@CrevsDaak Omg! I was just browsing the G3 forums and realized that you recently made the "Keeping Yoshimo" mod EE compatible! That is amazing Crevs! I can't believe I can actually keep Yoshimo when I next play BG2:EE! In the words of Yoshimo, "It is up to us to party.", "We must party.".
Thanks, actually, just a recommendation… install the Keeping Yoshimo mod last (unless you are playing the windows version of BG2).
Any of you feel this way about SCS or modding in general? Let me know guys. Thanks.
My BGT installs tend to have around 40 mods, but that's without counting the hundreds (or even thousands) of tweaks I made to the game. I should release all of those as a Tweak pack some day… I can't play vanilla (unless I am testing BG(2):EE), it is first, too easy, and second, I know everything and what will happen later (unless there's a bug or the game is going to crash or if there's an error or if it's something added by the EE that I am not aware of yet or if it's just an assertion failure in my memory :P), so it's rather boring. That's why most of the quests I code are very complex and have several ways of being solved, and I should add that I yet haven't tried adding riddles, nor other languages nor any type of puzzles for a quest, nor part of the curtail information on a Bartender's Rumors dialog… I also should release my mod with all those quests one day (when they actually install with 0% chances of crashing the installation *and* don't bug out the whole game later with a block of code without a variable check :'D), even if they aren't the best anyway and the battles are a pain (fighting a Shapeshifter in BG1 is the worst thing that can happen to you, much more if you have SCS and the script is made to exploit the way SCS revamps Shapeshifting (by creating 'paws' (items that make you Shapeshift) instead of using spells) every single round (which is what I tend to do if I play as a Shapeshifter, too XD)...
@CrevsDaak I should of known that you got into the modding scene very deep. After realizing that you develop your own mods that soon became apparent to me. Myself on the otherhand I am very new to the mod scene and am just now trying to get myself to a point where I am comfortable with it. I guess once you beat the vanilla game so many times, you start to crave for a change. Apparently, mods are that change.
On a side note, I have always had a weird bias against my own created content of any sort. Especially when it comes to games. For some reason, if I were to build a whole game from the ground up and design everything from scratch. I just feel like I would have zero motivation to want to play my own game. I guess when I make something on my own, it just doesn't feel immersive and not much like a game to me. Unlike when I play a game created by someone else, I just start to see a bunch of code, numbers and variables instead of characters, story and gameplay. I have always been weird like that. Maybe there are others out there like myself that do not enjoy playing or viewing their own work. Thus why I don't think I would be a great modder myself. Maybe modding is more about making the game more pleasant for your fellow gamers and less about yourself. I am not totally sure, but hopefully things will change for me and I will get the hang of it since I would like to start messing around with modding the game independently myself one day. Anyway, we will see what happens. Thanks for the comments guys, it is greatly appreciated.
@Meanbunny yes, I also dislike playing the quests I create or exploring the areas I make, seems boring to me. But what I mostly edit in my game are tweaks, minor changes with little effect on gameplay e.g. Spears deal 1d8 damage instead of 1d6, potions can be thrown (ok, this one has a huge impact on gameplay), and that type of stuff. New battles are interesting, or just items that I created because they were either lacking in the vanilla game or just stupid bad (elven chain mails in BG1, bastard swords in BG1 & SoA, etc), I don't have a dislike for those, but then, I only completed some of the quests I created for testing, and that was before I coded WeiDU like I do now (they'll get an update some day).
Thanks for tagging me, Meanbunny. I would've responded sooner if I had actually gotten a notification. XD (stupid edited tags not sending a notification...)
As for my taste in mods, I personally do not play with any mods, only because I currently use the ipad version of the game. I know what my tastes will be, though, so I can explain that. =p
1. I don't care too much about the THAC0 table, but I also don't really know too much about it. If I knew, I'd probably want to use it. As it is, however, THAC0 is one of the things I have the least issues with.
2. Heck yeah! I would TOTALLY play with this. I actually would play with grandmastery for all classes/multis/etc., just because I like the idea of a character becoming exceptionally skilled with one specific weapon. At least to have it as just an option. That said, multiclass grandmastery is absolutely something I would use.
3. Of course! I want to play a halfling bard SO bad! I still remember my disappointment as a young child, playing Ice Wind Dale for the first time and not being able to make a halfling bard.
