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Hi everyone,

I currently going through a run of BG:EE - since I just found out that it existed - who would have thought someone would do an update of the classics - so here I am about to start on a run that I haven't played in many years with a new character and class.

After leaving Candlekeep - (ah what a reminder - the 2-d characters and mapping - so nostalgic) my character (a kensai) along with Imoen decide to head for the Friendly Inn to find of course the comrades that Garion asked us to find just in case.

The road was fraught with peril for a mere level 1 Kensai with only a long sword and his foster sister armed with a mere short bow and a few potions of healing.

With no armor, no magical items, no bows or missile weapons and no shield to use - wow it is hard to be kensai.

Everything was dangerous - it was startling how easy it was to almost die - almost any encounter required Imoen to take down the monster - with so few hp and no armor - the first level kensai hits and runs and hits and runs - not very honorable for a sword saint - but hey its a sword saint newbie and we just have to live long enough to meet some friends in order to gain some experience in a world that is really dangerous.

On a brief side note - at the same time I started a game of IWD:EE - and the differences between level 1 characters is astonishing of course you start IWD with a team of 6 fully equipped and armed with magic (assuming you have a mage and cleric along for the ride).

Playing a level 1 kensai - is so difficult and remains rather difficult without a team for support. It is going to be a long road to be a useful and participating member of the group. For the most part my kensai is acting as a decoy for the more dangerous monsters e.g. ogres as the rest of the team peppers him with missile weapons and maybe a spell.

It's really great to have Imoen on this journey and adventure - without her I don't think I would have survived getting out of the wilderness intact.

The wandering around and adventuring - relatively free of world shattering consequences (unlike IWD) is rather entertaining and weird at the same time. You can do anything you like almost (depending on some time sensitive NPCs quests but those are few) and we can just travel around being adventurers and sell-swords or maybe "robin-hood" or even a wanna be Harper or even a hero. So much to day dream about as we travel around traveling through towns and forests - so free of all restrictions.

My teams best tactic - let the bad guys come to you so you can pepper them with arrows and missiles - retreat in several directions if they get to close or use a decoy and continue with the missile barrage, and don't forget to throw in a sleep spell or grease spell for some cool help when needed.

Spells - wow the grease spell hits for such a large radius - my team was even within it - lucky for us so where the monsters and we had missile weapons and they didn't.

As we enter chapter 3 in the story - I am going to try out a variety of NPCs. I recently picked up Kivan (the ranger) and sadly he did not make through one encounter with 2 bandits - in the end I had to bring him to the temple for the expensive service and then let him go.

One interesting thing I did notice - I picked up Branwen - and if you use the advanced AI - she actually casts quite a few spells that are not part of her normal spell list - ie confusion and protection from cold - she actually used them in combat or it could be that I just didn't check for her innate spell abilities (going to have to check that) . With a strength potion and good armor - she really destroys the skeletons that we encountered - she melee them along with Jaheria and defeated all the skeletons without any help -- can you say "wow" to two priest/druid like characters when they are facing the undead.

Through this run I also encountered Neera or she really just forced us to help her and being a true believer of idea of heroism and being a wanna be hero - we helped her. Adding a wild mage to the party proved to be quiet good - no wild surges so far and she is working out pretty well for a wild mage. Her banter is light and rather entertaining as well. Armed with staff, sling and spells she makes a good companion to take along -- many a battle was decided by her spells and sling.

So far so good

until next time

recently I have started playing BG:EE again, it is good to be back.

I have been focused on Wizard Slayers - a kit that felt too restricted in BG2, but wrecks shop in BG1, the long term goal is eventually to dual to rogue to a. be the party thief in bg2 / tob and b. use any item.

A few thoughts on your tactics -

With a Kensai it is tough if this is your main tank, AC just isn't good enough and you don't have a wealth of magic to help offset that.

on the other hand, if you have a good armored tank, the kensai can do significant damage, even at lower levels they hit harder and more often than (almost) anything else. I strongly recommend using Ajantis / Minsc / Khalid as a primary tank to get the bad guy's attention, and then swoop in with your kensai & ranged attacks.

Kivan is virtually always an MVP of the group, I use him almost exclusively with bows and he just rains death on just about everything. Coran (though available later) can fill that same role - pure ranged specialist.

