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People following the ironman thread may know that my run just ended as my character, Arnaldo the Shaman, recently died in a freak illithid accident. I used this run to try out a few mods, mainly the Shaman stronghold provided by the Will-of-the-Wisps mod and the White Queen. Relevant posts: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?action=showpost&noseen=1&postid=493485392 https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?action=showpost&noseen=1&postid=493516802 There was one more mod waiting for me, Back to Brynnlaw, so I decided to return Arnaldo to the living for a last hurrah and post something about the Back to Brynnlaw mod here. I won't go through the entire mod here, in part because I think it's good and anyone interested in a quest mod should check it out, so I don't want to spoil unnecessarily much. Also in part because there are lot of minor sidequests awaiting in Brynnlaw and showing them off would clutter this post.  The mod starts when you talk to this woman, who you'll meet again in Brynnlaw, in Waukeen's Promenade after returning from the Underdark. She doesn't only know about the main character being a Bhaalspawn, but also about what happened in Spellhold, and directs you to a rogue Cowled Wizard who has a proposition:  A BORN WINNER   Anyway, here's the hook and some slightly flimsy justification why CHARNAME is required for this plan. As he sends you on your way to meet a captain to ferry you over to Brynnlaw again, he also warns you that cooperating with him will anger the Cowled Wizards.  In my case, this landed me in a fight against some Cowled Enforcers created by the mod, a few generic muggers, and the last group of Cowled Enforcers that come in when you cast spells in the street because I never got a license. So things got a bit chaotic, but overall still manageable. After that, it's off to Brynnlaw to find a way into Spellhold, which is again under Cowled Wizard control and had its wards renewed, to see if you can save Dora's and CHARNAME's souls. Without going into the details of how the story unfolds, here's what awaits in Brynnlaw:  A fair amount of extra dialogue with Imoen. I think some of the specific lines don't always sound like Imoen but the general tone is right for her post-Spellhold, so overall it's good. And with Imoen being mostly silent in the vanilla game it's good to have extra content for her.   As for the writing in general: it's quite good, some individual lines don't work well but all characters have their own voice. But the mod really wants you to know that there are some lovely people in Brynnlaw, occasionally just a little too much. I also felt that the ending/final villainous exposition created more questions than it answered.   Apart from some mid-tier Golems guarding Spellhold and some adds the final boss gets you'll fight human enemies, mainly Mercenaries and Cowled Enforcers. The fights are relatively easy for a group that got through the Underdark. The Cowled Enforcers aren't really any tougher than the ones you can fight in Athkatla if you don't pay for a license. The few Golems are all Clay Golems iirc, nothing tougher than that. These fights aren't complete no-brainers, but if you know how to handle Mage fights at all you should have no real issues. It would have been more interesting if the Cowled Wizards had used the Golems as backup, on their own neither enemy type is really that threatening at this point. For the record, I had a few party members hit 3 million XP while doing this mod. If you go to Spellhold really early it would naturally be more challenging, but the Cowled Wizard groups are easier than some of the Drow groups in the Underdark (with SCS installed, at least). I mean, at this point you're very much supposed to be able to fight Liches and Dragons.  There's some really good loot for Mages. I wouldn't call anything you get here overpowered per se, but there are two items giving +10 HP. First off, they are coded to increase maximum and minimum HP, so you can exploit them to get a full heal by equipping and unequipping them in the inventory screen. Second, a potential +20 HP for someone like Neera is probably too much. You also get a ton of high level spell scrolls, including a Time Stop scroll. Which I think is perfectly fine; supplying more than two Mages with good scrolls can be tough. The amount of scrolls, jewelry, generic +1/+2 gear and gold you get is very high. At this point in the game you have probably bought most of the items you want but it's still a bit too much. So, overall, the mod definitely has its weak points, and I don't think it's challenging enough for something that is only accessible after the Underdark (and the XP shower that comes with it). But it is one of the best quest mods for BG2 I've played overall. And going back to Brynnlaw and specifically Spellhold is something that just makes sense to do, as much as anything besides going straight for Bodhi and Irenicus can in chapter 6. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Mar 31, 2019 |
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Mar 31, 2019 19:55
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Someone on reddit got to try the console port, some impressions here https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/b7hg6g/i_played_the_baldurs_gate_console_demo_at_pax/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app
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Mar 31, 2019 20:35
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Styles, I'm glad that you brought that bit of LP here. Would you consider starting a new thread to finish a non-Ironman LP? I was really enjoying it and would like to see it end. As much as I enjoy the Ironman thread every new year, I hate that one can do everything correctly and still fail due to ludicrously bad luck. It's very much a metaphor for life in general, but life sucks and video games, at least, have a reload button.
