I would put DA:O just above PoE. I do feel it’s a better game. But not a huge gap there.
Question - did you use a mod for MoTB changing/removing the decay on the timer?
The need for that is why I’d put MoTB somewhere below SoU.
I did not.
There is no “Need” for it. If you played as good aligned, it was laughably easy to avoid it. It was only if you played as evil that it became hard. I completed the game as both.
In fact, as someone playing pillars on path of the damned, i feel the rest system is more restrictive in pillars than it was in MoTB.
I don’t fault people for cheating to make the game easier. I personally edit my max weight in every elder scrolls game i play because i hate running back and forth after looting one enemy.
Your memory is flawed.
NWN2 was a HUGE HUGE HUGE improvement over NWN1 which i feel really wasn’t that good. It wasn’t until the expansions that NWN1 became a decent game.
I agree that SoZ was forgettable though. It was simply a bad idea.
But Nwn2 does not compare to baldur’s gate 2 though. It is a hard choice between mask of the betrayer, but i’d still probably go with baldur’s gate 2.
No mod, no. It wasn’t necessary.
NWN2 was nothing special, but MotB was extremely strong.
I cheat encumbrance in Elder Scrolls too!
On these things, stusser and I can agree.
BG2 is a classic, and I think that it influenced pretty much everything Bioware did since. It was my favorite game as a child, and I still play it to this day. It had some of the best quests I’ve ever played in a game, period. The characters were very memorable, especially your companions. It had some of the coolest dungeons, including the awesome intro (how many games start you off in the villain’s lair?). The combat and gameplay was a bit hamstrung by the 2nd Ed ADnD system, but it still had some great battles (killing a dragon is really hard and satisfying). Even the items were memorable (talking sword anyone?).
The NWN games were ok, but definitely a step down. And don’t even talk to me about the abomination that is Dragon Age. Pillars of Eternity is the true successor to the gameplay and storytelling formulas that were used in BG2. Though PoE is still a ways off from the masterpiece that was BG2, whose to say that it won’t have an awesome sequel that pushes it over the edge (after all, BG2 was a sequel)?
I think NWN2 is underrated - it easily has the worst beginning/starting area and maybe entire first Act of any of the games you’ve been discussing though. The later stuff is so much more interesting and polished. The stronghold stuff was perfunctory though
For those who had good experiences with the Monk class how did you allocate their main stats? I think Cons and Might are the main ones but which one would you favor? Also what weight of armor did you use?
I want to try the Monk class again after my initial bad experience. Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks,
Todd
Eh? That’s what I said.
“The NWN1 story sucked, and SoU was nothing to write home about, but HoTU was epic.”
NWN2 also…ran like a freaking dog on the PC I had at the time, and it only ever had a small fraction of the decent fan modules NWN1 did.
stusser - Meh, there are bits that are just annoying with a caster main if you keep the “intended” system.
Oh God so many ghosts. I stopped my game at the worst possible spot to check out Bloodborne for a few nights, because it’s a bear to get back into these miserable fights with these incorporeal fellas.
The scout / fast move OCD dance is still driving me nuts. I’m not sure I like autopause on ability end either. I tend to reflexively pause just a moment before the game does. I’ll give it a little more time.
olaf
1914
I have no idea how anyone who played through either BG game could be anything less than thrilled with POE. This is, literally, the game I have been waiting for since the last IE game…Throne of Bhaal in 2001?
One of my games is a Paladin main and I think it is a great choice. First off, you need two tanks on Hard or higher. Paladin is, at worst, the 2nd best tanking class. Second, Resolve and Perception are widely regarded as the most important tank stats and also great for conversation options. So when creating a tank as your main, there is a lot of synergy between being a good tank and having more conversation options.
And yeah you are right, in a party of 6 there is always something to do in this combat system. Just because your main is a tank does not mean the combat is gonna be boring.
I would guess the double click stripping passives is affecting 25-50% of people playing the game, most of which probably have not noticed…
I have 3-4 games going but I hit the Raedric’s Hold bug in one of them, two of the 5 maps that make up the area result in a black screen with just the cursor visible when I zone into them. The patch is allegedly going to fix this so I just reloaded a previous save and did other shit.
I was just thinking about how much I’m dying for a second tank. My rogue is really useless right now. Any NPCs coming up near the end of Act I, or should I go build one?
olaf
1916
I would recommend reading this guide to anyone on getting the 8 companions ASAP. But to answer your question the Paladin companion is available very early on in Act II. You can get her at level 4 if you prioritize recruiting the companions…maybe even level 3. The reason to rush getting companions being that you can customize them to your liking better as they are scripted to be your level when you recruit them and they take talents/abilities ahead of time, accordingly.
That said, I noticed something weird with Eder. You can get him at level 2. But if you get him at level 3 he has Defender and an extra talent, Weapon Focus: Ruffian. Not sure if this is intentional or not, or a bug, or if similar circumstances apply to other companions, ie. that they get bonus abilities/talents the later you recruit them.
That’s a bug, if you recruit him later he has the normal number of talents.
Bateau
1918
Hah, me too. Except I’m usually a few miliseconds too slow and end up unpausing. I wonder if someone will make a mod that adds a short ‘cooldown’ to the autopause so that you can’t override it right away.
I did Might/Dex without lowering any of the other stats, and stuck with the same armor weight as the starting armor you get (leather, -30% recovery I think?). Keep in mind that I wasn’t super happy with the class I hit level 7, probably due to the second unarmed damage buff. And the force of anguish ability at level 3 is a must have… this is the ability that saves your life when you start getting unwanted attention.
I went high Dex/Mgt with my Monk as well, I think I had a 12 in most other stats. By the end of the game I had between +2 and +3 to all of my stats due to equipment, as well. By level 12 my Monk was basically unstoppable. The passive “turning the wheel” ability I wish I’d grabbed earlier, as the damage doesn’t really scale up that much, and as such having 20-30% extra damage (on average) for having 4 or 5 wounds was really, really impressive and would have been earlier in the game, too. Also, the Rooting Pain that hits nearby targets when you gain a wound is magical goodness.
xahlt
1921
But there was Icewind Dale 2 and then not-quite IE games after that… Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil, even (ugh) Lionheart or whatever that thing was. So there was already plenty of examples for BG lovers to look at and say - “well that was pretty Baldur’s Gate like, but for me it doesn’t stand up to BG2 + ToB.” I’m not sure why PoE is all that different, aside from its uniqueness in being produced in modern times, and obviously that a lot of people seem to love it. Then again, a lot of people love those other games too.
Except for Lionheart.
Arcanum and ToEE are entirely different types of games, though. You can certainly compare something like Fallout 2 to Arcanum, or even the gold-box games to ToEE (well, a case could be made), but I think PoE is strictly trying to evolve from the Infinity Engine itself, and perhaps emulate some of the finer features RPG’s have introduces in the years since the last IE game as put out there. As such, if someone enjoyed the IE games, they should enjoy PoE - but then again, gaming tastes do change over time.
