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Galewolf posted:Goddamn, Firewine Bridge/Ulcaster is a nightmare and pretty much the hair pull central when it comes to navigating.  I still remember the existential dread I felt when I realized later on that one of the SCS components closes the shortcut to the Firewine dungeon boss battle.  Suspicious posted:IIRC spike trap damage isn't even typed, so it goes through anything and everything. If it triggers any hostile around it just eats poo poo and dies.
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Apr 27, 2020 21:39
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Ratios and Tendency posted:IWD2 is bad and tedious. Why don't people like IWD2? I personally love the art, all the exploring you can do and how there are a multitude of solutions and interactions depending on what kind of characters you have. The combat feels much more challenging and engaging to the 2:ed ruleset. You must want a combat heavy game though, but IMO it's the best game for a multiplayer session as all participants can contribute. Shame it was rushed out the doors and some areas are underdeveloped. As for character suggestion, I can warmly recommend having atleast a cleric of Tempus a strong self buffing tank in the party. I personally prefer sorcerers to regular mages, as a regular mage may deplete all useful spells quite quickly and will be dead weight until you rest your party.
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Apr 27, 2020 21:58
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I’ve never understood all the complaints on Firewine/Ulcaster/Ice Island. It’s small and narrow and, yes a bit hard to get the characters to navigate. But if you’re searching for traps and only stepping a few feet at a time, it works out fine. They’re definitely the worst infinity engine dungeons, but I always do them all the way to completion because they’re not super difficult or tedious. Granted, maybe I have a high tolerance for tedium?
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Apr 27, 2020 22:27
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chaosapiant posted:I’ve never understood all the complaints on Firewine/Ulcaster/Ice Island. It’s small and narrow and, yes a bit hard to get the characters to navigate. But if you’re searching for traps and only stepping a few feet at a time, it works out fine. They’re definitely the worst infinity engine dungeons, but I always do them all the way to completion because they’re not super difficult or tedious. Granted, maybe I have a high tolerance for tedium? I just use a guide map for those honestly. The pathing is bad but they're really fast if you know what's up.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:30
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Sigmund Fraud posted:Why don't people like IWD2? I personally love the art, all the exploring you can do and how there are a multitude of solutions and interactions depending on what kind of characters you have. The combat feels much more challenging and engaging to the 2:ed ruleset. You must want a combat heavy game though, but IMO it's the best game for a multiplayer session as all participants can contribute. Shame it was rushed out the doors and some areas are underdeveloped. rope kid fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Apr 27, 2020 |
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Apr 27, 2020 22:37
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I have no problems with Ulcaster and the Ice Island because they're reasonably short and the battles take place in big enough rooms. Firewine just seems designed to be as annoying as possible, though. The sidequest that requires running back and forth through it, the endlessly respawning Kobold Commandos, the boss fight that has two mages with AoE spells in a narrow corridor and the sheer size of it all add up. It's the only area I skip every playthrough apart from a quick drive-by on the Ogre Mage.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:41
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chaosapiant posted:I’ve never understood all the complaints on Firewine/Ulcaster/Ice Island. It’s small and narrow and, yes a bit hard to get the characters to navigate. But if you’re searching for traps and only stepping a few feet at a time, it works out fine. They’re definitely the worst infinity engine dungeons, but I always do them all the way to completion because they’re not super difficult or tedious. Granted, maybe I have a high tolerance for tedium? It's just a poo poo design in general. Tiny narrow passages to increase possible travel distances plus traps everywhere. It's not like the Kobalds are even a threat to a level 5 well equipped party its the endless respawn that slows you down when trying to explore. And this assumes you arent stuck constantly resetting the destination because the pathing is so bad.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:56
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Baldur's Gate 2, but every line by Irenicus is replaced with the grunts from Icewind Dale's "male fighter 3" voice set. Hnh? Rrnnrrr!!
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Apr 28, 2020 01:38
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Finally solo'd demogorgon on core rules without spike traps, without being a spellcaster, and without OP items from BG2. 14 Kensai/39 Thief (I know... I needed to create the character in the black pits, and the only way I could avoid the slog of leveling a dual'd theif was to start at 14/14). - Invulnerability potion, potion of frost giant strength, potion of regeneration, potion of heroism, potion of fire resistance, potion of insight (for wish). Then with UAI cast - Protection from fire, stoneskin, protection from magic energy, fireshield (red), globe of invulnerability, improved haste, tensor's transformation, hardiness from wish (only 1 copy, not that cheesy), spell trap. Oh yeah, and protection form poison... that's key. Then cast greater evasion. I got to: -23 AC, 342 HP, 10 attacks per round, -10/-8 THAC0, 29-36/27-34 damage (+4 Ninjato/belm for ...flavor), lots of resistances/saves/etc. Start the fight with a Pierce Shield to drop his defenses, then Breach from a wand every time he casts stoneskin. Time-traps over by the stairs to lure the Mariliths over to, so I could get them out of the fight. Then just wail away with 10 attacks per round till he drops.
