You are child of a GOD. I'd imagine fates and similar entities allow one to cheat with rolls under such conditions:p
Every time Bhaalslawn is born, fate rolls a dice. And rerolls. And rerolls. And rerolls. and rerolls. and rerolls. So sayeth the wise GRR Martin. Or so-ish.
I usually take what's given within 1st 10 mins or so.
I liked the Temple of Elemental Evil's stat generation method. You could either roll for your stats (which recorded how many times you rolled) or use the point-buy system.
Why was this thread made? Why do you people come and assert your view when nobody cares how you play? Because you're just another person who is misrepresenting the importance of their opinion, like many folks here.
If people cheat then so be it, why does it reflect on you?
As a fighter, I use ctrl-8 so that I don't miss out on conversations which are sometimes unknowingly changed with INT, WIS and CHA. However, rolling 18/00, 18, 18, 10, 10, 18, isn't hard at all. I've done it multiple times.
INT helps at mind flayers, CHA gives you some discounts, but there's not a lot of benefit FIGHTERS get from ctrl-8 other than the security that conversations are entirely full.
If you think that 18 INT and 18 WIS will stop me from dying in a situation I otherwise would, you're putting unnecessary worth into stats which, as a fighter, are practically useless.
Imo we sholdn't go telling eachother how to play the game and what to enjoy and dislike about it. We all have our individual preferences, and it's good we all are different. The devs made it this way and let us enjoy it.
IF you really wanted to be sadistic you could create a game where you have maybe 5 dice rolls period until you earn more dice rolls in game. The way it would work is when you go to create character you get 5 auto dice rolls and you can choose 1 of them and make a character from that roll and you cannot adjust stat points. Now you have 4 dice rolls left. So you can only create 5 characters with this limit until you earned more dice rolls in game somehow, say like making it halfway through.
Now that would be a hardcore PC AD&D game
Reminds me of a thread from a while ago where we (jokingly) entertained the idea of having only one set of stats per game registration key. If you wanted a different roll, you'd have to buy another copy of the game.
For the record anyone who is happier to spend 8 hours rolling than gaming is neurotic. Fighters get no benefit from cheating other than peace of mind.
Mind flayers OWN me with 18 INT, it makes no difference. Money is easy to come by as well too.
I see no reason not to cheat when I can get the best fighter stats in ten minutes.
Honestly, there is no rational reason not to. I just can't handle it, personally. There is no functional difference in rerolling for hours and ctrl+8, but I find myself hitting reroll way too many times to be considered sane.
I'd guess it is an illusory psychological benefit in having "earned" the stats (rubbish if examined rationally.) At the end of the day I, for whatever reason, derive greater utility from rolled great stats as opposed to ctrl-8 stats.
Personally, I say whatever floats your boat is fine. Whatever experience you want from the game should be yours to pursue, multiplayer play excluded. I enjoy making CHARNAME feel and play like the spawn of the divine that he is.
Seriously, and perhaps I'm not masochist enough to find it funny, would you *really* roll a mage with 9 (or 15) intelligence ? Do you like failing on adding spells to your book ?
I don't like failing, but if there is no chance of failure, there is no meaning in success. If everything is guaranteed ahead of time, your strategy doesn't count for anything. Having a chance to fail scribing a spell isn't the biggest element in the game (and isn't present on normal difficulty) and making a successful spell scribe roll isn't "hard" any more than rolling high stats is "hard" but the fact that you could fail means you have to make some tough decisions when you find a rare high-level scroll: do you cast it once, guaranteed, or try to scribe it so you can cast it multiple times, but also maybe fail? Do you risk doing it now, or wait until you can buy a potion of genius to improve your odds? There are all sorts of ways around limitations, but unless you actually have limitations in the first place, there is no reason to experiment or discover.
Ultimately, ability scores don't make a huge difference. The real difference between all 18s and all minimums is going to be most pronounced at the start, where super-high ability scores give you the equivalent of 1 or 2 extra experience levels, but the initial advantage fades over time: the difference between level 21 and 23 is a lot less than the difference between level 1 and 3. With average rolls, you are going to have a more challenging time. Whether that is a good thing or bad thing depends on whether you like being challenged, and whether you find the game challenging enough as it is, or perhaps too easy.
Personally, I like randomness in character generation because it causes me to play characters I would never have picked if I just got to indulge my own fantasies and made the same handful of characters again and again. The variety brings more challenges and makes playing a more active experience. Playing a hyper-optimized character of the same type you've defeated the game with before is just repetitive.
Just rolled a 18/00 on my Cavalier. The other stats were sub-par, but if I had cheated, they could have been much better. I can't play anything I've cheated on without feeling guilty. I'll lose interest and quit.
Seriously, and perhaps I'm not masochist enough to find it funny, would you *really* roll a mage with 9 (or 15) intelligence ? Do you like failing on adding spells to your book ?
I don't like failing, but if there is no chance of failure, there is no meaning in success. If everything is guaranteed ahead of time, your strategy doesn't count for anything. Having a chance to fail scribing a spell isn't the biggest element in the game (and isn't present on normal difficulty) and making a successful spell scribe roll isn't "hard" any more than rolling high stats is "hard" but the fact that you could fail means you have to make some tough decisions when you find a rare high-level scroll: do you cast it once, guaranteed, or try to scribe it so you can cast it multiple times, but also maybe fail? Do you risk doing it now, or wait until you can buy a potion of genius to improve your odds? There are all sorts of ways around limitations, but unless you actually have limitations in the first place, there is no reason to experiment or discover.
