So I've been meaning to ask, has anyone played with illegal class combo's like mage/Sorcerer or Sorcerer/cleric? How does the game actuall handle them?
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Illegal characters
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Custom PC & NPC Portraits
This discussion was created from comments split from: LadyRhian's too many pictures for any thread.....
Note: Edited to fix name of thread because of a mistake when merging threads. Apologies.
Note: Edited to fix name of thread because of a mistake when merging threads. Apologies.
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Baldur's Gate Saga Animation?
I know there's a Graphic Novel adaptation of BG by the folks over at IDW Publishing called Legends of Baldur's Gate (iirc the plot is not related to the events in the games but some characters like Minsc play a central role)... But I've always wondered why they don't make an animated series or a bunch of movies out of it? There's so much potential!
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Would You Rather: A new Icewind Dale game or an equivalent game in a different setting
I've heard people clamor for a new IWD game for a while now on this forum, but I've also heard from a select few (such as @kamigoroshi ) say they would like to have a game similar in style but with a new setting.
Just wondering what the general feeling was around here when comparing those two options or maybe someone doesn't care for either.
Just wondering what the general feeling was around here when comparing those two options or maybe someone doesn't care for either.
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Portraits for Baldur's Gate from Might & Magic: Heroes VI and now from Might & Magic: Heroes VII too
I think that many of us try to stay away from the unfortunate games in the HOMM series. M&M:Heroes VI generally associates with a subpar product.
But having tried the game itself, I've found out that at least hero portraits (if not all but certainly several of them) in that game can be interesting.
Here I present you the portrats of Might & Magic: Heroes VI in the suitable format for BG (210x330 pixels, 24-bit BMP)
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But having tried the game itself, I've found out that at least hero portraits (if not all but certainly several of them) in that game can be interesting.
Here I present you the portrats of Might & Magic: Heroes VI in the suitable format for BG (210x330 pixels, 24-bit BMP)
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How the Shaman will fight in melee (Warning: graphic content)
Based on @elminster describing the not-so-quite-front-line melee potential of Shaman:
"put it another way enemies will get plenty of opportunity to check out your cool dance skills"
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"put it another way enemies will get plenty of opportunity to check out your cool dance skills"
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Never used a main class
Hello all,
I've played the BG series (and to some extent, IWD as well), trying out a plethora of different builds, both legal and "illegal" combinations, thanks to tools like the eekeeper. I've poured in hundreds and hundreds of hours, but I haven't actually finished that many playthroughs since I often come up with new character builds I want to try out well before I finish my current run. I love the versatility of AD&D and the number of different ways the multitude of character builds can tackle the same situation. It's really a neverending love story between me and these games.
With that said, I have played a vanilla fighter. Ever.
The main classes like fighter, thief, paladin, cleric, mage and the multitude of MC/DC options gives you an almost undepletable number of choices, and out of all those choices; playing a vanilla fighter has just never even once occured to me. It just struck me yesterday when creating yet another character concept. I've played clerics, mages, thieves and druids (druids the least), also bards and any other vanilla class, including the newer ones like sorcerer, monk etc.
So, to perhaps start up an interesting conversation in this topic: which of the main (perhaps mainly about the classical) classes (and races?) have you, yourself, never tried? If any, that is. But I guess I can't be the first seasoned played who has felt that one or more of the classes (and races) just doesn't appeal to me and my playstyle and just skipped it, maybe even subconsciously (hello Freud!?).
Cheers!
//Skat.
I've played the BG series (and to some extent, IWD as well), trying out a plethora of different builds, both legal and "illegal" combinations, thanks to tools like the eekeeper. I've poured in hundreds and hundreds of hours, but I haven't actually finished that many playthroughs since I often come up with new character builds I want to try out well before I finish my current run. I love the versatility of AD&D and the number of different ways the multitude of character builds can tackle the same situation. It's really a neverending love story between me and these games.
With that said, I have played a vanilla fighter. Ever.