4. Eh. *shrugs* I really don't care too much. While I like it, it's just not a big deal for me. I only play humans when I want to role-play as a human. Otherwise they're just too boring. I rarely play humans, and when I do, multi-classing generally isn't a big concern.
5. Other: I don't really know what other mods I'd play with really. I'm not a big fan of enhanced difficulty, so in a sense, SCS doesn't seem interesting to me. On the other hand, I can see myself adding mods that allow you to have Thalantyr meld items together, create new items, or just add powerful new tools to the world in general. If I installed many of those, then I definitely would consider a difficulty mod, just to balance things out. While I may always play on the easiest difficulty setting, I don't like things becoming TOO simple. If I'm one-shotting everything, then the game loses it's enjoyment factor.
@Elrandir I love how everyone has their own taste and idea for how the game should be played. It seems that people are all over the place when it comes to mods and which ones to use. I really like your minimalist approach, I used to play like that a long time ago because I was afraid of high end difficulty. Then I realized that I could have more fun if I came out of my comfort zone a little bit and tried higher difficulty levels. It definitely adds to the experience and the sense of satisfaction you get when you finally overcome something that was really difficult for you to overcome. I really appreciate your input on this topic and yes I hope that notifications about being tagged on an edit does get changed eventually, hopefully in the near future. Thanks again for the comments guys. As always, I greatly appreciate it. Have an awesome day guys.
@Meanbunny I am rather new to the game, but I share the same GIVE ME A CHALLENGE mindset as you. After what research I could muster in a week or so after recently discovering Baldur's Gate, I decided to mod the game very lightly in such a way that I hope to never impede my hundred(s) hours worth of progress with bugs, yet still create for myself a fun challenge that is harder than a standard playthrough for my first playthrough of the entire BGEE Trilogy. Here is what I ended up with - note this is for BGEE only;
From BG2Tweaks;
-Remove Experience Cap -Ability to use Thieving/Magic with Heavy Armor -Higher HP on Level Up -Higher HP for ALL CREATURES
From SCSII;
-Entire AI module ONLY
Then I am starting the game with the canon party. With Jaheira's multi class I think I am feeding XP into 7 slots, so I should level up slowly which ought to boost the games challenge over time and give me more of a reason to explore every nook and cranny. Slider permanent at Hard difficulty or above and using plenty of reloads because I am getting exploded around every corner. But with some trial and error everything becomes possible, even if I need to leave and come back when I am stronger. The gratification is perfect. I LOVE GETTING OWNED and then being able to reload and try new tactics, eventually culminating with my sliver-of-hp-left victory and a big smile.
I know what you mean about the game getting too easy and the idea of a solo playthrough is very appealing if not for the fact that I have read you level too fast and ultimately become an unchallenged, ungratified Hercules. Not all the members of the canon party are mega powerful, and I am having a great time working through it accordingly.
That 18/00 axe throwing dwarf berserker I was able to roll helps though. Oh man
2. Heck yeah! I would TOTALLY play with this. I actually would play with grandmastery for all classes/multis/etc., just because I like the idea of a character becoming exceptionally skilled with one specific weapon. At least to have it as just an option. That said, multiclass grandmastery is absolutely something I would use.
I can kind of get this and understand the sentiment. Not to hijack the thread or anything, but I think that non-combat types "Should" be able to do this, but should pay a much higher penalty if they chose to do this. I am not sure mechanically how, but the thing would be if you are a thief and have spent the extra hours necessary to grand master a weapon, what did you sacrifice? Was it time practicing your lock picking skill? It has (at least in my own mind if no where else) to be a trade off. Otherwise, why would anyone want to be a Fighter?
@the_spyder I don't really like the idea of it harming one's skills, but I think it should be sort of a "all or nothing" approach. Either grandmaster or use multiple weapons. For non-fighters, mastery and higher require more than one pip. Or something like that.
@Elrandir - I don't recommend any 'specific' strategy here, but the point is that a Warrior has gone through the martial training and the rigor/discipline such that learning 'Grand Mastery', although not easy, would at least be manageable given their normal regime. Non-(martial) combat types such as thieves and wizards would (in my view) have to sacrifice something even greater in their normal routine in order to make room for the significant extra effort to specialize.
Maybe this is simply a larger non-proficiency penalty? But in my mind and my world something would have to give. And it would have to be SIGNIFICANT. It's the equivalent to allowing a Fighter to learn 3rd level arcane spells despite not even meeting the INT requirements. Can't get something for nuthing...
