ChipMHazard

Great... Now I can't even fix the numerous bugs myself...

The ring suffers from the same issue that we've seen with other items as in its effect stacks. Aloth can now cast first and third level spells 14 times. I am not sure if it happens when you load or when you add/remove him from your party, as I wasn't really paying attention. It may have been the latter.

Chip, I was paying attention ... closely. And I don't recall many people making that big a deal over Minsc's class, odd as it was. They just rolled with it. As for "is that too much to ask", yes, it is. That's just a tactic to try to get people that disagree with YOU to shut up. I think that the fact that you want me to shut up means that I hit the mark dead on with my comments. Yet changing him into a barbarian/berserker was in much demand, a demand that modders eventually met. Quite a reasonable change considering that he is from Rashemen and described as a berserker. Really? Shut up? Where on earth did I even remotely entertain that notion? Do try and read what I wrote instead of going round the bend like that. I wrote about you instead presenting arguments for your case, as opposed to what you just did in your reply. Agreeing to disagree has to do with maintining a civil tone and not resorting to personal attacks when there really isn't much else to discuss after having presented all ones arguments. Is an option too much to ask? How so? Does it harm your gameplay? Is it harmful to the gameplay overall? Is it too much to ask that, instead of having players forgo early questing in order to gather their companions as early as possible, it be possible to level them up yourself? If there's enough demand for it from the playerbase then why force people to use somewhat buggy console commands? You could of course argue that at some point mods will come along and allow for such an option. Edit: I would propose adding in a slider with three settings. First: Have companions level up automatically Second: Have it as it is now Third: Have them be level one when you meet them Yes, really. Chip, I see saying "agree to disagree" as a polite person's way of telling you that they want you to shut up. That's how I see it. Think on it. Whenever someone says "let's agree to disagree", they really, really are trying to say that they don't want to discuss or debate the topic any further and they really just want you to shut up. As for the option, what it comes down to me is this. If you don't like the game the way it is, you can play it as is, you can mod it (if it's modable, of course), or you can choose to walk away. What I would prefer is rather than handing over pre-made NPC building over to the players is for the designers to not make such "weak" decisions when it comes to the various factors of the NPC's such as stats, skill/talent/ability choices. I'm not looking for anything close to uber-min/maxed perfect. Just solid choices when it comes to skills/abilities, etc. that won't leave people tearing their hair out. Like with Pallegine, instead of having Field Triage as a pre-picked ability, pick a decent paladin special ability or a solid combat skill. Something in keeping with the character and yet isn't such a weak choice that it feels like an utterly wasted pick. For example, with any character that's going to engage in physical combat regularly, selecting a "weapon set" skill doesn't seem like a waste to me. Or with classes that have special class abilities, selecting any of those may not be a waste either. As for Minsc, it's been a LONG time, but I don't recall berzerker existing in BG1, and the designers probably felt compelled to not change Minsc's class when they were designing BG2. Well that's up to you if you want to think of it that way. So instead of offering critiscm you should just stop playing? What an absolutely absurd notion. How on earth is anything supposed to ever improve if no one offers critism? Sorry, but I have never agreed with the notion that one shouldn't offer critical feedback. Obviously it would help a great deal if they had actually made the companions pick more useful abilities. Tweaking what companions pick would also make their choices more consistent. Most often I don't get why they have the abilities that they have. Like Pallegina, why does she have lay on hands? She seems rather more aggressive/ill-tempered for that. When it comes to weapon focus: I am fine with Eder being a ruffian. It's definently not optimal for a tank, but makes him a bit more interesting to play with. It would alleviate the issues that people are having and it's possible that it would help enough for people to care less about the issue. Of course it wouldn't fix the issue that people have with it. I would still rather see that be part of the solution that I mentioned in my previous post. I do think it would improve the game if they introduced a companion leveling slider. Again: One for those that would rather go with Obsidians' pick, one for how it is now and lastly one for being able to pick yourself to better fit the character you created. There wasn't a barbarian class nor class kits in BG1, no. That was apparently the reasoning behind leaving him as a ranger throughout the series, even when they added in the actually class and class kit. So, yes. Modders eventually "fixed" the issue though. And wanting to relegate such a change to modders is a fair point, but we don't know when that will be. People would obviously rather have Obsidian offer up an option than have to wait for a possible mod that gives the option.

