Cronstintein

Am I the only one bummed that Alpha Protocol II isn't on this list? While the actual combat-gameplay part was admittedly flawed, everything else around it was so great. There is definitely room for a spy rpg in the market and you'd have virtually no competition . Splinter Cell and MGSV have item mechanics but none of the decision making stuff that really stood out in AP.

Thank you cRichards.

Thanks for checking, I was curious but didn't feel like booting it up just to check.

Oh you just want to be a douche. Got it. What exactly is the game-play/enjoyment benefit of having prisoners randomly escape with no player interaction? Either have it be an event or just remove it. As it is now is just lame.

Unless an army is showing up to bust out your prisoner, security shouldn't have anything to do with it. Is the room stone and the door locked? Then wtf?! How are these jokers escaping?

I agree completely. The stronghold has potential that ends up unrealized. And the prison is a particularly frustrating element: it sounds really cool. Then you catch someone and it feels even cooler! Then they immediately escape and the house of cards falls in pile of annoyance.

Hmm I think you got that backwards. It's pretty rare that AAA games provide mod support. Other than Bethesda I'm having trouble thinking of a single example. It's more common that smaller/mid-tier developers that really care about modding. If you want my cynical opinion, it's probably because the AAA franchises would rather sell you their mods in the form of DLC and yearly (re)releases. Sheesh. Come to a forum with suggestions for improvement and now you're a troll? Seems especially weird to complain about that since we 'trolls' are apparently the brain-trust for Obsidian's patches

Complaining about not being able to kill highest power mages without magic (including magical weapons) seems silly. It's like complaining about not being able to finish Call of Duty using only a knife. It's not like it's hard to find +3 weapons in BG2.

Oh my bad, yes BG didn't have nearly the expansive list of interesting equipment. Can you expand on this, I don't know what you mean. Separate how?

Also worth mentioning that the 1.2x speed enhancements weren't actually doing anything last time I checked. If you're equipping these items you might want to do a little test run and see if they fixed that (I haven't seen it mentioned in any patch notes).

You got a point there about the weapon-types. Though I don't think we really need 28 types of weapon tbh. I think BG2 overdoes this aspect as well and would have been better off with more grouped categories. Lets put pole-arms together, we don't' really need halberds, spears, pikes, tridents,etc.. separated into individual proficiencies. I understand your reasoning, and it's not wrong, but the feeling of building a weapon out of enchantment legos is not nearly as gratifying to me as if I had found that +3 acidic halberd of ghost-busting. Over a decade later and I still remember finding that Mace of Disruption (2d6 + 4 points to Undead, plus they make a saving throw vs. death with a -4 penalty or be utterly destroyed.) and being blown away. Save vs death or be destroyed!? That's awesome!

Hey, me too! I think hearing about the new one in the gaming press got me hankering to play it. Can't say it's aged all that well. I really feel like the controls are a little clunky. And I'm one of the grognards that wished they had kept it all in 1st person without the cover mechanics and battery-powered takedowns. Cool conversation battles though.

So you want a more modern take... make it a roguelike? (Trial of Iron mode )

You think PoE has too many weapon types? At least you can spec in them by group (ruffian, knight, etc...). In BG2 you need to spec into the EXACT weapon type (halberds, spears, maces, warhammers, longswords, bastard swords, two handed swords, katanas, scimitars, short swords, short bow, long bow, cross bow, darts, quarterstaffs, clubs, slings, daggers, axes ) it's a freaking mess. So I guess there's at least one thing PoE did better I just wish they had more highly interesting items. Um.. not sure that means what you think it means. If you can easily remake an exact duplicate of the item, it's not unique then, is it?

I mean a good start would be using unencrypted data files, that can't be very expensive.

Your two statements seem to be at odds with other. If the combat is already too easy, adding more powerful loot just makes it easier. What are you saying here? Ehh not really. I just want TWO changes. Honestly, the difficulty is the bigger issue. Make it MUCH harder with way better AI, (especially casters) and unit placement. Then you have room to put in some better loot. Plus when I'm talking about crazy items, power is only part of it. Some of it is an x-factor, for lack of a better word, I'll say, 'uniqueness'. The qualities on weapons just seem bland for the most part, not necessarily underpowered. A 1/rest invisibility won't ultimately change the killing power of my party very much but it's something interesting for me to play with in fights, for example.

I have to agree with that pragmatic view, Sephie. We're not exactly spoiled for choice so I don't feel bad supporting the one game in the genre to come out in years.

I find the argument that you can't compare PoE to BG2 because the latter is higher level to be ... misguided, let's say. The power levels chosen in PoE for a "level 1" was completely arbitrary! They could have easily made a level 1 PoE character equivalent to a lv7 in BG2. (and in some ways do, the HPs are much higher than BG1, notice) As someone who played BG2 before I ever tried BG1, with zero DnD experience, I had NO problem starting with those mid-level characters. In fact, I think it's great. Lv1 dnd characters kinda suck. They die to 1 or 2 lucky hits and have no interesting skills to speak of. That's one of the big reasons I prefer the sequel. I only wish the PoE designers felt the same way.

I have to disagree with ya, Scrotie, my suggestions are design gold :D

I can't remember their names but the emo witch and the blond knight guy were pretty fun to keep around together. And the golem guy wasn't bad (although it kinda of reminded me of a poor man's HK-47).

Have you looked at it since the huge 1.3 patch that came out several months ago? Vastly improved pathfinding. Also (not sure if this was from the patch) it has an aoe-loot system so you can grab stuff easily off the ground which is another really nice change. And a ridiculous ream of bugfixes which probably shouldn't have been there anyway but whatever, as it currently stands, I would totally recommend BG2EE. (Also many mods have been updated to work with it, unfortunately not Ascension, but most of the other good ones)

Hmm if the lead dev prefers IWD to BG series then I'm surprised PoE doesn't have a harder/deeper combat system.

I happen to like Durance but you will find opinions on him vary wildly. He is many peoples' least favorite character so.. maybe don't hold your own opinion in such high regard.

I bet the code-team is still working on patches. Those darn bugs don't fix themselves! The art team... maybe working on the expansion? (props to them btw, very pretty game) I missed most of that thread but read the one on RPGcodex site itself... oooh boy, that is NOT a constructive thread. Compared to that cesspit we seem like greek philosphers And while the tone of that review was overly harsh, I don't think the individual criticisms were off-target tbh.

I'd really like to hear how PoE is better than BG2, I"ve seen that a few times on these boards and find it hard to parse. Other than some ui and graphics, I would put it below BG2 in pretty much every catageory. Speaking of categeories... Combat: BG2 > PoE > BG1 ~=~ DA:O (I didn't play much IWD but that would probably be near the top, but I like more than just fighting in my games) Graphics: look at screen shots and make your own choice, but probably PoE winner here. Companions: BG2 > DA:O > PoE = BG1 Choice and Consequence: DA:O > BG2 = PoE = BG1. Not a whole lot of this in the old games unless you consider "Gimme more money, I'm evil!" C&C. Exploration/Setting: BG2 > PoE = BG1 > DA:O. (Never played Planescape but from what I've seen, that would win this cateogory) Story: If you want a good fantasy story, read a book. Honestly folks, go into a bookstore and pick one based on a cover that catches your eye and you're virtualy guarenteed a better story than ANY game.