What are you Playing Now? I name all the operations that go down in Taipei.

[Wormerine]

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

But the final battle with Sarevok was almost impossible, I spent about 4-5 hours trying different strategies and combinations and I could only finally defeat him by dropping the difficulty to easy. Then I used my invisible mage to go to right of the screen and used AOE spells to weaken him, without drawing aggro, and his companions and then when they attacked me I used a combination of

In general I found "Party vs party" encounters in BG1 to be very challenging. I really liked that - a nice balance of fairly straightforward moster slaying, and real test when you face a party of hostile adventurers like yourself.

I completed BG1 on "core rules" many times. I definitely cheesed couple of times - abusing AI luring enemies one by one couple of times. If I remember correctly, Sarevok's fight got buffed if you own Tales of the Sword Coast to compensate, but I never played without it so I am not sure. It's definitely a fight in which one has to pull all stops.

I much prefer that, to underwhelming BG2 finale.

 

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I am now playing Siege of Dragonspear, I hear its not that good but I am going to play it anyway because it starts straight away and Im in a " BG " mood for gaming 

It's sacrilegious but honestly not that bad - could have been much worse. I didn't hate it, but am unlikely to ever boot it again, or include it in my BG Saga playthroughs.

I thought it did a poor job connecting BG1&2, which it claimed to be it's purpose and like Beamdogs addition to BG1, it feels very modern in design. Not in a good way - it just felt very off to me. Its stakes are also strangely high for a game set before BG2. In a way it reminded me a lot of Throne of Bhaal - an original piece of content that I mostly dislike.

If ToB is Return of the Jedi, being mostly bad but wrapping up the saga nice, then Dragonspear is... Han Solo? Disposable, forgettable, and cringy from time to time, explaining things that didn't need an explanation, but not entirely unpleasant.

[kanisatha]

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I completed BG1 last night, it was a great game and highly recommended and gets a solid 72/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system "

But the final battle with Sarevok was almost impossible, I spent about 4-5 hours trying different strategies and combinations and I could only finally defeat him by dropping the difficulty to easy. Then I used my invisible mage to go to right of the screen and used AOE spells to weaken him, without drawing aggro, and his companions and then when they attacked me I used a combination of
 

• my 2x fighters has potions of cloud giant strength
• I used arrows of dispelling and biting
• I used potions of magic resistance

I cant believe people defeated him on the harder difficulty but my party was level 6 and 7? What level were you on when you fought Sarevok and what strategy did you use in the final battle?

I am now playing Siege of Dragonspear, I hear its not that good but I am going to play it anyway because it starts straight away and Im in a " BG " mood for gaming 

It's interesting you bring this up because in my more recent times playing BG1 I've never actually finished the game, always getting bored with it at some point after I get to BG city. I typically play on normal difficulty, though am perfectly happy to drop it down whenever something aggravates me.

[BruceVC]

12 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

It's interesting you bring this up because in my more recent times playing BG1 I've never actually finished the game, always getting bored with it at some point after I get to BG city. I typically play on normal difficulty, though am perfectly happy to drop it down whenever something aggravates me.

Yes, Im like you. I always play on normal and I have no issues with dropping any game to  easy  on certain encounters but only when  something is really vexing me...and I always try for about 2-3 hours first 

[Chilloutman]

all you need to kill sarevok is to spam summons and then nuke it with wands of fireball

[Gfted1]

Two words; arrows of detonation.

[LadyCrimson]

My memory of BG1 is ... trillions of ice (? - they were blueish) arrows, slings, magic missile, magic missile, magic missile, and way too much pausing to make everyone move, move, move. I needed nothing else. Although I probably had Xan use acid arrow or sleep sometimes, I forget.

Edited August 21, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[BruceVC]

22 hours ago, Chilloutman said:

all you need to kill sarevok is to spam summons and then nuke it with wands of fireball

Thats considered cheating, Im too hardcore to cheat 

[Keyrock]

"If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying." - Joe Montana

[Chilloutman]

46 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Thats considered cheating, Im too hardcore to cheat 

its not cheating, its what game allows you to do

[Malcador]

Settled all the planets in Andromeda. Must have settings wrong but the game blinds me a lot - go to menu and come back to sunlit scene, white out.  Disappointed to find a giant worm in the desert and just have it be background scenery though.  

