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[Jibbajabbawockky]

That would be absolutely amazing if it happened but their publishers would never let it happen since it doesn't translate well to consoles. At best we'll hopefully get more games like Dragon Age:Origin.


Playing this game makes me want to go through the whole catalogue of CRPGs like Neverwinter, Planescape, and BG2 since I never got to play those back in the day.

My dream game would still be to see a Dragon Age game done in this IE style, so that they're not so beholden to cutscenes and all of those costly things that seem like they hamper elements of choice/consequence and dialogue in modern BioWare games. I imagine you'd be able to make something like that at a fraction of what it costs BioWare to make a normal "AAA" Dragon Age game. Problem being EA only wants huge mega blockbusters in their portfolio.


You should definitely play Planescape and BG2 if you haven't. PoE does clean up on a lot of the rough edges those older IE games had but the story and characters in those games are still top notch.

 

[UncleSporky]

I'm definitely making some stupid/uninformed decisions this first time through.

I chose a rogue talent/ability for my main guy that drains endurance from enemies. I thought was a ranged thing that I could apply via guns like the blinding attack, but it turns out it's a short range aoe from the caster.

And I chose a damage link ability for my cipher, thinking I could pick an enemy and everyone around the enemy would take damage as he takes damage, but it turns out you pick an ALLY and then enemies are damaged as he is damaged. Still useful but not quite what I was thinking. Eder doesn't take enough damage for that to be worthwhile.

 

[Ozium]

Has there been any communication whatsoever out of Obsidian on when the patch is going out, and if we need to restart the game once it does?

the week of the 30th, so this week

allegedely

 

[UncleSporky]

i wonder how large the melee AoE is on a Barbarian with 62 Int?

I wonder if you could accidentally pull offscreen enemies by hitting them with it.

 

[Violet_0]

Damn, I'm level 9 and haven't run into any dragons yet, just a drake or two.

depending on where you go you can run into it pretty early in the game

oh, and I went back and put a spoiler tag in the post, could you edit that please?

 

[echoshifting]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

 

[r3n4ud]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

I never played any IE games before this. I say jump in this now while it's hot and everyone is playing and then go back to the others after.

 

[embalm]

So I was hit by the Sanitarium Bug. Details on it can be found here in case anyone else is having problems there.

Does anyone know how to turn hostiles off? I'm alright with having to use Console commands, but I can't find a good resource for them.

The main problem is the quest in Ondra's Gift where you search the waters at low tide for

Spoiler

pieces of a staff. After you find the pieces you are to take them to an animancer at the Sanitarium, but with everyone hostile I can't do that. If the persone isn't inside the Sanitarium, just let me know and I'll look for them elsewhere.

Thanks for any help

 

[Eudaemonium]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

They're certainly harder. PoE is far more user-friendly, whereas in BG it's really easy to massively screw yourself over without realising.

It's debatable, though. I played BG/2 back in the day and then the EEs when they released, and I'm loving PoE partially for the way its managed to update the basic IE designs to make them more accessible and intuitive while still retaining the depth of mechanics. However, they're all really long. You're looking at tens and tens of hours for the old IE games, and by the time you finish them you might not even want to start PoE due to burnout.

On the other hand going to them after PoE is going to feel like a massive step back in terms of intuitive mechanics.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

all of these bugs have completely killed my enthusiasm. i just can't bring myself to get invested when who knows how i could just totally fuck my save over in a way that may not even be fixable by future patches without just restarting

fucking sigh

If you are worried about the two most common bugs (double click and stat stacking), I would be shocked if the patch won't fix them. They are calculation errors that should go away when the formulas are corrected.

The insidious stuff like save corruption may or not be fixed reotroactively but it isn't clear if that is really widespread and/or if Obsidian even has a fix for that yet.

 

[Altazor]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

PoE is more user friendly, easier to jump into.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

If you really want to play this, I'd go ahead. It will take you forever to finish all the other games and you could get burned out. Comparing PoE to the old I'd games, I'd rank it second behind BG2, so I think it's a pretty good place to start.

