As you can see, 19 STR is indeed quite cheesy in BG1. That's especially the case that early on. He even out-damages Minsc who was the original best hitter in the game. (As a side note, now you can take both of them to steamroll pretty much anything.)
Also, just like Minsc, Dorn uses two-handed swords by default, which means he can keep his distance from foes while a better tank soaks up incoming damage. Not to mention the fact that he starts with a +1 weapon that turns into +2 as soon as he kills something. I'd say that's quite overkill at level 1.
Additionally, CON is not all that important in BG1. You can already avoid most incoming physical damage by lowering your AC, and even if you don't use the Gauntlets of Dexterity on him, Dorn has decent DEX to begin with.
Well, there is Coran's massive ranged thac0 and thieving bonuses due to his 20 dexterity. Similarly, Kagain saves you the trouble of extra healing spells (HUGE in BG1) through his regeneration. Both have illegal stats, whereas Dorn's are actually legal (though in conjunction with his class it is illegal and indeed very powerful in the first game).
If you give Coran a tome of dexterity he will be off the charts as a thief and an archer.
As you can see, 19 STR is indeed quite cheesy in BG1. That's especially the case that early on. He even out-damages Minsc who was the original best hitter in the game. (As a side note, now you can take both of them to steamroll pretty much anything.)
Also, just like Minsc, Dorn uses two-handed swords by default, which means he can keep his distance from foes while a better tank soaks up incoming damage. Not to mention the fact that he starts with a +1 weapon that turns into +2 as soon as he kills something. I'd say that's quite overkill at level 1.
Additionally, CON is not all that important in BG1. You can already avoid most incoming physical damage by lowering your AC, and even if you don't use the Gauntlets of Dexterity on him, Dorn has decent DEX to begin with.
There's nothing cheesy about having the natural maximum strength for your race any more than it is cheesy for Minsc to have an 18/100. That is an objective fact. "Cheese" is an abuse of mechanics, and there's nothing illegal about any of Dorn's stats. Really powerful? Sure, but the Evil NPCs are supposed to be really powerful.
And, yeah, CON is plenty important in BG1. There are quite a few enemies that don't give a good goddamn how much you've lowered your AC, like mages and mini-boss or boss-level Fighters.
I'd argue that Dorn's race is illegal in BG1. Or at least it was in vanilla. Yes, Kagain and Coran are quite overpowered too, but that doesn't diminish the fact that Dorn deals, by far, the most melee damage any NPC can achieve without the Manual of Gainful Exercise or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power (which are both available much later in the game).
Also, are we arguing semantics on what "cheesy" means? Because I'm pretty sure there's no conventional dictionary definition of that word that means any of those things that we're using it for in this context.
@Dee: The question remains, though - what's to stop you from playing the game and avoiding the new NPCs? How is the end result any different from "switching off" the new content?
@Aranthys: Arguments about preferences and personal tastes aside, it's worth pointing out that what you see as a lack of integration can just as easily be viewed as a positive - you actually get to explore new places in BG2:EE, which is something no BG2 mod I know of can do.
@Aranthys: Arguments about preferences and personal tastes aside, it's worth pointing out that what you see as a lack of integration can just as easily be viewed as a positive - you actually get to explore new places in BG2:EE, which is something no BG2 mod I know of can do.
Well, you don't know enough mods then ^^ Edit.: See SHS Fishing For Trouble and Colours of Infinity for examples
There are some features of EE that sell the game to me, to the point where I am going to have a very hard time ever playing GoG+mods again.
One that is mentioned all the time is the zoom feature, combined with the widescreen resolution that does not make sprites look like ants, text look like the fine print of the Devil's contract, and terrain look like you are viewing it from orbit.
My favorite two besides that one are colored foot circles and portrait icons in the upper right of each portrait that show you what each toon has been ordered to do in the next round. I find both of these features to be *huge* plusses that I now don't want to live without.
As for the colored circles, I always make a rainbow:
@Shandyr has a version of this same pic with a Color Spray having been cast, to create the most beautiful EE rainbow I've ever seen.
