What more do you want to know ? We know when, where, and how with the last cinematic : shadow thieves and magic to neutralize party members.
That didn't really work for me either. I was hoping the end of SOD would play out as a fight I couldn't possibly win (maybe one where all the saving throws were rigged against me so my party was eventually bound to succumb to Irenicus's magic). At least that way I could get the feeling I was going down fighting instead of being told that I had lost a battle I had never even fought.
What more do you want to know ? We know when, where, and how with the last cinematic : shadow thieves and magic to neutralize party members.
This was already known in the introduction to Shadows of Amn. I mean, it should be better explained or even playable in some way. The mist thing just doesn't work for me 🤷🏻♂️
For me, the whole story of Caelar, Belhifet, and all that stuff is a filler, so it's hard to reconcile myself with that, but if at least the important part (the ambush that leads you to SoA) was more detailed, well...
@Wisterias in D&D there’s always a way to fix “dead”. And when my character is accused of a murder, of a friend, you can bet I want to fix it!
And my SoD always does end with the ambush you can’t win. Maybe it’s one of the mods? I’ve probably played it more with mods than without now. And honestly, I usually just quit at that point. I’ve got my final save, and I don’t see any point in playing it.
And my SoD always does end with the ambush you can’t win. Maybe it’s one of the mods? I’ve probably played it more with mods than without now. And honestly, I usually just quit at that point. I’ve got my final save, and I don’t see any point in playing it.
Looking it up, I think that is the default in EET and can also be implemented using Jastey's SoD tweaks. I should know because I use both, but my runs always come to a sorry end long before I get to that point. I really need to stop playing no-reloads . . .
Yeah I use the Jastey mods, that must be it. I admit I don’t see the point. You know that’s how it ends, drugged and loosing against a bunch of thieves, I feel no need to play it through. Like I said, I have the final save at that point. So I quit and load SoA.
No reload is funny to me, I’m sure I’ve actually done it a few times. Especially in IWD. But I don’t even keep track. Most often, there will be one or two “oh shoot, I thought he had Stone Skin up…” sort of moments. And I hit reload.
I admit I don’t see the point. You know that’s how it ends, drugged and loosing against a bunch of thieves, I feel no need to play it through. Like I said, I have the final save at that point. So I quit and load SoA.
Same for me. This final fight with the thieves is cut content from SoD actually, and I understand why they removed it before release.
You can add it with Jastey's SoD tweaks mod as a restored content. Then you can judge by yourself if it is that interesting.
Main point of a bridge between BG1 and BG2 is not IMHO seeing our party being drugged and magically rendered unable to fght.
There is no mystery there, of course a big bad guy can make a level 9-12 party losing a fight easily.
The ambush is a minor detail, important thing is why no one care to rescue you after that ?
Also, SoD explains why while at the end of BG1 main char seems to be in control of Bhaal essence inside him, in BG2 he loses that control and seems to have a big part of Bhaal's power : the Boarerskyr Bridge scene.
SoD also explained Irenicus was interested by Sarevok and main char was just a second choice.
I always interpreted Irenicus' experiments in his dungeon, with the goal to extract the divine essence, to be the cause of the protagonist losing some control over the bhaal influence.
I never needed Siege to come up with a different interpretation of it and a Hooded figure that has no business being there.
As mentioned, that is why I dislike the Slayer presence in Siege. That is in my opinion not to be observed until Spellhold because that is where the big surprise is, and there you start to lose control for the first time.
For me the explanation of Irenicus wanting you could have just stayed that he needed some divine essence to fix his own fractured mortality after being outcast from elvendom. Sarevok was not an outspoken Bhaalspawn, but after his defeat, there now was a Bhaalspawn in Baldurs Gate, known by the thieves guild. I would think Irenicus has hired many people to hunt for divine essence and the thieves guild just supplied it.
Siege is just a really long sidequest to me. The best interconnect to the story would have been more involvement of the thieves guild in the Siege storyline, but even that is not there.
My 2 cents: SOD has some pretty areas, like the old temple, and I like the bard npc. However, the writing and a lot of the voice acting comes across so cringe I don’t think I could ever make it through the whole game a second time through, despite the countless hours I’ve spent playing BG 1&2, and IWD 1&2.
It’s like they spent most of their voice acting budget on bringing back David Warner (Evil from Time Bandits), and had to hire their cousins to do most of the rest, lol. They should have hired a Gen X writer who grew up on D&D to understand and have more of the original vibe. Know your audience.
