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Did they patch minor globe to protect against AoE, then? Because I specifically remember most of the mage buffs only protecting against directly targeted damage.
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Nov 21, 2013 07:04
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In BG1EE they prioritized themselves before party members, I remember that.
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Nov 22, 2013 05:28
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The unkillable assassin was always in BG2 even after the Shadow Thieves quest probably because TSR isn't really down with game developers loving around with aspects of the setting that they didn't create themselves. See also: Drizz't never truly dying no matter what. They don't take his gear from you out of sentiment. A lot of (dumb) people soured on NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer because it's endgame hinged on an aspect of the setting that was clearly mandated to never change. Gotta keep things consistent for the tabletoppers. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Nov 22, 2013 |
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Nov 22, 2013 19:21
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4E and its cosmology changed but I don't think it changed THAT much. They ended up making their 4E bridge / portent game in Storm of Zehir and though the gloves probably could have come off there, it wasn't that kind of epic-scope game.
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Nov 22, 2013 19:52
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*e whoops
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Nov 22, 2013 21:59
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Captain Oblivious posted:Why? Sometimes you don't get to have it your way. BG2 already caters to good aligned characters to a ludicrous degree, I don't see it as being a big deal that this one time there is no option that's all smiles and rainbows. You're going to have to give the player lovely / precarious choices at some point. Adding a high road to every choice sucks because in RPGs they are always (always) the best option. If you're going to add the Radiant Heart as freighters to Spellhold then you might as well cut the Bodhi and Linvail routes because only heroically stupid PCs would fail to realize that both are lying through their teeth, don't share your goals or concerns in the slightest, and are probably plotting against you in some fashion.
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Nov 23, 2013 13:32
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cheesetriangles posted:I like how the BG2EE never fixed the bug in the wizard stronghold quest line when you try to make a ring of wizardry and it just throws a scripting error. Did they fix any bugs? As for new content, I actually think it's really good. Like at least on par with SoA standard, and a good bit of it is actually much better than that. Neera's quest in particular has a lot of good fights and set pieces. And the weird thing about the new content is that a lot of it offers variant choice in approach, which is conspicuous in that original game quests that offered the same can be counted on one hand (the only one that immediately springs to mind is lifting the curse off of Jaheira). It's clever. A pity that Dorn is still a poor man's Sarevok. And Hexxat really should have been neutral alignment. Alignment restrictions suck. Meanwhile I discovered that sun soul monks make great stealth bombers - because their innate sunfire ability is directed at the player, it doesn't break concealment. The class basically does for undead what Inquisitors do for mages but they're really good against anything that doesn't resist fire.
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Nov 24, 2013 10:10
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Molybdenum posted:Hexxat quest line question I'm in the sand place and it won't let me select the names of the 4 ghost guys at the front. Do I need to murder then first or something?
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Nov 25, 2013 02:59
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LibbyM posted:I agree, but it's still not as bad/out of place as a lot of the character selection audio clips from the original baldur's gate. STOP TOUCHING MEEE.
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Nov 25, 2013 03:11
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It's not supposed to be convincing. It's supposed to be obvious.
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Nov 25, 2013 03:43
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canada jezus posted:I've always had trouble playing bg2 as anything other than a fighter, all the rest seemed like too much effort/not fun enough. Branching out is a good thing though, so kind goons, what do i play: a cleric/ranger or a Fighter dualed into thief (or i guess a multi class). I'm always completely stuck, days on end, picking a character. One thing that makes thieves a little more attractive in EE is that they changed trapsetting for all thieves to mirror that of the vanilla Bounty Hunter kit - in other words, it becomes a minor AoE. Bounty Hunters still get the weirdest and wildest trap effects but regular thieves get some guaranteed damage and the possibility of poison, so.
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Nov 25, 2013 03:56
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Many of the BG1 CNPCs are in BG2, just not as joinables. Paladin guy ends up being one of the the knights you kill in the Windspear Hills. Garrick is mentioned by a bard in Trademeet. Faldorn is the shadow Druid taking over the grove. Quayle's in the circus, Tiax is in spellhold, Xzar and Monteron show up in the Harper quest, the evil bard and his lover show up in one of the post-Underdark forest areas (you can save him, possibly, but it's hard). Xan, the dwarves, the ranger, and the Tempus priestess are all absent afaik.
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Nov 26, 2013 01:01
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It sounds like RA Salvatore could have done a better job. Think about that.
