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You know you're playing too much Baldur's Gate when...

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1. You complain to your family about having to live in "such a pissant town"
2. You search for objects at the base of every tree you see.
3. You walk into a complete stranger's house and start rummaging through his drawers.
4. You go into your basement to kill spiders.
5. You buy an Irish wolfhound and name him 'Ruffie'.
6. You tell your boss, "I don't like the way this company is working out. Perhaps better leadership would help."
7. You try to pawn severed heads.
8. All your friends have green circles around their feet.
9. You have a collection of odd-looking sticks which you believe contain magic, but haven't been identified yet.
10. On your resume, your education is listed as 'lore'
11. You demand discounts on the grounds that you are a hero for getting a cat out of a tree.
12. You rest for exactly 8 hours every night.
13. You refer to your luxury car as an 'automobile +1'
14. You divorce your wife for 'incompatible alignments'
15. You find a ring and carry it with you for your entire life in the hopes
that you will meet the person to whom it belongs and return it.
16. You've been wearing a cloak around the office lately.
17. You scan every square inch of the ground looking for hidden objects when on the way to the store.
18. Your wife says, "Something smells. Have you been hanging around in the sewer again?"
19. You're fired from your job for 'laying hands' on the other employees.
20. You are deathly afraid to kiss women you meet at the beach, especially ones with bluish skin.
21. You have nightmares about your 4th grade teacher screaming, "You WILL Learn!!!"
22. You have bite marks all over you from trying to charm squirrels.
23. Your playing sessions end when you say, "Ooops" as you notice the sun coming in the window.
24. You now hesitate or are paranoid about putting on a belt.
25. When you leave your house and want to get back in you need to give a book worth 50 USD.
26. When you're going to the basement you refer to "The Naskel mines."
27. You feel like being controlled by an omnipresent authority figure.
28. Your boss gives you a new assignment and you reply disdainfully, "A waste of my talent..."
29. You order a large steak in a resturaunt, then grab your knife and cry out "My blade will cut you down to size!"
30. Everytime you see a huskie you cry "vampire wolf!" and run.
31. You are trying to change your appearance, but you cant find the "customize" button any where.
32. You buy a hamster for the sole purpose of naming it Boo.
33. When it starts to snow/rain/thunder&lightning out, you complain that you can't find the gameplay menu to disable weather.
34. When something catches the corner of your eyes and you frantically try to hit the .
35. Everytime you dream you wonder why you didn't get a special ability.
36. You start talking to chickens to see if they can talk.
37. You leave a friend at the mall and, upon returning there the next day on another errand, are confused and annoyed he isn't standing right where you left him waiting for you.
38. On your way to school/work you get waylaid by enemies and have to defend yourself.
39. You stand up in the middle of a meeting and start yelling "Less talk and more fight".
40. You are in your car looking at a street map and you can't figure out where to go, because no other sections are highlighted.

Critiquing The EEs: A Pure Story Perspective 6/6

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Welcome to the final part of a critical look at Beamdog's creative contributions to Baldur's Gate.

This is not the place for statements of blind support or blind hatred of Beamdog. If that's all you have to contribute to the conversation, please take your comments elsewhere.

Having covered all the new additions - Dorn, Hexxat, Rasaad, Neera and easter eggs Baeloth and Wilson - it's time to wrap up our discussion and try to draw relevant conclusions.

It seems clear to me that the EE characters were all designed, at least in part, to address existing gaps in the character roster. Beamdog has given us the first half-orc, the first evil thief, the first wild mage, the first monk, the first sorcerer; the first same-sex love interests; and the first characters to have ToB quests (which goes a long way towards beefing up that last part of the saga).

Giving BG fans new things, as opposed to more of what we already had, is a good aspiration to have. And in this, the devs have largely met their goal. But if we give Beamdog credit for their successes, we must also note where they fall short.

It is, perhaps, a point of discussion that the EE NPCs break down along established gender lines: the men fight, the women cast or steal. It's not a pattern unique to Beamdog, or even BioWare - in the entire history of D&D video games, the only women who could properly swing a longsword were Shar-Teel Dosan, Mazzy Fentan, Aribeth di Tylmarande and Shandra Jerro. It's a short list, and it might have been nice for Beamdog to add a name or two... but one can't meet all needs simultaneously, and as I noted before, there's a lot to be said for the fact that Dorn, Neera, Rasaad and Hexxat fulfill specific roles and functions that weren't part of the BG games beforehand.