Each color of the rainbow represents a class archetype to me - red for tank fighters and evocation/conjuring mages, orange for archer or damage fighters and sorcerers/wild mages, sun yellow for clerics, green for druids, blue for bards or charm/summoning/illusion/alteration/abjuration/divination mages, and violet for thieves.
And, I truly wonder why more people don't give kudos to the "next round order in queue" icons on the portraits? How many times have all of us experienced players had to stop, wring our hands, and wonder, "Now, do I have that mage or cleric getting ready to cast that spell on the next round or not? Did I tell that fighter to strike with melee on the next round or to fire an arrow?" Which leads to multiple clicking of orders from round to round, "just to make sure", without those fantastic, handy-dandy "next-round orders" icons.
Honestly, those three things, 1) zoom and wide-screen resolution without shrinking of sprites, interface and text, 2) color-coded foot circles, and 3) next-round orders icons on portraits, are enough to make me not want to play any version but EE.
And, there is so much more that is enhanced. As for mods, the major ones just got updated to compatibility, including Tweaks, Rogue Rebalancing, SCS, and most NPC mods (with the notable exceptions of NPC Project, which is in beta and being tested and polished tirelessly by a large group of dedicated testers, and Berelinde's character mods.)
I'd argue that Dorn's race is illegal in BG1. Or at least it was in vanilla. Yes, Kagain and Coran are quite overpowered too, but that doesn't diminish the fact that Dorn deals, by far, the most melee damage any NPC can achieve without the Manual of Gainful Exercise or the Gauntlets of Ogre Power (which are both available much later in the game).
Also, are we arguing semantics on what "cheesy" means? Because I'm pretty sure there's no conventional dictionary definition of that word that means any of those things that we're using it for in this context.
He does two extra damage over Minsc, and it's justified because he's an Evil NPC, and the Evil NPCs are ALL really powerful.
Technically you could argue that Dorn's race was somewhat illegal anyway, since he's a Paladin in 2E DnD.
I'm sure Urgothoz doesn't care what race his champion is, and evidently Overhaul is fine with it. It's not as if half-orcs and Blackguards intersect in a way that makes them overpowered, certainly no more overpowered than gnome Fighter/Illusionists or Fighter/Mage dual-classed humans. Less so, in fact. Much less.
I think its funny when a post starts off as: "First off this isnt a hate thread. " and then goes on to list a bunch of negative opinions the OP holds about the game.
Technically you could argue that Dorn's race was somewhat illegal anyway, since he's a Paladin in 2E DnD.
I'm sure Urgothoz doesn't care what race his champion is, and evidently Overhaul is fine with it. It's not as if half-orcs and Blackguards intersect in a way that makes them overpowered, certainly no more overpowered than gnome Fighter/Illusionists or Fighter/Mage dual-classed humans. Less so, in fact. Much less.
Oh I was basically being facetious. By and large I agree with you, and clearly Ur-Gothoz isn't prejudiced against mortal races. He is an enlightened fiend, after all, if a tad paranoid.
I do, however, think Dorn is pretty powerful compared to the other BG1 NPCs, I think Charnames are in a slightly different category due to the ability to roll rather obscene stats in combination with powerful class combos. Its only really fair to compare him to the other NPCs, and as it is he is stronger than Minsc, who had the unfortunate side-effect of being tied to the only NPC mage barred from two mage schools. 19 Strength + Poison Weapon and Fighter THAC0 in BG1 is *really* good (in BG2 its less noteworthy, if still pretty great). This makes him the best melee damage dealer in the game, which I think is fair since its one of the perks one gets from running evil parties.
Being *over*powered, though, or 'cheese' is a relative term, as you note elsewhere. He is, however, undeniably very powerful.
You know, if you can manage to produce an install of BG1 with ALL of the features of BG:EE (or BG2 with the EE stuff) except possibly the Black Pits and new NPCs and their zones... I can acknowledge the criticism of "It's just BG with mods" as valid...
Kits including all the new ones, the resolution support of EE, zooming and all of the fixes.