--

few other random thoughts...

1. Wizard Slayers are secretly awesome, a lot of the bad guys use magic and having a PC that can completely lock them out vastly changes the landscape of those battles.

2. Sword & Shield Style isn't bad either, in a world where missile combat reigns, a bonus to missile ac helps far more than it does in BG2.

3. the most powerful spells aren't pure damage spells, it is spells like hold person, horror, web, charm, that can completely turn the tides of battle.

Thoughts on the 4 new NPCs:

Hi fellow sell-swords,

I am trying out all the new NPCs with my first run to see how they play out.

I picked up Neera first - and she was interesting if a bit anxious - because she needed help right away. In terms of entertainment, she plays well but in terms of power she is not as reliable as you would like. Yes, she is after all a wild mage and that makes for some randomness and luck to her spells but overall she does cast normally; although I did have to do reload once since she did the "cow-bomb" (that was a first for me to see and just for that I want to see it again this time dropped on a monster) while trying to cast a magic missile - killed the bad guy but also anyone who was too close including charname. Overall, she has proven to be fun and if you are a good or neutral party looking for the best normal mage NPC in the game then its probably her. She has a subquest.

Dorn - has to be one of the better NPCs as well - probably the best. He's entertaining and fun to be with even if he is a bit broody. He is not overpowered - with merely 40hp - but with some good armor and magical items (dex boost item) he makes a very good front liner; plus as a blackguard he has some unique abilities which can be interesting to try out. Of the 4 new NPCs, I am enjoying playing him the most and his quest of revenge resonates with my character as well. Has his own subquest.

Baeloth - the drow sorcerer - he is rather droll and amusing - if he wasn't so overpowered he'd be a great NPC - his ranting when you first meet him -( made me like him) - as I sort of play a sorcerer like that - a bit crazed and a bit conceited in his own powers. Picking him up in chapter 3 makes him almost too powerful since some of the good spells are not yet found or available (at least for me that is - no fireball). If choosing between him and Edwin, I picked the drow sorcerer over him anytime for sheer entertainment value. I am keeping him around for now but once I pick up Viconia so I can keep Dron - off he goes looking for away back to the Underdark - best of luck to him. Has no subquest. But I wonder if I wander over to the Black Pits if I will meet him again?

On a quick side note - having both evil characters in the party is interesting to your reputation - keeping it at a nice 17 but if you release Baeloth and you've paid no attention to your rep (which goes up by 2 when he leaves and you've been following the good path with no rep lost - by chp 3 you should have 20 rep or so) then you will lose Dorn as well - he leaves and unless you find away to lower your rep (without killing someone) he is lost forever.

Rasaad - sadly he is not good enough or maybe you could just call him average - nothing about his stats are great but they are okay - he is a monk and that means no armor and no real magical items to enhance his class abilities. Yes, he can use weapons but with only 1 APR - its rather useless almost. I think the last time I played a monk character was in IWD 2 (3e rules) but that has been so long ago and I seem to remember more magical items for them or maybe I just used a mod to make it more playable but sadly for Rasaad he is just average - you can pick up better NPCs. He does have a subquest.

Overall, I will keep Neera and Dorn for entertainment and play-ability. They both have subquests and are rather good NPCs that can be built to be better.

Overall, beamdog has made better evil characters then good characters - I guess it is more fun to make evil characters afterall.

koz-ivan wrote:
few other random thoughts...

1. Wizard Slayers are secretly awesome, a lot of the bad guys use magic and having a PC that can completely lock them out vastly changes the landscape of those battles.

2. Sword & Shield Style isn't bad either, in a world where missile combat reigns, a bonus to missile ac helps far more than it does in BG2.

3. the most powerful spells aren't pure damage spells, it is spells like hold person, horror, web, charm, that can completely turn the tides of battle.

Never, tried a wizard-slayer kit - as I like magical items but it could prove interesting - going to have to give it a try.

I agree sword&shield is rather good - sure helps with missile weapons in a world in which everyone fires arrows sometimes special arrows -- mix this with a tower shield and the boots plus a girdle and you are almost immune to missile damage.

I agree - sleep is probably the most used spell for Neera - you forget first level spells when you play IWD and BG2 - as the monsters have greater hit dice or you have a better party that can melee so much better.

