Stun

OK! Fair enough! My conclusion of POE: 1) Spell system: Completely soulless, 2 dimensional garbage. Even Skyrim has a bigger variety of spells 2) Combat: Typical Obsidian fare. ie. Terrible. Induces sleep and boredom, 2) NPCs/Companion depth: Non existant. The CD case for my copy of BG2 has more personality than BB_Fighter, BB-Rogue, BB_Priest, and BB_Wizard. Shame on Obsidian. 3) Quest density/flow: terrible. 4 quests, barely fleshed out. 4) Maps/dungeon design. 5/10. Small and mostly lifeless. Found myself skipping the Stonewall Gorge dungeon on my last playthrough because.... pointless and dull. 5) Loot itemization: What loot itemization? Raise your hand if that sword of +10 accuracy excited you. So that's it for PoE for me. They've failed already. </PrimeJunta Logic>

But you weren't right all along. From an Objective standpoint, one cannot make the specific conclusions you're making (not accurately at least), from playing just 5% of the game.

Surprise, surprise. This is basically what you've always said about Baldur's Gate 2 - and specifically its features (save or die; hard counters, writing) every time me and you butt heads on the topic. So, why didn't you just post all this in your Op from the start?

Obsidian has a more talented creative writing staff than even the old Bioware. We all know that. So it's a safe bet that everything directly related to the written word will probably be better in PoE. But what significance will that have to the big picture, exactly? PoE is not designed to be another Planescape: Torment, where gameplay/combat are peripheral things, forced into background and thus, the stunningly great writing can carry it all the way. NO, there's a different design at play here. PoE is built to be a combat focused game with BG2-like exploration. Which means good writing will only take it so far. And if it can't match BG2's game play, character building, wanderlusting etc, then people are going to conclude that it's not as good. But really, that's not much of a criticism, is it. NO game is as good as BG2. PS: (BruceVC): "BG2 had romances and PoE won't, therefore, there is no doubt that BG2 is going to be a better game." lol

I beg your pardon...? Did your God or your Order tell you to investigate the Docks? Because those are the two entities a paladin must answer to. On the other hand, Yoshimo is a purely materialistic thief (and you'll learn later that he's even worse than that). As an Inquisitor, you F*cked up already by agreeing to take his advise. The fact that you later met Renal Bloodscalp, and agreed to focus your Righteous holy warring ways, covertly, upon one of his employees....well.... Suffice to say that someone's "Role Playing" could use some work. BG2 is positively filled to the rafters with Paladin-ish things to do and people to help. But Assisting the Don of Athkatla's Mafia in any way is not one of them. lol

Yes. This. I (now) understand (from dwelling here on this forum) that this is, apparently, matter of taste, but a few years ago such a thing would have been unthinkable to me. How can ANYONE not love that overwhelming feeling? That feeling that comes when dozens of quests are thrown at you and you suddenly think to yourself. Oh man, this game must be truly massive.... I'll be going everywhere and doing everything for months!

Not really. Not unless every single quest is that way. Which simply isn't the case in BG2, at all. In fact, it's not even the case in in that very questline. Wait till you see Maevar's final task. There's at least 4 different ways to solve it.

That means exactly nothing. Especially to a Paladin. It's like going to some drug infested slum in Colombia or some other cesspool in Central America and declaring that the warlords that run the place represent the law. But you're right anyway by pointing out that aspects of Mae'var's/Renal's quest aren't exactly kosher for a Paladin. Because they simply aren't. But don't pretend that you were forced or "railroaded" in any way. The whole thing is a side quest, and you can easily skip it and STILL streamroll through the entire rest of the game with no lack of super-overpoweredness. (both XP-wise and loot-wise) PS: Wait you're a Paladin. Try entering Rayic's home and casting Detect Evil. I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain he'll glow all shiny and red.

