great things about the game you're rediscovering (spoilers abound)

Lemernis

I've been away from this game for a long time now, and I'm really enjoying some of the things I had forgotten about.

One quick example: the banters between Xzar/Monty and Janheira/Khalid. They're hilarious. I wasn't going to use either of those pairs in this game. But I figured what the heck. Let me use them both to complete the Nashkel mines. I'm so glad I decided to. I'm actually hoping that I get to see them duke it out.

I know I'm in for a lot more treats like this. Although my game is going to be more about getting to know the three new NPCs.

If you're well acquainted with the game and coming back to it now after some years, what are some of the things you're taking pleasure in revisiting?

ajwz

After all these years of tutu, bears and sword spiders are actually scary once again

rdarken

I believe X/M and J/K will inevitably come to blows at a certain point, so try not to be deep in a dungeon

I'm loving right-clicking on everyone until they yell at me. I was never able to do that in Tutu.

Lemernis

In the original BG, re: the lines the characters speak when selected, tired, happy, etc., was the option available to see the text of everything they spoke? If so, I don't recall that. I'm really enjoying seeing every voiced line appear in the text box now. Is it a new feature?

Lemernis

rdarken said:

I believe X/M and J/K will inevitably come to blows at a certain point, so try not to be deep in a dungeon ...

Well, I'm only keeping them through the mines. So if they have their blowout down in the mines, I guess I'll have to face the final battle there with the victors. IIRC, the odds are low they'll fight that early in the game, though.

Cyricist

Speaking of Xzar & Montaron vs Khalid & Jaheira, I picked up the Zhents on the way to the Friendly Arm Inn. Picked up the Harpers, left the inn, and was about halfway through the courtyard to the drawbridge, when Jaheira pipes up about what a dick Xzar is. Calls him "Zhentish." Xzar pretty much throws down right then and there, and calls her and Khalid out on being Harpers.

Then all four of them leave my party and "begin fighting". I put begin fighting in quotation marks, because what followed made me pause the game and laugh to myself for a moment.

Khalid walks towards Xzar. Xzar casts Larloch's Minor Drain on him. Jaheira begins casting what I guess was probably Entangle, since it's what she has memorized.

Then she dies.

Montaron, not even stealthed, walks up and crits her in the face for 12 damage. She dies.

Khalid's morale breaks and he runs away while Montaron and Xzar follow him, slowly stabbing him to death with Monty's short sword and Xzar's dagger.

God I love the Zhentarim. I had literally *just* picked the Harpers up and Xzar somehow had already enraged Jaheira to the point where they had to fight. I've had these four in my party before, and made it all the way through the Nashkel Mines before they came to blows. Hell, I've even had them in my party all the way into the Cloakwood Mines before they even spoke to each other. This time, however... no banter, no interjections, no snide remarks. Just "Goddamn Zhents!" followed by "Meddlesome Harper bitch!" and then a couple dead Harpers, while I laugh maniacally.

GoodSteve

Lemernis said:

I've been away from this game for a long time now, and I'm really enjoying some of the things I had forgotten about.

One quick example: the banters between Xzar/Monty and Janheira/Khalid. They're hilarious. I wasn't going to use either of those pairs in this game. But I figured what the heck. Let me use them both to complete the Nashkel mines. I'm so glad I decided to. I'm actually hoping that I get to see them duke it out.

I know I'm in for a lot more treats like this. Although my game is going to be more about getting to know the three new NPCs.

If you're well acquainted with the game and coming back to it now after some years, what are some of the things you're taking pleasure in revisiting?

I actually did the same thing but I noticed every once in a while during a battle Montaron would start attacking either Khalid or Jaheira all on his own. Nothing was ever said between the NPC's and no one ever actually landed a blow but it was kinda frsutrating to be in a tough battle only to have one of your frontliners trying to stab your tank in the knee.

I encountered the new NPC's before the Nashkel mine so I never got to see them off each other.

Silverstar

Haven't really re-discovered anything really neat yet, but I didn't remember the bolt-buying quest in Candlekeep. I only ever did play through the first BG a single time though, so there's plenty things for me to both discover and re-discover yet

Lemernis

Cyricist said:

Speaking of Xzar & Montaron vs Khalid & Jaheira, I picked up the Zhents on the way to the Friendly Arm Inn. Picked up the Harpers, left the inn, and was about halfway through the courtyard to the drawbridge, when Jaheira pipes up about what a dick Xzar is. Calls him "Zhentish." Xzar pretty much throws down right then and there, and calls her and Khalid out on being Harpers.

Then all four of them leave my party and "begin fighting". I put begin fighting in quotation marks, because what followed made me pause the game and laugh to myself for a moment.

Khalid walks towards Xzar. Xzar casts Larloch's Minor Drain on him. Jaheira begins casting what I guess was probably Entangle, since it's what she has memorized.