Fun Encounters with NPCs

As I was wandering around the world of BG, I just happened to drop by the Friendly Arms for a quick rest and as I was leaving look who comes and cries about his circumstance .... it is the Drow sorcerer, Baeloth.

If you could see the face clearly, I would imagine him almost crying because he is all alone with all these pale skins. It was such an amusing encounter that I almost took pity on him and re-added him to the party.

The evil characters really do have such better scripts then the good guys.

Ahh Neera....in a random bandit encounter ....she turned me into a wolf - if only she could have done it to the bandits but the spell misfired and here I was a white wolf.

Re-evaluating Rassad (the monk)

So when my party first encountered Rassad it was quite early in the game - perhaps chapter 2 or so and we were still relatively weak - well at least my Kensai was and then you had the mage. It was not a good time for another micro-managed NPC that you had to keep alive for a long while before they got middling useful. So I replayed the scene and this time instead of adding him I bypassed him for later.

Jump ahead 3 chapters - and here we are in chapter 5. Over the last few chapters I've explored and completed a great deal of the quests and adventures. By this time I had a core team of 4 with 2 spaces that alternated starting in chapter 3 so I could meet and play with as many NPCs as possible as we roamed the world.

After entering BG and helping Eldoth and Skie and then booting them out -- they were annoying especially Eldoth - he is lucky I didn't feed him to a baslisk.. I was back to 4 member team: Kensai (me), Dorn, Viconia, and Imoen (who I had dualed and recently got to level 7 so re-activated her thief skills - ya - that took a long time). So I went to pick up a 5th member - and I needed another arcane user - while Baeloth was fun - he had no quests and didn't have the spell selection that I liked so it was Nerra the wild mage.

As a 5 member team we explored Baldurs Gate and completed most of it and as we neared the ending of the 5th chapter with only the major quests in BG I went to pick up a 6th member.

I played this part several times with 3 different NPCs for the 6th person. Yeslick (f/c); Garrick (bard) and finally Rassad.

Yeslick worked out well - I added a middle fighter with cleric power who could heal and buff. He needed his own personal buffs and some potions to really melee but overall he definitely worked out. He was the cheapest to equip really - since I had all the armor and magical hammer already in storage along with some potions - he even used the dex gloves (instead of Dorn for a time to see how it would play out - not that bad.) With slings, hammer, spells and the wand of heaven he contributed to the team. Overall he worked out well.

Garrick - I chose since a bard is always useful - great lore to identify things -( saved time with id of goods) - he could cast some spells and use both wands and range weapons (and melee if he really had too) and he had the bard song so it was a free "remove fear" protection. Of the 3 he was the most expensive to outfit because of the magic crossbow of speed that I had to buy him and the magic bolts - but it was a nice variety of bolts to be had and it changed some of the dynamic of playing him. With song, wands, spells and crossbow he made a good addition that fit well in the 6th spot - a good back up and range fighter with arcane abilities. In one battle Imoen, Neera and Garrick each fired a magic missile (they were level 7 and 6 for Garrick) can you imagine the damage. Overall he worked well.

Rassad - coming to him again I was skeptical from my early play of him - but this time it was way later in the game - chapter 5 and I would skip all the teething pains of the weak levels. When we added he jumped to 6th level just like that. I gave him a point in darts and fixed the point in one-weapon style. Using darts - there is such a variety and he could fire three of them a round. With points in movement and hiding - he hid amazingly well (the AI does it so well) - and he had 2 attacks with fists. He made a decent middle supporter. He would jump out of the shadows to attack, move at such a speed that many could not hit him if he engaged first and generally made a good middle support. No he is not a tank but then again neither were Garrick or Yeslick. Rassad needed of course some potion help - agility and strength potions making him 18 str, 18 dex - allowed for some good attacks and better AC (at 0 ) with no magical protection yet besides his boots (better AC then my kensai had with protection).

I took Rassad through the firewine bridge dungeon and the halfling village, another area I had not gone to yet, and Neera's quest and he worked out well as did Garrick and Yeslick. Overall he get a good grade as a good supporter - with his sun monk abilities he even took down a mage as we mopped out one battle. With darts, fists and sun monk power he played well ( I haven't yet used the fire fists to see how well they work) and did his part - he could both melee and support via range attacks and he the something extra as well (sun monk abilities).

