That's how I see it, too, ShadowBlaze.
Most new content can be easily ignored. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.
I played the old game and loved it, but I have to admit that I am thankful for the containers and quickloot function. Found the old way to do this tedious rather than challenging, but to each their own.
As for self-imposed rules, for me it's RP stuff, some things I will or won't do depending on my character's race, class, alignment and general personality.
There are players who have a ranger or even paladin Charname, and then go with Viconia, Edwin, Kagain or Korgan... who kill people for their items... who kill for items and XP when ever it doesn't affect your reputation... I won't do this, just feels wrong.
As the character can't know the alignment and might have their own reasons to invite someone into the group, I can see having Viconia in a goody-two-shoes Charname's team, either to watch her or for her own safety, but not several evil characters, especially not when what they say clearly shows that their intent is not exactly helping others.
i have some rules that i use in both games and then some rules change for both games ( for bg 1 & 2 )
for both games;
- insane difficulty with double damage on
- max HP on level up ( although if i use joinable companions, whatever HP they start with i use )
- editted .2da so i always succeed on learning spells, because being able to fail is just silly in my opinion
- no limits on reloads, i'm an incredibly lazy player, and over the years i try to see what i can get away with, some "harder" battles i don't even prep for what so ever, so yeah, lots of reloads, mostly because of this next one;
- everyone HAS to live, the ONLY time someone is allowed to bite the bucket is in the hell trials at the end of SoA, other than that, everyone gets the charname special power: power finger reload
- i no longer play with berserkers, since they are outrageously strong ( although if i play an evil single player game with joinable companions i do bring along korgan )
BG 1;
- every run is a "gold piece" run, meaning i always strive to hit as much gold as possible the time i hit sarevok at the end of bg1, but i must also buy the claw of kazgaroth, certain potions and arch magi robes IF needed, of coarse with good parties I usually hit over 700 000 but with evil parties i usually only make it into the 600 000s
- no rewriting of spells because A ) the xp just isn't worth it, B ) gold piece run
- no potion use except A ) potion of power x3, potion of magic shielding x6 and potion of storm giant strength x3 for the final sarevok fight, all other potions get sold because of gold piece run or B ) usually happens in cloakwood, sometimes if i get poisoned by wyverns i might use an antidote just out of laziness of not wanting to reload, especially since x2 wyverns is 1000 GP worth of heads
- no intentional farming, because in theory if i wanted to really max out a GP run, i could easily hit over 1 million with farming, so unless the team is fatigued or damaged then my chars never rest
- if i ever bring imoen along i always dual her at level 6, because level 5 mage spells
- if i bring shar-teel along i always dual her at level 7 and make her use scimitar and helm of opposite alignment
- if minsc is in my group i never have him use a two handed sword for long, use scimitar instead
- if i bring kivan along, he will also be using a scimitar instead
- if not just for spite, drizzt must perish every play though
- if i play a game where i must gather joinable companions i plan to grab them at lowest level possible and not "exploit" the "catch up in XP" thingy-ma-jigy
BG 2;
- every run is an "XP" run this time, although gold is always welcome, although with that said, for XP the only exploits that i use are rewriting spells when i find them ( i will never buy them strictly just for erasing and rewriting for xp ) and usually when it comes to ToB i will hit around 1.2-2 million gold pieces ( sendai's enclave, holy smokes is that a gold mine )
- i'm sure there may be others, but i just noticed that its time for track practice, so if i think of more i will post later
If a companion dies, I don't have them resurrected at the temple, but reload instead.
I only resurrect a fallen companion when the group cleric is of high enough level to cast Resurrection.
Raise Dead, in the old times, didn't work on elves and the resurrected character lost one point of CON permanently. This probably is why.
I have to admit that I am also too lazy to run to the temple and re-equip items over and over. I rather try my best to avoid dying. Feels less tedious.
If a companion dies, I don't have them resurrected at the temple, but reload instead.
I only resurrect a fallen companion when the group cleric is of high enough level to cast Resurrection.
Raise Dead, in the old times, didn't work on elves and the resurrected character lost one point of CON permanently. This probably is why.
