Let's Play Baldur's Gate 2, and reflect on Pillars of Eternity

[Sensuki]

Rest Anywhere mod and regulating your resting solves the resting problem (Mods for BG2 are awesome, I never play without them).

 

Annoyed at not finding the imp, but not feeling like combing the sewers to find it.

He's definitely there. Pretty hard to miss.

 

Got murdered by another adventuring party in the sewers. That... was tough. Tougher than I expected. They were slinging Finger of Death spells left and right, clearly many levels higher than I am. Not sure what I dig wrong there actually,

I find the Archer Gallachobhair usually does the most damage.

 

The library isn't in the sewer, it's actually in the Bridge District, but the only way you can get to it is via the sewer. Of course, Wizards don't need doors, they just teleport around instead.

 

It's not necessarily the content density when those people come up and hassle you, it's just that because you traveled to Nalia's Keep and back takes a lot of time (in in game hours/days), all of these people are going to show up the next time you enter the city. Some of them are scripted for certain areas, others just show up anywhere.

 

It might be a bit much for some people, but there's no other game that does it, and I really enjoyed how BG2 felt so huge and endless because of it. It's like a really rich chocolate or something.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[PrimeJunta]

Two more comments:

 

One, I'm not sure stealth works like you say it works, Stun. I've been attempting to find darker patches to stealth in, and it doesn't make any difference that I can see. There are very few actual shadows -- such as cast by bookshelves -- on most maps. In any case, that tip didn't work for me. Sorry.

 

Two, general enjoyment. I'm having a good deal more fun with this than IWD even. I notice it makes all the difference to me to be able to choose what to do and how to do it, instead of just following a linear dungeon crawl. The IWD maps were a good deal more polished and the encounters, so far at least, better thought-out and made better sense in context, but I have a much bigger feeling of agency here, with high-level objectives to pursue, lots of different things I can choose to do, and so on and so forth.

 

I've been mentioning that content density thing a couple of times. It's not a huge deal IMO. It does, however, kind of ruin the sense of urgency the writers are trying to instil with all that NOW NOW NOW! stuff, when the fact of the matter is that you physically can't do all of that NOW, and it becomes increasingly clear that the game will, in fact, wait for you to do the stuff at your own pace.

[PrimeJunta]

Eh, whatever you call it. Point is I'm getting a TON of quests dumped on me without asking for them, and all of these quests are presented as "urgent! urgent!"

 

This does not feel right. It's jarring. I would have enjoyed it more if the questgivers had been spread out around the town, if the ones that walk up to you did it at intervals and not all at once, even if game time had passed, or if there was something as simple as a "Help Wanted" board where I could go pick some of them up.

 

Again, it's not a huge deal. I was way more overwhelmed with them before; now I kiiinda know I can do them in any order I like so it's not so bad. Still detracts somewhat from the experience though.

[Sensuki]

Sure I understand that, I just wouldn't call that content density.

 

You are probably right that spreading them around a bit more would have been a good idea - different parts of the city etc.

 

Some of them however, do need to hassle you whenever, such as Valen / Brus.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Namutree]

Interesting read. Glad you're enjoying the game.

[archangel979]

The sewer encounter is not that strange later when you find what is near those high level adventurers. They were probably there for that. Also they might have been investigating or working for the Cult of the Unseen.

 

The sewer entrance to the wizard "tower" is also not strange in a city where Cowled Wizards hunt and control other wizards. I doubt this place is known to the Cowled Wizards and that they would approve.

 

Stealth works in a way that if you are using it outside shadows you get a bit penalty to it but in shadows you still need to pass both your Hide in Shadows and Move Silently rolls to use it.

 

I agree about resting anywhere and random encounters. They should have just forbidden resting in places like these or used mechanic similar to PoE. NWN2 is example of fracking it up in another direction where there is 0 penalty for resting anywhere.

What I do in IE games is rest and suffer random encounters while I can. Once I am out of resources I save scum until I can rest. If it happens that I cannot rest successfully after 5 tries I quit the level and go rest somewhere else.

