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Charm is a solid choice for a sorc, too. You get some amusing dialog with charmed bosses and you can cheese some fights by equipping different weapons, turning casters against their allies or pulling them from their initial location.
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Apr 4, 2016 23:02
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Pwnstar posted:Yeah exactly, that's what I'm talking about. Also I really like that scene, the first time I saw it I had to go back and see all the ridiculous connections he'd come up with. It was a theme that was communicated very well and fully in BG2 but felt like that took way to long to tackle in BG1.
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Apr 4, 2016 23:12
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Kontradaz posted:I've tried playing Icewind Dale a few times over the past 5 years. It always ends up in me being too frustrated when fighting those imps RIGHT at the beginning when the kid asks for help, or somewhere where I realize the trolls need fire to be killed. I've finished both BG games but ID really puts me down with needing to create a WHOLE party in the beginning. Guess I'm too impatient to spend hours planning a party prior to even starting the game. I mean if you want a super power party just make: Human Inquisitor (dual wield longsword and axes) Human/orc Berserker (also dual wield) Horc Cleric/Thief using sling + dual wield Sun Elf Sorcerer X 2 (the elf with +1 int) Elf Archer Roll at least an 84 for stats, anything better is better obv. Don't put con over 16 on anything but the inquisitor and berserker. And dump charisma to 3 on everything that you can. And dump wisdom on everything but the cleric. If you want even more spells you can switch the berserker for a gnome fighter/illusionist. That would be more powerful probably but not as convenient. There is only one small spot in the game where the berserker is really necessary but it's nice for that part. Washout fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 23:16
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Suspicious posted:Re: class discussion. Also does "5/2" mean 5.5 or 2.5 (which is what 5/2 really means)? Why is it written as a fraction instead of in a sensible way? Also doesn't the big reveal in ToB mean that Sarevok's entire BG1 plan was in vain and that he would have been killed by the Five and been only a footnote in Melissan's plan to achieve godhood? I didn't enjoy ToB nearly as much as the earlier installments, it felt rushed and Melissan as an antagonist comes completely out of left field when I was hoping for a final boss battle against the partially-resurrected Bhaal himself or something similarly awesome. Woolie Wool fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 23:48
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5/2 means 5 attacks every 2 rounds or 2.5 per round. It's not written 2.5 because you can't do half an attack so you just alternate 2 3 2 3 attacks every round.
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Apr 4, 2016 23:52
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Figured as much. My inquisitor started to suffer greatly in the DPS race at epic levels, with Anomen and Sarevok getting grandmastery at weapons and getting 5 attacks per round with much more damage. For this reason I greatly approve of subtledoctor's plan to let the upcoming Faiths and Powers paladins get up to ++++ in the chosen weapon of their deity. A paladin of Helm won't be quite as deadly with a longsword as a fighter, but he'll be close.
Woolie Wool fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Apr 4, 2016 |
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Apr 4, 2016 23:55
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Wizard Styles posted:2. Haer'Dalis is good but falls off at higher levels. The Blade kit's special abilities don't hold up well later on, and Bards end up with bad HP, THAC0 and saving throws and only get level 6 spells. They do also get good high level abilities, though, and at some point start to get levels much faster than Mages, which is relevant for level-scaling spells like Skull Trap. Overall, Haer'Dalis is okay but not really one of the strongest companions. You could definitely do with one less warrior type in your party, although I'd add a fully leveling Mage before anything else. In that case, who should I take instead? If another mage would help, Imoen seems like a good candidate (I could take Haer'Dalis or someone else along to Spellhold, then switch them out with Imoen). Other than that, the only other mages you have are Nalia and Edwin, and Edwin will leave the party if your Repuatation gets too high (I know there are mods that circumvent that, but I don't really want to mess around with mods). I've heard some mixed things about Nalia, and the fact she need an boost to get higher level spells sound kind of annoying. I suppose there's also Neera, but I wasn't really interested in picking up any of the new EE characters.
