Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Yet again I shall remind them that the patrician's choice is this mod. Basically Cassia from RT before that was a thing. Abandoned before getting a ToB component unfortunately though.

Lol, I think I played this. Don't know if I got far in though.

Yeah, Nalia could have been a much more fleshed out character than she was. I found her basic concept interesting and was kind of surprised we didn't get her as a romance option.

The other big controversial romance mod I remember was some mod where the character was underaged, but I don't remember the name. I never played it though. I just saw the walls of text in her dialogs and knew it'd be bad writing before any of the controversy came up. Many such cases.

 

[The Jester]

So have you guys heard of a Belgian fan made mod called BG3 on a DOS engine? Heard it kinda sucks but has better romances.

The Imoen romance mod and the online reaction to it was pretty funny. I miss the days when BG2 had a mod community.

I don't know who looks at either of Imoen's avatars and thinks "hubba hubba" though.

BG2's *cough* EE *cough* mod community is still active, they hang around Gibberlings Three.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Spoiler

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

BG2's *cough* EE *cough* mod community is still active, they hang around Gibberlings Three.

It's not the same.

 

[Cael]

Yet again I shall remind them that the patrician's choice is this mod. Basically Cassia from RT before that was a thing. Abandoned before getting a ToB component unfortunately though.

Lol, I think I played this. Don't know if I got far in though.

Yeah, Nalia could have been a much more fleshed out character than she was. I found her basic concept interesting and was kind of surprised we didn't get her as a romance option.

The other big controversial romance mod I remember was some mod where the character was underaged, but I don't remember the name. I never played it though. I just saw the walls of text in her dialogs and knew it'd be bad writing before any of the controversy came up. Many such cases.

Saerilith, I believe. There is a let's play of it. And yes, there are conversation node with up to 29 options for you to pick.

 

[Chippy]

Has anyone ever tried to slay the ghostly knights in Firewine ruins? I remember making the attempt a loooong time ago when I very first go into BG. I recall getting wrecked. Are they even proper undead? If so, maybe equip a fighter with the cursed sword of berserking and then slap a protection from undead scroll on them. I'm curious if anyone has ever defeated them.

Yes it can be done. I can't remember what item you got and if it was in the vanilla game or modded, but it can be done. I think it was nothing in vanilla, and the spear of backstabbing modded but can't remember.

In the EE: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Knight Beamdog went full retard with the items. Which shows again, that they have no fucking idea what the game is about.

 

[Melcar]

In the original game they just dropped broken armor if I remember correctly. One of them had a magic cursed spear.

 

[octavius]

In the original game they just dropped broken armor if I remember correctly. One of them had a magic cursed spear.

Yes, that sounds familiar.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

What I loved about BG1 and 2 were how relatively rare good items were in the early game. You would *remember* where you picked up a magic item in most of BG1 because every other NPC dropped junk. Even in BG2, it took a bit of time before you had a bag full of magic items.

MMO/NWN design, where you're picking up +1 and +2 items until they feel like garbage, ruins so many settings.

 

[Average Manatee]

I like when items have a unique name and description rather than just being +1.

I would say that modern games don't do any of this, but dark souls basically made it into a genre of storytelling

 

[Melcar]

What I loved about BG1 and 2 were how relatively rare good items were in the early game. You would *remember* where you picked up a magic item in most of BG1 because every other NPC dropped junk. Even in BG2, it took a bit of time before you had a bag full of magic items.

MMO/NWN design, where you're picking up +1 and +2 items until they feel like garbage, ruins so many settings.

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters. In my first playthrough I did not find most, but once you know where to look you can see that the game had too many magic items even in the early stages.

 

[Cael]

What I loved about BG1 and 2 were how relatively rare good items were in the early game. You would *remember* where you picked up a magic item in most of BG1 because every other NPC dropped junk. Even in BG2, it took a bit of time before you had a bag full of magic items.

MMO/NWN design, where you're picking up +1 and +2 items until they feel like garbage, ruins so many settings.

