Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

[The Glyphstone]

I has an epic-level sad. Now I need to get myself a new birthday present.

[danzibr]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Oh well. I've come to expect this kind of thing around games I really look forward to. On the upside this gives me more time to decide on a class, because I just can't seem to to it.
Barbarian for the flavor and speed? Inquisitor for the mage killing? Berserker for berserking? Kensai for dual-classing into a mage? Ugh.

Agreed. I'm thinking of triple classing for ToB purposes. Decisions decisions.

[karpik777]

Well, the new date is the anniversary of the original BG release. I can't stop the feeling that it could be a reason for such a long delay... After all, if they'd need a month and a half or two months more, they might as well add two weeks to that time and have a memorable and important date.

And it's crap they informed about the delay so late...

[Psyren]

For those bummed out, the original (along with a ton of other retro D&D games) are 65% off on GoG right now and (I believe) for the next couple of days.

(Though I was up late last night wrestling with Windows 7 and NWN Diamond )

[ThiagoMartell]

I failed every time I tried to make Windows 7 run ToEE or NWN. NWN2 works, but NWN2 sucks.

[Psyren]

After significant wrangling and reading threads on GoG, I got it to run. But the performance is atrocious on my ATI Radeon quad-core laptop. So I guess I have more tweaking to do.

And people wonder why I'm primarily a console gamer now...

[danzibr]

I just realized it'd be cool to have psionics in BG.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by danzibr

I just realized it'd be cool to have psionics in BG.

...you want 2e Psionics added to BG?

For the love of all the gods, man, NOOOOOOOOO!

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

...you want 2e Psionics added to BG?

For the love of all the gods, man, NOOOOOOOOO!

To be fair, it wouldn't necessarily have to be 2e. After all, Sorcerers and Barbarians made it into the original BG, and they aren't 2e either.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Psyren

To be fair, it wouldn't necessarily have to be 2e. After all, Sorcerers and Barbarians made it into the original BG, and they aren't 2e either.

I just assumed they were released as kits in one of the bazillion assorted handbooks...

[Morty]

I'm pretty sure that Barbarians, Sorcerers, Monks and Half-Orcs in BG2 are transplantations of 3.0 rules into 2nd edition AD&D.

[Psyren]

Of course, this is not to say that 3.0 psionics are much better than 2e ones

[Muz]

Originally Posted by Morty

I'm pretty sure that Barbarians, Sorcerers, Monks and Half-Orcs in BG2 are transplantations of 3.0 rules into 2nd edition AD&D.

I think the first three at least are more likely from the "2.5" "Player Options" series. But it's been a while, so I could be wrong...

[Kish]

There were various "barbarian" kits, but the BG2 barbarian class resembles the 3ed barbarian class much more than it resembles any of them, and besides if they wanted it to be a fighter kit there's no good reason for it not to be a fighter kit.

And as for the sorcerer, well, people keep saying that there's something similar in the Player's Option books and thus it shouldn't be treated as an obvious import from 3ed, but no one ever seems to have actual details.

[snoopy13a]

I was looking forward to buying this tomorrow. Oh well...

[Weezer]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Of course, this is not to say that 3.0 psionics are much better than 2e ones

I dunno if I'd go that far. At least 3.0 psionics didn't result in everyone non-psionic losing pretty much by default to every single psionic being. Ahh, those were the days, over complicated mental combat, great powers, gotta love it (or hate it if you aren't psionic…)

[Squark]

I could swear I heard that barbarians or Sorcerors for 2e were in Dragon (not sure which), and I know Half-Orcs had been around long before Baldur's Gate, they just didn't get in the 2e core-rulebook as a race.

[Muz]

Originally Posted by Kish

And as for the sorcerer, well, people keep saying that there's something similar in the Player's Option books and thus it shouldn't be treated as an obvious import from 3ed, but no one ever seems to have actual details.

Player's Option: Spells & Magic: Chapter 6, "Systems of Magic" section, under "Channellers."

...Though I do admit to having thought they were named AS sorcerers before I looked it up, but the idea seems generally the same.

[mangosta71]

"Channellers"? That sounds like it was blatantly lifted from The Wheel of Time.

[Starbuck_II]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

...you want 2e Psionics added to BG?

For the love of all the gods, man, NOOOOOOOOO!

Yes, 30% chance to cast disintegrate, 30% chance it fails, and 40% chance to be disintegrated. I love the challenge of 2E Psionics!

[Muz]

Originally Posted by mangosta71

"Channellers"? That sounds like it was blatantly lifted from The Wheel of Time.

Nonsense! When has D&D lifted ANYthing from any literary source???

[Philistine]

When BG2 came out, the dev team said outright that the Barbarian, Monk, and Sorcerer were being included because they were about to show up in the 3E PHB.