The main classes like fighter, thief, paladin, cleric, mage and the multitude of MC/DC options gives you an almost undepletable number of choices, and out of all those choices; playing a vanilla fighter has just never even once occured to me. It just struck me yesterday when creating yet another character concept. I've played clerics, mages, thieves and druids (druids the least), also bards and any other vanilla class, including the newer ones like sorcerer, monk etc.
So, to perhaps start up an interesting conversation in this topic: which of the main (perhaps mainly about the classical) classes (and races?) have you, yourself, never tried? If any, that is. But I guess I can't be the first seasoned played who has felt that one or more of the classes (and races) just doesn't appeal to me and my playstyle and just skipped it, maybe even subconsciously (hello Freud!?).
Cheers!
//Skat.
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Jan Jansen Easter Egg in Neverwinter Nights
Hey, friends, I've been replaying NWN lately, and I just encountered this Jan Jansen Easter Egg in Luskan in Chapter Two of that game. I've tried to take a series of screen shots that will share most of it with all the Jan Jansen fans out there who may never play Neverwinter Nights.
I tried to highlight my responses to all the dialogues. I think they are showing up on the dialogue screens as white text rather than blue, but unfortunately, my in-game pointer and highlighting will not show up on the screen shots.
@Heindrich , and anyone else who may have rejected Neverwinter Nights based on Tord's "IAmNotLilly" Let's Play video, with its zoomed-in, behind-the-shoulder, drive camera perspective, as with a first-person perspective game, I have zoomed out my screen shots in "Top Down" mode in order to attempt to demonstrate that Neverwinter Nights' very easy to use camera controls can duplicate those of Baldur's Gate, if that's the kind of perspective you want, i.e., you can easily play Neverwinter Nights in top-down isometric perspective.
(Neverwinter Nights 2 *can* be played that way, but only with hacking the .ini file to adjust the camera controls manually. Bioware lost an *enormous* percentage of their potential market for NWN2 by programming bafflingly *horrible* camera default - and +, minimum and maximum parameters, into the default control sliders of that game. I am only able to keep playing it to this day because of doggedly determined research into those camera controls in the .ini, and how to change them, because I saw the potential of NWN2 as something I'd really enjoy and keep coming back to. But, I'm only talking about NWN1 here in this thread.)
So, hopefully without much more fanfare, here is my attempt to post the Jansen Easter Egg from Neverwinter Nights 1. It is relevant to a few of the lines that we are in a Luskan den of ill repute, so every time Jansen mentions "chests", it has a double entendre. Also, the idea is that he has become someone who focuses on giving pleasure to women in Luskan at this den of ill repute, and he is giving a quest to Charname to find a piece of jewelry for him that will ingratiate him to one particular woman with whom he's fallen in love.
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That last bit is his response to my telling him I wanted to hire him. Alas, if only I could have Jan Jansen Jr. in NWN with me!![:)]( ":)")
I tried to highlight my responses to all the dialogues. I think they are showing up on the dialogue screens as white text rather than blue, but unfortunately, my in-game pointer and highlighting will not show up on the screen shots.
@Heindrich , and anyone else who may have rejected Neverwinter Nights based on Tord's "IAmNotLilly" Let's Play video, with its zoomed-in, behind-the-shoulder, drive camera perspective, as with a first-person perspective game, I have zoomed out my screen shots in "Top Down" mode in order to attempt to demonstrate that Neverwinter Nights' very easy to use camera controls can duplicate those of Baldur's Gate, if that's the kind of perspective you want, i.e., you can easily play Neverwinter Nights in top-down isometric perspective.
(Neverwinter Nights 2 *can* be played that way, but only with hacking the .ini file to adjust the camera controls manually. Bioware lost an *enormous* percentage of their potential market for NWN2 by programming bafflingly *horrible* camera default - and +, minimum and maximum parameters, into the default control sliders of that game. I am only able to keep playing it to this day because of doggedly determined research into those camera controls in the .ini, and how to change them, because I saw the potential of NWN2 as something I'd really enjoy and keep coming back to. But, I'm only talking about NWN1 here in this thread.)