However, the thief (or even more so mage) would lose out on a great deal of pips. So while they could grandmaster a single weapon, the thief would have maybe proficiency in a single other weapon, while the mage is devoid of alternatives. Meanwhile the fighter can swing around three different types of weapons with grandmastery, all while having S&S or SWS maxed. Heck, even if you went the dual wield route, the fighter would have two weapons grand mastered and one high mastered. Basically, a fighter gets 17 "true pips", while a thief who wants grandmastery would get... 5? 6? MAYBE 7? A mage would be even more devoid of alternatives, having literally just 5 "true pips"; Just enough to gain grandmastery in a single weapon, with no options for weapon styles or alternate weapons. A cleric could gain the same as a thief, or maybe one more, since they're trained as warriors, in a sense, but not to the same extent as a fighter.
@Elrandir - agreed this is off topic. And I take your point. Just in my view it would take more than what you were suggesting. Maybe forfit ALL other weapon Pips, plus the increased non-proficiency penalty? Thus representing "He was born with that sword in his hand" style of thinking? Otherwise, again, why would anyone want to be a Fighter if anyone could go there?
I'm another person who likes my BG experience to replicate the original pen & paper rules as closely as possible. So I haven't removed any of the racial restrictions on classes. I did, however, enable the romance cheats, so my half-orc fighter/thief can romance Viconia and/or Jaheira in BG2. I'm a glutton for punishment. What can I say?
As for altering the weapon system, I recently enabled the Rule Change option to use the BG1 system of grouped weapon proficiencies in both BG and BG2 (I'm playing with the Baldurs Gate Trilogy mod installed). I finally just got tired of micromanaging my party's proficiency slots around the availability of the better weapons in the game, especially early on. To give my characters something to do with resulting the extra pips they'll have later in the game, I also enabled weapon styles for all and multiclass grandmastery. Just a matter of preference.
It's your game, do what you're comfortable with. If a tweak feels too much like cheating skip it and go to the next. Also, you can nearly always uninstall a tweak later if you decide you don't like it. There will be some mods you'll find yourself unable to play without though. For me that's really extended the life of the game. And I've been playing since the original release came out.
You guys aren't really too off-topic. I really appreciate the comprehensive assessment on the Tweak Pack and SCS itself. I was really curious as to how everyone around the forum played the game because for a while I kind of felt like an outsider. Now that I have a better view on things, I feel much better. )
It's your game, do what you're comfortable with. If a tweak feels too much like cheating skip it and go to the next. Also, you can nearly always uninstall a tweak later if you decide you don't like it. There will be some mods you'll find yourself unable to play without though. For me that's really extended the life of the game. And I've been playing since the original release came out.
This exactly. Do what is comfortable and makes the game fun. If it ain't fun, you aren't doing it right.
Comments
Thanks, actually, just a recommendation… install the Keeping Yoshimo mod last (unless you are playing the windows version of BG2). My BGT installs tend to have around 40 mods, but that's without counting the hundreds (or even thousands) of tweaks I made to the game. I should release all of those as a Tweak pack some day… I can't play vanilla (unless I am testing BG(2):EE), it is first, too easy, and second, I know everything and what will happen later (unless there's a bug or the game is going to crash or if there's an error or if it's something added by the EE that I am not aware of yet or if it's just an assertion failure in my memory :P), so it's rather boring. That's why most of the quests I code are very complex and have several ways of being solved, and I should add that I yet haven't tried adding riddles, nor other languages nor any type of puzzles for a quest, nor part of the curtail information on a Bartender's Rumors dialog… I also should release my mod with all those quests one day (when they actually install with 0% chances of crashing the installation *and* don't bug out the whole game later with a block of code without a variable check :'D), even if they aren't the best anyway and the battles are a pain (fighting a Shapeshifter in BG1 is the worst thing that can happen to you, much more if you have SCS and the script is made to exploit the way SCS revamps Shapeshifting (by creating 'paws' (items that make you Shapeshift) instead of using spells) every single round (which is what I tend to do if I play as a Shapeshifter, too XD)...