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Apr 5, 2016 00:22
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Hey so I'm playing through SoD and I can't figure out how the Stone Dowser works. I'm at the point where I can access the basement of Dragonspear, but can't get past a locked gate that was guarded by two golems. I've fought Hephernaan for the first time, but haven't progressed at all beyond that. Am I supposed to be able to use the necklace somehow? Does it tell me when I'm near where I need to put the Bwoosh? Do I need to be wearing it? Edit: Nevermind, after equipping and unequipping on multiple people, including the hero, it finally started doing something. It's not like SoD is short on bugs, though, so I'm not that surprised. MockingQuantum fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 00:29
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Max Wilco posted:In that case, who should I take instead? If another mage would help, Imoen seems like a good candidate (I could take Haer'Dalis or someone else along to Spellhold, then switch them out with Imoen). Other than that, the only other mages you have are Nalia and Edwin, and Edwin will leave the party if your Repuatation gets too high (I know there are mods that circumvent that, but I don't really want to mess around with mods). I've heard some mixed things about Nalia, and the fact she need an boost to get higher level spells sound kind of annoying. I suppose there's also Neera, but I wasn't really interested in picking up any of the new EE characters. Edwin is the best NPC mage in the game (and "gets too high" = 19 or 20, it's easy to avoid that). Unless the EE changed it you don't need 18+ intelligence to cast level 9 spells, and even if that was the case and was the reason for not taking Nalia, Imoen also has 17 intelligence 
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Apr 5, 2016 00:45
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Woolie Wool posted:My archer had the highest ToB body count in my entire party, ahead of even Sarevok. They seem to have more attacks per round than other warriors--6 in the case of my archer. He was firing off arrows with incredible accuracy once every second. An elf archer will end up with a THAC0 well below -20 and, with an inqusitor and a mage to break down magical defenses, will be King DPS of Murder Mountain all the way to the end. I think TOB was very rushed, yeah. From what I remember, they had plans for ToB as BG3 but it got turned into a BG2 expansion for whatever reason.
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Apr 5, 2016 00:51
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Milky Moor posted:I think TOB was very rushed, yeah. From what I remember, they had plans for ToB as BG3 but it got turned into a BG2 expansion for whatever reason. I remember this, but couldn't find a source trivially
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Apr 5, 2016 01:00
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There's something really neat I realized about Melissan that I only noticed on my second time through ToB. You never have control when she's around and she immediately disappears whenever you're done talking to her, except for the very first time you meet her, when you first appear in Saradush and fight Gromnir's guards trying to harm commoners. During the battle in which she pleads to everyone to stop fighting, if you cast detect evil, she will detect as evil.
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Apr 5, 2016 01:01
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I think there's a paladin stronghold quest where you can only get the best resolution by using Detect Evil, the spell every paladin has and nobody ever uses.
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Apr 5, 2016 01:15
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So, how are the Black Pits, especially the BG2 part of it? I just started the BG1 part and got up to a fight with an Avenger that demonstrated how powerful Web is early on by actually forcing me to reload when I couldn't interrupt his spellcasting and so far I'm not really blown away by it. The enemy groups are okay, although not amazing (basically what you'd expect from low-level combat, I guess), but the arena layout always being the same is getting kinda boring.Suspicious posted:Here I was typing up a post chastising you for suggesting something that doesn't work, but I never did try potions of mirrored eyes in the EE. I'll have to test them at some point. Still, I'd say you shouldn't use them because they don't last long enough and would only protect against death gaze. Potions of magic shielding last 3 times longer and also protect you against his silence and paralyze. Max Wilco posted:In that case, who should I take instead? If another mage would help, Imoen seems like a good candidate (I could take Haer'Dalis or someone else along to Spellhold, then switch them out with Imoen). Other than that, the only other mages you have are Nalia and Edwin, and Edwin will leave the party if your Repuatation gets too high (I know there are mods that circumvent that, but I don't really want to mess around with mods). I've heard some mixed things about Nalia, and the fact she need an boost to get higher level spells sound kind of annoying. I suppose there's also Neera, but I wasn't really interested in picking up any of the new EE characters. Nalia's problems lie entirely on her Thief side, she dual-classed a level or two to early for that to be useful without magic items and potions. She's still a perfectly good Mage, and being able to use short bows and short swords isn't bad, either. Edwin is amazing, but you will have to manage your reputation. You can postpone getting a fully leveling Mage until Spellhold especially since you've got Keldorn and Jaheira anyway. If you plan on definitely keeping Keldorn and/or Jaheira around, you can do without a full Mage anyway, I really just meant that I'd add one before anything else because, well, you don't have one, they become very powerful, and while all Mage multi-classes have their own strengths none of them can really replace a fully leveling Mage. Which isn't so bad when you've got other means of taking care of enemy Mages, though. MrL_JaKiri posted:Edwin is the best NPC mage in the game (and "gets too high" = 19 or 20, it's easy to avoid that). Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 01:19
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Suspicious posted:There's something really neat I realized about Melissan that I only noticed on my second time through ToB. You never have control when she's around and she immediately disappears whenever you're done talking to her, except for the very first time you meet her, when you first appear in Saradush and fight Gromnir's guards trying to harm commoners. During the battle in which she pleads to everyone to stop fighting, if you cast detect evil, she will detect as evil. I really wish ToB had been a full game. The high level gameplay is a lot of fun, but the story itself is so bland and superficial, which is doubly tragic, because this is the first time you actually delve deeper into Bhaalspawn lore. In the first game it is basically an afterthought and the second is much more about retrieving your soul than actually explaining your backstory. ToB has a lot of great ideas, but explores them only to a very small extend. None of the Five are as interesting as even minor NPC in SOA and Melissan is just so obviously betraying you that it almost borders on parody. Which is especially jarring when compared to Irenicus, who I consider one of the best videogame villains of all time.