I have to admit that I am also too lazy to run to the temple and re-equip items over and over. I rather try my best to avoid dying. Feels less tedious.
maybe in PnP versions, but in the BG series raise dead has always worked on elves, and you never lost a point of CON when you were brought back, ( ironically the original game manual said this was the scenario, but in actual game play it was not implemented )
i remember way back in the day of '98 when i first played this game, i never had any money because i was always spending it on raising characters from the dead, even the % chance mechanic of being able to be raised back from the dead wasn't implemented either, and good thing because in my play throughs everyone died at least 10 or so times haha, ah good stuff
- Solo playing
- SCS with most of the components turned on, on Hard or Insane difficulty
- No automatic success in scribing scrolls. No RP excuse for it, just makes things more interesting and makes intelligence actually a relevant attribute.
- No overly cheesy tactics (no drawing enemies one by one, no shooting fireballs or skull traps off screen)
- Only use uncheesed Project Image and Mislead from Tweaks and Tricks mod. Mislead there gives you just normal Improved Invisibility that is lost when you perform aggressive action and Project Image consumes your own spell slots. This is, in my opinion, how these spells are intended to be used. They are still very useful, e.g. you can throw Cloudkill or Death Fog and then create Mislead clone and keep him in the area of effect of the spell to make sure enemies stay there too. I've easily cleared the whole Guarded Compound using this tactics.
- Play with full set of bags from start, including bottomless Bag of Holding. This is cheating, but it doesn't allow me to do anything that would otherwise be impossible, just save lots of time in micromanaging the inventory.
For my next run, I will also
- Play without reloading
- Not redistribute attributes. So, up to five rerolls, but without changing the stats that I get.
- Randomly choose class, kit and race for the run
Kudos to people who can finish the game without pre-buffing or arcane spellcasting. I do not see any conceivable way of defeating a lich without this, because the first thing most of them do is cast Time Stop and throw a couple of ADHWs at you and if you are not protected, you have zero chance of survival. Plus, with SCS on Hardcore/Insane, they start the fight with all their buffs on, so you cannot hurt them. And if you are going to do run-out-and-wait-for-buffs-to-wear-off tactics, you might as well just...use buffs.
- Don't use HLAs in SoA and don't level characters up when they get next levels after 3 mln XP - until you arrive to ToB;
- Don't do the WK content in SoA in order not to get access to OP items and spells such as Wish; doing some part of the 1st level for containers is ok;
- Don't do the Steal-Sell-Steal-Sell trick;
- Don't do the erase spell trick;
- Don't start fights before enemies' buffs fire off in a due way (with the SCS mod), so no one-shots regarding Kangaxx etc;
- Don't do the Durlag's Tower content in BG1 before reaching the BG city and thus travelling to the Ulgoth's Beard from there - same as with the WK approach;
- Don't do rest-spam;
- Minimize reloading or don't do reloads at all;
- Take attribute rolls "as is" without adjusting - rolling for a 18/18/18 character will be difficult;
- Respect evil or good alignments when playing - don't have 20 REP with an evil character, have 3 or 4 REP, or lower, for worse prices and other consequences;
- Similar to letting enemies buff themselves in a proper way, don't enter every fight prebuffed to the max, be realistic: you can prebuff for the Irenicus encounter but when you shouldn't know in advance that the fight will happen, don't prebuff - allow the game to challenge you (with the SCS mod);
- Don't run out of area to live through incoming spells and enemy buffs;
- Only scribe spells accepting the risk of failure; use potions to increase your INT and manage scribing sessions, planning them in advance;
- Don't buy bonus merchants' items before Chapter 6. So no Robe of Vecna/Simulacrum Helmet cheese etc for fighting Kangaxx, Firekraag usually.
Kudos to people who can finish the game without pre-buffing or arcane spellcasting. I do not see any conceivable way of defeating a lich without this, because the first thing most of them do is cast Time Stop and throw a couple of ADHWs at you and if you are not protected, you have zero chance of survival. Plus, with SCS on Hardcore/Insane, they start the fight with all their buffs on, so you cannot hurt them. And if you are going to do run-out-and-wait-for-buffs-to-wear-off tactics, you might as well just...use buffs.