You mean it's like real life? True story. My Car's license plates expire this month. I wanted to go yesterday to get my car inspected and re-new the plates. But I couldn't, because I had to work. And now it's Saturday and the DMV is closed for the weekend. Guess I'll have to postpone that quest... until later. In any case, Yeah, if you wish to remain true to the Paladin role playing, there's really no rational way to justify doing the Mae'var quest at all. So I'd skip it. And Edwin is quite evil himself. A true paladin wouldn't associate with him. Minsc and Jaheira should have told you that. But for what it's worth, Rayic Gethras is NOT an innocent. He's one of the Cowled Wizards. You know, a member of the group that captured your sister because Irenicus demanded it.

Funny thing about those companion timed quests. -When a game doesn't have them, it gets criticized for its bad writing and its lack of urgency. And companions are dismissed as "not having lives/issues of their own." -But when a game puts them in, suddenly it's: "I can't stand this quest-dumping design" and "Sheesh, I only have 5 party members, how come this stuff is happening so frequently?" Thing is, I see both sides of the argument. But both sides are whinging over nothing. Companion quest urgency in BG2 is an illusion. Don't want to go visit Aerie's annoying foster daddy? Don't. Eventually (after like, a few weeks) Aerie will leave your party. And...So what? Just go back to the circus tent and re-recruit her. Problem solved. On the other hand, Urgency, when done right, is a wonderful thing, but it's also the ultimate Role playing tool and thus it's up to the player to Role Play that Urgency, and BG2 caters quite well to players who do. (for example, The Rescue Imoen quest. it can be done fairly quickly because the game lets you raise 15,000gp without ever leaving the copper coronet.)

Except I did NOT say that. And I would never say such a thing, since getting 'sucker punched' by the unknown can actually be pretty darn fun (Oh, to play BG2 for the first time again. I envy people like you!). I specifically said that if you're getting your ass wiped it's your fault. Which it is. There are multiple solutions to absolutely every scenario in this game, and I can *prove* it. Thus anyone who claims otherwise....with comments like "I can't do this"! And "This is "unfair!" is, in fact, attempting to blame the game for his own failures.

True, The fact that the quest is called the Unseeing Eye would probably be too vague to constitute a clue that you're about to face Beholders. And the fact that the Forgotten God Avatar refers to the "beast" as a Beholder, is probably not enough for some players to conclude that they're about to face beholders. Of course, If you had Viconia in your Party, she'll tell you, after you meet Gaal, that you're dealing with a Beholder Cult. Incidently, I have no idea what changes the BG2 EE inflicted upon the game, (I play only the Original) but in my game that quest is somewhat level scaled. At level 9, The enemy composition is like 95% Gauth, and thus isn't really all that sucker-punchy as you're describing. But that's beside the point. This is the old skool. There's no safety net and step-by step instruction manual. You can, in fact, get in over your head if you venture too far off the beaten path. Adventuring is a dangerous profession etc. My suggestion.... go do the Umar Hills.... Or...try and seek out your profession's stronghold. That cult isn't going anywhere. And neither is the Temple of Helm/Lathander They did. And not just spells. You came from the sewers. Which means you've got the Cloak of the Sewers. Try polymorphing into a mustard jelly and then taking on those Gauths/beholders. Again, Junta, BG2 is a game of infinite tools.

Animate dead? Dominate? Horror? Liberal use of avoidance? Brute melee and ranged force + lots of potions and summons? (that's how I used to do it, way back when I was a n00b) What level is your party? Edit: Lots of people say that the Shield of Balduran is "cheese" or "cheating" or some other silly platitudes du jour. But when you press them to elaborate, the only explanation they give you is: "well because it makes this frustrating, unfair fight too...fair!" lol OK, I've got 3 answers to that. 1) The Shield of Balduran is not cheap. By buying it, you're making a significant dent in your funds...for an Item that will only be useful to you in maybe 3 instances in the entire game. 2) There's only 1 Shield of Balduran, and if you're traveling with a party that means that only 1 of you is protected 3) So what? Skip all beholder battles if you're too weak to fight them head on and too "hiptster" to do things the easy way. Besides, only Beholders and Elder Orbs pose a threat. Gauths are Nothing. You fight them like you fight anything else. Toss fireballs and magic missiles at them till they fall dead.