@belgarathmth I also make their colors all different so I know where each (N)PC is standing! It is awesome, and funny
EE Haters: BURN IN BAATOR!!! Or just show some respect, the work they did might not be liked (I dislike the work with the Swords and other inventory icons in 1.2, and, to fix it, I will export aaaaaall the old BAMs from BG2 to BG2:EE, and upload them here, so all those that dislike them can change them), but they did a very respectable job, if you hath came to the forums to complain, do it in a respectful way, by making Feature Requests and reporting Bugs, it will help MUCH more.
Worse than anything you might say about the Enhanced Edition is the label "EE Hater". While there are, I am certain, those who dislike or even hate these games, the majority of people who have complaints are not coming here with an agenda of aggression, and calling them EE haters as if it were an epithet doesn't invite people to change their opinions of the game, and in fact it only solidifies their distrust of what you might have to say.
So let's try to avoid terms like "hater", and try to deal with each other a bit more empathically. The internet will be a much nicer place.
Worse than anything you might say about the Enhanced Edition is the label "EE Hater". While there are, I am certain, those who dislike or even hate these games, the majority of people who have complaints are not coming here with an agenda of aggression, and calling them EE haters as if it were an epithet doesn't invite people to change their opinions of the game, and in fact it only solidifies their distrust of what you might have to say.
So let's try to avoid terms like "hater", and try to deal with each other a bit more empathically. The internet will be a much nicer place.
It seems someone exported/imported his character to have multiple tomes of wisdom... Cheater!
@Schneidend We'll just have to agree to disagree regarding Dorn's OP status. Not that it matters. I'm not even sure why it was brought up at this point. :P
I have GOG version+mods installed, I play mainly EE but I also like my playthroughts with Ascension, Refinements and custom kits. Still once the majority of the mods have been made EE ready, the bugs have been squashed and the journal fixed, I find there are no reasons for me to return to vanilla no more, why? Because the game have been enhanced not simply tweaked with mods, and it suits me well to play EE and fully enjoy the new NPC and added content. 2 of the new NPC I like, 2 I don't, but that's also true with the original NPCs.
About the Black Pits: I rolled some themed parties for fun but never actually played them, I prefer RP the Bhaalspawn campaign rather than taking mercs to battle, but I understand many people are fond of the Black Pits, who am I to complain and deny them the pleasure by saying the Black Pits are useless and a waste of resources like the OP believe it to be, it is actually quite the contrary, because it have been a buying incentive for some of my friends.
Why I think the game is enhanced and not simply tweaked: Because they didn't just mod the existing game. When you have content and enhancements made by people who get paid for what they do (while there are some "high resolution" Baldur's Gate mods, none of them really increase the picture's quality - stretching a picture is not the same thing as remastering it for higher resolution), music composed by award winning composer Sam Hulick and veteran voice acting (Mark Meer) that's working on a game and not modding. Beamdog was founded by Bioware's co-founder. He was the director on the original Neverwinter Nights, Bioware's epic after Baldur's Gate - and he isn't the only ex-Bioware in Beamdog: Would it have been great if the enhanced editions had been done with a new 2D engine and such? Yeah, it would have been great - but it wasn't up to Beamdog; they had only so much rights when it came to making them and did well with what they had all restrictions in mind. There are those who are going on about "this is what Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition should have been", when they aren't even coming to terms with the fact that Beamdog didn't have the legal rights nor big studios resources to do such - you can only do so much with the Infinity Engine, and none of the mods turn Baldur's Gate into Pillars of Eternity. I see many people who disagree saying GOG+mods are superior to EE: fact is that Beamdog actually hired many talented modders into their development team; there's no better resume in video game development than actual work. The developers understand modders, and many mods are being converted to EE full compatibility, codes and resources have been externalized making coding mods mostly simpler and easier but for the oldest mods.
