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MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.




Howdy y'all, this is the new infinity engine games thread.

What are infinity engine games you ask? Well each of them have different strengths and weaknesses, but what they all have in common is that they are party based, real time, isometric RPG's with dialogue trees based on the AdnD(Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) rule set with the exception of Icewind Dale 2, it is based on a heavily modified 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons rule set. Most are played in the Dungeons and Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms in the world of Faerun, a high fantasy environment with scheming wizards, undead liches, Gods of every denomination, Dragons, and knights in shining Armor. Basically if you can think of a fantasy trope it's represented in Forgotten Realms. The exception to this is Planescape: Torment. It is set in the Planescape setting and is crazy as poo poo.

First off I'm going to be using the phrase encounter design a lot. I just want to explain what I mean by that. An encounter is a non random battle as opposed to running into a spawned group of monsters. The meat of all IE games, excluding Torment, are the encounters. To have a good one means that there are many options available to the player, these can include: objects in the environment like pillars or doors, traps, and choke points caused by bridges or doorways; enemy diversity, meaning a challenging mix of spell casters and melee enemies; fairness, the fight should be beatable without metaknowledge. A good encounter should give you many options to win but present challenges, if you fail it should be because of an error on your part.

Wow that's a lot of really nerdy garbage, hunh? Yeah, pretty much. These are games for nerds. That being said, most nerds will agree that these are the best games for nerds ever made. So if you have any nerdy tendencies (You're reading the something awful games forum for God's sake you huge nerd) I recommend you try some out. In most the games you have a choice of character classes from the following:

Classes

Fighter- Hits things with other things, some times those things come from bows, crossbows, or slings. The only class that can obtain grand mastery with weapons.

Thief- Utility class, used for finding traps, picking locks, backstabbing(massive damage when attacking invisible from behind) and in BGEE and BG2 setting traps and detecting illusions. They get skill points each level to add to their various skills to make them more proficient at them. Fast level progression.

Mage- Spellcaster, very offensive with good self buffs. Learns spells from scrolls.

Cleric- healers and decent tanks with a wide variety of buffs available to them and the party. Cannot use edged or piercing weapons. Learns spells innately

Druid- Clerics that love nature pretty much. They share a lot of the same spells, but druids are a bit more offensive in nature(lol). They have a different, rather nonsensical, weapon restriction. Weird level progression that starts off fast, slows down ALOT then picks back up.

Paladin- Good guys, almost as good as fighters as fighters, gets some cool abilities, like lay on hands, protection from evil, and minor spell casting at higher levels. They level up slow.

Rangers- Nature's paladin. Some decent abilities, and limited druid spells at high level.

Bards- Jack of all Trades, sings songs to make the party better. Can fight a little, can cast spells a little.

(Classes only available in IWD2 and BG2, and BGEE)

Monk- hits things with fists. As they level their fists get better and they get some cool fist abilities.

Sorcerer- Wizard spells, but a narrow selection picked at level up that they can cast spontaneously.

Barbarian- Big guy, lots of hp, moves quick, can get really pissed off and hit things really hard.


Each of these classes needs certain stats to be all they can be (with some exceptions)

Stats

Stats in most the games are based from 3-18 on character gen with a max of 25. 18 represents the highest possible ability of a human. Some races have innate bonuses and penalties. For example a Half orc gets a +1 to strength and constitution and a -2 to intelligence. In Planescape: Torment the combat rules are the same but there are many, many dialogue checks for wisdom, intelligence, and charisma plus in PS:T wisdom gives you an experience bonus. If you are playing Torment I recommend keeping those stats high.

Strength- Helps hit things harder and better. Strength is the most variable of all the stats. ADnD does this stupid thing where an 18 of a stat on a fighter type of class(fighter, ranger, paladin) gets a % modifier to it. For example I may roll a fighter with 18 strength and the game will randomly give it something like 18/77. This is stupid, basically 18/00 is the best for a human. That's what you need to know about it. If you are going to make a hitting type class max this stat out.

Dexterity- How agile you are. Each stat point in Dex above 14 lowers your armor class by one up to 18. So an 18 Dex will give you a 4 bonus to AC. This increases as you get to goddly Dex, gaining another 1 bonus at 20 Dex and so on. Any Dex up to 19 will give you a bonus to hit with ranged weapons.

Constitution- How hard you are to kill. Gives more hp on level up. Con scores of 17+ only help fighter classes. However, Con lower than 6 gives a penalty. Con 20+ allows you to regenerate. So either put it at 18, 16, or 6. Depending on what your goals are.

Intelligence- Almost useless. I think there was talk of giving bonus mage spells for this stat, but as the game stands there are only two uses. It effects your ability to learn spells from scrolls, and it lets you survive more attacks from a nasty monster type. Oh yeah, there are like two dialogue checks for it. (New in the EE games a 17 int cannot memorize 9th level spells. This is nothing as potions to raise your int are plentiful and cheap.)

Wisdom- Useless for anything but divine casters(clerics, druids) However, those types it gives bonus spell slots. Important for divine casters, useless for anything else.

Charisma- Useful for shop prices and very few dialogue checks. Kinda useless tho.

IWD2 changes this up a lot. I'll cover it when I get to the game.

Along with stats and classes there are derived stats that are confusing and needless complex. Here they are.

Derived stats

Armor Class. This starts off at 10 and improves as it gets smaller. This is due to how the dice rolls worked in table top. Armor Class is added or subtracted from the THAC0(see below) of the attacking monster. Only improved by DEX, items, and armor.

THAC0- To hit Armor Class 0. The number you need to roll on a 20 sided die(D20) to hit a monster with an Armor Class 0. Goes down naturally, faster for fighters. Reduced further by strength and magic items.

Spell slots- How many spells per day you may cast per spell level. It goes up naturally up to a maximum per class. Wisdom allows bonus spells for divine casters.

Saving Throws- A representation of your hero's ability to avoid harmful effects from a variety of sources like spells, poison, and traps. In the ADnD rules these are divided up into many different kinds but they work the same way. You get a number and you have to roll a d20, if the number is higher than your saving throw then you avoid the negative effect. This means that lower is better. In IWD2 you only have three and you roll a d20, the effect rolls a d20, your saving throw bonus is applied to your roll, and if it is higher than the roll by the effect you avoid the pain. In ADnD lower is better, in 3rd higher is better.

Attacks per round- How many times you attack per round. A round is 6 seconds at the default frame rate. Keep in mind, at low levels more attack animations will play in melee combat than attacks are made so it will appear you are missing a lot.

Damage- Damage is based on dice rolls abbreviated as d. So if you have a war hammer its damage will read as 1d4+1. This means the game will roll a four sided die and add one for the weapon's damage plus what ever strength or other bonuses you have.

Turn- Not a stat but I'm putting it here, a turn is 10 rounds or one minute real time at the default frame rate.