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Apr 1, 2019 00:10
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Aside from the G3 fixpack (borderline essential) I can't really say I ever found a BG2 mod that I actually enjoyed. I'm sure the SCS and the Tactics mods are great for the hardcore players but so much of the "expansion" mods were just fanfiction garbage it pulled me out of the enjoyment of the game.
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Apr 1, 2019 00:44
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gently caress mind flayers, imo. That one you run into in SoD was an unpleasant surprise, but at least it died to a single backstab
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Apr 1, 2019 07:10
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JustJeff88 posted:Styles, I'm glad that you brought that bit of LP here. Would you consider starting a new thread to finish a non-Ironman LP? I was really enjoying it and would like to see it end. And I've still got a lot of IWD ahead of me. The IWD posts take some time to write, too. Also, I can't finish Arnaldo's run even if I changed my mind because I un- and reinstalled BG2 right after I was done writing that last post.
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Apr 1, 2019 12:48
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AAAAA! Real Muenster posted:This is a great goal and I am looking forward to future updates on your quest. Rolled out of the Underdark at lvl 41, went straight for Kangaxx right after chunking everything in Bodhi's lair. 
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Apr 3, 2019 21:58
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Azuren posted:Rolled out of the Underdark at lvl 41, went straight for Kangaxx right after chunking everything in Bodhi's lair. rip
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Apr 3, 2019 22:04
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After 10,000 years, I'm free! It is time to conquer Athkatla! *chunked*
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Apr 4, 2019 05:21
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Mind flayers are the freaking fun police in this game.
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Apr 4, 2019 08:55
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Angry Lobster posted:Maze traps are the freaking fun police in this game.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:14
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Vampires used to be the fun police back before the enhanced editions fixed it so your spell memorisations stayed after you used restoration.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:20
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These are starting to sound like insanely good ports. I mean, I still think PC or tablet are the very best platforms for this experience, but I'm really surprised at how good of a job these companies (Paradox Arctic and Skybound Games) are doing at porting these experiences on consoles.
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Apr 5, 2019 09:24
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Azuren posted:Rolled out of the Underdark at lvl 41, went straight for Kangaxx right after chunking everything in Bodhi's lair.
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Apr 5, 2019 14:08
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Angry Lobster posted:Mind flayers are the freaking fun police in this game. The ones in BG2 are mostly just kinda boring because you usually fight them alone or paired with Umber Hulks, in which case the fight is almost entirely a Chaotic Commands/Greenstone Amulet check. With SCS installed they make you jump through an extra hoop or two but the encounter design is still just too uninspired. But that's my biggest issue with BG2 in general, too many dungeons populated almost entirely by a single enemy type.
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Apr 5, 2019 15:10
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Wizard Styles posted:They ended my ironman run this time but I generally don't mind them. I like the Mind Flayer fight in SoD and although I haven't played IWD2 in a while I remember its Mind Flayer area being pretty fun. The problem with their design is that you are either well prepared and become pushovers, or they caught you in a vulnerable moment and just instamurder you with impunity. There's never a middle road.
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Apr 5, 2019 15:17
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Angry Lobster posted:The problem with their design is that you are either well prepared and become pushovers, or they caught you in a vulnerable moment and just instamurder you with impunity. There's never a middle road. baldursgate.txt
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Apr 5, 2019 19:29
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After spending this entire run through the trilogy longing for my inquisitor's true seeing, only now, on level 4 of Watcher's Keep, sitting capped out at lvl 50, did I realize that the "Book of Infinite Spells", which has been gathering dust, unused, in my bag of holding, can be rifled through for true seeing.  Also: I have discovered that there is a hard level cap of 50, which I hit around twelve and a half million XP. Your next level is listed as taking -1 XP. Also: The Demilich in Watcher's Keep is a real rear end in a top hat. He's immune to turn undead and does nothing but spam "Imprisonment" endlessly. Only strategy I could come up with is either using a scroll of "Protection from Undead" or "Protection from Magic". E: Popped scroll of "Protection from Undead", then I cast "Hit him in the face" with "Carsomyr" a dozen times. Azuren fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Apr 5, 2019 |
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Apr 5, 2019 22:18
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What is the relative power jump by chapter for a solo character? I know just memorizing enough scrolls can take a dualled mage to 9 in an instant, but otherwise how does it work out for single or multi classes. Plus with all the resistances and mage defenses, is running away and waiting a mainstay of solo runs?
