TrashMan

No, I made my own, very similar mod. I have tried FPaPS too and it's good. I tried to install it, but for whatever reason I couldn't. I installed based on these instructions (and added in a mod that removed the XP cap and let you get all classes to level 40 but no higher, meaning you could totally dual-class 39 fighter/40 mage if you wanted to and had no life), but when I downloaded FPaPS and tried to install it didn't work. ...And I just tried again with a manual install and it worked o_O In any case, do you know of any modding guides for BG2? I've got a couple ideas I'd like to try, but I don't know if any of them are possible. Try the Gibberling Three or the Sorceres Palace. Alas, that re-balance mod I made is long lost due to a HDD crash, but I do still have this tiny little mod: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/42248-holy-avenger-kit-extra/

B.t.w. - It's scientificly proven that running speed does not depends on how fast you move your legs, but how hard your feet hit the ground (and friction). Strong leg musles are a must for a runner.

Apparently Neutral Good Cleric. For giggles I tried to get Paladin, but couldn't.. Silly test either way, as some of the questiosn are very...unsatisfactory.

No, I made my own, very similar mod. I have tried FPaPS too and it's good. That's becauise Xena has too much armor.

Their loss. I personally find it rediockous that poeple take on 10 quests at once, ignore them, and then complain when they fail. Their own fault, but it's not like they'll ever admit it.

Well, wasn't that bad. Sadly I couldn't force myself to finish it (oh if only I could defend places with the 'militia'). As someone who considers JA2 the greatest game in the history of forever, I can only shake my head at the undeserved trashing JA:BIA recieves. It's nowhere near as good as the original, but it's not that bad either. Also, they patched the game up, so a lot of the interface and usabiltiy issues are fixed. Milita handling and item managment is far easier.

Am I the only one would would LOVE to see Jagged Alliance 2 approach to stamina/fatigue, injury/healing, resting and travel? I consider it the best game ever made - the depth it provided was epic. Injuries mattered - there was no fast way to heal. Doctors accelerted the healing process and could stop bleeding, but didn't magicly give HP back with an injection...untill you got a regeneration booster, but it was rare, expensive, could cause addiction and was basicly like a Cure Medium Wounds. Serious injuries caused ability losses and required a good doctor and a visit to the hospital. Resting mattered - doing stuff drained fatigue. Fatigued mercenaries would perform worse, would loose morale and if too low would simply refuse to go any further and would go to sleep wihout askign your permission. Sleeping also increased healing rate, but mercs would only sleep if they were tired. Not to mention that you had enemy patrols going all around the overmap, so they could run into you while resting. You also had to secure a sector before you could sleep in it (read: kill all the baddies). Time mattered - resting wasnt a waste of time because it was important. And while some mercs rested, other could do other stuff.. like practice their skills, train local milita, mantain equipment, take care of the wounded, etc.. And things happened on the overmap while you were resting.

How about the big boss being a room with a single entrance and a locked door. Invisible or not, doors opening will *not* go unnoticed and everyone WILL know something is fishy. Basicly, just designing the encounter well can make all the difference.

And another thing I hated about D&D: Armor Class. Not necessarily that having a better AC gave you more survivability, but that they decided to abstract something so simple so much. Having a better AC makes you harder to hit, and doesn't even help if you get hit. One could argue AC represents the armor totally redirecting the blow, but that doesn't change the fact that wearing plate is still going to absorb a lot of damage, even if it fails to deflect blows. And that's also ignoring the fact that leather and chain armor were easier to move in, making it easier to dodge. A better way to do it (at least off the top of my head and without refining the concept at all) would've been to have damage absorption and damage deflection/avoidance values, with plate having the highest absorption and good deflection/avoidance, and chain and leather having less absorption but roughly the same, if not higher, avoidance/deflection. But I digress. I actually modded this in BG2. Armors had damage reduction values. In plate, you'd get hit a lot (no AC bonus) , but a lot of the attacks would fail to do any damage. Light armor, you wouldnt' get hit a lot (it too had damage reduction, but it was tiny), but when you did get hit, it hurt. That said, plate would offer the most protection and the highest deflection of any armor. But avoidance is a function of dodging, hence character. Plate makes it a more difficult to dodge, but not by much really. Interestingly enough chainmail was more uncomfortable to fight in, as all the weight fell to the shoulders.