Races

Stats are determined at creation. Bonuses come from the race of your character. The races available are standard fantasy poo poo. It's important to note all classes except humans can have more than one class at a time. A multi class cannot have a kit( more on these with BG2) with the exception of gnomes, a fighter multi class cannot master weapons, and experience is split between the two classes. Humans are unique in that they can dual class. This a drastic change where you abandon the class you picked at character generation, and instead pick a brand new one. In order to do this you must have at least 15 in the prime stat of your original class and 17 in the prime stat of a new class. For example, if I wanted to dual from a fighter to cleric I'd need 15 in strength and 17 in wisdom. The abilities of the original class lay dormant until the level of you new class surpasses it. So if I dual classed my fighter at level 7 I would have to wait until he was a level 8 cleric to get my fighter abilities back. This can both be a huge boon or a huge gently caress up depending on your goals.

Human- Just normal dudes and chicks can do anything and can dual class.

Dwarf- Short and tough. +1 con -1 dex.

Elf- Slender and agile. +1 to hit with longbow, longsword, +1 to dex, -1 to con. 90% immune to sleep and charm.

Half Elf- Human and an Elf banged. 30% resistance to sleep. Only class to do cleric/ranger.

Halfling- Hobbits, short and good thieves. -1 strength, +1 dex, -1 wisdom, con bonus added to saving throws. +1 bonus with slings.

Gnomes- Very short, unique in that when they multi calass as a mage they are illusionist specialist wizards, this makes them very good mage/thieves. +1 int, -1 wisdom, con bonus added to saving throws

Half Orc- Introduced in BG2 they are very strong, tough, but dumb. +1 str, +1 con, -2 int.


To begin the list we'll start with the oldest and most polarizing.

Baldur's Gate
The hero's journey.

Buy it here

Enhanced Edition is here

The enhanced edition is also available on Steam.



In Baldur's Gate you assume the role of a young, level 1, character of your chosen class forced from the only home he has ever known into an epic adventure. That's really the most I can say about it with out spoiling the story. Honestly, the story isn't that great, but it's good enough to keep you going until you hit the real meat of the game, exploration.

More than any other Infinity engine game, Baldur's Gate is about exploring the world of Faerun. You traverse a huge amount of wilderness, getting into adventures, fighting battles, and making discoveries. This is where the love it or hate it comes into play. Due to the nature of exploration, the story plods along at times, leaving those who want a sense of urgency in their adventure kinda cold. On the other hand, players who want the experience of seeing new things or a sense of wonder and scale will find themselves drawn into an, if not fully realized, enormous world.

Shortly after release the expansion came out “Tales of the Sword Coast” are a series of adventures set in a new town unrelated to the main plot. The content rangers from extremely short to the longest dungeon in the game. The largest part of TotSC is the Mega dungeon Durlag's Tower. It contains good mid level DnD combat with some very annoying trap designs. Not great, but worth playing.

Some things to consider if you want to play BG1: The dialogue is very uneven. At times you hear people using ye olde English, at others a more modern vocabulary. It's kind of jarring at first, but it does have a kinda goofy charm. It's not bad per se, but there is a lot of improvement that can be made.

It is low level ADnD combat for the most part. Expect your attacks to whiff, wolves to kill you when you first start out, and very limited selection of spells. As you advance through the game and get to level 7 or so things start to pick up and you get a lot more options. However, with the correct application of spells and classes even level one characters can be murder machines against most enemy types.

If you're not playing the enhanced edition, BG tutu, or Trilogy, the UI is horrible, just awful by modern standards.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

It's Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast, when it first came out many people criticized it by saying that it doesn't do anything better than mods do, and it costs more. This is still somewhat true, but I feel the ease of use, the ability to zoom in using the mouse wheel(OMG), and pretty good new NPCs make it the best choice to play the game. Keep in mind, it still is the same game with the same strengths and weaknesses. The differences are that you may now use BG2 style kits( along with a few new ones), a more modern engine(the same one used in The Throne of bhaal), some resolution changes, and NPCs.

Along with the base game it also comes with a stand alone adventure, The Black Pits, it's a arena for low and mid level DnD combat. It's pretty decent, but with the source code I wish they would have done more.

Improving on many aspects of the original it's sequel is considered by many the best RPG of all time. I don't know if I agree, but it is certainly in the upper echelon.

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
The hero's end.

Buy it here

Enhanced Edition is here

The enhanced edition is also available on Steam.



This game abandoned the wilderness exploration of its predecessor in favor of a a more directed experience. Gone are the small quests that littered the landscape that resulted in little more than a fetch this bring that there, and instead there are massive side adventures to go on. Each major side quest in the game entails either a massive dungeon, multi part skull duggeries, or both. While the first game made you feel like an explorer the sequel makes you feel like a legendary hero, getting into situations against the mightiest of foes. The Expansion, The Throne of bhaal, continues this, taking your character to levels only achieved by the mightiest of heroes and demigods. You will face off against a host of the most powerful creatures in existence as you gain items of untold power.

Pulling you along through the adventures is an adequate story involving your capture by an evil mage ( the most classic of DnD tropes) given life by one of the most excellent voice acting performances in video games. Don't be fooled, the actual motivations of the villains, heroes, and writing are pretty typical of the genre, but the antagonist’s voice performance, performed by David Warner, will convince you it's better than it is. That being said, it does a great job of putting you into the role of a hero, the most important aspect of an RPG's story.

Combat, while technically the same, changed greatly to favor spell casters. High level combat can be thought of as Mage duel: The game. You will apply protections to thwart the enemy and use spells to strip them of theirs. The magic system is extremely robust and will take a while to even scratch the surface of the options available to you. What to change your mage into a spider? Cool. Want to change your mage into an invisible spider? Can do. Want to change your mage into an invisible spider with stone for skin wielding a a magic sword made out of a moon beam? Okey dokkie. That's just the tip of what's available to the player.

Further changes come in character creation. To add more depth to the different classes various sub classes or “kits” were added. These give unique abilities usually at the expense of some other area. That being said, all the kits are more interesting than the vanilla counterparts, there's really no reason to play the game without a kit.

The expansion, The Throne of bhaal, feels more like a sequel and is the only expansion in the IE series to directly continue the plot. In it you will face the final choice in your destiny, advance to legendary skill, and collect items outrageous power. It is very rewarding to take your level one PC from quivering at the sight of a bear to a godly death tornado. Also in the Expansion is the Mega dungeon Watcher's Keep, by far the best dungeon in the series. This also added a host of new high level abilities to each class that allows for some insane feats. These are picked at level up once you reach past the 2.8 million xp cap in BG2. (New in EE, mages with 17 int cannot pick 10th level HLA spells. Keep a few potions around for when you level up to get them.)<-As of the first patch this is no longer true. However you still need 18 int. to learn 9th level spells from scrolls.

If it has a weak spot it's there are too many quests, it seems like you can't walk down a street without being pulled into an intrigue that results in a world saving adventure. As far as complaints go that's pretty much the most awesome one you can have.

