1883

I guess I’ve favored using ranged weapons over spells because I don’t need to rest for ranged ammo. I will use spells if I start getting in trouble or I enter a battle with low health - mostly area of effect spells or some type of protection / debuff spell. I guess I shouldn’t say spells are weaker than ranged weapons, but that they aren’t necessary in so many battles so I conserve them. So, I’m using ranged weapons a lot more frequently then spells.

1884

I mostly think it’s cool there are several ways to approach combat that seem effective. Though I’m happy to see wizards get a buff (even as the two most OP 1st level spells get brought down a little), since I wanted to roll a Wizard main at some point in the future, and I see some ranged weapons are getting a bit of a nerf, it looks like.

1885

That’s one big advantage Ciphers have, you can cut loose and next combat you’re back to full.

1886

It was even worse for me, I just couldn’t see the map at all in underground locations or outside at night. I’d have to turn off all the lights in my room. Or I guess turn up the gamma, but the game looked fine in well-lit locations.

1887

More information here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/74701-obsidian-why-isnt-there-any-hotfix-yet/page-5#entry1625812

1888

So is the hardest difficulty the same number and type of monsters as hard + they get better stats, or the same number and type as medium + they get better stats?

If it is the latter, I think maybe I should have given that a try. If I play again, I think I’ll try and do the 1 character challenge and adjust the difficulty as needed. I think I’d prefer to control 1 guy in depth compared to a group kinda whilly nilly.

1889

Except I re-played BG1:EE just last year and loved it. Except Durlag’s Tower, that was sort of lame.

The RPG system is poor, the world isn’t as interesting as BG, the cities aren’t as interesting as BG1/2, there’s not as much “going on” in PoE as there was in BG1/2. The rival factions, the thieves guild, the slavers, etc. Remember in BG, after Gorion is slain you end up in the Mines of Nashkel trying to figure out why the iron ore is so bad… and yet somehow that leads into Bhaalspawn saga? It was a fairly deep plotline. And how awesome BG2 starts off? Irenicus, Imeon being captured, Khalid dead?

PoE isn’t a bad game, but it’s no BG3.

1890

When it first came out I thought BG2 was the bee’s knees. I tried replaying it a couple of years ago and wasn’t that impressed. The writing’s uneven, the tone’s all over the place and the story’s nothing to write home about (Irenicus seems like he was going to be an interesting villain at first, but turns out he’s pretty standard.) BG2 is still king in terms of size/content and memorable encounters, but I left thinking that DA:O and NWN2 were both better games.

I’m loving every part (setting, characters, mechanics) of PoE so far. Only disappointment is that it seems to be a pretty short game.

1891

NWN2? Really?

The NWN1 story sucked, and SoU was nothing to write home about, but HoTU was epic.
NWN2, on the other hand, was afaik little better than NWN1. MotB was interesting but badly flawed, SoZ entirely forgettable, and there was the third one, the “adventure pack” I never played.

PoE is fun, but the setting isn’t grabbing me strongly.

1892

Huh. I love the PoE setting, but then I’m a sucker for any kind of political war/intrigue setup.

1893

Oh my god! It organizes saves by playthrough, and has separate quick/autosaves for each!

Hallelujah!

1894

Yea, it’s purely a personal taste thing.

Part of the reason I can still go oh-so-gooey over PS:T to this day is I loved the setting.

1895

Yeah, NWN2! It had a terrible and overlong second(?) act, but it was great after that. MoTB was good but felt a bit short and incomplete. HoTU I have fond feelings about but I can’t remember a thing about it. Same for SoU minus the fond feelings. Never played SoZ.

1896

Stories are often up and down for me in these games. Irenicus wasn’t all that but being voiced by David Warner helped. The sheer density and variety of settings in BG2, plus so many memorable setpiece battles, helped put it in the top for me. So far I’m enjoying PoE but I wouldn’t put it at that level yet. Dragon Age: Origins is closer, but feels a little constrained in scope compared to BG2. I’ve also always liked the wide-narrow-wide-narrow pacing of that game. It’s super-open in Athkatla, then it gets more linear again, then, boom, Underdark! Then it narrows again for the ride home. It always felt very well-paced to me, except the opening dungeon which goes on too long.

1897

Got to include some of the expansions separately as they were markedly superior to the original games.

Looking at NWN, infinity, and PoE alone, I would rank them from best to worst as follows.

Planescape: Torment
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer
BG2: Throne of Bhaal
Pillars of Eternity
BG2
NWN1: Hordes of the Underdark
IWD2
NWN2
IWD1
BG1
NWN1

This doesn’t really capture how strongly I feel about each, though. I’d put BG2 and PoE neck and neck, but NWN2:MotB is way higher than BG2:ToB.

1898

That is a nice touch. I was happy when I saw that.

1899

Here’s my ranking:

PST
DA:O <- Yes, I’m including it on this list.
PoE <- Still pretty early in the game but I’m enamored with what I’ve seen. May end up higher (or lower)
NWN2 <- Really underrated, really bad act1.
MoTB <- Great premise and characters, felt too short. Also due to Forgotten realms lore restriction, fustrating ending.
BG2 <- Very memorable, I can still picture many encounters. I just can’t replay it.
HoTU <- I remember liking this.
… the rest.

edit: I just looked it up, apparently it’s act1 that’s godawful in NWN2, not act2. Well, whichever act it is where you run around trying to get into that city district.

1900

BG3 4 me.

1901

Quick derail: How well do NWN1/2 hold up today? I played them a bit way back when, but not enough to remember much and might need to dig them out of whatever blackhole the entered… I didn’t realize people were ranking them higher than BG1/2.

1902

Just depends whether you can keep the Aurora engine down without barfing. I didn’t last more than 30 minutes with Mask of the Betrayer. Kind of sick of D&D as well. Actually kind of sucks that I missed out.