The Black Pits - A *Short* Review
Wraith_Sarevok
Member Posts: 130
"Death to you all!"
Black Pits soloed. Insane difficulty. Yup, just like that! Took me about 6 hours, but at least I finally played it. So I bet you're all anxious to hear what I thought about it? Well... it was okay. It wasn't especially good. It didn't suck... unlike the rest of the game.
In fact, I actually kind of liked The Black Pits. The battles were challenging and fun. The characters were fully voiced and believable enough. I got to see some really clever scripting with the NPCs. Baeloth is enjoyably silly in his own psychotic way. The prisoners got a couple laughs out of me. Uhm... I liked the fact that it actually worked. I liked it when it was over. And... that's about it. Just the little things, really. Unfortunately, these don't make up for a lack of character interaction and gameplay. The Black Pits is about as simple and bare-bones an adventure as you can get (and believe me, it DOESN'T get any more simple than The Black Pits). All I do is: I fight a battle, rest and check all the shops, talk to the beholder to get a hint on the next fight, then I go back to the arena and do it all over again... 15... more... times. It gets REALLY repetitive, REALLY fast. It's easily the 4th lamest quest in the game, just above Rasaad's Dark Moon Temple sidequest.
Overall, I did get one worthwhile thing out of The Black Pits. I haven't had this much fun with a battle in a long, long time. It almost felt like Throne of Bhaal again... ALMOST. I would say that I was impressed, but let's face it: I'm not. You guys have set the bar so low at this point that even The Black Pits looks like a work of art compared to the rest of that god-awful, broken-down, bug-infested, journal-entry-vanishing lockup dragfest of a game that is Baldur's Gate: Crashing Edition. In The Black Pits there are no crashes, no lockups, and no major bugs to speak of. It REALLY works.
Note: This was on Patch 7 (1.0.2014 with *HOTFIX*).
Screenshot 1:
Yes, I did use my imported character from the endgame of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (after correcting his HP). I didn't want to bother with the whole "creating a party of nobodies" and grinding levels after I was so burned out with the bugs/crashes/lockups/etc in the vanilla game. I wasn't even trying to solo The Black Pits; I just wanted to beat the new content and be done with it. One thing that really sucks is that you not only lose your familiar, but ALSO the Find Familiar spell is wiped from your spellbook when you start The Black Pits. And none of the shopkeepers sell it! Good thing I can just kill Nimbul and get it again.
This HI-LAR-ious adventure was brought to you by the fact that The Black Pits allows certain overpowered Baldur's Gate 2 items to be sold in its stores. My favorite example being the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, an item from THRONE OF BHAAL. This wonderful little cloak not only gives you Improved Invisibility for free (freeing up a precious 4th-level spell slot), but it also grants you access to the spell Improved Haste. Yes. I said Improved Haste. This is a 6th-level spell that you shouldn't even be able to cast in this game! Not only does it free up a 3rd-level spell slot (Haste is now useless for anything outside of party buffing), but it also turns my fighter's already insane 4 attacks per round into a godlike 7 attacks per round!!! I managed to drop the beholder so fast that he couldn't even get his anti-magic ray off at me. I even managed to chunk that crazy gnome who teleports in and attacks you after killing Baeloth.
My other favorite item is the Amulet of Power, a hideously overpowered item even in Baldur's Gate 2. This necklace actually REDUCES the time it takes to cast a spell and it works for all spell-like abilities! So a 6-second Draw Upon Holy Might turns into a 5-second cast and Enrage becomes insantaneous. Combined with the godlike speed granted by Paws of the Cheetah + Haste, I can literally run around the arena, dodging fireballs and outspeeding both spells and projectiles as I setup my buffs, then bullrush the backrow casters to death in a split second. And there's absolutely nothing they can do about it.
Then, as if the game wasn't easy enough with the addition of overpowered kits and items in the Enhanced Edition, it's made even MORE laughably easy by the fact that you can actually bypass the level cap and import your level 10 Black Pits character into the vanilla game WITH all of his uber Black Pits gear in tow. I'm now such a god in terms of gameplay, that I can solo all of the major and endgame boss battles on Insane difficulty without breaking a sweat. And I did. I'm not even kidding here. Anything you want to fight: Baeloth, the rakshasa, the beholder, phoenix knights, Drizzt, Sarevok, the demon knight, Aec'Letec, you point and it dies. THAT'S how powerful this build is people. I'm only sad that I couldn't battle Elminster in this game because he honestly wouldn't stand a chance.