I was able to take on some BG2 lich fights without prebuff, on a limited reload run without dying to them. Not on SCS. (I did actually die earlier in the game.) The Flail of Ages helps. And the Robe of Vecna helps. Key is to leave one mage in reserve not casting anything, and then be ready with breach, etc. when the lich does throw protections up.
I find the discussion about the Enhanced Editions being a net negative to be bewildering given the technical issues that were addressed. If you don't like the new content, that is completely understandable. But calling the Enhanced Editions a net negatives, means that you'd rather have the originals succumb to changing technology and eventually become unplayable. That is not to mention denying the games to younger generations. It seems like an overreaction to creative differences.
That said, my rules are simple.
No metagaming, no prebuffing, ect
I dont use dump stats, so I never have a 3 in charisma
I dont fog of war cheese with wands.
I dont steal when playing lawful characters.
I dont use HLAs until TOB.
I actually rush to spellhold, instead of doing all side quests.
I do a full install of SCS
Insane difficulty with double damage enabled.
CDtweaks to force all enemies to have max hitpoints.
Give all enemies 3X hitpoints via difficulty tweak mod.
Give all enemies a 5 point Saving throws bonus via difficulty tweak mod.
Give all enemies a 5 point Armor Class bonus via difficulty tweak mod
Give all enemies a 5 point THACO bonus via difficulty tweak mod.
Never steal from shops
Refuse to access Watcher's Keep until TOB.
Explore the world logically and try my best to roleplay as if I were playing for the first time.
Only use legitimately rolled characters.
Always use a full party, no solo cheese or pre battle cheese. Pre-buffing can be used but only logically. I cast some basic protections whenever I enter a new area and I don't have a problem going full pre battle prep when I am ambushing a dragon or some other encounter that involves me walking into an area where it's logically expected that I will get in a big fight.
Other than that, I try new mods that add character depth. For example, I'm using the Reunion mod to give Nalia a little extra character development in TOB this time through the game. I also try different classes and roleplay based on my class.
I never sneak past enemies, I face and defeat every enemy and I reload until I beat each enemy without any party losses. I never accept party deaths which saves me resurrection costs but it forces me to beat every battle with skill rather than luck.
All of these things combined keeps the game fresh and forces me to maximize real time strategy, defensive harmony, DPS and multi character synergy while pushing my ability to mentally multitask everything at once.
Very fun!
Limiting myself to 80 points per character, with 18 for 1 stat, +32 points for 2 stats with max 17, +30 points for 3 stats with max 15 and min 7. Did a small write up on that here: Build Constraints.
I played both BG1 & 2 at release but never got very far into 1, not even the Bandit Camp. BG2 I completed sometime around 2001 or '2. So this trilogy run is like playing BG1 and SoD for the first time and I'm not putting too many limits on behavior. Playing on Core with SCS/Hardcore, but no improved fights or creatures. SCS is fantastic and has made me learn more of the game's mechanics than I ever did back then - greatly improved the enjoyment I've gotten out of the game.
Comments
Most new content can be easily ignored. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.
I played the old game and loved it, but I have to admit that I am thankful for the containers and quickloot function. Found the old way to do this tedious rather than challenging, but to each their own.
As for self-imposed rules, for me it's RP stuff, some things I will or won't do depending on my character's race, class, alignment and general personality.
There are players who have a ranger or even paladin Charname, and then go with Viconia, Edwin, Kagain or Korgan... who kill people for their items... who kill for items and XP when ever it doesn't affect your reputation... I won't do this, just feels wrong.
As the character can't know the alignment and might have their own reasons to invite someone into the group, I can see having Viconia in a goody-two-shoes Charname's team, either to watch her or for her own safety, but not several evil characters, especially not when what they say clearly shows that their intent is not exactly helping others.
