What are the worst & best things about BG2: SOA?

Best parts:

1) Tons & Tons of quests in Athkatla

2) Some decent weapons

3) The Exp Cap!! (this does not apply to mages tho since they can't use level 9 spells)

Worst parts:

1) Imoen talking about "death" a lot and whines too much (Ex: A quote from Imoen "Death is pretty? Why would I think that?" & "I see blood... and death... behind my eyes... Irenicus..." (this one bothers me the most)

2) Anomen's attitude (no joke!)

3) Cowled Wizards rule about magic and paying 5000 gold for a "license".

Send in your Best & Worst parts about the game here.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Darlon ]</p>

Easy.MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
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Things I love:
1.I love Imoen. Don't be so hard on her. She's had a tough time. If her talking about rivers of blood bothers you, think about her dreaming them.
2, I love Viconia. Most detailed story, character not as all as it seems when you first meet. Probably more fiercely loyal to you, if you romance her, than any exept #1. Maybe.
3.I love finally getting out of the damned Underdark and getting to go kill that damned (literally) Bodhi. Especially when she says,"No, I cannot lose this life." B***h, it wasn't yours, anyway. Ha, in the Ascension mod she says "I have had a bad time in the Abyss."
4.I love Sendai's enclave, when they say,"We are being invaded by Gorion's Ward."
5.I love it when you get to change Viconia's alignment."I would not be just the woman whom you have to protect." and the final lovetalk when she says"Kiss me as if it were for the last time...my terrible, wonderful man." I know, I'm a woman and these are really part of #1, so sue me.

I hate:
1.When Irenicus steals Imoen from you and you get all those horrid movies of her torture in Spellhold.
2.I hate it, after the final battle, they tell you that Viconia got poisoned by an agent of Lolth.
3.I hate it, in the Ascension mod, when Mellisan steals Imoen from you and says"Irenicus,Imoen, destroy them."
4. I hate it when Viconia tells you about the jerk in Beregost who tortured and abused her.
5. I hate it when Anomen is in your party and starts to hit on your female character. Brrr. I'd rather have a slug on my arm than his hand.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Galadria ]</p>

Wow uhmm Galadria you seem to taken things very serious and personal
I'm not trying to be mean but yikes, they are made up chars ya know..

My likes
The depth of the whole BG series actually, there is so much to do and places to go
The non linerarity of so much of the game
The speech and conversations between chars......some of it is so amusing or fits in well with the char.
Finding/Hearing things for the first name......always enjoyable

Dislikes
The game Ends ! hehe
Getting waylaid by enemies.......grrrr get lost
Level Drains argh

Other than that I think its one of the most enjoyable games ever and certainly has huge replay value in it which not many games can say.

ToB on the other hand is a little dissapointing but thats another story [img]smile.gif[/img]

Hi, Tarox. Yep, I do roleplay. But these characters have been in my life for more than a year. Naturally, I have opinions. LOL

Ok [img]smile.gif[/img]
Wasn't trying to be nasty or nothing, you just seemed very emotional by the storylines as if they were your close friends

Ugh that sounds just as bad so I'll leave it
sorry

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Galadria:
Easy.MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
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Things I love:
1.I love Imoen. Don't be so hard on her. She's had a tough time. If her talking about rivers of blood bothers you, think about her dreaming them.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Galadria ]<hr></blockquote>

I'm not trying to be hard on her, I like her too but, this talk about "death" really gets annoying after a while.

Oh and don't worry Tarox I'm very emotional about my characters to [img]smile.gif[/img] so I also roleplay like Galadria.

[ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Darlon ]</p>

Aha! I love so much about baldur's gate.

1. getting out of Irenicus' dungeon, thusly being able to explore Amn to my heart's content (Hate that stupid dungeon arg)

2. playing a cavalier. The joy of standing on Firkraag's slumped broken carcass is pretty sweet.
a. wielding the carsomyr

3. casting horrid wilting over and over again just after stopping time. Under improved alacrity, of course.

4. Imoen. I love imoen ;p she's adorable.

5. Minsc ~lol!

6. being female while disguised as drow. "On your knees pathetic male!" <grin>
a. watching Phaere and the matron mother die.

7. the cloak of mirrors. Holy cow! never had one item been so..so..neat.

8. the deathblows of: bodhi, irenicus, yaga-shura, sendai, abazigal, uhhh the monk (forgetting his name ;p), and finally Amelyssan the blackhearted (grrr she's an arrogant pain).

9. The treasure trove that is ~Watcher's keep. Yikes.
a. killing the 6th final guardians before heading to demogorgan. That's y'tossi (the marilleth), nalmissra (the nymph thing), the hive mother, the huntress, and the two others ;p

10. the replay value. It's priceless.

11. Aerie, and her romance. though, i'm probably the only one =b

12. lich's. I love to fight lich's!

