The Gaming Den

It's been a while since I played, but I remember Contingent/Quickcast (whichever lets you stack two targeted spells in the same slot) of Assay Resistance + Bane (whichever applies save throw penalties) followed by Finger of Death spam was remarkably efficient at anti-climatically killing dragons.

mlangsdorf wrote:It's been a while since I played, but I remember Contingent/Quickcast (whichever lets you stack two targeted spells in the same slot) of Assay Resistance + Bane (whichever applies save throw penalties) followed by Finger of Death spam was remarkably efficient at anti-climatically killing dragons.

You could use Spell Sequencers that were something like "Lower Resist, Lower Resist, Lower Resist" Then the other Spell Sequencer spell was "Greater Malision, Something else with save penalty" then cast Finger of Death, that would usually reduce their 90% magic resist to 0, or 100% to 10, and then give them save penalties.

You could also just drop a bunch of traps, sleep, then drop more traps. I think the limit is 7 after a patch though.

Minor Sequencer: Magic Missile, Magic Missile. Sequencer: Magic Missile, Magic Missile, Magic Missile. Chain Contingency: Magic Missile, Magic Missile, Magic Missile, Caster Sees Enemy, Nearest Enemy.

Suddenly a thousand magic missiles slam Firkraag. That was my preferred method of dealing with him, years ago. But now I need to do a Mage/Thief playthrough focusing on traps... I hope someone's updated the Big World Project.

shau wrote:You could also just drop a bunch of traps, sleep, then drop more traps. I think the limit is 7 after a patch though.

Yeah, traps are pretty much half the reason why you want to be thief/mage multiclass.

shau wrote:You could also just drop a bunch of traps, sleep, then drop more traps. I think the limit is 7 after a patch though.

Yeah, that is the limit. Thanks, Obama.

RelentlessImp wrote:I hope someone's updated the Big World Project.

It's still under active maintenance. It's also like 35 gigs of mods at this point, so prepare lots of hard drive space, and be ready for a literal day-long install.

Hadanelith wrote:

RelentlessImp wrote:I hope someone's updated the Big World Project.

It's still under active maintenance. It's also like 35 gigs of mods at this point, so prepare lots of hard drive space, and be ready for a literal day-long install.

You don't know my internet connection. Try 2-3 days.

oh no, that's the install time once the mods are downloaded. Download time is going to be looooooooong. I don't care what your connection is like. Good luck.

How good is the Paladin in these games? I wondered how well a run would go if I made one in BG 1 and ported it over to BG 2 then.

Paladin is a valid life choice, just as it was in AD&D 2E. They get their Artifact Swords, too.

If I were going to make a suggestion, I'd say at the very least get BGTutu if you have both BG1 and BG2, or play BGEE, so you can use the Inquisitor kit in BG1. The Dispel Magic is really good because it's instant and casts at twice your Paladin level.

If you're going to play Baldur's Gate, I suggest you use mods: http://www.shsforums.net/topic/56670-bi ... e-program/

Grab the download link. That's the best way to download and install mods.

Yeah, Inquisitor Paladins are really handy. In BG2, a lot of enemies are casters, and begin by casting a number of buffs (or in some cases, have them up right from the start, because they knew you'd pick a fight, but seeing as you can do the same, it's best not to complain).

That said, in BG2, one of your allies, Keldorn, is an Inquisitor Paladin, so I suppose you could go regular flavour and just buddy up with him as THE PALADIN BRIGADE. It's not like you're too spoiled for choice for teammates as a Good character, so that's not terrible. It'd also mean you can actually pass all those good magic weapons around with a bunch of characters who can use them. Also he's really chill, and not annoying.

Question: does the Sorcerer use Intelligence or Charisma to determine maximum spell level/bonus spell slots in BG2? Because although they were added in deference to 3Ed being recently released at the time, they're still based on the Mage chassis pretty much.

Bill Bisco, are those mods compatible with the Enhanced Edition?

Koumei wrote:Question: does the Sorcerer use Intelligence or Charisma to determine maximum spell level/bonus spell slots in BG2? Because although they were added in deference to 3Ed being recently released at the time, they're still based on the Mage chassis pretty much.

