UltraMegaGiga Baldur's Gate 2

Games
61

Hey Lum, thanks again for the recommendations. I installed both the flirt pack and the banter pack, and even though I understand that the flirt pack wont kick in for a while, the banter pack is awesome.

Not only does the banter pack add banter, you have the option to accelerate the banter. So you get even existing banter already in BG2 faster. And that helped a lot. I can tell the BG2 banter from the add-on banter because the BG2 banter always seems to start with the voice actors saying the first line of the banter.

The game is a lot more interesting now. Plus Jan is awesome!!! I love his stories already. I chose not to run into Viconia yet, because I don’t think I’m ready for a reputation hit of two points at this early point in the game. I’m not sure, but I think being “popular” (repulation 13) is helping me get better prices at the shops than I was getting before.

So for now I’m sticking with Aerie, who is… still not interesting, but with the banter pack, at least she’s interacting with everyone in my party a lot more. And that’s interesting. Her one conversation with Jan so far was hilarious, thanks to Jan.

62

Next I’m going to try to install the AI scripts (and the accompanying Detectable spells). If I could get my dumbass party members to do simple stuff like heal each other without me having to tell them, that’ll be awesome.

63

The AI scripts are a HUGE help. be sure to delete the STAF15.ITM from your override directory before adding them, or it won’t install.

64

I installed the scripts just fine without deleting that file. In your other post you said you only had to delete the STAF15.ITM file if you install the BG2 Fixpack right? I haven’t installed that, since I figure the game is probably better balanced in the hands of the developers than the fans. I don’t trust the fans, they’re usually trying to make games harder for some reason.

And in a game where I dislike the combat engine so much, I don’t want it to be harder.

By the way the AI scripts are pretty darn cool so far, except they got me into trouble already. I forgot that I can’t cast spells within the city! So now I got my first warning from the Wizards about that. I guess when I’m in the city itself I should switch their scripts off, or turn people like Aerie, Jan and Jaheira into Archers or fighters.

I like how I got off scott-free once with just a warning, while poor Imoen is off somewhere being “rehabilitated” because she used magic once.

65

To notice that if you use BGT (Trilogy) the BG2 fixpack is not compatible yet…

66

Awise fwom te dead!

So, in a fit of boredom I reinstalled BG2. The bestest RPG ever. Thanks to Lum’s advice, I installed the following mods:

Oh, wait, I didn’t install the BG2 Fixpack… Hrm. :-/ I’m very nervous about mods, you never know when they’re not going to get installed right and possibly fuck things up. I played through the entire NWN2 OC with the “Sexy OC” mod (which is a collection of a dozen other mods), only to learn at the end that 75% of the changes weren’t in effect because the included appearance.2da file shouldn’t be used anymore. Grrr.

BG2 still plays well, of course. Although I couldn’t play it in a window. It was too small and I had difficulty reading the text on my 19" LCD (1280x1024). Instead I run BG2 full screen at 1024x768. The game doesn’t seem to appreciate task switching when running full screen, but maybe it was just that one time.

I’ve played through the game twice before back in 2003. Once as a Paladin / Cavalier, and once as Fighter / Kensai. It quickly became apparent why this game takes 100+ hours to finish, as it took me over two hours to get out of the starting dungeon.

I maintain, however, that the greatest weakness of this game is the D&D 2nd Edition rules. They’re just horrible and unbalanced. There’s Fighters, and then everyone else is basically a support class. Especially healers. But even wizards. Fireball, haste, and they’re about done. Meanwhile the fighters are the ones up there doing all the damage. I’d love to see this game with 3.5 Ed. rules, or maybe even 4th Ed. Of course, we never will.

So… I didn’t install the BG2 fixpack first, do I have to remove and reinstall all the other mods? Which would probably entail a full-reinstall of the game? Gah. I’ll never know for sure, and the lingering doubt will constantly haunt me.