So, hopefully without much more fanfare, here is my attempt to post the Jansen Easter Egg from Neverwinter Nights 1. It is relevant to a few of the lines that we are in a Luskan den of ill repute, so every time Jansen mentions "chests", it has a double entendre. Also, the idea is that he has become someone who focuses on giving pleasure to women in Luskan at this den of ill repute, and he is giving a quest to Charname to find a piece of jewelry for him that will ingratiate him to one particular woman with whom he's fallen in love.
That last bit is his response to my telling him I wanted to hire him. Alas, if only I could have Jan Jansen Jr. in NWN with me!
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Agannazar's Scorcher
I just did some random testing and found that Aganazzar's Scorcher has more damage potential than any other spell in the game.
No, seriously. Aganazzar's Scorcher, the level 2 spell.
The idea came to me when thinking about the Reflection Shield. I've had a confused clone attack my Charname with a dart while both were using the shield, and the darts bounced back and forth between them until the clone vanished. After confirming that the shield did not, actually, reflect Arrows of Detonation (which would have been awesome), I thought a bit about the other means of reflection in the game.
People may be familiar with the Cloak of Reflection trick, in which two Cloaks of Reflection (via a clone or importing a character), or the Cloak of Reflection and the original Cloak of Mirroring, could be used to bounce Lightning Bolts off against each other indefinitely. I found the trick was wonky and could be broken for a save game, unable to ever restart, and lost interest in it for a while.
The reason these were useful is because the projectile doesn't just damage the target; it has a slight area effect. Bouncing it multiplies the area of effect.
I thought about what else could be bounced, and what other projectiles had this sort of area of effect. I remembered the scorcher projectile, and thought it would be amazing if you could bounce it, but, alas, there is no spell or item that bounces that projectile.
But since it's a spell, it can be bounced via (Minor) Spell Turning. And because it's a level 2 spell, a spell turning effect can bounce it between two characters multiple times. Plus, it can be packed into a Minor Sequencer.
So, I did some tests. I tried using Aganazzar's Scorcher, which deals 3d6 (10.5) damage and hits twice, in a Minor Sequencer and against Minor Spell Turning and Spell Turning. I placed a fighter with high HP and 50% fire resistance in between two characters bouncing the scorcher projectile and took note of how much damage they took.
The most dramatic results came from casting a double Aganazzar's Scorcher Minor Sequencer from two mages against one another. Both had Protection from Fire and Spell Turning active. What happened to the fighter in the middle?
This fighter had 123 HP, and 50% fire resistance. The reaction began, and soon the fighter dropped down to 7 HP. I took note of the number and used CTRL-R to keep the fighter alive.
She then dropped down to 17, 30, and 22 HP. Finally, she died before the auto-pause could kick in, so I raised her with CTRL-R. She died twice more, instantly, without her fire resistance to help her.
I doubled the first four HP losses, plus the first death, since they occurred with 50% fire resistance, and counted the two other instant deaths as equal to only 123 HP, since the fighter had no fire resistance at the time. I put the numbers together. How much damage did this setup do?
It did more than 1,324 damage. It seems like Spell Turning bounces the spell more times than it's technically supposed to, and so the damage multiplies by some ridiculous number.
Testing found that using Minor Spell Turning had a similar but smaller effect. It could deal a couple hundred damage with two level 10 mages.
Unfortunately, it won't bypass magic resistances or spell level immunities, and fire resistance is the most common resistance in the game. But for anything not immune to the normal Aganazzar's Scorcher spell, it's a near-guaranteed kill for everything in between the two spellcasters.
No, seriously. Aganazzar's Scorcher, the level 2 spell.
The idea came to me when thinking about the Reflection Shield. I've had a confused clone attack my Charname with a dart while both were using the shield, and the darts bounced back and forth between them until the clone vanished. After confirming that the shield did not, actually, reflect Arrows of Detonation (which would have been awesome), I thought a bit about the other means of reflection in the game.
People may be familiar with the Cloak of Reflection trick, in which two Cloaks of Reflection (via a clone or importing a character), or the Cloak of Reflection and the original Cloak of Mirroring, could be used to bounce Lightning Bolts off against each other indefinitely. I found the trick was wonky and could be broken for a save game, unable to ever restart, and lost interest in it for a while.