If I cannot go somewhere else, I use my potions and try to finish the level.

Edited January 10, 2015 by archangel979

[PrimeJunta]

Okay, got a bit further. Retrieving an artifact for a blind beholder. There was a crypt with a sarcophagus I wasn't supposed to open, so of course I did.

 

Kangaxx. 

 

I remember that. 

 

For spits and giggles I did a few save-and-reloads on this, and eventually managed to beat him but with half my party dead -- hard to keep those Death Wards up while dispelling his protections -- but it felt really metagamey and not so much fun, because the way I beat him was dying repeatedly, noting what killed me, reshuffling my spells to have the right counter, trying again, rinse, repeat. Also I don't know what the deal is with those golden bones.

 

So, going back to my save, letting Kangaxx rest a while longer, and proceeding with the quest for the rod.

[Sensuki]

Isn't Minsc immune to Imprisonment while he's Beserking ?

Edited January 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Ashen Rohk]

I cannot stand BG2.

 

I hate Imoen.

I hate Imoen. I cannot stress this enough. F*ck Imoen.

I hate the AWFUL spell animations, I came from IWD where it doesn't look like the 1970s.

I hate the nasty UI. Again, I came from IWD. Everything looks nicer there.

I hate the rejigged paperdolls.

I hate the first half of the story.

I hate the fact THERE IS NO PURE THIEF IN THE GAME. YOSHIMO DOESN'T COUNT.

I hate Illithids.

I hate the fact that the game gives you a choice whether or not to cut a massive chunk out of the game after Spellhold and thereby preventing you from getting the last bit of Crom Faeyr. Honestly, who the f*ck thought that was a good idea.

I hate spam resting.

 

That said, I love Baldur's Gate 2.

 

I love the party interactions.

I love Throne of Bhaal, especially when Aerie gives birth. Mad jokes.

I love the huge scale of the game.

I love having a stronghold.

The NPCs I do like, I love. Keldorn, Korgan, Minsc (and Boo!), Viconia...

I like the big keep dungeon thingy, whatever it was called.

I love the fact its 250 hours of pure, unadulterated RPG heaven.

 

 

I like a lot more about PoE at this point than I do about BG2. But then again, I was always more partial to the IWD series.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Ashen Rohk

[Sensuki]

I hate Illithids.

 

Get out of my house!

 

j/k - you're alright.

 

FTR though when did you first play BG2? Ashen Rohk ?

 

I think the BG2 spell FX are fine. Many of them are recycled from BG1 though. I prefer *some* of the BG2 VFX to IWD.

 

I like the BG2 UI, I think it looks nicer than Icewind Dale 1. Have you ever tried the BG2 UI with the 1PP Mod?

 

 

 

 

 

I hate the rejigged paperdolls.

 

 

Very much this. 1PP restores the BG1 paper dolls ^_^_^_^_^_^

 

 

 

I hate spam resting.

 

It's never necessary, but some people might feel that it is if you're tackling a hard encounter or hard area the wrong way.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Luckmann]

Okay, got a bit further. Retrieving an artifact for a blind beholder. There was a crypt with a sarcophagus I wasn't supposed to open, so of course I did.

 

Kangaxx. 

 

I remember that. 

 

For spits and giggles I did a few save-and-reloads on this, and eventually managed to beat him but with half my party dead -- hard to keep those Death Wards up while dispelling his protections -- but it felt really metagamey and not so much fun, because the way I beat him was dying repeatedly, noting what killed me, reshuffling my spells to have the right counter, trying again, rinse, repeat. Also I don't know what the deal is with those golden bones.

 

So, going back to my save, letting Kangaxx rest a while longer, and proceeding with the quest for the rod.

Without metagaming, Kangaxx is easily the hardest battle in the game, especially when you first (can) go up against him. It is very much a "I can't beat this, I'll have to come back later" encounter (which I don't actually mind in games).

 

Two readily available scrolls (one more than the other) cheeses the Kangaxx encounter if you so desire: Protection from Magic and Protection from Undead.

 

Isn't Minsc immune to Imprisonment while he's Beserking ?

