way better, and he'd always just respond "you cannot be serious," or "you shouldn't joke about this." Then I explicitly told him in ToB that I was all about power and not so much saving people and all he'd say was "I can never tell if you're serious  ."
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Jul 24, 2014 15:40
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Is there a list somewhere of all the extra items and stuff added to the EE games and where they can be found?
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Jul 24, 2014 15:56
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Kajeesus posted:Does anything you say to Rasaad during his quests affect him? I tried to tell him his religion was kinda dumb and the heresy sounded way better, and he'd always just respond "you cannot be serious," or "you shouldn't joke about this." Then I explicitly told him in ToB that I was all about power and not so much saving people and all he'd say was "I can never tell if you're serious Rasaad is awful. He is by far the worst EE party member, both mechanically and writing  Arivia posted:Is there a list somewhere of all the extra items and stuff added to the EE games and where they can be found? http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/23853/a-guide-to-new-magic-items-in-bg2ee-spoilers There. It also links to a similar list for BG1
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Jul 24, 2014 17:28
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Korgan is such a crutch once I inevitably pick him up to do his quest. I *want* to drop him and use some different characters, but where else am I going to get someone with five points in axes? Wah.
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Jul 24, 2014 18:52
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Levantine posted:I'm glad I waited so long to pick up BG2:EE if it was so buggy before. I've only experienced one bug with Neera but exiting the game and reloading fixed it. It's been so long since I've done a proper run of BG2 I had forgotten how incredibly massive the game is. The new content just adds to it. Imoen can wait! I gotta herd cats and find hairbands! You know they haven't actually patched it after the release, except for one hotfix patch which was mainly done to fix a massive memory leak that would basically reset your progress. It's still extremely buggy, especially in the EE content and ToB.
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Jul 24, 2014 20:34
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Zilkin posted:You know they haven't actually patched it after the release, except for one hotfix patch which was mainly done to fix a massive memory leak that would basically reset your progress. It's still extremely buggy, especially in the EE content and ToB. I didn't realize that! So far all my bugs have been EE related. Is there anything gamebreaking to be aware of?
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Jul 24, 2014 20:35
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DeathChicken posted:Korgan is such a crutch once I inevitably pick him up to do his quest. I *want* to drop him and use some different characters, but where else am I going to get someone with five points in axes? Wah. EEkeeper other NPCs.
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Jul 24, 2014 20:54
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Captain Oblivious posted:Rasaad is awful. He is by far the worst EE party member, both mechanically and writing So very very true, good lord is Rasaad a boring and unfocused NPC. All he did in BG1 was ramble about his impressively cliche past and boring monk beliefs. In BG2 I honestly never figured out what his motivations were. Was he just pretending to join the weird heresy, or was he lying to himself and really sold on the heresy? Every time I had a dialogue with him I just got more confused what the hell he was actually thinking. And I don't mean that in the sense that he was a complex, conflicted personality, just that I don't think the writers had any clue what this character was supposed to represent. Rasaad: "[CharName] are we really doing the right thing?" 1) Sun monks are the best 2) The boring heresy is awesome 3) Sarcastic quip
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Jul 25, 2014 03:34
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keiran_helcyan posted:So very very true, good lord is Rasaad a boring and unfocused NPC. All he did in BG1 was ramble about his impressively cliche past and boring monk beliefs. In BG2 I honestly never figured out what his motivations were. Was he just pretending to join the weird heresy, or was he lying to himself and really sold on the heresy? Every time I had a dialogue with him I just got more confused what the hell he was actually thinking. And I don't mean that in the sense that he was a complex, conflicted personality, just that I don't think the writers had any clue what this character was supposed to represent. I really have to disagree Rasaad's motives in BG2 are pretty clear from the beginning. He wants to find the guy who killed his friend and commits a series of trespasses against his religion to do so. In the end he can choose to lead the cult with the rationalization that he can do more good for his goddess if he leads than if someone else does. I agree that Charname's responses to his actions are asinine, but I like Rasaad as an NPC a lot. They tried to give him some depth, did it work 100%? No, but it was a good effort.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:23
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MegaGatts posted:I really have to disagree Rasaad's motives in BG2 are pretty clear from the beginning. He wants to find the guy who killed his friend and commits a series of trespasses against his religion to do so. In the end he can choose to lead the cult with the rationalization that he can do more good for his goddess if he leads than if someone else does. I agree that Charname's responses to his actions are asinine, but I like Rasaad as an NPC a lot. They tried to give him some depth, did it work 100%? No, but it was a good effort. Depth you mean the guy that constantly responds to any attempt to indicate that YOU ARE loving EVIL with "Haha you're such a kidder". Whoever wrote Rasaad should be fired on grounds of the awful jokes they felt compelled to include at every single dialogue option. None of the other NPCs in EE feature such desperate attempts to be funny except maybe Neera.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:37
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You haven't included Hexxat in your party I see
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Jul 25, 2014 04:40
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Captain Oblivious posted:Depth you mean the guy that constantly responds to any attempt to indicate that YOU ARE loving EVIL with "Haha you're such a kidder". Reminder that we're talking about people who put in a recruitable npc bear.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:41
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BG2 was plenty goofy and BG1 is goofier, and they're set in the Forgotten Realms, which stands above other D&D settings because of its goofiness
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Jul 25, 2014 04:46
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Basic Chunnel posted:You haven't included Hexxat in your party I see I have. There are some dumb ones but nowhere near as tryhard as the Rasaad dialogues. And I don't see a problem with the bear. But I haven't recruited him myself so it could be excruciatingly self congratulatory about how funny it is. If it's mostly unremarked on it's all good.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:47
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Basic Chunnel posted:BG2 was plenty goofy and BG1 is goofier, and they're set in the Forgotten Realms, which stands above other D&D settings because of its goofiness The Forgotten Realms is pretty ungoofy. It is ungainly but that's because it's been touched by so many writers over 25 years.