The good news is it installed really fast for a 5 CD game.

Edit: Yeah, Fixpack says it needs to be installed before any other mods. Greeeaaat…

67

Thanks for reviving this thread. And thanks again to Lum for the awesome advice in this thread. I reformatted recently, so I need to reinstall BG2 with these mods.

68

I have been researching mods to put in for a new game of the trilogy – I went digging through our basement just yesterday for Baldur’s Gate I, which I still have in its original three-CD-high binder with the big skull on the front. I haven’t played either of these in -years-.

69

Bestest RPG ever indeed.

What’s with the hate for Edwin? His side quest involving the scroll is one of the best one-off bits in an RPG like ever. Also: blows everything up, all the time. Or, later, casts turbo-haste or whatever that makes Korgan and whoever else just tear the shit out of everything.

70

Edwin is hilarious. All yall ah hatas.

71

He’s not in my party. I only played as a good guy, and so I never had him or a few others that were either assholes or evil. I’d like to play through again as a jerk (Bioware’s version of evil), but it’s SOOOO big.

72

Almost done with Throne of Bhaal here. Played BG1 and BG2 ten years ago and haven’t touched them since. I know there’s very little role-playing in ToB, but I’m enjoying the setpiece battles. Almost feels like ToEE, where everything is distilled down to fun and challenging combat.

I guess I have to agree about party makeup; mine is 3 fighters and the 3 support classes, but there is always something for them to do now. Dispelling and breaching, casting level 9/10 spells, summoning, etc.

73

The one concession I made to “cheating” while playing BG2 was the tweak that prevents Edwin/Korgan/Viconia from leaving when your rep gets too high. Because otherwise you just have to kill the odd peasant to stay under their leaving threshold, which just gets tedious. Also, all three of the evil characters are awesomesauce, so there.

74

What was that, sonny? I’m sorry I was too busy laying waste to entire cities in the blink of an eye with Time Stop and Improved Alacrity. Oh you killed that trash mob in one round, did you? Excellent work, now if you’ll excuse me I have to Polymorph: Mind Flayer and go suck out that dragon’s brain before he has a chance to shift out of human form. If you need a hand just shout and I’ll gate in a few Planetars to lend you a hand.

75

Mmm… thank God for Planetars.

76

Yay, beat ToB. Some pretty cool fights in that expansion and fairly well-balanced. And by that I mean it took me a few tries but I was never too frustrated.

77

Doing this in multiplayer. I really wish we hadn’t installed the content mods (the ones for BG1 have been really lame so far and I’m none too sanguine about the ones for BG2 as a result.), but it’s otherwise a lot of fun. There can be no excuse for ever playing BG1 in the original engine now that BGTutu and BGTrilogy exist.

We just finished Durlag’s Tower in Tales of the Sword Coast. That was an intensely awesome experience. (I’d never previously played BG1 past Nashkel, though I’ve beaten BGII…not Throne of Bhaal, alas.)

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that Bioware has never managed to top the Baldur’s Gate games. I love KOTOR and Jade Empire and Mass Effect, but the richness of content in even BG1 (which is relatively sparse and fumbles storytelling efforts more than I’d like) is beyond anything else they’ve done.

78

Here’s how I’d recommend playing the game:

BG1, BG1: Tales of the Sword Coast, BG2, BG2:SOA, David Gaider’s Extended Content Patch or whatever it’s called. He wrote the story and the boss fights are much harder in his version.

Grab TUTU to play BG1 and BG1:TOSC with BG2’s engine, AI, pathfinding and interface.

It’s all you need.

I’d even go so far as to tell you to avoid installing the bonus NPCs from the Collector’s Editions because they make the game too easy.

79

Anyone feel like updating this list? I’ve been itching to dive into BG2 again, but my last attempt at installing mods ended up with a buggy, twitchy mess of an install.

80

Weidu~~

this thread gives me happy memories :unsmith: