Reality Check - Expectations vs. what the game delivers
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But to answer the first part. I'm not really sure what to expect.
More than a solid adventure hopefully som inventive new areas and quests an some all fun and interesting development of characters old and new.
It's always hard to take something great and add to it with any measure of equal greatness.
Medium expectation: A well written story bridging BG to BG2 explaining the fate of every playable NPC with a lot of tactical battles through out the game. Banter will be semi voiced with an over all serious tone to the game with mild jokes sprinkled into the banter to keep it light.
High expectation: Not only does the expansion bridge the two games, it fills in wholes of what has happened to both major and minor characters (think Tamoko if she survived your encounter, or Melicamp, or the BG thieves guild npcs) with a lot of easter eggs sprinkled through out such as bringing in certain inventory items (Melicamp the chicken, Idol of Kozah etc) is brought into the expansion.
That's my expectation.
With SoD now released, try to alwaysuse spoilers when you want to reveal something.
I don't really have much I expect in terms of "what will happen" or "I hope there'll be AMAZING characters and romance!" etc. It will be impossible to not compare it to the original games and as I mentioned, I don't expect it to be as amazing as those games were, and that's absolutely fine. Let's hope for a pleasant surprise!
- Have the chance to travel with some BG companions whose fate is unknown (Branwen, Kivan, Eldoth, Alora, Shar-Teel, Xan and so on);
- Have the chance to know more about Khalid and Jaheira;
- Gay romance for male CHARNAME (because Dorn is evil and I am a good guy);
- New shiny items;
- New monsters;
- Gorgeous areas.
After my first playthrough... Is the game out now? I need to know it before posting my feedback
I mentioned it in a thread in "Road to 2.0", TODAY, and got told by @Dee to make a ticket on Redmine. I said, "No thank you, I am not interested in being an unpaid beta tester for Beamdog," and I meant that strongly.
I may just play IWD:EE and other games for a while, because I am very disappointed in polish, debugging, and stability of 2.0 and by extension, SoD, upon release.
I will have to hope that eventually patches will be released that get the new trilogy product into playable shape. (It's not exactly "unplayable" exactly, rather, there's so much wrong with it it's just irritating to play.)
Other than the bugs, I actually like the total interface overhaul very much. I've seen all sorts of things I like, even love about it. But I will need a much less buggy version before I can really get immersed in it and enjoy it. Knowing Beamdog, this process from BG:EE version 2 to ToB:EE version 2, including SoD, in a polished form, will take at least a year, maybe two.
No it is to help weed out bugs and glitches. You received the product (read as being paid) earlier than others to help with this. You didn't and now you whine after the release that the bug you found is still in the game?
Please do not reply to posts you have not read carefully and understood.
Things I like:
New interface thingamobob. It's great.
Sexy landscape and art. The characters all look incredible.
New voice sets are superb, much better than the last additions
Imoen learning magic
New voices for existing characters!!!! So great to hear Minsc again
The first dungeon looks so well-designed.
The starting parties kinda make sense, which is great (though I'd have preferred Alora over Safana for good parties)
Things I don't like:
When you click on a base class you need to click "next" before seeing the kit options
Clicking "enter" doesn't exit screens like item descriptions
Oh and one other little thing
SHIELDS AND BOWS AT THE SAME TIME!!!
WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?
*incoherent excited squealing noises*
Expectation 1: sheer, utter, enjoyment of an expansion to the game I've loved for the last almost two decades.
The result: immense quantities of that for about the last 8 hours. I expect much more of that tomorrow, after adulting things are wrapped up.
Expectation 2 (more of a hope really): I, like many others, associate music with great memories. I hoped that the music would prove to be of that caliber.
The result: Sam Hulick and the Beamdog crew delivered that desire in spades. I'm going to rack out in a little bit, listening to the music that Sam contributed to this series. Thank you, Mr. Hulick, for immersive, thematically fitting, wonderful music. I will treasure it via my Digital Edition purchase. I hope someone at Beamdog shows him that portion of the post.
Expectation 3 (I was hoping to avoid these, but alas...I can only blame myself): I expected some mod created issues with some of my saves, since I'd saved some heavily modded playthrough PC's for SOD injection. The DD didn't install with containers, my elven stalker installed with 25 strength for everyone in the party, and my Cavalier installed flawlessly. I had previously heavily modded my BGEE experience, reverting back to stock earlier this week. Those PC's came from heavily modded playthroughs, so the issues on two of them are very likely a result of those mods.
Exception 4 was that the playing of this game was going to eat into a lot of my personal time, particularly since I recently retired from one career. I will be taking a break from work to focus on home life a bit more. My free time is most likely going to be wrapped up in this game.
To say that I'm amped is an understatement, and the game hasn't disappointed. I am really impressed with the lore of the story thus far, and am emotionally invested in the story (which is the highest praise I can give about a game really).
Thanks Beamdog. For everything.
Also I expect bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. But I shall not fear.