Bartimaeus

Play a straight Kensai in ToB: You get hit every single attack from pretty much every enemy, so those Potions of Extra Healing are usually a good idea. No consumable use also implies rest spam abuse. Yeah for the harder difficulties. I guarantee normal will be easier than BG2 normal because then it will appeal to a wider range of people. Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever had my main character be a fighter, either. If I was soloing as a crappy class, (crappy being defined as "not a particularly great choice for solo"), I'd probably use consumables...but I typically only solo as a Mage/Cleric, so... Define "rest spam abuse". Is it abuse if you do it before every major battle? Or after clearing an area? After every battle? In the middle of battles, (which is possible, but hard and also extremely cheesy in my mind)?

Depends on exactly what the difficulty settings do. If all hard mode does, for example, is increase damage taken ala IE games, and/or reduce damage dealt, then I'll probably just use the normal difficulty. If it makes them more intelligent, or adds additional monsters, or makes select characters (bosses, mainly) harder, then I'll probably use the hardest difficulty setting. I probably won't touch any of the extraneous ones to begin with - but maybe Expert. Are you implying that normal/core difficulty (or even hard) in IE games require consumables? Don't think I've ever used a consumable ever in an IE game.

Read Ender's Game. Surprisingly really good. Should've read it years ago when I was actually recommended it.

For me, it's not about listening quality; it's about using a lossless data container. While I may not be able to hear the difference, I can definitely see it when examining the raw frequencies, (which, by the way, would easily show which of yours were upscaled and which ones weren't). I just don't...listen to music in lossy containers, (such as .mp3). Not entirely sure why. Probably an OCD thing. Doesn't really matter on the actual game for me, but having true .flacs SOMEWHERE, I think, is a necessity. Also, .ogg vorbis is superior and free, so if we're using a lossy format, we should probably use that instead of .mp3 garbage. Is it necessary to watch your audio? No...but it is nice to know it's actually a relatively "whole" recording without having thousands of pitches in the upper human hearing frequency range cut off, (not to mention the "optimization" of the lower frequencies...).

Now that you mention it, that would be completely awesome. Someone should mod him in when the game is released...

Honestly, playing through BG2 again, I have >300,000 gold, and I haven't even joined Bodhi or the Shadow Thieves yet. I feel like there's a problem here, but I can't quite put my finger on it...I like the idea of creatures having actual equipment, (as opposed to NWN2's not very fun system), but goodness gracious, I already have more money than I could possibly ever need for throughout the entire game...

Going through BG2:(ToB) with a few different mods, including Item Revisions, Spell Revisions, aTweaks, Sword Coast Stratagems, and others. Everything going smoothly so far. Four character party, main character is a sorceress, then I have an elf cleric/mage, dwarven fighter, and human swashbuckler. Still technically in chapter 2, (pre-joining Bodhi or the Shadow Thieves, for those who don't remember), but all of my characters already have HLAs, mostly from me doing pretty much every side-quest except NPC party members', and already reaching the fifth level of Watcher's Keep, (clearing the first two levels at like level 10 was fun, if pretty/really hard). My only problem is Liches...can't touch them at all. None of my important magic works on them. I cast Spellstrike or similar spell protection-destroying spells at them - O.K., but I can't remove their combat spell protections, (immune to fifth level and lower spells! - no Breach or Lower Resistance for me, ), and they're nearly immune to magic, (or maybe completely immune). The only thing I can think of is a Pierce Shield spell, (removes one spell protection as well as "breaches" combat spell protections), but it's a level 8 spell, and while my sorceress has level 9 spells, I didn't have her select it; and my mage/cleric only has access to level 7 spells...so I can't really advance past these darn lich guardians, sadly.

The MotB companions were leagues better than most of the OC's. Likewise, I found the PS:T characters to also be way better than BG2's. Actually, nowadays, BG2's companions annoy me too much to use most of them, (with a few exceptions), so I usually end up rolling my own party. I think a more focused approach is better.

Interesting, thanks. Seems like MCA has been relatively media busy lately...