Nope.

 

Interestingly, Raging Barbarians are immune to Maze, but not Imprisonment. Raging Berserkers, however, are immune to both Maze and Imprisonment.

 

Minsc (if someone is using him for some reason, god dammit, I hate him more than Imoen) has his own special snowflake thing going on as a ranger and his Rage gives him immunity to.. a bunch of stuff, but not Imprisonment.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Luckmann

[Sensuki]

Yeah I knew it was one of the classes. It's Korgan that's immune to Imprisonment isn't it ?

[PrimeJunta]

Yeh, I don't mind Kangaxx at all. I was repeatedly warned about opening the thing, so I had it coming. I will come back later, although I can beat him already now; with a couple more tries I'm pretty sure I could even beat him without (too many) fatalities. But meta it is: follow the combat log, see what he's doing, look up the counters in the spell descriptions, apply counters, if counters not memorized, rest, reload, try again, repeat until victory.

 

I am, honestly, not a fan of this type of challenge. I understand why someone else would be, though, and I do not mind at all that there's one Kangaxx in a game as big as BG2. With all that stuff in it, there's bound to be something for everybody, and something that's clearly not what you're looking for.

 

Edit: @Luckmann I'm trying to avoid cheesy ways of winning fights, unless I discover the cheese "organically" (like when I backed to the doorway with the iron golem and discovered that he can't actually hit me from there). I know about those, like I know about the Shield of Balduran and the beholders, but I don't want to use them. Might as well use the console. I want to beat these fights with what I've got, more or less.

Edited January 10, 2015 by PrimeJunta

[Sensuki]

There are actually quite a few ways to beat him

[Ashen Rohk]

 

I hate Illithids.

 

Get out of my house!

 

j/k - you're alright.

 

FTR though when did you first play BG2? Ashen Rohk ?

 

 

2002ish, I think - ToB was out and I played them back to back. I certainly had it before IWD2 came out and finished it, but IWD was my gateway game. I've never played it modded either, although I've had Gibberlings kept in my bookmarks since I found out about them. And I sucked pretty bad at it at the time, so there was a lot of spam resting involved!

 

I felt they really got the interface right in IWD2. Like a nice polished version of Torment's but without a click wheel.

 

I really loved playing through it back then, but vanilla hasn't aged well for me. Are there any mods you could recommend?

[Luckmann]

Yeh, I don't mind Kangaxx at all. I was repeatedly warned about opening the thing, so I had it coming. I will come back later, although I can beat him already now; with a couple more tries I'm pretty sure I could even beat him without (too many) fatalities. But meta it is: follow the combat log, see what he's doing, look up the counters in the spell descriptions, apply counters, if counters not memorized, rest, reload, try again, repeat until victory.

 

I am, honestly, not a fan of this type of challenge. I understand why someone else would be, though, and I do not mind at all that there's one Kangaxx in a game as big as BG2. With all that stuff in it, there's bound to be something for everybody, and something that's clearly not what you're looking for.

 

Edit: @Luckmann I'm trying to avoid cheesy ways of winning fights, unless I discover the cheese "organically" (like when I backed to the doorway with the iron golem and discovered that he can't actually hit me from there). I know about those, like I know about the Shield of Balduran and the beholders, but I don't want to use them. Might as well use the console. I want to beat these fights with what I've got, more or less.

 

They're pretty organic, though. After all, why wouldn't you protect yourself from magic when facing a demi-lich, and why wouldn't you protect yourself from undead when facing.. well.. any undead? Especially the Shield of Balduran (and the Cloak of Mirroring) feels like something an intrepid adventurer would whip out when going up against the beholders. They just feel cheesy because it makes the encounters "too" easy, I guess.

 

That being said, like Sensuki said, there are actually quite a few ways to beat him. Fire Elementals come to mind.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Luckmann

[Sensuki]

 

 

I've never played it modded either

 

 

I would advise trying (at least)

 

BG2Fixpack

BG2 Tweak Pack (unlimited item stacking yo - and the rest)

BG2 Unfinished Business

One Pixel Productions

at the very minimum

 

The game is so much better with mods.

