4th ed had a real big hard on for removing gods. Having more deities than you could count on your fingers was a mortal sin to the designers or something. So practically every pantheon or deity got killed off or merged into another god. Some of these mergers were more reasonable -- Lathander literally took up the mantle of Sun god when Amaunator died/disappeared and there were already established Lathanderite heresies believing them to be the same god. Other mergers less so, such as the stormlord Talos being merged into Orclord Gruumsh because... Like, they're both evil. That makes them the same right?
Yeah. I always got the impression that they did this to create a second "Time of Troubles" kind of setting - since that concept was/is very popular. The Spellplague as a concept was pretty cool, although I agree many of their decisions in this period of time were pretty lame.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
@deltago So a lot people in-universe think they are the same, but no direct confirmation. In BG2, you can awaken the long dormant avatar of Amaunator. So in order for the church of Lathandar to be able to operate, they'd have to be separate. But again, that's BG2.
I always just assumed in BG2 that Amaunator was like a really early version of what eventually turned into Lavender, and that maybe the reason that Amaunator was dormant was because all of his/her worshippers had kinda slowly over time converted to Lavender without even realising it was actually different lol
Maybe it was Gorion’s ward’s actions in Baldur’s Gate 2 that re-awoken Amaunator back into god good since he didn’t have to guard the Macguffin anymore.
Well, it looks like I'll need a new computer to run this game. The HP desktop I bought at Walmart about five years ago was perfectly fine just to play BG EEs and for everyday home office use. I'm not really into gaming anymore and haven't even played BG in a long while. But in any case this game's video demands are just to high for it. The lag makes it unplayable.
Soooo... any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive desktop that can run this game just fine?
It depends where in the world you are and how much you want to spend
I'm in the U.S. Looking to keep it under $300.
The game needs 16 GB RAM for optimal performance. Mine has 5.45 GB available which is below minimum specs (8 GB).
There is always e-bay for a shabby but working solution.
I'm okay with going up to $300-350 for a refurbished machine.
Recommended system requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space
One thing I'll be curious to see is if they implement legendary actions and lair actions. For fights involving a party against a powerful creature (say an adult dragon of some kind) they are an essential way of keeping them from being completely unable to respond on a bad initiative roll.
It's not just dragons either. Very powerful creatures often use them.
There is evidence in P&P to support both theories of Amaunathor and Lathander being the same or different beings. They never explained the mystery of Jergal as well who despite giving away his portfolios seems to have lost exactly 0 of his power.
Well, it looks like I'll need a new computer to run this game. The HP desktop I bought at Walmart about five years ago was perfectly fine just to play BG EEs and for everyday home office use. I'm not really into gaming anymore and haven't even played BG in a long while. But in any case this game's video demands are just to high for it. The lag makes it unplayable.
Soooo... any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive desktop that can run this game just fine?
It depends where in the world you are and how much you want to spend
I'm in the U.S. Looking to keep it under $300.
The game needs 16 GB RAM for optimal performance. Mine has 5.45 GB available which is below minimum specs (8 GB).
There is always e-bay for a shabby but working solution.
I'm okay with going up to $300-350 for a refurbished machine.
Recommended system requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space
Although the best match for recommended specs in that price range that I've found thus far is this.
A search for new PC hardware always piques my interest (especially because it's not my money! ), so I wanted to share this in case it's helpful. This laptop will be $450 on Walmart's website on November 4th at 7PM eastern. It's out of budget, but thought it might be a good heads-up that there are some deals around the corner with Black Friday.
That laptop has a GTX 1650, which I think is technically below the recommended specs, but I've seen conflicting info that it will work from my two second research, so that's something to look into. I think the 1650 is better than the minimum specs, but I'm a bit out of the loop with graphics cards.