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Jul 25, 2014 04:48
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Excelzior posted:Reminder that we're talking about people who put in a recruitable npc bear. Joinable bear companions, in a forgotten realms game, loving ludicrous
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Jul 25, 2014 05:21
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The problem with Rasaad is a problem with a lot of the writing style of the EEs in general. The PC's dialogue choices nearly always fall into one of three categories (good/sarcastic/evil), none of which make any real difference to the outcome of the NPC's quest or choices. It's not like with some of the original NPCs where the wrong dialogue choice can actually cause them to attack you, or can change their alignment and their future party interjections.
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Jul 25, 2014 06:12
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Basic Chunnel posted:BG2 was plenty goofy and BG1 is goofier, and they're set in the Forgotten Realms, which stands above other D&D settings because of its goofiness
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Jul 25, 2014 07:07
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Charname turns into Guybrush Threepwood on any given occasion
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Jul 25, 2014 08:53
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fong posted:The problem with Rasaad is a problem with a lot of the writing style of the EEs in general. The PC's dialogue choices nearly always fall into one of three categories (good/sarcastic/evil), none of which make any real difference to the outcome of the NPC's quest or choices. It's not like with some of the original NPCs where the wrong dialogue choice can actually cause them to attack you, or can change their alignment and their future party interjections. Yeah, I will say Rasaad's quest line really only works as intended if you take the good options in dialogue. Anything else and his actions lose any semblance rationality because the game refuses to alter course based on Charname's suggestions.
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Jul 25, 2014 15:50
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Do darts get the strength bonus in the EE version of BG1/2? I was thinking of playing a fighter/rogue that mastered in chucking darts at people. Or would daggers/throwing daggers be less retarded?
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Jul 25, 2014 20:03
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Leafy Wall posted:Do darts get the strength bonus in the EE version of BG1/2? I was thinking of playing a fighter/rogue that mastered in chucking darts at people. I don't know about the strength, but darts are much better. Throwing daggers are stupidly rare and not worth using until you find the magic one that returns to your hand after you throw it. After that, relying on throwing daggers as your missile weapon is viable. There are tons of stacks of darts though, some with fairly good enchantments on them. Very similar to the magic arrows you find, but not quite as good. Keep in mind that usually the only reason why people use darts and slings is because they are barred from using bows due to class weapon restriction. Bows are usually much better. Honestly, if you are going fighter/rogue your main goal should be to maximize backstab damage. There is nothing in this game more satisfying than 1 shotting a hard rear end enemy with an 80+ damage backstab. Taking out the enemies deathmage before the fight even starts is incredibly satisfying. In my opinion, the most fun and effective way to play the fighter/rogue PC is to go with the max backstab build, and that means using Katanas. Might as well throw a bow on yourself too, since there is really no reason why not. Bows are by far the most effective ranged weapon. Since you are a fighter, you can use the longbow too, which does more damage than the shortbow that rogues are normally stuck with. (Although you get a hilariously overpowered shortbow early on with +1 attack per round that easily makes it the best bow in the game). I forget if you need shadowkeeper or if the game actually allows this, but I think you can put a kit on one of your classes when you are multi-classed. If so, I would recommend you do the assassin (although the Kensi or even Berserker could work well with a backstab build too I guess). The assassin gets x7 backstab bonus though which can send you into triple digit damage territory eventually. His poison works really well with the bow too for disrupting spellcasting. It's a great build for the PC too since you just put yourself at the head of the party and act as the scout. Just go invisible, detect traps, and map out the whole dungeon while your party stays back. If you see a monster you can try and backstab it, and if that doesn't kill it outright you can run away (with boots of speed), go out of line of sight, and restealth for a second attempt. You can clear whole maps pretty easy with just your PC.
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Jul 25, 2014 20:49
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