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters. In my first playthrough I did not find most, but once you know where to look you can see that the game had too many magic items even in the early stages.

BG1 had that +1 dagger straight off the bat. Makes all weapons of d6 or less damage obsolete instantly.

 

[d1r]

What I loved about BG1 and 2 were how relatively rare good items were in the early game. You would *remember* where you picked up a magic item in most of BG1 because every other NPC dropped junk. Even in BG2, it took a bit of time before you had a bag full of magic items.

MMO/NWN design, where you're picking up +1 and +2 items until they feel like garbage, ruins so many settings.

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters. In my first playthrough I did not find most, but once you know where to look you can see that the game had too many magic items even in the early stages.

BG1 had that +1 dagger straight off the bat. Makes all weapons of d6 or less damage obsolete instantly.

Unless you of course had no Proficiency in Daggers. Not everyone is power gaming, you know?

 

[Cael]

What I loved about BG1 and 2 were how relatively rare good items were in the early game. You would *remember* where you picked up a magic item in most of BG1 because every other NPC dropped junk. Even in BG2, it took a bit of time before you had a bag full of magic items.

MMO/NWN design, where you're picking up +1 and +2 items until they feel like garbage, ruins so many settings.

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters. In my first playthrough I did not find most, but once you know where to look you can see that the game had too many magic items even in the early stages.

BG1 had that +1 dagger straight off the bat. Makes all weapons of d6 or less damage obsolete instantly.

Unless you of course had no Proficiency in Daggers. Not everyone is power gaming, you know?

Possible, but not likely. Only Clerics cannot wield it, and small blades is worth a point for just about any other class.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters.

Sure, but BG1 isn't Elden Ring. Most people aren't going to bother watching YouTube videos to find out where things are.

You play the game normally. You see a bunch of junk swords for the first hour or two. Maybe you see a magic item in a shop and wish you could afford it. But when you finally get your first +1 or +2 swords, it's memorable. And especially the named ones that have backstories.

Compare that to NWN, where you're overloaded with magic swords early on in the game. Or The Witcher 3, where you're swapping out your swords for new ones with a few extra points of damage every hour or two.

It takes all the satisfaction out of it, and it makes the setting feel faker.

BG1 had that +1 dagger straight off the bat. Makes all weapons of d6 or less damage obsolete instantly.

You can't get it if you have evil alignment and/or low charisma. And it's a reward for a quest, not something that randomly falls off a wolf or gibberling.

 

[Average Manatee]

Need I remind you guys that https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Dagger_of_Venom exists? And was much stronger in BG1 compared to BG1EE where it was nerfed hard?

 

[Hydro]

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters.

Sure, but BG1 isn't Elden Ring. Most people aren't going to bother watching YouTube videos to find out where things are.

You play the game normally. You see a bunch of junk swords for the first hour or two. Maybe you see a magic item in a shop and wish you could afford it. But when you finally get your first +1 or +2 swords, it's memorable. And especially the named ones that have backstories.

Compare that to NWN, where you're overloaded with magic swords early on in the game. Or The Witcher 3, where you're swapping out your swords for new ones with a few extra points of damage every hour or two.

It takes all the satisfaction out of it, and it makes the setting feel faker.

BG1 had that +1 dagger straight off the bat. Makes all weapons of d6 or less damage obsolete instantly.

You can't get it if you have evil alignment and/or low charisma. And it's a reward for a quest, not something that randomly falls off a wolf or gibberling.

Totally agree. Obtaining powerful items in BG was a huge part of enjoyment. I believe the first +2 sword you get was from Greywolf, and it was a big deal. Some people praise the BG3’s approach to itemization, but it’s just ridiculous how you are drowned in all kind of overpowered crap almost immediately.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Need I remind you guys that https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Dagger_of_Venom exists? And was much stronger in BG1 compared to BG1EE where it was nerfed hard?

Once you could afford to buy it.