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Apr 6, 2019 01:20
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Strongly depends on the class you're soloing. Mages should have no trouble dispelling other spellcasters if you're playing vanilla. By contrast, there's very little warriors can do about PfMW aside from waiting it out. Other stuff like Stoneskin or Improved Invisibility isn't too difficult to work around though. Power progression is also variable. Any class will get a huge spike once they access HLAs (which you'll most likely get two-thirds through Chapter 2), but the road there can be more or less rocky. I'd say Monks have the roughest start and divine casters the roughest finish, assuming ToB. Most others are not too bad throughout.
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Apr 6, 2019 03:29
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I got a Monk through BG1 all the way up to ToB and the power curve is kind of grim. You basically NEED to go solo to not suck badly in the early game; Dark Moon Monks have Blindness as an innate ability, which alongside darts lets you cheese the poo poo out of some high-XP fights, and your Hide in Shadows lets you get potions from the Ankheg cave that'll let you chunk them with your fists. The first payoff is around level 9 where your fists actually become a threatening weapon and your AC isn't too garbage anymore, then the second one is in BG2 when you get magic resistance. By ToB I dropped my party down to me, Imoen, Viconia and Edwin, because my protagonist was functionally immune to magic and could Greater Whirlwind melee enemies into annihilation with +4 1d20 attacks. I wouldn't necessarily the tedium was worth it, Monk is just tremendously badly designed.
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Apr 6, 2019 14:26
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Some of the 3ed-ish classes/kits for BG2 always seemed half thought. There are a lot of duds that are only good for a gimmick or someone deliberately challenging themselves. Jester, wizard Slayer, shapeshifter, Beast Master, maybe some of the others if you arent metagaming well. edit: Anyone ever do a "reverse" dual class like taking a mage to level 7-8 and then dualing to a fighter/thief/cleric? It seems like an interesting approach, especially if taking Edwin, Imoen, or Aerie who are excellent magic casters. Going from a Druid to a fighter also sounds insane since it's basically "gently caress this nature job, I just want to smash everything" and you hit level 12 (300k) so fast in BG2 you get your druid abilities back by fighter level 9 + an extra 50k exp, which by midgame is every quest reward. pentyne fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Apr 7, 2019 |
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Apr 6, 2019 20:31
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bike tory posted:baldursgate.txt Although I had forgotten how fast Mind Flayers can gently caress you up if you let them. There was a window of maybe two or three seconds for me to react when they jumped my group. Not necessarily a problem but it happened off-screen in this case. Once their first wave of psionic attacks had hit it was all over. Also, random bitch time: I'm working on an item mod. One of the main goals is making reasonably powerful weapons for all proficiencies available for purchase. For all items, I'm only using modified icons, animations etc. from the IE games themselves. I can't make any myself and I'm not gonna put copyrighted poo poo from other games into a mod. So I'm limiting myself to putting palette swaps of items from game A into game B. Unfortunately, the awesome weaponry of glorious Nippon only ever existed in BG2 prior to the EEs. And even in BG2 they didn't get a lot of love, powerful as some of them might be. There are two ninjato icons, for example, the regular one and Usuno's Blade from Watcher's Keep. And so:  For comparison, (melee) daggers: 
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Apr 7, 2019 20:14
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Ah yes, the fabled Fork of Balduran, reunited at last with his Butter Knife.
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Apr 7, 2019 20:22
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Olive Branch posted:Ah yes, the fabled Fork of Balduran, reunited at last with his Butter Knife.
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Apr 8, 2019 18:55
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That feel when you finish Throne of Bhaal at level 50 and then immediately fire up plain ol' Icewind Dale and roll a level 1 dude and go kill goblins.
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Apr 11, 2019 02:31
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Anyone seen an issue in BG1 EE, when starting a new single player game with create party, I created a half orc shaman, but every game I start with it, it starts dead with 0/1 HP, happened a few different times, recreated character from scratch instead of import. Rest of my characters are fine, not sure if there's some bug or issue with shaman itself. I do have the g3 tweakpack installed i believe, i see some other issues with item descriptions not matching the item.