Baldurs Gate 2 Enhansed Edition

Same thing as the first. An extra NPC joins the three from BG making a total of four. The good news is each new NPC has a rather lengthy side quest associated with them. I've only played one of the side quests, but it was fairly decent. The voice acting is pretty awful on everyone but the actual NPC though.

Between the development of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 there were a couple other infinity engine games released that improved on an aspect of BG while taking a step back in the other.


Icewind Dale
The brawler.

Get it here

Enhanced edition available Here

The enhanced edition is also available on Steam.




A note about the Enhanced Edition. I found it to be extremely stable on a Windows based PC. I only encountered two very minor bugs. That being said, the "new content" is a joke. Don't buy this if BG2 kits, new EE UI, and net play don't appeal to you.

In my opinion Icewind Dale 1 and its expansion, The Heart of Winter, have the best encounter design of any isometric RPG ever.

Taking place in the far north of the Forgotten Realms the story is simple, linear, and well written for a CRPG. It's strange, the dialogue is all well done, the characters are fairly thought out, and the motivations are acceptable. It's actually far more enjoyable than a dungeon crawl needed to be. That being said, there is only one story and it serves to pull the player along through a series of beautifully drawn environments (It's the best looking IE game) and difficult and interesting fights.

The game play is basically half way between Baldur's Gate one and two in regards to options available to the player and in someways surpasses Baldur's Gate 2. The differences are small but nice. There are different spell effects for each school, bards get to be more useful doing their song and dance routine, and druids get some cool shape shifting abilities. There is also a psudo dual wielding ability where if you equip a one handed weapon with no shield on a ranger you get an extra attack. However, if you haven't played an IE game before it will play pretty much identical.

The first expansion added a separate area unrelated to the main plot and actually came out after Baldur's Gate 2. It was criticized for being extremely short, a fair complaint, it only clocks in at about 6 hours. To remedy this a mini expansion was added as a download shortly after release. Trials of the Lure Master follows in the tradition of Tales of the Sword Coast and adds a Mega dungeon to explore. The fights are some of the most difficult for an IE game, but it feels appropriately massive and the rewards appropriately epic. Included in HoW, Heart of Fury mode is a new difficulty level that scales monsters to create a new game plus.

Planescape: Torment
The story teller.

Get it here.



I'll start off with the bad, the combat is awful. Encounter designs are simple, enemies fairly dumb, options limited, and all together sub par. The PC can only be one of three classes: Fighter, Mage, Theif. Despite this the game is considered by many to be the best of the IE franchise. Why?

The story. It's rare in video games to find writers who have interests or at least the willingness to explore, especially at time this game was made, ideas outside of generic fantasy and simple characterizations. Torment proved to be a historic departure from the norm and presented distilled philosophies, grey morality, and metaphysical explorations in the context of the Dungeons and Dragons Planescape setting. The setting: where angels and demons walk side by side in a nexus of interdimensional city known as Sigil or “The city of Doors”, where debates of the virtues of order vs anarchy are discussed by the most ancient and powerful of creatures.

The morality of the PC is decided by actions instead of determined at character creation. In the game you start off as a blank slate, an immortal, The Nameless One, who loses his memory after every death. Your journey isn't one to save the planes of existence, but rather, to determine to the purpose and history of your own. You find answers only to discover more questions. You make choices where evil is not a cartoonish act of random malice, but a cold and manipulative calculation of the harm of others versus your own agenda. Like wise, to be good is to deliver peace to others from the harm that you, yourself, may have caused and to accept responsibility of your actions.

The world of Planescape provides near endless opportunities to engage in philosophical exploration. Unlike conventional settings, swords and armor don't rule the day. Instead the will does. The power of belief alters the physical reality. The world of Planescape is one of The Triumph of the Will...Wait..scratch that. There's got to be a better way to put that.... Oh well.

To help you explore this odd environment a small number of intricately written and memorable NPCs are available to recruit. You may be joined by a floating foul mouthed skull, a chaste succubus prostitute, or a chaotic cube.

It's a game that understands maturity in the personal sense and avoids maturity in the video games sense.

As far as critiques go you don't have to go far to find inconsistencies in the writing or an idea that wasn't quite executed well. This is the beauty of the game though. While the writing isn't as good as you would find in a book and the graphics weren’t stellar even for its time; When taken as a whole it becomes more than a sum of its parts. The interactivity, personal discovery from the illusion of agency, strange alien setting, and metaphysical themes join together to make the first game that I feel deserved to be called art.

Icewind Dale 2
The black sheep

Get it here.



This one is unique because it uses a weird Dnd 3.0 ruleset that changes many aspects of the game. Firstly all classes receive more attacks as they level up, fighter types still gain the attacks sooner, all classes level up at the same experience level, monster xp is based on the difficulty rating(increasing xp gain for hard monsters, reduced or no xp for easy ones) , feats that are earned every few levels to help tailor it to a specific role. Stats give a straight bonus every even number after 10 and a penalty every even number below 10, skills are introduced for every class but some classes excel at particular skills. Finally there are sub races that are similar to the kits in BG2, but for races.

If you're a veteran of IE games the changes do create a different experience. While many things are the same and similar strategies work the results of the strategies may be more or less effective.

Just like the first game it's a linear dungeon crawl with good writing. There's very little carry over from the first game so, if for some reason, you decide to jump into the second you won't be missing anything.

The first thing you should know about this game is it is hard. Very hard. It was made for the people who had already played all the previous IE games and it is expected you are familiar with the engine or it will wreck you as soon as you're right off the boat. Literally you arrive on a boat and when you walk off it you are attacked by goblins. The encounter design is brutal, sometimes bordering on unfair, but it never quite crosses over. I rate this one lower than the first in the series because of how punishing it can be. It's a huge jump in difficulty from Baldur's Gate 2.

Class progression is totally different as well. Experience increases in a linear way, 1000 xp to second level, 3000 xp to third, 6000xp to fourth, ect. Each time you level up you pick a class to put a level into. Any character can pick any class as long as you meet the stat requirements. Now any race can pick any class, but all races except for humans and half elves have a favored class. What this means is that there will be an experience penalty for leveling up a different class aside from your original and the favored class. Some classes also have favored classes, meaning that leveling up outside of that class and the favored class could stop you from leveling up the original class.

Returning from Icewind Dale HoW is the Heart of Fury mode. However, this time the magic items you find scale, this provides a nice incentive to keep playing for loot hounds.

Finally, if you have any cool screens of the games I'd like to add them to the OP. Also if I hosed something up or you feel I missed something please say so.

MegaGatts fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Nov 3, 2014

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MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.
Stuff that gets asked a lot.

Should I get the Enhanced Editions or not?
Just get them. They have many ease of use things built in. The NPCs are good, the UI is clean, and the resolution scaling is awesome. Even though I think they're overpriced they are the best way to play the game, yes, even better than Tutu and Trilogy. The exception is if you're an old hand who is adept at sifting through dozens of mods and prefers to play through the game solo everytime. You may want to wait for a sale if you think the prices are too high, but I bought them at release and I don't feel too bad about that.

