Beamdog is still actively supporting the Enhanced Edition games, but I'm not sure how great their appetite will be to continue making changes to them in the future. There are though literally hundreds of mods for BG and many of those have already been converted to support the EE. As I suggested earlier if you do want to make the sorts of changes to LoB you've suggested I think getting a modder interested in that is more likely to be successful than getting Beamdog to adopt them, though there's no harm in asking.
Beamdog is still actively supporting the Enhanced Edition games, but I'm not sure how great their appetite will be to continue making changes to them in the future. There are though literally hundreds of mods for BG and many of those have already been converted to support the EE. As I suggested earlier if you do want to make the sorts of changes to LoB you've suggested I think getting a modder interested in that is more likely to be successful than getting Beamdog to adopt them, though there's no harm in asking.
Duly noted; is there any users I can contact who works for Beamdog? I think there was a guy posting here at some point who changed the Flesh Golem "spawn when you're sleeping" encounters in the Lighthouse to Carrion Crawlers; could I possibly ask him or any other posters?
Bug fix is different from changing combat experiences, since EE are more like remakes, I doubt Beamdog will make such radical gameplay changes like SCS in the first place. I'm not saying EE is perfect, there're still longing enchantments that could be done but left undone,
Bug fix is different from changing combat experiences, since EE are more like remakes, I doubt Beamdog will make such radical gameplay changes like SCS in the first place. I'm not saying EE is perfect, there're still longing enchantments that could be done but left undone,
But still, what's the harm in asking? Besides, look at how they changed the encounters in the Flesh Golem cave; one of the programmers made a whole thread about it...
The guy who did so did that purely because the Flesh Golem respawns "allow[ed] players to progress in level more quickly than originally intended". He at least seemed like someone who wasn't that adverse to messing around with the original programming; I can't imagine he'd be the only one with that attitude.
Aw, thanks for being nice to this ol' newbie, Grond0! Btw, I changed my mind about what I'd do to make LoB harder; instead of what I originally suggested, I changed it to this...
Make the Game Harder by...
1) Increase the amount of Infrasion that enemies possess, so that casting the Stinking Cloud spells outside their field of vision will no longer be a valid option. This will also keep players from cheesing large groups by luring enemies away one-at-a-time.
2) Add a reputation drop for every time you attack a neutral NPC, even those that are clearly about to attack you. So now you can't cheese guys like Neville the bandit anymore (area just north of Gnoll Stronghold) or Mutamin (the guy who commands Basilisks in that area north of Gullykin). You can't just paralyze them and kill them before they can activate dialogue with you; you have to fight them fair and square.
Yeah. I'm very sorry Mr. Borisov; I didn't mean to be a nuisance. I thought I had maybe posted the thread in the wrong place, so I posted it in those other two places when it was suggested I do so. Upon reflection, I should have just asked a mod where the most appropriate place would have been.
Forgive me if this has already been suggested. But considering i think that an overhaul on a per NPC/Enemy bases is a huge undertaking.
Could a simpler work around be that every chapter the Mob bonuses increase. So chapter 1 in candle keep its very minor (+16 HP, +X Saves or whatever) Then by the next chapter when you leave candle keep it goes up a little more in HP and Saving throws. So as each chapter progresses things will get harder and harder but at the same time it wont make those early levels such a grind.
Alternative a solution could be this could be weighted by the current main character level. So it could work either in conjunction with Chapter/Main Character level or or could be one or the other. The only issue I can see with using levels is that if people are under leveling or over leveling it might not be balanced so if it is by a chapter increase only this might be better. So i suggest firstly that each chapter it universally ups every mob everywhere to make it easier on the Devs as well as make it a player choice to finish a chapter to up the difficultly.
---
Likewise as has been talked about by others. The + to mob Level makes SO many spells not work. Most notoriously for me the counter type spells such as Dispel. Essentially Dispel is useless so that any mage or caster with protections you just have to literally wait out a battle for it to expire or you have to cheeze the battles. I dont know the maths enough off the top of my head to work out a compromise for that however I really hope that it can be reduced or at least capped based on Level caps in bg1/2 to give us a chance. From memory there are mobs that end up being like level 20+ or crazy numbers like that in bg1 once they get the +8 level bonus (I think its 8), making any spell success based off level have 1% effectiveness.
Edit: Just a random thought again, (its 1am here so maybe im crazy) But could certain spells just be exempt to ignore the bonus levels of a mob. Or at least make the level bonus be capped. meaning that even if the mob is +8 levels some spells such as Dispel on LOB mode get a bonus to its success rate so a +8 level is seen as only a +2 or +4 level for the purposes of success/resistant only.
-- As for the Bonus XP you get from mobs which makes you level faster. Could that be its own slider where you choice from eg: 0% Bonus to 100% bonus XP (or whatever LOB mod gives you) That way its also a choice by the player instead of a constant so people can experience the game as they choose. (No pun intended)
First of all, thank you for your participation, 00zim00; I can see the logic behind all of your ideas, and am looking forward to reading more of them in the future. I like your ideas about how to make spells more effective; I think those are good ideas! I disagree with the two approaches you have for monster stats, however; here's why.