Unfortunately, there's a larger narrative problem with these games: the overall quality of the writing is wildly inconsistent. From an analytical perspective, it seems like not enough effort was made to ensure that all four characters had the same basic necessary components of good storytelling in place. Neera's arc is clear, concise and flows organically from one stage to the next; Hexxat's is a mess from start to finish, with muddled motivations and too many questions left unanswered. Rasaad's plot offers several opportunities for the player to express agency; Dorn's is based on a central, critical choice that ultimately turns out to be false. It's a disparity that, in my opinion, constitutes as much of a "bug" as missing triggers or incorrect weapon descriptions, and should be addressed.

On that note, I'd like to end this series with a direct appeal to Beamdog, specifically @LiamEsler, @AndrewFoley and the other writers.

As they currently stand, the Enhanced Editions represent a good creative effort, warts and all. But you have the rarest of opportunities afforded to video game writers: a chance to review the stories you've told, find the weak spots, and address them post-launch. As long as BG:EE and BG2:EE are being updated, you have the ability to do better. And if there's one thing I hope this series has demonstrated, it's how easily you can polish what's already there: a few unvoiced lines of dialogue here, an additional variable there, is literally all it would take to fill in the plot holes, clarify the obscure, resolve the inconsistencies, and make that jump from "good" to "excellent". I hope you'll consider this as Beamdog moves towards the release of BG2:EE on Android, and do what you can to make the most of the potential you've demonstrated thus far.

Thank you for your time, your patience, and your contributions to this old favorite game.

Should rules be consistent between the current EEs?

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Would you like to see rules made consistent between the EEs? Specifically in regards to spell descriptions where spell duration changes between each game which is a turn off for anyone trying to learn what spells do. Spell lists could also be included. I am NOT suggesting to add HLAs - keep that to another thread.

Did you know?

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So this is just a thread for interesting things that people have picked up over the years. While most of the information has been freely available for some time, the game is big enough that you might find something you missed. If not, it's still fun to see just how much detail the developers put in.

Did you know that if you are playing an elf named Drizzt, and your reputation is under 12, Drizzt will attack you? Did you also know that if you kill the three mages guarding the skyship devices in Baldur's Gate, then Shandalar skips the 'asking' part of sending you to the Ice Island? Not surprising, given that they were his daughters. Guy is probably a bit angry at you.

best pc for these lawful good npc parties

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May I ask for ideas for the PC (seeking for best potential race/class combo) for parties of (intending to play through the whole saga):

BGEE: Ajantis, Rasaad, Yeslick, Minsc, Dynaheir, PC
BG2EE: Keldorn, Rasaad, Mazzy. Anomen, Aerie, PC

Speed Factor Revisited

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TBH Speed Factor is a wholly unique concept for me outside of how PnP implements it, so I am trying to understand how it actually performs in BG game mechanics.

After reading several related discussions on this topic, mostly dealing with the advantage in backstabbing and spell interruption, it appears the lowest (fastest) SF is 0 and the highest (slowest) SF is 10. Consequently, that means there are 11 distinct SF ratings possible. Then, since the length of a round is 6 secs, and assuming a hit is actually registered in the attack, it follows that SF0 will hit immediately (begin round), SF1 will hit at 0.6 sec into round, SF2 will hit at 1.2 sec into round... and so forth. The only non-fractional values occur at SF0 (0 sec), SF5 (3 sec) and SF10 (6 sec).

So, my question is: Does the game engine round up or round down or truncate all the fractional time values or does it keep track with, say, a tenth's or hundredth's of a sec timer and use the fractions "as is" during attack calculations? I'm suspicious that two SF ratings may perform identically, like SF6 (3.6 sec into round) and SF7 (4.2 sec into round), in reality, by internally applying rounding or truncating.

It's just about impossible for me to test this since the rolls are still random and would take forever to set up a controlled environment to gather an adequate sample.

Any insight into how exactly the Speed Factor is implemented by the game engine?

TIA for any clarification on this, folks.

Can a kensai be a tank?

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Ok, ladies and gentlemen, this is a topic for a separate thread.

This discussion was created from comments split from: Kensai Problems.

Now when this is a separate thread, you can discuss to death whether a kensai can be a tank or not.

Cheers!