Even if this doesn't work for you, I think you want to make sure you have a dedicated GPU in whatever machine you get. Actually - do you know the specs of your current machine? Instead of a whole new computer, you might be able to just update the graphics card (and probably the power supply as well) for less than the price of a new computer.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Well, firstly, you're assuming these games will all be RPGs. That's not a solid assumption. The head of WotC has specifically said he envisions even D&D strategy games. And certainly there will also be card games, and also games that are exclusive to mobile platforms and/or consoles. So we may very well not get any other D&D cRPG besides BG3. At most we may get one more (I hope), but I am not counting on it.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Well, firstly, you're assuming these games will all be RPGs. That's not a solid assumption. The head of WotC has specifically said he envisions even D&D strategy games. And certainly there will also be card games, and also games that are exclusive to mobile platforms and/or consoles. So we may very well not get any other D&D cRPG besides BG3. At most we may get one more (I hope), but I am not counting on it.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
Yeah, it's not very likely unfortunately. At least NWN 1 and 2 have easy to use toolsets and modding communities that still continue to live. A few months ago I stumbled upon a really nice high level adventure in NWN2. Real hidden gem that one.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Well, firstly, you're assuming these games will all be RPGs. That's not a solid assumption. The head of WotC has specifically said he envisions even D&D strategy games. And certainly there will also be card games, and also games that are exclusive to mobile platforms and/or consoles. So we may very well not get any other D&D cRPG besides BG3. At most we may get one more (I hope), but I am not counting on it.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
Yeah, it's not very likely unfortunately. At least NWN 1 and 2 have easy to use toolsets and modding communities that still continue to live. A few months ago I stumbled upon a really nice high level adventure in NWN2. Real hidden gem that one.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
Am I crazy, or did I hear there is a mod that makes the Camera waaaaaaaay less awful? I havent used it, just remember hearing that said in the past.
I think NWN2 is pretty meh. Mediocre game through and through. Never did play the expansion packs, and I've heard those are better. At least one of them is, I cannot remember which one that is...
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
Am I crazy, or did I hear there is a mod that makes the Camera waaaaaaaay less awful? I havent used it, just remember hearing that said in the past.
I think NWN2 is pretty meh. Mediocre game through and through. Never did play the expansion packs, and I've heard those are better. At least one of them is, I cannot remember which one that is...
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
A lot of people hate the camera. It didn't ever bother me that much, but I get why it might drive some people crazy. Have to accept it as a consequence of the technology of that time. I do believe there's a mod out there that makes it better.
The Mask of the Betrayer expansion is not just the best part of NwN2, it is an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. The story and writing are superb. The Mysteries of Westgate mini-expansion was also a very fun little addition. The main game and the Storm of Zehir expansion were pretty good games in my view. Not spectacular but okay, well worth my valuable time spent playing them. And in my case, given 3.5e is the only D&D edition I like, that adds that much more to my appreciation of NwN2.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Well, firstly, you're assuming these games will all be RPGs. That's not a solid assumption. The head of WotC has specifically said he envisions even D&D strategy games. And certainly there will also be card games, and also games that are exclusive to mobile platforms and/or consoles. So we may very well not get any other D&D cRPG besides BG3. At most we may get one more (I hope), but I am not counting on it.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
This again? I assumed nothing of the sort Once again, you are reading a lot of things I didn´t say in your head. Maybe we could finally have an exchange of opinions when you start replying to something I actually said.
Aaanyway... We already know Solasta and BG3 are CRPGs, that´s a solid 2 out of 4. At least that's a good ratio considering what type of games had the D&D license the previous years (sword coast legends, Neverwinter heroes... shudders).
There´s also Knights of the chalice 2, for 3.5 fans. I call it good news.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
A lot of people hate the camera. It didn't ever bother me that much, but I get why it might drive some people crazy. Have to accept it as a consequence of the technology of that time. I do believe there's a mod out there that makes it better.
The Mask of the Betrayer expansion is not just the best part of NwN2, it is an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. The story and writing are superb. The Mysteries of Westgate mini-expansion was also a very fun little addition. The main game and the Storm of Zehir expansion were pretty good games in my view. Not spectacular but okay, well worth my valuable time spent playing them. And in my case, given 3.5e is the only D&D edition I like, that adds that much more to my appreciation of NwN2.
Now I'm surprised how much you seem to like Mask of the Betrayer. How is being affected by a curse that makes you need to consume souls, and trying to find out more about it and probably wanting to get rid of it (I haven't played it yet, still stuck in the original Nwn2) any different from being infiltrated by a tadpole? Seems a rather similar setting, at least the general principle.
Edited for clarification: What I mean more specifically is, why does that setting, as opposed to the BG3 beginning, not offend your sense of roleplaying a strictly good character?
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
A lot of people hate the camera. It didn't ever bother me that much, but I get why it might drive some people crazy. Have to accept it as a consequence of the technology of that time. I do believe there's a mod out there that makes it better.
