You don't approach a fresh HoF run like you do the normal game.
Reducing the number of time enemies get to roll a hit die on your party members becomes just as important as bufing their AC inthe early game.
Of course, HoF has its own demands; I don't contest that, I'm just saying that it can be very tedious, grindy, and RNG-prone even inside its own framework. It's not a puzzle without a solution, I'm just not sure I overly like the solution.
Anyway, that's only for the very early game. Once you get rolling, it gets much smoother thanks to higher HP pools.
In the original HOF mode was not accessible inside the game for this reason.
I feel that this would be a very necessary change. Turning on HoF for easy packs to leech crazy XP just screams for abuse.
I actually feel that going the opposite direction and completely divorcing HoF from difficulty would be much better: then you can decide how difficult a base experience you would like and then decide if you want to beat up sacks of hitpoints or not!
According to the Devs' answer on AMA they will include a toggle in the options menu which will allow us to disable the bonus XP on lower/higher difficulty levels.
- More enemies => as much as 4x the amount on 'Core'
- Enemies deal double damage
*[- Enemies have at least some better statistics: AC, saves, THAC0, etc.]
- Double XP
*Not sure about #3 but it definitely feels that way to me. It's not mentioned in the description, but then again the higher number of enemies isn't mentioned either.
Double XP does make you level extra fast but it definitely doesn't make the game easier than 'Core'. There is always the threat of dying because of the high amounts of damage enemies deal. It all depends on your play-style of course - if you rest and buff up before every battle any difficulty is easy to beat.
Some people always look for challenges in terms of higher difficulty, special hard modes, etc. but then they go ahead and abuse the game engine to its fullest. That behaviour seems a bit ironic to me. Every game has flaws that can be abused to make it trivial.
@Lord_Tansheron: Yes, I've always hated that about the D&D games. 20 is just way too small a number for a guaranteed hit roll. I get the concept that you can always be lucky and hit someone, but imho attack rolls should be d100 or you should need two 20s in a row to hit a target you normally wouldn't be able to.
Not sure if this is good thread, but I will try here (I don't want to spam forum with new topics).
Many years ago I played original ID on insane mode with not typical team (druid/warrior, druid, cleric, ranger), it gives me a lot of fun, one of the best crpg gameplays I've had, challenging. Unfortunately I stopped in cave, where we had to fight with wizard with two golems. It was hard and then other duties kept me away from ID, finally I lost my saves. Now I'd like to repeat game with similiar team.
Druid/warrior Avenger Druid Ranger
My question is: should I switch off bonuses for XP or play with them? Maybe for this team (and for me) it would be too difficult without bonus xp? Or maybe too easy? Although I'm not totally noob in such games, I'm not experienced player as well.
Comments
All of a sudden those items that raise str to 18/19 are godly!
Reducing the number of time enemies get to roll a hit die on your party members becomes just as important as bufing their AC inthe early game.
Anyway, that's only for the very early game. Once you get rolling, it gets much smoother thanks to higher HP pools.
Yay! A welcome enhancement
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2msl96/we_are_beamdog_developers_of_baldurs_gate_i_ii/cm79rrb
- More enemies => as much as 4x the amount on 'Core'
- Enemies deal double damage
*[- Enemies have at least some better statistics: AC, saves, THAC0, etc.]
- Double XP
*Not sure about #3 but it definitely feels that way to me. It's not mentioned in the description, but then again the higher number of enemies isn't mentioned either.
Double XP does make you level extra fast but it definitely doesn't make the game easier than 'Core'. There is always the threat of dying because of the high amounts of damage enemies deal. It all depends on your play-style of course - if you rest and buff up before every battle any difficulty is easy to beat.
Some people always look for challenges in terms of higher difficulty, special hard modes, etc. but then they go ahead and abuse the game engine to its fullest. That behaviour seems a bit ironic to me. Every game has flaws that can be abused to make it trivial.
@Lord_Tansheron: Yes, I've always hated that about the D&D games. 20 is just way too small a number for a guaranteed hit roll. I get the concept that you can always be lucky and hit someone, but imho attack rolls should be d100 or you should need two 20s in a row to hit a target you normally wouldn't be able to.
Many years ago I played original ID on insane mode with not typical team (druid/warrior, druid, cleric, ranger), it gives me a lot of fun, one of the best crpg gameplays I've had, challenging. Unfortunately I stopped in cave, where we had to fight with wizard with two golems. It was hard and then other duties kept me away from ID, finally I lost my saves. Now I'd like to repeat game with similiar team.
Druid/warrior
Avenger
Druid
Ranger
My question is: should I switch off bonuses for XP or play with them? Maybe for this team (and for me) it would be too difficult without bonus xp? Or maybe too easy? Although I'm not totally noob in such games, I'm not experienced player as well.