I just started out and never played BG before, what's a good class for a first timer?

The easiest classes are going to be fighter types: Paladins, rangers, and fighters. At low levels use a ranged weapon, but by level five to seven you'll find yourself switching to melee unless you specifically want to use a ranged character, such as the ranger's archer kit. A very good kit to start with in the BG games is berserker, its abilities let you shrug off very dangerous effects and it hits like a tank. Inquisitor is also very good and excels in wrecking mages, but keep in mind there's an npc inquisitor and there's only one “best” weapon for a paladin. I personally like a half orc multi calss cleric/fighter. They hit things very hard and their spells keep you thinking. However, it's entirely possible for you to beat the game with any class. Pick one that looks fun and go for it.

I never played IWD before, what's a good party look like?

You'll want at least 2 fighter type tanks, 1 cleric, 1 thief, and 1 arcane spell caster. You can multiclass and kill two birds with one stone with something like a mage/thief or fighter/cleric. The slot/s are up to you. A druid is very good and so is a bard. You can play and beat this game with any party make up however.

I never played PS:T before, how should I develop my dude?

It's considered the best way to play through the game is with high mental stats, so a wizard is recommended. The standard start is 18 wis, 16 int, 14 chr. You can play and enjoy the game with anytype of class, but going mage and starting with those stats will give you the most options.

I never played IWD2 before, what kind of party should I make?

This one is more important. It is entirely possible to make a party that can't beat the game. The advice for IWD1 is still good though. A thing to remember is that a monk is not a tank, it is a specialized offensive weapon that can be very effective, but it is not a tank. Use on in your misc slots. A sorcerer is not a wizard, the number of spells you can cast is very useful, but I recommend using it in a misc slot. Also class progression is different so it is possible to use a cleric as an effective front line tank. Finally, druids rule in this game. Get a druid, you won't be sorry.

In BG2 a wizard keeps making my guys scared/confused/stunned! gently caress this game!

Yes, wizards are dicks and they will gently caress up your guys if you're not ready. Potions of clarity will stop confusion, the first level priest spell, remove fear will...remove fear but also protect you from it for an hour as will the second level mage spell resist fear. The fifth level cleric spell chaotic commands will prevent most forms of disability: stun/confusion/charm ect.

How do I beat “insert difficult fight”?

Just like enemy mages you need to look to disable groups of enemies. Spells like slow, web, and entangle are great a crowd control. Also, use your potions, wands, scrolls, and other limited use items! They are increadably powerful, especally in BG1. A Jump from 18 strength to 24 strength is an extra 10 points of damage per hit and a five point bonus to hit.

This loving wizard is impossible to hit! gently caress this loving game!

Mages put up protections against melee attacks and later in BG2, against spells. You can dispel melee protections with the fifth level mage spell breach and any spell protections with the sixth level mage spell, pierce magic. You may also try and dispel them with dispel magic or remove magic. For dispell and removie magic You level is checked against the level of the mage and a roll is made to determine if it's successful. That roll starts at 50% at level parity and decreases by 10% for each level under them you are and increases by 5% each level above them you are. That's why inquisitors are so good. They have an innate dispel magic that is cast at twice their level, making mages vulnerable. If you get the message “You cannont target invisible or sanctuaried creatures.” It is because they have the 4th level spell “improved invisibility” on them. You can cancel this a number of ways. The spell detect invisibility, oracle, dispel magic, a thief's detect illusion ability that is activated under the find traps tab, and true sight. True sight is the most useful as it continues to check every round, dispelling enemy illusions each time, the inquisitor also has this innately.

An important note is that Liches are immune to fifth level and below spells, except for dispell and remove magic and spells that create a magic weapon like melf's minute meteors or spiritual hammer, that means breach is ineffective against them! The best way to take them down is to dispel their illusions with the 6th level wizard spell true sight and just hack away at its stone skin or by remove/dispel magic. Also, melf's minute meteors hit as a +5 weapon and the fire damage they cause bypass stone.

I'm level drained, gently caress vampires!

Annoying as hell, and one reason why I like the undead hunter paladin kit. The ways to fix this are: scrolls of restoration, purchasable at any temple; the spell restoration also available at temples and in the 4th level druid and cleric spell book; greater restoration, available in the 7th level cleric spell book. You can also block this status with the 4th level cleric/druid spell “negative plane protection” However it's very short in duration, only 5 rounds.

I can't hurt this monster, help!

There are two reasons you may not be able to harm a monster. The first may be that you are using the wrong type of damage. The games separate damage types into the following melee areas: Slashing, piercing, blunt, missile. By a strange engine quirk both arrows and sling bullets do the same type of damage. If you get the message "<target> is immune to my damage." it means it is immune to your damage type. The same is true for the non melee damage: Fire, cold, electrical, acid, magic.

Secondly, some monsters require magic weapons to hit. This is denoted by the message "Weapon ineffective."
Here are some of the most common monster type and the enchantment needed to hit. The +1,2,3,4 is the enchantment needed to strike the monster, the enchantment will be featured prominently in the right click description of the weapon.

Flesh Golem- Any +1
Clay Golem- Blunt +1
Stone Golem- Any +2
Bone Golem- Any +2, In IWD they receive 1/2 damage from slashing and 2x damage from blunt damage.
Brain Golem- I think it's blunt +2. There are only two in the game and I've never really paid too much attention.
Iron Golem- Any +3 75% damage reduction
Adamantine- Any +3 but be aware it has a massive 90% damage reduction for all forms of damage.
Magic Golem- In a hilarious twist they are immune to magic weapons. You need a non magic weapon to hurt them.
Fusion Slime- Not immune to anything, but nonfire damage will cause them to split in two.
Troll- Not immune, but as the tool tips says, when you knock a troll down use fire or acid to kill it.
Drow- 60% innate magic resistance. What this means is that 60% of your spells will fail against them.
Lich- Any +3
Dimilich- Any +4 90% damage reduction
Mustard Jelly- Immune to peircing, this includes sling bullets for some reason. Any non piercing +1.

How do I heal by doods?

Resting(especially in inns), Healing potions, and clerics or druids have healing spells available in their spell books.



Mods
BG and BG2 mods, I have not tested these with BG:EE or BG2:EE, but I have heard reports that they work except for the BG NPC mod, and I don't think anyone has tried ascension for BG2 yet.

Thank Smol for writing this god knows how long ago.

Here is a general install order for BGT. Note that this list has some popular but optional mods that you might or might not want to install. Read the respective READMEs and decide if you want them. Note that every mod in this list must be installed to the Baldur's Gate II folder,.

Install Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II and optionally the expansions. Patch both of with the latest official patches (mandatory!), which are v26498 for BG2+ToB and 1.3.5512 for BG1+TotSC. If you have the GOG.com versions, no patching is necessary.

Ascension/WeiDU (Optional) — David Gaider's attept at fixing the Throne of Bhaal ending. Makes it significantly harder as well.

G3 BG2 Fixpack — The quintessential unofficial patch for BG2. Install it.