The Mask of the Betrayer expansion is not just the best part of NwN2, it is an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. The story and writing are superb. The Mysteries of Westgate mini-expansion was also a very fun little addition. The main game and the Storm of Zehir expansion were pretty good games in my view. Not spectacular but okay, well worth my valuable time spent playing them. And in my case, given 3.5e is the only D&D edition I like, that adds that much more to my appreciation of NwN2.
Now I'm surprised how much you seem to like Mask of the Betrayer. How is being affected by a curse that makes you need to consume souls, and trying to find out more about it and probably wanting to get rid of it (I haven't played it yet, still stuck in the original Nwn2) any different from being infiltrated by a tadpole? Seems a rather similar setting, at least the general principle.
Edited for clarification: What I mean more specifically is, why does that setting, as opposed to the BG3 beginning, not offend your sense of roleplaying a strictly good character?
MoTB execution is better IMO. Having an tadpole in your brain and investigating is interesting but I don't think that a campaign which starts with a mindflayer spelljammer ship fighting an draconic army and you escaping this ship, should't be a low level campaign...
Part of this is the STUPID """tier""" system on 5e which tries to link character levels with the scale of conflicts. From "local heroes" to "heroes of the world" BS. A campaign where the players are epic level apprentices of a Lv 30 Netherese Archwizard and needs to deal with problems of the floating city from his master by this 5e logic can't exist, Since this guys needs to be solving world scale problems.
BG3 would be far better if was more higher level. Less Dungeons & Kobolds and more Dungeons & Dragons.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
A lot of people hate the camera. It didn't ever bother me that much, but I get why it might drive some people crazy. Have to accept it as a consequence of the technology of that time. I do believe there's a mod out there that makes it better.
The Mask of the Betrayer expansion is not just the best part of NwN2, it is an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. The story and writing are superb. The Mysteries of Westgate mini-expansion was also a very fun little addition. The main game and the Storm of Zehir expansion were pretty good games in my view. Not spectacular but okay, well worth my valuable time spent playing them. And in my case, given 3.5e is the only D&D edition I like, that adds that much more to my appreciation of NwN2.
Now I'm surprised how much you seem to like Mask of the Betrayer. How is being affected by a curse that makes you need to consume souls, and trying to find out more about it and probably wanting to get rid of it (I haven't played it yet, still stuck in the original Nwn2) any different from being infiltrated by a tadpole? Seems a rather similar setting, at least the general principle.
Edited for clarification: What I mean more specifically is, why does that setting, as opposed to the BG3 beginning, not offend your sense of roleplaying a strictly good character?
because in mask the curse is treated as a bad thing. you use it for good by healing sprits but for the most part good characters are repressing it and trying to get rid of it.
the tadpole is just the sprit eater curse with out being treated as a bad thing in game. that spirit bar never goes away until you finish mask. your just told the tadpole could kill you the curse actually can if your not repressing it.
Well, it looks like I'll need a new computer to run this game. The HP desktop I bought at Walmart about five years ago was perfectly fine just to play BG EEs and for everyday home office use. I'm not really into gaming anymore and haven't even played BG in a long while. But in any case this game's video demands are just to high for it. The lag makes it unplayable.
Soooo... any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive desktop that can run this game just fine?
It depends where in the world you are and how much you want to spend
I'm in the U.S. Looking to keep it under $300.
The game needs 16 GB RAM for optimal performance. Mine has 5.45 GB available which is below minimum specs (8 GB).
There is always e-bay for a shabby but working solution.
I'm okay with going up to $300-350 for a refurbished machine.
Recommended system requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space
Although the best match for recommended specs in that price range that I've found thus far is this.
A search for new PC hardware always piques my interest (especially because it's not my money! ), so I wanted to share this in case it's helpful. This laptop will be $450 on Walmart's website on November 4th at 7PM eastern. It's out of budget, but thought it might be a good heads-up that there are some deals around the corner with Black Friday.
That laptop has a GTX 1650, which I think is technically below the recommended specs, but I've seen conflicting info that it will work from my two second research, so that's something to look into. I think the 1650 is better than the minimum specs, but I'm a bit out of the loop with graphics cards.
Even if this doesn't work for you, I think you want to make sure you have a dedicated GPU in whatever machine you get. Actually - do you know the specs of your current machine? Instead of a whole new computer, you might be able to just update the graphics card (and probably the power supply as well) for less than the price of a new computer.
Thank you!
It's an HP Pavilion Slimline 400 desktop PC, about 5 years old IIRC.