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Apr 5, 2016 01:30
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This loving dwarf lich.  I swear they were harder in SCS, ffs. I have got really poo poo at IE games.
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Apr 5, 2016 01:41
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I insist I should have been able to go toe to toe with Bhaal himself. Melissan is not an acceptable substitute.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:03
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Nostalgamus posted:Alright, I forgot what I'm supposed to do avoid everyone dying to Aec'Letec the moment he gives them a funny look. Any advice? "Otiluke's sphere on Aec'Letec, cloudkill over everyone, have everyone save an invis fellow walk upstairs, invis fellow watches cultists die, then Aec'Letec" was my cheapest way of doing it. Hopefully it still works in EE.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:08
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Woolie Wool posted:I insist I should have been able to go toe to toe with Bhaal himself. Melissan is not an acceptable substitute. You can't go toe to toe with Bhaal, he's dead.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:08
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Skwirl posted:You can't go toe to toe with Bhaal, he's dead. Surprise cameo: Orcus
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Apr 5, 2016 02:16
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Skwirl posted:You can't go toe to toe with Bhaal, he's dead.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:18
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Weirdo posted:"Otiluke's sphere on Aec'Letec, cloudkill over everyone, have everyone save an invis fellow walk upstairs, invis fellow watches cultists die, then Aec'Letec" was my cheapest way of doing it. Hopefully it still works in EE. This works great, but I think it might require more than one cloudkill to catch everyone in the area of effect.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:20
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I think Amelyssan would have made a fine final villain - if they had build her up at all. If ToB had actually been about investigating the former Church of Bhaal and what became of it after his death (and if it would have been a little less obvious that Milissan was evil), slowly builing up to the the reveal that some of his priesthood are still around, it could have been great. You spent a pretty large part of Baldur's Gate figuring out who is behind the Iron Throne and who Sarevok actually is and what he wants to do and as a result, you are so much more invested into what it otherwise a pretty generic plot. And in SoA, the fortuity of what Irenicus did to you makes it almost unique among RPGs, but the way Amelyssan is dropped onto you with zero buildup is basically sucks tension out of the final fight e X fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 02:21
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Skwirl posted:You can't go toe to toe with Bhaal, he's dead. Bhaal was alive enough to haunt you in your dreams, and he would be very much alive if they had gone with the original plan for how the prophecy was supposed to work and had a Sarevok figure actually succeed. Also, doing a new BG1 playthrough in preparation for Siege of Dragonspear. I used modmerge and then installed a bunch of BWS mods. Already had my first reload--wandered too close to a bear and Imoen became bear food. Woolie Wool fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 02:23
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Wizard Styles posted:Kinda weak that he needed literally every single Bhaalspawn to come back, though. Which means those Harpers people were talking about were right, actually. Imprison a few Bhaalspawn that are too low-level to put up a fight somewhere and Bhaal stays gone, problem solved, gently caress the prophecy. I mean them dying at all from anything sends the power to the next Bhaalspawn though. So even if they just die of old age, eventually you'll have a 70 y/o supergod peasant in a cage. You also have the problem that the more Bhaal you have in you, the more evil you become, and even those with very little still have thoughts about torturing people/killing themselves and others in strange ways. Best it got dealt with here, with them backing the only Bhaalspawn that wasn't a total rear end in a top hat.
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Apr 5, 2016 02:33
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Woolie Wool posted:Bhaal was alive enough to haunt you in your dreams, and he would be very much alive if they had gone with the original plan for how the prophecy was supposed to work and had a Sarevok figure actually succeed. How does BWS work?