The reason these were useful is because the projectile doesn't just damage the target; it has a slight area effect. Bouncing it multiplies the area of effect.
I thought about what else could be bounced, and what other projectiles had this sort of area of effect. I remembered the scorcher projectile, and thought it would be amazing if you could bounce it, but, alas, there is no spell or item that bounces that projectile.
But since it's a spell, it can be bounced via (Minor) Spell Turning. And because it's a level 2 spell, a spell turning effect can bounce it between two characters multiple times. Plus, it can be packed into a Minor Sequencer.
So, I did some tests. I tried using Aganazzar's Scorcher, which deals 3d6 (10.5) damage and hits twice, in a Minor Sequencer and against Minor Spell Turning and Spell Turning. I placed a fighter with high HP and 50% fire resistance in between two characters bouncing the scorcher projectile and took note of how much damage they took.
The most dramatic results came from casting a double Aganazzar's Scorcher Minor Sequencer from two mages against one another. Both had Protection from Fire and Spell Turning active. What happened to the fighter in the middle?
This fighter had 123 HP, and 50% fire resistance. The reaction began, and soon the fighter dropped down to 7 HP. I took note of the number and used CTRL-R to keep the fighter alive.
She then dropped down to 17, 30, and 22 HP. Finally, she died before the auto-pause could kick in, so I raised her with CTRL-R. She died twice more, instantly, without her fire resistance to help her.
I doubled the first four HP losses, plus the first death, since they occurred with 50% fire resistance, and counted the two other instant deaths as equal to only 123 HP, since the fighter had no fire resistance at the time. I put the numbers together. How much damage did this setup do?
It did more than 1,324 damage. It seems like Spell Turning bounces the spell more times than it's technically supposed to, and so the damage multiplies by some ridiculous number.
Testing found that using Minor Spell Turning had a similar but smaller effect. It could deal a couple hundred damage with two level 10 mages.
Unfortunately, it won't bypass magic resistances or spell level immunities, and fire resistance is the most common resistance in the game. But for anything not immune to the normal Aganazzar's Scorcher spell, it's a near-guaranteed kill for everything in between the two spellcasters.
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Kieran Nye shouldn't have a mage sprite
I don't think the innkeeper/bartender in Lonelywood should have a mage sprite. After all, he's pretending not to be a mage.
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What's your best stats roll?
I just started vanilla BG2, and wanted to make a character. I tend to play with the first 80+ roll for my PC. But this one I got upon the very first roll (after stats re-assignment).
STR 18/99
DEX 17
CON 19
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA14
Total 92 with a 18/99. Jesus.
STR 18/99
DEX 17
CON 19
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA14
Total 92 with a 18/99. Jesus.
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Very serious question about Abazigal
Is this a gray hood, or a really sensual hippie hairstyle?
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Rangers discussion
This discussion was created from comments split from: Ranger -> Cleric Questions.
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Trade BG1&2 on steam for Hotline Miami 2 Special edition.
As the title said, I'd like to trade BG1&2 on steam for Hotline Miami 2 Special edition.
Picked up 2 extra copies to play with family but there not interested and I've since beaten them and moved on.
Picked up 2 extra copies to play with family but there not interested and I've since beaten them and moved on.
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"Thief Controlled" one of the best scripts in the entire two games of BG1 & BG2... But flawed.
I love getting a lot out of the BG scripts in the games. By picking the right ones you remove a lot of the cut-and-paste effort out of the games when confronted with weaker groups of enemies. These occurrences are countless in both games.
In BG1 you get very strong from the expansion pack, and if you're a "completionist" (that's not a real word, hence, the quotes), you can really do a lot by setting all scripts for most of your characters to "Standard Attack" or "Fighter Aggressive", the latter being more of a supplement for someone like a ranger or paladin.
