First general impressions of playing BGEE with SoD
Lemernis
Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
This is my first time playing a BGEE game with SoD installed and it's very early on the game.
First let me say that I'm definitely a fan thus far of SoD's graphics and UI improvements. I was a little thrown at first by things that were preset like the sprite outlines, gray on pause, and show accessible areas on the maps. Not that they were particularly off-putting or anything, but I did shut them off. It's been years since I played BGEE and I don't remember the zoom feature allowing for making the sprites as big as they seem now. But in any case if we can now increase the size a little more, I like it. And again, I dig the new UI features. Very nice.
And I have the game set at Core Rules... and I can't imagine that the gameplay has been nerfed in any way by SoD... but it is really proving to be a cakewalk thus far:
Just in the mood for something different, I'm running a custom multiplayer party
- Bhaalspawn human Transmuter who will dual to Fighter, melees with a quarterstaff, and uses Alteration spells exclusively except for buffs like Shield and Armor, etc.
- Wizard Slayer who is a dart thrower - ** darts ** single weapon style
- halfling F/T - ** sling ** single weapon style
- half-orc Shaman - * club * sword and shield style (can equip only a buckler)
- half-elf Bard - *crossbow * shortbow (but uses crossbow exclusively)
- human stalker - ** axe ** scimitar/etc. ** two-weapon style (mainly hurls throwing axes but can dual-wield axes or scimitars in pinch)
The thought here was to go with mostly ranged weapons (using other than bow and arrow), and have the melee provided by the Transmuter (eventually will be F/M) wielding a stave, the Shaman using a club (with only a buckler). If necessary the Stalker can melee as well. Key abilities are in the 14-17 range, with the only exceptions being the half-orc Shaman has 19 Str (for me the fun of playing that race) and the Stalker has 18/47 Str in order to be able to carry plenty of throwing axes.
Spellcasting is a bit limited in that the Transmuter will almost entirely use his own specialization school spells, and the Bard has a limited number of spell slots. Although both can use wands.
I thought this might be a challenge. But they barely broke a sweat when taking out Bassilus.
I guess with that much ranged firepower the party is actually pretty formidable. Early on, anyway. Evidently Bassilus could never get a spell off because he was constantly being peppered with ranged attacks. But he is just one enemy, and it isn't really a fair fight. Plus I chose the dialogue options to have the skeletons disintegrate.
I guess it will be different when this party eventually faces tougher melee opponents and spellcasters with better protections and warriors on the front line.
Oh, also it's been ages since I played--what is the procedure again for saving a MP game as SP?
First let me say that I'm definitely a fan thus far of SoD's graphics and UI improvements. I was a little thrown at first by things that were preset like the sprite outlines, gray on pause, and show accessible areas on the maps. Not that they were particularly off-putting or anything, but I did shut them off. It's been years since I played BGEE and I don't remember the zoom feature allowing for making the sprites as big as they seem now. But in any case if we can now increase the size a little more, I like it. And again, I dig the new UI features. Very nice.
And I have the game set at Core Rules... and I can't imagine that the gameplay has been nerfed in any way by SoD... but it is really proving to be a cakewalk thus far:
Just in the mood for something different, I'm running a custom multiplayer party
- Bhaalspawn human Transmuter who will dual to Fighter, melees with a quarterstaff, and uses Alteration spells exclusively except for buffs like Shield and Armor, etc.
- Wizard Slayer who is a dart thrower - ** darts ** single weapon style
- halfling F/T - ** sling ** single weapon style
- half-orc Shaman - * club * sword and shield style (can equip only a buckler)
- half-elf Bard - *crossbow * shortbow (but uses crossbow exclusively)
- human stalker - ** axe ** scimitar/etc. ** two-weapon style (mainly hurls throwing axes but can dual-wield axes or scimitars in pinch)
The thought here was to go with mostly ranged weapons (using other than bow and arrow), and have the melee provided by the Transmuter (eventually will be F/M) wielding a stave, the Shaman using a club (with only a buckler). If necessary the Stalker can melee as well. Key abilities are in the 14-17 range, with the only exceptions being the half-orc Shaman has 19 Str (for me the fun of playing that race) and the Stalker has 18/47 Str in order to be able to carry plenty of throwing axes.
Spellcasting is a bit limited in that the Transmuter will almost entirely use his own specialization school spells, and the Bard has a limited number of spell slots. Although both can use wands.
I thought this might be a challenge. But they barely broke a sweat when taking out Bassilus.
I guess with that much ranged firepower the party is actually pretty formidable. Early on, anyway. Evidently Bassilus could never get a spell off because he was constantly being peppered with ranged attacks. But he is just one enemy, and it isn't really a fair fight. Plus I chose the dialogue options to have the skeletons disintegrate.
I guess it will be different when this party eventually faces tougher melee opponents and spellcasters with better protections and warriors on the front line.
Oh, also it's been ages since I played--what is the procedure again for saving a MP game as SP?
Post edited by Lemernis on
5
Comments
I thought I would be giving myself something of a challenge with this relatively offbeat party!
But I seem to have pretty seriously miscalculated just how deadly four ranged attacks are. I mean, if I had four Warrior class characters all using bows then I clearly recall how much damage they would rain down. Bows are so deadly in BG1, especially with all the enchanted arrows. But when dreaming up the party I forgot that that sling bullets, darts, throwing axes, and crossbow bolts really are about on par with arrows. (Again it's been about three years since I've played the game.) And eventually the Bard will be using the Light Crossbow of Speed with bolts of biting. And darts and sling bullets are also available with enchantments IIRC (more than just +1 and +2 if I'm remembering right).
I just hope that I get some challenge when they're facing the standard parties of four or more higher level enemies with spellcasters. E.g., like the Amazon assassins when emerging from the Nashkel mines, the welcoming party at the Cloakwood mines, the 5th floor of the Iron Throne, etc.
Thanks for the tip that at game creation I can use SP to import character files. But for a game like this that is already started is there still a way, as there used to be? It's not a big deal, as it only involves having to check the character boxes before starting. But this isn't a no-reload game, so I do reload fairly often. (Sometimes just to have fun replaying a battle.)
Also, when I do a ½-orc shaman I almost always do 19 STR, single-weapon style, and axe. If you happen to hit with the thrown or melee axe you'll do substantial damage and defaulting to the melee script ensures that you'll have the extra AC against those that snipe from afar. Plus you can get the super cheap beruel's retort +1 very early on and use it as a melee weapon.
Go into the weapon description - abilities - and you can switch it to a melee weapon. At that point you have a VERY cheap magical melee axe with the same 'average' damage as battle axe +1. In fact, for most dwarven defenders I build I've got beruel's retort +1 as main hand weapon and battle axe +1 as off-hand for some cheap dual-wield magical axe goodness early on in BG1.
Note that if you move the axe (in the inventory screen) it automatically defaults to thrown when put back. You can also switch it to melee by R-clicking on the weapon from the bottom HUD bar. The only downside it that you can't equip it in the off-hand (even if you want to only use it as a melee weapon).