Stopping at Infinity: Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Stopping at Infinity: Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment.

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

The Icewind Dales were the best games made with the IE engine and I still play through both of them consecutively with my friends every now and then, just some beautifully designed dungeon crawlers, the only thing I can think of that's on par with them is The Temple of Elemental Evil, which, unfortunately, has no multiplayer, which is a travesty.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2013 20:21

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 07:35

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

Factor_VIII posted:

I'd say that the IWD games are the best-looking IE games. Plus, I think their heavier emphasis in fights and more interesting combat makes them more suited for replays, since you already know the story after the first playthrough.

The Baldur's Gate games have really mediocre stories and some terribly designed encounters and dungeons that aren't very much fun to play through, Planescape: Torment has some good characterization and actually has interesting themes, but is a godawful chore to play and is filled with way, way, way too much text, whoever wrote it didn't really understand economy of words.
I honestly think the Icewind Dale games are the only ones that have aged well at all (besides BG2) and are actually fun to play games, which BG1 isn't, BG2 varies too much, and PS:T is literally one of the most boring things I've ever played in my life.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2013 20:48

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

I'm about to do a BG:EE Legacy of Bhaal run what are the hottest tips?

# ¿ Nov 23, 2021 20:18

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

Yaldur's Yate

# ¿ Jul 28, 2022 22:17

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

Rappaport posted:

I hadn't done Neera's BG2 quest in a couple years now, and I remembered you get fun loot from it like the Dagger of Venom and a wand of paralyzation (turned out you get two! ), so I gave it another go.

I regret this decision. Why is everything about it so unfun and tedious? The wild magic forest area is a huge wilderness map that is mostly empty, except it has a bunch of traps like Cloakwood 2, the worst Cloakwood. And, and, you have to walk all over it several times if you want to capture all the cats. And cats are beautiful, so wander around I did.

On top of that, the game doesn't tell you that you have to do the side quests before tackling the major quest. Okay, fine, I remembered this from last time, screw you game. But this does not alleviate the fact that nearly all of the minor quests are fetch quests, and except for that cat quest, involve visiting other areas all over the loving map. And no, the god drat hair scrunchy does not spawn until after you talk to the little girl in camp. I can't off the top of my head think of other instances of the game actively punishing you for meta-gaming. Why, Beamdog? Riddle me this.

Then there is the Red Wizard enclave. It's cramped, the fights are kind of uneven for a quest that on its face looks like something you should do fairly early on (at least compared to other places like de'Arnise Keep etc.), and it's a little bit convoluted to figure out how to optimally deal with the messes, but at least this time around the game lets one just remember what one was supposed to do, so yay. And at least you can rob all the other vendors except Gul blind But this has a caveat too, according to the wiki Neera just won't let you trade with Gul after the quest is over? I did not test this as I ~~disintegrated her~~ gave her the boot the second we were done with the stupid quest, but this seems a little mean too if the player does come here fairly early, the dagger of venom is freaking expensive. (Plus, the quest(s) don't even give that much XP!)

And Neera herself annoys me, but I guess that's a me problem. I had Keldorn and Aerie along, and their banters with Neera seemed a little off, too, but I guess Neera being an rear end in a top hat towards Aerie is at least very much in character.

I have never done Dorn's quest but I understand there's some nice loot in there too. And I've done Rasaad's BG2 quest exactly once, and that thing is worse than Neera's world tour, at least Neera's is relatively short playing-time-wise if not in-game-clock-wise. I recall Rasaad's quest having a nifty-ish helmet and the ring that gives mirror image, so it seems like a pattern with early Beamdog stuff that the design concept was kewl loot, slogs of quests.

I deliberately ignored the EE stuff besides Dragonspear and its been a good decision, none of the companion poo poo is fun and it feels totally divorced from the rest of the game.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2023 07:11

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 07:35

Lil Swamp Booger Baby: Aug 1, 1981

Q: What would you call Irenicus if he was from Philadelphia?

A: Jawn Irenicus

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 15:02

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Stopping at Infinity: Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale, Planescape:Torment.