Could a simpler work around be that every chapter the Mob bonuses increase. So chapter 1 in candle keep its very minor (+16 HP, +X Saves or whatever) Then by the next chapter when you leave candle keep it goes up a little more in HP and Saving throws. So as each chapter progresses things will get harder and harder but at the same time it wont make those early levels such a grind.
I think this change would solve the inconsistent difficulty curve, and I think it would work well in a less linear game. I can completely understand the sentiment...but here's the thing (and I'd be interested in hearing if there's any way to solve this).
Baldur's Gate 1 is not linear; not in the slightest. I think such a change would be far too easy to exploit. All I'd have to do is get my 32000 EXP off Basilisks, get myself a 6-man party, and then raze all of the continent to the ground while avoiding Nashkel. The game is now outright encouraging me to take on sidequests, like Durlag's Tower, that I was never meant to do until much later in the game!
Alternative a solution could be this could be weighted by the current main character level. So it could work either in conjunction with Chapter/Main Character level or or could be one or the other. The only issue I can see with using levels is that if people are under leveling or over leveling it might not be balanced so if it is by a chapter increase only this might be better. So i suggest firstly that each chapter it universally ups every mob everywhere to make it easier on the Devs as well as make it a player choice to finish a chapter to up the difficultly.
Final Fantasy VIII actually did precisely that; and that ended up creating the following side-effect. Gaining EXP and gaining levels actually made the game HARDER, not easier; so players would intentionally avoid fighting random encounters to keep enemy stats low.
Why bother gaining higher levels when doing so is actively detrimental to your survivability?
Huh...that DOES seem to line up with some tests I've done. Lesser Basilisks seem to have HP totals that line up with that, Neira lines up with that, a random Black Bear seems to line up with that, Carbos and Shank seem to line up with that...
I'll be darned. So really, my suggested changes wouldn't even affect things that much past the early game. So the enemies I suggested tweaking, under my changes, would end up with...
That would be how the HP totals work out if one were to implement my changes. And they (and ONLY they) would have one less Attack per Round. So what do you all think?
Actually, I had another idea...what if we lower THACO instead of lowering APR? That might help more in an ambush; most enemies probably won't get to USE the extra attack if you're rushing to the exit as fast as possible.
In addition, it would also make it easier to scale their stats accordingly. Tier One enemies would get +1 THACO, Tier Two enemies would get +2 THACO, Tier Three enemies would get +3 THACO, and Tier Four enemies would get +4 THACO. But everyone would get their extra APR back.
How does that sound? Would anyone also be opposed to scaling enemy saving throws in the same way? I think 00zim00 and Sextein were also saying that status magic could stand some slight buffs, right?
Entangle and sleep no longer work. I think they should tweak them so that they at least work in some limited way. other than that, I have had no problems with the magic spells. Many of them are not as effective which was the intention I am pretty sure. If they could fix the two spells that are currently broken in LOB mode that would make me happy.
I mentioned what I think would work to help curb the problems at the start of the game but personally, I am fine with whatever they do. If they want to sit down and have a look at balancing this mode further, I trust they will do a good job. Maybe they would do something like you are suggesting or maybe not. If not, I am fine with it the way it is even though I do think things are a bit overkill at the start of the game.
Sleep is blocked entirely as it is a level-dependent spell. Entangle will still have a chance of working, but as saves are made at +3 enemies will save frequently against it.
Comments
I'm not saying EE is perfect, there're still longing enchantments that could be done but left undone,
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/270/flesh-golem-xp-exploit
The guy who did so did that purely because the Flesh Golem respawns "allow[ed] players to progress in level more quickly than originally intended". He at least seemed like someone who wasn't that adverse to messing around with the original programming; I can't imagine he'd be the only one with that attitude.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/59736/v2-3-is-here-bg-ee-bgii-ee-and-siege-of-dragonspear
Make the Game Harder by...
1) Increase the amount of Infrasion that enemies possess, so that casting the Stinking Cloud spells outside their field of vision will no longer be a valid option. This will also keep players from cheesing large groups by luring enemies away one-at-a-time.
2) Add a reputation drop for every time you attack a neutral NPC, even those that are clearly about to attack you. So now you can't cheese guys like Neville the bandit anymore (area just north of Gnoll Stronghold) or Mutamin (the guy who commands Basilisks in that area north of Gullykin). You can't just paralyze them and kill them before they can activate dialogue with you; you have to fight them fair and square.
Just wanted to report that.
Could a simpler work around be that every chapter the Mob bonuses increase. So chapter 1 in candle keep its very minor (+16 HP, +X Saves or whatever) Then by the next chapter when you leave candle keep it goes up a little more in HP and Saving throws. So as each chapter progresses things will get harder and harder but at the same time it wont make those early levels such a grind.
