I liked Baldur's Gate II since the very beginning, from Irenicus's first words, to the dungeon, which had something new every turn, to the mages not allowing you to use magic inside the city! It was all so fresh and so sharp and crisp compared to Baldur's Gate 1. Plus the graphics were good back then..
I don't know what I can say if you don't like it, maybe start with Baldur's Gate 1 which is worse but you're level 1, you feel more attached to your character. (plus BG2 has plenty of cameos). Also turn up the volume, there's some epic music. And overall having already played BG1 you will appreciate the changes and new spells of BG2. If you never played any, you'll probably ignore all the items, spells and so forth because there are TOO many of them.
I always thought BG2 was a good example of the difference between graphics and visuals...the graphics look dated now, but the environments are so detailed in a way that adds authenticity, so the game actually looks better to me than many that came after it.
I always thought BG2 was a good example of the difference between graphics and visuals...the graphics look dated now, but the environments are so detailed in a way that adds authenticity, so the game actually looks better to me than many that came after it.
Agreed - the ambient sound + pre-rendered backgrounds are spot-on.
Athkatla is more alive with just a sound track and static background than many cities I visited in other first-person RPGs.
The slums, the docks, the promenade - all fantastic.
Really? I always thought the ambient tracks were sort of annoying and repetetive in pretty much all the IE games. I can still hear the yelling in my nightmares.
Though, to be fair, now that I think about it, I have a hard time coming up with better examples, so I guess they did okay.
BG2 used crowd noise to create the impression of a busy urban area so well I wish other RPGs would do the same thing. So many cities in RPGs just feel empty.
They're a really cheap and relatively effective way of giving the player the idea that the city is inhabited by more than just shopkeepers. I'm sort of surprised that other games don't use similar things, especially when "empty city syndrome" seems to be so common.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
BG2 used crowd noise to create the impression of a busy urban area so well I wish other RPGs would do the same thing. So many cities in RPGs just feel empty.
Bioware used the same tactic to great effect in Neverwinter, but did it very well for every area in the game. Going back to neverwinter when the war was being fought gave you a real impression that it was a city under siege.
I wish Fallout 3 went further with its generic citizens in cities, I dont care if they only say 1 line each, it does not make sense to see 10 people in a goddamn aircraft carrier.
I always thought BG2 was a good example of the difference between graphics and visuals...the graphics look dated now, but the environments are so detailed in a way that adds authenticity, so the game actually looks better to me than many that came after it.
BG1 and 2 still look great if you get TUTU and widescreen mods. The hand painted areas look better than any 3D rpg made before 2005.
I really miss the Sword Coast in general, especially the wilderness and woods. They're imprinted like real places I've been to, in my visual memories. The ambient noises also contributed, not only the city conversation dim, but also the wind and chirps in the woods.
He had a cameo in BG1 where you could either help him slaughter a group of gnolls, or slaughter him for his gear.
This tied into his appearance in BG2 where:
You run into him and his whole party of people (the dwarf, halfling, barbarian, panther, etc) as they're wandering the world-map. If you have any of his gear from BG1 he immediately recognizes you as the one who took advantage and killed him for loot, and they all go hostile. If you don't you have a short list of dialogue options that can result in either him helping you with Bodhi, or in them all going hostile.
Not only can you kill one of the most annoyingly munchkin and overcopied characters in fantasy, you can take his awesome gear too. In BG2 though you need a mod to turn off Melchor Harpell teleporting in a little while later and taking it all from you with a "You know we just resurrect them. Have fun sleeping at night!"
He had a cameo in BG1 where you could either help him slaughter a group of gnolls, or slaughter him for his gear.
This tied into his appearance in BG2 where:
You run into him and his whole party of people (the dwarf, halfling, barbarian, panther, etc) as they're wandering the world-map. If you have any of his gear from BG1 he immediately recognizes you as the one who took advantage and killed him for loot, and they all go hostile. If you don't you have a short list of dialogue options that can result in either him helping you with Bodhi, or in them all going hostile.
In BG2
I read that if you name your guy Drizzt and have a low reputation he also attacks automatically.