13. Drizzt! Whooo!
a. drizzt rapid fire 5 attacks per round.

14. wand of cloudkill ~the bane of the umberhulk

15. Elves

16. the ring of Gaxx

then there is the less than desirable stuff ~_~

1. Anomen romance. ugh.

2. aerie whining, imoen torture/ imoen's qoute before final fight with irenicus (seemed less dramatic than appropriate).

3. vampires, mummies, level drain, bodhi taking your love interest.

4. Firkraag laughing at you during battle.

5. Imprisonment.

6. illithid mind drain. Sucking my brain out while i'm slashing at them. jeez..

7. social consequences of being evil. blah ;p

8. "My weapon has no effect!" Grr~!

9. "You must gather your party before venturing forth." "You must.."

10. the game ending. awwe ~_~ wish there were more.

the good outweighs the bad :D and the bad is nothing more than minor little things ^^

Izanagl, you are not the only one who loves Aerie. You should join the ALSB (Aerie Loving Sacred Band), at their Clanhold over at the Temple of Aerie. I'm not kidding. Just go to the top of the page, click "Ironworks Gaming", scroll down to the next to the bottom, to "Ironworks Online Roleplaying", and find the Temple of Aerie. Click on it and read the posts. They are a bit loony, but who's not? Avater, I'm just kidding!!! :D

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Galadria:
Izanagl, you are not the only one who loves Aerie. You should join the ALSB (Aerie Loving Sacred Band), at their Clanhold over at the Temple of Aerie. I'm not kidding. Just go to the top of the page, click "Ironworks Gaming", scroll down to the next to the bottom, to "Ironworks Online Roleplaying", and find the Temple of Aerie. Click on it and read the posts. They are a bit loony, but who's not? Avater, I'm just kidding!!! :D <hr></blockquote>

I should hope not! *points at sig* Of course, I actually joined when I didn't know who Aerie was! :D

Things I love:

1) The game.
2) Imoen (hey, I like her!)
3) IT'S IN ENGLISH!!!! (anyone who complains about an NPC's annoying voicescript... play BG1 in German... agh, the pain of incompetent translations...)
4) Minsc and Boo (they're so funny!)
5) Insulting others while disguised as a drow :D
6) Jaheira's attitude (no, seriously!)
7) Helping Adalon get her eggs back (yes, I'm a paladin in disguise [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

Things I hate:
1) Anomen romance *ugh, shudder*
2) Khalid dies! [img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]
3) MIND FLAYERS
4) Level drain
5) the game ends!

Best parts:
1)the main plot
2)the sub quests
3)fighting irenicus in sundanesalar and then hell.
4)killing dragons (its so satisfing killing something that big)
5)most of the Npcs (my favs are minsc, Boo, imoen and jaheira
6)the underdark
7)the size of the game

Worst parts:
1)khalid is dead (although with him dead you can now romance with jaheira)
2)Anomen
3)the fact that assassins only get 15 points per level on theif skills, this really annoys me.
4)Anomen
5)sometimes when you send your characters over the other side of the map, they get lost or don't move for some reason.

Hey, maybe we could found a branch of the "Anti-Anomen (AKA Annoy-man}
Society" over on the Black Isle Boards. Tarox will really think we are crazy. And, thanks, Kaz, I don't believe that we've met, but I like you already. I forgot to put on my list about Khalid dying. Wow, the first time that I went through the game, I was in shock for hours. I remember driving back from the supermarket, thinking, "I can't believe they killed him," meaning Bioware. I was chatting with a bioware designer once and I came out and asked him, why for practical purposes, they had done it. He answered that it was to free Jahiera up for a romance, and because they were afraid that gamers would just get their old parties back. Wow, a game without Kivan!

[ 01-06-2002: Message edited by: Galadria ]</p>

I was completely in shock, Khalid was one of my favorite NPCs in BG1. And... you have one for the Anti-Anomen club. He is so ANNOYING. He's gone off to get himself killed now, I'm considering not letting him into the party when he comes back... except... he can cast level 7 cleric spells... *sigh*

[ 01-06-2002: Message edited by: Kaz ]</p>

Things I like:
The way it feels like an epic
Those Battles that leave you breathless
Demons
Drows
The way the characters evolve.
Aerie, so sweet.
Keldorn... His End story in TOB gave me serious goosebumps
Minsc and Boo
The Music

Things I don't like so much, I don't hate anything about this game:
The way you always start in Irenicus dungeon. can be very boring to start there everytime you start a new game
Level drains
Cheats (I use them way to much)
Anomen (although his revenge for his sister is fun to play, after that I use him as tank and cut of his healpotion supply...he he)
It ends.