The last Piece of Crom Faeyr is NOT in the underwater city. It's in the Underdark. (Demogorgon Statue encounter, remember?). What you do miss out on by taking the portal is 1)The Wave blade piece. 2)The Cloak of Mirroring 3) The Cloak of Protection +2 4) The awesome spectator beholder (which even PrimeJunta will love, since it just might be the best piece of comic relief writing EVER in a game)

You'll find her later, but there's a pure fighter that will gel perfectly for your role playing. Mazzy. Seek her out.

I agree! Choice and Consequence. What an absurdly stupid concept for an RPG!

The good thing about Barbarian Rage, however, is that it grants immunity to Level Drain, while the Berserker rage doesn't.

And he's a Paladin. There's no brick walls that Carsomyr can't smash through.

Pro-tip: Invisibility potions last 12 hours. Or until you perform a real action (like open a chest, or attack someone.) I'm a munchkin. Instead of charming/dominating him, I usually just kill him. He drops full plate armor (which is rather useful that early in the game), plus 2 fire giant strength potions.

True, but that's not fair. That one is a remnant of cut content. It doesn't make sense because they gutted the whole story behind it. You'll have the same "problems" with 100% hide in shadows and 100% move silently, junta....until you learn the mechanics. The skill is not a misnomer. It's called Hide in shadows, not: "hide-in-plain-sight-in-broad-daylight-derp". You've got to pay attention to the surrounding environment. If you take advantage of the shadows that certain objects (like bookshelves, porch roofs, rocks and doors) cast, you will succeed and the skill will become useful. Until then, your Thief can enjoy all the backstabbing/scouting goodness of his class by using the bajillions of invisibility potions, spells, scrolls and jewelery that this game tosses at you at almost every turn.

It's the stardard I use to judge party-based RPGs, yes. PS, why didn't you just cast cloudkill on the umberhulks? It insta-kills them all.

Correction, he's heaping piles of random absurd judgments on the game based on the point of view of a modern gamer who's using modern gaming mechanics as a benchmark of how all games should be. There's nothing genuine or honest going on here. No sale. The game lets you walk away from melee range without penalty (ahem, unlike another game around here that shall remain nameless for now)

That's a non issue in BG2 and you know it.

Ugh.... The artstyle of the enhanced edition of BG2 makes my eyes bleed. Anyway.... Ok, I see how this thread is shaping up. So I will preface my response to this particular 'point' of yours with 4 things that should be GIVENS to anyone who claims to want an honest debate. 1) BG2 is real time with pause. 2) BG2 does not reward reckless non-thinkers. 3) There's a counter to everything in BG2. 4) Raise dead and resurrection work on ANY party member unless they get chunked. So....what happened to Aerie in your game? She died? Ok... why? Wait. I'll tell you why. She died because of #2. You decided to travel across the map when someone in your party is hanging on to life by a thread. Silly. Aerie herself is a healer. Why didn't you have her cast cure light (or moderate, or serious) wounds on herself while walking to the edge of the city gates? Actually forget about that. There's no excuse for her dying in that encounter EVEN if she begins it with 1hp. (see #1 and #3). You could have made use of the auto-pause settings. Set the game to pause on enemy sighted. Problem solved. Hell, forget about that. Aerie is a Cleric/Mage, which means you just weren't thinking. Sanctuary is a 1st level cleric spell. Invisibility is a second level mage spell. Stone skin is a 4th level mage spell....and it has a casting time of 1, which means you wouldn't have been interrupted.... and once cast, she becomes immune to the blows of the melee guys surrounding her...for several rounds.... long enough for her to mirror image herself.... then heal herself then blast every enemy in that encounter out of existence.

Oh for crying out loud. Can we please try and not miss the point on this one? Anyone who's ever endured my ranting on this forum for the past 2 years knows full well that BG2 is the greatest game ever created according to me, and that I rank it up there with Sex in awesomeness. But that doesn't change the fact that it is NOT a continuation of BG1's plot. It's literally a "Here, Bhaalspawn, take a side trip in your life while the prophesy simmers somewhere else. We will later thrust you back into it".