He had a cameo in BG1 where you could either help him slaughter a group of gnolls, or slaughter him for his gear.
This tied into his appearance in BG2 where:
You run into him and his whole party of people (the dwarf, halfling, barbarian, panther, etc) as they're wandering the world-map. If you have any of his gear from BG1 he immediately recognizes you as the one who took advantage and killed him for loot, and they all go hostile. If you don't you have a short list of dialogue options that can result in either him helping you with Bodhi, or in them all going hostile.
Wasn't there also an easter egg in BG2 that if you had his name, and your choices throughout the game were the 'evil' choices, he would challenge you to defend his name?
I read it somewhere, can't remeber if it was at GameFaqs or something.
He had a cameo in BG1 where you could either help him slaughter a group of gnolls, or slaughter him for his gear.
This tied into his appearance in BG2 where:
You run into him and his whole party of people (the dwarf, halfling, barbarian, panther, etc) as they're wandering the world-map. If you have any of his gear from BG1 he immediately recognizes you as the one who took advantage and killed him for loot, and they all go hostile. If you don't you have a short list of dialogue options that can result in either him helping you with Bodhi, or in them all going hostile.
Not only can you kill one of the most annoyingly munchkin and overcopied characters in fantasy, you can take his awesome gear too. In BG2 though you need a mod to turn off Melchor Harpell teleporting in a little while later and taking it all from you with a "You know we just resurrect them. Have fun sleeping at night!"
Thanks, I couldn't remember. I know I never killed him, and in fact helped him...because Drizzt is awesome. Though using his magical scimitars would have been awesome. Don't know why I didn't think to take them from him.
He had a cameo in BG1 where you could either help him slaughter a group of gnolls, or slaughter him for his gear.
This tied into his appearance in BG2 where:
You run into him and his whole party of people (the dwarf, halfling, barbarian, panther, etc) as they're wandering the world-map. If you have any of his gear from BG1 he immediately recognizes you as the one who took advantage and killed him for loot, and they all go hostile. If you don't you have a short list of dialogue options that can result in either him helping you with Bodhi, or in them all going hostile.
Wasn't there also an easter egg in BG2 that if you had his name, and your choices throughout the game were the 'evil' choices, he would challenge you to defend his name?
I read it somewhere, can't remeber if it was at GameFaqs or something.
"Drizzt appears in Baldur's Gate fighting some gnolls, it is possible for a skilled player to kill him and steal his items and a friendly or hostile version of Drizzt can be spawned with a cheat code. Drizzt also appears in the sequel Baldur's Gate II and will react negatively if the player has imported characters from the first game that killed Drizzt or have any of his unique items, he will also react negatively to any elven character with a low reputation with the same name, challenging them to a duel of honour."
If I remember right the chainmail had one of the best AC ratings for that armor class and one of the swords was the only +5 Scimitar in the game; pre-ToB for each of course. And the bow from the archer woman was one of those no-arrows-needed ones.
As for in BG1, his stuff was pretty good within the context of the other options.
Drizzt wasn't really all that hard to take down - you didn't need to use exploits or anything. He just hit incredibly hard in melee, which could be mitigated with potions etc.
They also never buffed him in TotSC - when I first got the game I was a kid and couldn't win fairly, so I always killed Sarevok by using the "summon friendly drizzt" cheat. In vanilla BG you could summon one or two to beat him fairly.
In TotSC you had to summons hordes of Drizzts, and Sarevok was so overpowered he would gib-kill half of them.
Yeah, hence the exploiting pathing being the most common method. Getting him one one side of a river/pond and plinking him to death with arrows may not be cheating, but it isn't really up-and-up combat either.
So, I made a mage, found it fun but slightly unsatisfying then made a Sorcerer.
Holy crap this game just got hella fun. I actually enjoy combat now. I think what helped a lot was saying "Fuck it" and sitting down with a list of EVERY SPELL and reading them all.
I like it now, but I still feel a little weird about the characters and the story. After I started having dreams with Irenicus, I got way sucked in, but I find the constraints of the party (the fact they get mad and leave sometimes) a bit annoying.
So, I made a mage, found it fun but slightly unsatisfying then made a Sorcerer.
