Revised difficulties request BG1+2
Zendog7
Member Posts: 31
Dear Beamdog,
I've posted on many game forums over the years but this is the first time I've ever written anything directed towards a dev team, for the sole reason that I think there's a small chance it won't be a complete waste of time and that you may take it on board.
As stated in the title my request is in regards to the difficulty settings and mechanics of BG1EE and BG2EE.
Most players don't just play this game once. Indeed, most replay it countless times, 'mastering' the game in the process thus looking for newer ways to challenge themselves each time.
Surprise surprise, I am one of these players.
I'm sorry to say I've not got round to purchasing SoD yet (don't worry, I will) however I had my first experiences with EE quest content over the last week or so and I thoroughly enjoyed it, primarily because of the combat.
It felt to me that the mobs were more numerous, smarter (akin to SCS AI) and tougher, without being laughably overtuned like non-EE encounters with LoB mode active.
This compelled me to write and express my point - I (and I suspect many others) don't want to go through the rigmarole of installing bulky mods (such as SCS) in order to increase the challenge of the game. However the current difficulty options outside of EE created content are, in my humble opinion, lacking.
I like to make very small mods myself, items and such.. and it is a nightmare to do when mammoth mods have moved half of one's game instalation to the override folder.
It would be so much better/easier/cleaner to have such luxuries as official content.
Hard and Insane offering just 50% and 100% increased mob damage does nothing to really effect the dynamics or duration of an encounter, and unbalances the early stages of bg1.
LoB is simply way overtuned - with no changes to AI/mob profieciencies etc in the vanilla content it is one-dimensional and immersion-breaking.
It is important for people to feel their characters (and party members) are powerful, yet for those unwilling to heavily mod it is impossible to build a strong party, engage in encounters with an in-depth knowledge of the combat and spell systems, and still retain a feeling of being challenged.
I know this is a difficult balance to strike, but I do believe you already know the answers (see EE/SoD AI/encounter sizes) and it is just a question of implimenting them.
And it is not as if there isn't a willing and incredibly talented community on hand to assist.
SCS is a crazy mod and I can't imagine the amount of work that went into it. I know if I was the author and Beamdog rang me up one day saying 'hey dude, love what you did with SCS..how'd you feel popping into the office and helping us turn it into official content?' I'd be stoked! Also, someone who goes to that much trouble doing something without getting paid is unlikely to be an extortionist!
Finally, don't get me wrong, I am really impressed with 98% of your work and there is absolutely loads you've done right.
It's just this one small thing...
- I may be wrong.. I appreciate a lot of content in this post is conjecture and opinion formed from my own experience and a lot of forum lurking. If so then fair enough
Thanks for reading,
Zendog
I've posted on many game forums over the years but this is the first time I've ever written anything directed towards a dev team, for the sole reason that I think there's a small chance it won't be a complete waste of time and that you may take it on board.
As stated in the title my request is in regards to the difficulty settings and mechanics of BG1EE and BG2EE.
Most players don't just play this game once. Indeed, most replay it countless times, 'mastering' the game in the process thus looking for newer ways to challenge themselves each time.
Surprise surprise, I am one of these players.
I'm sorry to say I've not got round to purchasing SoD yet (don't worry, I will) however I had my first experiences with EE quest content over the last week or so and I thoroughly enjoyed it, primarily because of the combat.
It felt to me that the mobs were more numerous, smarter (akin to SCS AI) and tougher, without being laughably overtuned like non-EE encounters with LoB mode active.
This compelled me to write and express my point - I (and I suspect many others) don't want to go through the rigmarole of installing bulky mods (such as SCS) in order to increase the challenge of the game. However the current difficulty options outside of EE created content are, in my humble opinion, lacking.
I like to make very small mods myself, items and such.. and it is a nightmare to do when mammoth mods have moved half of one's game instalation to the override folder.
It would be so much better/easier/cleaner to have such luxuries as official content.
Hard and Insane offering just 50% and 100% increased mob damage does nothing to really effect the dynamics or duration of an encounter, and unbalances the early stages of bg1.
LoB is simply way overtuned - with no changes to AI/mob profieciencies etc in the vanilla content it is one-dimensional and immersion-breaking.
It is important for people to feel their characters (and party members) are powerful, yet for those unwilling to heavily mod it is impossible to build a strong party, engage in encounters with an in-depth knowledge of the combat and spell systems, and still retain a feeling of being challenged.
I know this is a difficult balance to strike, but I do believe you already know the answers (see EE/SoD AI/encounter sizes) and it is just a question of implimenting them.
And it is not as if there isn't a willing and incredibly talented community on hand to assist.
SCS is a crazy mod and I can't imagine the amount of work that went into it. I know if I was the author and Beamdog rang me up one day saying 'hey dude, love what you did with SCS..how'd you feel popping into the office and helping us turn it into official content?' I'd be stoked! Also, someone who goes to that much trouble doing something without getting paid is unlikely to be an extortionist!
Finally, don't get me wrong, I am really impressed with 98% of your work and there is absolutely loads you've done right.
It's just this one small thing...
- I may be wrong.. I appreciate a lot of content in this post is conjecture and opinion formed from my own experience and a lot of forum lurking. If so then fair enough
Thanks for reading,
Zendog
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