for both games;
- insane difficulty with double damage on
- max HP on level up ( although if i use joinable companions, whatever HP they start with i use )
- editted .2da so i always succeed on learning spells, because being able to fail is just silly in my opinion
- no limits on reloads, i'm an incredibly lazy player, and over the years i try to see what i can get away with, some "harder" battles i don't even prep for what so ever, so yeah, lots of reloads, mostly because of this next one;
- everyone HAS to live, the ONLY time someone is allowed to bite the bucket is in the hell trials at the end of SoA, other than that, everyone gets the charname special power: power finger reload
- i no longer play with berserkers, since they are outrageously strong ( although if i play an evil single player game with joinable companions i do bring along korgan )
BG 1;
- every run is a "gold piece" run, meaning i always strive to hit as much gold as possible the time i hit sarevok at the end of bg1, but i must also buy the claw of kazgaroth, certain potions and arch magi robes IF needed, of coarse with good parties I usually hit over 700 000 but with evil parties i usually only make it into the 600 000s
- no rewriting of spells because A ) the xp just isn't worth it, B ) gold piece run
- no potion use except A ) potion of power x3, potion of magic shielding x6 and potion of storm giant strength x3 for the final sarevok fight, all other potions get sold because of gold piece run or B ) usually happens in cloakwood, sometimes if i get poisoned by wyverns i might use an antidote just out of laziness of not wanting to reload, especially since x2 wyverns is 1000 GP worth of heads
- no intentional farming, because in theory if i wanted to really max out a GP run, i could easily hit over 1 million with farming, so unless the team is fatigued or damaged then my chars never rest
- if i ever bring imoen along i always dual her at level 6, because level 5 mage spells
- if i bring shar-teel along i always dual her at level 7 and make her use scimitar and helm of opposite alignment
- if minsc is in my group i never have him use a two handed sword for long, use scimitar instead
- if i bring kivan along, he will also be using a scimitar instead
- if not just for spite, drizzt must perish every play though
- if i play a game where i must gather joinable companions i plan to grab them at lowest level possible and not "exploit" the "catch up in XP" thingy-ma-jigy
BG 2;
- every run is an "XP" run this time, although gold is always welcome, although with that said, for XP the only exploits that i use are rewriting spells when i find them ( i will never buy them strictly just for erasing and rewriting for xp ) and usually when it comes to ToB i will hit around 1.2-2 million gold pieces ( sendai's enclave, holy smokes is that a gold mine )
- i'm sure there may be others, but i just noticed that its time for track practice, so if i think of more i will post later
some spells that i never use;
time stop
improved alacrity
simulacrum
project image
I only resurrect a fallen companion when the group cleric is of high enough level to cast Resurrection.
Raise Dead, in the old times, didn't work on elves and the resurrected character lost one point of CON permanently. This probably is why.
I have to admit that I am also too lazy to run to the temple and re-equip items over and over. I rather try my best to avoid dying. Feels less tedious.
maybe in PnP versions, but in the BG series raise dead has always worked on elves, and you never lost a point of CON when you were brought back, ( ironically the original game manual said this was the scenario, but in actual game play it was not implemented )
i remember way back in the day of '98 when i first played this game, i never had any money because i was always spending it on raising characters from the dead, even the % chance mechanic of being able to be raised back from the dead wasn't implemented either, and good thing because in my play throughs everyone died at least 10 or so times haha, ah good stuff
- Solo playing
- SCS with most of the components turned on, on Hard or Insane difficulty
- No automatic success in scribing scrolls. No RP excuse for it, just makes things more interesting and makes intelligence actually a relevant attribute.
- No overly cheesy tactics (no drawing enemies one by one, no shooting fireballs or skull traps off screen)
- Only use uncheesed Project Image and Mislead from Tweaks and Tricks mod. Mislead there gives you just normal Improved Invisibility that is lost when you perform aggressive action and Project Image consumes your own spell slots. This is, in my opinion, how these spells are intended to be used. They are still very useful, e.g. you can throw Cloudkill or Death Fog and then create Mislead clone and keep him in the area of effect of the spell to make sure enemies stay there too. I've easily cleared the whole Guarded Compound using this tactics.
- Play with full set of bags from start, including bottomless Bag of Holding. This is cheating, but it doesn't allow me to do anything that would otherwise be impossible, just save lots of time in micromanaging the inventory.
For my next run, I will also
- Play without reloading
- Not redistribute attributes. So, up to five rerolls, but without changing the stats that I get.
- Randomly choose class, kit and race for the run
Kudos to people who can finish the game without pre-buffing or arcane spellcasting. I do not see any conceivable way of defeating a lich without this, because the first thing most of them do is cast Time Stop and throw a couple of ADHWs at you and if you are not protected, you have zero chance of survival. Plus, with SCS on Hardcore/Insane, they start the fight with all their buffs on, so you cannot hurt them. And if you are going to do run-out-and-wait-for-buffs-to-wear-off tactics, you might as well just...use buffs.