Holy crap this game just got hella fun. I actually enjoy combat now. I think what helped a lot was saying "Fuck it" and sitting down with a list of EVERY SPELL and reading them all.
I like it now, but I still feel a little weird about the characters and the story. After I started having dreams with Irenicus, I got way sucked in, but I find the constraints of the party (the fact they get mad and leave sometimes) a bit annoying.
well you either need to find like minded party members or keep the ones you have happy. The problem is you could go through the whole game without finding enough members to be evil with if you don't know where to look.
hint:
choose the thieves guild over mistress bohdi
Ending spoiler:
when i was fighting Irenicus I turned into the slayer, reducing my reputation by 2. Imoen didn't like that very much and decided to leave my party after being dragged down to hell. She somehow thought that she could make it back to the copper coronet.
So, I made a mage, found it fun but slightly unsatisfying then made a Sorcerer.
Holy crap this game just got hella fun. I actually enjoy combat now. I think what helped a lot was saying "Fuck it" and sitting down with a list of EVERY SPELL and reading them all.
I like it now, but I still feel a little weird about the characters and the story. After I started having dreams with Irenicus, I got way sucked in, but I find the constraints of the party (the fact they get mad and leave sometimes) a bit annoying.
well you either need to find like minded party members or keep the ones you have happy. The problem is you could go through the whole game without finding enough members to be evil with if you don't know where to look.
hint:
choose the thieves guild over mistress bohdi
Ending spoiler:
when i was fighting Irenicus I turned into the slayer, reducing my reputation by 2. Imoen didn't like that very much and decided to leave my party after being dragged down to hell. She somehow thought that she could make it back to the copper coronet.
You fellas need one of the weidu mods that does nothing except stop party members leaving.
there are plenty of neutral partymembers out there that work with "evil" parties
I mean, even the good ones won't leave unless you do something really nutso or go below 3 reputation or something, which should be easy enough to avoid.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I like it now, but I still feel a little weird about the characters and the story. After I started having dreams with Irenicus, I got way sucked in, but I find the constraints of the party (the fact they get mad and leave sometimes) a bit annoying.
Certain party members are predisposed to certain types of behavior. Don't take the bloodthirsty, murderous drunk of a dwarf along to help an orphanage and avoid burning down a nursing home if you have a paladin on board. You can pretty easily play an evil, good, or neutral PC. You just have to find some like-minded individuals.
What I'm doing as I (slowly) play through it again is only using three or four "permanent" party members, the serious evil ones. For the rest, I'm using whoever is handy until they piss me off, I piss them off, or someone better comes along.
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I always thought BG2 was a good example of the difference between graphics and visuals...the graphics look dated now, but the environments are so detailed in a way that adds authenticity, so the game actually looks better to me than many that came after it.
BG1 and 2 still look great if you get TUTU and widescreen mods. The hand painted areas look better than any 3D rpg made before 2005.
People say stuff like this a lot, but the areas aren't hand-painted. They were pre-rendered in 3D and the snapshots were taken and used for the areas.
The same goes for all the character sprites. They're animated 3D models turned into sprites.
I tried disabling 3D acceleration on the config and I got this:
I'm hoping I'll be able to get the widescreen mod working but I guess I better get it working normally first. Anyone been running this in Windows 7?
I think the problem is that you have Anomen in your group.
You are being punished.
It's even worse.
He is Anomen
No I think he's the last guy. I think he has Anomen in the lead of the formation because he's a squishy cloth wearing dude.
On my last play through Anomen left my party because I kept telling him I'd help him with his stupid trial thing, but I never got around to it. He failed it without me and hates me forever.
Posts
I don't know what I can say if you don't like it, maybe start with Baldur's Gate 1 which is worse but you're level 1, you feel more attached to your character. (plus BG2 has plenty of cameos). Also turn up the volume, there's some epic music. And overall having already played BG1 you will appreciate the changes and new spells of BG2. If you never played any, you'll probably ignore all the items, spells and so forth because there are TOO many of them.
Agreed - the ambient sound + pre-rendered backgrounds are spot-on.
Athkatla is more alive with just a sound track and static background than many cities I visited in other first-person RPGs.