In BG2 the battles are tough, but one rests a lot. In fact, if you're playing on core settings, and you've beaten the games (BG1 included) about 5-6 times each, then you tend to always rest after a battle or before and not beef up your party. This has the odd effect of throwing multitudes of crappy enemies against you (Yuan-Ti, Orcs, crappy Kobolds in the sewers, drow raiding parties in the Underdark *yawn*).
In essence, I've played these games so much. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a weak battle, and actually I'll finish all the fights above with almost, not one hit on any of my characters in the party. Or else at least my characters were healed by a cleric or Jaheira during a battle. But, there are times where I *HATE* *HATE* *HATE* to click to control all my characters and click on one enemy. This also has the added effect of almost always getting at least one person in your party down to near-death health, rather than if the AI kicked in or you were using the right scripts.
With the scripts kicked in, your fighter type characters (Jaheira, Viconia, Kagain, Shar-teel, Dorn, Khalid ect..) will just attack the enemy nearest of them. Then, you just need to click (as the battle starts or when a character gets to their respective enemy) about whether if you want someone to use a spell.
By the way *PRO TIP*: Standard Attack is better for BG1 and Fighter Aggressive is better for BG2. Don't ask me why, but the fighters with Fighter Aggressive in BG2 act like crazy kamikaze jet fighter pilots. They will literally CHASE down a fleeing enemy or any enemy that changes his attack, and quite effectively actually. While the Standard Attack script is okay, its use is oddly unwelcome in BG2, and in BG1 Fighter Aggressive was NEVER as effective for me as it was in BG2.
So what about the other scripts? Well, they're okay. I stress --okay-- because, if you use a spell casting script for someone like Jaheira (Cleric Aggressive), she'll only tend to use spells she was programmed to use. Admittedly, Druid classes don't have a crap ton of spells. If anything, they need more. A LOT more. But because of this I really turn my head when I have 5-6 offensive spells memorized for her and she's just standing. The only spell she EVER uses is a magic cudgel and a cloak of fear. So then I find myself YELLING and YELLING at Jaheira like she can listen to me about all the spells she WASN'T programmed to use.
I must have used every script multiple times. I started playing these games since my Sophomore year of high school, needless to say that was about 7-8 years ago. So minus the "bard" scripts I've tried a lot of different combinations. Granted, I have at least tried the bard scripts, though I reckon they are only pertaining to bards. I never play with bard characters and rarely are they in party, so therefore I don't use them.
This now brings us to the point of this discussion. The script "Thief Controlled" is the best script, but why does it NOT work? I'm not talking about the spell casting scripts above, as I could really not care less about those ones. I already explained how I use Fighter Standard and Fighter Aggressive and they're pretty good for what they do when utilized.
To go into more detail, Thief Controlled says you're given control of two keys. The "D" key and the "V" key. The "D" key says (through dialogue that pops up in-game) when you press it that it changed whether the thief will ALWAYS attempt to hide in the shadows or ALWAYS detect traps, even when none are around. The "V" key is the same except it tells the AI whether you want it always attacking enemies or just standing around with its hand in its pockets.
This script is almost the most useful. Later in BG2, Imoen or any other thief will backstab for 5x the damage and do upward of 91 - 100+ hitpoints of damage. All you need to do is use the script and micromanage your thief to go behind an enemy. So, what's the problem? THE SCRIPT IS BROKEN.
Don't get me wrong the thieves hide in the shadows, the thieves detect traps, and the thieves stand around not attacking if you tell them not to. BUT, telling them to attack in a standard fashion by pressing "V" -- *This Thief is now ALWAYS attacking enemies*, which is what pops up -- DOESN'T WORK. It's so annoying because in these little, tiny battles where I HATE micromanagement, Imoen or Tiax or Montaron or freaking Yoshimo are just standing around most of the time not doing anything!
This play through especially I gave the script to Rasaad. Oh, did I mention Monks are some of the most INSANELY powerful, awesome classes in the game? Rasaad is still just standing around and doesn't know how to do a standard attack to save his life. He's in the shadows and that's fantastic, and he has those awesome spells, and he is a mega BEAST at killing anyone practically. But he's just standing there. This script is simple programming, as the thief just needs to walk up to the nearest enemy and attack.