[GordonHalfman]

I don't think that was actually Kangaax but one of the liches guarding his remains.

 

Anyway good read, I wish I could play this game for the first time again. 

[Ashen Rohk]

 

I've never played it modded either

 

 

I would advise trying (at least)

 

BG2Fixpack

BG2 Tweak Pack (unlimited item stacking yo - and the rest)

BG2 Unfinished Business

One Pixel Productions

 

at the very minimum

 

The game is so much better with mods.

 

 

I can feel the judgement oozing out my speakers

 

Cheers dude, will be giving these a try later.

[Sensuki]

You won't regret it. BG2 Tweak Pack is probably one of the best mods for any game. It just takes a lot of the little inconvenient things and fixes them and you have complete choice over which parts of the mod you want.

Unfinished Business adds some content that was cut from the vanilla game back in (probably with a slight few liberties).

BG2 FixPack just fixes heaps of bugs (HEAPS of bugs)

and One Pixel Productions is super awesome - it has fixes for avatars, items, 2D art, UI, animations - all sorts of stuff.

[Luckmann]

 

I've never played it modded either

 

 

I would advise trying (at least)

 

BG2Fixpack

BG2 Tweak Pack (unlimited item stacking yo - and the rest)

BG2 Unfinished Business

One Pixel Productions

 

at the very minimum

 

The game is so much better with mods.

 

 

I haven't tried One Pixel Productions and I never heard of it before. Does it bring back the non-sucky helmets of Baldur's Gate 1? The new helmets in Baldur's Gate 2 were atrocious.

[Sensuki]

Yes it brings back BG1 helmets for the paperdolls.

 

Also there's the Widescreen mod. I don't use it because I still have a few good condition CRT monitors kicking around, and whenever I play an old game, I use one of those

Gaming at 800x600 @ 160Hz is pretty cool.

 

edit:

 

ORIGINAL BG2

 

 

1PP MOD

 

And it does much more than that too, you should download the mod and look at the readme, you'll be frothing at the mouth.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Sensuki

[Stun]

Nope.

 

Interestingly, Raging Barbarians are immune to Maze, but not Imprisonment. Raging Berserkers, however, are immune to both Maze and Imprisonment.

The good thing about Barbarian Rage, however, is that it grants immunity to Level Drain, while the Berserker rage doesn't. Edited January 10, 2015 by Stun

[archangel979]

Yeh, I don't mind Kangaxx at all. I was repeatedly warned about opening the thing, so I had it coming. I will come back later, although I can beat him already now; with a couple more tries I'm pretty sure I could even beat him without (too many) fatalities. But meta it is: follow the combat log, see what he's doing, look up the counters in the spell descriptions, apply counters, if counters not memorized, rest, reload, try again, repeat until victory.

 

I am, honestly, not a fan of this type of challenge. I understand why someone else would be, though, and I do not mind at all that there's one Kangaxx in a game as big as BG2. With all that stuff in it, there's bound to be something for everybody, and something that's clearly not what you're looking for.

 

Edit: @Luckmann I'm trying to avoid cheesy ways of winning fights, unless I discover the cheese "organically" (like when I backed to the doorway with the iron golem and discovered that he can't actually hit me from there). I know about those, like I know about the Shield of Balduran and the beholders, but I don't want to use them. Might as well use the console. I want to beat these fights with what I've got, more or less.

That is not Kangaxx, that is just a Lich. There are a couple of them in BG2 and they are all nasty. Kangaxx is 2x harder unless you cheese.

 

BTW, get Neera (new NPC in BG2EE) and do her quest so you can get to do one of the most challenging and interesting battles yet. Anyone that ****s on new content added in BG2EE has not played this part.

Edited January 10, 2015 by archangel979

[Stun]

I hate the fact that the game gives you a choice whether or not to cut a massive chunk out of the game after Spellhold and thereby preventing you from getting the last bit of Crom Faeyr. Honestly, who the f*ck thought that was a good idea.

I agree! Choice and Consequence. What an absurdly stupid concept for an RPG!