As for BG3 enthusiasts, all I ask is that you remember this:
Wizards of the Coast say Abdel Adrian is canon.
Ask yourself if you want a BG3 where that is set in stone.
Yeah, yeah, the name is canon, a careful aproach could glance over a lot of the actual problematic stuff. So what if there was a Bhaalspawn named Abdel Adrian, who was a Fighter? He killed Viekang (or the other way around, tho rather unlikely ;-) ) and thus Bhaal was reburn. if the references to Bhaals ascension are kept to a bare minimum it is not actually that bad. And: BGEE Minsc is canon and so is Neera, if there are weird stories about the last Bhaalspawn, I can live with it.
It is not optimal, but I for one would rather allow the WotC Abdel (who seems to have little in common with the books, even WotC realised *that* mistake) and get a good BGNext than stay angry about three crappy books and WotCs need for a "canon" descision.
Please beamdog go deeper into the lore of the Forgotten Realms. The entire story of the time of troubles and bhaal is too interesting to not give more background information for people who are interested in the realms as a whole.
And please allow characters who are dual classing into mages to pick a specialization like in the original Baldur's Gate.
I'll wait until it is actually released and hear what people have to say.
Beamdog intrigue me, but I honestly think this is 'THE test' that they will be going through.
It's true they've already made BG1 - EE and BG2 - EE, and they are both interesting. What I want to see, however is how they handle the task of entirely NEW content from the ground up.
I can't really comment on how difficult or hard it was to add in companions or fix bugs and that isn't the issue here. I want to know if they are capable of creating an immersive environment that charms and stimulates while being functional.
If they make anything as shockingly un-immersive as Pillars of Eternity, then sadness is all that is left.
I'm not sure about other people, but I don't play Isometric RPG's for shiny new combat systems or better, more interesting gear.
I play them to explore someone else's well founded vision and reality brought to life through great characters, writing and environments. Like a visual novel, that, unlike in visual novels ,one feels compelled to explore.
Naturally I like to kill things, too, but there are much better games for killing things.
I think what I like best about the Baldur's Gate games is that all the characters have their own stuff to deal with and their own motivations. They are essentially selfish people, and the occasional comrade still has a mind of his own. Minsc doesn't like it if you crap all over Dynaheir.
Korgan only joins your party because it's profitable and your gonna help him get that book. Jaheira only joins your party because she feels a debt to Gorion. Even the beggars who you give 1 gold piece to and then forget you each time or the ones who try to hustle you out of money. Or the guards who work so hard to keep peace (or do nothing while you're being attacked in the open - or hunt you down for being evil.) Or the random named NPC you meet along the way
I dunno, all I'm saying is that NPC's have needs, too, and the second this becomes forgotten and it feels like they're catering to you, the player, because you are the player; then there's an issue and it needs to be addressed.
Seems like even on metacritic Pillars was pretty well received. Even on Steam out of 4600+ reviews only about 440 were thumbs down.
Honestly even on metacritic the negative reviews for Pillars fall well within the fact that you are inevitably not going to please everyone. One of the reviewers there even complained that the classes don't just have the one definitive skill that improves their ability (like wisdom for clerics in BG2). But I bet there are people out there that like how different skills can have an effect on your abilities. So win some, lose some.
PoE is definetly not a bad game, but when i take a closer look at it's ruleset and mechanics i think that they tried too hard to create something different from the Baldur's Gate ruleset that still appealed to BG fans without enough time or resources to make it work.
Is PoE still enjoyable? Most definetly, in fact i did a very extensive run while trying to do and explore everything there is. Will i play through it again? Not likely.
PoE is great, doing another playthrough right now actually, combats kinda slow, but the game seems a lot more balanced than in my first playthrough. Much has changed, but most of it for the better. Plus the option to pick up NPC's on level 1 so they don't pick retarded abilities is a godssend. Just want them to release the damned Expansion already.
You know a Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have to be about the Bhaalspawn... it can be a completely new story. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance had nothing to do with it but they were still kinda "Baldur's Gate" games. :P
I feel that the extra xp it grants will way unbalance bg2 for me and make it much much easier, I would have hoped that they made a ToB expansion instead because even if you do every quest in bg2 and ToB you are still around 1.5 million xp short of the cap, there could have been lots extra added to that instead, but what do I know
Might pre-order, might not. I'm still undecided. Got burned with first game, second released on time but... buggy. They did fine with ID however. I will be buying it though.
@sarevok57: It sounds like the new "Legacy of Bhaal" setting was designed specifically for players worried about that particular imbalance - you might have an extra level or two by the end of SoD, but if that setting's anything like IWD's "Heart of Fury" mode, you're gonna need it.
legacy of bhaal? is that a mod or is that something that is actually around?
From the website: "Legacy of Bhaal Mode: A difficulty setting offering tactical challenges only the most skilled of players can hope to defeat." It'll most likely be integrated into BG:EE at launch (since it comes with SoD), with BG2:EE to follow.
