So I finished IWD:EE
Ruscoe
Member Posts: 126
I also finished the BG:EE saga. What should I do now? move on to IWD 2? I know Planescape:Torment would be the next logical step as I have never played it but I heard there's LOADS of reading involved and less action. What else is good?
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Oh boy makes me wanna have mushrooms in my next meal
But frankly.. in those AD&D days .. the idea of a module for characters lvl 4-10 that may end up fighting a demon lord ... is like "madness" !! That over-sized of a mushroom's great grandmama has 222HP O_O let alone her "family of fungi" that could easily dissolve a limb or 2 from your player character !! T_T
I agree on NVN. I played it alot back in the day and it is pretty good, well worth a playthrough. I prefer 2e more than 3e, but 3e has some merits. Especially skills which make eg rogue classes more interresting. Also, HotU is a great expansion. Undrentide, not so much, though it uncludes one of my fav NPC's throughout all time; the one and only Deekin! Never played any mods, but there should be a plethora to choose from.
Haven't played IWD2 myself, nor PoE or other newer games. Personally I think DA:O was a good attempt, but that it failed. The best parts of DA:O was everything outside of the fights, the interactions with the NPC's is the best ever, even though some of the NPC's are rather boring, many offer a deep backstory which you slowly uncover. The in-between battle sequences where you stroll around your camp and talk to your mates is the best parts of the game. The actual fighting was boring and repetative, and since I sincerely dislike "MMORPG-influenced" battles with "aggro", "DPS" etc, it didn't appeal to me personally. I might to you though.
The best 'modern' action-RPG is IMHO, the Witcher 2. The first one was good, but the second one is close to perfection. As close as it gets. It's been a long time since I awaited a sequel as much as I await W3. It will make me buy a new computer to be able to experience it in its full glory. The Witchers series is different from any IE game, but it's still an RPG and well worth a playthrough.
Have fun!
I never come around trying it again as the ghost of that crash haunts me till i dare not play through it for a good 80% of it then it crash on me as that game is pretty time consuming due to turn base fight i selected to recreate pen and paper days of D&D.
Temple Of Elemental Evil: combat seems too slow, clunky and needleslly complex after playing bg, it is boring and has a lot of bugs as well. Loathed it and did not play too much.
Nwn:blech. Really a downgrade after bg. Everything looks/feels plastic and fake, battles are not fun, etc. Wasn't interested enough to play the expansions.
PST:tried to get into it three times but. The setting is too bizarre and morbid, and while I love morbd things I found the combat too repetitive and bland. The characters and dialogues are excellent, but I don't want to watch an interactive movie, I want to play a game.
On a different note. If you haven't played out Arcanum it is worth a try. It is a very big, very different game and has the most unique atmosphere you can find. It puts the R in Rpgs back and is a good game in my book. Despite many many bugs.
IWD2: Worth a playthrough, maybe not worth two. Easily the worst IE game, but that's kind of like being the worst sprinter in the Olympic hundred-meter dash. Comes very close to having a strong story in places, but ultimately ends up at odds with its own main themes and kind of falls flat. Also not the best interpretation of the 3rd edition D&D rule set, but not the worst either (see below).
Planescape: Torment: Absolutely fantastic story, but can be very hard to get into at first, because the game gives you very little direction when you leave the first area. Wonder around, talk to people, and become immersed. Everyone should play this game at least once. Some people will never want to pick it up again, and that's fine, but you owe yourself that first playthrough.
Temple of Elemental Evil: Combat is slow and clunky, writing is dry and generic. This is the only game I'm gonna list that I actively dislike. It's just bad. Others will disagree, which they are entitled to, but I stand by my opinion. ToEE has the most literal interpretation of the 3rd edition rules in any of these games, and not-coincidentally it's also the worst. Pen and paper is not the same as video games, and what works in one medium is not guaranteed to work in another.
Neverwinter Nights: Very cool game, but for the love of god play something other than a fighter. You only control one party member, so make sure you have active abilities to use. Also, the main campaign is quite bad. The two expansions, however, make one cohesive campaign of their own, and are definitely worth checking out.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Ugghh. I like this game, but not without reservation. It has my favorite interpretation of the 3rd edition rules in any video game, but due to the way timing, spacing, and AI are handled, combat has a serious tendency to become one giant mess. The main campaign definitely has its moments, and can be both fun and interesting, but it also has way too many "go to area X and kill everything in it" quests. The game stinks of filler, and it suffers for it. The expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, is essentially Planescape: Torment set in the world of Princess Mononoke, and if you don't think that sounds fantastic there is something seriously wrong with you.
Dragon Age: Origins: Solid game, but flawed in many ways. Uses its own unique rules, which is great, but they have some serious balance issues, and many enemies have abilities that are powerful in a not-fun-to-fight way. Still definitely worth playing. The writing is good, although it can be slow in places. Later games in the series are also good, to varying extents, but they're further away from the IE mold.
Pillars of Eternity: Really, really good. I will say I don't find the main story as compelling as BG2's, but it's not bad, and I find many of the subplots to be extremely compelling. The combat mechanics are super fun, as are the puzzle mechanics, the encounter design, the customization, and many other things. Probably my favorite game on this list, overall.
Planescape Torment: Theres a lot of love for this one. Very good story a lot of reading. Combat is quite lackluster but is usually optional.
Dragon Age Origins: Probably the closest to Baldurs Gate 2. Excellent story, with ability to make lots of interesting choices that affect the ending. The original feels fairly old school and if you like playing a mage in bg2 then this will scratch a similar itch. The sequels are much more actioney so combat is different to infinity engine though they maintain the strong writing.