The slums, the docks, the promenade - all fantastic.
Though, to be fair, now that I think about it, I have a hard time coming up with better examples, so I guess they did okay.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Bioware used the same tactic to great effect in Neverwinter, but did it very well for every area in the game. Going back to neverwinter when the war was being fought gave you a real impression that it was a city under siege.
BG1 and 2 still look great if you get TUTU and widescreen mods. The hand painted areas look better than any 3D rpg made before 2005.
I really miss the Sword Coast in general, especially the wilderness and woods. They're imprinted like real places I've been to, in my visual memories. The ambient noises also contributed, not only the city conversation dim, but also the wind and chirps in the woods.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Not only can you kill one of the most annoyingly munchkin and overcopied characters in fantasy, you can take his awesome gear too. In BG2 though you need a mod to turn off Melchor Harpell teleporting in a little while later and taking it all from you with a "You know we just resurrect them. Have fun sleeping at night!"
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Wasn't there also an easter egg in BG2 that if you had his name, and your choices throughout the game were the 'evil' choices, he would challenge you to defend his name?
I read it somewhere, can't remeber if it was at GameFaqs or something.
Never having a character named Drizzt I never encountered that particular option.
Thanks, I couldn't remember. I know I never killed him, and in fact helped him...because Drizzt is awesome. Though using his magical scimitars would have been awesome. Don't know why I didn't think to take them from him.
Oh well awesome cameo in two awesome games. :P
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Found it: under Drizzt's Wikipedia entry:
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
As for in BG1, his stuff was pretty good within the context of the other options.
They also never buffed him in TotSC - when I first got the game I was a kid and couldn't win fairly, so I always killed Sarevok by using the "summon friendly drizzt" cheat. In vanilla BG you could summon one or two to beat him fairly.
In TotSC you had to summons hordes of Drizzts, and Sarevok was so overpowered he would gib-kill half of them.
So, I made a mage, found it fun but slightly unsatisfying then made a Sorcerer.
Holy crap this game just got hella fun. I actually enjoy combat now. I think what helped a lot was saying "Fuck it" and sitting down with a list of EVERY SPELL and reading them all.
I like it now, but I still feel a little weird about the characters and the story. After I started having dreams with Irenicus, I got way sucked in, but I find the constraints of the party (the fact they get mad and leave sometimes) a bit annoying.
well you either need to find like minded party members or keep the ones you have happy. The problem is you could go through the whole game without finding enough members to be evil with if you don't know where to look.
hint:
Ending spoiler:
You fellas need one of the weidu mods that does nothing except stop party members leaving.
Or just raise your reputation with cheats.
Or money at the temples.
Or money you got from cheats.
I mean, even the good ones won't leave unless you do something really nutso or go below 3 reputation or something, which should be easy enough to avoid.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
This is on windows 7, newly installed and patched ToB.
And from my first post in this thread:
Muahaha!
Oh. Dammit. Ah well, I claim credit regardless!
Certain party members are predisposed to certain types of behavior. Don't take the bloodthirsty, murderous drunk of a dwarf along to help an orphanage and avoid burning down a nursing home if you have a paladin on board. You can pretty easily play an evil, good, or neutral PC. You just have to find some like-minded individuals.
What makes a good man go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
Anyways, Sorcerers kick serious ass.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
Only really practical with a mage though, and then only if you are importing one into the character generation that already completed the game.
But man, is it fun.
I'm hoping I'll be able to get the widescreen mod working but I guess I better get it working normally first. Anyone been running this in Windows 7?
I think the problem is that you have Anomen in your group.
You are being punished.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
It's even worse.
He is Anomen
Steam Support is the worst. Seriously, the worst
People say stuff like this a lot, but the areas aren't hand-painted. They were pre-rendered in 3D and the snapshots were taken and used for the areas.
The same goes for all the character sprites. They're animated 3D models turned into sprites.
No I think he's the last guy. I think he has Anomen in the lead of the formation because he's a squishy cloth wearing dude.
On my last play through Anomen left my party because I kept telling him I'd help him with his stupid trial thing, but I never got around to it. He failed it without me and hates me forever.