GameBanshee Forums

How is it, really? Will I like it?

To answer that last question, I'm going to list the cRPG's I've played, and the order in which I liked them:

Baldur's Gate I
Baldur's Gate II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Icewind Dale II
Icewind Dale I
BG: Throne of Bhaal

What do I need to know about this game before installing? What patches do I need? Anything else I should install?

TIA

Another 'gonna give it a try' question. As you might have seen while going around the forums, many think this is one of the best RPG's ever.

What you need to know: -A lot of talking
-Not a lot of fighting
-3 Classes (fighter, mage, thief) and you start of as
fighter. When playing, you can talk to masters who
can make sure you can become an other class.
-To get the most out of the game, put a lot of
points in Wis, Cha and Int.
-Also, you can't chose your gender, name or face.
Your appearance cannot be changed!

Those are, I think, the most important things you need to know.

Also, patch your game to the latest version IMMEDIATLY. I hate to see a great game experience ruined by a stupid bug.

As for mods, don't. The game is fine as it is.

You'll have to read more text than in the other games. It also has far more depth than BG2, dialogues are important and you have far more freedom to develop the character into the direction (good/evil/lawful/chaotic...) you want. The "do what the developers want you to do or get punished" attitude from BG2 isn't in this game.
The games uses the complex planescape setting and will take some time to dive in and understand, it's not forgotten realms "entertainment for the masses".
The beginning is considered the worst part of the game, but it gets much better when the story unfolds.

Combat doesn't play such a big role as in the other games, but it still covers a big part of the game (unless you're metagaming and running away from enemies).

I don't recommend powergaming for dialogue options, you won't gain many extra dialogue options for high int or cha if you have at least 16 wisdom (wisdom is the most important stat in the game by far), but you'll get a wimp by ignoring the physical stats (especially con is useful for faster regeneration).

Now, although SupaCat suggested no mods, I'd recommend the restoration pack, after your first or fifth playthough.

Pick up NPCs. You won't get through all of them on your first playthrough nor will you find everything.

While Kmonster's suggestion is right, you should keep track of your other stats as well, mainly constitution.

Talk to your party members as they might have something to say.

There are multiple ways to do a quest and many ways to skin a cat. Watch out for opportunities.

There's a number of worthwhile patches that make the game better, namely [url="http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/pst-fixpack"]Qwinn's Fixpack[/url]. Its a combination of various custom patches that you install after the official patch, and it fixes countless bugs and typos in the game. Definitely recommended.

After a first playthrough, other mods like Qwinn's UB pack and his tweak pack are pretty cool too. The Unfinished Business mod mostly just finish off some loose ends and restore some cut content. The tweak pack mostly just functions as the G3 or Ease-of-use tweak mods did in BG2, making the interface somewhat easier to manage on subsequent games.

I definitely recommend this game to anyone that is remotely interested in RPGs. It has hands down the best writing of any game, ever.

well, i played
Baldur's Gate II (good storyline DnD v2.5)
Icewind Dale II (a little storyline, just killing monsters DnD v3)
Icewind Dale I (no special storyline, just killing all monsters DnD v2)
Neverwinter1,sou,hou (tight storyline,legend storyline,epic storyline ADnd)
Neverwinter2,MoTb (good storyline ADnd with colorful image)
Planescape:good storyline and grestest RPG(you can act what you like)
if you are going to play PlaneScape,
1. try not to slay all monsters(yes, they are monsters in BG1,2 or any games, but in PS(planescape) they can talk to you, provide you most important information!!)
2. keep any strange items. Sigil is city of doors, many portal need special item(such as a trash, a cheese, a rat tail ... to trigger)
3. save game frequency! PS focus in conversation! if you choise the wrong answer , you will lost important information or experience.(save when you getin a new map, saves before talk to creatures)

demigame wrote: 3. save game frequency! PS focus in conversation! if you choise the wrong answer , you will lost important information or experience.(save when you getin a new map, saves before talk to creatures)

This kind of greedy dialogue powergaming is unneccessary and will only destroy the athmosphere.
I don't recommend it.

Okay, my opinion of torment is that even though there isnt very good character customization, there is (in my opinion) a really good story line, quite a bit of fighting. Lots of side quests you can do. Many different kinds of weapons and items. So overall I think the game is worth giving a shot.