Processor: AMD A4-5000 APU with Radeon HD graphics
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 8330
Installed memory (RAM): 6.00 GB (5.45 usable)
System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Operating System: Windows 10, 64-bit
Dirextx version: Directx 12
I may be able to add more RAM but I'm not sure if the CPU can handle it. E.g., if I add, say, 10 more GB of RAM to get it to the recommended specs.
Edit: But this definitely has me wondering if I should just take it to Best Buy and see if the CPU can handle an upgrade to 16 GB RAM, then I can probably get that done for under $100. Although going ahead and spending $250 more to get a much more powerful computer may be worth it.
Another issue that motivates me to get a new PC is that I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system that was relatively inexpensive (another Walmart purchase) but it sounds perfectly fine for my office and occasional gaming. However when I try to set it up in Windows to get the five speakers and woofer all working, I can never do it. The two rear speakers never play in any configuration I try. Maybe with a new machine it'll give me more options to fully utilize my sound system...
@BallpointMan@mlnevese@byrne20 You can also use the console to "unlock" the camera. For some bizarre reason, there is a better camera hidden in the dev console.
@Arvia You don't have to eat souls for the curse. You CAN, and as an evil player it might seem tempting to do so to get stronger, more offensive powers. But it also REALLY speeds up the death timer.
A good player can repress the curse, getting weaker or more niche abilities, but it also slows the timer way down. A good player essentially has all the time in the world to figure things out.
@PsicoVic Okay, but you posted that directly after I claimed that all crpgs coming out after BG3's success are very likely to be turn based. If you weren't making a direct response to me, that was some oddly coincidental timing.
@megamike15 , thanks for the explanation. That makes sense.
Well, concerning the tadpole, we don't know yet how using it will affect the player throughout the whole game.
Actually, although the EA is testing the Evil(tm) Path we see many dialogues treating the tadpole as something terrible that must be dealt with as quickly as possible that clearly belong to a good path. We also see good path dialogues when there's someone asking for help or who needs saving, for instance.
So, I think it's too early to judge the story. It's judging an entire book for its prologue. There are indications that getting rid of the damn parasites will be an option although clearly evil characters will try to control it and its powers.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
We know there are at least 4 games of D&D in the making or planning.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Well, firstly, you're assuming these games will all be RPGs. That's not a solid assumption. The head of WotC has specifically said he envisions even D&D strategy games. And certainly there will also be card games, and also games that are exclusive to mobile platforms and/or consoles. So we may very well not get any other D&D cRPG besides BG3. At most we may get one more (I hope), but I am not counting on it.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
This again? I assumed nothing of the sort Once again, you are reading a lot of things I didn´t say in your head. Maybe we could finally have an exchange of opinions when you start replying to something I actually said.
Aaanyway... We already know Solasta and BG3 are CRPGs, that´s a solid 2 out of 4. At least that's a good ratio considering what type of games had the D&D license the previous years (sword coast legends, Neverwinter heroes... shudders).
There´s also Knights of the chalice 2, for 3.5 fans. I call it good news.
Oh please. My comment directly addresses your comment.
Furthermore, your inclusion of Solasta (and now even Knights of the Chalice 2?) tells me you don't really know what you're talking about here. The head of WotC said in an interview this February that there are seven D&D games in the works between now and 2025, two being released this year and then one per year thereafter. He specifically mentions the two games from this year as BG3 and DA. Neither in this interview nor in any other interview of him in the past does he ever mention Solasta or any other similar OGL game as one of his D&D games. So you want to include games like Solasta in there to artificially boost your count of D&D games. Feel free to keep doing that. I, and clearly WotC as well, reject counting games like Solasta as D&D games. So in our world, BG3 is the ONLY D&D cRPG.
Even though I already own all parts of NwN2 on CD, I am seriously contemplating buying NwN2 Complete on GOG so I can play it again. It's up there with BG1 as my most beloved D&D video game, and not being able to enjoy BG3 has made me feel nostalgic for NwN2 as the most recent good D&D game.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
Am I crazy, or did I hear there is a mod that makes the Camera waaaaaaaay less awful? I havent used it, just remember hearing that said in the past.
I think NWN2 is pretty meh. Mediocre game through and through. Never did play the expansion packs, and I've heard those are better. At least one of them is, I cannot remember which one that is...
Yeah, you can mod the camera.
I'm surprised how little attention the NWN2 fan made modules get. Some of them are of such high quality it is a wonder they aren't talked about more often. Far superior to the NWN2 OC, without a doubt.