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Apr 28, 2020 02:21
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In my shame I’ve never even fought Demogorgon. Not since the game has been out. Instead, I always think “this is the time I’ll fight him”, but instead I chicken out and take the offer to lock the fake priests up with him and them sign out. Aside from XP and good vibes, what kinda cool gear do you get outta that fight?
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Apr 28, 2020 02:57
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chaosapiant posted:In my shame I’ve never even fought Demogorgon. Not since the game has been out. Instead, I always think “this is the time I’ll fight him”, but instead I chicken out and take the offer to lock the fake priests up with him and them sign out. Aside from XP and good vibes, what kinda cool gear do you get outta that fight? You get jack poo poo in terms of items. 120 k xp and a t-shirt says "Don't kill the Mariliths, dumbass". At that point in the game, if played legit that is, you'll be sporting the most powerful artifacts in the Faerun to take him out anyway.
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Apr 28, 2020 03:15
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How early can you get a ton of cool loot from Watcher's?
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Apr 28, 2020 03:16
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shovelbum posted:How early can you get a ton of cool loot from Watcher's? You can start clearing the first two levels around lvl 9 with some elemental summons and liberal use of Reduce Resistance. It gets gnarly after the elemental level and Chromatic Demon is also a tough fight if you can't reliably deal 4 elemental damages and tank him. The Dead Magic zone with Demons is where things get rough. I started doing it at lvl 8-9 with fighter heavy (Kensai/Thief dual, Keldorn, Minsc, Anemon, Edwin and Jaheira) good party and cleared everything until Dead Magic floor. You can buy some sweet loot from the shop npc right away without entering the dungeon (iirc, Sword of Mask).
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Apr 28, 2020 03:27
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pentyne posted:It's just a poo poo design in general. Tiny narrow passages to increase possible travel distances plus traps everywhere. It's not like the Kobalds are even a threat to a level 5 well equipped party its the endless respawn that slows you down when trying to explore. And this assumes you arent stuck constantly resetting the destination because the pathing is so bad. The kobold commandos are a threat. They always manage to wear me down, even with the best AC possible.
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Apr 28, 2020 05:33
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I'm gutting and reinstalling my Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 installs to make sure any mods I add are fresh. What is the verdict on the Unfinished Business packs for 1 and 2? Also, I noticed on my BG2 installation previously that some of my spells, like Summon Fire Elemental, were missing their icons. They were perfectly usable if you know where they are in your inventory, but it seemed weird. Is that a bug/component of IWDification mod?
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Apr 28, 2020 05:51
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Unfinished Business BG1 is the better one because it draws from material actually left in the game instead of speculation based on bioware forum posts. UB regular doesn’t do much of anything interesting
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Apr 28, 2020 06:06
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IWD2 is one of my favourites to replay if only because 3E is more fun to level up with.
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Apr 28, 2020 09:16
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Sigmund Fraud posted:Why don't people like IWD2? I personally love the art, all the exploring you can do and how there are a multitude of solutions and interactions depending on what kind of characters you have. The combat feels much more challenging and engaging to the 2:ed ruleset. You must want a combat heavy game though, but IMO it's the best game for a multiplayer session as all participants can contribute. Shame it was rushed out the doors and some areas are underdeveloped.
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Apr 28, 2020 10:18
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IIRC, it adapted the 3.0 ruleset, which was... not great and fell almost entirely out of favor when the improved 3.5 edition came out. I don’t know enough D&D to give the specifics. It had some amazing dungeons in the third act, without that much necessary combat, but the front half was a lot weaker. It’s been like 12 years since I’ve played through it, but I still fondly remember the jungle cultist temple you can infiltrate, the time loop volcano and the recolonized Hand. I'd actually really like to try replaying it as an adult who could make a balanced party, because I enjoyed running through the BG trilogy without using cheats for the first time, but it's not available digitally, and I have no idea where my hard copy is or if my computer could run it properly. Zulily Zoetrope fucked around with this message at 10:43 on Apr 28, 2020 |
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Apr 28, 2020 10:38
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IWD 2 is an endurance race against frequent slogs and some cool setpiece action sprinkled here and there. I can't even remember the story besides some "Original Content Donut Steal" half-demon (dragon? angel?) plot to do...something? The mutant D&D 2.9 system is more fun and satifying to level up but also more tuned so you can't have BG 2 levels of power trips by stacking contingencies or summoning planetars. It's an okay game with great art direction (the npc portraits are downright the best in any rpg imo and I like the snowy northern aesthetic) but feels like a rushed cashgrab if anything.