One very useful thing that level 9 mage gives me in The Black Pits is access to 5th-level spells, which would be impossible under the Baldur's Gate level cap. Spell Immunity and Protection from Lightning are some of the best spells to wear in these fights. And thanks to a magic ring I bought, I can cast Minor Spell Turning for free. The AI is set up so that it detects whatever buffs or immunities you're wearing and changes tactics to compensate. For example, the rakshasa couldn't touch me with his Chain Lightning and Fireball attacks, so he started meleeing and backing off. And since his combat skills are no where near those of a high-level Fighter, he gets torn apart! Baeloth wasn't worth much either. He just stood there the whole time, completely stunned by the fact that he couldn't touch me, until I finally got around to bashing him with my +3 maces. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Apparently the Enchanted Weapon spell is bugged and creates permanent +3 weapons instead of temporary ones. So I can toss my Krotan's Skullkrusher +2 and equip a +3 mace in the offhand for free. Whatever.
I especially liked the group of Red Wizards imprisoned before the 10th fight. Their voices are all hilariously over-the-top and they have some clever scripting in their character interaction. These guys crack me up. Although I think poor Lucius got the short end of the stick since he never talks.
You'll also see some things here that you wouldn't expect: Trolls, Fission Slimes, Flame and Frost Salamanders, Clay Golems, Wraiths, Shambling Mounds, Fire Elementals, etc. There's even a battle with traps, but I won't spoil where they are. Watch out for backstabbing thieves too. They hurt a LOT.
Some of the enemies like to cheat a little, and I mean blatantly cheat. But this just adds to the excitement. For example, the Fire Giant has some strange power that lets him bypass Stoneskin and create Earthquakes that bypass all protections and deal up 50 points of damage! I actually had to beat him by using hit-and-run tactics because I didn't dare engage in melee for too long and risk getting killed. The final battle was very well scripted. You get to fight Baeloth, his rakshasa, his dwarf fighter, and when his minions die, Baeloth calls in the beholder to wipe you out. Even after he's gone, Baeloth continues to summon in flesh golems to slow you down. Even after killing him, the game doesn't end and you have to stave off a crazy gnome and an army of Duegar before the djinn teleports away. It's just so much fun... so much fun.
Screenshot 2:
There comes a moment when everyone wants to indulge that inner selfish nature we all share, that feeling of domination and absolute power over others, that one instant where you can become death incarnate in a videogame and just lay waste to absolutely everything that crosses your path! Well, the Black Pits lets you become your own avatar, if only for a little while. And it lets you have loads of fun in the process. I say play through it at least once and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But after experiencing this game as a whole, there's only two outcomes that I'd ever want to see happen:
1.) Overhaul Games loses the rights to the Baldur's Gate franchise and moves on to something else. They've already demonstrated that they're incapable of quality assurance and beta testing, and that they're not the right people for the job. As good as Baldur's Gate is, it's not its sequel. I'd rather not live to see one of my favorite computer games of all time ruined by Lucas-grade managers.
2.) They do their next game RIGHT. No premature releases. No copping out on content. Just do it RIGHT. And that means good writing, creative thinking, and quality assurance of the 90's grade; of major videogame company grade. I WANT to like your games, I really do, but you're making it very difficult for me with all of these bugs. Wake up.
Black Pits soloed. Insane difficulty. Yup, just like that! Took me about 6 hours, but at least I finally played it. So I bet you're all anxious to hear what I thought about it? Well... it was okay. It wasn't especially good. It didn't suck... unlike the rest of the game.
In fact, I actually kind of liked The Black Pits. The battles were challenging and fun. The characters were fully voiced and believable enough. I got to see some really clever scripting with the NPCs. Baeloth is enjoyably silly in his own psychotic way. The prisoners got a couple laughs out of me. Uhm... I liked the fact that it actually worked. I liked it when it was over. And... that's about it. Just the little things, really. Unfortunately, these don't make up for a lack of character interaction and gameplay. The Black Pits is about as simple and bare-bones an adventure as you can get (and believe me, it DOESN'T get any more simple than The Black Pits). All I do is: I fight a battle, rest and check all the shops, talk to the beholder to get a hint on the next fight, then I go back to the arena and do it all over again... 15... more... times. It gets REALLY repetitive, REALLY fast. It's easily the 4th lamest quest in the game, just above Rasaad's Dark Moon Temple sidequest.
Overall, I did get one worthwhile thing out of The Black Pits. I haven't had this much fun with a battle in a long, long time. It almost felt like Throne of Bhaal again... ALMOST. I would say that I was impressed, but let's face it: I'm not. You guys have set the bar so low at this point that even The Black Pits looks like a work of art compared to the rest of that god-awful, broken-down, bug-infested, journal-entry-vanishing lockup dragfest of a game that is Baldur's Gate: Crashing Edition. In The Black Pits there are no crashes, no lockups, and no major bugs to speak of. It REALLY works.
Note: This was on Patch 7 (1.0.2014 with *HOTFIX*).
