Need some advice about mod's

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 5:10 am

Haven't been here for a while,
but where would I go for some BG advice,
right, to the good-old gamebanshee.

I want to play a game of BG2 again (just can't get into NwN)
And i want to use a evil party (me thief, viconia, edwin, korgan, and the new ToB NPC)

But there are so many Mod's out there today,
what are fun once to install? (and that aren't to buggy and that don't give me +10 swords or anything)

Baldursgate Fan · Post by **Baldursgate Fan** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 6:23 am

Hi Stilgar!

Welcome back.

Sola and Valen mods are a must if you have not played them. You can also find Kelsey and other interesting mods in the Crossroads Sticky above.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 6:53 am

Originally posted by Baldursgate Fan
Hi Stilgar!

Welcome back.

Sola and Valen mods are a must if you have not played them. You can also find Kelsey and other interesting mods in the Crossroads Sticky above.

Thanks for the quick reply,
I checked the crossroads, only there are so many, and i know some of them are buggy.

But do the Valan and Sola (i think you mean Solaufein with Sola) give any extra's besides a new NPC? (new fights / items / quests etc.)?

Leonardo · Post by **Leonardo** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 7:06 am

They both have their share of additional encounters, fights and dialogue. Both are a little over the edge in terms of power if you keep the game as it is (not a +10 sword, but close...). They are perfectly fit if you install the Tactics mod (on the same site, very recommended).

jcompton · Post by **jcompton** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 9:41 am

Neither Kelsey nor Solaufein are very good fits for an evil party. Valen, on the other hand, is. In fact, she's probably more evil than you normally play.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 10:23 am

do be warned however, when valen gets up high level, if you survive a certain encounter, she gets rediculously strong and powerful, its one of the major comments about the mod...she is almost unstoppable once you get near the end of soa....her claws become incredibly powerful weapons, and the cheese factor is almost disgusting....and this comes from me!!!

Baldursgate Fan · Post by **Baldursgate Fan** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 10:34 am

Wow!

All I did was take a nap for a few hours and three others have beaten me to it

The mods mentioned are almost bug free, so please do yourself a big favour, jump right in and play!

The Sola mod contains an assortment of improved battles, which by themselves are worth the price of an add-on! Simply priceless. Kudos to the creators.

And Valen was the only reason why I played my first ever evil party in SoA.

Guaranteed to have a good time.

Cheers!

bullions27 · Post by **bullions27** » Mon Dec 02, 2002 11:22 am

Some advice:

If you're going to install several mods at once, make sure you plan out the order you're going to install them in first. Certain mods, like the Nalia romance, will screw up your game if you install it last. Here's a rule of thumb:

non-Weidu mods first
Weidu mods last

Each mod should have info whether it is Weidu or not. As far as recommending goes... well I'll keep my opinions to myself.

Just be wary which order you d/l them in.

jcompton · Post by **jcompton** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 1:12 am

Re: Wow!

Originally posted by Baldursgate Fan

The Sola mod contains an assortment of improved battles, which by themselves are worth the price of an add-on! Simply priceless. Kudos to the creators.

Actually, only the Solaufein-specific battles are still in the Solaufein mod. A few weeks ago, he broke all of the non-NPC related components of Solaufein and Valen out and put them in his new Tactics mod, which also includes Improved Ilyich, Ritual, and a ton of other goodies.

Tactics, at under 600K downloaded, is excellent proof that you don't have to have a 200 MB download to radically change the game.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 5:57 am

Ok i have installed:

Sola
Valen
Ascension
Tactics
Easy to use
Item upgrade
Spell 50

I'll thinks thiss should make the game a little more intresting

Thanks for all the advice, and if someone knows another goodone, don't hesitate(sp?) to post it.

jcompton · Post by **jcompton** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 9:28 am

Well, Kelsey was mentioned, I'll second the motion.

bullions27 · Post by **bullions27** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 9:29 am

You could try Freedom's Reign from Deano, Nalia's Romance, Kelsey's romance, and Tashia' romance. They won't radically change your game but they'll add to your game-playing experience.

Freedom's Reign - Nothing new in quests but adds a plethora of items, shops, and edited monsters (with the new items). It could help balance out some of the "cheesy" encounters of the Sola and Tactics mods.

Nalia - Expands the D'Arnisse quests somewhat. It's a bit buggy, and not the best written.

Kelsey - Adds a couple of encounters. Not the best written either but easily the most balanced of the mods. He makes a pretty good sorcerer (with some poor spell selections but you could change that with SK).