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Apr 28, 2020 11:14
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chaosapiant posted:I'm gutting and reinstalling my Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 installs to make sure any mods I add are fresh. What is the verdict on the Unfinished Business packs for 1 and 2? Also, I noticed on my BG2 installation previously that some of my spells, like Summon Fire Elemental, were missing their icons. They were perfectly usable if you know where they are in your inventory, but it seemed weird. Is that a bug/component of IWDification mod? I tend to always have UB for BG2 installed, but it doesn't really do much. Off the top of my head the most 'significant' ones are that you can get the magic lamp Kalah used and the usual genie "moral choice" thing, and Minsc gets a personal quest which upgrades his strength and you can get the city casting license for free. Then there's some dialogue, monster and item changes etc.
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Apr 28, 2020 13:05
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IWD2 is on GOG currently, I like it, but yeah, it does get overly long in some areas. I get the same issue with the missing icons on the summon elemental spells, i think it's part of IWDification also, first time using that mod and that's when i noticed the icons missing. Definitely like the mod though, bard songs have some options now, at least before lvl 11.
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Apr 28, 2020 17:00
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in PST, i reached curst and ended up going straight into the caves/prison and rescued the deva. it looks like i can't go back out--did i miss a lot in the town? it's been forever since i played and i can't remember. i'll probably just make sure to do it in the next run through.
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Apr 28, 2020 18:42
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It is one of the weirdest points of no return I've experienced. There's a short quest line to take you there and a few sidequests, but nothing too major. I've you've already progressed that far beyond that point, I wouldn't bother rolling it back. Though since you are at that point in the game, here's another good tidbit for that area: at the end of the dungeon, when you unlock the exit, you do so by opening a door and getting a portal. You can move past the portal into a small room, where there's a character who can be recruited as a party member. I wouldn't kick a party member to keep them around, but you can make it to this point from Sigil with a not-full party if you wanna take them for a spin around the planes.
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Apr 28, 2020 18:56
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Galewolf posted:IWD 2 is an endurance race against frequent slogs and some cool setpiece action sprinkled here and there. There's entirely too many winking nods to the first game (and some retconing of events there) for it to really feel like its own thing.
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Apr 28, 2020 19:32
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:It is one of the weirdest points of no return I've experienced. There's a short quest line to take you there and a few sidequests, but nothing too major. I've you've already progressed that far beyond that point, I wouldn't bother rolling it back. cool, thanks! and i did catch vhailor and this time around made him poof into nothingness 
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Apr 28, 2020 20:27
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Galewolf posted:IWD 2... feels like a rushed cashgrab if anything.
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Apr 29, 2020 06:29
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rope kid posted:It was. I had to check release dates of IWD2 and NWN 2 and I remember correctly (NWN in June, IWD 2 in August) When IWD2 got released I was like "A new IWD game? After like an actual 3D RPG game???". I mean I don't know about the release cycles of those games but NWN was announced around 2001 I think? So yeah, it's almost 20 years ago but I still remember going all  about it.
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Apr 29, 2020 10:13
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I was just happy to finally see some green goblins.
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Apr 29, 2020 10:24
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Neverwinter Nights was in development concurrently with Baldur's Gate's last stretch, so it got quite a bit of time in the oven. Icewind Dale 2 was launched into development as a hail Mary and initially Interplay wanted it done in 4 months, lol.
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Apr 29, 2020 10:26
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The mechanics let your party members to interact in conversations and outworld based on their class/skills was pretty neat back then hth.
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Apr 29, 2020 11:09
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rope kid posted:It was. How?? It had its entire own character engine, far more unique creature sprites than anything beyond BG1 and PS:T and a bunch of mechanics I haven't seen anywhere before or since. I take your word for it, and it was obviously missing some polish, but I don't understand how the least developed D&D game had so much original content.