 

[Pancakes]

I wonder if you could accidentally pull offscreen enemies by hitting them with it.

This has happened to me in Od Nua and led to many "oh shit" moments. Fighting 12 phantoms, 6 elementals, and a horde of skeleton warriors was crazy.

 

[Brojito]

Man, 25 hours in and I'm not even done with act 2. My quest backlog is really starting to grow, I forgot how it felt to have a game just suck you in like this.

I love how there's no filler, no fetch quests or kill 10 of these to advance the plot, it's all just content. Also the quests just feel more natural and dynamic to me... Like I'm not railroaded into a specific path, or there's one "right" way to do things, I'm just progressing through situations as I encounter them.

Like in Dyrford Village,

Spoiler

finding the missing girl: I investigated the town, got a description of where she went, and found it. Then stumbled upon a dungeon that I had no clue was there, descended down into it, and found myself in some kind of cultist temple with a bunch of stuff trying to kill me. It wasn't a quest marker, the game didn't tell me what to expect, I feel like I'm actually just searching for this girl and getting caught up in some really weird shit.

Or the tower in Heritage Hill:

Spoiler

stumbled across that, had no way to open it, and left. Then got the description from the acolyte lady in the main quest and I immediately knew exactly what it was just from a text description.

Even the dwarf ranger companions quest just giving you a text description of what the area looks like.... And I'm pretty sure I've found it now.

This game respects your intelligence, and it's so rewarding, I love it.

 

[studyguy]

I bumbled my way

Spoiler

into a cult by accident in Dryford Whatever. The leatherworker guy was like "Don't go in there bootlicker!" So I went into the door anyway. No one tells me what to do. Lo and behold there was a cult holding some pregnant woman hostage.

Skipped over the entire story by accident.

I was like whoops... let me reload before that...

Also checked my team to see if I'm bugged. Apparently I'm not.
So I've got that going for me.

 

[Taruranto]

Man, I miss Original Sin pathfinder...

 

[echoshifting]

I never played any IE games before this. I say jump in this now while it's hot and everyone is playing and then go back to the others after.

They're certainly harder. PoE is far more user-friendly, whereas in BG it's really easy to massively screw yourself over without realising.

It's debatable, though. I played BG/2 back in the day and then the EEs when they released, and I'm loving PoE partially for the way its managed to update the basic IE designs to make them more accessible and intuitive while still retaining the depth of mechanics. However, they're all really long. You're looking at tens and tens of hours for the old IE games, and by the time you finish them you might not even want to start PoE due to burnout.

On the other hand going to them after PoE is going to feel like a massive step back in terms of intuitive mechanics.

PoE is more user friendly, easier to jump into.

If you really want to play this, I'd go ahead. It will take you forever to finish all the other games and you could get burned out. Comparing PoE to the old I'd games, I'd rank it second behind BG2, so I think it's a pretty good place to start.

Great, thanks for all the input guys!

 

[studyguy]

Man, I miss Original Sin pathfinder...

I couldn't disarm those traps. Annoyed the shit out of me.

 

[Violet_0]

The main problem is the quest in Ondra's Gift where you search the waters at low tide for

Spoiler

pieces of a staff. After you find the pieces you are to take them to an animancer at the Sanitarium, but with everyone hostile I can't do that. If the persone isn't inside the Sanitarium, just let me know and I'll look for them elsewhere.

Thanks for any help

the character only appeared on the upper floor after doing the main quest there. Dunno if they are hostile to you though

 

[Raggie]

Trying to decide if I want to play all of the IE enhanced editions before I play this. I've never even touched BG2. What say you, gaf?

If you want the ultimate IE experience, go for modded originals, not for the enhanced editions.

The IE games are fantastic. BG2 is my RPG of all time and I still replay it every now and then. The thing to remember with these games is that they come from a time with very different game design philosophies. People were expected to understand AD&D or read the manual before starting the game. Also, normal difficulty is today's hard. Don't even consider the hard difficulty on your first playthrough.