On the UI and graphical improvements in particular: Tweaks is what mods offer: The mods used along vanilla games that introduce UI and graphical improvements work just fine, but there are no true high resolution mods for Baldur's Gate: you can't fully rework the resolution for those 2D backgrounds without having access to original assets that were used to make the game - that is something that Beamdog had to face, because the original artworks (that's how they were done; with real artwork) for first Baldur's Gate had been lost over the years, and only Baldur's Gate II had significant assets remaining. So, yes; any mods for Baldur's Gates that increase the resolution beyond what is already supported in the game is just stretching the picture.
Enhancements is what BGEE and BG2EE actually offer: Zooming feature, actual Higher Resolutions with sharp graphics, party portraits combat icons, more refined and practical UI while keeping the functionality of the original games. That alone is worth spending the money on the EE, and they continue improving.
Actually, and it's true that I didn't talk about that - the new musics are top notch. It's too bad that all of them require the new NPCs in your group to be heard.
Worse than anything you might say about the Enhanced Edition is the label "EE Hater". While there are, I am certain, those who dislike or even hate these games, the majority of people who have complaints are not coming here with an agenda of aggression, and calling them EE haters as if it were an epithet doesn't invite people to change their opinions of the game, and in fact it only solidifies their distrust of what you might have to say.
So let's try to avoid terms like "hater", and try to deal with each other a bit more empathically. The internet will be a much nicer place.
Thank you kind Sir. I am constantly being labelled a "hater" I am not. I even reviewed BGEE and scored it 9/10. http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/reviews/g5292cfa1f3186/Baldurs-Gate-II-Enhanced-Edition-review I have been a gamer for well over 25 years. I only recently realigned myself into the industry by joining PikPok/Sidhe in Wellington NZ. So I am well aware of the complexities of game design and creation.
I think that for the most part the work that's been done on the EE is a great start, but it isnt really what the game needs to make an impact outside of the core group already interested in the propery.
The addition of the NPCs and The Black Pits does virtually nothing to add appeal to the game, and frankly I dont understand why the effort was made to shoehorn in additional content to games that are renowned and beloved for the content already there. Its seems almost disrespectful to me at worst, and at best is nothing much more than a marketing bullet point.
There should have been more work done on making the games more akin to game released this decade. Obviously no one wants anyone to tamper with the beautiful hand drawn backgrounds. They still look, and will always looks wonderful, but the ugly low res sprites should have been excised and replaced. New models and animations really should have been the focus on the aesthetic presentation.
I appreciate the engine tweaks, and refinements. I adore the zoom function, and widescreen support. The reworked audio (mainly due to the environmental effects) is hugely appreciated, as are the rule fixes and bug squashing.
The issue is that the split focus meant we got MORE bugs, and issues and introduced pointless additions to the core game that frankly were not needed.
Can you imagine just how wonderful it would have been to see a game with a pristine presentation with high res graphics across the board. New spell effect animations, all bugs squashed, and a new UI that was more intuitive and less clunky? This would have been a critical darling. The core game is already highly regarded, it was only the aging engine and outdated design that held it back. The thing is what needed to be worked on was not nailed, and things that needed no work at all had additions plopped in for no good reason.
All that needed to be done was to update and polish. Neither of these were done as well as they should have been, and part of the reason is due to the inclusion of pointless additions which created new problems and took time away from the core work that needed to be done.
I would love to know that reason why they thought it appropriate and a good idea to mess with the actual game, and not spent 100% of their resources on updating it.
@cryocore So, you're not a hater, you just want the devs to do the most expensive, most time-consuming, least realistic thing you could possibly ask them to do. Consider my eyes opened.
What you're asking for is astronomically more expensive than what was done. The game would probably have to cost half again as much, if not more, to create a full set of new sprites and animations.
@cryocore I think some people (myself definitely included) are put off by the way you have presented your thoughts. You make statements about what should have been done, which content or changes are valuable, and so on, in absolute terms. It would really go a long way if you were to preface your opinions with 'I think...' or 'In my opinion...' You are certainly entitled to your opinions, and I'm glad that you express them. But it's better to make clear that they are opinions, rather than treating them as facts. I'll give a few examples:
"The addition of the NPCs and The Black Pits does virtually nothing to add appeal to the game...' I completely disagree, and I've seen others on the forum state that they enjoyed this new content. Your statement is your opinion.