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Apr 29, 2020 15:45
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rope kid posted:Parts of it are definitely a slog. The pacing isn't great, the combat density is too high throughout the game, and honestly it should just be about 15% shorter (edit: 15-25%). I have a special place in my heart for IWD2 - and even I have to agree about the combat density. If you play heart of fury mode, that part where you are going through the river caves is like having to chop through a wall of meat that's trying to kill you. Still, I like it a lot more than the first IWD. I don't know if it was inspiration or desperation, but IWD2 did something very, very smart when they took most of the characters/events of the first game, and wove them all together into the second one. I played them out of order, and it makes the first IWD feel extremely shallow. You meet characters in the second game that you just hear described secondhand from people who knew them or in that one case meet a ghost, and they are way more memorable than in the first, where they show up, and have one repeating line, or are a combat of a minute that nobody in the first game remarks upon or even notices. I mean you have that thing where the narrator is answering a question at the end that is posed at several points throughout the game to the party
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Apr 29, 2020 16:48
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Final boss of IWD was a giant rear end in a top hat for me but I done done it. I sort of liked IWD the most of all these infinity engine games next to BG2 without the expac. I may install IWD2 on some toaster and give that a run through but I am IEed out for now lol
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Apr 29, 2020 19:02
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:How?? Torn had a lot of difficulties but was still in pre-production/vertical slice (again IIRC, this was almost 20 years ago). But Interplay needed money ASAP, so they canceled Torn and suspended The Black Hound in order to work on IWD2. Feargus, Parker, and Darren Monahan took me and Steve Bokkes into (again IIRC) Parker's office and Feargus said (though he remembers differently) hey we need to make IWD2. We need you and Steve to write the story and basic area overviews in the next two days and we need the game done in four months. I was like cool, never going to happen. Steve and I worked on that story together, he left shortly after and I became the lead designer on IWD2. Unsurprisingly, four months became nine and eventually ten. But anyway, just because it was a crash grab by Interplay doesn't mean that we didn't try our best to make it good and cool. It's just hard to do when you're under the gun like that. Then again, that sort of experience was the norm for me for the first 10 years I was in the industry.
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Apr 29, 2020 22:43
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Oh god, Torn! I remember watching the short teaser trailer from a demo cd and being all super excited about it back in 2001(?). Pouring a 40 for my dead homie, rip. 
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Apr 29, 2020 23:02
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The Black Hound is the one that was meant to be a sequel to the BG series sort of? I think I've read about it before.
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Apr 29, 2020 23:08
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rope kid posted:Interplay was entering The Dying Time and Black Isle had two (IIRC) games in production: Torn (RIP) and The Black Hound (RIP later). I was the lead designer on the latter. Always rad to hear insider stories about the Interplay and the Forgotten Realms games, RK. Is any part of you surprised people are still playing these games?
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Apr 29, 2020 23:49
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An exceptional Ropekid post. I posted a while back about TotSC. Werewolf Island was kind of charming until I got to the fight scenes. The ice cave was great. After the first fight I memorized breach and secret word and went to town. Durlag's was... Something. I got burned a few times by traps, but had read the "bodies flag traps" comments here. So it was mostly slow going. I had to leave once or twice to restock and sell, but chill. I went into the Demon Knight fight blind, immediately saw the mirror and broke it. The clone demon knight killed the real demon knight and I survived, but I didn't like the missing experience. So I reloaded and was hilariously surprised when I chumped him in one turn without using the mirror. Aec'letec was a trip. I got destroyed the first time, won the second time but lost my girl Viconia, and flawlessly beat it the second time. Overall, great content, A+, World's Edge / 10, would Durlag again (if not for exp caps). I ran through Siege of Dragonspear. It was good and the dungeons were really well designed. Now I had a pretty dope set of equipment and had hoarded gems and scrolls and potions to sell to make money to hear up fast. But the first chapter felt a little easy, except for the lich. Overall, decent story, nice twist and I enjoyed the epilogue. I ended up trying to start BG2 with a Cleranger, Wild Mage, Monk and Kensai/Thief to do an ultra-powergame-y thing, but something didn't feel right about it, so I decided to just roll with an evil party (Vic, Korgan, Dorn, Jan, Minsx + Wild Mage), which I haven't done before. So far it's going good.
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Apr 29, 2020 23:57
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I'm playing through BG2 again and I'm really noticing that most of the dialogue doesn't have good vs. evil responses, it has polite vs. rude. My options are "take the job but be a real prick about it" or "take the job and be nice about it" or "don't take the job like an idiot not-adventurer." I suppose you could be polite and evil or rude and good too. Anomen shows that good can still be an rear end in a top hat.
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Apr 30, 2020 00:26
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