Fans are always gonna be drama queens. What matters is how the companies react to it. Wizards failed pretty bad when they let it destroy any future plans they had with Beamdog. Kudos to Beamdog for sticking it out and surviving, even if it’s taking them years to make a new game (remasters don’t count).
Yeah. I think I'll do a quick "start in SoD" run to see what it's like before modding up for my next main run. I haven't played the BG series any meaningful amoung since I finished up my Dorn run; instead, I've been playing Diablo II and sorting out a computer upgrade (the old laptop's internal speakers were shot).
Well, I'm enjoying it so far. Playing at Core, with a LN dwarven defender.
Two small sessions so far - Korlasz' tomb, then BG city. Starting from SoD is definitely viable; you get a fully equipped party automatically. You do start underleveled at only 64K XP each; just about any run of the main campaign that clears the areas it visits will get past that.
The main reason I held off so long was the limited party selection; I do themed runs, and not having enough characters to choose from to fit the theme hurts that. But my next main theme (Truth, Justice, and the Paladin Way) won't be bothered. If I can't find enough lawful good holy warriors, I'll just pick up anyone that isn't evil instead.
Well, I'm enjoying it so far. Playing at Core, with a LN dwarven defender.
The main reason I held off so long was the limited party selection; I do themed runs, and not having enough characters to choose from to fit the theme hurts that. But my next main theme (Truth, Justice, and the Paladin Way) won't be bothered. If I can't find enough lawful good holy warriors, I'll just pick up anyone that isn't evil instead.
That implies:
1. Dorn, with a Helm of Opposite Alignment. Needs BGEE playthrough.
2. Glint.
3. Corwin.
4. Vogue.
5. Minsc.
6. Dynaheir
7. Rasaad.
It looks like I counted two too many. Agree that the selection is less and there are 8 I did not mention. For some roles, there are just not that many options.
Thief: Safana or Glint.
Cleric: Glint or Vicky.
Mage: Minsc and Dynaheir. Or Edwin. Or Neera.
Over here, it looks like Dumm and Dummer are reuniting for a sequel!
I'm already starting to sketch out a plan for the party; there's enough good characters that I can have the main party be all good in SoD. With some short-term neutral characters. But unlike either the main BG1 campaign or the BG2 campaigns, there aren't any paladins or fighter/clerics available. Even the NPC mod I'll install (Isra) bows out for SoD.
Dorn with a helm of opposite alignment is not an option. In accord with the paladin code, no evil characters will be allowed to join the party at all, and you can't equip an item to a character that's not in the party. Plus his conflicts with Ajantis, Yeslick, Sir Anomen, and Keldorn are all unavoidable even with alignment changes.
The protagonist for that run will be a cleric (either Lathander or Tyr), dual-classing to fighter in early SoA. Not the most conventional build, but it gets you fighter HLAs and grand mastery in the long run while also having more and higher spell slots than a paladin.
As for playing SoD, this morning's session cleared out the Coast Way Crossing and helped some dwarves with an undead infestation. Current party: protagonist (LN dwarven defender), Corwin, Dynaheir, Minsc, M'Khiin, Safana.
Well. I got to the end of it. I kind of rushed through the details at the end. I am sure a second run through the entire thing will be much smoother than the first one. Next thing to figure out will be how to load my character into BG2EE.
ADDED - It looks like I found it!
Holy spoiler! We start at 500k Experience!
Ah. I've merely reached the climax; I'll need another session for the end. Here's the one screenshot I took:
So that's why I didn't get the 45K experience for him.
That character, starting at 64K XP in SoD and playing at Core difficulty, came back from Hell at about 420K XP. It looks like the XP is calibrated so Core difficulty will get you from the BGEE cap to the SoD cap just before the climax. Definitely something the game got right.
I liked it, though there are a few quibbles as always. Grand sweeping music for Dragonspear Castle, grand speeches by Caelar ... not so great when they're happening at the same time and the music obscures the voice work.
Comments
While I made the decision before checking the price, that was a pleasant surprise. Discounted to $5 for GoG's Labor Day sale.
I did not know you just bought it! I started to play around with it yesterday!
I love SoD, and I can fully recommend the game as a regular part of a BG run. The fights can be a bit trickier, but thats the allure of something new
Two small sessions so far - Korlasz' tomb, then BG city. Starting from SoD is definitely viable; you get a fully equipped party automatically. You do start underleveled at only 64K XP each; just about any run of the main campaign that clears the areas it visits will get past that.
The main reason I held off so long was the limited party selection; I do themed runs, and not having enough characters to choose from to fit the theme hurts that. But my next main theme (Truth, Justice, and the Paladin Way) won't be bothered. If I can't find enough lawful good holy warriors, I'll just pick up anyone that isn't evil instead.
That implies:
1. Dorn, with a Helm of Opposite Alignment. Needs BGEE playthrough.
2. Glint.
3. Corwin.
4. Vogue.
5. Minsc.
6. Dynaheir
7. Rasaad.
It looks like I counted two too many. Agree that the selection is less and there are 8 I did not mention. For some roles, there are just not that many options.
Thief: Safana or Glint.
Cleric: Glint or Vicky.
Mage: Minsc and Dynaheir. Or Edwin. Or Neera.
Over here, it looks like Dumm and Dummer are reuniting for a sequel!
Dorn with a helm of opposite alignment is not an option. In accord with the paladin code, no evil characters will be allowed to join the party at all, and you can't equip an item to a character that's not in the party. Plus his conflicts with Ajantis, Yeslick, Sir Anomen, and Keldorn are all unavoidable even with alignment changes.
The protagonist for that run will be a cleric (either Lathander or Tyr), dual-classing to fighter in early SoA. Not the most conventional build, but it gets you fighter HLAs and grand mastery in the long run while also having more and higher spell slots than a paladin.
As for playing SoD, this morning's session cleared out the Coast Way Crossing and helped some dwarves with an undead infestation. Current party: protagonist (LN dwarven defender), Corwin, Dynaheir, Minsc, M'Khiin, Safana.
I always include SoD in my runs these days. It is now canon for me at least.
ADDED - It looks like I found it!
Holy spoiler! We start at 500k Experience!
So that's why I didn't get the 45K experience for him.
That character, starting at 64K XP in SoD and playing at Core difficulty, came back from Hell at about 420K XP. It looks like the XP is calibrated so Core difficulty will get you from the BGEE cap to the SoD cap just before the climax. Definitely something the game got right.
I liked it, though there are a few quibbles as always. Grand sweeping music for Dragonspear Castle, grand speeches by Caelar ... not so great when they're happening at the same time and the music obscures the voice work.