In original BG2, they're supposed to use Charisma, but they use Intelligence due to a coding flaw. I think BGEE was supposed to have fixed that, but my Sorcerers always wind up with 18 Int and Cha so I can't tell you for certain.

icyshadowlord wrote:Bill Bisco, are those mods compatible with the Enhanced Edition?

Some are yes. When you use BWS you choose whether to use Enhanced Edition or regular.. Fyi, there's 100x more mod content out there than Enhanced Edition.

Enhanced Edition broke a *bunch* of mods. Unfortunately, most of the BG community has long since moved on (sometimes to other projects, sometimes quite literally), so mod updates to the new version are few and far between. My suggestion: Buy BG1 and 2 from GOG, get the mods, and forget the Enhanced Edition. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

RelentlessImp wrote: In original BG2, they're supposed to use Charisma, but they use Intelligence due to a coding flaw. I think BGEE was supposed to have fixed that, but my Sorcerers always wind up with 18 Int and Cha so I can't tell you for certain.

Actually in original BG2 they dont have ANY casting stat. Character Creation lies to you and says it uses INT but it doesn't. Enjoy your 9 int and 9 cha while having awesome physical stats.

No idea about EE. Never bought it.

Hadanelith wrote:Enhanced Edition broke a *bunch* of mods. Unfortunately, most of the BG community has long since moved on (sometimes to other projects, sometimes quite literally), so mod updates to the new version are few and far between. My suggestion: Buy BG1 and 2 from GOG, get the mods, and forget the Enhanced Edition. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

This x1000

Doesn't regular look like a dog vomited on a pile of gravel though? I practically have to hold Tab down to see what objects are there for interaction even in EE, and am thankful I can zoom in (pixelated though it may be) on occasion.

Koumei wrote:Doesn't regular look like a dog vomited on a pile of gravel though? I practically have to hold Tab down to see what objects are there for interaction even in EE, and am thankful I can zoom in (pixelated though it may be) on occasion.

If you are the kind of idiot who cares more about graphics than gameplay I'm not sure why you are playing any Baldur's Gate game, why not just play Crysis over and over and over.

Bill Bisco: Isometric Imp wrote:

Hadanelith wrote:Enhanced Edition broke a *bunch* of mods. Unfortunately, most of the BG community has long since moved on (sometimes to other projects, sometimes quite literally), so mod updates to the new version are few and far between. My suggestion: Buy BG1 and 2 from GOG, get the mods, and forget the Enhanced Edition. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

This x1000

I might actually have BG 1 and 2 from GOG as well as the Enhanced Edition of both games on Steam.

Now that I think about it, I should go and check up the list of games I have bought on GOG. And play them when I have some free time.

Kaelik wrote: If you are the kind of idiot who cares more about graphics than gameplay I'm not sure why you are playing any Baldur's Gate game, why not just play Crysis over and over and over.

I thought I made it clear with my post that the issue wasn't "Why game not have tracefx hair and proper fluid dynamics?" but "What the fuck is actually happening on this screen?"

Even as it is, there are still cases where, in a fight with a bunch of closet trolls, I basically have to guess which thing is getting targeted. Looting (or indeed "noticing some of the doors") involves just holding Tab down as I walk around, so as to highlight everything. And yes, pause is my friend not just for tactical planning and spell combos, but also because that brings up the "you can target these things" and brings their names up faster than hovering over each individual thing. Which is necessary.

You actually do reach a point where improving the graphics improves the playability, and that point varies depending on whom you ask, but to me that point is somewhere in the sprite range, where "easily telling sprites apart" is a great step forward.

tl;dr eat a dick

Koumei wrote:Doesn't regular look like a dog vomited on a pile of gravel though? I practically have to hold Tab down to see what objects are there for interaction even in EE, and am thankful I can zoom in (pixelated though it may be) on occasion.

EE uses the BG2 engine. Get BG1 and BG2 and BGTutu - which combines BG1 and BG2 into the same game using the BG2 engine - and play both games in the same engine.

Get BGT and EET. Not Tutu.