Chip, I was paying attention ... closely. And I don't recall many people making that big a deal over Minsc's class, odd as it was. They just rolled with it. As for "is that too much to ask", yes, it is. That's just a tactic to try to get people that disagree with YOU to shut up. I think that the fact that you want me to shut up means that I hit the mark dead on with my comments. Yet changing him into a barbarian/berserker was in much demand, a demand that modders eventually met. Quite a reasonable change considering that he is from Rashemen and described as a berserker. Really? Shut up? Where on earth did I even remotely entertain that notion? Do try and read what I wrote instead of going round the bend like that. I wrote about you instead presenting arguments for your case, as opposed to what you just did in your reply. Agreeing to disagree has to do with maintining a civil tone and not resorting to personal attacks when there really isn't much else to discuss after having presented all ones arguments. Is an option too much to ask? How so? Does it harm your gameplay? Is it harmful to the gameplay overall? Is it too much to ask that, instead of having players forgo early questing in order to gather their companions as early as possible, it be possible to level them up yourself? If there's enough demand for it from the playerbase then why force people to use somewhat buggy console commands? You could of course argue that at some point mods will come along and allow for such an option. Edit: I would propose adding in a slider with three settings. First: Have companions level up automatically Second: Have it as it is now Third: Have them be level one when you meet them

I think it was mainly because the market had switched over to 3D instead. It was obviously also far more feasible to port 3D RPGs over to consoles. But mainly I just think it came down to people wanting to use the newer technology.

As other's have already explained; their class is part of their character. An integral one at that. Want Durance to be something other than a priest of the fiery whore? Write a new story for him that reflects that.

How about people keep that discussion to the thread about the patch that introduced the changes?

If you don't remember how much talk there's been over the years about the odd choice for Minsc's class then you haven't been paying attention. Now how about dropping the condecending tone and instead present valid, constructive arguments against any change to how companions currently work (When it comes to what we're discussing). If all else fails then simply agree to disagree. Or is that too much to ask?

Only real way to know how well the game has done so far is to wait for Obsidian or Paradox to make an annonucement with the sales numbers. So far we know from what Paradox has announced that the game has been doing well, relatively speaking of course.

No idea. Might be the only way they could get it to work? Yes. Companions aren't affected by your reputation, which means that NPC paladins don't get a buff... Or debuff.

Not really a valid option is it? Forcing people to go into offline mode (Negating the use of the social aspect of Steam) in order for games not to patch is just silly. I don't know when or why Valve removed the option to not apply a patch, but it was a silly, silly change.

I forget reading the part where Feargus wrote "we changed it because some people on Twitter made a fuss". They presented the request because of what happened, as per Firedorn's own recollection. Would they have changed it even if Firedorn had said no? Who knows. He said yes immediatly, sparing them having to make that choice which might have increased the flak and/or meant that Firedorn would have been thrown under the bus. Still, they most probably would never have asked, had there never been an outrage. Considering that there is no discernible tone that the joke would have had to live up to during the vetting process. Which was their official reasoning. At the very least, all the drama makes it harder to discern whether or not they would have made the same choice if it had it never went further than a single request. You're free to believe any story you want, but when I see two slightly different variations on what happened I naturally become a wee bit sceptical. It's also important to keep in mind that it went beyond a single request. The original complainer immediatly started rallying people behind her "cause" and other sites picked up the (At this point) distorted story. Obsidian would have felt the pressure. Did that play a significant role in their choice? Who knows.