'New models and animations really should have been the focus on the aesthetic presentation.' Again, I disagree. I don't believe (notice how this is phrased) that new models/animations would have added as much to my enjoyment of the game as the new NPCs/content did.
'The thing is what needed to be worked on was not nailed, and things that needed no work at all had additions plopped in for no good reason.' I also disagree here, for some of the same reasons described above.
Polite discourse is a wonderful thing, but it's important to remember that you should respect the opinions of others as much as they are expected to respect yours.
Why should anyone preface anything with "I think"? Of course this is all opinion. Everything said here is pretty much subjective. As I am 100% in agreement with my own opinion, prefacing it would be disingenuous. Dont mistake assertive statement of opinion as anything other than what it is. Taking offense where none is intended is not my concern.
@cryocore So, you're not a hater, you just want the devs to do the most expensive, most time-consuming, least realistic thing you could possibly ask them to do. Consider my eyes opened.
What you're asking for is astronomically more expensive than what was done. The game would probably have to cost half again as much, if not more, to create a full set of new sprites and animations.
HUH? the only real additional cost is time, and much of that could be recouped by dropping the extraneous content that also required time and money. I have no idea what the make up of the team is, but they should have artists and designers in there, and they cost money no matter what they're actually doing. Production of in game assets of course costs, but as I said the split focus was the real cost here, both in terms of resourcing and the final product.
Comments
If you give Coran a tome of dexterity he will be off the charts as a thief and an archer.
And, yeah, CON is plenty important in BG1. There are quite a few enemies that don't give a good goddamn how much you've lowered your AC, like mages and mini-boss or boss-level Fighters.
Also, are we arguing semantics on what "cheesy" means? Because I'm pretty sure there's no conventional dictionary definition of that word that means any of those things that we're using it for in this context.
@Aranthys: Arguments about preferences and personal tastes aside, it's worth pointing out that what you see as a lack of integration can just as easily be viewed as a positive - you actually get to explore new places in BG2:EE, which is something no BG2 mod I know of can do.
Edit.: See SHS Fishing For Trouble and Colours of Infinity for examples
One that is mentioned all the time is the zoom feature, combined with the widescreen resolution that does not make sprites look like ants, text look like the fine print of the Devil's contract, and terrain look like you are viewing it from orbit.
My favorite two besides that one are colored foot circles and portrait icons in the upper right of each portrait that show you what each toon has been ordered to do in the next round. I find both of these features to be *huge* plusses that I now don't want to live without.
As for the colored circles, I always make a rainbow:
@Shandyr has a version of this same pic with a Color Spray having been cast, to create the most beautiful EE rainbow I've ever seen.
Each color of the rainbow represents a class archetype to me - red for tank fighters and evocation/conjuring mages, orange for archer or damage fighters and sorcerers/wild mages, sun yellow for clerics, green for druids, blue for bards or charm/summoning/illusion/alteration/abjuration/divination mages, and violet for thieves.
And, I truly wonder why more people don't give kudos to the "next round order in queue" icons on the portraits? How many times have all of us experienced players had to stop, wring our hands, and wonder, "Now, do I have that mage or cleric getting ready to cast that spell on the next round or not? Did I tell that fighter to strike with melee on the next round or to fire an arrow?" Which leads to multiple clicking of orders from round to round, "just to make sure", without those fantastic, handy-dandy "next-round orders" icons.
Honestly, those three things, 1) zoom and wide-screen resolution without shrinking of sprites, interface and text, 2) color-coded foot circles, and 3) next-round orders icons on portraits, are enough to make me not want to play any version but EE.
And, there is so much more that is enhanced. As for mods, the major ones just got updated to compatibility, including Tweaks, Rogue Rebalancing, SCS, and most NPC mods (with the notable exceptions of NPC Project, which is in beta and being tested and polished tirelessly by a large group of dedicated testers, and Berelinde's character mods.)
I've lost many a spell by walking at the wrong time.