My recommendation is to start with Baldur's Gate 1 and then go on to the others. Install fan mods, they make a much friendlier player experience (I wouldn't recommend playing BG1 without Tutu). You need to read up on different mods and make sure you have the correct install order. If Second Edition D&D is unfamiliar to you, take a look at the manual.

All this might sound like a bother, but it's definitely worth it. A couple of hours of preparation for dozens and dozens of hours of the finest RPG gaming is a small price to pay.

 

[Annubis]

This is weird to me because if the setup files contain corrupted files, then how in the world did it all work just fine for me and countless others who haven't experienced the bug?

He basically says that the setup is not extracting those files because they are broken, so when the game asks for them it can't pull them up because they don't exist. So why do they exist for me?

GoG? Steam?

 

[Basileus777]

If you want the ultimate IE experience, go for modded originals, not for the enhanced editions.

Nah, the enhanced editions are better nowadays. The mods you'd want work on them too.

 

[Kinthalis]

If you want the ultimate IE experience, go for modded originals, not for the enhanced editions.

The IE games are fantastic. BG2 is my RPG of all time and I still replay it every now and then. The thing to remember with these games is that they come from a time with very different game design philosophies. People were expected to understand AD&D or read the manual before starting the game. Also, normal difficulty is today's hard. Don't even consider the hard difficulty on your first playthrough.

My recommendation is to start with Baldur's Gate 1 and then go on to the others. Install fan mods, they make a much friendlier player experience (I wouldn't recommend playing BG1 without Tutu). You need to read up on different mods and make sure you have the correct install order. If Second Edition D&D is unfamiliar to you, take a look at the manual.

All this might sound like a bother, but it's definitely worth it. A couple of hours of preparation for dozens and dozens of hours of the finest RPG gaming is a small price to pay.

And that's why I'd recommend the enhanced editions instead. Mods are amazing for those games, and many are really must installs, but for a first timer? Installing some fo those mods can be finicky (at least last time I tried). Just play the enhanced edition. You cna always try the mods at some later point.

 

[Tom Penny]

When the long loading times started happening, I just deleted the first like, 100 saves or so and everything was back to super quick loading.

Is that in the game folder because I don't have that many showing in game?

 

[Cosmic Schwung]

Ogre druid knocks the entire party off its feet except for Aloth.

GRIMOIRE SLAM!

And down it goes. I love that wizards have an attack that's basically smacking them super hard with your spell book.

 

[Sinatar]

If you want the ultimate IE experience, go for modded originals, not for the enhanced editions.

The enhanced editions are completely fine now. All the important mods are compatible with them as well.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Yeah, I'd say the Enhanced Editions are fine to play. They even make the games a bit easier by adding some new weapons and equipment and some different quest rewards.

 

[Morzak]

So After dicking around a bit with my Saves, I can't get the Main Quest after "the old Watcher" to trigger... I'm now in Defiance Bay and have no main quest. Maybe I will try

Spoiler

to do the catacombs in Defiance Bay seems to be the way I would have to go for the main quest.........

.

I really don't want to start over after 25+ hours in the game

 

[Basileus777]

Yeah, I'd say the Enhanced Editions are fine to play. They even make the games a bit easier by adding some new weapons and equipment and some different quest rewards.

The interface improvements make them a worthwhile upgrade over the originals.

 

[Raggie]

Just playing this now makes me wonder why they ever stopped.

Because "everyone knows" that the only way for a game company to survive these days is to become as big as possible, and make games for the biggest audience possible by making really expensive games with the best possible visuals and simple enough for anyone to get into. Games like Baldur's Gate wouldn't be possible to make these days, and that's not even what people want anymore, save a handful of geezers who are a bit out of touch with the realities of the industry.

This is exactly what people at Bioware have been saying for years, and they are not the only ones. I wonder if they still hold these opinions. Sounds silly now, doesn't it? It was passed as canon truth just a couple of years ago.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Steam says 30 hours. No idea how accurate that is. Keep in mind I am a fast player and played on normal. I finished Wasteland 2 in about the same timeframe for example.