Screenshot 1:
Yes, I did use my imported character from the endgame of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (after correcting his HP). I didn't want to bother with the whole "creating a party of nobodies" and grinding levels after I was so burned out with the bugs/crashes/lockups/etc in the vanilla game. I wasn't even trying to solo The Black Pits; I just wanted to beat the new content and be done with it. One thing that really sucks is that you not only lose your familiar, but ALSO the Find Familiar spell is wiped from your spellbook when you start The Black Pits. And none of the shopkeepers sell it! Good thing I can just kill Nimbul and get it again.
This HI-LAR-ious adventure was brought to you by the fact that The Black Pits allows certain overpowered Baldur's Gate 2 items to be sold in its stores. My favorite example being the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, an item from THRONE OF BHAAL. This wonderful little cloak not only gives you Improved Invisibility for free (freeing up a precious 4th-level spell slot), but it also grants you access to the spell Improved Haste. Yes. I said Improved Haste. This is a 6th-level spell that you shouldn't even be able to cast in this game! Not only does it free up a 3rd-level spell slot (Haste is now useless for anything outside of party buffing), but it also turns my fighter's already insane 4 attacks per round into a godlike 7 attacks per round!!! I managed to drop the beholder so fast that he couldn't even get his anti-magic ray off at me. I even managed to chunk that crazy gnome who teleports in and attacks you after killing Baeloth.
My other favorite item is the Amulet of Power, a hideously overpowered item even in Baldur's Gate 2. This necklace actually REDUCES the time it takes to cast a spell and it works for all spell-like abilities! So a 6-second Draw Upon Holy Might turns into a 5-second cast and Enrage becomes insantaneous. Combined with the godlike speed granted by Paws of the Cheetah + Haste, I can literally run around the arena, dodging fireballs and outspeeding both spells and projectiles as I setup my buffs, then bullrush the backrow casters to death in a split second. And there's absolutely nothing they can do about it.
Then, as if the game wasn't easy enough with the addition of overpowered kits and items in the Enhanced Edition, it's made even MORE laughably easy by the fact that you can actually bypass the level cap and import your level 10 Black Pits character into the vanilla game WITH all of his uber Black Pits gear in tow. I'm now such a god in terms of gameplay, that I can solo all of the major and endgame boss battles on Insane difficulty without breaking a sweat. And I did. I'm not even kidding here. Anything you want to fight: Baeloth, the rakshasa, the beholder, phoenix knights, Drizzt, Sarevok, the demon knight, Aec'Letec, you point and it dies. THAT'S how powerful this build is people. I'm only sad that I couldn't battle Elminster in this game because he honestly wouldn't stand a chance.
One very useful thing that level 9 mage gives me in The Black Pits is access to 5th-level spells, which would be impossible under the Baldur's Gate level cap. Spell Immunity and Protection from Lightning are some of the best spells to wear in these fights. And thanks to a magic ring I bought, I can cast Minor Spell Turning for free. The AI is set up so that it detects whatever buffs or immunities you're wearing and changes tactics to compensate. For example, the rakshasa couldn't touch me with his Chain Lightning and Fireball attacks, so he started meleeing and backing off. And since his combat skills are no where near those of a high-level Fighter, he gets torn apart! Baeloth wasn't worth much either. He just stood there the whole time, completely stunned by the fact that he couldn't touch me, until I finally got around to bashing him with my +3 maces. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Apparently the Enchanted Weapon spell is bugged and creates permanent +3 weapons instead of temporary ones. So I can toss my Krotan's Skullkrusher +2 and equip a +3 mace in the offhand for free. Whatever.
I especially liked the group of Red Wizards imprisoned before the 10th fight. Their voices are all hilariously over-the-top and they have some clever scripting in their character interaction. These guys crack me up. Although I think poor Lucius got the short end of the stick since he never talks.
You'll also see some things here that you wouldn't expect: Trolls, Fission Slimes, Flame and Frost Salamanders, Clay Golems, Wraiths, Shambling Mounds, Fire Elementals, etc. There's even a battle with traps, but I won't spoil where they are. Watch out for backstabbing thieves too. They hurt a LOT.
Some of the enemies like to cheat a little, and I mean blatantly cheat. But this just adds to the excitement. For example, the Fire Giant has some strange power that lets him bypass Stoneskin and create Earthquakes that bypass all protections and deal up 50 points of damage! I actually had to beat him by using hit-and-run tactics because I didn't dare engage in melee for too long and risk getting killed. The final battle was very well scripted. You get to fight Baeloth, his rakshasa, his dwarf fighter, and when his minions die, Baeloth calls in the beholder to wipe you out. Even after he's gone, Baeloth continues to summon in flesh golems to slow you down. Even after killing him, the game doesn't end and you have to stave off a crazy gnome and an army of Duegar before the djinn teleports away. It's just so much fun... so much fun.