And, I can't help but notice so much *misinformation* in a lot of posts. Gaaa, so much *misinformation*!
It gives me a headache when I read it!
I just start shaking my head and saying "no, no, no, wrong, false, not even an opinion, just plain *misinformation*, grrrr."
It's first name usually being opinions parading as facts and it's last name perhaps arrogance portrayed as knowledge...
Gotta love it... (or maybe not...)
I do, however, think Dorn is pretty powerful compared to the other BG1 NPCs, I think Charnames are in a slightly different category due to the ability to roll rather obscene stats in combination with powerful class combos. Its only really fair to compare him to the other NPCs, and as it is he is stronger than Minsc, who had the unfortunate side-effect of being tied to the only NPC mage barred from two mage schools. 19 Strength + Poison Weapon and Fighter THAC0 in BG1 is *really* good (in BG2 its less noteworthy, if still pretty great). This makes him the best melee damage dealer in the game, which I think is fair since its one of the perks one gets from running evil parties.
Being *over*powered, though, or 'cheese' is a relative term, as you note elsewhere. He is, however, undeniably very powerful.
You know, if you can manage to produce an install of BG1 with ALL of the features of BG:EE (or BG2 with the EE stuff) except possibly the Black Pits and new NPCs and their zones... I can acknowledge the criticism of "It's just BG with mods" as valid...
Kits including all the new ones, the resolution support of EE, zooming and all of the fixes.
EE Haters: BURN IN BAATOR!!! Or just show some respect, the work they did might not be liked (I dislike the work with the Swords and other inventory icons in 1.2, and, to fix it, I will export aaaaaall the old BAMs from BG2 to BG2:EE, and upload them here, so all those that dislike them can change them), but they did a very respectable job, if you hath came to the forums to complain, do it in a respectful way, by making Feature Requests and reporting Bugs, it will help MUCH more.
So let's try to avoid terms like "hater", and try to deal with each other a bit more empathically. The internet will be a much nicer place.
About the Black Pits:
I rolled some themed parties for fun but never actually played them, I prefer RP the Bhaalspawn campaign rather than taking mercs to battle, but I understand many people are fond of the Black Pits, who am I to complain and deny them the pleasure by saying the Black Pits are useless and a waste of resources like the OP believe it to be, it is actually quite the contrary, because it have been a buying incentive for some of my friends.
Why I think the game is enhanced and not simply tweaked:
Because they didn't just mod the existing game. When you have content and enhancements made by people who get paid for what they do (while there are some "high resolution" Baldur's Gate mods, none of them really increase the picture's quality - stretching a picture is not the same thing as remastering it for higher resolution), music composed by award winning composer Sam Hulick and veteran voice acting (Mark Meer) that's working on a game and not modding. Beamdog was founded by Bioware's co-founder. He was the director on the original Neverwinter Nights, Bioware's epic after Baldur's Gate - and he isn't the only ex-Bioware in Beamdog: Would it have been great if the enhanced editions had been done with a new 2D engine and such? Yeah, it would have been great - but it wasn't up to Beamdog; they had only so much rights when it came to making them and did well with what they had all restrictions in mind.
There are those who are going on about "this is what Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition should have been", when they aren't even coming to terms with the fact that Beamdog didn't have the legal rights nor big studios resources to do such - you can only do so much with the Infinity Engine, and none of the mods turn Baldur's Gate into Pillars of Eternity. I see many people who disagree saying GOG+mods are superior to EE: fact is that Beamdog actually hired many talented modders into their development team; there's no better resume in video game development than actual work. The developers understand modders, and many mods are being converted to EE full compatibility, codes and resources have been externalized making coding mods mostly simpler and easier but for the oldest mods.
On the UI and graphical improvements in particular:
Tweaks is what mods offer: The mods used along vanilla games that introduce UI and graphical improvements work just fine, but there are no true high resolution mods for Baldur's Gate: you can't fully rework the resolution for those 2D backgrounds without having access to original assets that were used to make the game - that is something that Beamdog had to face, because the original artworks (that's how they were done; with real artwork) for first Baldur's Gate had been lost over the years, and only Baldur's Gate II had significant assets remaining. So, yes; any mods for Baldur's Gates that increase the resolution beyond what is already supported in the game is just stretching the picture.