And I thought Storm of Zehir was a great IWD-like adventure.
Well, it looks like I'll need a new computer to run this game. The HP desktop I bought at Walmart about five years ago was perfectly fine just to play BG EEs and for everyday home office use. I'm not really into gaming anymore and haven't even played BG in a long while. But in any case this game's video demands are just to high for it. The lag makes it unplayable.
Soooo... any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive desktop that can run this game just fine?
It depends where in the world you are and how much you want to spend
I'm in the U.S. Looking to keep it under $300.
The game needs 16 GB RAM for optimal performance. Mine has 5.45 GB available which is below minimum specs (8 GB).
There is always e-bay for a shabby but working solution.
I'm okay with going up to $300-350 for a refurbished machine.
Recommended system requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space
Although the best match for recommended specs in that price range that I've found thus far is this.
A search for new PC hardware always piques my interest (especially because it's not my money! ), so I wanted to share this in case it's helpful. This laptop will be $450 on Walmart's website on November 4th at 7PM eastern. It's out of budget, but thought it might be a good heads-up that there are some deals around the corner with Black Friday.
That laptop has a GTX 1650, which I think is technically below the recommended specs, but I've seen conflicting info that it will work from my two second research, so that's something to look into. I think the 1650 is better than the minimum specs, but I'm a bit out of the loop with graphics cards.
Even if this doesn't work for you, I think you want to make sure you have a dedicated GPU in whatever machine you get. Actually - do you know the specs of your current machine? Instead of a whole new computer, you might be able to just update the graphics card (and probably the power supply as well) for less than the price of a new computer.
Thank you!
It's an HP Pavilion Slimline 400 desktop PC, about 5 years old IIRC.
Processor: AMD A4-5000 APU with Radeon HD graphics
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 8330
Installed memory (RAM): 6.00 GB (5.45 usable)
System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Operating System: Windows 10, 64-bit
Dirextx version: Directx 12
I may be able to add more RAM but I'm not sure if the CPU can handle it. E.g., if I add, say, 10 more GB of RAM to get it to the recommended specs.
Edit: But this definitely has me wondering if I should just take it to Best Buy and see if the CPU can handle an upgrade to 16 GB RAM, then I can probably get that done for under $100. Although going ahead and spending $250 more to get a much more powerful computer may be worth it.
Another issue that motivates me to get a new PC is that I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system that was relatively inexpensive (another Walmart purchase) but it sounds perfectly fine for my office and occasional gaming. However when I try to set it up in Windows to get the five speakers and woofer all working, I can never do it. The two rear speakers never play in any configuration I try. Maybe with a new machine it'll give me more options to fully utilize my sound system...
This is from very little research, so take with a grain of salt:
I saw a user review on Best Buy that mentions upgrading the PC to 16 GB, so I'm sure that's doable. However, I'm not sure that will be enough to get the PC to playing Baldur's Gate 3. I would recommend saving that money for a different PC. Looking up the processor, it's below the benchmarks of the minimum processor specs (looked it up here).
One thing I saw when clicking random links was someone mentioning playing it on Stadia. Is that an option? (It's not what I would prefer personally, but throwing it out there.)
If it were me, I would save the money from the RAM upgrade and use it on a newer PC. I'm not seeing a lot of deals on desktops at the moment, and the laptop I linked earlier is the best deal I've seen in my short look. Again, I'm not 100% sure it'll work, but I'm fairly confident it will.
(Not sure if it's okay to link specific websites, so mods delete this if necessary.) I use Slick Deals to keep an eye on potential deals. They have a computer and laptop category that will probably get a lot of posts in the next few weeks/months with Black Friday deals. It might be a US only website, but if you're looking at Walmart, I assume you're in the US.
If you're near a Micro Center, I found this desktop, but I think it would still need a graphics card at some point (and it's out of budget, so again, I'm not much help, sorry!).
Comments
Yeah. I always got the impression that they did this to create a second "Time of Troubles" kind of setting - since that concept was/is very popular. The Spellplague as a concept was pretty cool, although I agree many of their decisions in this period of time were pretty lame.
Some of them would be TB, like Solasta and BG3, some like BG: Dark Alliance, would be RT.
Maybe it was Gorion’s ward’s actions in Baldur’s Gate 2 that re-awoken Amaunator back into god good since he didn’t have to guard the Macguffin anymore.