Overall, Rassad at 6th level worked well for me. He pulled his weight so far but we will see what happens when we get back to BG and try to get the helm of Balduran and see how that battle plays out. But so far so good.

I know what some might be saying - get the dwarf Kagain or Coran - with Kagain you don't need to do much - just armor and weapons and he tanks very well and Coran with his bows really kicks butt/ I tried Kagain and he was great at what he did - attacking and tanking-- while Coran was great with bows - I might also try him out for the 6th spot - as I liked him when I used him earlier in the game. But both really are just melee support (although very good melee support) and don't add that something extra that Yeslick, Garrick and Rassad add to the mix.

Journal Day XX Year XXXX at Baldurs Gate (an excerpt from Mafuyu Sword Saint from her journey in the city of Baldurs Gate)

"More Assassins"

While continuing to explore Baldur’s Gate and planning our infiltration into the Iron Throne keep we encountered assassins again. Now you are wondering why I am writing about assassins again since they are now a somewhat regular occurrence for me but this time it was different. As we wandered the docks after a night long planning session with beer and hearty stew we ventured out to take in a breath of fresh air. As we enjoyed the night breeze, assassins appeared as and attacked us what was odd was they weren’t here for me but for Rassad.

Yes, an oddity, someone wanted to kill our monk companion and that was very strange. The battle was fierce as it was brief and we emerged victorious against them. On checking their bodies for clues we found some and proceeded to investigate who would do this. Did Rassad have a mysterious evilness about him, did a seduce a noble’s daughter or did he preach to the wrong people? Rassad himself did not really understand it himself but he knew that our foes where from the Dark Moon cult. Was it as simple as deity and school opposition that caused this assassination? Had we in some way ventured into their territory and trigged some kind of school conflict between the Sun Monks and the Dark Moon Monks? But their reaction for a simple conflict between opposing deities and schools seemed to be rather excessive – assassination was not something to be taken lightly even by a group of cultist.

Our investigation proved fruitful as we found a cultist, who had to be convinced to help us. Rassad using some mysterious monk technique convinced him quite quickly much to the disappointment of Dorn who wanted some blood to be split. We followed the cultist into the main Baldur’s Gate cultist temple and we were ambushed by the cultist monks but we were prepared – it wasn’t much of a shock for us – you can’t really trust a cultist that gives in so easily at the first sign of pressure. The battle was dangerous as the monks here were more skilled and had the numbers on us. I danced among them my sword flashing, parring and spinning through their defenses as my comrades battled their way through, Arcane powers flashed through the building as Neera and Imoen casted spells quickly ending many of the cultist that got too close to them; Dorn did want he did well and walked through the biggest concentration of them swinging his massive sword and smiling as he went; Viconia sighed and bashed away taking some of her anger out on them; and Rassad did want a skilled monk would do and smashed into them his fists and feet taking down any who would challenge him. The battle was bloody and we bandaged ourselves after it ended in our victory. We rested and began our investigation of the cultist head quarters here in Baldur’s Gate. It was a bloody business searching for clues among the dead and broken furniture after the fight but we needed to find answers for Rassad.

How could a cultist group set up in Baldur’s Gate without anyone being the wiser was a question that was bantered around as we searched for clues. But we already knew the answer sort of. If the city could by clueless about the nefariousness of the Iron Throne believing them to be a mere mercantile group it was not totally surprising how clueless they would be if a cultist group set up a branch temple here as well – its not like they were into human sacrifices after all.

Our search finally can to fruition as we found the clues to their main temple on this side of Faerun. Perhaps answers could be had there as to why Rassad was specifically targeted by the cultist. It had to be more than Rassad being a member from an opposing deity/school but then again maybe I was projecting too much of my own troubles on to something that was as simple as deity/school conflict.

We began our journey south to a snowy mountain temple range. The journey would take a while but since we had no real good plan of how to invade the Iron Throne and no pressing matters arose we decided to help out Rassad and investigate the Dark Moon cult and why they were doing this, it would prove another challenge for us and perhaps allow us to reevaluate our plans for when we had to face my bigger foe.

