"Death to you all!"Black Pits soloed. Insane difficulty. Yup, just like that! Took me about 6 hours, but at least I finally played it. So I bet you're all anxious to hear what I thought about it? Well... it was okay. It wasn't especially good. It didn't suck... unlike the rest of the game.
In fact, I actually kind of liked The Black Pits. The battles were challenging and fun. The characters were fully voiced and believable enough. I got to see some really clever scripting with the NPCs. Baeloth is enjoyably silly in his own psychotic way. The prisoners got a couple laughs out of me. Uhm... I liked the fact that it actually worked. I liked it when it was over. And... that's about it. Just the little things, really. Unfortunately, these don't make up for a lack of character interaction and gameplay. The Black Pits is about as simple and bare-bones an adventure as you can get (and believe me, it DOESN'T get any more simple than The Black Pits). All I do is: I fight a battle, rest and check all the shops, talk to the beholder to get a hint on the next fight, then I go back to the arena and do it all over again... 15... more... times. It gets REALLY repetitive, REALLY fast. It's easily the 4th lamest quest in the game, just above Rasaad's Dark Moon Temple sidequest.
Overall, I did get one worthwhile thing out of The Black Pits. I haven't had this much fun with a battle in a long, long time. It almost felt like Throne of Bhaal again... ALMOST. I would say that I was impressed, but let's face it: I'm not. You guys have set the bar so low at this point that even The Black Pits looks like a work of art compared to the rest of that god-awful, broken-down, bug-infested, journal-entry-vanishing lockup dragfest of a game that is Baldur's Gate: Crashing Edition. In The Black Pits there are no crashes, no lockups, and no major bugs to speak of. It REALLY works.
Note: This was on Patch 7 (1.0.2014 with *HOTFIX*).
[spoiler]
Screenshot 1:
![Image Hosted by ImageShack.us]()
Yes, I did use my imported character from the endgame of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (after correcting his HP). I didn't want to bother with the whole "creating a party of nobodies" and grinding levels after I was so burned out with the bugs/crashes/lockups/etc in the vanilla game. I wasn't even trying to solo The Black Pits; I just wanted to beat the new content and be done with it. One thing that really sucks is that you not only lose your familiar, but ALSO the Find Familiar spell is wiped from your spellbook when you start The Black Pits. And none of the shopkeepers sell it! Good thing I can just kill Nimbul and get it again.
This HI-LAR-ious adventure was brought to you by the fact that The Black Pits allows certain overpowered Baldur's Gate 2 items to be sold in its stores. My favorite example being the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, an item from THRONE OF BHAAL. This wonderful little cloak not only gives you Improved Invisibility for free (freeing up a precious 4th-level spell slot), but it also grants you access to the spell Improved Haste. Yes. I said Improved Haste. This is a 6th-level spell that you shouldn't even be able to cast in this game! Not only does it free up a 3rd-level spell slot (Haste is now useless for anything outside of party buffing), but it also turns my fighter's already insane 4 attacks per round into a godlike 7 attacks per round!!! I managed to drop the beholder so fast that he couldn't even get his anti-magic ray off at me. I even managed to chunk that crazy gnome who teleports in and attacks you after killing Baeloth.
My other favorite item is the Amulet of Power, a hideously overpowered item even in Baldur's Gate 2. This necklace actually REDUCES the time it takes to cast a spell and it works for all spell-like abilities! So a 6-second Draw Upon Holy Might turns into a 5-second cast and Enrage becomes insantaneous. Combined with the godlike speed granted by Paws of the Cheetah + Haste, I can literally run around the arena, dodging fireballs and outspeeding both spells and projectiles as I setup my buffs, then bullrush the backrow casters to death in a split second. And there's absolutely nothing they can do about it.