If you think I'm complaining, I'm not. These ARE my favorite games. I even got annoyed playing Pillars of Eternity because the scripts weren't so specific as Baldur's Gate's were. In a nutshell, I don't hate the scripts. I hate one script. I hate the script which really is the most useful script in the game, but doesn't work because it's so annoyingly stupid it's not even funny. In closing, I don't want Imoen or Yoshimo to literally go *behind* an enemy, but I do want them to at least walk up to the enemy and attack. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, these 100+ hour games can get so frustrating.
In BG1 you get very strong from the expansion pack, and if you're a "completionist" (that's not a real word, hence, the quotes), you can really do a lot by setting all scripts for most of your characters to "Standard Attack" or "Fighter Aggressive", the latter being more of a supplement for someone like a ranger or paladin.
In BG2 the battles are tough, but one rests a lot. In fact, if you're playing on core settings, and you've beaten the games (BG1 included) about 5-6 times each, then you tend to always rest after a battle or before and not beef up your party. This has the odd effect of throwing multitudes of crappy enemies against you (Yuan-Ti, Orcs, crappy Kobolds in the sewers, drow raiding parties in the Underdark *yawn*).
In essence, I've played these games so much. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a weak battle, and actually I'll finish all the fights above with almost, not one hit on any of my characters in the party. Or else at least my characters were healed by a cleric or Jaheira during a battle. But, there are times where I *HATE* *HATE* *HATE* to click to control all my characters and click on one enemy. This also has the added effect of almost always getting at least one person in your party down to near-death health, rather than if the AI kicked in or you were using the right scripts.
With the scripts kicked in, your fighter type characters (Jaheira, Viconia, Kagain, Shar-teel, Dorn, Khalid ect..) will just attack the enemy nearest of them. Then, you just need to click (as the battle starts or when a character gets to their respective enemy) about whether if you want someone to use a spell.
By the way *PRO TIP*: Standard Attack is better for BG1 and Fighter Aggressive is better for BG2. Don't ask me why, but the fighters with Fighter Aggressive in BG2 act like crazy kamikaze jet fighter pilots. They will literally CHASE down a fleeing enemy or any enemy that changes his attack, and quite effectively actually. While the Standard Attack script is okay, its use is oddly unwelcome in BG2, and in BG1 Fighter Aggressive was NEVER as effective for me as it was in BG2.
So what about the other scripts? Well, they're okay. I stress --okay-- because, if you use a spell casting script for someone like Jaheira (Cleric Aggressive), she'll only tend to use spells she was programmed to use. Admittedly, Druid classes don't have a crap ton of spells. If anything, they need more. A LOT more. But because of this I really turn my head when I have 5-6 offensive spells memorized for her and she's just standing. The only spell she EVER uses is a magic cudgel and a cloak of fear. So then I find myself YELLING and YELLING at Jaheira like she can listen to me about all the spells she WASN'T programmed to use.
I must have used every script multiple times. I started playing these games since my Sophomore year of high school, needless to say that was about 7-8 years ago. So minus the "bard" scripts I've tried a lot of different combinations. Granted, I have at least tried the bard scripts, though I reckon they are only pertaining to bards. I never play with bard characters and rarely are they in party, so therefore I don't use them.
This now brings us to the point of this discussion. The script "Thief Controlled" is the best script, but why does it NOT work? I'm not talking about the spell casting scripts above, as I could really not care less about those ones. I already explained how I use Fighter Standard and Fighter Aggressive and they're pretty good for what they do when utilized.
To go into more detail, Thief Controlled says you're given control of two keys. The "D" key and the "V" key. The "D" key says (through dialogue that pops up in-game) when you press it that it changed whether the thief will ALWAYS attempt to hide in the shadows or ALWAYS detect traps, even when none are around. The "V" key is the same except it tells the AI whether you want it always attacking enemies or just standing around with its hand in its pockets.
