Is BGIIEE easier than the original BG2?

silver_gp

I am playing with the difficulty "core rules" in the first dungeon, and after sleeping many times, I never encounter a random battle. It was many years ago I played BG2, and in my memory the orignal version is very hard, and after sleeping in the first dungeon, it is a high possibility to encounter a random battle. Haha, I don't know whether my memory goes wrong or not, so just ask, is the BGIIEE's difficulty lowed down comparing to the original version?

mackos

in tactics you were attacked after sleeping i think you played with this component

Itstucktwice

While it is possible that I am just incredibly lucky, I have not once been attacked while sleeping in (vanilla) Chateau Irenicus over hundreds of runs. As was stated above, certain mods change that.

Khyron

I can tell you this much, the original difficulty has not been tampered with. 2EE is as easy as 2 Vanilla ever was. However, some of the new content in 2EE has kicked my ass so many times, i'm starting to wonder what i've been doing all these years.

GemHound

Khyron said:

I can tell you this much, the original difficulty has not been tampered with. 2EE is as easy as 2 Vanilla ever was. However, some of the new content in 2EE has kicked my ass so many times, i'm starting to wonder what i've been doing all these years.

Summons. Its all about the summons. except for in the Wild Forest your kind of screwed there since it even affects Divines Magic for some reason.

Leuenherz

The new content can be quite tricky if tackled early. As someone who wanted a party of the new NPCs (+ Viccy) as soon as possible, I learned this painful lesson already.

ChipDelHazard

I haven't really gotten that far into the new content so I can't comment about that, but I am having an easier time playing now than I did last time... Then again that was with stratagems. So I'll scratch it off as me just getting better and better each time I do a playthrough:p

shrekdj

After playing countless BG2 sessions I still feel its still challenging.
Currently after playing BG2:EE for past 5 hours its awesome and the difficulty still at its best.
The best way to play it is with mods, just like Skyrim turns spectacular with 200+ mods installed.

AlexT

GemHound said:

except for in the Wild Forest your kind of screwed there since it even affects Divines Magic for some reason.

This is by design.

That entire area is a wild magic zone. All spelllcasting there (whether arcane or divine) is subject to wild surges. The wild magic zones from the original game (inside Watcher's Keep) worked the same way.

GemHound

Well, either I am unnaturally lucky this round, or my party is just that insane. I'm used to BG2 being so hard that everything can one shot me at every turn, yet I'm rolling over everything this time around. What do you think is the reason?

Introducing the Wedding Crashers:

ChipDelHazard

shrekdj said:

After playing countless BG2 sessions I still feel its still challenging.
Currently after playing BG2:EE for past 5 hours its awesome and the difficulty still at its best.
The best way to play it is with mods, just like Skyrim turns spectacular with 200+ mods installed.

Are any of the mods actually working with BG2:EE yet?

GemHound

ChipDelHazard said:

shrekdj said:

After playing countless BG2 sessions I still feel its still challenging.
Currently after playing BG2:EE for past 5 hours its awesome and the difficulty still at its best.
The best way to play it is with mods, just like Skyrim turns spectacular with 200+ mods installed.

Are any of the mods actually working with BG2:EE yet?

There is a list stickied to the top of the mods forum.

1765

part of the problem for people is often that they have played the game so much they get used to many things: enemy positioning, traps, what spells to use where, min/maxing stats etc, what party they want, maxing XP, doing all available quests, planning quest route for ease of progression and leaving hard things untill later, going the best items, the list goes on and on. Also people who are used to playing BG2 SCS or Tactics (or even god forbid IA) find it incredibly easy when they return to "vanilla" difficulty.

The game can feel "easier" if you are used to doing things this way. But the basic BG2 vanilla is not "easy" for the new player, much as BG1 can be very hard for a new player but easy as cake for the experienced.

ChipDelHazard

GemHound said:

ChipDelHazard said:

shrekdj said:

After playing countless BG2 sessions I still feel its still challenging.
Currently after playing BG2:EE for past 5 hours its awesome and the difficulty still at its best.
The best way to play it is with mods, just like Skyrim turns spectacular with 200+ mods installed.

Are any of the mods actually working with BG2:EE yet?

There is a list stickied to the top of the mods forum.

Oh, I was sure that it would take some time after the release before we got see compatible mods. My thanks for the heads up:p

Flashburn

If anything, it's A LOT harder than BG2! Enemies are using special powers on their items, drinking potions, and using class abilities! The horror!

I've been getting my ass kicked in the new areas. Lanneth was the one of the biggest pains I've ever fought, and I've played Ascension! Drinking invisibility potions, reapplication of mirror image and stoneskin. The worst part was that she kept walking around so I had to trap her in one of the rooms. For all their intelligence, it seems enemies still can't open doors.

I ran out of all the spells that could've been useful on Aerie and Neera, so no Breach, Silence, Magic Missile, or anything - just wands. Thankfully Dorn's Poison Weapon is seriously useful after a Greater Malison and that's what killed her.