I feel that the extra xp it grants will way unbalance bg2 for me and make it much much easier, I would have hoped that they made a ToB expansion instead because even if you do every quest in bg2 and ToB you are still around 1.5 million xp short of the cap, there could have been lots extra added to that instead, but what do I know
You can still play it for the new content. Set your BG1 save aside and play BG2 with that. Though, i doubt it will make bg2 easier. Maybe the initial dungeon will be easier but not much.
Ah, but wouldn't the level cap increase from SoD affect the whole of BG1, like ToB did? So a completionist could have extra levels before going into SoD?
Not that having a few hundred extra kxp at the beginning of BG2 remotely bothers me.
Ah, but wouldn't the level cap increase from SoD affect the whole of BG1, like ToB did? So a completionist could have extra levels before going into SoD?
Not necessarily - if SoD isn't integrated into the game like TotSC, but is more like the Black Pits and ToB in that you launch them separately, you'll have to import. Which means the BG:EE cap can remain intact.
Hmm does this mean every Npc in Shadows of Amn will automatically scale to lvl 12 as well then? If it was just the main character, I wouldn't mind that much, but if every single npc all of sudden scales to 12... I am not entirely happy about that.
Hmm does this mean every Npc in Shadows of Amn will automatically scale to lvl 12 as well then? If it was just the main character, I wouldn't mind that much, but if every single npc all of sudden scales to 12... I am not entirely happy about that.
NPCs scale with CHARNAME. So, depending on CHARNAME's class and level, you may encounter higher level versions of NPCs you meet early in SOA. If that is an issue, use BG2 Tweaks to make NPCs behave like ToB (i.e., they are always the lowest level version but with XP so that you can level them up immediately).
Comments
So what if there was a Bhaalspawn named Abdel Adrian, who was a Fighter?
He killed Viekang (or the other way around, tho rather unlikely ;-) ) and thus Bhaal was reburn.
if the references to Bhaals ascension are kept to a bare minimum it is not actually that bad.
And: BGEE Minsc is canon and so is Neera, if there are weird stories about the last Bhaalspawn, I can
live with it.
It is not optimal, but I for one would rather allow the WotC Abdel (who seems to have little
in common with the books, even WotC realised *that* mistake) and get a good BGNext than
stay angry about three crappy books and WotCs need for a "canon" descision.
And please allow characters who are dual classing into mages to pick a specialization like in the original Baldur's Gate.
*glares at her search engine*
Darn it, Google, you lied to me!!
Beamdog intrigue me, but I honestly think this is 'THE test' that they will be going through.
It's true they've already made BG1 - EE and BG2 - EE, and they are both interesting. What I want to see, however is how they handle the task of entirely NEW content from the ground up.
I can't really comment on how difficult or hard it was to add in companions or fix bugs and that isn't the issue here. I want to know if they are capable of creating an immersive environment that charms and stimulates while being functional.
If they make anything as shockingly un-immersive as Pillars of Eternity, then sadness is all that is left.
I'm not sure about other people, but I don't play Isometric RPG's for shiny new combat systems or better, more interesting gear.
I play them to explore someone else's well founded vision and reality brought to life through great characters, writing and environments. Like a visual novel, that, unlike in visual novels ,one feels compelled to explore.
Naturally I like to kill things, too, but there are much better games for killing things.
I think what I like best about the Baldur's Gate games is that all the characters have their own stuff to deal with and their own motivations. They are essentially selfish people, and the occasional comrade still has a mind of his own. Minsc doesn't like it if you crap all over Dynaheir.
Korgan only joins your party because it's profitable and your gonna help him get that book.
Jaheira only joins your party because she feels a debt to Gorion.
Even the beggars who you give 1 gold piece to and then forget you each time or the ones who try to hustle you out of money.
Or the guards who work so hard to keep peace (or do nothing while you're being attacked in the open - or hunt you down for being evil.)
Or the random named NPC you meet along the way
I dunno, all I'm saying is that NPC's have needs, too, and the second this becomes forgotten and it feels like they're catering to you, the player, because you are the player; then there's an issue and it needs to be addressed.
Urgh. Well, just my 0.02.
Basically, I won't be buying it if the negative user reviews looks like these. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/pillars-of-eternity/user-reviews?dist=negative
Honestly even on metacritic the negative reviews for Pillars fall well within the fact that you are inevitably not going to please everyone. One of the reviewers there even complained that the classes don't just have the one definitive skill that improves their ability (like wisdom for clerics in BG2). But I bet there are people out there that like how different skills can have an effect on your abilities. So win some, lose some.
Is PoE still enjoyable? Most definetly, in fact i did a very extensive run while trying to do and explore everything there is. Will i play through it again? Not likely.
Just want them to release the damned Expansion already.
I've been following and searching for every detail about SoD for a long time, so I can't wait to try it.
Not that having a few hundred extra kxp at the beginning of BG2 remotely bothers me.