This script is almost the most useful. Later in BG2, Imoen or any other thief will backstab for 5x the damage and do upward of 91 - 100+ hitpoints of damage. All you need to do is use the script and micromanage your thief to go behind an enemy. So, what's the problem? THE SCRIPT IS BROKEN.
Don't get me wrong the thieves hide in the shadows, the thieves detect traps, and the thieves stand around not attacking if you tell them not to. BUT, telling them to attack in a standard fashion by pressing "V" -- *This Thief is now ALWAYS attacking enemies*, which is what pops up -- DOESN'T WORK. It's so annoying because in these little, tiny battles where I HATE micromanagement, Imoen or Tiax or Montaron or freaking Yoshimo are just standing around most of the time not doing anything!
This play through especially I gave the script to Rasaad. Oh, did I mention Monks are some of the most INSANELY powerful, awesome classes in the game? Rasaad is still just standing around and doesn't know how to do a standard attack to save his life. He's in the shadows and that's fantastic, and he has those awesome spells, and he is a mega BEAST at killing anyone practically. But he's just standing there. This script is simple programming, as the thief just needs to walk up to the nearest enemy and attack.
If you think I'm complaining, I'm not. These ARE my favorite games. I even got annoyed playing Pillars of Eternity because the scripts weren't so specific as Baldur's Gate's were. In a nutshell, I don't hate the scripts. I hate one script. I hate the script which really is the most useful script in the game, but doesn't work because it's so annoyingly stupid it's not even funny. In closing, I don't want Imoen or Yoshimo to literally go *behind* an enemy, but I do want them to at least walk up to the enemy and attack. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, these 100+ hour games can get so frustrating.
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Little things that annoy you
I has been bugging me for some time: why does the Amaunator avatar give you a shield that belongs to Bane worshippers? It is even called the Saving Grace!
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Are there other little inconsistencies in the game bug you?
PS: Hurray my first evil party in BG2, Dorn's wedding crashing ability really lowered my reputation. There seems to be very few banters though.
Are there other little inconsistencies in the game bug you?
PS: Hurray my first evil party in BG2, Dorn's wedding crashing ability really lowered my reputation. There seems to be very few banters though.
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No Harper Hold Quest
I am in chapter six (BG2), and am cleaning up quests. I noted that I never got the "bandit event" that kicks off the Harper Hold quest back in chapter 2. I have tried doing all the 'sleep' and 'travel' things that are supposed to trigger the event, but I fear that I have lost the opportunity. Any suggestions?
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Baldur's Gate at 5k
I just got my new iMac today, and to celebrate 1st world problems thought I would post about my first experiences of BG at 5k.
At first, the interface looks rough and blurry, as the textures are relatively low resolution when blown up to 5k, even if the pixels are tiny. I'm not sure how real that effect is, vs. it just looks blurry after seeing other apps at 5k (mostly Apple apps already tuned for the new resolution)
So I load up a saved game that is in the first Cloakwood area, just outside Aldeth's lodge.
Naturally, the next thing I do is turned off the auto-scaled UI. This leads immediately to a crash-to-desktop - although switching suddenly to 5k on a patch predating that resolution is a mildly unfair test ;~)
So I restart BG, and change graphics options to not rescale before loading a save. This works like a charm, the load/save/options screens no longer look blurry, but are quite difficult to read as they are also the size of a postage stamp - but that is fair, that is the UI I just requited![:)]( ":)")
Now I reload that saved game, and the *entire* area map fits onto the screen, in fact there is a small black border to spare. Now THAT is what I call a view![:)]( ":)")
Naturally I will zoom in a little to play, but it is nice to have this major zoom-out feature! The main problem is that the rest of the UI is so tiny.
Given the tiny UI problem, I switch back to scaled UI, and suddenly everything is huge and blurry again. What I had not understood with the scaled UI is that I can no longer zoom out to the full game resolution - I am constrained to play at this blurry depth of detail.
