Just finished the game. My thoughts. (Long)

[Ylossakram]

I just finished the game.
Will i miss it like i did for BG saga or IWD or even Fallout II ?
No.
Don't get me wrong, i don't think it's bad.
There're some things i enjoyed naturally, such as the gfx (bigger resolutions would have been very appreciated tho) and some of the new 3rd ed rules, even if i hate some and i'm really interested (worried) in how they'll be introduced in NWN ... I'm referring to the opportunity hits ... mmm imho i think this rule just makes spellcasters useless (especially for low lvl chars). Imagine it in a non turn based game where you're suddenly ambushed ... if a melee enemy attack your spellcaster he/she will be nothin but a dummy ... naturally you can move from the engagment but that will produce an opportunity hit as well and spellcasters usually lacks in hitpoints = death
Since i'm a spellcaster lover this matter concerns me much. (Pls someone assure me things will be better in NWN and IWD II )
Imho PoR is too easy and short and even if i knew it was a dungeon crawling rpg i got disappointed anyway those dungeons are all the same! That was boring ... you spend most of the times crackin barrels and stones ...
When i started playin i found some challenge but after cleaning the Main Halls this game become a cake (you find good equipment too early), not to mention the final battle ... ridicule, that dragonlich is a crash test dummy full of hit points, i didn't have to heal none of my chars ... aahhhh i had to try at least 6-7 times before beating the last fight in ToB (what a game!)
Everytime i went up to the surface it was like restartin breathin but lasted for a couple minutes only 'cause another dungeon full of barrels and rocks had to be cleaned ...
Another thing i didn't understand well was 'bout resting places ... you can't rest in corridors (ok) but you can rest in an adiacent room leavin the door opened (nonsense).
Anyway it has been a bit of fun (a rpg game is ALWAYS fun) while waiting for da BiG BoMBS!

I would like to hear your opinions 'bout this game and my personal thoughts 'cause imho sharin comments and ideas in a costructive manner is a way to extend the joy of role playing

Ok, i wrote too much, sorry

[Demis]

I agree to many things, i also believe that the game is good overall but not any closer to BG games and maybe that’s the real draw back for the game, they made as believe that this game would offer the excitement and fun that we had when playing the BG saga games. As for the game itself it offers some new things but i can't help to say that it could have been much better. If at least the game let you choose your feats this would add to this replayability of the game but even this is not possible which for most of as when we finish the game we might not play it again, the only thing that triggered me to replay it , since there is also no role-play, was to play it solo. As for mages and priests, i must say that priest are much more powerful in high levels than mages and since priest can also stand and fight in melee combat, the mage role in the game decreased significantly even though mages could be very useful sometimes.

[Ylossakram]

I was wonderin 'bout replayin the game solo too but i've not decided yet which classes could cover the most situations ... barb/cleric maybe ?
Any suggestion ?

Tnx in advance!

[Demis]

I have tried it with a Paladin/Cleric (very strong) and finally with Paladin/Monk (too strong ), but it is always very difficult at the beggining but after that things get much better.

[dmc]

I've done it solo a couple of ways (Cleric/Barbarian/Rogue, Paladin/Cleric/Monk and Paladin/Monk). The basic problem with this game is its lack of balance. As you noted, there are too many good things given out way too early. Correspondingly, the first half hour of the game will kill your solo character many times until you get lucky enough to survive a couple of key fights. However, with the solo character, once you reach critical mass (about third or fourth level), you can safely skate through the game and never die. My Paladin/Monk cruised so easily through this thing that I actually borrowed some other characters to make it more interesting. Also, there are some spots where you need a rogue to open the doors (there's no choice to bash them). However, a maxed out Paladin/Monk is, in my opinion, indestructible in this game and has the added benefit of quickly turning most undead to end those ridiculously long undead battles that the developers seemed so fond of. All in all, the game gets a C in my book.

[kemydes]

about sorcerer, i suggest you try the spell 'mass suggestion' and i think you will agree that sorcerer is indispensable! specificaly when you have to face many mages/archers/fighters!

[Demis]

For a full party having a sorcerer helps a lot and mass suggestion really rocks when fighting large numbers of enemies. But IMO the cleric is more balanced and powerfull than a sorcerer because apart from the fact that can heal and protect the party his has some nice very destructive spells too. The sorcerer is almost useless until his reach high levels and get his hands to some neat spells.

[snoopy_is_a_cat]

i'm a bit of a newbie with this game, just spend a few days playing it. it has tied me down a couple of nights but the bugs are a bit unbearable, prompting me to go back to bg2 until i applied the patches.

with the game, i find it a bit like a game of chance when starting solo. game of chance? yeah, when your in the earlier levels especially the first 2, you kind'a hope that the enemy misses their hits more than you missed yours. which is very "stupid" imho. it actually disregards whether your class have good melee or ranged attacks (maybe probably because of the absence of patches in my part). i have a cleric with 4 melee points who fights so much better than my fighter with a 7 melee points. how could that happen (i wish it's the bug, should i call MIB?).

i find it interesting and logical that spellcasters and range fighters can be interupted when in melee range. this have made me change the position of my party by moving spellcaster and range fighters far away from melee experts. but it's a shame though that solos in this field cannot maximize the hit and run strategy (which bg2 and diablo series have).

opportunity hits done on characters/moster moving away from melee range is also a cool idea. what sucks is that you actually want a character to go to a certain place like behind an opponent but the game sends you to another place (MIB's problems).

i love the special effects. some (i'm only a few days into the game, so only some) are so much better than bg2.

none implementation of racial and class restrictions is a big joke for a game that calls itself an rpg. no character building is really present. when leveling up, the game just assign the stats. i mean diablo have offer character build-up so much better than this game. if all of us creates our character with the same attributes, race, and class, we would all end up with the same character with a different name and wardrobe, what a pity.

basically, it seems that PoR is trying to merge a hack&slash game with rpg but failed in it... but i still want to finish the game, even if just once. it's not a completely bad game.