We traveled south and east venturing among small hamlets and towns gathering information and preparing for the inevitable confrontation with a group of dark monks. I was excited by the possibility of facing them. It would be a battle for the ages, fist versus sword – who would emerge victorious from this encounter. I practiced daily going through my movements, my sword danced in my hand and the eagerness of wanting to test out my skills against the masters of the Dark Moon monks fueled my steps as we traveled. Would my sword be able to overcome their mastery of the fist was my last and first though each day. I practiced going through movements and sparring imaginary foes as I danced among them my sword whirling a thing of beauty and death, parring fist and kicks while swiftly and efficiently ending the confrontation. As we traveled south, I helped prepare my companions for the eventual battle. Neera smiled simply taking a quick lesson with her dagger and staff – I gave pointers to how to use them and she nodded and practiced a few times before returning to her study. Imoen was a bit better since she enjoyed sparring to some degree but like Neera she was focused on her studies and the two had their heads close together making gestures and speaking the elderitch language. I watched them and sighed at their closeness, Imoen had changed on this adventure. She had found the thing that was missing – magic – and had also found a companion who could understand her. I sighed a little jealous of their closeness and the gulf that seemed to open up between Imoen and me. I remembered all those times in Candlekeep as we ran and hid among the bookshelves and in the forest and all the adventures we had imagined that would happen as we adventured in Fearun. Reality proved to be a harsher than out childhood quests but it still had a small thrill for me and I could see that Imoen still enjoyed adventuring even if she sent a bit more times with her books than with me. I looked at them as they studied together and I sighed wistfully. I was well read and always a good student but the arcane arts where never meant for me – my mastery of the sword had always been my focus and goal – to be the greatest sword master there ever was or will be. Perhaps it was this focus that had created a small split between Imoen and me, as I studied and practiced with the sword she was left along in the greatest library in the world and she studied – perhaps part of the fault for the gulf between us lay with my own single mindedness. I sighed again, when this ended – and I mean when we finished everything and revenged Gorion’s death perhaps we could go back to how it was between us but I knew deep inside that this journey to find Gorion’s murderer and why they wanted me would forever change us but hopefully not too much.

We continued south getting closer to our destination, the weather got colder but the icy snow covered mountains were a sight to behold. They sparkled in the morning sunlight like diamonds in a faraway dream beckoning all those brave enough to conquer their heights or enjoy their cold beauty from a distance if you were too scared to brave to scale their walls. I continued to practice but Rassad would always refuse to spar with me. He would teach the group some of the possible movements a monk would attack with and show possible counters with them but he refused to spar against me. For me it was a bit frustrating as I wanted to test my sword against his fist. Neera and Imoen mostly did not want to spar with me as did Viconia preferring to either study or do nothing at all. Dorn enjoyed the sparring but sadly a unarmored dark knight who could not use his divine powers was no match for me but he didn’t seem to mind all the small nicks he received from being a little too eager in sparring. Although frustrated with Rassad for his unwillingness to spar with me, I continued to practice my sword movements as we continued up the mountain passes. The thrill of being able to test my sword against their fist was something that filled with an eagerness for battle that I didn’t know I had. The battle would be soon and I would soon test my sword against a monk’s legendary fists.

The Dark Moon temple was placed among one of the beautiful mountain ranges. The snow glittered like jewels in the sun and you could see the whole of the world from atop its mountain peak. We ventured to its base and spoke to the hunters and random villagers that happen to be working in the area. They mostly said that the monks stayed to themselves and only came down to trade and preach once in a while. They were open about their temple and while they discouraged the curious from getting close they accepted new applicants into their ranks. We ascended into their mountain temple and reached the plateau where the temple would be housed. The paths through the snow were well worn and showed no sign of secrecy that one expected from a cultist group. We followed the path, the cold mountain air while refreshing sent a chill down our spines or maybe it was the fact that we had finally arrived at our destination and a battle loomed before us. We followed the snow laden path, the snow and ice crunching beneath our boots when we encountered a group in the distance. The wind was against us so we could not make out what was being said, but from the way they were dressed we knew that we had finally found the monks.

