Archmage Silver

BG II Mod Addendum: If you're experiencing graphics card related glitches with the IE games, try the IE Direct Draw Fix. This is also a WeiDU mod.

I voted for a similar game to the Baldur's Gate series. I would have added shades and flavors from the other games as well if that was possible.

If the goal was to add support for 3D vision or equivalent, I'd think Obsidian would have mentioned this by now, i.e. during the Kickstarter campaign. The logical assumption here is that there will be no such support.

Suspension of disbelief is important, otherwise you've got a flop game. Add "realism" until you achieve that point where the player is willing to suspend their disbelief and play the game.

I've lost count of how many times I've played them over the last decade... You should be in for a much smoother experience with the fixpack. The other mods like Tweak Pack and Ascension add a lot of ease-of-use and story features as well. Personally I limit myself to Ascension and components from Unfinished Business on the story side of things, just to keep the game near vanilla.

No problem. Ascension has been around for so long now that sometimes I think everybody who still plays BG II knows about it, but I guess I should keep mentioning it just in case.

Nice new greeting from Josh to get the update started - he certainly has a sense of humor, and I'm not talking about his Halloween face paint. I think we can all understand if Darren is a bit busy right now, so I for one am fine with the fulfillment site's current schedule. Congrats, Darren! The preliminary armor system sounds like something worth pursuing, as long as armor diversity can be maintained without mechanically making it infeasible to use some of the armor types featured in the game. Should something like hide armor be supplanted/made obsolete by leather as an "improved version" or does that effectively kill the visual concept of the rough-hewn rawhide-wearing ranger or barbarian? I think they should be made obsolete by the more advanced armors in their "class", because that's how it historically progressed as well. There should be exceptions to this rule though, such as enchanted armors and "lesser" armors made from a superior material. E.g. rawhide armor made from wyvern hide should outperform deerskin leather armor. If armor types like hide (or scale, or mail) should remain viable on their own, how should that "upgrade" be expressed to the player? Functional descriptors like "fine scale", "superior hide", etc.? Cultural or material descriptors like "Vailian doublet", "iron feather scale"? Olde tyme numerical descriptors like "scale armor +1", "half-plate +2"? I'm all for cultural and material descriptions, they're much more interesting to me personally than the other two options. Something like Vailian Coral Armor could easily be one of the local specialities for non-metal armor types. Is it okay for an upgrade from a visual type of armor to maintain its relative position to other armor types even if "realistically" that upgraded armor is now probably superior in protection to other armor types? E.g. an armored jack or brigandine armor is probably more protective than even nice suit of leather armor... but mechanically, we're presenting it as an upgrade of a padded (doublet) armor type. I'd be fine with the highest possible padded (doublet) upgrade being on even terms with a leather cuirass (tier 2). No need to artificially sustain their relative positions.

It's pretty good IMO, and I wouldn't run BG II without it, but you can read the latest ReadMe to get a better picture and decide for yourself if it's worth your time. Ascension was originally made by David Gaider from BioWare in his spare time, so the basic premise for it is sound for me at least. As for installation, you'd normally install Ascension before any other mods, even in its current WeiDU form. The BG II Fixpack would follow right after.

Yeah, I should post more around the OOoE forums as well. We'll see, but hopefully I'll be around for a multiplayer game or two. For BG II, don't forget these two essential mods: BG II Fixpack Widescreen Mod Optional: Ascension BG II Tweak Pack Unfinished Business

Upgrades to the interior/exterior in the form of better battlements, more support personnel (merchants), more storage space for items, better living quarters, living quarters for companions, blacksmith's forge, and workbenches for crafting and enchanting.

All I'd be willing to risk is my influence with the said companion and the possible organisations he/she is affiliated with, unless I'm affiliated with those organisations myself, in which case the only thing at stake would be companion influence.

I got the PM too, so they seem to have gone through just fine. Sistergoldring - good to see you around!

Personally I'd wait until we get more details about the soul system, because whether or not someone who is not a deity can interfere with the soul cycle in PE is still unknown. And dealing with souls would be the center piece of necromancy, if it was to make an appearance in the game. Obsidian has revealed that they're not currently planning on having instant healing spells, so I'm not even sure if manipulating life energies would be possible under the current (preliminary) rule framework, thus adding another unknown factor to necromancy.

I always go for the equivalent of Diplomacy/Persuasion because I enjoy conversations in games so much, and getting more information out of the characters is always interesting.

I don't see PE being released without a day/night cycle, it just adds so much more immersion to the game. No one ever accused them of being very bright. If they were smarter, they'd be trying to take over a guild. Yeah, and then there was Habib throwing scimitars at you. That guy was worse off than the muggers.

I don't think I've ever played an RPG with a merchant class... and frankly, that's always been for a good reason. That class just doesn't work outside P&P games.

I'd like to see Justin working with Ben Houge or Michael Hoenig on this.

I've done many a BG2 playthrough with Grandmastery in Flails. Flail of the Ages, you know. Very useful weapon in that game. And in IWD2, Mace was probably the best weapon-type to specialize in. Don't forget Mace of Disruption +2 in BG II. The +1 version could be upgraded by Cromwell if you kept the Illithium Ore.

Avoid: A comic relief gnome/dwarf/halfling companion. I want more characters like Mazzy Fentan (BG II) and Magnus (Arcanum).

Don't owerwork yourself over the shields, they're just flavor.

I'd prefer something akin to feats à la Icewind Dale II's adaptation of 3.5E.

I honestly don't think they'd ever implement support for touch based devices without announcing it up front before the Kickstarter campaign ended. That would just be a massive PR fiasco waiting to happen, not to mention backers wanting their money back.

+1 The atmospheric soundscape in Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was particularly impressive to me. That's not taking anything away from the other IE games, SoA is just a very good example of an expansive RPG with great audio design.

I'd like a walk/run toggle, but with running draining stamina or equivalent, making you less prepared for combat.