ToB suffers from being paced very differently than the rest of the games; it's highly linear, has very little side quests and practically no exploration. That being said, it does offer some very challenging battles, but that's kinda all it does... and without the Ascension mod, even those are a bit lackluster
I suppose it can be a good thing. The "trilogy" offers something for everyone: BG1 has a lot of exploration and low linearity; BG2 is more linear, but has more story/character development; and ToB has little story, but a lot of tactical fighting.
I guess you can pick whatever part you enjoy most, and smooth over the other parts with mods as far as it's possible.
I get to the friendly arm, end up reloading a bunch of times due to being 1-shot by this mean man and try creating something that isn't so weak. I've yet to find a powerhouse that can defeat him though.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
I always have several parties going through their adventures at the same time - many ideas are still waiting in turn to get started. It gets boring when several of the campaigns I got running, end up at the same point of the adventure at the same time. Notorious for me these few months was Firkraag's dungeon, where I ended up thrice, and one of them needed to be redone due to a bug.
[spoiler] There was a bug in an older version of Tyris Flare, where Firkraag wouldn't send Conster away, so you couldn't battle them one at a time and my party was too low-level at that time to crack both Conster and Firkraag in one battle, so I had to reload before meeting Garren at all, as Anomen gets impatient if you quit the quest halfway.[/quote]
I get to the friendly arm, end up reloading a bunch of times due to being 1-shot by this mean man and try creating something that isn't so weak. I've yet to find a powerhouse that can defeat him though.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
I guess i do get a little bored of it all...
Not a cheat, but there are 3 NPCs you can pick up and who will make the fight considerably easier...
I get to the friendly arm, end up reloading a bunch of times due to being 1-shot by this mean man and try creating something that isn't so weak. I've yet to find a powerhouse that can defeat him though.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
I guess i do get a little bored of it all...
Not a cheat, but there are 3 NPCs you can pick up and who will make the fight considerably easier...
Usually I get burnt out about the time I realize I won't get the fighter Stronghold due to the wrong class, or that I won't be able to wield Carsomyr, or that Imoen's not going to have her theiving skills back in time for Durlag's Tower, or when I die because I like Ironman runs.
I always burn out at about Saradush when playing through the saga as a whole.
At the moment I'm on playthrough 5 of BG:EE and I'm starting to fray a bit. I'm looking forward to BG2:EE to advance my fully tomed up characters further.
Once I reach Baldur's Gate, I lose interest. The city part of the game isn't that fun for me, to be honest.
Same here, most of the time I just quit when I reach BG, if I don't do that it's usually run across the city picking up valuable items then rush to the end.
The exact SAME thing just happened to me after replaying Baldur's Gate (EE) after many years. I really enjoyed every bit of the coast. After the Cloakwood Mines I only had the expansion areas left and the city. I just couldn't bring myself to continue playing. I guess I just don't find Durlag's tower and the Werewolf island appealing, and and the city just takes too much time to really get into.
On the other hand, I could never bring myself to get into ToB. So I guess for me personally BG1 and BG2 may be too long. Maybe for people like me that don't have all that much time on their hands it would all work out better if instead of 2 games with expansions the story would be split into three games. I don't know ... After all these years, BG is still a great game, but after the mines I just lose interest. I *want* to like it, but if I had to continue playing I'd rather restart and try out a silly party composition instead.
P.S. Beamdog, you really did a great job on the EE.
I get bored in Chateaux Irenicuis. It is very grueling for me to trudge through that dungeon first. That it takes me a couple of days since I'll only play for 15-20 minutes at a time when I am in there.
Sounds like someone needs to download the Dungeon-Be-Gone mod!
Finally getting to Baldur's Gate... bores me. Terribly. I've already trekked all over the region exploring every map. Fighting every fight. Righting every wrong. And then I have a city to do it all over in that's as big as everything else. Its just more of the same. AND I'm finally closing in on the end of the plot. I just kind of want to end it at that point.
I tend to lose interest either in Chapter 5 BG1 or Chapter 2 BG2. I think it's the sheer number of sidequests in those areas, many of which involve walking from one end of the city to the other fetching things. I get sidetracked and forget to continue on the main plot.
I do modding and customising to up the challenge of the game and keep it fresh. SCS does it wonderfuly, but I also edit most areas with DLTCEP and add new exciting monsters and treasures at my leisure.