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Apr 16, 2019 17:54
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ratchild13 posted:Anyone seen an issue in BG1 EE, when starting a new single player game with create party, I created a half orc shaman, but every game I start with it, it starts dead with 0/1 HP, happened a few different times, recreated character from scratch instead of import. Rest of my characters are fine, not sure if there's some bug or issue with shaman itself. I do have the g3 tweakpack installed i believe, i see some other issues with item descriptions not matching the item. Are you positive both BG and the tweak pack are up to date?
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Apr 16, 2019 18:06
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If item descriptions don't match the item, then your dialog.tlk is corrupted. Are you using the old BG2 Tweak pack or the Tweaks Anthology pack? The former will cause problems like you are describing.
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Apr 17, 2019 01:13
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Hmmm solid suggestion, looks like my tweak pack install is from 2017, so I'll get that fixed. Would a total uninstall of the game be best, or just the mod uninstall? EDIT: hmmm one thing the mod page and OP don't specify is if the https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/fixes/bg2fixpack/ is also applicable in BG1:EE? I have that installed in BG1 now, was there a separate one previously and it just got rolled in? ratchild13 fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Apr 17, 2019 |
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Apr 17, 2019 18:23
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ratchild13 posted:Hmmm solid suggestion, looks like my tweak pack install is from 2017, so I'll get that fixed. Would a total uninstall of the game be best, or just the mod uninstall? I had a similar problem and a mod reinstall fixed it.
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Apr 17, 2019 18:32
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ratchild13 posted:Hmmm solid suggestion, looks like my tweak pack install is from 2017, so I'll get that fixed. Would a total uninstall of the game be best, or just the mod uninstall? If you're using the EE you need Tweaks Anthology, not the old BG1/2 packs. https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/tweaks/
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Apr 17, 2019 19:08
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Awesome, thank you very much, I'll give that a whirl!
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Apr 17, 2019 19:48
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I started playing Icewind Dale EE for the first time. The dungeon crawling is good and I kind of like the old skool make-a-full-party aspect of it. The random loot has been okay to me, and I like that I'm actually using and finding wands, etc useful. But the utter lack of wizard scrolls combined with no level-up spells has been absolutely brutal. I just cleared the Dragon's Eye. My current party is Cavalier, Cleranger, Beserker, Bard, Illusionist/Mage and Clemage. I kind of wish I went with 4 characters but that would feel a little power game-y. E: Also, the story feels weak as hell and super linear and not murderhobo at all but I guess that's not the point? DisgracelandUSA fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Apr 17, 2019 |
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Apr 17, 2019 20:24
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DisgracelandUSA posted:E: Also, the story feels weak as hell and super linear and not murderhobo at all but I guess that's not the point? Yeah. The Icewind Dale series was specifically made to be the Infinity Engine games that are light on story, heavy on combat to contrast the Baldur's Gate series.
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Apr 17, 2019 20:35
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The actual writing in Icewind Dale is pretty drat good I think. And I love all the dialogue and voice work. But it’s lacking the NPC interaction the BG games have.
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Apr 17, 2019 20:48
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Icewind Dale plot is fine but nothing spectacular, fairly average DD stuff. It lacks the character interaction and dialogue of Baldur's Gate but it also has probably the best and most detail background graphics of the entire series.
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Apr 17, 2019 21:00
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Re-installing the tweak compilation and bg totally solved all my issues! Thanks for the info everyone.
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Apr 18, 2019 21:23
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Feeling an itch to replay BG2 again, I kinda want to do something at least a little fresh for it though. Are there any better mods for moving items around than the item randomizer? It'd be fun running through the game not knowing where to find the best stuff.
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Apr 19, 2019 09:55
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I just played through original IWD (solo paladin run) after not playing it and HoW since they were released. I'd never played TotL before now and I have to say it was pretty tedious and annoying. I read they released it for free in response to complaints that HoW was too short, or something? Moving on to IWD2, which I've actually never finished... think I got up to the temple with the battle square and stopped there. Gonna try a solo paladin, hopefully it works (I know the ECL poo poo will nerf the ability to overlevel). Saving PS:T for last 
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Apr 20, 2019 16:43
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