What the above poster said. Death spells were a complete joke in Baldur's Gate II. Any enemies that you ever wanted to use them on were immune or virtually immune to them, and you almost always resisted their effects yourself, or had the ability to be immune to it, (Death Ward, Periapt of Life Protection, etc.), or could boost your saving throws to be virtually immune, etc. But of course, since there won't be any reviving magic in P:E, (urgh), I imagine there won't be any "true" instant death magic, either.

I would like to see varying colors for arcane magic graphics effects...pink and purple among them. Also, I think using purple as a sign of high nobility would be neat, (hailing back to the Romans...and maybe cultures before them, considering the Romans' theft of basically everything they were from someone else.).

For me, it's not about listening quality; it's about using a lossless data container. While I may not be able to hear the difference, I can definitely see it when examining the raw frequencies, (which, by the way, would easily show which of yours were upscaled and which ones weren't). I just don't...listen to music in lossy containers, (such as .mp3). Not entirely sure why. Probably an OCD thing. Doesn't really matter on the actual game for me, but having true .flacs SOMEWHERE, I think, is a necessity. Also, .ogg vorbis is superior and free, so if we're using a lossy format, we should probably use that instead of .mp3 garbage.

Every now and again, I feel a yearning to listen to this song. Thanks, ;o

Absolutely. Though, I think, for spells like Imprisonment or Flesh to Stone, (that actually aren't death and are reversible), it shouldn't end the game. Additionally, of course, there should be ways of protecting one's self from most of these types of "instant death" - death ward, protection from petrification, etc. (edit) Reading the above...sigh, I'm beginning to miss AD&D...

As a mage, that shouldn't really be that big of a problem, for the reason mentioned by Infinitron. But if you were playing something like a sorcerer...eh...

This one is actually legitimately cute...but it's usually the darn eyes that freak me out more than anything else... Look at it! A truly terrifying creature, if there ever was one.

Flood and the Else seem to be the best albums I've listened to from them so far. Still going through them, though.

Went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. Was a sad affair. I've never spent $10 on nachos before today where you only get roughly a handful and a half of chips, and where cheese isn't included with the nachos. Last I heard, those are called "chips"...

Oh, I completely agree. I miss most of the electronic groups' I like earlier years, including VNV Nation's, Assemblage 23's, the Azoic's, etc. All of it seems to have gotten so much more...pop-ish, almost. Not much I can do about it, though. I still like it, however...but I wouldn't call it exactly great or perhaps even particularly good. I still think VNV Nation has a bit of a unique spark in it...but not as much as they used to, but I can barely listen to groups like Assemblage 23s' newer stuff. Probably also why I'm delving into other groups like They Might Be Giants...

https://soundcloud.com/assemblage-23/rise-preview-mix-surveillance New Assemblage 23 sideproject. The mixing seems kind of off, but I like it.

I can't help but agree with the OP...all this talk of "the same exact amount of utility as another class and the ability to play whatever class however you like" keeps making me think the classes won't end up being all that unique...I feel like, if you want to play a Mage, you should probably be playing a Mage. Similarly, if you want to be playing a Fighter, you should be a Fighter, NOT a Mage. I like the idea of giving each class the ability to somewhat simulate other classes' abilities to fill SOME other roles than "normal" to some extent - and that does assert there is generally a "normal" role(s) for each class...but I don't feel like every class should be able to do most things well if they just really want to. For that, I'd prefer a classless system where you could just develop characters however you please with absolutely no restraints from classes... i.e. I feel like a Fighter should definitely be able to invest in lockpicking and trap disabling...but I don't feel like they should be able to invest much in more magicky stuff. It's admittedly completely arbitrary from previous experience, but hey, I can have opinions, too, right?

Are you sure it's not just the news affecting you? Um...actually, I barely pay attention to news...so, uh, probably not. Someone sent me the Mesopotamians like a year ago and I didn't much care for it at the time. I felt a yearning to listen to it again recently, and now I'm slowly going through all of their albums...

I seem to be getting into They Might Be Giants...odd.