Then, as if the game wasn't easy enough with the addition of overpowered kits and items in the Enhanced Edition, it's made even MORE laughably easy by the fact that you can actually bypass the level cap and import your level 10 Black Pits character into the vanilla game WITH all of his uber Black Pits gear in tow. I'm now such a god in terms of gameplay, that I can solo all of the major and endgame boss battles on Insane difficulty without breaking a sweat. And I did. I'm not even kidding here. Anything you want to fight: Baeloth, the rakshasa, the beholder, phoenix knights, Drizzt, Sarevok, the demon knight, Aec'Letec, you point and it dies. THAT'S how powerful this build is people. I'm only sad that I couldn't battle Elminster in this game because he honestly wouldn't stand a chance.
One very useful thing that level 9 mage gives me in The Black Pits is access to 5th-level spells, which would be impossible under the Baldur's Gate level cap. Spell Immunity and Protection from Lightning are some of the best spells to wear in these fights. And thanks to a magic ring I bought, I can cast Minor Spell Turning for free. The AI is set up so that it detects whatever buffs or immunities you're wearing and changes tactics to compensate. For example, the rakshasa couldn't touch me with his Chain Lightning and Fireball attacks, so he started meleeing and backing off. And since his combat skills are no where near those of a high-level Fighter, he gets torn apart! Baeloth wasn't worth much either. He just stood there the whole time, completely stunned by the fact that he couldn't touch me, until I finally got around to bashing him with my +3 maces. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Apparently the Enchanted Weapon spell is bugged and creates permanent +3 weapons instead of temporary ones. So I can toss my Krotan's Skullkrusher +2 and equip a +3 mace in the offhand for free. Whatever.
I especially liked the group of Red Wizards imprisoned before the 10th fight. Their voices are all hilariously over-the-top and they have some clever scripting in their character interaction. These guys crack me up. Although I think poor Lucius got the short end of the stick since he never talks.
You'll also see some things here that you wouldn't expect: Trolls, Fission Slimes, Flame and Frost Salamanders, Clay Golems, Wraiths, Shambling Mounds, Fire Elementals, etc. There's even a battle with traps, but I won't spoil where they are. Watch out for backstabbing thieves too. They hurt a LOT.
Some of the enemies like to cheat a little, and I mean blatantly cheat. But this just adds to the excitement. For example, the Fire Giant has some strange power that lets him bypass Stoneskin and create Earthquakes that bypass all protections and deal up 50 points of damage! I actually had to beat him by using hit-and-run tactics because I didn't dare engage in melee for too long and risk getting killed. The final battle was very well scripted. You get to fight Baeloth, his rakshasa, his dwarf fighter, and when his minions die, Baeloth calls in the beholder to wipe you out. Even after he's gone, Baeloth continues to summon in flesh golems to slow you down. Even after killing him, the game doesn't end and you have to stave off a crazy gnome and an army of Duegar before the djinn teleports away. It's just so much fun... so much fun.
[/spoiler]
Screenshot 2:
![Image Hosted by ImageShack.us]()
There comes a moment when everyone wants to indulge that inner selfish nature we all share, that feeling of domination and absolute power over others, that one instant where you can become death incarnate in a videogame and just lay waste to absolutely everything that crosses your path! Well, the Black Pits lets you become your own avatar, if only for a little while. And it lets you have loads of fun in the process. I say play through it at least once and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But after experiencing this game as a whole, there's only two outcomes that I'd ever want to see happen:
1.) Overhaul Games loses the rights to the Baldur's Gate franchise and moves on to something else. They've already demonstrated that they're incapable of quality assurance and beta testing, and that they're not the right people for the job. As good as Baldur's Gate is, it's not its sequel. I'd rather not live to see one of my favorite computer games of all time ruined by Lucas-grade managers.
2.) They do their next game RIGHT. No premature releases. No copping out on content. Just do it RIGHT. And that means good writing, creative thinking, and quality assurance of the 90's grade; of major videogame company grade. I WANT to like your games, I really do, but you're making it very difficult for me with all of these bugs. Wake up.
