Janjamoja

I've just reached Defiance Bay, so perhaps there will be something similar (I specifically am not reading up on game mechanics, etc, but am discovering it as I go), but one thing I really, really miss from Baldur's Gate 2 was the concept of reconstructing historic weapons. I loved finding a sword pommel in an old desk draw, a broken hilt somewhere else, and that itch it gave me to keep exploring until I found the blade and could have it reforged. Or the bow and bowstring to a legendary bow. In BG2:ToB it was.. Cespenar..? That reforged these types of items? It both encouraged a person to explore, and really rewarded them for doing so. I haven't played another game since that had something like that, it's always been fairly generic crafting systems.

There are a few things I find help me get through the tougher fights, and I use some of these regularly just to keep from losing too much health in smaller fights: 1. The early fighter character I have not decided to permanently make my tank, but I've set him up with a shield and put him in defensive stance. He also has a knockdown ability to use twice in each encounter, and I use it a *lot*. My main is a sniper rogue, and this enables sneak attacks while the mob is down. 2. As others have said, focus your party on a single target -- and I usually find it's better to focus on the squishier mobs just to get the number of guys down quickly. Sometimes I have my fighter step in and do a knockdown, then engage with the rest of my party. This seems to prevent some bad cases of the entire pack ignoring him and going straight for my wizard. 3. Speaking of the wizard, his ability you can use in each encounter does some AoE damage. Make sure you're using this, and try to pick a target that will cause some nice splash damage in a pack. Don't be afraid to burn all of his spells on a really hard fight. 4. Traps. The few really bad fights I encounter, I have traps on hand and will set it up so that I can 'pull' them in a way that causes the group to bunch up and trigger something like a noxious explosive trap. I do tend to explore everything before I move on, so I did the temple in Gilded Vale and Readric's (sp?) hold before going to the fort. The hardest fight for me was in the hold at the end. That took several reloads with 4 party members at level 3. It was extremely satisfying when the last one went down though. I find the combat a lot more interesting than BG's, but you really have to make good use of your abilities at your disposal. In BG you could get a way with a lot of auto-attacking and focusing your interactions on your mage and priest. Here all the classes have something to bring to the fight that needs a little more management as the difficulty increases.

Thanks so much. I got stuck inside the keep and could not leave.. I only deleted the ext (exterior?) files, and was then able to leave.

First off, I ordered the collector's edition hardbox but my intention had always been to open the box immediately. While I can understand and appreciate the concerns of those who want a complete, sealed collector's edition, I am one of the people happy to receive a digital copy up front and the disc later -- with this in mind, I'd be fine getting the entire box later as long as I got the key early. >.> The one question I have relates to the digital game guide. Perhaps I missed it, but when I put in my order a year or so ago I didn't know there would be a physical guide. I would much rather have this hardback copy, and I've put in an order on Amazon for it -- but my understanding is this also comes with a copy of the digital guide. Which I had paid for in the previous order. Is there any way for me to cancel that one small piece of my order and say I'm getting the hardback instead? Not a huge deal, I'll happily 'donate' that $7 to Obsidian, but I'm wondering if there are others in this situation.