New to this Game! Looking for Guides/Advice/Opinions

Bertle

Hello everyone!

I am a long-time BG/BG2 player who is looking for new RPGs to try out. As I have never played any of the other Beamdog titles, I decided to start there!

I am trying to balance doing my research before starting and not getting spoiled. From a quick wikipedia search of NWN, IWD, and Planescape, Planescape caught my attention the most. However, I would be curious to hear how players compare these games to BG. What are the major similarities and differences? I have heard for instance that NWN is more of a MP game and IWD is more combat based - is that accurate? I love BG mostly because of the freedom in making a variety of different parties and the inter-character interaction. While I enjoy a good tricky combat, I am much more of a story based player who loves a good plot and well-rounded characters.

I am also looking for any guides/advice that would be useful to read BEFORE playing for the first time. I know for BG there are one or two spoiler-free guides designed to give tips to beginner players. Anything similar for planescape?

Doubledimas

Well, Planescape is the game with the least combat and the most dialog of all the games (esp. compared to BG and IWD). But Planescapes should really be discovered on its own. If you read any of the guides on the internet, it will give away a bit too much. In terms of character development, it is not like the other games.

Read on if you would like a spoiler on what this focus on dialog instead of combat means for your character build. I would advice you to try the game once and then come back for a guide for a second run (which you will almost definitely do).

Because of the focus on dialog instead of combat, it can thus be worthwhile to spec your main character along abilities that might influence that dialog-aspect instead of a more melee-oriented type.

Gamey_Jamie

Hey Bertle. You've definitely picked some great games to get stuck into. As Doubledimas says Planescape is definitely the most dialogue driven - there's a huge amount of text in it and luckily it's all fantastic. Absolutely do go with what you want on your first PS:T run-through then replay to uncover more. There is lots of replayability in that game. I'm actually playing Icewind Dale blind myself and have found it very combat heavy by comparison - but with an interesting and well written story at its core. If you're looking for a peek at these I have my playthroughs on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfhFiGYFj_Vu8wVpGbQVDPA
Possibly minor spoilers on IWD if I'm a little ahead of you. I've played PS:T loads and I walk through character generation on that so don't watch if you want to make up your own mind.
Hope you enjoy these titles as much as I have ?

jsaving

IWD is basically a roguelike that uses the Infinity Engine, even creator Josh Sawyer says in interviews that Interplay was just trying to get something fast out the door to bring in revenue. About the only real roleplaying you do in IWD is clicking on a couple of class-specific or race-specific dialogue options, you just mow down enemies and keep going until the game is over. There isn't even much in the way of tactics except for a few boss fights, with the intricate mage-on-mage battles you might remember fondly from BG2 nonexistent in IWD. And yet there's just enough plot to hold the player's interest if you've decided to put BG/BG2 on the shelf for a while and do something different, provided you install the IWDNPC mod which is as close to a must-have as mods can get.

PST is pretty much the opposite of IWD, it is really an adventure game that uses the Infinity Engine. Many role-players consider it to be the best RPG of all time but you have to be ready to think outside the box, read a lot, and endure battles that even creator Chris Avellone considered pointless along the way. Unlike IWD or even BG2 you have to be really careful about dumping stats in PST because there are frequently stat-based dialogue checks, especially for the mental stats that warriors would usually set to 3 in the other Infinity Engine games. My goal in PST for character development is usually to hit 25 WIS as soon as possible despite not even having the option to play cleric, and the choices you make in this game can come back to haunt you hours later, for better and for worse.

NWN is an entirely different type of game than any of these, it is basically a multiplayer adventure-creation vehicle for industrious DMs with a subpar plotline called the "Original Campaign" thrown in so you'll have something to do if you're a solo player. If BG/BG2 is your cup of tea then you might find a number of non-Infinity-Engine games more your cup of tea than Neverwinter Nights, such as Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil, Pillars of Eternity, or my personal favorite Pathfinder Kingmaker.

Bertle

Thank you all for the helpful replies! Since I'm looking for an RPG with an emphasis on RP, I think I will give PST a try first. Thank you for the tips on character creation in PST because after BG I definitely wouldve stat dumped WIS lol.

Afterwards I think I will give some of the other games jsaving mentioned a try, since it sounds like NWN and IWD might not be quite what I'm looking for. If anyone has any other suggestions I would love to hear them!