I get a strange feeling of deja vu... And this is where we disagree because I think that you SHOULD NEED it. If you're zoomed out far and have everyone wearing the smae amor - yes, you damn well should need extras to tell them quickly apart. That is one aspect where "player convenience" can take a back seat. In other words, I rather the difference and visibiltiy be a product of my equipment choices and customization, rather than something intrinsic and "default" Except I did exactly that in many other games with less customization and never had a problem. Small psychological differences at a zoomed out level shouldn't even be noticable in 99% of cases. Unless of course you have vast differences in height and physique of races. But if your party consists of 6 humans all in the same plate? Yeah, they kinda should look the same. Females are in general slighty shorter and less bulky, so even with completely identical armor you might be able to tell. They might look alike by default. We don't even know the physique of otehr races. What if elves have the same body build as humans? How do you tell them apart then? Or what if you have a party of 6 human females? How do you tell them apart? Will we now blow up any differences between them too? Why is it necessary to tell the difference between Bob and Sarah at a glance by default, but not between Bob and Joe? If visibility is that big of an issue than every party member should - by default, without player input - be a beacon of uniqunes that stands out like a black man on a KKK meeting. Having a different cloak or weapon or helemet or plume is far easier and more visible than some tiny bulge on the armor that you have to squint to see anyway. Everything gets abstraced. The quesion is only where you draw the line and how much you abstract. You kinda could mod this in BG2.. If you recall some charactes had personal items usable only by them. So you could use that usabiltiy flag to do it. Personally I'd do it with 3 basic sizes - and you must be of proper size to use it at all. A dwarf won't be able to use elven plate. Then you can fit it personally to you to get rid of any use penalty (or better yet, get a bonus) This isn't a big issue, since plate usually had room to spare - which is why a woman could wear a mans plate.. How long would it take and how much would it cost as a issue of balance. You are free to assume it would take weeks and you'll find a far superior armor by then, but it's as accurate as my assumption that armor is done in a matter of hours and plate is so rare you likey won't find anything better for a long time. But I like the little details that make the world feel real and that give me options and consequences. And this is. Resource and time alocation. Choices. Whom do I give that armor to? Do I fit it or not? Will I need that money later? Stop apologizing for nothing already... It shouldn't be a problem with high resolutions and monitors. Not to mention that models aren't 2D renders anymore. They are 3D models so detail gets preserved a lot better. Also, you have zoom levels so it's harldy a waste. It's more of a metter on the difference on what the devs should focus than an actual big diagreement. Personally I feel the devs should make a model that looks good zoomed in and not waste time fiddling and blowing up differences for maximum distance, since the tools for great visibiltiy are already there.

Maybe the depth? The combat and leveling system, the map travel, etc... everything was amazing.

IMMURSION..and atmosphere. However, I have to point out that mechanics are part of the immersion/atmosphere. This is why DA never realy clicked fully for me. The redicolous item progresion and character attribute system just keep ruining it for me.

I don't see why not. You could adjust the height of characters in ToEE and every piece of equipment was visible on them.

Why do I get the feeling that you arguing against some perception or mental image of my stance than my actual stance? Could it be because you dont' seem to get what my actual stance is? Yay, verily. My entire point is that they should design armor, plain, simple and functional. They shouldn't fidget with the model and blow up differences just so they can be visile from maximum zoom. If they can be seen as they are great. If not, no. If armor for male and femlaes is pretty much the same (as it probably would be) great. If it's not, great. I don't want any additions or extra chagnes for the sake of "enhanced visibiltiy". I don't need artificial enhancments or abstractions. Like I said, I already have all the tools necessary to tell characters apart without it. I'm all for fitting plate armor, I told you that before. Without fitting you either can't equip it or you use it with a penalty. I'd even go so far as to go for sizes - the armor made for a thin elf and for a stocky dwarf should be so different that you really can't equip it without re-fitting. Take it to a smith and let him adjust it.

Two problem here: - the monsters are too easy, so it's not much a of a problem, only extra XP - the power of save/load compels you 1) can be fixed by not granting XP and having stronger mosnters. So the player ends up only loosing resources and health, hence restingin dangerous areas is basicly hurting him more than it's helping. 2) Can be fixed by not re-rolliing the encoutner. You reloaded? Well frak you, you're getting the exact same encounter no matter how many times you reload. No cheating here! Come to think of it, if you reload I'll throw even MORE monsters at you. So?..player choice to bactrack. He can always go back to town. This is a valid approach and there's no need to limit it. That's because a lot of players are whiny, spoiled brats. They can't accept consequences and want to have their cake and eat it too. Frak you, if you accepted a urgent quest than do it and stop fooling around. I WANT to see timed quests. It doesn't screw up balancing, it screws up players who couldn't RP their way out of a paper bag.

No. I don't want PE to resemble DOTA at all. Never.

If you can't destinguish, then I'd say the problem lies with you. Is every piece of equipment they use exactly the same? No? Then you should have something to tell them apart. ToEE had armor made of parts and two guy in plate could still be destinguished (even moreso because oyu had more than 1 model for plate) because one had plate gauntlets other had mail..one has brown boots, other had black. And let's for a second assume that you do need something to tell them apart. SO WHAT? Why shouldn't it be necessary? I could swear that's what you have been doing the whole time. Yes. Because I've done artwork. No scaling is necessary. And people very far away should look like bland, androgenous things. It is expected. If you want some super-easy-to-tell-them-apart-even-when-they-are-at-the-other-end-of-the-galaxy thing, then implement it as part of a GUI. Not butcher the models or art. Pot...kettle...black ^^ Same as above. Oh? Now where did I say that? Pick or it didin't happen. No, I don't think you're crazy. I just think that what you're asking for is completely unnecessary and there are better and more immersive ways of dealign with visibility "issues".