Also, as already mentioned in this thread , the game fills a gap that didn’t need filling, and the short intro to SOA does a much better job of setting the tone. I don’t regret buying it, however, because I have enjoyed playing BG1&2 EE, and IWD EE, and now Planescape Torment EE, and I think Beamdog did a great job making these work on a modern iPad, so I’m not upset about throwing them a few extra bucks.
Well... I played the end again and still don't get what I'm doing fighting against Belifet, don't get who Caelar is or what she wants, who's that man in that cage in Avernus, who is Haapherman or whatever he is called... I guess I would understand something if it was interesting but tbh it's not. I will play SoD only because of the loot in my future runs, but with no effort to understand what's going on because it doesn't really matter
TBH if you don't know any of those things then I think the problem is in lack of reading what the game is telling.
I don't love SOD by any means and when you call it filler it is very fitting. The story is after all just kind of dropped there in the middle and as much I love the his voice acting I think Irenicus even being there is a cardinal sin. The thing I most appreciate about SOD is it's combat. Those large scale battle are something you just don't get else where in the series and especially escaping the castle on insane and fighting everything the game throws at you is one of the main things I do get joy of in the campaign.
p.s. I wish all romances were handled like Corwins. From the get go you can just tell her you want to keep this relationship purely professional and that's that. You don't have to fail at it or be an asshole for it to go away. You just say nope.
Well... I played the end again and still don't get what I'm doing fighting against Belifet, don't get who Caelar is or what she wants, who's that man in that cage in Avernus, who is Haapherman or whatever he is called... I guess I would understand something if it was interesting but tbh it's not. I will play SoD only because of the loot in my future runs, but with no effort to understand what's going on because it doesn't really matter
Caelar is what is known as "lawful stupid". "my actions are just, regardless of how many peasants I have to kill or many of them I have to make homeless by burning down their house to prove it".
TBH if you don't know any of those things then I think the problem is in lack of reading what the game is telling.
I don't love SOD by any means and when you call it filler it is very fitting. The story is after all just kind of dropped there in the middle and as much I love the his voice acting I think Irenicus even being there is a cardinal sin. The thing I most appreciate about SOD is it's combat. Those large scale battle are something you just don't get else where in the series and especially escaping the castle on insane and fighting everything the game throws at you is one of the main things I do get joy of in the campaign.
p.s. I wish all romances were handled like Corwins. From the get go you can just tell her you want to keep this relationship purely professional and that's that. You don't have to fail at it or be an asshole for it to go away. You just say nope.
Well, there's IWD 1 and IWD 2 for killing large waves of enemies... The first tomb is 100% like an IWD experience.
I don't know, since I don't think they included any new areas or major quests, I completely avoided romances and actually went with a group customized to my liking.
Caelar is what is known as "lawful stupid". "my actions are just, regardless of how many peasants I have to kill or many of them I have to make homeless by burning down their house to prove it".
😝 Someone should start opening mental asylums on the Sword Coast... I thought a simple Heal spell could cure those disorders but no.
TBH if you don't know any of those things then I think the problem is in lack of reading what the game is telling.
I don't love SOD by any means and when you call it filler it is very fitting. The story is after all just kind of dropped there in the middle and as much I love the his voice acting I think Irenicus even being there is a cardinal sin. The thing I most appreciate about SOD is it's combat. Those large scale battle are something you just don't get else where in the series and especially escaping the castle on insane and fighting everything the game throws at you is one of the main things I do get joy of in the campaign.
p.s. I wish all romances were handled like Corwins. From the get go you can just tell her you want to keep this relationship purely professional and that's that. You don't have to fail at it or be an asshole for it to go away. You just say nope.
Very much agreed on this take. What's great about SoD is that it was definitely designed with veterans of the system in mind. I really think any veteran of these IE games deserves it to play it on insane difficulty and some kind of limited reload fashion. As I said above, game sets up several sections where you have to adapt, not win via normal means.
Comments
That didn't really work for me either. I was hoping the end of SOD would play out as a fight I couldn't possibly win (maybe one where all the saving throws were rigged against me so my party was eventually bound to succumb to Irenicus's magic). At least that way I could get the feeling I was going down fighting instead of being told that I had lost a battle I had never even fought.
The slayer bit is also strange to me because the spellhold part then also makes less sense.