BGT-WeiDU — This is the thing. Note that BGT-WeiDU contains an integrated version of Kevin Dorner's (Baldurdash) BG1 fixpack, so you must notinstall it yourself.

BG1 Unfinished business (Optional) — Restores cut content. It varies in quality and it's hard to say if everything they restored should be restored, but many people seem to like it.

BG2 Unfinished Business (Optional) — Same as above, but for BG2. 

BG1 NPC Project (Optional) — Gives some banters to the party members in BG1. Has some (cringeworthy) romances as well, but thankfully they are optional. Not for purists.

Sword Coast Stratagems & Sword Coast Stratagems II (Optional) — Think the game is too easy? SCS1&2 is a highly modular collection of enemy AI enhancements and other tweaks for both BG1 and BG2. I tend to only use the AI enhancements (with no pre-buffing), but if that's not enough for you, you can select the components that give enemies pre-casted buffs or new abilities as well. Warning: It really makes the game harder, so you might not want to use this on your first playthrough.

BG2 Tweak Pack (Optional) — Bigger arrow stacks and other convenience tweaks. Pick and choose what you want.

Level 1 NPCs (Optional) — Allows you to change your party members' classes, stats or profiencies. Useful if you think that Khalid should've been a Fighter/Mage or that Jaheira's starting profiencies suck.

BG1 Level Cap Reinstator (Optional) — If you do a "full" playthrough without this mod, you'll start with 250-300k XP in BG2, which, in my opinion, is far too much. This mod restores the 161,000 XP cap for the BG1+TotSC portion of the game.

Restored Textscreen Music — Restores the background music for the chapter cutscenes in BG1. Note that you also need to copy the correct language pack in addition to the core installation package.

Widescreen mod — Play in a resolution higher than 800x600. See this topic if you think the font is too small. (The widescreen mod works for any infinity engine game, but you will not need it for the EE's. )

Run Setup-BGTMusic.exe in your Baldur's Gate 2 directory and select "Hybrid Baldur's Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal music".

Lastly, when you transition to BG2, get the BGT Tweak Pack and install "Restore BG2 XP bonus for traps, locks, and scrolls".


I almost forgot the most important advice with mods: Do not, under ANY circumstance, install the Imoen romance mod.

Icewind Dale Mods:
Icewind Dale tweak pack- Pretty much does the same thing as the BG tweak pack.

NPC mod- This apparently adds 5 NPCs I have never used it, maybe it's good?



Planescape: Torment Mods
There's a UI mod that makes the game much easier to read at higher resloutions, a fix pack that fixes a lot of bugs, a new content pack that adds some various content of varying quality, and a tweak pack.

They all can be found here. Planescape Mods


FuriousGeorge is correct, I tried them and they make the UI much nicer.

FuriousGeorge posted:

There are a couple of nice UI mods for Torment and Icewind Dale 2 that are to be used in conjunction with the IE widescreen mod that fix a host of issues such as nicely filling in the black space in the menus with appropriate-looking graphics and the off-center interface bar in Icewind Dale 2.

Ghostdog's Planescape: Torment UI mod

Some French guy's Icewind Dale 2 UI mod (in French, but easy to figure out)


Check this out, GemRB is a portable open-source implementation of Bioware's Infinity Engine. This poo poo is bananas. Thanks Malek, for bringing this to my attention.

Finally, Here is a list of some of the mods that work with EE. I have not tried most of them so use at your own risk.

Utilities

I can't believe I forgot these when I wrote this but there's really only one utility you need if you are not a modder. The Keeper series of utilities allow changes to pretty much every aspect of the game within the confines of the engine. So you may change kits, edit stats, add item, change state flags, or give youself monster only abilities. It's more than just a cheat engine, the ability to dick around with state flags can allow you to manually correct game ending bugs. It's a must have.

Shadowkeeper is the keeper series for Baldur's gate 2. It's extremely useful, I'd recommend getting it even if you don't plan on doing anything cheaty.

Dalekeeper is the same thing for Icewind Dale.

EEKeeper is the utility for the EE games. It works for both BGEE and BGEE2.

Icewind Dale 2 DirectDraw issues.

Buck Turgidson posted:

Hey OP there is a significant issue with IWD2 (which might affect the earlier IE games, such as Planescape, as well). It's an issue involving very annoying stuttering and flickering and which is caused by the engine relying on something called DirectDraw, which is a deprecated DirectX function or some poo poo. Anyway there are two ways of fixing the issue. Last time I checked, people with Nvidia cards could make some custom driver profile which would force DirectDraw emulation for IWD2. I have an ATI card so I can't verify this. The second fix, which I use, involves using an application set released by Microsoft called the Application Compatibility Toolkit (or something like that). You can download this for free from Microsoft's support website. What you do is you open the 32 bit Compatibility Administrator, create a new database (name it IWD2 fix or something), select the IWD2 executable, under Compatibility Fixes you choose ForceDirectDrawEmulation, and then you save and install the database. That's all there is to it, you don't need any of the applications open when you run the games. As I mentioned earlier, you might need to install this for Planescape and IWD1 as well. I never had problems with BG or BG2.

MegaGatts fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Dec 6, 2014

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Orv posted:

I'mma cut a motherfucker who don't enjoy IWD2. Though I will readily admit that it's not really much of a successor to BG2 in a lot of places. Go here, beat up stuff. Go here, beat up harder stuff, loot it, rinse repeat.

I didn't mean to say it's bad, but it's hella different with the weird 3rd edition rules shoe horned in and the nutso difficulty. I enjoy it a lot, druids own bones.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

TINA TURNER posted:

I like the OP, hell of a job, though the Nameless One can't become a cleric :colbert: Also you should probably write that Wisdom adds saving throws in the lower races.

I'd also like to use the start of the new thread to pimp my mod, at this point it's basically Unfinished Business-Lite.

Are you talking about shorty saving throws? I thought those come from constitution.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Stumiester posted:

So, can I have some advice about IWD 2? I'm determined to have a go, but I don't really know the 3ed system - too much BG2 for me! I've made a party with some tips from the internet, but I'm sure I've made some glaring errors - any advice would be much appreciated:

Human Paladin of Helm 1 -> Fighter 4 -> Paladin x, Lawful Good, 18S/10D/16C/8I/16W/8Ch
(Power Attack/Large Sword 2)
[Tank 1]

Shield Dwarf Fighter 4 -> Barbarian x, Neutral Good, 18/10/20/10/10/8
(Hammer 2, Flail 2)
[Tank 2]

Human Battleguard of Tempus x/Fighter y (alternating), Chaotic Good, 18/10/14/8/18/8
(Combat Casting, Luck of Heroes)
[Tank 3/Cleric]

Half-Elf Monk 3 -> Druid x, Lawful Neutral, 16/16/16/7/18/3
(Dodge)
[Druid and good fighter - hoping the monk's fist powers carry over to shapeshifted form?]