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Apr 5, 2016 02:36
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Wizard Styles posted:Well, Neera is the best EE NPC, but some of the writing and a lot of the side character voice acting for her content don't quite measure up. I'm been giving a lot of the spells I find to Aerie and Jan (mostly Aerie), but there are some spells they can't learn (Aerie, because I think she's a cleric, and Jan because he's illusionist). Still, they've got some of the counter-magic spells like Remove Magic and whatnot, but I suppose some of the spells you're locked out of like Skull Trap are pretty useful. I guess I could try picking up Edwin, and if I mess up and he leaves, I could take Imoen instead (I don't really want to take Nalia) Another quick question: Can you use the containers at your stronghold to store items? I have some miscellaneous weapons and items that I don't necessarily want to sell off yet. Max Wilco fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 02:36
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Every container is safe, just pick one that's easy to reach. e: Aerie should be able to learn every spell, Jan is locked out of Necromancy but that's not a big deal for a multi-classed Mage. Rookersh posted:I mean them dying at all from anything sends the power to the next Bhaalspawn though. So even if they just die of old age, eventually you'll have a 70 y/o supergod peasant in a cage. You also have the problem that the more Bhaal you have in you, the more evil you become, and even those with very little still have thoughts about torturing people/killing themselves and others in strange ways. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 03:00
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Vikar Jerome posted:This loving dwarf lich. Go back to the dwarfs that gave you the quest and talk to them about him. In other news I found out about the controversy about 2 random lines in the game. And man it's amazing how pathetic and angry people are getting over nothing.
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Apr 5, 2016 03:03
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LowellDND posted:How does BWS work? It's a program that downloads and auto-installs mods from a checklist, you can take one of their presets or do it a la carte. The latter option involves an extraordinarily obtuse UI, though.
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Apr 5, 2016 03:23
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Woolie Wool posted:It's a program that downloads and auto-installs mods from a checklist, you can take one of their presets or do it a la carte. The latter option involves an extraordinarily obtuse UI, though. Is there a list somewhere of what's in the presets? edit: This looks promising http://www.shsforums.net/topic/56804-kresos-reccomended-bws-mods/ Loel fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 5, 2016 05:01
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So far the mods are working fine, except that when a character joins my party...this...happens:
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Apr 5, 2016 06:01
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Woolie Wool posted:Bhaal was alive enough to haunt you in your dreams I don't see how this follows
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Apr 5, 2016 10:04
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Bhaal will always be alive in our hearts. Literally.
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Apr 5, 2016 10:33
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What good would Bhaal coming back even do? Doesent Cyric own his domain already? I doupt hes powerful enough to start ripping domains out of Cyric.
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Apr 5, 2016 11:33
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Late to the party but why are people saying blades are bad? In the EEs they got nerfed hard stopping offensive spin and haste from stacking, but they're still great in melee through the whole game. Fighter/mage is better but not an option among NPCs. Plus they make good buff bots and dispellers, which is always good. Even limited to level 6 spells still gets you breach, spell immunity and imp haste
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Apr 5, 2016 11:43
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Kind of strange how Imoen and Viconia got new portraits but no one else did. I like them but I was hoping that other members of the cast would get updates, too. I really like Dragonspear so far, although I've just hit the exploding bridge.
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Apr 5, 2016 12:06
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Presumably they wanted to bridge the appearances of Viconia and Imoen from BG1 to BG2. Kinda hard to do that with Jaheira, given her facial structure changes completely, for example. As for Dynaheir, Khalid, and a bunch of others, eh, they aren't in 2. That said, as fun as I'm finding it, Siege of Dragonspear is *amazingly* inconsistent. Beamdog is making strides, but I think they still aren't ready to develop a wholly original title.
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Apr 5, 2016 12:39
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e X posted:None of the Five are as interesting as even minor NPC in SOA and Melissan is just so obviously betraying you that it almost borders on parody. Which is especially jarring when compared to Irenicus, who I consider one of the best videogame villains of all time. There are really interesting elements for several of the Five: I always quite liked that Balthazar's plan was to kill the other Bhaalspawn and then himself to finally destroy Bhaal. It had the potential to make him a relatively atypical villain for the series. But yeah, on the whole they're really underdeveloped, sadly.
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Apr 5, 2016 12:52
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deadking posted:There are really interesting elements for several of the Five: I always quite liked that Balthazar's plan was to kill the other Bhaalspawn and then himself to finally destroy Bhaal. It had the potential to make him a relatively atypical villain for the series. But yeah, on the whole they're really underdeveloped, sadly. Oh yeah, there are definitely some great ideas there, e.g. I love the idea that Yaga-Shura has an entire army, what I mean is that they don't really do much with those ideas.
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Apr 5, 2016 12:56
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