Funny, becuase no one is forcing that either. At no point is the player forced to pick up every bauble and make 10 trips. That's stricly a players own choice. Now, in RL the reasons why you wouldn't do this is because it's no really profitable/worth it, or you making the trip is time, consuming and boring. So what exactly is the problem of doing the same way in a game? Which is not exactly true, as it's less tiresome in the game by a massive margin aynway (fast-travel and no actual fatigue). It's strange that people want the entire world to turn upside down to accomodate a "broken" playing style. Why SHOULD it be easy and simple to be a total pack rat? Why shouldn't you have to pay the price that you'd logicly expect? Because it's a game? Frak that! Maybe I don't want to be bothered with fighting and just want to see dialoges, so the game should by default have an "I win" bottun? Maybe I dont' want to bother with loosign health so I should just be invincible the whole time? A RPG should be about immerison, atmosphere..about bringing a world to life and lettign you loose in it. And then it's up to you to conform to that world, not the other way around. Either the trip is worth it to you, so you'll put up with a few extra clicks and a 5 minutes of traveling OR it's not and you won't. It's simple. I see no need to fix or change anything.

Depends on the doors too. How thicks are they adn from what material? Thick english oak? Yeah, that will take a lot of chopping to get trough. Stone? If you want to ruin your axe, go ahead Steel? Hahaha

I fid it tragic that the idea of having to go back to town occasionaly is considered so frustrating, when it's so common sense. Are players that easily frustrated these days? It seems to me that a lot of them want a Hack&Slash with some dialogue choices, not actual RPG's anymore....

^ And? It changes nothing for me.

Legal or not, ti's still theft. It's a silly rationale anyway. If you steal a car, you can't justify yourself with "well, if I haven't stolen I wouldn't have bought it anyway" You are taking something without paying. It doesn't matter if it's a phisical object or not. I say this as somoene who has been doine quite a bit of pirating - it is wrong. And every time you try to justify it, you are wrong.

There's two side to look at anything. Technicly it might be a waste of time to keep going. "I already invested half of my money poorly and lost it. Oh well, might as well loose all of it!"

Disagree with you. Why? Kepp reading. No, I don't see the folly. You know why? Becuase poeple in real life did use tabbards, insgnias, plumes and armor coloring/decoration for that exact same purpose...because a lot of people have similar body builds. Unnecesary destinctions? No, if anything what I propose is far simpelr and BETTER. Why? Becaue of your next point. Because it's so zoomed out you state that teh differences in physique will need to be exaggerated (becaue a slighly thinner waist is a 1-pixel difference that's barely noticable). So in other words, you want ot turn inot a cartoony caricature world, wher everything is blown way out of proportion of emphasized for "visiblity"? Sure, we can get Warcraft graphics. Have all men be giant man-mountaints with massive arms and tiny heads. Have all women have D cups. Also oversized weapons because why not? Well no. Frak no. A bajjilion times no. A pox on you and your kin for even suggesting it. Things like colors, decorations, plumes, tabbards, cloaks, different OTEHR parts of equipment - all of those are far simpler, far more visible things. So don't talk to me abotu immersion and then suggest walking carricatures. Well, what I mentioned ALSO allows for character distinguishment - while at the smae time being less retarded. So where do you draw a line at visibiltiy BTW? Like I said, let's have pink, neon armors. There is no collision. No. My sarcams serves to highlight the folly of your sarcasm (because I also never argued the other extreeme, which you so nicely put into your sarcastic commnet), so I'm left wonder who is the one who doesn't bother considering and reading? Also, nice job of going all "poor inocent opressed victim". As for beign reasonable... everyone sez and thinks they are begin reasonable. So your statement is pretty much a given for everyone participating in any debate ever, only most people never actually say it. What I find redicolous is the tenacity with which you fight to act as tough not having those exact specific differences is somehow horrible and everyone who disagrees is irrational. Fun fact to note - I never argued for armor to be perfectly realistic. Go ahead, I dare you to find a quote of my arguing that or statignthat any departure is wrong or shouldnt' be done. Then why don't you act out your words insted of subtly saiyng exact that (the second one)?

Yes, armor affects stats. No one is arguing that, as its' to be expected. You deal with it. Regarding DA - never had a problem with it. Never had a problem in BG and if there is ever a game where every character looks the same, it's it, since you had one sprite for all armors of a tpye. If all armors looked the same to you in DA and you couldn't tell peeple apart, I'd say you had problem with your eyes. The only way for 2 characters to look completely the same is if you equip them completley the same. Also, given the coloring and accesories, that problem really shouldnt' crop up, now should it? How does armor remove that difference? Possibly helments can - if they cover the whole face. And again, if both wear EXACTLY THE SAME HELMETS. And body tpes is a resource thing. It's just not worth spending resources on creating so many different models. Like I said - BG had even less in that department. So I guess you were incapable of telling a bow apart from knives? Nice... Excuse me if I don't weep for you. I don't consider your "plight" a plight at all, nor not having every armor being super-unique poor design. Nor do I think aesthetic preferences of players are that important at all.