I've added a single umberhulk to the ankheg cave, and random treasures to the treasure cache there, for example. (there is a rndmtrsr item in the game, it creates random treasures, scrolls, potions, gold, gems etc.) Also I've added some wraiths to Durlag's tower (got the wraith creature from Black Pits, edited it to add xp bonus for kill) and Spectres (even more horrible and powerful, level draining ghosts) to Candlekeep catacombs. They are the disturbed ghosts of those buried in the catacombs, you want their treasure, they want your soul. (got the spectre creature file from BG2) Added a single lone fledgling vampire to a secret dark cave in a wilderness map. Added lots of random treasures to areas I've added tough monsters, ofcourse. Also edited most stores so they sell some interesting items, and changed quantities, etc. It's all fun, the game is so customisable and I learn modding and editing the game as a whole to suit my tastes and provide fresh, exciting challenges. ^^
To address the original question; yes, I suppose I do. I get bored of pretty much any game if I play it continuously. That's why it's important to own a lot of games - you can play something different for a while and then come back if you want to. I always do come back to the Baldur's Gate games sooner or later.
I get to the friendly arm, end up reloading a bunch of times due to being 1-shot by this mean man and try creating something that isn't so weak. I've yet to find a powerhouse that can defeat him though.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
I guess i do get a little bored of it all...
Level 1 spell "shield" can resist magic missile entirely. So if you have your charname remember this spell, it will be much easier to kill Tarniesh.
I like to create a Fighter/Mage who remembers "shield" and goes directly to Tarnish and hack him to death.
To use Imeon or Montaron to backstab him also works well.
Not only I suffer from chronic restarting syndrome, but I've lost count of how many games I've quit before even making it to Nashkel.
I usually like to plan my party before even rolling a character. Problem is, it's so hard for me to decide sometimes that I'll get a burnout before even starting the game.
Not only I suffer from chronic restarting syndrome, but I've lost count of how many games I've quit before even making it to Nashkel.
I usually like to plan my party before even rolling a character. Problem is, it's so hard for me to decide sometimes that I'll get a burnout before even starting the game.
Same here, but usually when I finally manage to start I am able to get through it.
It depends. Reaching the city does make the game different and I usually do any possible side quest, including ToB, before dedicating time to the city quests. Sometimes, I have a party combination in mind and can't complete it due to restrictions (i.e. I want a NPC who is in Cloakwood or Baldur's Gate); then it's making me rush through the main plot as fast as I can and it annoys the hell outta me to wait for getting my party together. Though, that's not boring, it's just being annoyed and developing a certain anger toward filler NPCs, like having to keep Dorn around because I need the Elven Chain for myself or Eldoth. It makes me angry to see Eldoth standing there, the last missing NPC for my ideal party, but having to keep Dorn until I unlock the area to finish his quest. Knowing I will need to complete the mines, rush to Simmeon, backtrack to Cloakwood and switch out NPCs makes the mines a rather annoying part I just want to get over with.
Kid Carnival's statement is very revealing to me. After the first couple of run thorughs of the game, we become aware of where every item is and what we have to do and where have to go to obtain them. What, have ur characters become "clairvoyent"? We talk about cheating in the game. Isn't it cheating in a way that our whole strategy becomes based on what we already know? That's what is a bit boring to me. It's no longer the exciting game that existed in the beginning when we really didn't really know everything to expect. When I played many years ago the old Akalabeth or Lord British titles the excitement sometimes was not knowing what was around the next turn.
Many players know where almost all the magic items are and what monsters to expect. Wouldn't it be great to have a mod that actually randomized the items a bit more, while tending to keep some of the largest rewards still in the vicinity of those major opponents. Wouldn't it be great to know that you don't know where that elven chain mail really is, or whether there is any, or maybe two? Wouldn't your decisions about parties be based on something more realistic than "needing to carry Dorn".
We'd all love a new game with the BG or D&D engine and a totally immersive atmosphere that we feel we are exploring for the first time and may die at any turn. Such new games, like our hoped for BG3 will be rare since they are understandably hard to do on a high level of quality. But, meanwhile what about a mod that determines items and some monsters on a type of statistical bell curve, so you're not sure what your getting or where your getting it or if you'll ever find something. Even NPCs. What if they showed up in more random, albeit logical, locations. You couldn't use your pre set clairvoyance concerning the game to plan out the game before your character is even supposed to know what the world looks like. What if ? .......
@franco - lemernis is doing something like this mechanically using cards and dice to allow "the fates" to determine many of the options facing the PC and party - I have incorporated some of the same sort of options in a couple of my own run throughs on a smaller scale and find it quite interesting.
I found a new silly point to become bored. I removed level cap after several (almost) entirely vanilla runs (just cosmetic mods, AI scripts, nothing major), to just once have level 5 spells on my cleric. Now I'm on my way to the Undercity, all NPCs except Eldoth and Skie are at their usual max level... and I'm bored, before getting my level 5 spells. Might join @lemernis' diviner ranks when I reroll tomorrow...
