Funnier to play. (Spam only if you post sg on topic too)

[Luis Antonio]

Well, I play the BG series since 1999, I guess, and I dont really know if this question fits here or in other of the forums... if its not for SoA, please mods, take it to SYM.

Now, while I'm a modification user, and a modification tester (non oficial, but I like to test the modifications I download) I dont really like the modded game, prefering the vanilla baldurs gate, with limited options, weapons, not stacking armor...

Also, it feels pretty empty for me to play a game where powergame is a need. Like, when you play tactics. Some people play it at insane level, I'm not insane, I play it at easy well, tactics is hard enough. I've lost the pleasure to play tactics cause you need to be always ready for the end of the world... and the world aint falling on the Bhaalspawn head. He has his problems, and he's a troubleseeker, and sometimes trouble would knock at his door, just like Firkraag do, but goddess, why do they need to make every encounter hard as hell and you dont have more than five encounters where you're overwhelmed by enemies and need to use tactics to fight those people and keep your
six champions alive?

So the point is: It is a pleasure to play the vanilla game and tactics or powergaming enhancing mods are a challenge but not really funny at all.

What is your opinion? Do you have any fact? Have you any experience that you want to share? Party and Modded characters you want to defend? Mods you think increase dificulty without making the game only a powergamer path?

[Erenor]

[QUOTE=Luis Antonio]Well, I play the BG series since 1999, I guess, and I dont really know if this question fits here or in other of the forums... if its not for SoA, please mods, take it to SYM.

Now, while I'm a modification user, and a modification tester (non oficial, but I like to test the modifications I download) I dont really like the modded game, prefering the vanilla baldurs gate, with limited options, weapons, not stacking armor...

Also, it feels pretty empty for me to play a game where powergame is a need. Like, when you play tactics. Some people play it at insane level, I'm not insane, I play it at easy well, tactics is hard enough. I've lost the pleasure to play tactics cause you need to be always ready for the end of the world... and the world aint falling on the Bhaalspawn head. He has his problems, and he's a troubleseeker, and sometimes trouble would knock at his door, just like Firkraag do, but goddess, why do they need to make every encounter hard as hell and you dont have more than five encounters where you're overwhelmed by enemies and need to use tactics to fight those people and keep your
six champions alive?

So the point is: It is a pleasure to play the vanilla game and tactics or powergaming enhancing mods are a challenge but not really funny at all.

What is your opinion? Do you have any fact? Have you any experience that you want to share? Party and Modded characters you want to defend? Mods you think increase dificulty without making the game only a powergamer path?[/QUOTE]

I also prefer the vanilla versions of all the games. Official patches to fix minor things I don't mind, but although I've tried a lot of mods, I always go back to playing the originaly games by themselves. The Baldur's Gate series in particular.

[SP101]

Well... the unmodded BG2 is a great game, but I like to add some spice to it, by installing balanced and fun mods, be it Mod NPC's (Keto and Tsujatha come to mind), Banter/Romance Mods, Fixes and Quests mods (Refinements, Unfinished Business, etc.)

I hate Tactic too... what's the point of having to use cheeses?

[fable]

Luis, for the opinion of many people on various mods, check out this thread. It might even be wise to put questions in it.

[Lancelot122]

Great thread Luis! I currently use "easy to use" mod and don't like it very much, tought usin a magical ring and a magical armor does make sense afterall , hehe.

I prefer the vanilla game too, plain and simple. I enjoy the the game the way it is and I find that I don't need any mods, except for baldurdash. It's simply more fun... I might give a try to unfinished business, because it doesn't seem to be "over cheese" and also too buggy.

After a lot of time, when my party is lvl 40 and I have donne watcher keep 3 time (last two at "insane" lvl), I reinstall the game, put it back to "normal" and enjoy this great game!

[Cuchulain82]

I prefer the vanilla game as well, but I don't really have a choice because I play on a Mac and there are very few mods available.

What I think would make the game more fun is more characters. The one beef I have with the game is that there are so few npc's- I mean, what if Bioware had an expansion that dropped in 100 new, fully developed npcs??!! Think about it-an evil dwarven cleric with a stutter, an elvish bard with a chr. of 8, paladins wavering in their faith, fighters who swore by the combat effectiveness of darts, an single classed theif or sorcerer or monk- the possibilities are endless! I always thought it was lousy that bioware constructed one of the most durable game engines ever but then only developed a few npcs (and like 5 voice sets total). It is frustrating to think about what could have been

[Erenor]

[QUOTE=Cuchulain82]I prefer the vanilla game as well, but I don't really have a choice because I play on a Mac and there are very few mods available.

