To answer that one, you first have to define what cheating is.
Some would say that attacking an enemy that is currently non-hostile is cheating, but that is what nations do all the time. Japan at Pearl Harbour, Russia invading the Ukraine, Argentina invading Georgia etc. And it's not just the bad guys that do it. In R/L it is consideed a legitimate tactic as it can reduce loss of life dramatically.
Others would say that installing certain mods is cheating. I don't so long as you are open about what you have done.
It's good to be back on this forum. It's good to be back in my favourite thread. With that being said, let's get down to businees. This ride never ends. 60. It's totally okay to cheat. You don't owe anyone any particular style of gameplay. You have fun slaying everything with a godbow? Then just do it. 61. Warriors in real-time party based cRPGs should have as little special abilities as possible and fighters in BG are superior than their equivalents in newer games like Dragon Age because of that. Warriors having as many talents as mages forces you to micromanage everyone and combat becomes tedious (like in Pillars of Eternity or tactical view in Dragon Age Inquisition) and loses smoothnes. Also, if both warrios and mages have similarly wide set of abilities, the significant difference between playing them is lost. In Dragon Age 2 playing mage and warrior feels basically the same. 62. It's okay if NPCs can be sum up to one sentence. They are not the focus of the story. Your character is. Han Solo doesn't need more character than "snarky rogue with heart of gold". They should be simple and even little bland. Otherwise we end up with atrocities like Anders from Dragon Age 2, who seems to be more important to story than Hawke. 63. While romances in Baldur's Gate are hilariously bad, good thing about them is that they are rather limited and do not affect gameplay that much. I prefer it to stay that way than having developers brag about "soft porno in space", and fans obsessing about who they will be able to make with love in the game. 64. The less skill it requires, the better tactic it is. 65. The less skill it requiers, the worse strategy it is. 66. Inventory management makes sense only if it's done hardcore, like in Darkest Dungeon: you have to choose what loot you take, and the rest you leave behind is lost forever. If you are not going to go that route, then give me unlimited inventory. 67. And get rid of that weight mechanics too! 68. There should be transgender companions in Baldur's Gate. 69. CHARNAME should have option to be awfully bigoted towards them. I mean, I can throw fireballs at kids in this game, so that shouldn't be a problem. 70. There should be cannibalism in the game, either as some kind of kit, or a quest for evil CHARNAME.
71. Instead of werewolves, we should have wolfweres. Idea of wolves that can take human form is much more disturbing and thrilling than people changing into wolves.
71. Instead of werewolves, we should have wolfweres. Idea of wolves that can take human form is much more disturbing and thrilling than people changing into wolves.
If I recall in Shadowrun there are beasts like that. I wanted to RP one but I don't know any groups IRL that run Shadowrun games, unfortunately.
@DJKajuru: "Throne of Bhaal" = story about Bhaal, or his spawn, or his Throne. Things that should be kinda important for CHARNAME. "Shadows of Amn" = story about... some country in the south, I guess? Dunno, it could be about anything, really, like "Tales of the Sword Coast"; those titles have even similar structure. It's not just about titles, really. SoA doesn't move story of CHARNAME a single inch, because we end in the place we started, just couple of levels higher. ToB, however hack-and-slashy and limited it may be, at least it focuses on CHARNAME and his heritage, not some random mage and problems of Alkhatla.
@DJKajuru: "Throne of Bhaal" = story about Bhaal, or his spawn, or his Throne. Things that should be kinda important for CHARNAME. "Shadows of Amn" = story about... some country in the south, I guess? Dunno, it could be about anything, really, like "Tales of the Sword Coast"; those titles have even similar structure. It's not just about titles, really. SoA doesn't move story of CHARNAME a single inch, because we end in the place we started, just couple of levels higher. ToB, however hack-and-slashy and limited it may be, at least it focuses on CHARNAME and his heritage, not some random mage and problems of Alkhatla.
I understand that , from a marketing point of view, the word "shadows" is catchy and appealing, and to FR fans Amn was already famous for its emphasis on intrigue . That said, it must have been easy for them to "sell" the name. Considering the sequel's amazing popularity, I guess you did you a good job: yours is an unpopular opinion
It's just straight up wrong, too, because it's only in SoA that CHARNAME learns what being a Bhaalspawn really means, plus the whole thing with Irenicus and CHARNAME's soul, and various things set up to be resolved in ToB, and since it's more like 12 levels than "a couple", it means by the end of SoA CHARNAME is actually ready for his/her ultimate destiny.
What does exactly CHARNAME learn during SoA, that he didn't know earlier?
How to safely kill a Beholder. How to survive a Lich attack. How to kill a Tanar'ri on it's home turf. Vampire bites suck. Just because a Halfling can't be a Paladin doesn't mean a Halfling can't still peg you full of arrows for being an asshat.
