wanderon

Icewind Dale was more challenging out of the box than BG but you got extra experience for higher difficulty - which in the end (by mid game at most) made your characters more powerful sooner off setting much of the higher difficulty. Still fun tho...

Have you actually played the original Baldur's Gate? Because it sure sounds like you haven't, or at least that it was very, very long time ago. Just about the only part of that post which holds true are rare magical items. Icewind Dale was at least more difficult and more linear, but that's about it. I would pretty much agree - wolves might one shot your level 1 character but you could run away from pretty much anything and by the time you hit level 4-5 there was almost nothing left in the wilderness areas that would give you much challenge other than one of the "bounty hunter groups". (Xvart genocide anyone) - first time through knowing nothing was certainly challenging but stats were balanced between player and enemy as long as you didn't get too big for your britches and even then running away was most always an option. As far as being linear - unless you did nothing but follow the story line - the game was a huge sandbox - if you were planning to dual class you could easily take only Imoen along and ignore the main storyline until you both hit the level to add your second class and then farm exp in several places until you got your old powers back also starting the storyline at 3/4 or 4/5 if you wished - even easier if you install ToTSC. The BG series is still the #1 RPG ever in my book regardless

The situation isn't that just because D&D had immunities doesn't mean PoE has to have them - the point is that there was nothing wrong with immunities in D&D and neither is there anything wrong having them in PoE (do we really have to trot out the spiritual successor horse?) and yes the ridiculousness of knocking down a full scale dragon has something to do with that - I just do not get why there is so much whining about this change - change is good- this change is good - I fully support immunities in PoE (just in case anyone was in doubt about that)

There has been two versions of the GOG installer for the Linux version of 2.02, if it’s the same for the Windows version and you missed one, I guess you’re stuck re-downloading the game...Sorry for that, please don’t shoot the messenger Well the terminology confuses me to begin with - what exactly is the "installer" they are talking about? The only installer I can find reference to is attached to the GOG downloader - I have made every update so far from 2.01 to 2.02 and now the only option shown is 2.03 (there is no longer any option to get previous updates) and why would one of the patches work while the other says I have the wrong version?????? Meanwhile I have the DVD version installed on my laptop and it's stuck on 2.01 with no access to white march so I'm beginning to feel a bit annoyed... I have the exact same problem. Did you find a way to fix it? By the way, in the previous patch you got someone else's file to fix a issue while upgrading as well? I did...maybe you did too and this could be why the patch doesnt work. If you mean the DVD issue - then no - we are just waiting for them to get it done. If it's the GOG - "wrong version" issue I had then yes - I had to go the the GOG downloader page (under "MORE" on the pillars page) and download and install the GOG Windows Installer - I have very slow download speeds so it took about 12 hours for me but once done and installed I was up to date (I had already successfully installed the 2.03 WM patch) - good luck!

I am looking forward to constructing themed parties using most or all mercs in the party but not until I explore the companions a lot more than I have so far...

Why hatchets? Molly insisted...

Looks like I settled in on a female wood elf ranger 18/8/12/18/12/12 with wolf and we have Eder, Aloth, a merc Island Aumaua Paladin, and just picked up Durance. I think my plan is going to be to get to Dyrwood fairly early and grab the druid and GM while keeping Eder, Durance, and perhaps the merc/Pallegina sending Aloth, Sag and the chanter to the keep. Subject to change without notice of course...

Well, as you might know, during the beta, the personal character inventories were half as large. That made lots of people upset. I do sort of recall that early in the beta altho I don't recall it being an issue to me but that probably falls back to my playstyle of minimal use of items to begin with.

Personally I don't have an issue with abilities or talents that don't work flawlessly every time they are used against every type of enemy or situation - I think it goes a long way towards adding to the complexity of the games challenges - otherwise it's relatively easy to discover a set of tactics that works every time which trivializes gameplay down to: do this - win the battle - wash rinse and repeat until the game is over. Not my definition of fun - I have fun PLAYING the game - not necessarily just BEATING the game.

Considering item stacking and the number of slots per character I'm having a hard time seeing why it would be difficult to keep what you needed on hand even if access to the stash was limited to "safe areas" unless the game required extreme item usage (multiple items for every character per battle) - I'm certainly glad that's not how things worked out as I personally keep item usage to a minimum anyway (rarely use any food or potions at all).

So the only serious discussion is that which agrees with you? I think not! You see even though I think it is highly unlikely that any of the ideas you propose will ever see the light of day (at least in the "official version" of PoE and it's sequels) I do think it's important to add my own position to the discussion just to make sure no one thinks that everyone (or even a majority) are interested in seriously considering changing the game in this manner - because in my humble opinion - that would suck.