@Wanderon - It's interesting. But the method Lemneris seems to propose might take most of your free will out of the game. To me, it would seem like the cards are playing against the computer.
I'd rather make all the "realistic" decisions that I think my character might rationally make, but have the (cards) statistics have some effect on what I find there. Let magic items not always be in the same place. Let NPCs not always show up in the same place. Let there be more of the excitement of not knowing what to completely expect. It would be a tall order for a new mod, but I think some of it could be done. The replay value would be increased tremendously.
Lemernis does make the logical decisions charname should make, and often also what seems to fit the NPCs' take on a situation. It's just things that are usually decided because of meta knowledge - wilderness exploration rather than "going to grab Ashideena".
"Oh yeah, I'm feeling like some Baldur's Gate action!" *Loads BGTutu* "I'm going to roll an XXX and rock this game!" *opens character creation screen* *rolls stats* *rolls stats* *rolls stats* *rolls stats* sigh......
I also tend to burn out just as I get into the City, I prefer dungeon and wilderness crawling over city-scapes.
I get bored in Beregost and Baldur's Gate when I have to explore the numerous random houses that mostly have nothing in them. I know I could just skip them, but I'm kind of OCD in this regard and just feel the need to explore everything. But yeah, I find exploring random houses very tedious.
I always have several parties going through their adventures at the same time - many ideas are still waiting in turn to get started. It gets boring when several of the campaigns I got running, end up at the same point of the adventure at the same time. Notorious for me these few months was Firkraag's dungeon, where I ended up thrice, and one of them needed to be redone due to a bug.
I get to the friendly arm, end up reloading a bunch of times due to being 1-shot by this mean man and try creating something that isn't so weak. I've yet to find a powerhouse that can defeat him though.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
@Wanderon - It's interesting. But the method Lemneris seems to propose might take most of your free will out of the game. To me, it would seem like the cards are playing against the computer.
I'd rather make all the "realistic" decisions that I think my character might rationally make, but have the (cards) statistics have some effect on what I find there. Let magic items not always be in the same place. Let NPCs not always show up in the same place. Let there be more of the excitement of not knowing what to completely expect. It would be a tall order for a new mod, but I think some of it could be done. The replay value would be increased tremendously.
Just to be clear, what I'm doing in that experimental game is to first and foremost roleplay what I think each character would do in the given situation. And that is for all the characters, mind you. If I have a clear sense of what I think a character would do, then that's how it goes.*
The cards and dice get used when
I don't have a clear sense of what a character would do
the characters themselves (as I imagine their reactions) aren't quite sure what to do
meta-game opportunities--and threats--that I know about as a player, but the characters could not know (that said, the gameworld quickly teaches how important scouting and searching for traps is)
where deciding something by chance might just add fun to the game
So, it's a rough guess, but I would say so far in my current game it's been about about 85% roleplayed and 15% determined by chance.
The pleasant surprise in this technique is just how developed the relationships can become between characters, when you really allow the characters to grow and develop their own motivations. I really did not expect that to be so powerful a shaping force in the development of the story/game.
But it definitely changes the game. The NPCs are not just robots that passively follow the PC. They think and act for themselves. This is the real fun of the method. You can do that without using the cards or dice to determine some outcomes. But adding that element of chance just makes the game all the more interesting.
Anyone experimenting with the method will find the mix that works best for them, according to their own personal taste and playstyle.
Btw, I love the mod idea you propose. That would indeed be an awesome mod. And you no doubt know this but unless one takes up modding onself, it is 99.99% certain that no one else is ever going do it, no matter how great the idea is. That's just the reality about mod ideas, I'm afraid.
* And writing it all out is a bit time consuming. But it really crystallizes what one imagines, I have to say.
Comments
I suppose it can be a good thing. The "trilogy" offers something for everyone: BG1 has a lot of exploration and low linearity; BG2 is more linear, but has more story/character development; and ToB has little story, but a lot of tactical fighting.
I guess you can pick whatever part you enjoy most, and smooth over the other parts with mods as far as it's possible.
If anyone has any cheats, i could use them to pass this tricky encounter.
Sometimes the wolf gets me just after looting Gorion's corpse.
I guess i do get a little bored of it all...
[spoiler]
There was a bug in an older version of Tyris Flare, where Firkraag wouldn't send Conster away, so you couldn't battle them one at a time and my party was too low-level at that time to crack both Conster and Firkraag in one battle, so I had to reload before meeting Garren at all, as Anomen gets impatient if you quit the quest halfway.[/quote]
At the moment I'm on playthrough 5 of BG:EE and I'm starting to fray a bit. I'm looking forward to BG2:EE to advance my fully tomed up characters further.