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Nov 26, 2013 04:16
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Once I was on vacation without access to much of anything beyond long walks, and I was told that the Drizz't books were good, so I bought the trilogy and read the whole thing. I recognized a few pages in that it was not going to get any better than terrible. It was like drinking a gallon of milk, but I was just so bored that I was willing to subject myself to it. All I remember is a good-aligned hook horror that nobly sacrifices itself so that the protagonist might live.
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Nov 26, 2013 04:48
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I wonder if Overhaul cleaned the code up enough that mods including a lot of scripts will no longer cause the game to become stutter-y. That was always a problem in the vanilla game when you had more than one or two script-heavy mods installed.
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Nov 26, 2013 11:51
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I inadvertently cheesed my BGEE Sarevok fight, managed to just get him and Tazok to tango while the rest of the dweebs sat in the back doing nothing. For whatever reason it seemed like his magic resistance had lessened since the dukes-and-doppelgängers fight, and taking him out was surprisingly easy with two mages in the party.
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Nov 27, 2013 03:21
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If we're being honest then by the time you hit Throne of Bhaal AC will have ceased being any sort of factor as a stat. When Yaga Shura swings he's going to hit you whether you're buck-rear end naked or buffed to the gills. At that point things that grant physical resistance become even more valuable, which is why Armor of Faith and the -skin spells are so essential.
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Nov 28, 2013 01:30
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I'm assuming that it's something that you hold onto until ToB, to be quite honest. It helps if you've got Hexxat in your party and can stuff it into the free bag of holding she starts out with. Reminds me of the summer I actually tried my hand at modding, got a good ways into a monk CNPC (pureclass monks are pretty terrible without proper and expensive kit, as it turns out) until I ran into a scripting wall, solicited help from a mod community and ended up getting assists from some prominent modder dude who might have been the Saerelith creator? Anyway, he told me about the mod he was working on that would have the CNPC give the PC an item that they would have to carry in a quick item slot through SoA and ToB, and dropping it would cause the CNPC to die permanently. Also if you didn't say the right things through the game she would turn into a Solar at the end of ToB and kill the whole party. I kind of figured modding was for the birds at that point. It's also possible that the quest is bugged, but it seems like the point at which you get the bird is a pretty final end to that questline in SoA, at least. Hexxat's quest has apparently bugged for me at the very end of it - the messenger spawned as my party was transitioning from one area to another, so I got her dialogue but she just stood there forever and my journal never updated. Then in the Underdark I freed some slaves and got a reputation boost, and instead of Hexxat telling me she wasn't down with being a hero she started a conversation as though her quest had just ended, and rejoined the party. Which I guess is nice because it would have sucked for her to have ditched me at that point.
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Nov 28, 2013 09:36
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Going back to 2h sword talk, but the evil +4 "Soul Reaver" you receive from the Demogorgon altar in the Underdark is pretty ridiculous. 2 point thac0 penalty for 2 turns, each hit stacks. Carsomyr has an edge in that it's stacked against the real threats (ie mages) but against melee opponents it's hard to beat. Also I appreciate that in Neera's romance she's just all "whatever" w/r/t the drow woman. They could have gone with melodrama there but it's nice that they kept with the character. The writing for the new CNPCs are solid all around, IMO. Certainly a cut above whatever passes for a good mod these days (there are no good CNPC mods)
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Nov 28, 2013 11:56
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It's been said endlessly, but BG2 is less a refinement of BG1 than a deviation. BG1 recreates low-key / low-stakes tabletop campaigns, but BG2 was the point at which Bioware announced its intent to make story-heavy CRPGs with defined personalities.
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Nov 28, 2013 12:51
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I'm running through BG2 cleric-less and there are points at which it's really a pain. Jaheira's custom raise dead spell is bugged, so you need to stock up on raise dead scrolls from temple stock or get a wand of resurrection if your guys bite it (except for Hexxat, who has her Nameless One thing going) until your druid gets the mass raise HLA. Restoration is actually much more of a problem when Bodhi's Brodhis jump you in the streets - having just one divine spellcaster means that you can't really cover your rear end with negative plane protection very well (and when trying to pre-buff, you're not going to have much in your first spell's gas tank once the last spell is cast), and in Watcher's Keep when you're going up against all manner of tough level draining devils and demons, it really sucks. Gotta keep up on temple restoration scrolls for that too. But beyond that, it's not terrible. Oh, and the trimming of Jaheira's special spell list means you won't get Zone of Sweet Air, which is frequently useful. And since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else, looks like Overhaul put in an evil Carsomyr analogue - Ir'revrykal, a +5 two-handed githyanki sword wielded by a mook on the fourth floor of Watcher's Keep. Not quite as useful - it subs out dispel ability for charm immunity and goes hard against good creatures but otherwise has the same stats. Only Blackguards need apply. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Nov 29, 2013 |
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Nov 29, 2013 07:36
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A cleric's best weapon is going to be flails, if not just for the Flail of Ages. Maces are least good, but there are some good hammers.