You're missing the point. No one is saying there weren't broken cheese weapons in the game. The point is that the game didn't overwhelm the player with magic weapons early on, and most of the magic weapons were memorable and somewhat unique.

BG2 had more weapons, but it still tried to keep them interesting. There's a quest to build the Flail of Ages. The Staff of Magi is locked behind a very high-level fight. Blackrazor, Carsomyr, Crom Faeyr, The Mace of Disruption - I can remember they were in the game off-hand because the way I got them was interesting and they were unique.

I cannot name a single weapon in the NWN OC. I do not remember anything but a sea of +X weapons that I was bored of before the first chapter or two ended.

 

[Krivol]

Equalizer - that was the troll weapon...

 

[Melcar]

You can find +1 weapons and special gear early on, but most of it was "hidden" in quests or behind certain "hard" encounters.

Sure, but BG1 isn't Elden Ring. Most people aren't going to bother watching YouTube videos to find out where things are.

You play the game normally. You see a bunch of junk swords for the first hour or two. Maybe you see a magic item in a shop and wish you could afford it. But when you finally get your first +1 or +2 swords, it's memorable. And especially the named ones that have backstories.

That's why I said I did not find most of the magical gear in my first play. Unless you play with the intention of trying all possible outcomes and doing all the quests, you will be hard pressed to find everything on your first try. I needed to read a guide back then.

But the magic items are there, and in the first parts of the game. Fairly easy to venture down the Nashkel mines with +1 weapons already. And once you come out of the mines, you can get even more +1 gear (and some +2) thrown at you. That's not even half way through the game.

Yeah, even at those early stages it did feel satisfying since you had already completed a dungeon and fought some fairly hard encounters by then. SCS has a module that replaces most +1 weapons with "fine" ones specifically because there are too many magical +1 weapons early in the game.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

I needed to read a guide back then.

Yes, if you look up a guide, you can find the cheese ring that lets mages cast double spells, and you can use a summoning wand to cheese Drizzt (and half the fights in the game) and het his magic armor and swords. You can look up where to find the stat tomes.

But that's you metagaming and ruining an already easy game by making it easier with external knowledge. It's not the same as trash mobs dropping magic weapons like at the start of NWN OC.

But the magic items are there, and in the first parts of the game.

They aren't dropping like candy from every other enemy. That's my point.

Memorable. That's the standard. Read the post were I was talking about getting your first +2 sword (before the mines). It's not loot drops from trash mobs. That's all I'm saying.

The cursed berserker sword is +3, and you can get that before the mines too. But where do you get it? How? We all remember because it's from a memorable quest.

You know what I don't remember? What my first magic sword in NWN was. Or even the first magic weapon I found in BG3. It all blends together, since it was so common and it dropped from so many no name NPCs.

And once you come out of the mines, you can get even more +1 gear (and some +2) thrown at you. That's not even half way through the game.

The fight when you come out of the mines has dialog and named NPCs attached to it. It was also after what might have been a hard fight for new players. It was designed to be a bit of a tougher encounter and rewarded the player for it.

See, I remember that fight and most of the loot I got from it. I don't remember it because the items were so good. I remember it because of the situation, because of the dialog with the NPCs, and because I wasn't bombarded with magic items from the 100 kobolds, gibberlings, gnolls, orcs and ogres I'd killed before then.

 

[jackofshadows]

Guys it seems to me you're comparing playing it while you were still dumb kids. I too thought once Fallout is difficult. The more you play these games the better you know where to look for shit.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Guys it seems to me you're comparing playing it while you were still dumb kids. I too thought once Fallout is difficult. The more you play these games the better you know where to look for shit.

Depends. In the original game, there was no key to highlight searchable items. You had to pixel hunt the whole map or figure it out from one NPC's hint if you wanted to find the Ring of Wizardry.

But AGAIN: Memorable. That's the standard. Read the post were I was talking about getting your first +2 sword (before the mines). It's not loot drops from trash mobs. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Vic]

if you scream even louder maybe they'll understand you

 

[Melcar]

Your mom was memorable.