And they didn’t cap at 10d6, unlike Fireball. They also dealt magical energy damage, which I found wasn’t as resistible by most critters as fire or cold. As a 3rd level spell, liches ignored them, which was annoying, but they were hell on everything else. With their crappy range, it took some skill to use them and not zap your own party. And you got them quite a bit earlier than Horrid Wilting.
For making things easier for your save-or-die spells to work, I loved the Greater Malison-Slow-Emotion Helplessness sequencer. I remember the divine spell Chaotic Commands having decent enough duration that I could run around with it. Essential when fighting stuff like vampires and flayers.
Damn, y’all are getting me to want to fire up BG1 and 2 again…
You mean not everybody played a bard in Baldur’s Gate I, Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II and a charming roguish Nameless One in Planescape: Torment? Takes all kinds, I guess.
I used Goodberries a lot at beginning levels, so I could heal between encounters without having to use up any actual resources. Of course, eventually those Healing potions I carefully avoided using start to crowd my packs.
IMHO, Dragon Age: Origins actually marginally exceeded Baldur’s gate by virtue of a mechanics system tailored to computers instead of an old pen and paper one.
The graphics didn’t matter too much, I ended up playing DAO in 3rd person isometric anyway, so it looked very similar to BG2
Like you, I couldn’t stand DA2, it was just too streamlined, combat-focused and soueless, I gave up after the third act.
I think the worse moment was when I was forced to mow down dozens of templars in a few seconds, many of them just jumping down or apperated everywhere, removing any chance for strategy or diplomacy
I hated how hidden all the combat mechanics were in Dragon Age. You really didn’t know what things did, how much damage they did, how effective they would be until you tried them, and even then, it was still kind of a mystery how various stats and equipment affected your performance.
In the D&D-based Baldur’s Gate, you could actually know what things did since the rulebooks are everywhere, and it felt more satisfying to build your character because of it.
The biggest difference, though, is in the exploration factor. Dragon Age’s environments usually felt so small and same-same-y, and encounters you discovered out in the field were usually generic hostile darkspawn or bandits/blood mages. Most of those encounters were solved by beating them to death, and there was usually very little interesting payoff. Hell, most of the exploratory sidequests were from Message Boards, and just had you fetching or killing a few things, and boom badabing, quest over.
Contrast that with the BG series, where anything could be out there beyond the next clearing or house door. It could be a wandering merchant from Amn, some bugbears with a score to settle, a little girl who lost her cat, a doppelganger pretending to be a little girl who lost her cat, a lich lord holding a secret meeting, a famous dark elf ranger looking for a temporary partner to asskick for goodness, etc. There was real flavor and diversity in the encounters, not just in cities but in wilderness and dungeons, too. Dragon Age had a spattering of interesting side encounters, but BG 1 & 2 had bucket-loads.
That’s really what I miss. Dragon Age was a good game in quite a few ways, but it didn’t deliver where it counted for me. Hopefully this mysterious BG-related project will…
This is correct. However, it seems that many players did dual class Imoen into a mage in BG1, and I think every guide I read recommended that she be dual classed into a mage.
The most important factor for me when I was faced with this decision was whether I wanted Imoen in my final party. I did, so I only did the quests that gave me very good rewards, including the Cult of the Unseeing Eye to get Keldorn, and were relatively quick to do
And this is due to the fact that single class thieves are pretty useless in AD&D (or at least computer adaptations of it). You can get your relevant thief skills high enough (depending on how many things you want to be able to do) from around levels 6-13, and go mage the rest of the way, with an extra benefit of having bonus HP. The only downside is the waiting period when your mage levels have to catch up to the thief ones, during which your thief skills are not available. But the payoff of having another super-powerful mage with enough thievery to get you through is well worth it.
As much as I loved the BG series, there are a lot of unbalanced mechanics inherent in the game system. Namely, high level casters > all.
I don’t know. I loved killing things with spike traps, and a stoneskinned, spelltrapped swashbuckler with the Staff of the Magi and a Cloak of Non-Detection could wreak havoc on mages. (Why yes, I bought every stoneskin scroll throughout BGII just for this reason).
I always include Imoen (the better to keep an eye on her as a future rival), so the main factor for me is what kind of gear I want to take with me to the Underdark. The Robe of Vecna is pretty pricy.
I personally found it less emersive to be able to see under the bonnet, but to each their own.
I definately agree with you about the DAO random encounters.
Other than the trader and a few easter eggs, the random encounters were all about combat and just about combat. I did like the post-mission battles alongside your new allies though. There were also more engaging encounters if you started a sidequest, but it seems a bit contrived to be honest.
As for the sidequests, I think you are ignoring the depth in Dragon age, if you search around, you’ll definately be entertained and engaged and you won’t feel at all railroaded along one path. Though, I admit they lack the ultralong hidden sidequests like the human-flesh armour one for BGII.
This I agree with. I personally find the NPCs in BGII the most engaging. Minsc, Viconia, Edwin, Jan Jansen, and even the interplay between Mazzy and Valygar (the latter who was otherwise a block of wood) were more engaging than the best that could be had from pairing Morigan and Alistair, and Valygar seemed downright engaging compared to Sten. Though Zevran might have been interesting, but no matter what PC I made, I never had room for him. Always went with the hot chick.
Looks like there’s a count down timer now, 22 hours or so.
Oh, guys, btw, if you own Neverwinter Nights 2 or plan on purchasing, there’s a new mod out now for it, years in the making. It’s a remake of Icewind Dale!
I’ll probably give it a go once I’m done with Me3.