Just finished co-op Icewind Dale 2 Let's Play! it was great

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPHkEP8vv2_DFxWZBCo7w8B8rTkmG3dwN

We played with my friend over gameranger. My rouge(1)/sorc and his Morninglord of Lathander for a few episodes my other friend joined with Aasimar paladin. The gameplay isn't the best coz we just run over everything except last battle but it was fun enough :)
bonus holy aveger fight in 1 minute and no no-op final fight much quicker

also some of the fights are pretty massive compared to something like Baldur's gate if don't know a thing about Icewind Dale's

Share your Characters

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Feel free to move this to it's proper place if I'm posting this in the wrong section

but

Kinda want people to post their characters, both Bhaalspawn and otherwise, to share. Custom portrait, custom race, custom story, you name it, just throw your head canons on up here like a biography and geek out with each other about your characters.

Characters that aren't Gorion's Ward are especially welcome because they're entirely head canon, and that's always more interesting. However, I ain't gonna delete anything just because you're fond of your Charname.

I'd only ask we keep the discussions to a minimum because nobody likes shifting through dozens of conversation posts while trying to read what people have shared. Or maybe it's just me.

Looking forward to reading what y'all have to share!

Non-Magical Flail or Morning Star? Which is better?

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As you know, Flail and Morning Star are two different weapons, but they share the same proficiency.
I wonder why you should choose the Flail over the Morning Star.

- In every shop a Flail is more expensive than a Morning Star.

- A Flail deals 1d6 +1 damages, with an average of 4,5.
A Morning Star deals 2d4 damages, with an average of 5.

- They both have the same speed factor (7).

- A Flail requires 13 strenght, while a Morning Star requires only 11 strenght.

Everything says that a Morning Star is better and cheaper than a Flail.
Do I miss something? Why a better weapon is more expensive than a worse weapon?

Jan Jansen's Childhood Trauma [Trigger Warning]

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This may explain his...eccentric demeanor.

For those wondering what happens to Saemon Havarian *SPOILERS*

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after you inscribe his name in Lunia...

Finally. After a decade of Ctrl-Y, there is now a legit way to finish that bum.

Why Larry is your best friend.

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Larry is very sharp. Both with his tongue and in body. Larry will never grow tired, you also dont have to pay for an extra room since he can just sleep with you!

He is very strong probably one of the strongest friends you can get to meet so early and easily!
He will also never betray you and go against your wishes like some of your stupid friends might do after you attack them, kill their friends or family.

Larry will often drop funny remarks like - "PFFFFFT, You can't be serious!" after you betray your employer and make him explode into body parts after finishing his stupid fed ex quest so you get 4000 extra xp and an extra 4000 gold, a healing potion and a necklace instead of only that stupid enchanted sword he was only giving you!
How rude I tell you, only giving you an enchanted sword when he was carrying 4000 gold tsk tsk. Luckily Larry was with us and we could change his mind about that!.

Sometimes Larry talks to much, one time Larry did'nt seem to be that persuasive when we talked to this Demogorgon person, so I was forced to visit my other friend Cromwell he said he could make Larry much more persuasive.

Sadly Larry dont talk that much anymore, but everyone tends to listen alot more since Cromwell had a look at him.

Who is your best friend?

The Necrosorcerer: Build Ideas

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So what do I mean by a "Necrosorcerer"? Well, I mean a sorcerer who's naturally gifted at necromancy, learning to master it fully. This means choosing necromancy spells first upon gaining new spell options, trying to take spells that support a necromancer theme, such as Melf's Acid Arrow, and not taking spells that contradict the necromancer class. (so no illusion spells) I prefer not to play mages, so I don't know the spells that well, so I was hoping for some assistance.

First of all, the character design I have in mind:

Name: Cyrix (not only do I think the name works, it's also amusingly similar to Cyric, the god who currently holds Bhaal's throne)

Male Half-elf (Because only humans can be necromancers, yet I want the character to use the dark-haired elf portrait that was made for BG2:EE)

Edit 1: (In BG1 He's using Xan's portrait, as I neither plan to include Xan in my team, nor do I think the transition of portraits is TOO extreme. I am using the ipad version, so custom portraits aren't really an option)

Chaotic Good (He's a good character, but society distrusts and dislikes him because of his necromantic prowess. He's also very spontaneous and light-hearted, being a bit "chaotic", even without society's opinion of him)

