I completed ICWEE in the heart of fury mode, having a Blackguard in the group. At the end of the game, the Blackguard was the weakest character, but at the same time it helped me a lot, especially at the beginning. It was the only character with a shield so I used it as a tank. The ability Aura of despair is very useful against large groups of enemies. My group consisted of a bard, three two-weapon fighters (to be brief), an archer, and the Blackguard, then Aura of despair was very precious because it made all the enemies more vulnerable to attacks of my group. Also the other skills are very useful.
Finally, I think the Blackguard is a very good kit, but it must be in the right group, as all kits. If you don't make the most of Aura of despair, you'd better choice another kit. I think it's the better ability of the Blackguard.
I found it one of the better kits but not OP...maybe in BG but by BG2 its one of the better but well-balanced and by TOB alot of the advantages of the kit become null so would say avg.
Nothing in BG, or indeed 2nd edition, is balanced. That's it's charm. Modern games have all the soul sucked out of them with an obsession with balance.
Old quote but I can't agree enough. I honestly have such a hard time getting into the game mechanics of new isometric games and MMO's bore me to no end. Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny are fun but nothing about any of the classes or races really stands out or excites me in any way. No singular ability or items/weapons can be too strong, instead you get a million okay to above average abilities. I'd take the old BG and Icewind Dale games any day. I get balance in the competitive PnP but when you translate it to a single player PC game or coop multiplayer, take some liberties and shift it up a bit. Less is more sometimes. If beamdog does make a 5th edition game, I'd recommend keeping in mind what makes these nearly 20 year old games so memorable and long lasting.
Everything needs to be way too balanced in modern rpgs and they try to make up for it by making things convoluted and adding fluff and they do themselves no justice with it. I don't want to read an encyclopedia every time a patch comes out for every class in an MMO. I had a great laugh when they removed the level cap in Skyrim and let people pick up all the special abilities if they were willing to put the time into doing so. I cracked up at so many people who were outraged. It's a single player game, knock yourself out and have fun.
I only played PoE after that nerf was implemented, and my PC was one...didn't find them too broken/overpowered? idk wasn't even aware that was an issue, honestly I find fighters to be pretty great at soaking up damage and dishing it out to the extent none of the other classes seemed to be good at. I had a few reload situations where I only had to reload because everyone except Edér was dead lmao, so fighters in that game have always seemed to me to be a bit over the power level compared to other classes at that same level.
Gaze of the Adragan is a death sentence to anything it hits, Insect Plague makes the BG2 version look like it tickles, and there are Priest buffs that can send your Accuracy and Deflection into the stratosphere. Not to mention it's not too hard for a high-level Rogue to do 150+ damage in one hit with sneak attack and Deathblows. Anyone who thinks Pillars lacks game breakers the way older games did hasn't played long enough.
Comments
At the end of the game, the Blackguard was the weakest character, but at the same time it helped me a lot, especially at the beginning. It was the only character with a shield so I used it as a tank. The ability Aura of despair is very useful against large groups of enemies. My group consisted of a bard, three two-weapon fighters (to be brief), an archer, and the Blackguard, then Aura of despair was very precious because it made all the enemies more vulnerable to attacks of my group. Also the other skills are very useful.
Finally, I think the Blackguard is a very good kit, but it must be in the right group, as all kits. If you don't make the most of Aura of despair, you'd better choice another kit. I think it's the better ability of the Blackguard.
Everything needs to be way too balanced in modern rpgs and they try to make up for it by making things convoluted and adding fluff and they do themselves no justice with it. I don't want to read an encyclopedia every time a patch comes out for every class in an MMO. I had a great laugh when they removed the level cap in Skyrim and let people pick up all the special abilities if they were willing to put the time into doing so. I cracked up at so many people who were outraged. It's a single player game, knock yourself out and have fun.