Oh man, remember disc switching? With old 5 discs plus tosc?
I'd try mitigating that by removing a disc when I'm in an area and about to switch to another one that requires another disc, so if I'm wrapping things up in the Bridge district before heading to Trademeet (or even the Temple District, because they just couldn't let the whole city be on one disc), I'd remove disc 2 and get disc 3 ready. I also really hated Ellesime's vision to you because you'd almost always have to remove disc 2 or 3 in favor of disc 4 for that one cutscene.
I remember some of the discs being really arbitrary in BG1, "Oh hey a cave neat, I waonder whats inside?" "Insert disc 3". Cue one room cave. "Insert disc 1". "Oh crap, did I drop that useful potion on the ground to make temporary space?" Goes back into cave. "Insert disc 3". "Darnit"
I loved disk swapping. It gave me the feeling that this game was really something else. And I would tell my friends about it. I would say, hey, you know, you need six disks to be able to play that game. That is a lot of data! That game is huge!!
And I would play on my school laptop which had 1.2 gb storage so I could choose to install the 256mb 'version' which was just default creature animations and sound and I could barely bump my pc to have 256mb cache for 4-6 areas. And then swap, wait for load, wait for load... The loading I also didn't care about. It was fine. All part of the best game in the world.
I hated disk swapping. When my sister got the CD for Throne of Bhaal it was like the best thing ever. Also hated the loading screens because they were so slow and was always a set place they would crash if a mod had issues (kind of around the 1/3 way point of that glowing ring - remember that?) which gave me a panic attack whenever the loading decided to take a break at that spot.
Although some of the loading tips were pretty great. Especially the one about NPCs not needing to eat but you do.
The No-Reload post is a living hell to me and my OCD. There should be a "gameplay" session on the forum where everyone could do a separate post for theirs runs.
@Raduziel No-reload threads, where all the participants post about their attempts, have been the history of BG games for more than 10 years now. These threads have a long story, and old bioware threads always included posts from many participants. It's actually the very core of no-reload threads when different people post about their progress. It's the heart of it.
Baldur's Gate 1 is easier on a mage or cleric than a fighter. My reasoning is that enemies are a lot less likely to resist your Sleep, Command, Hold Person, etc. Plus, even a fighter often can't tank that many hits at low levels, so you're best served by staying at range and kiting regardless. Hell, fighters probably have it better in Throne of Bhaal, when their saving throws have hit the point where they can shrug off most spells and they can GWW their way through everything.
Although the "rogue rebalancing" mod gives blades proper 3 pps in two weapon fight, I would actually say that it would unbalance the kit, since true pnp blades cannot identify items ("legend lore") or sing to increase morale, while bg blades can (at a slower rate, nevertheless) .
SCS pre/instant buff gets me on nerves. It's like the game is cheating.
No Wizard would pre-buff himself with a short duration spell (like Minor Globe).
Unless they want to ambush you and expect trouble...
Although unrealistic in many situations, this particular option (as SCS will let you chose how to treat pre-buffs) may be attractive for players who wish to compensate for their meta game knowledge.
SCS pre/instant buff gets me on nerves. It's like the game is cheating.
No Wizard would pre-buff himself with a short duration spell (like Minor Globe).
It's made so to counteract players' actions. In fact, many players (especially those using SCS) enter almost any harder than the easiest fight pre-buffed, which includes short duration spells like Minor Globe, DUHM or Chant. So an option to install prebuffs for enemies makes the game fair in these cases - pre-buffed partis fight against pre-buffed enemies.
I never understood people who complain about the game being to easy, crank up the difficulty to max and then also choose to have max HP on level up with max CON bonus.
Exactly, a mage that isn't prepared and doesn't have long-lasting wards almost always, is asking to be killed.
Even Larloch in lore, has a bazillion protections on him at all times. And he's an ancient epic mage lich with his own undead army and fortress (Warlock's Crypt).
Why wouldn't a low level mage have as many protections on him as he can at all times?
Exactly, a mage that isn't prepared and doesn't have long-lasting wards almost always, is asking to be killed.
Even Larloch in lore, has a bazillion protections on him at all times. And he's an ancient epic mage lich with his own undead army and fortress (Warlock's Crypt).
Why wouldn't a low level mage have as many protections on him as he can at all times?
Because most protections aren't long-lasting, and if you're wrong about an imminent attack, then you may face someone later after they've worn off and you can no longer cast them. It's the meta-knowledge about imminent encounter with the party that is causing complaint.
Depends. Realistically speaking, a mage wouldn't feel comfortable traveling without prepared spells and protections on. For example Stoneskin and Armor last quite a lot.
The same happens in PnP. Long-lasting buffs are cast at the start of the day or before facing any danger and once they've run out of spells, the party should rest.
It should be noted, that there are scrying spells in PnP to prepare you for any danger etc. Metagamed knowledge could be RPed as scrying and maybe even use the familiar to scout.
No Wizard would pre-buff himself with a short duration spell (like Minor Globe).
