Is there a mod that removes questionable changes beamdog added into EE?
Arthas
Member Posts: 1,091
as title says
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There is also a game called Baldur's Gate without the EE extension. It's far easier not to install the EE than to install it and then remove content.
i don't recommend dong a full install of it tho as it reverts back to the vanilla bg2 font in one of the components and it's hard to read imo.
If that's not what you meant i'm stumped.
1. Siege of Dragonspear
2. EE NPCs such as Baeloth, Dorn, Hexxat, Neera, Wilson, and Rasaad, and their own personal questlines
You can avoid these by:
1. Not playing Siege of Dragonspear
2. Not bringing the EE NPCs into your party
Then the only changes you will see to the original game are corrected typos and bugfixes.
https://codeload.github.com/Sampsca/BGEE-Classic-Movies/zip/master
the only real gripes that i have with the EE's are:
the lag in the inventory ( whether i use my intel graphics or amd there is still that half second or so lag, drives me bananas, never had the problem before 2.x)
and the insane amount of save files the game makes, holy crap, and there is no "official" way of turning that off either, and it's ridiculous, it's like an almost extra 15 save files clogging up my save games, ugh, but thank the BG gods that i could use NI to get rid of all of that silly jargon, and some of them took me a while to figure out as well, but i got 'em all, now if only the inventory didnt lag i would never EVER need updates....
A couple of times now I have accumulated several gigabytes worth of crash reports before I get around to clearing them out. Since 99% of them occur due to my own intentionally unstable modding, and are thus useless, I would appreciate it if any knows how to disable them.
I'll just give you one example: early on in BG there is very little money, and the best available armor, fresh out of Candlekeep, is a suit of plate mail for sale at the Friendly Arm. It costs upwards of 700 gold with Imoen buying - way more than the party can afford. With Jaheira and Khalid joining, and Montaron aboard (the default early configuration) there is barely enough gold to give everyone splint. Also there is only one such suit for sale. The party is left counting coppers and role-playing the situation and dreaming of the time they will earn the reward in Nashkel and buy everyone excellent new gear. On the way south from Beregost they encounter an angry Flaming Fist officer, who mistakes them for bandits. If the player chooses not to talk his way out of the encounter, the party can kill this patrolman without the always applying great Reputation loss. This gives them one free suit of plate mail. So it was in the original game. Along comes Beamdog and thinks that a lone patrolman is not impressive enough or perhaps wants to make things easier for the party equipment-wise ("easier" is always the key word with Beamdog). So instead of one patrolman there are three, and they can all be killed with impunity. Instant two more free suits of plate! The party arrives to Nashkel armored better than anyone in the Realms, short of full plate.
It's ignorant changes like this that are replete throughout the Enhanced Edition games. And little by little they have all but killed the part that made Baldur's Gate a simple but real ROLE-PLAYING game. It has become a wargame about "builds" and whose sorcerer shoots the fastest, and that's disgusting. I assure you, these were NOT the most common topics of discussion in the early days of the original game. Why not just go back to standard editions, then, you ask? Because of advanced engine features. Beamdog's design decisions are questionable everywhere, but the company has improved the mechanics greatly, and as a modder I want to have the latest and best to work with. I don't care to sort out which features existed before Beamdog and which came after, if they can be separated at all. I want new and powerful tools, so I'm sold to Beamdog body and soul - well, not soul. But a modder can, and it's high time some enthusiast did, retain the engine and pluck out the design. The question of this thread's author is legitimate.
In fact, making the game easier by adding extra opportunities makes powergaming less important.
And for what it's worth, there were plenty of online powergaming discussions long before EE came around. A good example would be the 500-page no-reload threads on the Bioware forums.
If you are an experienced player you have to take a conscious decision to role-play, whether in the EE or the original game. In the case of those Flaming Fist soldiers for instance, in order to get there you have to go through Beregost - where not only plate mail, but a suit of full plate armor is for sale. And while for a novice player that would clearly be beyond their dreams, someone with meta-game experience can cash in the Ring of Wizardry and buy it within a couple of minutes of starting a new game.
Once you've decided you are going to role-play there are multiple routes available to avoid spoiling your experience in the way you discuss above. You may for instance be a meek type who avoids a fight, or a law-abiding type who's willing to take the haughty tone used by the Fist. You might be a paladin who takes offense easily - but is sorry afterwards and donates the armor to the local temple. Perhaps you don't want to wear second-hand armor, or possibly you're afraid of the ghosts of those you've killed.
The point is that it's your choice how to play and that's always going to be the case for those with a lot of knowledge about the game - if you were to remove the opportunity to use meta-game knowledge that would require greatly narrowing the scope of the game and suit no-one.
A powergamer would have loaded up on plate mail back in Candlekeep by killing guards.
A savvy gamer would have had three by Nashkel by purchasing one, getting one from the corpse of the flaming fist soldier in the encounter you described and a third through Viconia's encounter.
And all the items that Beamdog added to the game can be ignored. Having three plates make the game too easy for you? leave 2 of them on the ground. You don't need a mod to 'fix' it. The OP was also extremely vague in his question so who knows if this was his issue to begin with.
But have to raise the issue, what gave them the right to?
Of course the lawyers end up deciding who owns intellectual property and yes it can be sold in this day and age.
But should it be?
Should money be the deciding factor as to whether something can be changed?
The change I find most jarring against the spirit of BG and the original creativity involved is the stacking of amunition. Without doubt that affects RP aspects. Of course you can ignore them, as people have pointed out.
But surely the right to make such a change can be questioned and not simply dismissed by saying "well now they own it"?
If Beamdog did not have the right to fix a bug or a typo or add an item to the game, then modders have never had the right to fix bugs or typos or add items to the game.
I do regularly run up against constraints in inventory without trying to mod them away, so I have some sympathy with you on this one. Personally though I would be more concerned with issues like:
- introducing strength bonuses on slings and daggers, greatly changing the previous game balance on missile weapons.
- sharply reducing weight for throwing axes and daggers, which together with the higher ammunition stacking allows those to be used as standard missiles rather than being more of a luxury item.
However, as suggested above I recognise that it would be impossible for Beamdog to please everyone, so I'm happy to accept the rough with the smooth on the changes they've made.