[LadyCrimson]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Thats considered cheating, Im too hardcore to cheat 

IIRC, using a thief, you could sneak quite far into the throne room and lay a whole lot of traps before triggering Mr Baddie. Then you'd get him to chase you through them (or maybe one used summons to get his first attention, I forget, again).  Depending on traps and luck, either the traps would kill him or would at least get his hit points down really low. Trying to charge him with melee chrs. would often ... not work well.

Methods like that I wouldn't call cheating, but it is cheese.

Edit: re: the arrows - I remember stacking two party members inventory half-full with nothing but stacks of arrows and some sling ammo before long missions/dungeons. I think Khalid was the only melee/shield guy I had. Or was it his wife. One of them could use a bow,  one couldn't I think. Man, so many years ago.

Edited August 21, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[Chilloutman]

if you have enhanced edition just hire machine gun kivan and let him rip

[majestic]

Easiest way to finish the Sarevok fight is Potion of Invisibility + Protection From Magic scroll = standing on the trap that fires infinte Skull Traps until everything is dead. Not sure if any mod or the EE patched that out though.

[Wormerine]

I finished a run of Final Fantasy VII Remastered with it's DLC. I retro played the original around 2008, so it was already heavily dated by then, so while I am not too nostalgic toward the it, it was my first jRPG.

I really don't know how I feel about this one - mostly because without seeing the rest of the trilogy (?) I really have no clue where the series will go, and if it will be any good.

When it comes to actually remaking the original, I thought they did a great job - the new combat system pays homage to the original and new action element makes boring jRPG combat at least enjoyable to interact with. Most of the extended content I liked - it is great to spend more time with members of Avalanche and Aerith. Some of the later sections, especially doing finale after point of no retun feel like straight up padding though.

What I am not sold on are... the divergences. I kinda like the idea, but it was handled rather crudely.

Once it becomes clear that this is not the story that you are expecting, the old and new story just doesn't gel. Character actions don't make sense, things happen for cheap shock value only to get immediately retconed, needs of characters are put aside for explaining to players what those games are and will be. Verisimilitude gets completely broken.

  I am also not sure how well FFVIIRe will work for someone not familiar with the original - devs use a lot of shortcuts using scenes and imagery for an effect without any context, which I imagine will leave new players rather confused. The very main boss of the game, got so little introduction in this title. I personally experienced confusion with content relating to FFVII companion pieces with which I am unfamiliar with - showing off stuff that just meant nothing to me, and clearly expecting a reaction.

[Keyrock]

I'm back to Chernobylite. I started it nearly a year ago but stopped because it was really unstable and crashed a lot. I figured I'd give it some time to get patched up. Now it's unstable and crashes slightly less often. The game autosaves fairly often, so it's not the end of the world, but it's honestly sad how unstable this game still is.

Seemingly, the main villain is the Black Stalker. It's this mysterious boogeyman (well, not so mysterious any more now that I know who it is) that can show up in any area. Once the Black Stalker enters the area you have 2 choices: 1) Run and survive until they leave (the game gives you a timer, so you know how long you need to survive). 2) Fight them off. Early on, I would always pick option 1 when the Black Stalker showed up. Since then, I have figured out the rules. The Black Stalker shows up after an amount of time, this amount decreases each successive day. You know when they are about to arrive because of the chernobylite storms. If you complete your mission quickly enough then you can avoid running into them, though that gets harder (eventually nigh impossible) as the days go by. There is a device you can build in each area that gives you more time, but that's actually counterproductive to my current strategy. I figured out that the Black Stalker can only show up one time a day. Once they leave or are driven off you have all the time in the world to explore, scavenge for resources, choke out NAR soldiers (or kill them if you prefer). As a bonus, the storm clears up once the Black Stalker leaves, making it much easier to see where you are going. Now I want the Black Stalker to show up as soon as possible. As soon as the storm starts I know I have about 2 minutes. I use those 2 minutes to find a good secluded place so that NAR soldiers don't get alerted by gunshots, then I place myself with my back to a wall, break out my fully upgraded AK, and wait for the Black Stalker. Once the portal opens up and they step through I just unload on them. I'll usually take a bit of damage, but I'm well armored now and have tons of medicine.