I’m going with that.
I'm okay with going up to $300-350 for a refurbished machine.
Recommended system requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel i7 4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX580
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 150 GB available space
Walmart search results here.
Although the best match for recommended specs in that price range that I've found thus far is this.
It's not just dragons either. Very powerful creatures often use them.
A search for new PC hardware always piques my interest (especially because it's not my money!
That laptop has a GTX 1650, which I think is technically below the recommended specs, but I've seen conflicting info that it will work from my two second research, so that's something to look into. I think the 1650 is better than the minimum specs, but I'm a bit out of the loop with graphics cards.
Even if this doesn't work for you, I think you want to make sure you have a dedicated GPU in whatever machine you get. Actually - do you know the specs of your current machine? Instead of a whole new computer, you might be able to just update the graphics card (and probably the power supply as well) for less than the price of a new computer.
Then, on top of all that, there is the question of whether that one other D&D cRPG we MAY get will be RTwP. I have even bigger doubts about that. And like @ThacoBell said, hack n' slash action games, or even dungeon-crawls, do not count.
Bottom line, I don't have any hope I will get a game that is: D&D + cRPG + RTwP, and as such I will remain excluded from the D&D RPG market.
Yeah, it's not very likely unfortunately. At least NWN 1 and 2 have easy to use toolsets and modding communities that still continue to live. A few months ago I stumbled upon a really nice high level adventure in NWN2. Real hidden gem that one.
I really struggled with a few aspects of NWN2. I hated the camera, it drove me crazy at times. I really enjoyed the story though right up until the end.. the ending kinda put me off a little bit. But in general I did get a lot of enjoyment out of the game. I’ve never played the official expansions and I keep meaning to. I have the GOG version and I might try to find some time to give the expansions a go.
Am I crazy, or did I hear there is a mod that makes the Camera waaaaaaaay less awful? I havent used it, just remember hearing that said in the past.
I think NWN2 is pretty meh. Mediocre game through and through. Never did play the expansion packs, and I've heard those are better. At least one of them is, I cannot remember which one that is...
it's mask of the betrayer the first one.
The Mask of the Betrayer expansion is not just the best part of NwN2, it is an absolutely fantastic game in its own right. The story and writing are superb. The Mysteries of Westgate mini-expansion was also a very fun little addition. The main game and the Storm of Zehir expansion were pretty good games in my view. Not spectacular but okay, well worth my valuable time spent playing them. And in my case, given 3.5e is the only D&D edition I like, that adds that much more to my appreciation of NwN2.
That´s why I said RT as in "real time".
This again? I assumed nothing of the sort
Aaanyway... We already know Solasta and BG3 are CRPGs, that´s a solid 2 out of 4. At least that's a good ratio considering what type of games had the D&D license the previous years (sword coast legends, Neverwinter heroes... shudders).
There´s also Knights of the chalice 2, for 3.5 fans. I call it good news.
Now I'm surprised how much you seem to like Mask of the Betrayer. How is being affected by a curse that makes you need to consume souls, and trying to find out more about it and probably wanting to get rid of it (I haven't played it yet, still stuck in the original Nwn2) any different from being infiltrated by a tadpole? Seems a rather similar setting, at least the general principle.
Edited for clarification: What I mean more specifically is, why does that setting, as opposed to the BG3 beginning, not offend your sense of roleplaying a strictly good character?
MoTB execution is better IMO. Having an tadpole in your brain and investigating is interesting but I don't think that a campaign which starts with a mindflayer spelljammer ship fighting an draconic army and you escaping this ship, should't be a low level campaign...
Part of this is the STUPID """tier""" system on 5e which tries to link character levels with the scale of conflicts. From "local heroes" to "heroes of the world" BS. A campaign where the players are epic level apprentices of a Lv 30 Netherese Archwizard and needs to deal with problems of the floating city from his master by this 5e logic can't exist, Since this guys needs to be solving world scale problems.
BG3 would be far better if was more higher level. Less Dungeons & Kobolds and more Dungeons & Dragons.
because in mask the curse is treated as a bad thing. you use it for good by healing sprits but for the most part good characters are repressing it and trying to get rid of it.
the tadpole is just the sprit eater curse with out being treated as a bad thing in game. that spirit bar never goes away until you finish mask. your just told the tadpole could kill you the curse actually can if your not repressing it.