Then she dies.

Montaron, not even stealthed, walks up and crits her in the face for 12 damage. She dies.

Khalid's morale breaks and he runs away while Montaron and Xzar follow him, slowly stabbing him to death with Monty's short sword and Xzar's dagger.

God I love the Zhentarim. I had literally *just* picked the Harpers up and Xzar somehow had already enraged Jaheira to the point where they had to fight. I've had these four in my party before, and made it all the way through the Nashkel Mines before they came to blows. Hell, I've even had them in my party all the way into the Cloakwood Mines before they even spoke to each other. This time, however... no banter, no interjections, no snide remarks. Just "Goddamn Zhents!" followed by "Meddlesome Harper bitch!" and then a couple dead Harpers, while I laugh maniacally.

Oh man, that is funny. Great stuff! I laughed till I wheezed.

I wonder of the trigger of the fight is one side calling the other out as spies. I.e., if that line randomly fires, it's on.

Communard

If you want them to duke it out, try to keep a guy with really low charisma as the leader, the chance is based partly on that IIRC.

Pairdice

When you click on Shar-Teel, she says, "Men are pathetic."

When you click a place for her to go, she says, "Ok."

When you click in quick succession, she says, "Men are.... Ok."

Lemernis

Communard said:

If you want them to duke it out, try to keep a guy with really low charisma as the leader, the chance is based partly on that IIRC.

My Fighter-Mage has 10 Cha. And so far they've (verbally) sniped at each other twice just on the way to the mines. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Cyricist

Communard said:

If you want them to duke it out, try to keep a guy with really low charisma as the leader, the chance is based partly on that IIRC.

Hmm. Perhaps. My reference, my PC had 13 cha. Not incredibly high, but not too low either.

Arcalian

Cyricist said:

Montaron, not even stealthed, walks up and crits her in the face for 12 damage. She dies.

"Crits her in the face". I'm gonna have to remember that one. I envision some bard being like "He crits her in the face! IN THE FACE!!"

SapphireIce101

@Lemernis and @Cyricist - I've had Jaheira, Khalid, Montaron, and Xzar fight as soon as I've picked up the former. It was kind of funny, even though Khalid and Jaheira won.

Arsene_Lupin

I'm rediscovering how incredibly hard the very begining of the game is with a mage. BG2 really spoiled me, starting at level 17 and all. Everything kills a level 1 mage in a single hit. Yikes. Totally forgot about that.

Kiea

ajwz said:

After all these years of tutu, bears and sword spiders are actually scary once again

Oh good, I thought it was me just being bad at the game and overly spoiled but gah...I attack one thing and it practically has us all at half health or less.

Lochland

At the Friendly arm inn, at x=2552 y=3760, theres a hidden ring that doubles the mage first level spell you can memorise. It's very good but also you can sell it for non less then 9000 mo ! So basicly you can have free 9k at the start of the game, witch is maybe a little too much unbalanced xD

wissenschaft

Thats not as bad as Rasaad's boots which sell for 12,500 gp lol

Mungri

I'm discovering that BG Tutu was a lot better, and I will refrain from playing BGEE until it is better pathed up.

Deucetipher

rdarken said:

I believe X/M and J/K will inevitably come to blows at a certain point, so try not to be deep in a dungeon

I'm loving right-clicking on everyone until they yell at me. I was never able to do that in Tutu.

If at first I don't succeed, well, the wife won't let me forget.

joshykins

wissenschaft said:

Thats not as bad as Rasaad's boots which sell for 12,500 gp lol

Sweet merciful bum fudge! I feel as if I were cheating when selling his boots. That's redonk! Why would they be worth so much?! Doesn't seem right at all.

Eidolon

rdarken said:

I believe X/M and J/K will inevitably come to blows at a certain point, so try not to be deep in a dungeon

I'm loving right-clicking on everyone until they yell at me. I was never able to do that in Tutu.

They got to blow already outside the Friendly Arm Inn for me. I had left them alone and had forgotten to pause my game. So when I came back with coffee from the kitchen I heard the sound of fighting. And sure enough Monty had been calling Khalid a Harper and he wanted nothing to do with it.

moody_mage

Lemernis said:

In the original BG, re: the lines the characters speak when selected, tired, happy, etc., was the option available to see the text of everything they spoke? If so, I don't recall that. I'm really enjoying seeing every voiced line appear in the text box now. Is it a new feature?

Yep you could turn it on I think, it should all be in the feedback options.

mibbles

"So I kicked him in the head til he was dead! Nyahaha!"

How could I have forgotten? I love the bandit soundset. That laugh is just so... Nyahaha!

Lemernis

Re: the expensive magical items...

This is just a fantasy, but I'd enjoy seeing a mod one day for a haggling system for magical items that uses

• weights for the seller's and merchant's respective Lore abilities
• weights for the seller's and merchant's respective Charisma scores
• party reputation
• dice roll for the market for that type of item at that particular time
• dice roll for mood of the merchant

There's a one time only opportunity to make the transaction for that item with that merchant.