Human Rogue 1 -> Wizard x, Chaotic Good, 10/10/10/18/10/18
(Courteous Magocracy, Mercantile Background)
[Diplomat/Thief skills/Mage]

Human Sorcerer x, Chaotic Neutral, 10/14/14/14/6/18
(Spell Focus: Evocation x 2)
[Blow poo poo up]

I think the thing I'm most at a loss with is feats. Also, do I need an evil character?

By the way, thanks for this thread - I absolutely adore BG1 and 2, and Planescape, but have never played through the IWD games. I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed IWD 1 once I had got into it, except for the HoW expansion which I found really pretty tedious - it may have been short, but it felt too long to me...

Spell penetration for your casters is useful later, but you don't need them early. I find spell focus: evocation is excellent early, and spell focus: necromancy is great late game and spell focus: enchantment is great all the time. For your artillery mages there are specific feats at level 9, I think, that add damage to an elemental type. Since your mage is also your thief consider using a skill focus lock picking and traps.

For your druid pick up wild shape panther. It will fall off in usefulness as you gain the ability to shapeshift into bears, but from level 7 to 11 the druid will be the main damage dealer. I don't think monk abilities aside from the wisdom bonus to armor class are useable in animal form. However that is a rather large boost to your AC so it's still a good combo. I would go Druid7->monk->druid to get the wild shape asap. That being said the other wild shape feats aren't worth it.

For melee, Improved critical is a must and the saving throw bonuses are useful to shore up your lowest. Weapon specialization is up to you, the third pip only adds +2 damage it's something but you don't need it. Cleave and Great Cleave are also a must. Fighters need fewer feats than others to be effective. Blind fight is decent because there are a few casters that like improved invisibility. Dirty fighting also has its uses.

That looks like a solid party and you don't need an evil guy.

Finally, never ever pick toughness. It's a trap.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Malek posted:

Granted it is not out yet but no mention of GemRB? Shame OP. Shame.

:aaaaa:

That's awesome!

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Dorkopotamis posted:

I remember feeling jealous of the other strongholds, though.

Human Kensai->mage at level 9. Do the keep quest line first, get the keep and then dual class. Spec in flails, two pips in two weapon fighting, and one pip in short swords. You'll the get the weapon that'll carry you through the entire game,Flail of the Ages, right off the bat, then use Kudane(Planner prison quest) in your off hand for the bonus attack. With improved haste you'll be attacking 9 times a round.

MegaGatts fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Nov 20, 2013

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Max Wilco posted:

Regarding PS:T, how do I cast spells? I did the quest to become a mage, but it's been a while since I've played the game. I got stuck at Weeping Stones Catacombs, on the quest for Pharod. I try fighting via melee, but keep dying.

On an additional note, how easy is it to avoid combat throughout the rest of the game?

Right click to bring up the ability menu, there's a spell tab in there that you can use to cast. Make sure you have some memorized first.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Bob NewSCART posted:

I tried a BG demo a couple of years ago and I literally could not figure out how to fight dudes at all so I just quit. I usually have a bit of patience with regards to these things and I play roguelikes with ascii graphics so that's not an issue. I just have 2 questions: Are the EEs significantly easier to understand/interpret or am I still going to be completely lost if I try and start one of these up? And,
Will I have fun if I choose to play like a fighter or something in BG2? Everything I've heard about it points towards magic being the be all and end all.

Like I said in the OP, try a half orc fighter/cleric. They're impossible to gently caress up and you'll get a good idea of what the spell casting is like. Even if you pick suboptimal spells to cast before a fight, your 19 str, 19 con, half orc should just beat the poo poo out of things anyway.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

JustJeff88 posted:

I'm at the office so I can't check, but there is some mod pack for IWD2 that adds a bunch of very sensible nature-related spells, mostly nukes, to druids. It also adds in some shapechanges that I'm more dubious about, but it really makes druids into a very good hybrid caster that's part cleric, part wizard.

Haha, who thought druids in IWD2 needed a buff?

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

jBrereton posted:

I've heard this is the case, but why?

Does it mean you get Druid spells alongside your Cleric ones from the off or something?

Yes, and you can cast natures beauty from sanctuary. That's a 100% aoe blind with no save with no risk to you.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Factor_VIII posted:

After all, the vanilla game doesn't require the optimization to beat. You can easily beat the game with a suboptimal character, so if someone thinks it will be cool if his PC can turn into a big monster, why not have it as an option.

To be honest I'm betting it's just a designer oversight. Aran Linvail was an original NPC for the video game and even if the PC went on a killing spree at the Shadow Thief headquarters, one would expect the guild to continue to exist. Hell, you get to kill them all if you side with Bodhi anyway so doing so isn't taboo.

As for Drizzt, I think it makes sense he stays alive. All you need to come back from the dead is an ally willing to pony up a bit of cash at a nearby temple and Drizzt has plenty of friends. The PC does it for his companions all the time.

There's actually a cool bit in unfinished business that lets get a quest from the city of Amn to wipe out the thieves guild once you get back from under dark.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

cheesetriangles posted:

I think this solo monk thing is working out pretty well.



How did you get bracers on that guy? I thought monks were restricted from them.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Baron Bifford posted:

Yah, that's cool, because real life is life that sometimes. I just wish the invincible assassin stopped spawning after Spellhold so that I could wipe out the Shadow Thieves.

If you feel like exploiting the engine a little you can stat kill him with shapechange->mind flayer. He has lovely saves against its mindblast attack too.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Rascyc posted:

Does Neera get any better personality-wise in BG2:EE? It's like they backported the most boring aspects of Aerie's personality and history into BG1:EE. I'm thinking of dumping her once I'm through dualing Imoen over.

She has some interesting character development and I feel she's a much more tolerable. She still kinda feels like a fan fic though.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

TjyvTompa posted:

Help, how are you supposed to beat Mind Flayers? Every single one of my characters die instantly. I'm just past Spellhold and I got 2 forced encounters with them there and I beat the first one by placing summoned creatures outside the door and then blasting it with spells while it was busy. The second one I got by a hasted Anomen and Slay Living, I reloaded until it hit and killed it in the first hit. Is there really no spell that protects against the brain devour thing?

No spell protects against it directly, but mirror image can eat the attacks and and they have awful Thac0, it's like 10. So if you have someone with AC of -10 or better they'll only be hit 5% of the time. The fifth level cleric spell "chaotic commands" protects against their mind blast stun attack. Try Animate Dead. If you're at least level 15 hasted skeleton warriors tear their poo poo up because they're already int 0. Same goes for Mordenkainen's Sword, but you may not have access to that spell yet. You'll also notice that they usually spawn with umber hulks. The sixth level mage spell "death spell" kills them instantly. Technically it kills mind flayers instantly too, but their magic resistance usually stops it. The thing to remember is that you want to hit them hard, fast, and avoid being surrounded. Try and get them attacking either the skeletons or swords. Finally, if all else fails chug some potions of genius to get your tanks int to 25 before the fight.

e: gently caress I'm too slow :(

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

pogothemonkey0 posted:

I have a question about Neera's ToB content. I just left Saradush and did the ambush but I think a script didn't fire or something. I rested, got ambushed, and killed the mages but now Neera has some sort of permanent miscast magic on her and I have no idea how to proceed. Do I just have to walk around with a useless mage waiting for her quest to progress?