[Gorth]

Tyranny. Siding with The Scarlet Chorus (I think, I might change my mind later). My second most favourite Obsidian game after Fallout New Vegas

 

[uuuhhii]

44 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Tyranny. Siding with The Scarlet Chorus (I think, I might change my mind later). My second most favourite Obsidian game after Fallout New Vegas

 

new game plus have some weird bug about archon tunon sending letter

be careful

[Gorth]

28 minutes ago, uuuhhii said:

new game plus have some weird bug about archon tunon sending letter

be careful

Ok... hopefully it will either have been patched or some Goty edition released before I get to that. I also remember the warning about difficulty/complexity, but being an old veteran of the old Infinity Engine games (BG&IWD) as well as the two Neverwinter Nights and Temple of Elemental Evil, I hope it won't seem all alien to me

[Hawke64]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:55 AM, BruceVC said:

I completed BG1 last night, it was a great game and highly recommended and gets a solid 72/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system "

But the final battle with Sarevok was almost impossible, I spent about 4-5 hours trying different strategies and combinations and I could only finally defeat him by dropping the difficulty to easy. Then I used my invisible mage to go to right of the screen and used AOE spells to weaken him, without drawing aggro, and his companions and then when they attacked me I used a combination of
 

• my 2x fighters has potions of cloud giant strength
• I used arrows of dispelling and biting
• I used potions of magic resistance

I cant believe people defeated him on the harder difficulty but my party was level 6 and 7? What level were you on when you fought Sarevok and what strategy did you use in the final battle?

I am now playing Siege of Dragonspear, I hear its not that good but I am going to play it anyway because it starts straight away and Im in a " BG " mood for gaming 

Baiting his party one by one helped.
SoD is quite similar to ToB in terms of design, I think. Both feature more points of no-return than the main games, though SoD has more cut-scenes, which in general I strongly detest - unless the PC/the party is/are literally bound, the game must not rob me of control (and the ability to throw fireballs into the fog of war).

[bugarup]

I only ever finished BG1 twice. Once -- years ago -- did Sarevok in by cheating. Second time -- many years and experience in RPGs later --  buffed up to the gills, ready to kite him through all the traps I laid beforehand...and then as soon as I split him from his posse the wand of paralysis connects and alas, poor Sarevok.  My level was higher, I think, in eights or nines.

I also liked Dragonspear much more than BG1, so, yeah. Gimme those tomatoes. 

[ShadySands]

4 hours ago, bugarup said:

I also liked Dragonspear much more than BG1

Me too, I've finished Dragonspear a few times but was never able to finish BG1 even once. It didn't help that I played the second game first.

[Mamoulian War]

Hmm, I have finished BG1 twice, as a complete DnD noob, and I really do not remember any issues with Sarevok. The only issue I ever had with BG, was BG2 Demilich encounter, which I spent more than two hours to find out a tactic how to defeat it

[Malcador]

Almost near the end in Andromeda, sort of disappointed finding one ark is in a side mission but oh well.  Some of the banter is a bit funny, like asking why we're whispering after a stealth mission has gone **** up already.   Understand the gripes about open world syndrome - dumb grindy quests and wandering all over the place. Really is best to handle it like a single player MMORPG (reminds me of playing TOR, somewhat).  I should have played a melee or shotgun/melee character, seems like it'd be fun to be an assault marine type with this combat system.  Definitely not going to replay this for quite some time, heh.

Characters don't really seem like anything worse than we got in the main series to be honest, either.  At least considering it's one game vs three.

After this, think I'll waste my bonus money on Farthest Frontier

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Malcador

[BruceVC]

Im about 20 hours into SOD and Im loving it, there has been lots of negative views on this DLC so Im surprised how much Im enjoying it

I have just reached the  Boareskyr Bridge map and I dont want anyone to ruin the narrative for me about why its a bad expansion but this is what I like about it 

• I like the way I had to recruit my old and new party members 
• Dwarves of Dumathoin was an exciting and interesting quest, who doesnt like defeating liches
• It looks like I can Romance party members unlike BG1 
• I am enjoying the side quests like Isabella and Ikros, I killed them and saved the Vampire because it raised an interesting question around morality and the Vampire had ostensibly nothing wrong plus they had stolen one of the Halfling items so I question there own moral compass
•  Caelar Argent is an interesting antagonist and she is clearly  being manipulated and I am looking forward to understanding the overall narrative
• Finally I am enjoying seeing the Hooded Man\Jon Irenicus appearances so I can see how they trying to tie that into BG2 

I will do a full update once I have completed SOD but so far its been a great experience  

[Humanoid]

Two Point Campus has once again devolved into spamming random items in order to increase a meaningless "attractiveness" bar in order to even progress to the next level. You'd have thought the developers would have learned from the one biggest criticism of their previous game, but apparently not, as this idiocy persists. In the space of about two hours they've managed to just about completely wipe out any goodwill I had for the game.