On the other hand, I could never bring myself to get into ToB. So I guess for me personally BG1 and BG2 may be too long. Maybe for people like me that don't have all that much time on their hands it would all work out better if instead of 2 games with expansions the story would be split into three games. I don't know ... After all these years, BG is still a great game, but after the mines I just lose interest. I *want* to like it, but if I had to continue playing I'd rather restart and try out a silly party composition instead.
P.S. Beamdog, you really did a great job on the EE.
I've added a single umberhulk to the ankheg cave, and random treasures to the treasure cache there, for example. (there is a rndmtrsr item in the game, it creates random treasures, scrolls, potions, gold, gems etc.) Also I've added some wraiths to Durlag's tower (got the wraith creature from Black Pits, edited it to add xp bonus for kill) and Spectres (even more horrible and powerful, level draining ghosts) to Candlekeep catacombs. They are the disturbed ghosts of those buried in the catacombs, you want their treasure, they want your soul. (got the spectre creature file from BG2) Added a single lone fledgling vampire to a secret dark cave in a wilderness map. Added lots of random treasures to areas I've added tough monsters, ofcourse. Also edited most stores so they sell some interesting items, and changed quantities, etc. It's all fun, the game is so customisable and I learn modding and editing the game as a whole to suit my tastes and provide fresh, exciting challenges. ^^
I like to create a Fighter/Mage who remembers "shield" and goes directly to Tarnish and hack him to death.
To use Imeon or Montaron to backstab him also works well.
in bg2 you crawl through the irenicus dungeon and then you are on a fairly linear path without any real option to explore and discover
I usually like to plan my party before even rolling a character. Problem is, it's so hard for me to decide sometimes that I'll get a burnout before even starting the game.
have ur characters become "clairvoyent"? We talk about cheating in the game. Isn't it cheating in a way that our whole strategy becomes based on what we already know? That's what is a bit boring to me. It's no longer the exciting game that existed in the beginning when we really didn't really know everything to expect. When I played many years ago the old Akalabeth or Lord British titles the excitement sometimes was not knowing what was around the next turn.
Many players know where almost all the magic items are and what monsters to expect. Wouldn't it be great to have a mod that actually randomized the items a bit more, while tending to keep some of the largest rewards still in the vicinity of those major opponents. Wouldn't it be great to know that you don't know where that elven chain mail really is, or whether there is any, or maybe two? Wouldn't your decisions about parties be based on something more realistic than "needing to carry Dorn".
We'd all love a new game with the BG or D&D engine and a totally immersive atmosphere that we feel we are exploring for the first time and may die at any turn. Such new games, like our hoped for BG3 will be rare since they are understandably hard to do on a high level of quality. But, meanwhile what about a mod that determines items and some monsters on a type of statistical bell curve, so you're not sure what your getting or where your getting it or if you'll ever find something. Even NPCs. What if they showed up in more random, albeit logical, locations. You couldn't use your pre set clairvoyance concerning the game to plan out the game before your character is even supposed to know what the world looks like. What if ? .......
For details see:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16860/let-the-fates-decide-game-journal-there-will-be-major-spoilers#latest
I'd rather make all the "realistic" decisions that I think my character might rationally make, but have the (cards) statistics have some effect on what I find there. Let magic items not always be in the same place. Let NPCs not always show up in the same place. Let there be more of the excitement of not knowing what to completely expect. It would be a tall order for a new mod, but I think some of it could be done. The replay value would be increased tremendously.
*Loads BGTutu*
"I'm going to roll an XXX and rock this game!"
*opens character creation screen*
*rolls stats*
*rolls stats*
*rolls stats*
*rolls stats*
sigh......
I also tend to burn out just as I get into the City, I prefer dungeon and wilderness crawling over city-scapes.
I do the same thing.
A thief can backstab and kill him in one hit.
The cards and dice get used when
So, it's a rough guess, but I would say so far in my current game it's been about about 85% roleplayed and 15% determined by chance.
The pleasant surprise in this technique is just how developed the relationships can become between characters, when you really allow the characters to grow and develop their own motivations. I really did not expect that to be so powerful a shaping force in the development of the story/game.
But it definitely changes the game. The NPCs are not just robots that passively follow the PC. They think and act for themselves. This is the real fun of the method. You can do that without using the cards or dice to determine some outcomes. But adding that element of chance just makes the game all the more interesting.
Anyone experimenting with the method will find the mix that works best for them, according to their own personal taste and playstyle.
Btw, I love the mod idea you propose. That would indeed be an awesome mod. And you no doubt know this but unless one takes up modding onself, it is 99.99% certain that no one else is ever going do it, no matter how great the idea is. That's just the reality about mod ideas, I'm afraid.
* And writing it all out is a bit time consuming. But it really crystallizes what one imagines, I have to say.