Alternative a solution could be this could be weighted by the current main character level. So it could work either in conjunction with Chapter/Main Character level or or could be one or the other. The only issue I can see with using levels is that if people are under leveling or over leveling it might not be balanced so if it is by a chapter increase only this might be better. So i suggest firstly that each chapter it universally ups every mob everywhere to make it easier on the Devs as well as make it a player choice to finish a chapter to up the difficultly.
---
Likewise as has been talked about by others. The + to mob Level makes SO many spells not work. Most notoriously for me the counter type spells such as Dispel. Essentially Dispel is useless so that any mage or caster with protections you just have to literally wait out a battle for it to expire or you have to cheeze the battles. I dont know the maths enough off the top of my head to work out a compromise for that however I really hope that it can be reduced or at least capped based on Level caps in bg1/2 to give us a chance. From memory there are mobs that end up being like level 20+ or crazy numbers like that in bg1 once they get the +8 level bonus (I think its 8), making any spell success based off level have 1% effectiveness.
Edit: Just a random thought again, (its 1am here so maybe im crazy) But could certain spells just be exempt to ignore the bonus levels of a mob. Or at least make the level bonus be capped. meaning that even if the mob is +8 levels some spells such as Dispel on LOB mode get a bonus to its success rate so a +8 level is seen as only a +2 or +4 level for the purposes of success/resistant only.
--
As for the Bonus XP you get from mobs which makes you level faster. Could that be its own slider where you choice from eg: 0% Bonus to 100% bonus XP (or whatever LOB mod gives you) That way its also a choice by the player instead of a constant so people can experience the game as they choose. (No pun intended)
Baldur's Gate 1 is not linear; not in the slightest. I think such a change would be far too easy to exploit. All I'd have to do is get my 32000 EXP off Basilisks, get myself a 6-man party, and then raze all of the continent to the ground while avoiding Nashkel. The game is now outright encouraging me to take on sidequests, like Durlag's Tower, that I was never meant to do until much later in the game! Final Fantasy VIII actually did precisely that; and that ended up creating the following side-effect. Gaining EXP and gaining levels actually made the game HARDER, not easier; so players would intentionally avoid fighting random encounters to keep enemy stats low.
Why bother gaining higher levels when doing so is actively detrimental to your survivability?
Enemies get HP + 80
THAC0 -5
Saving Throws -5
+1 APR
Is that correct?
I'll be darned. So really, my suggested changes wouldn't even affect things that much past the early game. So the enemies I suggested tweaking, under my changes, would end up with...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIER ONE ENEMIES (CLOSE TO CANDLEKEEP):
Bandits - 104 > 40 HP
Diseased Gibberlings - 92 > 28 HP
Gibberlings - 104 > 40 HP
Half Ogres - 140 > 76 HP
Hobgoblins - 104 > 40 HP
Kobolds - 104 > 40 HP
Wild Dogs - 107 > 43 HP
Wolves - 144 > 80 HP
Worgs - 158 > 94 HP
Xvarts - 101 > 37 HP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIER TWO ENEMIES (A BIT AWAYS FROM CANDLEKEEP):
Ankhegs - 236 > 188 HP
Cave Bears - 226 > 178 HP
Dread Wolves - 235 > 187 HP
Ghasts - 215 > 167 HP
Ghouls - 125 > 77 HP
Gnolls - 125 > 77 HP
Huge Spiders - 134 > 86 HP
Ogres - 168 > 120 HP
Ogrillons - 157 > 89 HP
Polar Bears - 278 > 230 HP
Winter Wolves - 205 > 157 HP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIER THREE ENEMIES (TRANSITIONARY ENEMIES):
Baby Wyverns - 160 > 138 HP
Giant Spiders (a reskin of the Huge Spider, so it belongs in this category) - 187 >153 HP
Lesser Basilisks - 227 > 195 HP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIER FOUR ENEMIES (RARE ENEMIES THAT STILL APPEAR IN THE WILDERNESS):
Carrion Crawlers - 146 > 130 HP
Ettercaps - 200 > 184 HP
Gray Oozes - 155 > 139 HP
Greater Basilisks - 320 > 304 HP
Mustard Jellies - 275 > 259 HP
Ogre Mages - 203 > 187 HP
Vampiric Wolves - 230 > 214 HP
Wyverns - 269 > 253 HP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That would be how the HP totals work out if one were to implement my changes. And they (and ONLY they) would have one less Attack per Round. So what do you all think?
In addition, it would also make it easier to scale their stats accordingly. Tier One enemies would get +1 THACO, Tier Two enemies would get +2 THACO, Tier Three enemies would get +3 THACO, and Tier Four enemies would get +4 THACO. But everyone would get their extra APR back.
How does that sound? Would anyone also be opposed to scaling enemy saving throws in the same way? I think 00zim00 and Sextein were also saying that status magic could stand some slight buffs, right?
I mentioned what I think would work to help curb the problems at the start of the game but personally, I am fine with whatever they do. If they want to sit down and have a look at balancing this mode further, I trust they will do a good job. Maybe they would do something like you are suggesting or maybe not. If not, I am fine with it the way it is even though I do think things are a bit overkill at the start of the game.