That was a fun edition war, too.

[Muz]

Oh!

I stand corrected.

Edit: Technically, I'm sitting.

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell

I failed every time I tried to make Windows 7 run ToEE or NWN. NWN2 works, but NWN2 sucks.

Crossposting here:

I finally got my NWN Diamond to work perfectly! Followed the instructions here (and on the thread linked in the first reply), then once the game was installed, I right-clicked the "nwn.exe" and did the Windows 7 Compatibility Troubleshooter (lets you run as administrator, fools it into thinking you're under Windows XP etc.) Now the game is smooth like butter and my Sorceress is taking to the plague-ridden streets once more.

[ThiagoMartell]

Originally Posted by Psyren

Crossposting here:

I finally got my NWN Diamond to work perfectly! Followed the instructions here (and on the thread linked in the first reply), then once the game was installed, I right-clicked the "nwn.exe" and did the Windows 7 Compatibility Troubleshooter (lets you run as administrator, fools it into thinking you're under Windows XP etc.) Now the game is smooth like butter and my Sorceress is taking to the plague-ridden streets once more.

Cool! I'll be sure to try it when I get home (two long weeks from now ). Couldn't they just get NWN on Steam?

[Psyren]

Originally Posted by ThiagoMartell

Cool! I'll be sure to try it when I get home (two long weeks from now ). Couldn't they just get NWN on Steam?

I do love Steam, but I'll take no DRM over benevolent DRM any day

[The Glyphstone]

So as far as BGII goes, what are the best kits to try out? I plan on playing through the game normally once, then doing it again as a solo run just to see if it's possible.

[Winthur]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

So as far as BGII goes, what are the best kits to try out? I plan on playing through the game normally once, then doing it again as a solo run just to see if it's possible.

Vanilla BG2 with no mods (and assuming you don't play BG1 with kits as some mods allow; it can be gamebreaking honestly) I'd vote for:
Fighter: Berserker (ease of use, tankiness) OR Kensai (slightly more challenging and not a "tanks everything" kinda frontliner, but deals the most DPS)
Ranger: Archer hands down, there are a few very good missile weapons in the game that this class utilizes in a fun and simple way, stay away from Beastmaster, Stalker is a watered down single class warrior/thief
Paladin: Cavalier is the simplest I'd say, Inquisitor has cool utility (but there's a joinable one in the game)
Cleric: No comments, all the kits benefit you over the standard class, the bonus spells aren't really that notable IMHO
Druid: Even though Shapeshifter looks cool he's also kinda bugged in vanilla BG2 and the werewolf form IMHO falls off. I'd recommend Avenger for shapeshifting (the creature forms and bonus spells have decent utility and he doesn't sacrifice much) or Totemic Druid for decent mid-game summons.
Thief: Swashbuckler is a strong late-game frontliner (with Use Any Item in Throne Of Bhaal his stats can get ridiculous) but can't backstab. I'd pick that or Assassin, since you don't need too many thieving skills and Assassin has a x7 cap on backstab damage instead of x5. Bounty Hunter is okay.
Bard: Blade is one of the most fun kits because of how perfectly he blends Sword & Magic while sacrificing very little. Definitely recommended.
Mage: Recommended Summoner because Divination spells are available on Clerics. Wild Mage is fun but unpredictable; think "Jinxed" trait from classic Fallout games. Nahal's Dweomer is fun if you can live with the unpredictability.
Barbarian: Strong frontliner. For simple heads and skull-cracking. Potentially the tankiest class possible (against physical damage, at least) thanks to certain items and passives.
Monk: Definitely better than tabletop 3.5 edition incarnation
Sorcerer: Commonly accepted to be better than Mage because most players prefer spamming AoE goodness and that's what Sorcerer excels at. And it's not a bad way to succeed in battles, so you might have more fun and less trouble with a Sorcerer than a Mage.

Solo runs are definitely possible with every caster in the game (including the almighty Blade). Multiclasses such as everyone's favourite cookie-cutter Fighter/Mage/Thief work. Dual classes such as Kensai/Mage or Kensai/Thief or Berserker/Cleric work. Thieves can do it though they might be off to a rough start. Fighting classes suffer from lack of utility so I never attempted it but I imagine lacking spells like Breach can be a problem. (I'd give Inquisitor a spin if I were to attempt it)

[Squark]

Assassin's problem is so many things are immune to backstabbing late game, so they suffer.


Thief is a very viable solo class, though- You just have to hit epic levels quickly to get Use any Item (And hoard scrolls to use afterwords)

[The Glyphstone]

I'll probably choose Berserker for the group run then.

Kensai/Mage is apparently a really powerful, or outright cheesy, dual class for solo runs, but what can Bard/Blade be dual-classed or multiclassed with?