On a side note, I have always had a weird bias against my own created content of any sort. Especially when it comes to games. For some reason, if I were to build a whole game from the ground up and design everything from scratch. I just feel like I would have zero motivation to want to play my own game. I guess when I make something on my own, it just doesn't feel immersive and not much like a game to me. Unlike when I play a game created by someone else, I just start to see a bunch of code, numbers and variables instead of characters, story and gameplay. I have always been weird like that. Maybe there are others out there like myself that do not enjoy playing or viewing their own work. Thus why I don't think I would be a great modder myself. Maybe modding is more about making the game more pleasant for your fellow gamers and less about yourself. I am not totally sure, but hopefully things will change for me and I will get the hang of it since I would like to start messing around with modding the game independently myself one day. Anyway, we will see what happens. Thanks for the comments guys, it is greatly appreciated.
As for my taste in mods, I personally do not play with any mods, only because I currently use the ipad version of the game. I know what my tastes will be, though, so I can explain that. =p
1. I don't care too much about the THAC0 table, but I also don't really know too much about it. If I knew, I'd probably want to use it. As it is, however, THAC0 is one of the things I have the least issues with.
2. Heck yeah! I would TOTALLY play with this. I actually would play with grandmastery for all classes/multis/etc., just because I like the idea of a character becoming exceptionally skilled with one specific weapon. At least to have it as just an option. That said, multiclass grandmastery is absolutely something I would use.
3. Of course! I want to play a halfling bard SO bad! I still remember my disappointment as a young child, playing Ice Wind Dale for the first time and not being able to make a halfling bard.
4. Eh. *shrugs* I really don't care too much. While I like it, it's just not a big deal for me. I only play humans when I want to role-play as a human. Otherwise they're just too boring. I rarely play humans, and when I do, multi-classing generally isn't a big concern.
5. Other: I don't really know what other mods I'd play with really. I'm not a big fan of enhanced difficulty, so in a sense, SCS doesn't seem interesting to me. On the other hand, I can see myself adding mods that allow you to have Thalantyr meld items together, create new items, or just add powerful new tools to the world in general. If I installed many of those, then I definitely would consider a difficulty mod, just to balance things out. While I may always play on the easiest difficulty setting, I don't like things becoming TOO simple. If I'm one-shotting everything, then the game loses it's enjoyment factor.
From BG2Tweaks;
-Remove Experience Cap
-Ability to use Thieving/Magic with Heavy Armor
-Higher HP on Level Up
-Higher HP for ALL CREATURES
From SCSII;
-Entire AI module ONLY
Then I am starting the game with the canon party. With Jaheira's multi class I think I am feeding XP into 7 slots, so I should level up slowly which ought to boost the games challenge over time and give me more of a reason to explore every nook and cranny. Slider permanent at Hard difficulty or above and using plenty of reloads because I am getting exploded around every corner. But with some trial and error everything becomes possible, even if I need to leave and come back when I am stronger. The gratification is perfect. I LOVE GETTING OWNED and then being able to reload and try new tactics, eventually culminating with my sliver-of-hp-left victory and a big smile.
I know what you mean about the game getting too easy and the idea of a solo playthrough is very appealing if not for the fact that I have read you level too fast and ultimately become an unchallenged, ungratified Hercules. Not all the members of the canon party are mega powerful, and I am having a great time working through it accordingly.
That 18/00 axe throwing dwarf berserker I was able to roll helps though. Oh man
We now rejoin our regularly scheduled thread.
Maybe this is simply a larger non-proficiency penalty? But in my mind and my world something would have to give. And it would have to be SIGNIFICANT. It's the equivalent to allowing a Fighter to learn 3rd level arcane spells despite not even meeting the INT requirements. Can't get something for nuthing...
All in my own view and opinion.
Anyway, I've derailed the thread enough. Sorry!
Nuff said....
As for altering the weapon system, I recently enabled the Rule Change option to use the BG1 system of grouped weapon proficiencies in both BG and BG2 (I'm playing with the Baldurs Gate Trilogy mod installed). I finally just got tired of micromanaging my party's proficiency slots around the availability of the better weapons in the game, especially early on. To give my characters something to do with resulting the extra pips they'll have later in the game, I also enabled weapon styles for all and multiclass grandmastery. Just a matter of preference.
It's your game, do what you're comfortable with. If a tweak feels too much like cheating skip it and go to the next. Also, you can nearly always uninstall a tweak later if you decide you don't like it. There will be some mods you'll find yourself unable to play without though. For me that's really extended the life of the game. And I've been playing since the original release came out.