Tactics Mod - some random thoughts

[Earnest]

Improved Bodhi: five star mod. In chapter three i just had to flee her for 10 rounds to proceed, in chapter six she is a worthy opponent for a strong party. In my current game i havent done her yet but last time through this was a fantastic and memorable battle. Highly recommended, especially as vanilla Bodhi is so poor.

Random City Encounters: The groups that come to kill you are well thought out and can be tough, especially if arcane spell-casting is not allowed. I have enjoyed this mod and at times have deliberately avoided travelling the city at night, or at least made sure the whole party was invisible first. My one criticism is that their appearance is too predictable - it would be better if you were not *guaranteed* to run into these foes every time you pass certain points.

Liches: The Pit Fiend that accompanies liches can make things interesting, however Protection from Evil can often nullify its presence. Also I dont like the way the Pit Fiend kills off the other nasties in the area before my party gets there. Another high level summons might be better, and provide more of a challenge.

The liches' new trick of summoning the party to them (in a teleport field) if 'off-screen cheese' is being used is fantastic. My one complaint is that the trick is accompanied by a cheat dispell, whereby all my party's buffs are immediately stripped. The dispell should still be there, fair enough, but it should keep to the rules of dispelling and leave us with a chance to retain some buffs.

Pit Fiends: they are scarier and more powerful which is a good thing. I have fought some without using Protection from Evil, but stopped doing so when I suffered the cheesy instant death on hit (999 damage) routine. This just spoils some good fights, and so now I buff first and killing pit fiends is like killing any 'feeble-minded' opposition. Shame.

Mind-Flayers: I was really enjoying the improved mind flayers, and fully support them having new abilities, especially the see invisible. Unfortunately on two occasions my party suffered instant deaths AFTER the flayers were dead and gone, which i still dont understand. A shame, but this had to be un-installed.

De Arnisse Keep & Torgal: I have used this mod twice and recommend it, although it probably means the keep is not a good choice for the first quest, as the spirit trolls are tough in their numbers. In my current game i did not install it for two reasons - I wanted to do the keep first without too much stress, and secondly because the weapon that Torgal drops is overpowered.

Docks Encounters: The three new liches and the illusionist in Valygar's home are all welcome additions for higher level parties. Well implemented and highly recommended.

Kuroisan: This is an excellent mod, and everyone should experience the encounter at least once. In my present game I didnt install it however, because the weapon he drops is too overpowered for my current taste. Having said that, I applaud the imagination and detail of the design of the Katana - a work of art.

The Ritual: A high class mod which ultimately provides you with another dragon to kill at higher levels, so it is a must-have. The quest itself is imaginative and largely well implemented, with some atmospheric text and dialogue. The only thing that annoys me is that the skulls have the crippling level-drain ability. If it wasnt for this, I would relish each battle in the quest and take them on toe-to-toe. Perhaps I will try this again in the present game, but previously im afraid it has been a case of Farsight - Project Image - Timestop - Obliteration, to save hassle.

Fire Giants: these needed an upgrade and i was excited to meet them; a good use for all the fire-resist equipment and buffs i thought. Sadly, you can wear all the fire-gear you want and have the best buffs, but they soon decrease your resistance to zero and kill you with meteor swarms or something similar. This meant that head-on combat seemed impossible, and the mod was uninstalled. They needed to be improved but this goes too far - and just creates hassle in my opinion.

Guarded Compound, Twisted Rune, Mae'Var: Much needed and well implemented mods. If they ever 're-released' BG2 it's mods like this that should be coded into the vanilla game. Must-haves.

Creature Improvements: Apart from the fire giants and mindflayers, all the other creatures benefit from the tactics mod. I particularly like the skeleton warriors casting spook and so on. The beholder lair in the underdark posed new problems for the party, even with the cheese shield. Improved mages and golems are sound and sensible. Demon Knights were a fun battle for once.

Small Teeth Pass+ North Forest: By the time I do these areas it is fairly easy, but all the same a welcome addition to the two ignored areas on the BG2 map. hint: approach the Small Teeth Pass from the south if you dont want to get lynched straight away.

Red Badge: I managed this once after 50 reloads in a previous game. Too hard and unrewarding for my tastes, although it is well designed and implemented as a major challenge. Far too painful.

Sahaugin City: I was enjoying the improved difficulty of fighting the fish-people, and that component of the mod was well done. Unfortunately, the avatar thing later on kept insta-killing party members so the mod was uninstalled. This spoiled completely for me a good mod.

Improved Irenicus: When I tried this a couple of years ago I was highly impressed with the new battle, but simply had to uninstall it because it was too hard for me. Last time I played the game I had vanilla Irenicus and it was a joke: far too easy and a major disappointment after the excellent Bodhi battle. So I have it installed in my current game, and hope to beat this mod with a high powered party. Wish me luck

Overall: Im not a power-gamer and I avoid using cheese as much as possible, so aspects of the Tactics mod are unsuitable. This still leaves a lot of good additions and alterations within the package, and the components are all installed seperately so it is not a problem. Dont avoid Tactics just because it sometimes has the reputation of being cheesy or overpowered. Selective installation of the components makes for a much-enhanced gaming experience for anyone.

[fable]

Nice review, Earnest. I don't think everybody will agree with all you've said, but it's convincingly argued and well presented.

[Luis Antonio]

Indeed. Great stuff.

My opinions:

Improved bodhi (and improved undead components): I think they make undead and Bodhi two targets-who-needs-tons-of-cheese. I dont mean improved liches, I like them and I havent been buffing myself to fight them exactly by the reason you've mentioned

Random Forest Encounters: At high levels you're supposed meet strong dragons It is nice though. But I've never triggered one, and that puzzles me.

De Arnise Keep: I think Tor Gal is too overpowered, and nearly impossible to kill at low levels without ubber cheeses. He looks like a lich with a golem body, has millions of resistances, so it is a no go to me. His weapon is overpowered yes.

Kuroisan: Excelent mod, fave of mine, dont use katanas to avoid cheese so I keep it on inventory just for fun.

Fire giants: A nuisance. I used it on my last run, it was very hard, but doable, the only problem is that during the battle with Yaga Shura things get nasty really fast if you dont kill them ASAP instead of going for the other enemies.

Red Badge: Frustrating. You can win, but you almost always lose half of the party.

Improved Irenicus: You need to be ubber to kill him, and that's a good change. I love it, cause Irenicus seems such a bad guy in the beggining and at the end he was just another waiter with a glass of beer instead of a worthy foe. Now things get really strong - tip: kill the dragon first.

Hehe I agree with many things you say