Edit: Also lots of double speed use for walking around and stealthing.

Wow. I have over 30 hours played and I haven't done any critical path in Act II yet.

 

[Volodja]

Wow. I have over 30 hours played and I haven't done any critical path in Act II yet.

Yeah, 30 hours is incredibly fast.
But then again, 30 hours for Wasteland 2 is insane to me as well.

 

[Violet_0]

So After dicking around a bit with my Saves, I can't get the Main Quest after "the old Watcher" to trigger... I'm now in Defiance Bay and have no main quest. Maybe I will try

Spoiler

to do the catacombs in Defiance Bay seems to be the way I would have to go for the main quest.........

.

I really don't want to start over after 25+ hours in the game

that's exactly where you need to go

 

[Zeliard]

Someone on Reddit apparently found a fix for the stat stacking bug using Cheat Engine:

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectete...icial_bugfix_easy_fix_for_attributesdefences/

 

[Volodja]

Someone on Reddit apparently found a fix for the stat stacking bug using Cheat Engine:

https://www.reddit.com/r/projectete...icial_bugfix_easy_fix_for_attributesdefences/

The part about not having any buff or toggle on is kinda hard when one bug actually stops you from being able to toggle off modal abilities. Dang.

 

[FlyinJ]

Wow. I have over 30 hours played and I haven't done any critical path in Act II yet.

I had 20 before quitting to wait to start over when the patch hits. I think I was halfway through Act 1. I was pretty much reading everything in the game, though.

 

[IAmRandom31]

games like these are like interactive, quality fantasy novels.

 

[Conezays]

About 14 hours in, just doing varying quests around Defiance Bay. Interested to see what pissing off various contrasting groups will do to my character, Lol.

 

[Alavard]

A big thank you to everyone who suggested kicking Aloth to the curb. After replacing him and ranger lady for Grieving Mother and the Druid, I am absolutely wrecking stuff.

I think the single biggest difference is that I don't have to worry about positioning for AoEs to keep my party members safe anymore. Grieving Mother's Mind Blades (I think that's what it's called, level 2 cipher 'spell') hits a group of enemies for ~30 damage without hitting allies. I'd rather sit in the back and chain cast that rather than run Aloth around trying to get an angle where he can hit multiple enemies for ~40 damage without hitting party members too.

 

[UncleSporky]

Just playing this now makes me wonder why they ever stopped.

Reminds me of that recent Jim Sterling video where he talked about how game companies just plain stopped making certain types of games, and there's no particular reason why. His examples were horror games and classic-style JRPGs, I believe. No decline in sales or popularity. Some executive decided that they should stop making them, and so they did. As a result indies are now reaping benefits, feeding the starved masses, and the companies are like "oh yeah, why DID we stop making those...?"

 

[Conezays]

A big thank you to everyone who suggested kicking Aloth to the curb. After replacing him and ranger lady for Grieving Mother and the Druid, I am absolutely wrecking stuff.

I think the single biggest difference is that I don't have to worry about positioning for AoEs to keep my party members safe anymore. Grieving Mother's Mind Blades (I think that's what it's called, level 2 cipher 'spell') hits a group of enemies for ~30 damage without hitting allies. I'd rather sit in the back and chain cast that rather than run Aloth around trying to get an angle where he can hit multiple enemies for ~40 damage without hitting party members too.

I still have Aloth in my party, but yeah, definitely been quite a few battles where I managed to wipe out my party with his AOE spells.

 

[echoshifting]

If you want the ultimate IE experience, go for modded originals, not for the enhanced editions.

The IE games are fantastic. BG2 is my RPG of all time and I still replay it every now and then. The thing to remember with these games is that they come from a time with very different game design philosophies. People were expected to understand AD&D or read the manual before starting the game. Also, normal difficulty is today's hard. Don't even consider the hard difficulty on your first playthrough.