And the most important one, courtesy of Joneleth... you don't have to be a Bhaalspawn to use their powers.
i don't really like alot of the vanilla portraits and rather change them with a mod so they have a consistent art style.
I like to create my own portraits using images from the web to create portraits. I use a portrait showing all or most of the body for the large portrait, and one with just the head for the small portrait. Sometimes a use a photo of myself to create them, usually using the body from an image on the web. One of these days I might just get good enough to create my own portrait pack.
What does exactly CHARNAME learn during SoA, that he didn't know earlier?
In the first game, you don't even have to do anything to be opposing Bhaal's taint. Even an evil PC isn't the same kind of pawn that Sarevok ultimately is. It's only in the second game that the taint really tries to corrupt you, offering you real power in the form of the Slayer, and setting up the Hell trials, where failing even a single choice has real consequences. You also learn that what makes you special even among Bhaalspawn is that there's something about you, your mind or your soul, that tries to protect you from the immense power you have, both in the dream where you face Bhaal's avatar, and the trials that anticipate the additional tests you set up for yourself in TOB.
All in all, it seems like a more introspective journey than either BG1 or TOB are, and where better than the Land of Coin and Intrigue to see exactly who you are in the dark?
I just don't like Sendai, honestly. None of the Five except Balthazar have an interesting motivation, and she doesn't even have interesting minions to make up for it.
Comments
Some would say that attacking an enemy that is currently non-hostile is cheating, but that is what nations do all the time. Japan at Pearl Harbour, Russia invading the Ukraine, Argentina invading Georgia etc. And it's not just the bad guys that do it. In R/L it is consideed a legitimate tactic as it can reduce loss of life dramatically.
Others would say that installing certain mods is cheating. I don't so long as you are open about what you have done.
With that being said, let's get down to businees. This ride never ends.
60. It's totally okay to cheat. You don't owe anyone any particular style of gameplay. You have fun slaying everything with a godbow? Then just do it.
61. Warriors in real-time party based cRPGs should have as little special abilities as possible and fighters in BG are superior than their equivalents in newer games like Dragon Age because of that. Warriors having as many talents as mages forces you to micromanage everyone and combat becomes tedious (like in Pillars of Eternity or tactical view in Dragon Age Inquisition) and loses smoothnes. Also, if both warrios and mages have similarly wide set of abilities, the significant difference between playing them is lost. In Dragon Age 2 playing mage and warrior feels basically the same.
62. It's okay if NPCs can be sum up to one sentence. They are not the focus of the story. Your character is. Han Solo doesn't need more character than "snarky rogue with heart of gold". They should be simple and even little bland. Otherwise we end up with atrocities like Anders from Dragon Age 2, who seems to be more important to story than Hawke.
63. While romances in Baldur's Gate are hilariously bad, good thing about them is that they are rather limited and do not affect gameplay that much. I prefer it to stay that way than having developers brag about "soft porno in space", and fans obsessing about who they will be able to make with love in the game.
64. The less skill it requires, the better tactic it is.
65. The less skill it requiers, the worse strategy it is.
66. Inventory management makes sense only if it's done hardcore, like in Darkest Dungeon: you have to choose what loot you take, and the rest you leave behind is lost forever. If you are not going to go that route, then give me unlimited inventory.
67. And get rid of that weight mechanics too!
68. There should be transgender companions in Baldur's Gate.
69. CHARNAME should have option to be awfully bigoted towards them. I mean, I can throw fireballs at kids in this game, so that shouldn't be a problem.
70. There should be cannibalism in the game, either as some kind of kit, or a quest for evil CHARNAME.
"Throne of Bhaal" = story about Bhaal, or his spawn, or his Throne. Things that should be kinda important for CHARNAME.
"Shadows of Amn" = story about... some country in the south, I guess? Dunno, it could be about anything, really, like "Tales of the Sword Coast"; those titles have even similar structure.
It's not just about titles, really. SoA doesn't move story of CHARNAME a single inch, because we end in the place we started, just couple of levels higher. ToB, however hack-and-slashy and limited it may be, at least it focuses on CHARNAME and his heritage, not some random mage and problems of Alkhatla.
How to survive a Lich attack.
How to kill a Tanar'ri on it's home turf.
Vampire bites suck.
Just because a Halfling can't be a Paladin doesn't mean a Halfling can't still peg you full of arrows for being an asshat.
And the most important one, courtesy of Joneleth... you don't have to be a Bhaalspawn to use their powers.
i hate sendai's portrait.
All in all, it seems like a more introspective journey than either BG1 or TOB are, and where better than the Land of Coin and Intrigue to see exactly who you are in the dark? I just don't like Sendai, honestly. None of the Five except Balthazar have an interesting motivation, and she doesn't even have interesting minions to make up for it.