@Archaos, read from the start. This isn't about stoneskin. Why would a mage with a few spell slots be 'wasting' the spells with short duration without knowing there is imminent danger? It's of course unrealistic (but ofc SCS isn't meant to be realistic either).
Edit: ^- a mage who have to prepare for an average, 14 hour long day, that is.
@Skatan Danger can be scouted or RPed as scrying, like I said. You could send your Thief or stealther to see what's beyond and the inform the party, so they can prepare accordingly.
@Skatan Danger can be scouted or RPed as scrying, like I said. You could send your Thief or stealther to see what's beyond and the inform the party, so they can prepare accordingly.
You can do that, but the enemy mage probably won't have a thief working with them, and unless they expend a spell slot on Farsight or Wizard Eye, that shouldn't fly as an explanation either. And in the case of thief or wizard eye scouting, you, like them, should have a chance of detecting them with true seeing or the like, which makes things infinitely more complicated. Reciprocity, see how this works?
Not all enemies are mages but even those that are, wouldn't always expect someone to come to them. They're not scrying others in complete paranoia to see who's coming or not all the time.
The one that is traveling is the one that should be preparing in advance. There are also magical traps or spells in PnP that can inform if someone is coming to you.
Not sure if there's something similar in ADnD 2E but in 3E there's the Alarm spell, it's a 1st level spell and it lasts 2 hours/level.
Even in BG, enemies have abilities that the PCs don't. Specifically, Teleport or Teleport Without Error. How do enemy mages know that adventurers are coming? Alarm spell or equivalent of 2E.
And isn't instant pre-buffing already a thing the party members can do? It's called Contingency. It lasts for 1 day/level and it can be set to trigger with "Caster sees enemy". And multiple Contingencies can be set, since they last quite long.
A smart mage in DnD uses those tricks all the time. Alarm, Scrying, Contigencies, invisible or stealthed familiars etc.
In actual PnP, a high level mage goes beyond even SCS. They're using illusions, are flying, have contingencies to teleport to their fortress if it comes to that, dominated minions, summoning and binding outsiders for advice or help, plus other tricks.
You don't live to be a high level mage by spamming fireball as soon as you see an enemy, in the Realms.
Comments
I would say, hey, you know, you need six disks to be able to play that game. That is a lot of data! That game is huge!!
And I would play on my school laptop which had 1.2 gb storage so I could choose to install the 256mb 'version' which was just default creature animations and sound and I could barely bump my pc to have 256mb cache for 4-6 areas. And then swap, wait for load, wait for load...
The loading I also didn't care about. It was fine. All part of the best game in the world.
/tangent
Although some of the loading tips were pretty great. Especially the one about NPCs not needing to eat but you do.
Anyway, you're always free to start a new thread about your own attempt(s), we have the https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/challenges-and-playthroughs subforum.
No Wizard would pre-buff himself with a short duration spell (like Minor Globe).
Although unrealistic in many situations, this particular option (as SCS will let you chose how to treat pre-buffs) may be attractive for players who wish to compensate for their meta game knowledge.
Even Larloch in lore, has a bazillion protections on him at all times. And he's an ancient epic mage lich with his own undead army and fortress (Warlock's Crypt).
Why wouldn't a low level mage have as many protections on him as he can at all times?
Depends. Realistically speaking, a mage wouldn't feel comfortable traveling without prepared spells and protections on.
For example Stoneskin and Armor last quite a lot.
The same happens in PnP. Long-lasting buffs are cast at the start of the day or before facing any danger and once they've run out of spells, the party should rest.
It should be noted, that there are scrying spells in PnP to prepare you for any danger etc.
Metagamed knowledge could be RPed as scrying and maybe even use the familiar to scout.
Edit: ^- a mage who have to prepare for an average, 14 hour long day, that is.
Danger can be scouted or RPed as scrying, like I said. You could send your Thief or stealther to see what's beyond and the inform the party, so they can prepare accordingly.
Not all enemies are mages but even those that are, wouldn't always expect someone to come to them.
They're not scrying others in complete paranoia to see who's coming or not all the time.
The one that is traveling is the one that should be preparing in advance.
There are also magical traps or spells in PnP that can inform if someone is coming to you.
Not sure if there's something similar in ADnD 2E but in 3E there's the Alarm spell, it's a 1st level spell and it lasts 2 hours/level.
Even in BG, enemies have abilities that the PCs don't. Specifically, Teleport or Teleport Without Error.
How do enemy mages know that adventurers are coming? Alarm spell or equivalent of 2E.
And isn't instant pre-buffing already a thing the party members can do? It's called Contingency.
It lasts for 1 day/level and it can be set to trigger with "Caster sees enemy".
And multiple Contingencies can be set, since they last quite long.
A smart mage in DnD uses those tricks all the time. Alarm, Scrying, Contigencies, invisible or stealthed familiars etc.
In actual PnP, a high level mage goes beyond even SCS. They're using illusions, are flying, have contingencies to teleport to their fortress if it comes to that, dominated minions, summoning and binding outsiders for advice or help, plus other tricks.
You don't live to be a high level mage by spamming fireball as soon as you see an enemy, in the Realms.