[Request] Scale difficulty in BG2:EE
AndreaColombo
Member Posts: 5,533
BACKGROUND INFO:
When Baldur's Gate II was released, it was targeted to gamers who might or might not have played TotSC. Therefore, brand new games would set CHARNAME's XP to 89,000 (standard for Baldur's Gate without TotSC), and the game difficulty was built around that character level. That was fine, 'cause adding TotSC to the equation, thus starting with 161,000 XP, only added one character level to CHARNAME and that didn't really break the balance.
However, with BG2:EE everyone is going to start the game with the 161,000 XP (standard for TotSC) plus any further XP acquired through Adventure X and Adventure Y, up to the new XP cap (which, I suppose, will allow CHARNAME to gain one additional level). This probably calls for some adjustments.
MY REQUEST:
1. The standard XP for CHARNAME when starting a brand new BG2:EE game without importing your BG:EE final save should be set at BG:EE's XP cap. Don't make us ShadowKeep it like we had to with Baldur's Gate II, guys: that was kind of rude ;D Just kidding! I guess this point kinda goes without saying, but Cam said it's better to make everything obvious when requesting stuff.
2. The difficulty in BG2:EE should be scaled to take the addtional XP into account, especially in its early stages (Chateau Irenicus and Waukeen's Promenade), since you tackle them first mandatorily and not by choice. If you decide to second my request for BG2:EE to detect your BG:EE party when you import your BG:EE final save, difficulty should be further scaled to keep this into consideration.
3. It is better to specify that when I mean "scale difficulty" (which, in this context, means to make the game harder), I do not mean "make the AI cheat and give unjustified bonuses to foes". I mean throw in additional foes and improve their AI. The mods aTWEAKS (link) and Sword Coast Strategems (link and link) prove that AI doesn't need to cheat to be challenging. All it takes is to make it smart and optimize its use of available resources such as skills, weapon abilities and potions.
When Baldur's Gate II was released, it was targeted to gamers who might or might not have played TotSC. Therefore, brand new games would set CHARNAME's XP to 89,000 (standard for Baldur's Gate without TotSC), and the game difficulty was built around that character level. That was fine, 'cause adding TotSC to the equation, thus starting with 161,000 XP, only added one character level to CHARNAME and that didn't really break the balance.
However, with BG2:EE everyone is going to start the game with the 161,000 XP (standard for TotSC) plus any further XP acquired through Adventure X and Adventure Y, up to the new XP cap (which, I suppose, will allow CHARNAME to gain one additional level). This probably calls for some adjustments.
MY REQUEST:
1. The standard XP for CHARNAME when starting a brand new BG2:EE game without importing your BG:EE final save should be set at BG:EE's XP cap. Don't make us ShadowKeep it like we had to with Baldur's Gate II, guys: that was kind of rude ;D Just kidding! I guess this point kinda goes without saying, but Cam said it's better to make everything obvious when requesting stuff.
2. The difficulty in BG2:EE should be scaled to take the addtional XP into account, especially in its early stages (Chateau Irenicus and Waukeen's Promenade), since you tackle them first mandatorily and not by choice. If you decide to second my request for BG2:EE to detect your BG:EE party when you import your BG:EE final save, difficulty should be further scaled to keep this into consideration.
3. It is better to specify that when I mean "scale difficulty" (which, in this context, means to make the game harder), I do not mean "make the AI cheat and give unjustified bonuses to foes". I mean throw in additional foes and improve their AI. The mods aTWEAKS (link) and Sword Coast Strategems (link and link) prove that AI doesn't need to cheat to be challenging. All it takes is to make it smart and optimize its use of available resources such as skills, weapon abilities and potions.
5
Comments
I was going to hold back on my BG2:EE requests but then Philip Daigle said we can post them right away and I followed his advice. I'm not overly concerned with BG2:EE stuff yet, too.