My recommendation is to start with Baldur's Gate 1 and then go on to the others. Install fan mods, they make a much friendlier player experience (I wouldn't recommend playing BG1 without Tutu). You need to read up on different mods and make sure you have the correct install order. If Second Edition D&D is unfamiliar to you, take a look at the manual.

All this might sound like a bother, but it's definitely worth it. A couple of hours of preparation for dozens and dozens of hours of the finest RPG gaming is a small price to pay.

Nah, the enhanced editions are better nowadays. The mods you'd want work on them too.

And that's why I'd recommend the enhanced editions instead. Mods are amazing for those games, and many are really must installs, but for a first timer? Installing some fo those mods can be finicky (at least last time I tried). Just play the enhanced edition. You cna always try the mods at some later point.

The enhanced editions are completely fine now. All the important mods are compatible with them as well.

Yeah, I'd say the Enhanced Editions are fine to play. They even make the games a bit easier by adding some new weapons and equipment and some different quest rewards.

The interface improvements make them a worthwhile upgrade over the originals.

Just wanted to say thanks for the additional input folks. I think I've decided to go with BG1 EE and try to get through all three before starting PoE, but at the first whiff of burnout I'll hop over to this. I'll miss being in the moment with this game, it sounds like something special, but I know I'll get to it. Apologies for the derail.

 

[Morzak]

that's exactly where you need to go

Yeah I figured that but what worries me is that I didn't get

Spoiler

Never far from the Queen

Quest, it should be available before the end of the 1st act if I don't misunderstand it.

 

[Ourobolus]

A big thank you to everyone who suggested kicking Aloth to the curb. After replacing him and ranger lady for Grieving Mother and the Druid, I am absolutely wrecking stuff.

I think the single biggest difference is that I don't have to worry about positioning for AoEs to keep my party members safe anymore. Grieving Mother's Mind Blades (I think that's what it's called, level 2 cipher 'spell') hits a group of enemies for ~30 damage without hitting allies. I'd rather sit in the back and chain cast that rather than run Aloth around trying to get an angle where he can hit multiple enemies for ~40 damage without hitting party members too.

I am loving Silent Scream. Foe AoE Damage + Stun (think stun is only on the target though).

 

[Kimaka]

Done with Act I.

Spoiler

Raedric is one hell of a fight. Cheesed it a bit by having Edér and Itumaak block the main door then had Aloth go around to the side door and fire ball their asses. Took a few attempts to make it work since Edér would die after combat started while running away and Aloth kept fucking up and missing. Also, Durance was a life saver with Iconic Projection and Withdraw.

 

[Violet_0]

Yeah I figured that but what worries me is that I didn't get

Spoiler

Never far from the Queen

Quest, it should be available before the end of the 1st act if I don't misunderstand it.

yep, sounds like a bug. Maybe the problem it fixes itself when you proceed with the main quest, otherwise I'm afraid you are out of luck

 

[EviLore]

Aloth is not always about AoE damage output, due to friendly fire concerns. Druids have the best AoE damage spells and have several that only target enemies and/or last the whole fight, so they take care of business on that end more straightforwardly.

Wizards are all about game-changer AoE crowd control spells like Exxon Valdeze, Confusion, and Slumber Party. Those can single-handedly win you fights.

I usually initiate with his FF AoE damage spells from stealth (pulling enemies into priest traps when necessary), and try to set up tank positioning to cleanly chain fireball the line of enemies afterwards, but that doesn't always work out, so when things get messy I focus on crowd control spells like the ones mentioned, and instabursting squishy back line spellcasters with his fast and consistent missiles (missiles at spell level 5 put in work), throwing in some debuff like Expose Weakness as appropriate. Sometimes, though, you have to go to Defcon 1 with his nukes and cross your fingers.

Wizards definitely require finesse in this game but they're a lot of fun to use and invaluable in difficult fights.

 

[Burt]

DId you have any difficulties with the last boss? I found it to be rather impossible and had to turn god mode on.



