Iam confused.. Is "Legacy of Bhaal" supposed to be extreme diffculty mode for veterans or is it more like New Game+ mode? Is it considered cheating if I import level 8 character from my previous playthrough and start a Legacy of Bhaal run with it?
A bit of both. Legacy of Bhaal beefs up the enemies you face in the game, which should allow you to get a bit more challenge if you're restarting with your high-level character. On the other hand, if you really want a challenge, you can activate it right from level 1 and see how you fare against Reevor's rats.
So, I played this mode from level 1 to a six-party around level 6. I really like the idea of a ~HoF mode. The problem is that it's indeed the same 'Nightmare' mode as in IWD (without the XP buff!). But both games are different and to be honest it's quite a chore in BG because there's not enough XP, good items and more importantly high enough level cap. So you pretty much have to resort to the usual cheap strategies from the start to the end of the game.
I guess it would be difficult programming-wise to change how this mode functions but as it is now it's not very enjoyable.
I must agree. Legacy of Bhaal mode, in its current implementation, leaves much to be desired. I have played several games using the "Heart of Fury Mode Emulator" mod, and it was a lot of fun. Remove the level cap, and you essentially get to play the awesome adventure of Baldur's Gate as a high-level campaign, complete with foes worthy of your enhanced capabilities.
However, without any extra exp, and with the low level cap, the game just becomes a boring slog through hordes of unsatisfying damage-sponges. Your characters lack the gear and stats to handle most encounters fairly, which just forces you to metagame and use cheesey, exploitative tactics in every random encounter, which rather defeats the purpose of a "tactical challenge". Even if you are capable of winning, the fights feel like more of a chore than a challenge, and I have found myself actively avoiding as much combat as possible on my LoB playthroughs, just because killing anything takes too long to be worth my time.
I really think LoB mode needs to restore the exp bonus, and possibly even alter the level cap, if not remove it entirely. That way, you aren't just fighting a bunch of overpowered MOBs the entire game for no tangible benefit. There is a difference between challenging and punishing, and the current version of LoB mode is leaning too far towards the latter.
It just isn't fun to beat on the same gibberling for 2min. for 7 exp.
The name "Legacy of Bhaal" is rather spoilery though.
After thinking about it a bit, I guess the name is no more spoilery than using the holy symbol of Bhaal as the game's emblem, and that has been the case since the beginning.
Yeah the "HP Sponge" nature of the upgraded enemies is less than ideal. IIRC it adds something like a flat 50 hp to all enemies. I think something that scaled would work much better, like an extra 10 hp per hit dice.
I really think LoB mode needs to restore the exp bonus, and possibly even alter the level cap, if not remove it entirely.
Once LOB is actually working, you should be able to get the bonus xp (2*xp + 1000) by setting "Nightmare Bonus XP" to 1 in baldur.lua. Combined with the 2*xp that you get for Insane difficulty (provided "No Difficulty Based XP Bonus" is set to 0), you should get the full bonus of 4*xp + 2000 for LOB. In v2.0.60, I was able to get LOB to work fine after I changed GameDifficulty from 6 back 7 in baldur.gam.
The bigger problem right now is that LOB is effectively nonfunctional in the latest beta (V2.0.61). It works fine for new areas, where the monsters have to be created from the default CRE files. It even saves creatures with the correct LOB stats in the area files in baldur.sav. However, the game engine doesn't appear to actually apply those stats when it loads the saved game. Even with BD_Nightmare_Mode = 1 and GameDifficulty =7 in baldur.gam, I can't get it to work. If anybody can get LOB mode to work for explored areas in the latest beta, I would certainly appreciate the solution.
Right now, I'm simulating LOB mode with a mod that applies the correct LOB stats (as far as I know) to the CRE files. It's essentially a modified version of the HOF emulator that has been posted in this forum. It obviously won't work for monsters that already existed in baldur.sav when I installed the mod, but it seems to work fine other than that.
If anybody can get LOB mode to work for explored areas in the latest beta, I would certainly appreciate the solution.
I did some looking into this once and I think I have the solution. If it ever gets turned off then start a new game in LoB difficulty and then load the save you want to play in. Keep in mind that every time you hit the "done" button in the gameplay options menu it will turn LoB difficulty off, so try to avoid doing that for now.
From what I have observed, LoB will affect all creatures the instant it is turned on in any saved game, be it in explored areas or unexplored areas.
Of course, last time I looked at this I was in 2.0.60.0 and the behavior appears to have changed a bit since then...
Upon further review, it appears that this issue only applies to creatures that are in an active area (one that contains a party member) when the game was saved. This is currently being worked on as bug #21962. In the meantime, I think the best workaround for LOB players is to not save when you're in an area that contains anyone you might want to kill.
Comments
I guess it would be difficult programming-wise to change how this mode functions but as it is now it's not very enjoyable.
However, without any extra exp, and with the low level cap, the game just becomes a boring slog through hordes of unsatisfying damage-sponges. Your characters lack the gear and stats to handle most encounters fairly, which just forces you to metagame and use cheesey, exploitative tactics in every random encounter, which rather defeats the purpose of a "tactical challenge". Even if you are capable of winning, the fights feel like more of a chore than a challenge, and I have found myself actively avoiding as much combat as possible on my LoB playthroughs, just because killing anything takes too long to be worth my time.
I really think LoB mode needs to restore the exp bonus, and possibly even alter the level cap, if not remove it entirely. That way, you aren't just fighting a bunch of overpowered MOBs the entire game for no tangible benefit. There is a difference between challenging and punishing, and the current version of LoB mode is leaning too far towards the latter.
It just isn't fun to beat on the same gibberling for 2min. for 7 exp.
After thinking about it a bit, I guess the name is no more spoilery than using the holy symbol of Bhaal as the game's emblem, and that has been the case since the beginning.
Once LOB is actually working, you should be able to get the bonus xp (2*xp + 1000) by setting "Nightmare Bonus XP" to 1 in baldur.lua. Combined with the 2*xp that you get for Insane difficulty (provided "No Difficulty Based XP Bonus" is set to 0), you should get the full bonus of 4*xp + 2000 for LOB. In v2.0.60, I was able to get LOB to work fine after I changed GameDifficulty from 6 back 7 in baldur.gam.
The bigger problem right now is that LOB is effectively nonfunctional in the latest beta (V2.0.61). It works fine for new areas, where the monsters have to be created from the default CRE files. It even saves creatures with the correct LOB stats in the area files in baldur.sav. However, the game engine doesn't appear to actually apply those stats when it loads the saved game. Even with BD_Nightmare_Mode = 1 and GameDifficulty =7 in baldur.gam, I can't get it to work. If anybody can get LOB mode to work for explored areas in the latest beta, I would certainly appreciate the solution.
Right now, I'm simulating LOB mode with a mod that applies the correct LOB stats (as far as I know) to the CRE files. It's essentially a modified version of the HOF emulator that has been posted in this forum. It obviously won't work for monsters that already existed in baldur.sav when I installed the mod, but it seems to work fine other than that.
I did some looking into this once and I think I have the solution. If it ever gets turned off then start a new game in LoB difficulty and then load the save you want to play in. Keep in mind that every time you hit the "done" button in the gameplay options menu it will turn LoB difficulty off, so try to avoid doing that for now.
From what I have observed, LoB will affect all creatures the instant it is turned on in any saved game, be it in explored areas or unexplored areas.
Of course, last time I looked at this I was in 2.0.60.0 and the behavior appears to have changed a bit since then...