Neverwinter Night: Cant really state how much I disliked this game. For a start you only control one character so massive step away from tactical party based combat most of these games have. The original campaign is entirely hack and slash but its quite mindless without the party. The graphics are very old school 3d and have aged terribly compared to 2d or later 3d. I didn't enjoy the expansions but I think thats a combination of all of the above minus the story which just couldnt draw me in.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Much better than the original. Brings back party control. The story was back to being decent although with some issues due to being rushed same as many Obsidian games. Both expansions were good mask of the betrayer had great story. The game had a good modding scene I recommend dark waters. There was also a premium module released called mysteries of westgate that was great.
Pillars of Eternity: I havent played this a huge amount yet but its basically a return to the top down perspective from Baldurs Gate with modern game design. Id say it feels more like the original baldurs gate with a more directed story. It also feels bleaker than Baldurs Gate like it got an injection of Planescape Torment flavour. Definitely worth playing and supporting.
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2: This is an obvious step away in terms of setting but both games have party based combat using d20 a modified version of 3rd edition dnd so fits here and have the character interaction and banter similar to baldurs gate.
EDIT: Basically, I'm seconding everything @Mikey205 said, except a little less harsh on NWN 'cause I've never played it.
You don't need to play SoU before HotU, but really, there is no reason not to, it is a perfectly inoffensive, short, forgettable adventure.
I would say that if you're looking for a mostly story driven RPG with good combat and a DnD ruleset NWN2 would be my go to as opposed to the original. It feels a lot closer to BG in terms of party-based combat than NWN. Maybe I'm forgiving because it was released in a relative RPG drought 3 years after KoTOR 2 and 3 years before Dragon Age with the only thing memorable in that period being The Witcher and Mass Effect which were both quite different. However I would say Dragon Age: Origins blew it away in terms of story and characters whilst looking a lot better.
Anyway I think everyone's given the OP a good range of choices for what to try next. My recommendation would be Planescape Torment then Dragon Age or Pillars of Eternity.
I actually do love nwn2. Even though you have npcs forced into your group, except for a handful of specific missions, you're not required to keep them in your party. In the early game you are stuck with the companions they give in your party, but that changes mid-way through the first chapter. You also do get the opportunity to kill some of them. Just like BG1/2, there's a lot of funny banter when you mix up NPCs that don't really like each other. Ever try putting Minsc and Shar-Teel in the same party? How about Edwin, Minsc and Anomen? Just as humourous to stick Bishop, Grobnar and Kelgar in the same party in NWN2. There's also some excellent modules people have made, like Dark Waters and Path of Evil. Path of Evil is a campaign for an evil PC that is definitely a love letter to BG1. Those brilliantly created addons are what make me excited for the possibilities sword coast legends could be.
DA: Origins is the only one out of the series I thought was really good, and about the only game I really felt they got magic right in. I still remember the first time I got hit with a fireball, and my party was knocked down on the ground and on fire. Too bad the rest of the series has been about nerfing magic and moving to a more "actiony" combat that's utterly boring. They're still worth a playthrough, but just don't compare to the original, or the older bioware games.
Pillars of Eternity had me so excited, but I was seriously let down. There's a really limited amount of npcs you can pickup, with no evil options at all. The lack of evil doesn't really matter, since none of them really react in any way to you slaughtering innocents, though. Even BG1 had a rep system, where NPCs would leave if you did too much stuff they didn't like. I also just had trouble being remotely interested in what they had going on. Obsidian makes the claim there's no bad builds in PoE, which is completely untrue. No matter what class, if you don't max your might stat, it's a bad build. Did you pick light weapons? Unless you're a backstabbing rogue with maxed might, you're screwed and useless in a fight. The fact that might affects the damage of everything, meaning magic, healing, physical blows, means seriously limited number of build possiblities. The way the damage reduction system with armor is implemented, only big 2 handed weapons do any real damage against a huge amount of enemies. It's kind of sad, because when I started, at first I said "It's like an infinity game, but they fixed the most annoying things." I saw how you moved the party in formation, the stash for inventory management and the fast mode for slogging across the map, plust the lovingly made maps, and got all excited. Unfortunately it's just a big dissapointment of useless strongholds, boring and flat NPCs, and seriously limited builds for characters. Still worth a playthrough, but I'd rather play baldurs gate yet again, than go through Pillars again.
I started out loving Divinity:OS. I appreciated the old school, difficult turn based combat. Problem is they eventually make the mistake of thinking tediousness=difficulty. After a particularly long boss fight, that was already making me notice the tediousness, I went into another. After 30 minutes of chasing the boss all over the map, I say to myself "I'm not having fun anymore." An hour into the fight, the boss has a sliver of health left, and he runs away! I track him down at his original location, back at full health. I think this is the only game I ever rage quit as an adult.
Wasteland 2 is the game that really surprised me. It's slow to get into, but once you get sucked in, you'll be hooked. Most of the NPCs were fleshed out and ineresting, and had reasons for joining up with you. Plus one of them's a shotgun weilding hobo named Scotchmo. Normally I don't develop attachments to my characters in a game where I make a whole party, but because it's so squad oriented, and each of them filled their niche, and got their chance to save the party, they earned a special place in my heart. I'll always remember Boris the Russian sniper popping heads, and Marie C the medic and scientist patching people up and taking control of robots. I am itching for another playthrough, but holding off for the director's cut, which will be a free upgrade
Sorry for the wall of text, but a couple of these games have left things brewing for a little bit, and I needed to go on a rant.