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Nov 29, 2013 07:56
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Stalkers don't have a great upshot, tbqh. demihuman multiclass cleric/ranger is unbeatable. Whether to take pure ranger or cleric depends on what you want your party composition to be.
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Nov 29, 2013 08:02
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MrTheDevious posted:Question for someone who's used her and Keldorn longer though He's obviously preparing to butcher her like he's already butchered my sweet Viconia, but also she can't permanently die...what happens when he tears into her and she just resurrects? Fucker is so lucky paladins are amazing Meanwhile, has anybody used the pro-magic exploit on Kangaxx yet? Cuz I cast it on him and he still imprisoned me. Maybe because he started casting before it went up? But the shield was definitely up when the spell completed. Next time I'll send Minsc to get deep-sixed and just Freedom him out after the fight.
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Nov 29, 2013 12:30
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Dorn offered me nothing except a less verbose male Viconia variant. What a dull character premise. Did they at least fix the non-recognition of romance denial, or was that even a bug to begin with? I don't even know how such a romance would play out in a way that isn't BG2 "therapy gently caress" standard. At least Neera's romance is entirely devoid of angst. Her response to Bodhi's insinuations were actually really funny (and I suspect, a sneaky shortcut around the nightmare that coding SoA romance plots post-Lanthorn retrieval surely is).
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Nov 29, 2013 13:02
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MrTheDevious posted:Was planning on eventually using Imoen as my thief in his place since she's story-centric but now I just don't want to at all. Do you miss out on a lot of plot stuff by not using her later? And as someone up thread said, Hexxat's no-save 20d6 HLA is good enough to make her worth it. Drop a few outside the chromatic demon's spawn point in Watcher's Keep and laugh as he takes 120d6 damage in half a second. Also has the added advantage of hitting before contingencies trigger, so mage protections will kick in on their corpses. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Nov 29, 2013 |
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Nov 29, 2013 23:27
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Kangaxx immunity to anti-magic cheese confirmed. RIP my entire party. I guess the only thing to do is throw summons at him so that he'll waste his imprisonments. How many does he have?
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Nov 30, 2013 03:01
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Protection from magic effectively neutered his lich form but his demilich form ignored it. Will try for pro-undead *edit - nope, unfazed Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Nov 30, 2013 |
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Nov 30, 2013 03:14
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oh poo poo duh, I'd been casting pro-magic on HIM to cause spell failure, which worked on the lich but not the demilich. Just going to reload and have Minsc go to town. False Alarm (??)
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Nov 30, 2013 03:18
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I liked Neera's ToB quest. Really, all of Neera's questline stuff is good, and it actually approaches thematic resonance (or whatever) in that the Neera / Thayan baddie conflict is essentially a mirror image of the Bhaalspawn / Sarevok conflict. They never explicitly make it text, but it's there. I also enjoyed the Szass Tamm feature / fights, tho the VA they gave him wasn't great. He was maybe my favorite Forgotten Realms cheese villain as a kid so it was cool to run that quest, including the obligatory WotC plot armor they slapped on him.
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Nov 30, 2013 12:29
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Insurrectionist posted:So, do we know when we'll find out how BG2:EE did sales-wise? Looking at Steam, despite being far down the top-sellers list, the only games that aren't on Autumn Sale above it are Assassin's Creed, CoD:Ghosts and Football Manager 2014. But that doesn't necessarily mean it sold all that well. I think it's pretty clear that a BG3 isn't happening, not due to any fault of Beamdog's / Overhaul's (I've been playing games long enough not to be outraged by bugs and the stuff they made is good) but because the rights are still with Atari as far as I'm aware, and if anything an increase in the property's profile will only make a sequel less likely. I imagine WotC / Atari will want to make it a Big Deal Game but Atari hasn't had Big Deal Game money for years (nor should they). I know Obsidian Entertainment were pitching their own ideas not too long ago and didn't hear anything. D&D CRPGs are in development hell right now outside of the MMOs that boardrooms reflexively throw money at. So who knows what's happening now. They still seem to be patching, which is good (making Hexxat a vampire in the engine mechanics was clever in theory but seems to have borked some things, natch). Literally everyone else would hate it on principle but I think a DLC model in the short term would be cool, maybe throw together another Watcher's Keep-esque dungeon, or even a CNPC, why not. It's not like ToB could get any less balanced. Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Nov 30, 2013 |
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Nov 30, 2013 12:48
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If they didn't program exceptions for Assad or whatever his name is, there won't be conflict between new party members. He seems pretty chill? Idk.
