Finally registered, hello all

[reddkey]

For years a mega infinity engine, dungeons and dragons fan, and now, finally,... registered at Gibberlings3.

 

Just wanted to say, love all the work thats done here, or gathered here. Right now, Im actually back to BG2, IWD, and BG1, saying good-bye to WoW and MMO's in general, after a 2 year stint.

 

Funny thing about WOW, and lotro, when you slap the space bar to pause, the mobs keep attacking you!

 

What?!

 

Anyway, found that wasnt very good for the whole life/game/honey take out the garbage and keep laundry moving, balance.

 

Things that I enjoy, lately that I haven't in the past.

 

Your BG2 NPC mods. Lovely! Right now I have Amber, Haldamir, and Auren installed. I can't get Tyris to work quite yet, unless Im looking in the wrong place. Very very cool, wonderful work.

 

Looking forward to bumming around and sharing my BG2 drama with you all. Right now Im in an endless loop. When I play BG2 or IWD, and one of my characters dies, they either get booted from the group, or,...if its my protagonist, I just restart with a new toon.

 

I wonder if its at all possible to finish the game this way, with no deaths. heh Well, we'll see. Thank you for all your great work and keeping the infinity engine games alive. It's pretty much the Mona Lisa of all PC RPG platforms.

 

Bravo *sound applause*

[Jarno Mikkola]

When I play BG2 or IWD, and one of my characters dies, they either get booted from the group, or,...if its my protagonist, I just restart with a new toon.

 

I wonder if its at all possible to finish the game this way, with no deaths.

It's called a non-reload runs, and people have done that a long time(I haven't though).

You are using the Widescreen mod to set the resolution ?

[reddkey]

When I play BG2 or IWD, and one of my characters dies, they either get booted from the group, or,...if its my protagonist, I just restart with a new toon.

 

I wonder if its at all possible to finish the game this way, with no deaths.

It's called a non-reload runs, and people have done that a long time(I haven't though).

You are using the Widescreen mod to set the resolution ?

 

Ah, Im wondering then what would be the strongest group to make that attempt with? Auren is a delightful companion, but maybe not the strongest to run with. I've never actually finished BG2, I'd like to, but with no deaths. Maybe a pleasent mix for my first attempt at a finish, but no deaths.

 

I did run widescreen mode, but I found it puts my icons so far away from each other. Its like a trip across the sahara to click something. Im a clicker not a hot keyer on most things, was the bane of my exsistence in MMO's. Its all about macros and hotkeying. Im a clicker.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Ah, Im wondering then what would be the strongest group to make that attempt with? Auren is a delightful companion, but maybe not the strongest to run with. I've never actually finished BG2, I'd like to, but with no deaths. Maybe a pleasent mix for my first attempt at a finish, but no deaths.

I don't really know, but as you need 4 things in normal game;

A tank: to melee and take damage.

A divine caster: to heal and restore drained levels etc.

A thief: to untrap and unlock doors, also the stealth is a bonus as you can use area effects better with a scout.

An arcane caster: to remove enemy arcane casters protections, direct and area damage spells and summon cannon fodder.

 

Of the original characters, Keldorn can take the tanks role, Anomen or Jaheira takes the divine casters role(and support tanks), and Yoshimo/Imoen can take the thieves role, Imoen can also take the casters role, but one should also have her backed up by someone else, like Aerie. This still leaves room for a two characters, the Bhallspawn should be a tank, as they are really the hardest to get killed, and the last can be a quest NPC.

 

I did run widescreen mode, but I found it puts my icons so far away from each other. Its like a trip across the sahara to click something. Im a clicker not a hot keyer on most things, was the bane of my exsistence in MMO's. Its all about macros and hotkeying. Im a clicker.

Well, the only quick button the game really requires use of is the SPACE, which pauses the game, and if you put the mouse scroll speed on sensible value, you shouldn't have to worry about any other things... even if you are a clicker. I too am one.

[reddkey]

Well, the only quick button the game really requires use of is the SPACE, which pauses the game, and if you put the mouse scroll speed on sensible value, you shouldn't have to worry about any other things... even if you are a clicker. I too am one.

 

I hadn't thought of this, good suggestion. Thank you.

 

As far as groupings go, I have the traps disabled,...opps,..yes its a cheat move, however most of these dungeons I've done dozens of times, and I like to speed through a few of them.

 

I had turned them back on, just to see how I'd like it, but it was really just annoying. I like the combat tactics and NPC interaction over anything else really. Thats why I find the new NPCs so great.

 

Keldorn I always forget about because hes in the sewers, heh.

 

How about protagonist choice?

 

I read in most forums Kesai dualed, or Cleric/Ranger (which I've had the most success with thus far) are the two best.

 

Although, I want to put in,...I'm not a huge fan of kits. They're rather OP imho. I like single basic class or multi-class basic like fighter/cleric this kind of thing...but Im getting slaughtered much of the time in the more complex fights, a rogue flesh to stone gets thrown out, opps,...death.

 

My best success, (and I like to keep the overall group to 5 or less, mostly 4 if I think I can swing it) was with the cleric/ranger, Viconia, Nalia, Mazzy and Valygar as my striker.

 

Basically chaos command/death ward on my tanks and strikers and Nalia, doing as you said on mage fights, but mostly standing around being useless. The mage scripts are really bad. Vic healing of course,...

 

What would be nice, I think is for low level heals to cast faster. As it is now, a small heal and big heal seem to cast at the same speeds. It would be a nice balance.

[Jarno Mikkola]

How about protagonist choice?

I read in most forums Kesai dualed, or Cleric/Ranger (which I've had the most success with thus far) are the two best.

Well, Kensai or Berserker will do quite nicely, but the dualing part is quite two way street, you are incredibly vulnerable for a long time, and the end result is not always satisfactory as the kit improve the characters all the way up to 18th or so levels, in which point the dualing back up to 19th level mage is kinda hard to accomplish.

The Ranger/Cleric is a good character as he has the Druid&Cleric spells and Hits per round & the thac0 of fighter(which of course all come a lot later because the multi classing...), with small hit point loss(compared to fighter) and a few weapon restrictions(only the blunt weapons, unless you use a mod that removes that too).

 

I have no objections against cheating, well, as long as one understands that it removes a part of the 'challenge', but if you modify the game so that it's 'stupid hard' even with the cheats, you are welcome to do what you wish. The 'stupid hard' is reference to either the Improved Anvil'ed game, or the BWS Tactical installs...

[the bigg]

Disclaimer: I've never attempted a no-reload (I'm decently good at planning, but not at executing).

 

I don't think that playing a party of six is ideal when no-reloading: while you have more offensive punch, keeping your party buffed against instant death spells is an exercise in frustration. In fact, a soloer is trivial to keep buffed (if he has access to the spell) and can achieve enough offense with the correct items and buffs, while a party of four is probably the best compromise between offense and easiness of buffing.

 

A fighter/mage/cleric is probably the easiest class with which to solo no-reload SoA - you have access to all protective spells you will need, have good melee and ranged offense once you cast Improved Haste and some clerical buffs, and have good magical offense (the latter only if you use BG2Tweaks to remove the XP cap and allow triple class characters to get HLAs from all three classes).