Well, concerning the tadpole, we don't know yet how using it will affect the player throughout the whole game.
so having to deal with something like the spirt eater makes more sense to deal with around level 20 then it does level 1-4.
this would be like if in bg 1 you found out you were a bhaalspawn right off the bat and lost your soul in the first hour.
Thank you!
It's an HP Pavilion Slimline 400 desktop PC, about 5 years old IIRC.
Processor: AMD A4-5000 APU with Radeon HD graphics
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 8330
Installed memory (RAM): 6.00 GB (5.45 usable)
System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Operating System: Windows 10, 64-bit
Dirextx version: Directx 12
Specs for CPU here.
I may be able to add more RAM but I'm not sure if the CPU can handle it. E.g., if I add, say, 10 more GB of RAM to get it to the recommended specs.
Edit: But this definitely has me wondering if I should just take it to Best Buy and see if the CPU can handle an upgrade to 16 GB RAM, then I can probably get that done for under $100. Although going ahead and spending $250 more to get a much more powerful computer may be worth it.
Another issue that motivates me to get a new PC is that I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system that was relatively inexpensive (another Walmart purchase) but it sounds perfectly fine for my office and occasional gaming. However when I try to set it up in Windows to get the five speakers and woofer all working, I can never do it. The two rear speakers never play in any configuration I try. Maybe with a new machine it'll give me more options to fully utilize my sound system...
@Arvia You don't have to eat souls for the curse. You CAN, and as an evil player it might seem tempting to do so to get stronger, more offensive powers. But it also REALLY speeds up the death timer.
A good player can repress the curse, getting weaker or more niche abilities, but it also slows the timer way down. A good player essentially has all the time in the world to figure things out.
@PsicoVic Okay, but you posted that directly after I claimed that all crpgs coming out after BG3's success are very likely to be turn based. If you weren't making a direct response to me, that was some oddly coincidental timing.
Actually, although the EA is testing the Evil(tm) Path we see many dialogues treating the tadpole as something terrible that must be dealt with as quickly as possible that clearly belong to a good path. We also see good path dialogues when there's someone asking for help or who needs saving, for instance.
So, I think it's too early to judge the story. It's judging an entire book for its prologue. There are indications that getting rid of the damn parasites will be an option although clearly evil characters will try to control it and its powers.
But I'll add one more thing: that spirit-eater thing aggravates me so much that I always mod that part out of my game.
Furthermore, your inclusion of Solasta (and now even Knights of the Chalice 2?) tells me you don't really know what you're talking about here. The head of WotC said in an interview this February that there are seven D&D games in the works between now and 2025, two being released this year and then one per year thereafter. He specifically mentions the two games from this year as BG3 and DA. Neither in this interview nor in any other interview of him in the past does he ever mention Solasta or any other similar OGL game as one of his D&D games. So you want to include games like Solasta in there to artificially boost your count of D&D games. Feel free to keep doing that. I, and clearly WotC as well, reject counting games like Solasta as D&D games. So in our world, BG3 is the ONLY D&D cRPG.
Yeah, you can mod the camera.
I'm surprised how little attention the NWN2 fan made modules get. Some of them are of such high quality it is a wonder they aren't talked about more often. Far superior to the NWN2 OC, without a doubt.
And I thought Storm of Zehir was a great IWD-like adventure.
This is from very little research, so take with a grain of salt:
I saw a user review on Best Buy that mentions upgrading the PC to 16 GB, so I'm sure that's doable. However, I'm not sure that will be enough to get the PC to playing Baldur's Gate 3. I would recommend saving that money for a different PC. Looking up the processor, it's below the benchmarks of the minimum processor specs (looked it up here).
One thing I saw when clicking random links was someone mentioning playing it on Stadia. Is that an option? (It's not what I would prefer personally, but throwing it out there.)
If it were me, I would save the money from the RAM upgrade and use it on a newer PC. I'm not seeing a lot of deals on desktops at the moment, and the laptop I linked earlier is the best deal I've seen in my short look. Again, I'm not 100% sure it'll work, but I'm fairly confident it will.
(Not sure if it's okay to link specific websites, so mods delete this if necessary.) I use Slick Deals to keep an eye on potential deals. They have a computer and laptop category that will probably get a lot of posts in the next few weeks/months with Black Friday deals. It might be a US only website, but if you're looking at Walmart, I assume you're in the US.
If you're near a Micro Center, I found this desktop, but I think it would still need a graphics card at some point (and it's out of budget, so again, I'm not much help, sorry!).