Things you LIKE from the beta

SirBatince

I just figured we could use such a thread since it's far easier to call out things you don't like over things you do appreciate.

Personally I very much like the new import menu. Having the portraits shown gives much better visual and responsive feedback. There should however be a checkbox to hide the official default templates. If we're in that menu in the first place, we're probably not looking for Abdel or Cancerous.

I am a big fan of the new skill selection menu. It's a very good idea and it should definitely have been like this in vanilla. It should however remember the last selected skill when starting a new game and be selected by default so we don't have to steer away from core everytime. Just a little ease of use.

Green stat numbers when buffed is a step in the right direction. Though it would certainly look better on a dark background *cough*1.3*cough*.

I have not actually tried the shaman yet but I am certain I will love it. It's hard to go wrong with new classes, lots of replayability. New priests look fun too.

Although I am probably the 1% using it on PC, I enjoy the zoom lock. My mouse wheel sometimes gets glitchy and rolls by itself; this feature solves my little problem. Needs alot of bug fixing though.

The ability to make a custom party without the multiplayer work-around is also welcome (although I didn't mind it).

Real bugfixes are also welcome, such as the issues with the battle music (infinite loop in 1.3)

Developers who are participating and responding in real time to the community is also something I am a fan of.

What do YOU like?

antimatter3009

Regardless of everything else, I have to say that I absolutely love how this is being handled. It's pretty rare that a company allows players to have a voice in the patching process. We know everyone is not going to leave happy, but at least we all get to say our piece, and it seems, at least, that they are listening. Great job there, and it shows a great respect for the community that still exists around this 20 year old game.

nemesa

I like the fact that you can now have access to all available colors from the color index, when you create your character. It may seems a small change, but I believe it helps you to define your own hero.

Survivor

I've already mentioned it in another thread: I absolutely love this portrait:


I also like the experience bar and the outlines around the avatars as well as the new scripts.

Heavyline

Not sure if this counts, but...

Achievements..

God Iam happy that achievements got added to this game. I've played Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series since early 2000s. Just few years ago I became obsessed with achievements for many reasons. I know lots of people don't care about them ... and then there are people like me who just loves collecting these things. Achievements gives me a reason to play my games differently and possibly do multiple playthroughs just to collect them all.

Achievements have given my games more replayability. Ever since I started hunting achievements I dreamt about my favorite series of all time getting achievements as well. Now it finally happened.

Silverstar

The Create Party button. For BGII anyway, so I can have a proper thief (Hexxat doesn't really work in all parties).

The sprite outlines. Now, I don't actually use them because the different look just isn't BG to me, creature of habit, but they do look really nice I think.

The Shaman class. More classes are good. I've never really wanted to play druid, but this I think I'll play.

Ability to equip off-hand weapons and shields in addition to two-handed weapons in other slots.

The colour sliders for appearance. I'd rather have the block selection grid of old, but the variety the sliders enable in its place is a massive upgrade.

The new customizable AI, possibly.

The "story mode" difficulty setting. Not for myself (Core Rules forever!), but for players new to the series. They're much more likely to give the game a go if they don't get killed by Shank in the first 3 minutes of playing.

The colour sliders for appearance. Yes, I know I said that twice.

Oh and the greyscale when pausing. That's really cool.

Kilivitz

I like the new map screen. The zoom-out/zoom-in effect is really neat. I just wish the "show accessible area" option was off by default because while useful, it looks ugly as hell.

I like that little by little, they're eliminating the "late-20th-centuryisms" of having to move folders around when moving on from BG1 to BG2.

While we're at it, I love the option of having Cloud Saves. When SoD and the patches come out I intend to start using Steam just for this featurer, since I play on more than one computer. Fingers crossed that they will eventually find a way to have cloud saves work between desktop and mobile platforms as I also play BG on the go and shut up I don't have a problem.

I like the new renderer that makes things look smoother when we zoom all the way in. Before the EEs I've never used the widescreen mod because I"d much rather lose the screen edges than playing on high resolutions that makes the characters look like little ants.

I like the new default font size. I've always thought the default size for 1.3 was too big, but going just one step down made it too small. And that was infuriating because I hate when trying toread text that's too small gives me a headache and suddenly I'm forced to remember that I'm getting old.

I like the new journal pop-ups. When you're playing the game for the hundredth time you tend to rush past certain things and the journal entries are certainly one of them. But the thing is, they are fun to read. The pop-up makes me read them while keeping my "been there, done that" playing style.

I like the expanded color options. I suppose the new sliding bar doesn't look as good as the previous color selection menu, but I'm more than willing to trade the better-looking screen for more options.

I like being able to choose the difficulty before the game starts - this is one of those things that modern players have learned to expect and it makes the game much more friendly to newcomers.

JuliusBorisov

The Shaman Class! It needs more love!

I haven't tried it in BG1, because I don't have a BG1EE beta, but in SoA and ToB it rocks! Now my character can always have an access to Chaotic Commands, Death Ward and Ironskins when it's needed. Now I don't need to think about which spells to choose for memorization this or that time. And the 7th level Shaman spell rocks. It's basically a bounty hunter's trap, removing someone from the battlefield without a saving throw and then bringing them back when you're more ready.

Plus, plus - you can use short bows with a shaman, so that sexy 3 APR bow is now available for you to support your fire elementals. Also, you can use axes and flails - I I like those weapons.

mlnevese

I really liked that if you get a spell scroll all mages in your party who can cast that spell but have not learned it are automatically highlighted. If they have it in their spell book they are not shaded but do not receive the yellow highlight either.

Silverstar

The Continue button on main menu that loads your last save. Been waiting for that to transfer over from ID.

The ability to keep clicking the "next picture" button without delay when making a character. Previously you'd need to move the mouse pointer between each click or wait like a second before another click could register. That's annoyed me since forever...

mf2112

I like very much that the Contingency button in the spell book now shows what is loaded up in spell trigger and sequencers.

GreenWarlock

Thanks for sharing @mf2112 - that is quite awesome!

Ithual

The new journal pop ups
The journal in general
The area map (how it zooms out and back in... very cool)

The Shaman (Axes and Shortbows!!)