We stayed back hidden from their view by a snow drift. I was eager to battle and unsheathed by sword, eagerness shone in my eyes – finally a chance to really test myself against those that mastered unarmed battle. Here, today I would prove to them and myself just how far I had mastered my sword and legends would being about me. I ventured forward before my comrades could move eager to begin the battle against them – I had thrown caution to the wind as my eagerness for battle hurried my step and steeled my muscles ready for a battle. As I moved forward, the monks finally noticed us and said something that was lost in the wind. It didn’t matter to me anymore, I knew foes when I saw them and prepared to leap forward to test my sword, when Neera suddenly stepped forward her arm stretched sideways to stop me from advancing further. I looked at her puzzled and a little angry at this, why had she stopped from test my sword with their blood. My eyes were puzzled and hard as I looked at her but she didn’t seem to notice. She raised her hands and began gesturing while the elderitch language whispered out of her and although I didn’t know what she said I recognized the gestures and sounds and ducked quickly. A swoosh and a brilliant fiery ball of energy leaped from Neera’s hands rushing forward towards the monks that had gathered. A huge explosion echoed through the mountain ending the calming silence that seemed to pervade the mountain range. I looked up at Neera startled, astonished and a little pissed off as she had taken my foe, my prey. She looked at me, and smiled, laughter and lightness in her eyes and said, “I was cold.” She held my eyes as she said this and smiled her smile. I stood astonished and then laughed incredulously at what she had said. Using a fireball to get warm was as crazy as it came. My laughter echoed in the mountain pass as had the explosion a few moments ago. I laughed aloud the first real laugh in a few weeks until tears ran my face and I doubled over laughing at the absurdity of using a fireball to get warm. The tension that had been building in me suddenly vanished as did the blood lust I had been feeling. With these few simple words, Neera had released all the tension I had been feeling, the blood lust was gone the eagerness for battle was gone. I took a deep breath and centered myself again, once more feeling like myself that I had not felt since we began Rassad journey or maybe even before that as we were pondering the raid on the Iron Throne. I smiled my quirky smile and laughed again. Dorn looked at me as if I had gone crazy but that didn’t matter, Rassad stood patient and waiting, and Imoen had a smile in her eyes as she realized what had happened to me. I was myself once again – the blood of Bhaal sank back into the depths of my mind for a while again and I was focused once again. I sheathed my sword, the tension, eagerness and wanting of blood that I had been taken me over for a week now was gone and I was myself again. I would aid and defend Rassad on this journey of his and hopefully find the answers he sought but it was his journey and I was just coming along to lend a hand. I gestured forward to Rassad, it was his journey to make and we would follow his lead for this adventure.

The journey was one full of surprises and heart ache for Rassad. He had found the brother he had he mourned once again alive and whole but he had changed. It was he who had placed the assassins on his brother path. They spoke and we knew there was tension between the brothers, one brother too eager to be the best, another brother who was innately more skilled willing aiding in his brothers desire to be the best. Sibling conflict – one brother too accommodating and another that was jealous of his brother’s amazing prowess and skill. In the end, we battled once again for even though we wanted this to end without blood the Dark Moon monks had no such compulsion about spilling all our blood. I battled against their fist and even stood for a moment before Rassad’s brother as he battled the other monks, but as he ended those fights I stood back and let him confront his brother in the hopes that it would end differently. Sadly that day we buried Rassad’s brother among the mountain peak he called home and perhaps among its beauty he would find some peace finally. Rassad himself shed a few tears as we buried his brother, but he vowed he would find the person who had changed his brother and bring an accounting with this individual one day. He stood once more, the tears dried upon his face as he faced the grave of his brother who once again was lost to him, but there was also a calmness about him and a purpose to his gaze. One day he would face the person who had changed his brother but for now we had bigger issues to deal with like the Iron Throne and what was happening in Baldur’s Gate. Personal issues could be dealt with later he said and he would welcome some aid if needed but that would be another adventure for another time as other foes waited for us and other mysteries had yet to be solved. We left the mountain peaks, our hearts a little bit heavier at the loss of Rassad’s brother but we knew in our hearts that other mysteries still lay before us and a reckoning with these mysterious foes had to happen.

We descended from the snow peaks looking back once more at its beauty and wondered if the peace of the mountain was something that could happen for us as we continued with our quest.

Perhaps one day, we though as we headed back to Baldur’s Gate to face a foe that still remained hidden in the shadows.

Playing BGEE a few thoughts on the UI

So I will first say that it has been awhile since I've played the original BG1 and I don't really remember a whole about the UI so if it was already in the original - thats great and it was upgraded in the EE so much better.