This was already known in the introduction to Shadows of Amn. I mean, it should be better explained or even playable in some way. The mist thing just doesn't work for me 🤷🏻♂️
For me, the whole story of Caelar, Belhifet, and all that stuff is a filler, so it's hard to reconcile myself with that, but if at least the important part (the ambush that leads you to SoA) was more detailed, well...
And my SoD always does end with the ambush you can’t win. Maybe it’s one of the mods? I’ve probably played it more with mods than without now. And honestly, I usually just quit at that point. I’ve got my final save, and I don’t see any point in playing it.
Looking it up, I think that is the default in EET and can also be implemented using Jastey's SoD tweaks. I should know because I use both, but my runs always come to a sorry end long before I get to that point. I really need to stop playing no-reloads . . .
No reload is funny to me, I’m sure I’ve actually done it a few times. Especially in IWD. But I don’t even keep track. Most often, there will be one or two “oh shoot, I thought he had Stone Skin up…” sort of moments. And I hit reload.
You can add it with Jastey's SoD tweaks mod as a restored content. Then you can judge by yourself if it is that interesting.
Main point of a bridge between BG1 and BG2 is not IMHO seeing our party being drugged and magically rendered unable to fght.
There is no mystery there, of course a big bad guy can make a level 9-12 party losing a fight easily.
The ambush is a minor detail, important thing is why no one care to rescue you after that ?
Also, SoD explains why while at the end of BG1 main char seems to be in control of Bhaal essence inside him, in BG2 he loses that control and seems to have a big part of Bhaal's power : the Boarerskyr Bridge scene.
SoD also explained Irenicus was interested by Sarevok and main char was just a second choice.
I never needed Siege to come up with a different interpretation of it and a Hooded figure that has no business being there.
As mentioned, that is why I dislike the Slayer presence in Siege. That is in my opinion not to be observed until Spellhold because that is where the big surprise is, and there you start to lose control for the first time.
For me the explanation of Irenicus wanting you could have just stayed that he needed some divine essence to fix his own fractured mortality after being outcast from elvendom. Sarevok was not an outspoken Bhaalspawn, but after his defeat, there now was a Bhaalspawn in Baldurs Gate, known by the thieves guild. I would think Irenicus has hired many people to hunt for divine essence and the thieves guild just supplied it.
Siege is just a really long sidequest to me. The best interconnect to the story would have been more involvement of the thieves guild in the Siege storyline, but even that is not there.
It’s like they spent most of their voice acting budget on bringing back David Warner (Evil from Time Bandits), and had to hire their cousins to do most of the rest, lol. They should have hired a Gen X writer who grew up on D&D to understand and have more of the original vibe. Know your audience.
Also, as already mentioned in this thread , the game fills a gap that didn’t need filling, and the short intro to SOA does a much better job of setting the tone. I don’t regret buying it, however, because I have enjoyed playing BG1&2 EE, and IWD EE, and now Planescape Torment EE, and I think Beamdog did a great job making these work on a modern iPad, so I’m not upset about throwing them a few extra bucks.
I don't love SOD by any means and when you call it filler it is very fitting. The story is after all just kind of dropped there in the middle and as much I love the his voice acting I think Irenicus even being there is a cardinal sin. The thing I most appreciate about SOD is it's combat. Those large scale battle are something you just don't get else where in the series and especially escaping the castle on insane and fighting everything the game throws at you is one of the main things I do get joy of in the campaign.
p.s. I wish all romances were handled like Corwins. From the get go you can just tell her you want to keep this relationship purely professional and that's that. You don't have to fail at it or be an asshole for it to go away. You just say nope.
Caelar is what is known as "lawful stupid". "my actions are just, regardless of how many peasants I have to kill or many of them I have to make homeless by burning down their house to prove it".
Well, there's IWD 1 and IWD 2 for killing large waves of enemies... The first tomb is 100% like an IWD experience.
I don't know, since I don't think they included any new areas or major quests, I completely avoided romances and actually went with a group customized to my liking.
😝 Someone should start opening mental asylums on the Sword Coast... I thought a simple Heal spell could cure those disorders but no.
Very much agreed on this take. What's great about SoD is that it was definitely designed with veterans of the system in mind. I really think any veteran of these IE games deserves it to play it on insane difficulty and some kind of limited reload fashion. As I said above, game sets up several sections where you have to adapt, not win via normal means.