- Don't use HLAs in SoA and don't level characters up when they get next levels after 3 mln XP - until you arrive to ToB;
- Don't do the WK content in SoA in order not to get access to OP items and spells such as Wish; doing some part of the 1st level for containers is ok;
- Don't do the Steal-Sell-Steal-Sell trick;
- Don't do the erase spell trick;
- Don't start fights before enemies' buffs fire off in a due way (with the SCS mod), so no one-shots regarding Kangaxx etc;
- Don't do the Durlag's Tower content in BG1 before reaching the BG city and thus travelling to the Ulgoth's Beard from there - same as with the WK approach;
- Don't do rest-spam;
- Minimize reloading or don't do reloads at all;
- Take attribute rolls "as is" without adjusting - rolling for a 18/18/18 character will be difficult;
- Respect evil or good alignments when playing - don't have 20 REP with an evil character, have 3 or 4 REP, or lower, for worse prices and other consequences;
- Similar to letting enemies buff themselves in a proper way, don't enter every fight prebuffed to the max, be realistic: you can prebuff for the Irenicus encounter but when you shouldn't know in advance that the fight will happen, don't prebuff - allow the game to challenge you (with the SCS mod);
- Don't run out of area to live through incoming spells and enemy buffs;
- Only scribe spells accepting the risk of failure; use potions to increase your INT and manage scribing sessions, planning them in advance;
- Don't buy bonus merchants' items before Chapter 6. So no Robe of Vecna/Simulacrum Helmet cheese etc for fighting Kangaxx, Firekraag usually.
I was able to take on some BG2 lich fights without prebuff, on a limited reload run without dying to them. Not on SCS. (I did actually die earlier in the game.) The Flail of Ages helps. And the Robe of Vecna helps. Key is to leave one mage in reserve not casting anything, and then be ready with breach, etc. when the lich does throw protections up.
That said, my rules are simple.
No metagaming, no prebuffing, ect
I dont use dump stats, so I never have a 3 in charisma
I dont fog of war cheese with wands.
I dont steal when playing lawful characters.
I dont use HLAs until TOB.
I actually rush to spellhold, instead of doing all side quests.
Insane difficulty with double damage enabled.
CDtweaks to force all enemies to have max hitpoints.
Give all enemies 3X hitpoints via difficulty tweak mod.
Give all enemies a 5 point Saving throws bonus via difficulty tweak mod.
Give all enemies a 5 point Armor Class bonus via difficulty tweak mod
Give all enemies a 5 point THACO bonus via difficulty tweak mod.
Never steal from shops
Refuse to access Watcher's Keep until TOB.
Explore the world logically and try my best to roleplay as if I were playing for the first time.
Only use legitimately rolled characters.
Always use a full party, no solo cheese or pre battle cheese. Pre-buffing can be used but only logically. I cast some basic protections whenever I enter a new area and I don't have a problem going full pre battle prep when I am ambushing a dragon or some other encounter that involves me walking into an area where it's logically expected that I will get in a big fight.
Other than that, I try new mods that add character depth. For example, I'm using the Reunion mod to give Nalia a little extra character development in TOB this time through the game. I also try different classes and roleplay based on my class.
I never sneak past enemies, I face and defeat every enemy and I reload until I beat each enemy without any party losses. I never accept party deaths which saves me resurrection costs but it forces me to beat every battle with skill rather than luck.
All of these things combined keeps the game fresh and forces me to maximize real time strategy, defensive harmony, DPS and multi character synergy while pushing my ability to mentally multitask everything at once.
Very fun!
I played both BG1 & 2 at release but never got very far into 1, not even the Bandit Camp. BG2 I completed sometime around 2001 or '2. So this trilogy run is like playing BG1 and SoD for the first time and I'm not putting too many limits on behavior. Playing on Core with SCS/Hardcore, but no improved fights or creatures. SCS is fantastic and has made me learn more of the game's mechanics than I ever did back then - greatly improved the enjoyment I've gotten out of the game.