Think Rick from Pawn Stars.

Some merchants like Thalantyr, Thunderhammer, and the dude at Sorcerous Sundries (forget the wizard's name) may pay higher prices, because they have high end buyers. Those merchants are all going to have high Cha because they're in the business--i.e., they're persuasive due to their extensive knowledge. The other less knowledgeable merchants don't offer a very high price, even on a good day. When the market is favorable and they're in a good mood, the seller does okay. But, anyway, only when one of the high end dealers a) has a good market for the item, and b) is in a particularly good mood, does the seller come away with large coin purse.

Just my fantasy. No one is going to the trouble to create such a mod.

Lemernis

decado said:

Lemernis said:

In the original BG, re: the lines the characters speak when selected, tired, happy, etc., was the option available to see the text of everything they spoke? If so, I don't recall that. I'm really enjoying seeing every voiced line appear in the text box now. Is it a new feature?

Yep you could turn it on I think, it should all be in the feedback options.

Ah, thanks. I guess I just never had it turned on. It's evidently on by default in EE. Anyway, neat. A few of the lines I could never quite make out by ear.

Lemernis

These are not rediscoveries, just some quick comments on the new stuff:

I'm totally digging the new features: zoom, new UI, and new cinematics. All great.

I really like them a lot, and they are indeed major enhancements. Viewing the new movies in-game is very different than seeing them in isolation, as we inspected them pre-release. The new graphic novel style works, for me anyway. I look forward to seeing more of these movies, as I'm hoping to see replacements for most (if not all) of the ones that were in the original game.

Oddly enough, I kind of miss the resting movie at inns.

I got a kick (no pun intended) out of seeing Rasaad busting his moves as I entered Nashkel. I'll come back for him. I won't be adding any of the three new characters until I complete the Nashkel mines. But that should be some time today. After I say so long to Xzar, Monty, Jaheira, and Khalid, I look forward to adding Rasaad, Dorn, Viconia, and Neera.

Anyway, really loving this frabjerous mix of the old and the new!

Krypteia

I'd forgotten how funny CHARNAME could be:

"Okay, I've just about had my FILL of riddle-asking, quest-assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength and above all patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick, or I'm going to take a large, blunt object roughly the size of Elminster AND his hat and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the Nine Hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!"

Also:

"No, we're not mercenaries. We just carry weapons and kill things for the joy of the experience."

And:

"For your information, a number of important sociological and psychological theorists have posited that stores exist in an intermediate space, neither private nor public in nature but combining elements of both. Displays in store windows, for instance, can best be viewed as mental constructs projected onto the public consciousness as a means of engendering mass conformity derived solely from the supposedly private domain of consumer choice.........."

ajwz

Krypteia said:

I'd forgotten how funny CHARNAME could be:

"Okay, I've just about had my FILL of riddle-asking, quest-assigning, insult throwing, pun hurling, hostage taking, iron mongering, smart arsed fools, freaks and felons that continually test my will, mettle, strength and above all patience! If you've got a straight answer ANYWHERE in that bent little head of yours, I want to hear it pretty damn quick, or I'm going to take a large, blunt object roughly the size of Elminster AND his hat and stuff it lengthwise into a crevice of your being so seldom seen that even the denizens of the Nine Hells themselves wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot rusty halberd! Have I MADE myself perfectly CLEAR?!"

Also:

"No, we're not mercenaries. We just carry weapons and kill things for the joy of the experience."

And:

"For your information, a number of important sociological and psychological theorists have posited that stores exist in an intermediate space, neither private nor public in nature but combining elements of both. Displays in store windows, for instance, can best be viewed as mental constructs projected onto the public consciousness as a means of engendering mass conformity derived solely from the supposedly private domain of consumer choice.........."

It's quite difficult for writers to pull off making your unspecified gender/race and class character witty without sounding trite, but bg manages to do it well

Lemernis

I'm enjoying how playing a mixed alignment party without the happy patch is such old school fun. I like using mixed alignment parties, and I had gotten accustomed to using the happy party patch. But I don't think I will use it anymore.

For example, as would be perfectly in character for Montaron, in this game I had him gut Noober. And I also cashed in at the store on Prism's emeralds. I want to keep rep mid range--and the party's rep is already 13 and I haven't even done the mines yet!

Before long I'm going to have to think of ways for characters to lower Rep, as would be in-character for them. I'm finding it a lot more fun to do this than just follow the heroic script. My CHARNAME has CHa 10, so it seems sensible that others in the party are basically going to do whatever they please.

Edit: Another example of keeping rep mid-range is not doing errands like Kylee's dagger. Er, come again? Return a miner's dagger? Really? We're busy saving the Sword Coast!