Abilities:
STR: 15 (He's no weakling, though he fights with nothing more than a dagger or sling, and only as a last resort)
DEX: 18 (He's light, agile, and has obvious elven ancestors, not only in appearance, but also in abilities)
CON: 15 (He's healthy, and could even be called somewhat hardy, though not overly so)
INT: 16 (He's incredibly intelligent, but he's no unrivaled genius) (Will I need to increase this further so as to gain higher spell levels? Even if I do, 16 SHOULD be enough as long as I use the stat increases in BG1 and 2, right?)
WIS: 10 (He's of average wisdom. This will increase throughout his journey, just as he learns more of the world)
CHA: 13 (He's likable, but no smooth talker. His elven heritage aids in this)

Spell List: (as people make suggestions and help me create this character I'll edit this post to add more spells)

Level 1: Chill Touch, Larloch's Minor Drain

Level 2: Ghoul Touch, Horror, Melf's Acid Arrow

Level 3: Skull Trap, Hold Undead, Vampiric Touch

Level 4: To be added

Level 5: To be added

Level 6: To be added

Level 7: To be added

Level 8: To be added

Level 9: To be added

As for any party members he has, he'll probably stick to the "canon" party of BG1 (Minsc, Jaheria, Imoen, Khalid, and Dynaheir) in BG1, and the remaining members of it in BG2 (Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen) since they trust him, despite his necromantic powers. Apart from them, Yoshimo, Haer'Dalis, Jan, Sarevok, and perhaps Viconia would be a part of the team. Most of the evil NPCs are too evil for Cyrix's taste, while a lot of the good NPCs would be unlikely to trust someone who fights with necromantic magic. Feel free to prove me wrong on any account.

So yeah, I'm just requesting a bit of help from those more versed in the ways of Baldur's Gate magic than I. Maybe you'll take away something fun from this as well!

Is cloud-saving still a development priority?

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There was some talk a while back about allowing saves to sync across multiple devices. I know that's probably quite difficult to implement when you're talking about syncing games between a PC and an iPad, but has anyone found some good solutions for saves between PCs?

I travel a lot for my work and have been using Google Drive (as well as a thumb drive because I don't always have internet on both machines) to transfer saves between my desktop PC and my notebook. It works, but it hasn't exactly been convenient - are there any plans to implement a cloud save/syncing feature within the game itself?

OH MY. That's a stat roll o_o

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So I installed like a bunch of new soundsets so I'm making a random character to go listen to them. I make a female gnome illusionist/thief that I don't actually plan on playing, just to use to test the soundsets. Upon hitting ability scores I see a natural roll of 96.

That's the highest I've ever gotten ever. I'm not even planning on using this character.
WHY MUST I BE CURSED SO!?

Finish HoW, or start a new run of BGII?

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As the title states, I'm at a loss of what to do. The BG2 1.3 patch coincided with me finishing the main IWD storyline, so of course I want to drop everything and play BG2 as soon as possible, seeing that I just finished BG1 recently anyways.

But I don't really want to leave IWD "unfinished". So, how good is HoW, and should I finish it?

What's Next?

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Does anyone know what the next plans for Overhaul are? Are we going to see Enhanced Editions for Icewind Dale II and Planescape: Torment? Are they planning some brand new Infinity Engine titles (BG3, IWD3, PS:T2)? Are they going to work on other games (Neverwinter Nights, maybe)? Are they plotting to take over the world using robotic penguins?

A cave entrance? For Unfinished Business mod?

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Has someone noticed this before in the south area between Beregost and Nashkel (it's a cave entrance)?
Cut from the original game?
I'm sure there should be a travel trigger and a simple cave area.
[spoiler]
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
[/spoiler]

What do you think?

P.S.:
I wish that someone could continue the UB mod work.
It would be really great to see such stuff like:
Ajantis and the monks quest
Nim Furlwing and the hunting dogs quest
Llindellyn and the lucky arrow quest
Welt and Pooch and the rats quest

or even the dreamsequence...

D&D Stats Explained with Tomatos

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An awesome pic I found on facebook that I thought I'd share here.

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1499676_10151867566753063_622922631_n.jpg Link to the thread.

Strength is being able to crush a tomato

Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato

Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato

Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit

Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad

Charisma is being able to sell a tomato based fruit salad

Response 1:

A tomato based fruit salad would simple be salsa

Response 2: GUYS I FOUND THE BARD!
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