Enhancements is what BGEE and BG2EE actually offer: Zooming feature, actual Higher Resolutions with sharp graphics, party portraits combat icons, more refined and practical UI while keeping the functionality of the original games. That alone is worth spending the money on the EE, and they continue improving.
It's too bad that all of them require the new NPCs in your group to be heard.
http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/reviews/g5292cfa1f3186/Baldurs-Gate-II-Enhanced-Edition-review
I have been a gamer for well over 25 years. I only recently realigned myself into the industry by joining PikPok/Sidhe in Wellington NZ. So I am well aware of the complexities of game design and creation.
I think that for the most part the work that's been done on the EE is a great start, but it isnt really what the game needs to make an impact outside of the core group already interested in the propery.
The addition of the NPCs and The Black Pits does virtually nothing to add appeal to the game, and frankly I dont understand why the effort was made to shoehorn in additional content to games that are renowned and beloved for the content already there. Its seems almost disrespectful to me at worst, and at best is nothing much more than a marketing bullet point.
There should have been more work done on making the games more akin to game released this decade. Obviously no one wants anyone to tamper with the beautiful hand drawn backgrounds. They still look, and will always looks wonderful, but the ugly low res sprites should have been excised and replaced. New models and animations really should have been the focus on the aesthetic presentation.
I appreciate the engine tweaks, and refinements. I adore the zoom function, and widescreen support. The reworked audio (mainly due to the environmental effects) is hugely appreciated, as are the rule fixes and bug squashing.
The issue is that the split focus meant we got MORE bugs, and issues and introduced pointless additions to the core game that frankly were not needed.
Can you imagine just how wonderful it would have been to see a game with a pristine presentation with high res graphics across the board. New spell effect animations, all bugs squashed, and a new UI that was more intuitive and less clunky? This would have been a critical darling. The core game is already highly regarded, it was only the aging engine and outdated design that held it back. The thing is what needed to be worked on was not nailed, and things that needed no work at all had additions plopped in for no good reason.
All that needed to be done was to update and polish. Neither of these were done as well as they should have been, and part of the reason is due to the inclusion of pointless additions which created new problems and took time away from the core work that needed to be done.
I would love to know that reason why they thought it appropriate and a good idea to mess with the actual game, and not spent 100% of their resources on updating it.
And, if not, then, I thank you for giving @Dee a chance to address your concerns.
So, you're not a hater, you just want the devs to do the most expensive, most time-consuming, least realistic thing you could possibly ask them to do. Consider my eyes opened.
What you're asking for is astronomically more expensive than what was done. The game would probably have to cost half again as much, if not more, to create a full set of new sprites and animations.
"The addition of the NPCs and The Black Pits does virtually nothing to add appeal to the game...' I completely disagree, and I've seen others on the forum state that they enjoyed this new content. Your statement is your opinion.
'New models and animations really should have been the focus on the aesthetic presentation.' Again, I disagree. I don't believe (notice how this is phrased) that new models/animations would have added as much to my enjoyment of the game as the new NPCs/content did.
'The thing is what needed to be worked on was not nailed, and things that needed no work at all had additions plopped in for no good reason.' I also disagree here, for some of the same reasons described above.
Polite discourse is a wonderful thing, but it's important to remember that you should respect the opinions of others as much as they are expected to respect yours.
As I am 100% in agreement with my own opinion, prefacing it would be disingenuous.
Dont mistake assertive statement of opinion as anything other than what it is. Taking offense where none is intended is not my concern. HUH? the only real additional cost is time, and much of that could be recouped by dropping the extraneous content that also required time and money. I have no idea what the make up of the team is, but they should have artists and designers in there, and they cost money no matter what they're actually doing. Production of in game assets of course costs, but as I said the split focus was the real cost here, both in terms of resourcing and the final product.