It is possible to get all of them before hitting level 3, except perhaps for Pallegina because of the quest involved.

I got same problem. Instead one lousy scroll I've got nothing in chest. After couple of adventures ran by my companion my chest is empty. Even if I got message that rewards are waiting in chest in the main hall. Rewards are missing. And another thing (maybe it's a feature not a bug?) When I remove companion and join him/her again all stats of this certain companion are reset. No history about the biggest creature he/she killed, how many points overall he/she made etc. before removing him/her from team. I've noticed the same thing. The chest or keep mission system is definently very iffy. I also wonder if taxes are supposed to show up in the chest, because I have yet to find any in there.

I don't want full control. I would like the option to level up companions when I meet them so that I can pick what abilities they have from level one. I am fine with the companions having the stats that they do.

Obsidian did put in an offensive joke as it was made to be offensive, just not in the way that people misconstrued it. It's also not the only offensive one in the game. Obsidian obviously didn't and still don't care about the jokes being offensive as long as they are within a certain standard, which is why they supposedly vetted memorials before they were put in the game. Obsidian stated that the joke, that did make it through, didn't meet this standard "tone" while other offensive jokes apparently do. Is it possible that this one joke made it through their screening process? Yes, but that doesn't mesh with what Firedorn wrote happened: They asked him if he wanted to change it based on the outcry to have it changed. So what exactly is this tone that Obsidian referred to? Good question and we don't know. From what I can see there is no consistent tone that can be discerned from Obsidian's action.

Obviously, doesn't mean it's not a silly hyperbole.

Hilarious... You done hyperbolizing now?

It's simply silly gameplay design to not have enemies such as skeletons be unaffected by blinding effects. As an example. This is most definently something I would want them to change or have some skilled modders implement.

You don't. Even when there is a valid reason for it (This not being one of those times)... Well that's not strictly true. They do offer up a one-time refund, but unless you have a law to back you up they won't allow any futher refunds than that. Oh and even then you might still get your account locked. Their normal stance on refunds is the following: Tough titty!

Because that's what defines how useful they are? What a silly, silly question. Oh and it's not about their attributes as leveling them up yourself will only allow you to pick their abilities. There's nothing wrong in people wanting to make the companions as useful as possible so they can play with them on higher difficulty instead of playing with mostly mute hirelings with no personalities.

It being percieved as a trope and having been used to make fun of transgender in the past does nothing to prove that this joke was about transgender. It was about a homophobic crazy person whom got too drunk and mistakenly slept with a man (Possibly a male elf) and proceded to run off a cliff... Because he was a fool. That's how it was described by the person whom wrote it, because he wanted to make fun of homophobic fools. There is no proof what so ever of this having been a transphobic joke, except in the minds of those that wanted it to mean exactly that. People trying to push a political agenda can find evidence anywhere to prove their predetermined conclusion.

Bah! Too easy! No hands, nose and ears only!

Everybody as is everyone or just enemies close by?

Begin to cast fan of flames and then crackling bolt and you will see that fan of flames is much more forgiving in what it target than the 3rd level spell...so no actually...I believe that even if you are behind your tank (you shouldn't be) you can still use cone spell and use them to target few baddies....not as much as high INT wizard (big non FF radius).... I agree that you shouldn't be behind your front line... But that was one of the conditions presented. I also agree that it's easier to use cone spells than line spells, but circle spells are even easier when you're behind your front line and of course a high int wizard will be able to make use of the foe aoe of cone spells... But that's hardly a valid point when one of the presented tactics was to stand behind your tank with a reach weapon. Look. I wouldn't do that personally, if I were to go with a melee wizard. A melee wizard would be better when used to flank, imo. Of course reach weapons could be used when flanking as well. As soon as the enemy starts being able to hit back is when you will most probably have to start switching out more offensive spells for more defensive ones. Especially if you actively want to engage in melee.