I just turned god mode on and even then it took me like 10+ minutes of wailing on them to finally kill them. Seems like they heal up too.

A little bit, although it wasn't as bad as the Od Nua boss.

Spoiler

I had Eder tank Thaos and then everyone else on one of the big dudes. Originally I had Pallegina tank one of them and my bear tank another and everyone would focus the bear-tanked one to burn it down 'quick', but it still took too long and keeping three tanks up wasn't working with the AOE Thaos was throwing in the middle. So, once I figured out how susceptible the big dudes were to CC, I decided to put everyone but Eder on one, and use the ranger's root ability constantly on the other. 5 uses per rest, seemed to have 100% hit rate, and it would last for either 15 or 30 seconds per use. The big guys have zero ranged, so they can't do anything if they're rooted away from everyone. Constant oil slick/slumber/Druid rock knockdown on the other meant neither of them did much the whole fight.

Only took me one try after I figured out that strategy, although it did take me a while because I was set on using spells but they would always miss. I didn't realize basic attacks were actually more effective until I ran out of spells on the last try out of maybe 8-10, because it was the only one I lived long enough. Seems they all have crazy magic defense.

 

[pahamrick]

Wizards definitely require finesse in this game but they're a lot of fun to use and invaluable in difficult fights.

Without a doubt. I was running a PC Wizard, Aloth, Eder, Durance and Kana in my party and things were just getting melted on hard.

Another bonus to running 2 Wizards at a time are the ability to easily share spells at level up. Multiple spells you like, and bummed you can only pick 1 or 2 at a time? Pick 1 or 2 on your PC wizard and the others on Aloth then use the grimoires to buy the spells for the other Wizard as they're ridiculously cheap.

-Edit-

Course, I guess that really applies to any two of the same caster classes too.

 

[Pancakes]

A big thank you to everyone who suggested kicking Aloth to the curb. After replacing him and ranger lady for Grieving Mother and the Druid, I am absolutely wrecking stuff.

I think the single biggest difference is that I don't have to worry about positioning for AoEs to keep my party members safe anymore. Grieving Mother's Mind Blades (I think that's what it's called, level 2 cipher 'spell') hits a group of enemies for ~30 damage without hitting allies. I'd rather sit in the back and chain cast that rather than run Aloth around trying to get an angle where he can hit multiple enemies for ~40 damage without hitting party members too.

Aloth is really overrated imo especially in longer dungeons when his spells run out of uses and you're left with only his super short range arcane AOE. Druid is very underrated and I get the feeling that many people aren't using him at all. He's actually very potent and a fun character if you like sarcastic assholes.

Aloth is not always about AoE damage output, due to friendly fire concerns. Druids have the best AoE damage spells and have several that only target enemies and/or last the whole fight, so they take care of business on that end more straightforwardly.

Wizards are all about game-changer AoE crowd control spells like Exxon Valdeze, Confusion, and Slumber Party. Those can single-handedly win you fights.

I usually initiate with his FF AoE damage spells from stealth (pulling enemies into priest traps when necessary), and try to set up tank positioning to cleanly chain fireball the line of enemies afterwards, but that doesn't always work out, so when things get messy I focus on crowd control spells like the ones mentioned, and instabursting squishy back line spellcasters with his fast and consistent missiles (missiles at spell level 5 put in work), throwing in some debuff like Expose Weakness as appropriate. Sometimes, though, you have to go to Defcon 1 with his nukes and cross your fingers.

Wizards definitely require finesse in this game but they're a lot of fun to use and invaluable in difficult fights.

Wizards are definitely powerful but I feel that Ciphers just do their jobs much better than them and survive longer with unlimited spell uses. Cipher AoE dominate and the level 2 mind blades are just destroying the lower levels of Od Nua on hard difficulty. For some reason the powerful mobs down here just straight up target Aloth and take him down real quickly. My priest will usually handle debuffs/buffs while my 2 Ciphers just rip through everyone else with AOE.