Ultimately, ability scores don't make a huge difference. The real difference between all 18s and all minimums is going to be most pronounced at the start, where super-high ability scores give you the equivalent of 1 or 2 extra experience levels, but the initial advantage fades over time: the difference between level 21 and 23 is a lot less than the difference between level 1 and 3. With average rolls, you are going to have a more challenging time. Whether that is a good thing or bad thing depends on whether you like being challenged, and whether you find the game challenging enough as it is, or perhaps too easy.
Personally, I like randomness in character generation because it causes me to play characters I would never have picked if I just got to indulge my own fantasies and made the same handful of characters again and again. The variety brings more challenges and makes playing a more active experience. Playing a hyper-optimized character of the same type you've defeated the game with before is just repetitive.
I agree so much with this!! Well put, sir.
Have you played vanilla BG1 ?
I've only played the vanilla BG1, back in ’98.,except for a short Tutu experience, where I stopped at chapter three. That was a couple of months ago where i bought it on GOG after BG:EE delay.
Never got further, as I reconsidered and decided to wait for the enhanced version. Took me ages to find and install the relevant mods to make the game playable on my machine too..
As specified in my answer to the post you quoted, there is no difficulty slider in the original game.
Therefore, you cannot be sure that you'll have a 100% success in having your spell added to your spellbook (if you move the slider to "normal difficulty"). Neither can you be sure that you'll get all your HP per level, unless you reload your save until satisfied.
Good point is, starting from tomorrow, everybody will have the choice to play it the way they want. ;-)
What I liked in the post I quoted can be summed up in the first line: "I don't like failing, but if there is no chance of failure, there is no meaning in success."
It's been so long since I've played vanilla BG, so didn't remember that there wasn't a difficulty slider, but the principle of the above statement still stands in my mind as a general truth in any game.
That's the reason I was ultimately disappointed in Skyrim. After few hours into the game, there was no chance of failure at all, as my char was so powerful that I only needed to spit on dragons, and they died...
In my opinion it is impossible to cheat in a single-player game. The only person you can possibly cheat if you ruin the challenge by giving yourself god-like stats, is yourself. :-)
I prefer to have stats above normal for the protagonist. After all you are a *spoiler* so it is kind of your birthright... ;-) And, the protagonist's primary stat should IMO be at least 15 or 16. That keeps the game challenging without me having to reload constantly.
I just thought I should point out that in the rogue-like game angband they used to have a feature where you choose minimum levels for each attribute and it would sit their and roll dice for minutes or hours until it found something that matched what you wanted. They have since taken that out and put in a point buy system if you don't want to roll.
I think rolling is fun, and I do like rolling until I get something better than average.
Comments
Every time Bhaalslawn is born, fate rolls a dice. And rerolls. And rerolls. And rerolls. and rerolls. and rerolls. So sayeth the wise GRR Martin. Or so-ish.
I usually take what's given within 1st 10 mins or so.
If people cheat then so be it, why does it reflect on you?
As a fighter, I use ctrl-8 so that I don't miss out on conversations which are sometimes unknowingly changed with INT, WIS and CHA. However, rolling 18/00, 18, 18, 10, 10, 18, isn't hard at all. I've done it multiple times.
INT helps at mind flayers, CHA gives you some discounts, but there's not a lot of benefit FIGHTERS get from ctrl-8 other than the security that conversations are entirely full.
If you think that 18 INT and 18 WIS will stop me from dying in a situation I otherwise would, you're putting unnecessary worth into stats which, as a fighter, are practically useless.
Mind flayers OWN me with 18 INT, it makes no difference. Money is easy to come by as well too.
I see no reason not to cheat when I can get the best fighter stats in ten minutes.
I'd guess it is an illusory psychological benefit in having "earned" the stats (rubbish if examined rationally.) At the end of the day I, for whatever reason, derive greater utility from rolled great stats as opposed to ctrl-8 stats.
Personally, I say whatever floats your boat is fine. Whatever experience you want from the game should be yours to pursue, multiplayer play excluded. I enjoy making CHARNAME feel and play like the spawn of the divine that he is.
Well put, sir.
Have you played vanilla BG1 ?
I've only played the vanilla BG1, back in ’98.,except for a short Tutu experience, where I stopped at chapter three. That was a couple of months ago where i bought it on GOG after BG:EE delay.
Never got further, as I reconsidered and decided to wait for the enhanced version.
Took me ages to find and install the relevant mods to make the game playable on my machine too..
Therefore, you cannot be sure that you'll have a 100% success in having your spell added to your spellbook (if you move the slider to "normal difficulty").
Neither can you be sure that you'll get all your HP per level, unless you reload your save until satisfied.
Good point is, starting from tomorrow, everybody will have the choice to play it the way they want. ;-)
"I don't like failing, but if there is no chance of failure, there is no meaning in success."
It's been so long since I've played vanilla BG, so didn't remember that there wasn't a difficulty slider, but the principle of the above statement still stands in my mind as a general truth in any game.
That's the reason I was ultimately disappointed in Skyrim. After few hours into the game, there was no chance of failure at all, as my char was so powerful that I only needed to spit on dragons, and they died...
I prefer to have stats above normal for the protagonist. After all you are a *spoiler* so it is kind of your birthright... ;-) And, the protagonist's primary stat should IMO be at least 15 or 16. That keeps the game challenging without me having to reload constantly.
I think rolling is fun, and I do like rolling until I get something better than average.