Tashia - She's primarily in ToB. I haven't completed her entire story (me monk laid waste to ToB too quickly) but form what I've experienced with her thus far it's average.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 10:45 am

Originally posted by Stilgar
But there are so many Mod's out there today,
what are fun once to install? (and that aren't to buggy and that don't give me +10 swords or anything)

I think it depends upon what kind of gaming experience you want to have. The Tashia, Kelsey, Valen and Solafein mods really do it for me, since they focus on creating party NPCs with genuine personality and objectives. They interact with the environment and other party members, creating a sense of self-willed life that strengthens the illusion of a real universe inside the game.

By contrast, some mods offer greater challenges, like Ascension. Others concentrate on adding items, and I find the this last group a real turnoff. I've tried several, and in every case they've simply upped the cheese factor greatly, until the whole game wafted a smell of gorgonzola into your nostrils whenever it was loaded.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 1:12 pm

"I've tried several, and in every case they've simply upped the cheese factor greatly, until the whole game wafted a smell of gorgonzola into your nostrils whenever it was loaded."

hear, hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but you guys knew i was going to say that, right????

be warned, even using my superior cheese like superpowers, hehehehhehe, spell 50 and smarter mages makes for a "interesting" and very very fun gaming experience....

liches become a major pain in the butt....

improved irenicus is just pure plain evil....well, the improved sequenced sunfires of doom should work,,,hehehheheh....

bullions27 · Post by **bullions27** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 7:50 pm

I've tried several, and in every case they've simply upped the cheese factor greatly, until the whole game wafted a smell of gorgonzola into your nostrils whenever it was loaded.

Sadly, a bulk of Weimer's mods fall under this category. Have you ever tried the Valen mod? When she was draining 5 levels per hit and outdamaging my entire party, I thought it completely rocked my world.

fable · Post by **fable** » Tue Dec 03, 2002 8:37 pm

Originally posted by bullions27
Sadly, a bulk of Weimer's mods fall under this category. Have you ever tried the Valen mod? When she was draining 5 levels per hit and outdamaging my entire party, I thought it completely rocked my world.

Yes, at the highest levels in SoA, Valen becomes godly. She must have Semtex claws. It's the only flaw in that mod, however, and the other three in a similar league--Kelsey, Tashia and Solaufein--are better balanced.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Wed Dec 04, 2002 12:20 am

well, if you cheat, (ha, me cheat???!!! NEVER!!!!!hahhehehehhahh) you can give sola both moonblade and moonbeam....with right equipment he can have as many spells as edwin, and still do mondo damage with moonblade...that sword is just obscene...even as a main hand weapon it is seriously killer, and if you combine with axe of unyielding and use it in off hand, and give him a high strength belt, you get...

25 strength, so forget crom...
highest regen in game...

vorpal hits in main hand, and blinding hits on off hand....the vorpal regen ability makes axe one of my favorite weapons...

then while he is in the middle of the enemy, relying on the regen to keep alive, hit the moonbeam and watch all your enemies fry...

sola used properly can be almost as deadly as valen for a short time....

bullions27 · Post by **bullions27** » Wed Dec 04, 2002 10:56 am

You're talking about the improved Tsuki no Ken (sp?) sword, right? Yeah it's cheesier than a kilo of Kraft. It won't top Level Draining claws +5 though with vampiric speed.

Hesperus · Post by **Hesperus** » Wed Dec 04, 2002 6:46 pm

Well I am new to mods (and having a lot of fun with the few my little HD has space for) and I'm a bit concerned about buggy concerns with some mods. Can someone tell me what are or at least about the buggy mods and what to expect?

Should what I have should cause some troubles? I have ToB with the official patch and the only mods are have the Sabre's xp- cap remover, ring of prot armor fix (hehe), and improved g-mastery (oh yes says Sarevok); improved demogorgon (planetBG); BDash blade-class fix and spell-50 (oh is that fun). More are on the soon to be had list but I don't want to waste any more space. I flaked and forgot to back up my override folder with the original files.

Thanks for any commentary!

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Dec 05, 2002 9:06 am

well, if you cheat, (ha, me cheat???!!! NEVER!!!!!hahhehehehhahh) you can give sola both moonblade and moonbeam....

If I want to achieve a victory without challenge, I'll go squash an ant. I play BG2 on the hardest levels and get a bit of a thrill when my folks survive a battle. Cheat? Why should I deny myself the pleasure of savoring victory?