^This! And I would generally suggest that the one go with either a slash or pierce weapon and a crushing weapon. Note that some weapons with have two damage types, and will choose the most effective one when it applies the damage. While often not the most damaging of weapons, these dual damage type weapons are very flexible when it comes to this issue. A good reason to open extra weapon slots as well...2 for melee 1 for ranged! Entirely true, Wanderon. To me, 3 weapons slots is the optimal number for most characters, though particularly front liners. One Pierce or slash weapon, one blunt weapon, and a hard hitting ranged weapon (i.e. not a bow or magical implement). Of course, for me, this is a play style issue because I like to open up battles with a ranged volley from all of my characters (except anyone casting a spell). With any luck, it's possible to take down one or two enemies before they can even get into melee range. Though I can see how other people would prefer to do things differently. Still, I kinda wish that the "warrior" classes (i.e. fighter, paladin, barbarian, and ranger) got 3 weapon slots as part of the class package. It would seriously reduce the pressure I feel when wanting to create a "warrior" class character to pick Island Aumaua for the extra weapon slot. Agreed Crucis - barring that maybe they could open BOTH extra weapon slots for a single talent

Actually, this entire topic existed in another thread and you purposely started a whole new Topic instead of replying in the appropriate location. On top of that, you are now resorting to personal attacks (aka, calling wonderon's responses "dumb"). This is pretty typical behavior of a troll, so you might want to reflect on your own actions before labeling others. As for the actual topic, wanderon is right. You should keep a pen n paper handy next to you while you play so that you can impose your own rules. Instead of opening up hostile forum discussions about how amazing you think your self-imposed rules are (and anyone who disagrees is dumb) lol What he said... (BTW - discussion does not mean everyone agrees with your ideas about the topic - nor that only those who agree should participate)

^This! And I would generally suggest that the one go with either a slash or pierce weapon and a crushing weapon. Note that some weapons with have two damage types, and will choose the most effective one when it applies the damage. While often not the most damaging of weapons, these dual damage type weapons are very flexible when it comes to this issue. A good reason to open extra weapon slots as well...2 for melee 1 for ranged!

^^^ So unlimited storage is ok later in the game but not from level 1? Just becuase the game still allows you access inventory in civilized areas does not preclude you from having your own rules prohibiting it. Why can't you assign your own weights and keep a running total next to your keyboard if it's that important to you? IIRC the ammo belt that would hold multiple item types from TOB was high enough to make filling it unlikely. AFAIK you can "drop items" into any container you wish including dead enemies (from regular inventory slots)

BG2 also had bags of holding some (maybe all) of which were bottomless - along with ammo belts & quivers as I recall - I also seem to recall it's possible to restrict access to the "stash" in PoE - for my money that's a pretty good balancing act between accomadating folks who like inventory tetris and those who prefer the stash. if that doesn't work for you - well you can simply use your own rules - it IS a single player game that you are free to play as you please - thus everyone is pretty much covered unless of course you wish to force others to play under your rules. Also only ground items faded - (becuase too many would slow down the game) containers would hold items forever unless it was on a map that changed. (when the map changed the container was replaced with a new (empty) one)

I would also fund a PoE2 and any other projects set in the PoE world that continue to promise the same sort of (non-console) isometric party based CRPGs.! Bring them on!

Winning the discussion? Wait! Are there prizes? Is there an age limit?

I agree with the concept of being able to have all companions being impossible to implement but it would be my choice if they could Rolled up a Barbarian and just picked up Aloth and Eder - I find barbys difficult to keep alive early on - this one used up all his potions doing the chef quest solo on his way to Gilded Vale - I may set him aside for the moment and look at a different Main up to the same point in the story before deciding who will continue on.

I too like having my main as mechanic regardless of class altho there are occasions when I choose not to and add a rogue merc for that purpose - it would be nice if a/the companion rogue was available earlier. I often add a paladin merc if I am not playing one as well until I get Pallegina. So far I have only taken one group to level 9ish and fooled briefly with WM - I with that group - I have not done any Act 3 content yet and only cleared one dungeon in WM (on normal) (probably due to chronic restartitus especially when a new patch arrives) I generally play on hard and that's no doubt where this team will be - I really have a hard time letting go of companions no doubt in large part because I have not really seen that much of their content yet So I try to tell myself they are just doing guard duty at the keep. Decisions decisions...

After patching to 2.03 I plan to start a new game (PoE + WM1) rather than chance issues with current games - what's your favorite group of PoE companions and how soon do you try to get to them?

I can't install the basic patch either - white march patch installed fine - basic patch says I have the wrong version for this patch and to download a new installer - what exactly does that mean (download a new installer)?? Edit: After about 12 hours to download the new installer - game is finally patched ......... now I get to decide whether to restart with a new team or continue with an old save and hope for the best...

There has been two versions of the GOG installer for the Linux version of 2.02, if it’s the same for the Windows version and you missed one, I guess you’re stuck re-downloading the game...Sorry for that, please don’t shoot the messenger Well the terminology confuses me to begin with - what exactly is the "installer" they are talking about? The only installer I can find reference to is attached to the GOG downloader - I have made every update so far from 2.01 to 2.02 and now the only option shown is 2.03 (there is no longer any option to get previous updates) and why would one of the patches work while the other says I have the wrong version?????? Meanwhile I have the DVD version installed on my laptop and it's stuck on 2.01 with no access to white march so I'm beginning to feel a bit annoyed...

Sigh... downloaded both patches from GOG - White March patch worked - the other patch (2.6.0.12) tells me this patch does not support your version of the game please download a new installer... Please tell me this is not saying I need to redownload the whole freakin game again

Just a reminder those of us playing with a DVD version are still stuck at 2.01 with no White March 1 either...