It is late so I am deferring further experiments till tomorrow, but it does not look like there is a sweet spot in the UI settings to cover 5k yet. Clearly BeamDog need to invest in a brand new iMac for Dee to help testing of the next pending games and patches ;~)
Concluding impression is that the ability to zoom out to see the whole map for any area is a lot of fun, but we really need UI elements roughly doubled in each dimension to remain playable. Alternatively, allow the game area to zoom to the limits of resolution while maintaining a fixed scaling for the other UI elements when auto-scaling is turned on.
At first, the interface looks rough and blurry, as the textures are relatively low resolution when blown up to 5k, even if the pixels are tiny. I'm not sure how real that effect is, vs. it just looks blurry after seeing other apps at 5k (mostly Apple apps already tuned for the new resolution)
So I load up a saved game that is in the first Cloakwood area, just outside Aldeth's lodge.
Naturally, the next thing I do is turned off the auto-scaled UI. This leads immediately to a crash-to-desktop - although switching suddenly to 5k on a patch predating that resolution is a mildly unfair test ;~)
So I restart BG, and change graphics options to not rescale before loading a save. This works like a charm, the load/save/options screens no longer look blurry, but are quite difficult to read as they are also the size of a postage stamp - but that is fair, that is the UI I just requited
Now I reload that saved game, and the *entire* area map fits onto the screen, in fact there is a small black border to spare. Now THAT is what I call a view
Naturally I will zoom in a little to play, but it is nice to have this major zoom-out feature! The main problem is that the rest of the UI is so tiny.Given the tiny UI problem, I switch back to scaled UI, and suddenly everything is huge and blurry again. What I had not understood with the scaled UI is that I can no longer zoom out to the full game resolution - I am constrained to play at this blurry depth of detail.
It is late so I am deferring further experiments till tomorrow, but it does not look like there is a sweet spot in the UI settings to cover 5k yet. Clearly BeamDog need to invest in a brand new iMac for Dee to help testing of the next pending games and patches ;~)
Concluding impression is that the ability to zoom out to see the whole map for any area is a lot of fun, but we really need UI elements roughly doubled in each dimension to remain playable. Alternatively, allow the game area to zoom to the limits of resolution while maintaining a fixed scaling for the other UI elements when auto-scaling is turned on.
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Yet Another Class Recommendation Topic
I had recently started a pure mage playthrough and I have been having fun.... however it got me thinking. What about a f/m multiclass. I have no interest on dual classing so let's leave that off the table.
I wanna roll a f/m that is proficient in long bows for the early game, then dual wielding longs words and axes (personal preference) in the late game.
My only concern is my class being weak towards then end of bg2 when I am capped at 13/13 and not able to get much higher in TOB. I am not interested in removing the cap because I like to play the game as intended.
Other question is whether to go elf for bow/sword bonus or gnome for extra spell and shorty saves.
Thoughts?
I wanna roll a f/m that is proficient in long bows for the early game, then dual wielding longs words and axes (personal preference) in the late game.
My only concern is my class being weak towards then end of bg2 when I am capped at 13/13 and not able to get much higher in TOB. I am not interested in removing the cap because I like to play the game as intended.
Other question is whether to go elf for bow/sword bonus or gnome for extra spell and shorty saves.
Thoughts?
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Doing zero damage
You guys may have noticed I that like unconventional playthroughs.
Right now I'm thinking about trying one where I do zero damage -- all kills will have to happen via death magic, stat drain, level drain, imprisonment, or petrification (et cetera?). I might start with SoA, because I can't think of a way to get past Mulahey in BG1.
The only methods I know for lowering stats without doing damage are Ray of Enfeeblement and Contagion. Anyone know anything I'm missing, or have other ideas? I expect success to depend heavily on enemies' (particularly bosses') immunities, and I'm not very knowledgeable about those.
Right now I'm thinking about trying one where I do zero damage -- all kills will have to happen via death magic, stat drain, level drain, imprisonment, or petrification (et cetera?). I might start with SoA, because I can't think of a way to get past Mulahey in BG1.
The only methods I know for lowering stats without doing damage are Ray of Enfeeblement and Contagion. Anyone know anything I'm missing, or have other ideas? I expect success to depend heavily on enemies' (particularly bosses') immunities, and I'm not very knowledgeable about those.
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