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Nov 30, 2013 13:15
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It doesn't really matter since the only bonus a 19 int gives you is the ability to learn every spell in the game
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Nov 30, 2013 20:40
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Devorum posted:I'm playing through BG2, and am trying to use characters I haven't used in the past. I'm considering switching out Jaheira for Valygar, but since I've never used him I'm not sure how efective he would be. I'm also wondering how I'd fare with only one healer (My CHARNAME is a fighter/Priest). Are Jaheira's druid spells worth keeping her around, or is Valygar a cool enough character to make up for thweir loss? In terms of character utility, he definitely isn't as good as Jaheira. You'd do fine with a single healer (long as you kept him/her/zher protected from level drain and the like) but Jaheira's real utility is in (a) druidic summoning spells, which are the best in the game, and (b) Ironskins, which makes her pound for pound the best tank in the game, especially paired with a strength upgrade and Belm +2 (or some other weapon and improved haste). The insect swarm spells kill mages dead as long as they don't have magic resistance, and nature's beauty is a no-save blindness AoE that's quite good. Also her NPC quest is good, drops some awesome loot and actually works in BG2EE, which is more than you can say for any other version of the game. Jaheira rules.
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Dec 1, 2013 02:07
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Stumiester posted:And, if I go evil in hell as a Druid, I assume I keep druiding even if I'm Neutral Evil?
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Dec 1, 2013 06:21
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In Ascension the last baddie turns Imoen into the Slayer in the last fight after she had progressively gained the minor powers the PC accrued through BG1 and expressed mounting rage. I'm unsure if you have to kill her or you can wait for the transformation to wear off, but she attacks you.
Basic Chunnel fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 22:37
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It's not a first-timer mod, certainly, but it adds challenge without the SCS "find the tactical skeleton key" noise and imo it definitely makes the final fight seem more in line with the ridiculous / glorious "epic" feel that the denuoument of the Baldur's Gate series ought to have.
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Dec 2, 2013 00:13
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I mean you can't really beat Mask of the Betrayer's Myrkul encounter,* but when it comes to epic level realness you ought to at least have more than the one fight repeated three times with some high-level trash mobs thrown in between them. It feels anticlimactic. Ascension also refreshes spells when you shut down an island, so it throws you a bone in that sense. * I need to play that game again, but the customary D&D buff fest after every rest plus the awful UI equals quick tedium.
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Dec 2, 2013 00:22
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Has there been any word on Ascension compatibility for BG2EE yet? I beat the game with a Sun Soul monk yesterday, my second cradle-to-grave trilogy run (the first being an archer in Tutu). They did a great job on that kit, it maintains a good-but-fair amount of power through the entire 40-level run. The cone of fire ability stays reasonably effective for awhile and even in the high levels the sunfire ability stays good, mainly because it can be fired without breaking concealment and even if fire / magic resistance eats the damage the blindness effect still works. And the fire-strike ability, unlike stunning fist, lasts multiple rounds so you can run whirlwind attack on top of it for an additional 20d6 damage per round. Monks are great when they have balanced abilities, as it happens. Had I the time or ability I would mod the pure class monk kit to have scaling save penalties for its strike powers. Also I will admit to being completely wrong about ToB and AC. I left AC 3 bracers on my guy, and got to half hit points maybe 3 or 4 times. Often I would send him in alone to clean house against rooms full of beholders and mind flayers. With 93% magic resistance he was untouchable. I had played a monk before and it was more difficult somehow. Playing sun soul monk lets you have that "unkillable Kung fu grandmaster" experience that monks in 3E were supposed to provide at high levels. Feels good man. Now I'm playing as a shadowdancer and planning to dual into cleric around level 13. By the time I get my thief levels back I'll have the self-buffing ability to make myself an unstoppable backstab monster.
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Dec 3, 2013 01:09
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As well as BG2 held up to BG1, which is to say that it's better.
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Dec 3, 2013 01:34
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