Just finished SoD *Spoilers*

Irvokas

This game felt like first hobbit movie compared to lord of the rings movies. Too many fights with too little time and story between. Caelar story was pretty generic one with bhaalspawn addon. It was also presented little strangely at couple times. Besides the dreams with "Hooded Man" Last 10 minutes of the game pretty much was the tie up story between BG1 and BG2 and it was a Harrison Ford's The Fugitive copy... I miss the random npc encounters from BG1 that didn't have anything to do with quests, just brought the world alive.

Areas were very beautiful mostly but lacked anything else, besides monsters. It felt more of a chore most of the time. I played with charname Inquisitor and Sorcerer, Jaheira, Vic, Baeloth and Safana. I used SCS mod. Most of the fights were just fireball fest. I think there were too many enemy groups in small maps i stealthed forward with Safana, noticed a group, fireballed them, stepped few meters just to notice another group waiting for fireballs. That got boring real fast.

You got plenty of new magical items, but then the game was pretty much over already. This game would have been way better if developers wouldn't have tried to cram too much stuff in such a short game. There were some awesome places and fights too. I liked the ghost dragon place. Places with unique enemies that required some tactics. Noticed at some point that there are multiple solutions to some quest things too.

All in all, 4/10 felt like soulless tech demo with large fights and population.

Contemplative_Hamster

You missed a lot. There are tons of small, conplex quests that make the game come alive - much more so than BG1 and 2. And those games were fireball fests, too, or could be played that way. Your choice of tactics.. Don't blame the game for your inadequacies.

the_sextein

Up the difficulty level until fireball spam doesn't work anymore and you will start to see the complexities of the gameplay come up to the surface. I can tell that SOD was created by a team of veteran players that have mastered the base game for years. In my opinion SOD has some of the most fun and creative fights in the game. The massive battles can feel tedious if you are just trying to use the same ol tactics from BG1. Hold monster, Confusion, protection from undead, protection from poison, slow ect. They all have much more of a use and the gamplay feels much more varied. If you try to brute force using old tactics it will suck. My first run through SOD was enjoyable but the gameplay kind of reminded me of the trash mobs from Icewind dale. On my second play through I fully explored all options and changed my tactics to be the most efficient. After that the gameplay felt fresh and the extra large mobs added excitement rather than headache inducing difficulty. Character interaction and story involvement are a step above the rest of the series. I agree with many of the criticisms of the story but I can' complain that it was lacking or of lower quality than BG. Baldurs Gate had a more open gameplay because it was a full game that was not book shelved between two games and that did allow the story to breath and the game exploration to feel more natural. For what it is, I think SOD is a pretty nice game and an exceptional expansion back.

Irvokas

Contemplative_Hamster said:

You missed a lot. There are tons of small, conplex quests that make the game come alive - much more so than BG1 and 2. And those games were fireball fests, too, or could be played that way. Your choice of tactics.. Don't blame the game for your inadequacies.

Yeah i did some side quests, not all. Some were cool some were not. Maybe i play it again some day.
"Don't blame the game for your inadequacies." Haha... What?

the_sextein said:

Up the difficulty level until fireball spam doesn't work anymore and you will start to see the complexities of the gameplay come up to the surface. I can tell that SOD was created by a team of veteran players that have mastered the base game for years. In my opinion SOD has some of the most fun and creative fights in the game. The massive battles can feel tedious if you are just trying to use the same ol tactics from BG1. Hold monster, Confusion, protection from undead, protection from poison, slow ect. They all have much more of a use and the gamplay feels much more varied. If you try to brute force using old tactics it will suck. My first run through SOD was enjoyable but the gameplay kind of reminded me of the trash mobs from Icewind dale. On my second play through I fully explored all options and changed my tactics to be the most efficient. After that the gameplay felt fresh and the extra large mobs added excitement rather than headache inducing difficulty. Character interaction and story involvement are a step above the rest of the series. I agree with many of the criticisms of the story but I can' complain that it was lacking or of lower quality than BG. Baldurs Gate had a more open gameplay because it was a full game that was not book shelved between two games and that did allow the story to breath and the game exploration to feel more natural. For what it is, I think SOD is a pretty nice game and an exceptional expansion back.

I played SCS Insane, with reduced inquisitor dispel and half exp rate, i had around 80k for all at start of SoD. "There were some awesome places and fights too. I liked the ghost dragon place. Places with unique enemies that required some tactics." As quoted from the first post. But on that little more. Yeah the side quest bosses were ok, required tactics. Prebuffs, potions, stealthy backstabbing, running away, running back again, kiting and stuff like that.

But for example the bridgefort battle. I buffed my paladin with fire res and magic res and she took it all. Standing at the gates drinking extra healing potions while being spammed by spells from both sides of the team. It was quite fun lightshow i have to admit. The worst issue i had was the amount of boring generic encounters. There were just so many groups everywhere. Some small areas filled with 5 groups of 10+ monsters.

I might play it again with different party composition at somepoint.

the_sextein

Maybe try to play BGEE on LOB mode and see if you can adjust to it and find it enjoyable. If so, then it will change the way you play in many ways. Then import your team into SOD for a second go at it. On your second run you will be mentally paced for what the game throws at you and your approach toward battles will mesh better with the unique challenges that SOD has to offer. You will also see your enemies explore more of their spells and abilities because they last longer. Fireball spam won't work unless you lay down a whole bunch of AOE spells like slow, greater malison, multiple webs, confusion and haste with a bunch of summons. Even then many enemies will make it to you and you will have to fight tooth and nail to survive.

The siege camp battles and most of the underground caverns are a real challenge and each fight has a unique setup that requires some planning to win. The final battle of SOD on LOB mode will force you to pre buff like no tomorrow and it will probably take you many hours to get it down. It's like a different game when you put it on that mode. Learning to find a way to play BGEE your own way without cheese can be very hard on LOB mode. I quit a few times before I found a way to play the game that was satisfying to me but if you can get to level 3 in a way that you find satisfying I think you will enjoy what LOB can do for you and it will really bring out the unique challenge that SOD has to offer.

Keep in mind also, that mentally you are in a different place when you play the old games. If you remember how it felt when you played them for the first time. Now you are playing a game with expectation from games that are 20 years old. I was very comfortable with the other games and didn't realize that SOD would eventually feel that way as well. When it's new it feels different and harder to accept because you have expectations from the other games. I'm willing to bet it will grow on you and you will appreciate it more on a second run. I liked it the first time I played it, more than you did but it has grown on me and I consider it as enjoyable as any other part of the series now.

Irvokas

Thanks for the feedback. I started LoB EET SCS Solo run as FMC (Assasin dueled to mage, might be other to try) while continuing to BG2 with my main party. Start sure is different, patience is virtue when kiting and slinging enemies around trees.

the_sextein said:

Keep in mind also, that mentally you are in a different place when you play the old games. If you remember how it felt when you played them for the first time.

That is true. I remember it took long time to get used into BG back in the days after playing the legendary Gold Box games. (Still playing them now after just finding about Gold Box Companion couple days ago) Suddenly from turn based, you were thrown into this semi real time game.