1) Advance AI - I liked the options that you go with it - you could customize to some extent the scripts without having to worry about NPCs always attacking. I used the detect trap and hide in shadow script for Imoen and Rassad - and they worked beautifully - and as such limited the micro-management of detecting traps and hiding - the AI actually did it better and faster than if I controlled each character. For me this is a definite plus to the EE version. Less micro-management is always good as my thief can just wander down the hall finding traps without always checking to see if the button is checked.

It also allowed for preferred attack options like ranged and melee - although sometimes you needed to make sure what happen in hand during melee - it made for wandering a bit easier - as I prefer to have my NPCs have ranged weapon when exploring the maps.

Hopefully this advanced AI will also be available in BG2EE

2) The addition of the BG2 classes and kits added to a new experience with the game. Imagine being able to play through the entire series with the exact same character - this was a great enhancement to the original.

I also liked the addition of such components like dual wielding and the weapon choices etc that made it an almost new game more 2.0 ad&d.

3) small things like the tab button to find hidden things - was a nice addition - it sure made it a lot easier to find things - I remember doing it the old way - and while there was that thrill of finding so hidden treasure - this function now had taken away some of the tediousness of the original game.

The loot bar - was a good thing as well - saved on micro-management and ensured you picked up everything that you wanted without the opps I forgot to pick up some loot along the way because the monster loot was hidden by something.

4) In some cases for certain battles and encounters - it felt a bit easier - were there a few less monsters during encounters? I seem to recall more monsters and more dangerous random encounters that made the game more difficult but I could mis-remembering that.

5) new NPCs - one of the things I really enjoyed was the new NPCs that were added - new stories and new quests to try - adding new content in such a way that didn't alter the main story line is always great - more things to see and to do. The NPCs each were distinct and different - from Dorn who was a bit slurry and bloody; to Neera who was light hearted but a go getter and really she didn't need saving she could have saved herself (and she did during my play through - we were just distractions for the Thay guards); Bealoth was entertaining (too bad he didn't have a personal quest) and Rassad was a joy mostly to have along as well. The banter between the new and old NPCs was also a lot of fun and quite entertaining as well.

6) An oddity or maybe just mis-remembering things:

Tales of the sword coast - I always played after the main story line I think but its been so long that I don't remember if that is correct or not - what this means is that I have no choice but to play Tosc during BG1 - reaching the xp cap a lot sooner and adding additional spells and items that my party normally would not get. Not game breaking or anything but I would have liked to make use of all the xp I got with a complete play through the BGEE. Really its just a really tiny complaint.

7) Overall it was an completely enjoyable game - I would totally recommend it for those that loved the original and wanted to play it again on a modern pc and the latest window without having to dig out the old computer assuming it even still worked.

8) Possible improvements:

With the new shaman class - I would have liked a new NPC shaman as well; if you can add a blackguard, a sun soul monk, a sorcerer (and a drow at that - too bad we can't make a drow PC) and a wild mage - there should have been a shaman as well since this was something totally new for BG.

Yes, I know that SoD has one - but thats another game (which I haven't as yet bought) but it would have been nice to nevertheless have a new shaman NPC to try.

I would also have liked better druid spells - really BG druid spells are really lacking - I am not sure if it is actually possible but the druid spells from IWD are so much better and could have been incorporated into BG to really change the druid class and make it better (they share the same engine after all).

9) Mods

I am not sure if this is because beamdog enhanced edition or its patches but not all mods work consistently with BGEE. For me at least some tweaks (like inventory management - more stacking) was hit and miss for me not that it was needed to play the game but it made the small things less annoying to deal with.

I haven't tried out my favorite mods on BGEE but as I export my PC into BG2EE I wonder if my favorite mods will work seamlessly with the enhanced edition or do I have to wait until beamdog fixes it patches that at times really screw up the game. Oh well thats for another discussion.

10) Overall game play

Overall as I said I thoroughly enjoyed playing BGee - it was money and time well spent on one of my favorite rpg games that modern games seem to lack at times. The world of Fearun and Baldurs Gate is still such an enjoyable game and world to explore regardless of its age and I glad beamdog took it upon itself to release an updated version with some enhancement.

I want to learn this kind of lines! Teach me.

Helssange wrote:I want to learn this kind of lines! Teach me.

What are you talking about?