Do you have truesight on? The mage whos trigger needs to fire had improved invisibility on in my play through. She was standing on the far left of the screen. If you check the area and can't find her then I think you found a massive bug. The quest should proceed from the ambush site.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Factor_VIII posted:

Do all of those stack?

Throw in Mirror Image, Stoneskin and Protection from Magical Weapons for added frustration to your enemy. I wonder if attacks negated from Protection from Magical Weapons count against Stoneskin.

Yep, it's fun when you get that helm that gives 40% resistance to blunt damage along with hardiness as a barbarian. Pop a protection from fire on em and Fire Giants can't hurt you. :3

And no, they don't destroy a skin if you're hit with a weapon that can't harm you because of enchantment.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Baron Bifford posted:

It didn't come into play in Neera's ToB quest. I think it's an element of her romance.


Late in ToB there's a dude who will pay you 100k gold it. If you refuse you get 100k XP.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Nuclear War posted:

Is there a Neera romance in bg2? And if there is, is it less weird than the original ones?

The romance is a lot less melodramatic than the others until the VERY END of ToB. Its still pretty weird, but no worse than the others.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Shadeoses posted:

How good is a Fighter/Cleric or Talos Cleric for a CHAR and Imoen run?

I feel Fighter/Cleric is pretty much the best class, synergistically, for a Bhaal Bros run. CHAR tanks like a fiend, dishing out insane damage, while Imoen finds traps and casts spells. Seriously, righteous magic on a f/c is so good it's broken.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Captain Oblivious posted:

Kangaxx does not have either of those body parts. :colbert:

Hey everybody, look at this chump who never found the golden nuts.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

LibbyM posted:

Icewind Dale 2 was 3.5 right? Then that's the one true ruleset as far as I'm concerned.

I really loved Icewind dale's, especially 2. Baldur's Gate style game that was designed to be more friendly to a multiplayer experience was just great. I wonder if Beamdog would do Icewind Dale enhanced. I'm not sure what new actual content they would add though since the entirety of their new content with BGEE has been about new npc party members and Icewind dale there were no npc party members.

IWD2 uses a weird 3.0 like system. It's not the same game due to engine limitations, but what they managed to do was certainly impressive.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

MrTheDevious posted:

It was hardiness yeah, thanks guys. Picked it up on Keldorn and he's back to being totally fine. Dumped Sarevok though since his quest stuff is over and he's useless...turns out high level Rasaad is a nightmare. Not quite as strong as my F/M but really drat close, gives no shits about magic at all :black101:

This is all on vanilla ToB at whatever the middle setting is, Core rules I think? The one that's 1 step higher than it maxing hp rolls. It was pretty much me not realizing how useful Hardiness is

Wait, you don't dual Seravok into a mage or thief?

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Furism posted:

Yep that's where I've been resting (it's on the third level out of four). But they are pretty much at the end of the level, unless you already know they're there, so I didn't find them until late. The real problem is the 4th level with all the Elite Whatstheirname and their freaking +2 arrows.

I think my tank is not very good either - I'm not half as good as people here for ADD 2.0 rules. He was level 6 or 7 Paladin by then, with -3 AC. He took a lot of damage, even with the Protection from Missiles buff so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Depending the room you're trying to attack there's a nasty dude in one that has a killer bow. Tossing out a web can severely reduce their murdering. Toss a web, load up with bows yourselves and start plinking away. Your reward for this is an awesome bow.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

JustJeff88 posted:

You are as entitled to your opinion as much as myself or anyone, but I'd call this complete bollocks. Granted, 2nd edition rules have been a pisser since, well, 2nd edition first came out, but I think that you're in the minority there. I agree fully about the graphics - not trying to have full 3d up the arse in an industry obsessed nowadays with being flashy saves a ton of money and ages spectacularly well. However, this game plays very well. There is tons of diversity in class and tactics as well as a genuine need to have a bit of everything most times, serious tactical elements, and the ability to pause instantly at any time makes the chaos controllable. No game becomes definitive of its genre and is remade and replayed over a decade later unless it is truly sublime.

The weird thing about real time with pause games is that there's never been a really good combat system. The Dragon Age games are basically lovely single player MMOs and the Infinity games use an obtuse table top rule set that was never meant for the PC. What makes the combat enjoyable are the encounter designs and options to get through them. That's where the Infinity engine games do an amazing job, Baldur's Gate 2 just dump dozens and dozens of options on the player right from the start and the Icewind Dale games are a master class on combat design. I love the games to death, but there are very real problems with them.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Excelzior posted:

No kidding. Cernd, Keldorn, Korgan, Anomen, and Jaheira could all largely benefit from the Brawling Hands. It makes playing a low DEX PC front-liner (like, say, a Berserker/Druid with a less-than-godly roll) a major headache.

Potions of agility last three hours a pop, I forget about BG1 but in BG2 there are dozens. If you're fighting a non trash mob just chug one. Combine that with a potion of mind focusing and you get 21 dex, that's an extra +1 to ranged weapons and a -1 to armor class.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Insurrectionist posted:

Can someone tell me why screen-scrolling is so awful in IWD2? I thought it was maybe the widescreen mod first, but even trying without it, things are terrible. Using the mouse is outright impossible with windowed, the right side refuses to scroll no matter how much I cajole it, so I can't actually move it to the right with my mouse. Of course, I wouldn't use mouse at all, but instead keyboard like I'm doing in my BG2EE game, except holy poo poo is it stuttery and slow as molasses, no matter what settings I use in the options. Why isn't it like the mouse scroll? Is there any fix to this?

Have you tried the direct draw fix?

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Captain Oblivious posted:

So I've heard a fair bit of rumbling about ToB bugs in the EE. Is it mostly just the new EE content that's unstable in ToB or what

Mostly it's only in the new content. Rasaad's quest is pretty hosed at the moment, but I played through Neera's fine. I haven't played the other two. There are apparently a couple bugs here and there, but as a whole the core content is very stable.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

steakmancer posted:

I really want to get into Icewind Dale but the lack of kits and reduced proficiencies and general vanilla BG1-ness of it is really offputting, especially since I didn't grow up playing these games.