Screenshot 2:
There comes a moment when everyone wants to indulge that inner selfish nature we all share, that feeling of domination and absolute power over others, that one instant where you can become death incarnate in a videogame and just lay waste to absolutely everything that crosses your path! Well, the Black Pits lets you become your own avatar, if only for a little while. And it lets you have loads of fun in the process. I say play through it at least once and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But after experiencing this game as a whole, there's only two outcomes that I'd ever want to see happen:
1.) Overhaul Games loses the rights to the Baldur's Gate franchise and moves on to something else. They've already demonstrated that they're incapable of quality assurance and beta testing, and that they're not the right people for the job. As good as Baldur's Gate is, it's not its sequel. I'd rather not live to see one of my favorite computer games of all time ruined by Lucas-grade managers.
2.) They do their next game RIGHT. No premature releases. No copping out on content. Just do it RIGHT. And that means good writing, creative thinking, and quality assurance of the 90's grade; of major videogame company grade. I WANT to like your games, I really do, but you're making it very difficult for me with all of these bugs. Wake up.
Post edited by Wraith_Sarevok on
-2
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I stopped reading when I realized there wouldn't be a werebear. What's the point?
If he was looking for more of a challenge, he should of rolled a lvl 1 party and played with that. But to each their own.
No comment on anything else though.
Player gets "bored" because they ruined their own game with an overpowered twink. GG.
So now that that's cleared up:
Not sure if OP is serious or trolling.
Besides that, just seems he wants to provoke a reaction.
That, and the BG II Engine in BG I. And some new kits.
And a half-orc who breaks the rules like I do when I run Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion games. And a monk. And that guy you can only get if you enter the right combination on the gamepad at the start screen.
My dad once grounded me because the game ruined our home computer and he couldn't check his email.
Well.
That, and the viruses.
I am glad you found Black Pits enjoyable, at least. Black pits is combat-oriented, but that's its premise, and it does it very well. Characters are memorable and fun. Challenges are diverse and interesting. Magical items are aglore, but it wouldn't be just as much fun if you only could find +1 weapons.
And also, you are not supposed to bring your maxed out uber powerful Black Pits character into BG:EE game. You can, but then again, you can also play the same character in BG over and over again, get all the tomes numerous times, and eventually, after 10 replays or such, you'll have all stats 25 a god-like character. Disable xp cap and you will eventually get very high levels. Heck, get that mod that enables HLAs and reach 3m xp and then greater whirlwind gibberlings to death, or rain down Comets on poor Tarnesh, like, 'vengeance, sucker, mwahaha!'
"To end ... like this?"
And that character sucks.
I was hoping there would be some pre-made playable NPCs with something to say in it too, but oh well. Ballsoot did the trick for the most part.
As for the OP, you do seem like a random nobody who hates life and everyone in it, a pitty you lost so many of those priceless hours of yours playing the shit game AND posting about it
With regards to how low we set the bar, how many video games have you developed? How many lines of someone else code have you worked with? BG:EE is massively complex and we continue to put in a massive effort to address any issues we find with the game. If you think our work is sub-par, feel free to go elsewhere, as this forum is not the internet, it is a private forum which we pay to maintain for polite discussion around the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition.
-Trent
That said, OP, there's a certain measure of decorum that, while not mandatory, would have allowed you to make your point without being openly provocative, especially when you clearly tweaked your character's stats to maximum - how are you then surprised that your gameplay requires no tactics or forethought, just constant repetition?
That said, I disagree with the OP on nearly every point, particularly his use of the word "short" in the title.
You ignored his first response. He is critiquing the OPs slander at the developers not working to a higher bar. He has every right to say how many games have you written when a person is attempting to set the bar higher without knowing what they are talking about. It was set pretty high (and still is set pretty high) if you know how this engine works.
It is like going to NASA and saying "why the hell haven't you put a person on Mars yet? It is the closest planet to us, you really need to set your bar higher. And why the hell did you let that space shuttle crash, can't you morons do anything right? You all should be fired! I am moving to Russia, where they know how do space programs properly."
~
New content bugs, especially with this engine, are bound to happen. They are not going to catch all of them before release. If you can not grasp this simple concept then. . . I don't know. There is no hope for you in understanding.
And how many bugs that cause "crashes/lockups" are still in the game? Vague comments like "the number of bugs" is silly and unwarranted. Give a descriptive bug that is causing issues and they will address it in the proper forum. But read the paragraph above this again before you do.
And if you haven't noticed, Overhaul has hired some new programmers (with the money that they obtained through the release of this game) to help with the bugs and future patches. And they didn't hire schmucks. They hired the people that have been working on this engine for years and know the ins and outs of it. To me, that is dedication. And everyone is human, even the developers of this game. PR may not be his strong point, but he can handle so called "criticism" anyway he likes.