What I think would make the game more fun is more characters. The one beef I have with the game is that there are so few npc's- I mean, what if Bioware had an expansion that dropped in 100 new, fully developed npcs??!! Think about it-an evil dwarven cleric with a stutter, an elvish bard with a chr. of 8, paladins wavering in their faith, fighters who swore by the combat effectiveness of darts, an single classed theif or sorcerer or monk- the possibilities are endless! I always thought it was lousy that bioware constructed one of the most durable game engines ever but then only developed a few npcs (and like 5 voice sets total). It is frustrating to think about what could have been [/QUOTE]

The problem seems to be that only a few of the NPCs in vanilla Baldur's Gate are worthy of use. The others either have horrible stats, or they're mutliclassed so it takes forever to level them up when you need to. That or you find them too late in the game to customize at all. If you really want to add those characters, Cuchulain82, do what I do and add them yourself in a mutliplayer game. Add all of them or only a few, it's up to you, but it makes the game much more interesting sometimes. Crank up the difficulty level, though, if you make powerful characters instead of simply interesting ones!

[JackOfClubs]

But playing with your own multiplayer party doesn't allow for the personalities of the NPCs, which is what I think Cuchulain was complaining about.

Back to the main question: I played vanilla BG1 & 2 about six or seven times each before I even downloaded the first mod. There is still quite a lot of interest here and I could play several more times without getting bored. But I do like a lot of the enhancements that people have made, so I can't say if I prefer vanilla to mods.

My favorite mod would probably be the Nalia romance, partly because she is the only girl who actually wants to get married before she sleeps with you! (You would think Aerie would have similar scruples being lawful good and all.)

I thought Darkest Day was a good concept but it didn't quite fit with the rest of the story. I was really enjoying Tortured Souls but I had to switch computers in midstream (virus problems) and have never bothered to go back and strat it up again. I would also like to try Uninished Business and BGtutu, but have been spending a lot of time with Neverwinter Nights lately so haven't had time. But I will get around to it eventually.

I must say I agree with Luis. I have never had much interest in Tactics or Ascension mods. What makes BG interesting to me is the stories not the difficulty of the battles.

[Faust]

[QUOTE=Luis Antonio]So the point is: It is a pleasure to play the vanilla game and tactics or powergaming enhancing mods are a challenge but not really funny at all.

What is your opinion? Do you have any fact? Have you any experience that you want to share? Party and Modded characters you want to defend? Mods you think increase dificulty without making the game only a powergamer path?[/QUOTE]

I enjoyed the vanilla BG1 and BG2, and tolerated the vanilla ToB. Still, as a non-power gamer, I've found certain mods that have made the game replayable to me.

I really don't like the unbalanced mods or the mods that are aimed at min/maxers (ala Tactics). However, there are mods that have enriched the game for me. Mods like the Banter Packs, the Flirt Packs (which add a lot to the romances), or well developed/balanced NPCs like Keto and Kelsey, are a lot of fun to play; they add elements, without unbalancing things. Similarly, "Quest Pack," "Unfinished Business," "Oversight" and "G3 Anniversary Mod" are aimed at providing color to the game (or enhanced options),without unbalancing anything. Then certain Tweak packs like the G3 Tweak pack, Ding0' s Tweak Pack and Baldurdash adjust features of the game for the better (i.e. restoring graphical features from BG1, fixing bugs that the developers never fixed, making things more consistent with PnP, making banter more easily accessible and more common, etc.). Then, certain mods like "Virtue" complexify the alignment system in a way that is of direct interest to role players.

I've downloaded Ascension for my most recent playthrough, mainly because its done by a developer and supposedly enriches role playing options as well as difficulty in the end game. I've also downloaded the "Improved Oasis" mod, which I've heard does some helpful things to make that part of ToB more entertaining. I'm hopeful that Ascension makes the end game more challenging and interesting, without being power gamer'ish. However, I'm a long way from finding out.