I wouldn't blame you if you were put off, but IWD has aged a lot better I think. It's absolutely beautiful, the best looking IE game imo. At character creation you options are more limited, but many of the spells work differently/are entirely new so any spell casting type will be a new experience. Plus the combat is much much better despite the same rule set. It's amazing what people who understand how an encounter should be set up can do with a limited engine.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

pogothemonkey0 posted:

I enjoyed everything in the trailer but for that clip. I get that they were just using it to show off some spell effects, and it's not finished gameplay but those dudes are static as all hell. Nobody moves and they don't even react to getting hit :(

I'm a million percent sure that's the case. The game is still a year off, reaction and idle animations are probably a ways off from being implemented.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Zombies' Downfall posted:

Single-class Thieves in AD&D are simply not very good at anything other than disarming traps; backstab is powerful at low levels but doesn't really compare favorably to the damage output of a warrior with specialization for anything but insta-gibbing vulnerable Mages. They level up rapidly, but benefit less from doing so than warriors or casters and that rapid leveling actually just makes them better multiclassers. The kits in Baldur's Gate make them considerably more dangerous in combat from one angle or another, but a Bounty Hunter is still the only one I'd consider taking as a full single-class character alone or in an optimized party.

Fighter/Thieves and Thief/Mages are great and fun characters in both the IE games and tabletop, but I think a pure Thief is the weakest single-class character in a system where multi-and-dual class characters rule the roost.

And RE: using allies as bait for AoE spells, keep in mind that you can also use gear or buffs that provide elemental resistance/immunity or something like free action to do the same kind of tricks. You can use a Fighter without Evasion the same way!

Anyone who doesn't use the Freedom/web combo is probably a communist. :colbert:

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.
Playing through BG2 EE really makes me wish they would have added a monk, barbarian, and separate sorcerer strong hold. It's such a huge missed opportunity with the source code.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Rookersh posted:

Wouldn't a mace also be really easy to learn? I imagine with Swords you'd have to learn how to swordfight, parry, and be able to determine what areas to pierce. Spears would require knowledge of formations/how to use your base/weight to hit weak points. Even twohanded weapons would require learning pivots/how you use your own body to increase force in blows. Maces, clubs, and sticks all function under the "beat them until he stops twitching" school of thought. Anybody could pick up a mace and know exactly how to kill a person with it, no other questions asked.

When the character presumably can't get much combat training because they are so busy healing/praying/other clerical duties, I could see why they'd go in with maces.

Traditionally spears were the weapon of choice for pretty much everyone. They're not hard to figure out, you hold it and stab a dude, the reach meant you could fight in relative safety. The short range of a club or hammer would mean you'd have to get closer, that would mean you would have to be keen on the finer points of melee fighting. Really, rpgs are not realistic because 90% of folks would be armed with spears or other pole arms. Those who weren't would soon be dead. Seriously, there's a reason spears and spear derivatives were so popular in every culture, they're awesome. But, it's a DnD RPG, trying to make sense of it is a fools errand.

MegaGatts fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Dec 24, 2013

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Kanos posted:

Ironically all the best NPCs, including the best new one in EE, are evil. Korgan, Edwin, and Viconia are all the best members of their respective classes by a country mile, and Dorn and Hexxat are a shitload better than Neera and Rasaad. I think Dorn's almost as good as Keldorn, honestly.

If you mean "better" as in a better character then that's an opinion. If you mean better as in better at killing dudes then that's objectively wrong. Wild mages and monks are two of the most power gamey classes at mid to high level. Not to mention Neera's insane quest bonuses in BG2 EE. Dorn was a power house in BG, but by BG2 spells and resistances matter a lot more than low THAC0. He's not bad, but he doesn't have the magic resistance of Rasaad or the ability to dish out huge numbers of high level spells like Neera. As for Hexxat, well she's an unkitted thief. Her high level traps are cool, but she's still stuck in a weird place by being the best for an underpowered class.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Dragonrah posted:

I can't beat Draconis in TOB. If you recall (no reason you should, but in case you do.), I made a post several days ago bitching about him, but I haven't been stuck on him all this time. I would have killed myself by now if I had. I think. I restarted TOB due to an issue I had and just got back to him. Anyway, he laughs at everything I throw at him. I have no problem with his human form. The dragon, however, I've tried using Breach, Ruby Ray, and Pierce Shield. I've tried using normal weapons and a combination of the above magic, but nothing works. Am I just that unlucky or is there something else I can try.

One time I got him to badly wounded by landing two well timed Dragon's breaths, but then he confused and one shot my PC. My PC is a swashbuckler dual classed to fighter and dual wields long swords. I'm using, Neera, Seravok, Nalia, Anonmen, and Valygar.


I never beat TOB before so I don't want to control J or whatever the kill command is, but Christ I'm tempted.

I ususally just drop his resistances and unload with spells. Use Neera or Nalia to put protection from magical energy on all your dudes. Put 3x lower resistances in a spell trap and when he goes dragon hit him with those then use Anonmen to launch implosions, Nalia and Neera can put 3x skull trap in a squincer. Protection from magical energy will keep your guys safe and you'll do 45d6 per squincer. An implosion plus two of those should kill him. Be sure to keep true sight up because he likes to go invisible. As for your PC make sure you have hardiness up at all times after the shape change.

Or if you want easy mode. Time stop + shapechange's mind flayer form. The down side there is that you don't get exp from stat death.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Wolfsheim posted:



And speaking of bards, is there any reason to pickpocket? So far like one in ten people has an item at all, let alone anything worthwhile.

The mage in the tower has some choice stuff. As does pretty much any npc in HoW. As far as I remember most important npcs have some good loot. I know there's a ring of free action in kuldahar, I forget where. For the most part any pick pocket over 100 has a good chance of snagging them.

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

verybad posted:


On another subject, I have a question about IWD bard songs: is there any point to using the first one you get (+1 hit/dmg, I think?) after you get the one that gives +1 to luck among other things? I was under the assumption that the luck stat gets added to basically every roll, including hit and damage rolls so uh, what the hey?

Luck works differently, instead of adding to your rolls it changes your rolls. So while the level 1 song gives you a +1 to damage, changing the damage potential of a short sword to 1d6 to 2-7, Luck changes the rolls to one number higher up to the maximum so the damage potential of a short sword is 2-6. Now on paper it looks like luck isn't much better, but like you said Luck changes ALL rolls, that includes critical misses and critical hits.

As for if there's a reason to use the original, I guess if you want ever so slightly higher damage potential?

MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

gender illusionist posted:

BG2EE Rasaad quest question: I've just helped to defend the heretic temple from the dark moon guys. Is that it until ToB?. So far I've enjoyed his story line and his interjections haven't been annoying but it just feels like he's not pulling his weight so I'm gonna ditch him so I can run with a smaller party.

That's the end of his quest, but you're nearing the time when he turns into melee monster with a strength boosting item.

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MegaGatts
Dec 12, 2004

The Enteroctopus dofleini, also known as the giant Pacific octopus (GPO) or North Pacific giant octopus, is a large marine cephalopod belonging to the phylum Mollusca and is tripping balls.

Sleep of Bronze posted:

You should have been picking up hints about how to recruit another NPC from the Smouldering Corpse bar, and you'll be able to follow through on that soon enough. Otherwise the other relatively convoluted nearby recruitment involves purchasing a toy from a Curiosity Shoppe.

I should warn you, while the toy quest companion is really cool, the dungeon you find him in is one of the worst dungeons, not just in infinity engine games, but in RPG history.

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