[ 01-06-2002: Message edited by: Jorath Calar ]</p>

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Kaz:
[QB]I was completely in shock, Khalid was one of my favorite NPCs in BG1. And... you have one for the Anti-Anomen club. He is so ANNOYING. He's gone off to get himself killed now, I'm considering not letting him into the party when he comes back... except... he can cast level 7 cleric spells
"Kaz", (sits down with a serious look on her face) "I'm here from the Anti-Anomen League, for an intervention. Stop this self-destructive, obsessive behavior. Remember, you are a Goddess. You can be free of this stifling dependancy. Just tell yourself, I have value as a person and as a woman. You do not ever need to hear "What is it this time?" or "I am pleased with the progress of this ill-considered group" again. Just walk away from it. If necessary, stay in a shelter for a few nights. Then, go get Viconia or Jahiera. Theyy are goddesses, too, though one of them is WAY more annoying than the other. {Subliminal man: "Jahiera"}Now GO and never fall into this trap, again." OOC>>See, we could do things like that. :D

Well, I already have Jaheira, and I'm playing a party with rep 20... wait a minute... I have Jaheira, I have Aerie, WHAT THE HECK DO I NEED ANOTHER CLERIC FOR?? I'M FREE! FREE!!!!!! *hugs Galadria* thankyouthankyouthankyou... now I'll go get Mazzy as new tank :D

Best parts:

All the unrequired quests.
Ability to take sides in at least one major required quest.
Depth of party NPC characterization and interaction.
Game balance.
Good AI (in general, and no, I don't mean dragons).

Worst parts:

Leveling overkill. Too many higher items, spells, abilities.
The damn thing ends! It should never end! NEVER! :rolleyes: ;)

I speak on my own behalf...
Spoilers ahead....BEWARE.


What I like...

The depth of npc storylines
A quest for each npc!
The way each npc can 'talk' with each other,using praise or witty insults as well!
Aerie's innocence...ever meet someone like that? (YOu can romance with Viconia? Let me try...)
The huge range of magical items...Ring of Gaxx for example.


What I hate...

Korgan's greediness...just because he is good...he shouldn't charge for his aid.
Jaheira's meaness towards Aerie
The tone of voice which "You must gather your party before venturing forth" is said in...ARRRGH!

Hi, Cayone,:welcome: to Ironworks. Yes, you can romance Vickey, provided that you are human or half-elf. No evil alignment required. As I said above, my very own personal favorie part of the game. I put Imoen at #1, because, well, she's my li'l sis. Take that , Tarox [img]smile.gif[/img]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>
Originall posted by Cayone:

What I hate...
Korgan's greediness...just because he is good...he shouldn't charge for his aid.
<hr></blockquote>

Ahhh... Just a heads up ... Korgan's alignment is Chaotic Evil!!! He is most definitely NOT a nice dwarf.

The things I like the most are:

-The very interactive NPCs
-Imoen's talk of blood and horror
-The dream sequences
-The indepth story
-And, the fact that you can go off on tangents

My dislikes are:
-The "paper dolls" are not as pretty as in BG/TOSC
-The female voice sets are not very good and most the ones you can find on the web are for male characters
-The fact that the only male NPC you can romance is Anomen and he compares you to his sister over and over! Gross!!! I wonder if the writer of that romance thought this was good material, or if he or she was just making the only available male NPC romance option disgusting on purpose?
-Adding up the Ability rolls while making a new character over and over and over until you get a good roll. I wish they had a box with the total roll score at the bottom. I hate rolling a new character because of this.-The fact that Xzar cannot join your party. When I met him, I was so happy, but then I found out that he doesn't join you- what a let-down! I was really hoping he could romance you in this game when I first heard about romance options.

I am with you on the Anomen-Hating Society, even though I am currently romancing him in my game (it's my first time through and I want to see what happens).

Did I play the same game?

Khalid was annoying as hell in BG1 i thought, he was always first to be kicked out of my party.
So was good they axed him from BG2

Prologue:
I personally don't care that much about Khalid. He wasn't any such a big addition to the party anyway, Jaheira was more useful. But since they were "linked", I had to keep one to keep another. Yeah, I could of course get him killed and never ress, but I don't like to waste the "tools" like that either. So when I saw him dead, it was more like saying "Oopsie, there he went. Let's move on."

Good:
- Quests of all kind, with different NPC's, in different locations
- Char interactions, which are often pretty funny to watch
- Plethora of items, spells
- Pretty good story, liked it

Comments:
I personally don't care about Anomen's talks. I have dealt in real life with people who talk even more and have less uses then Anomen, so I simply ignored him. Being a male in RL I don't play female chars either in games, too weird for me to do so, and so I couldn't care less about the romance option with him either. I used him as long as was needed, then told him "bye-bye" and booted him. Voices weren't bad at all for any chars, I was OK with those.

Bad:
- Stupid stats rolls at the beginnig, when you don't import the char
- Many spells were really pretty useless
- Too small or few areas (most of things happen in the city)!
- Mind Flayer INT drain
- Vampire level drain
- Main char Imprisoned/Killed etc

Comments:
Aerie is a whiny one, high maintenance element. Should have left her probably in the circus, but I needed a char like she at that moment. Also with one of my chars I had a romance with her too, for the kicks. Jaheira is cool and her attitude is not bad either, better then Aerie's anyway. Vicky, well, she's just a person with different manners, takes time to "re-educate" her but she's in any way better then Aerie. Minsc was always in my party, he's just so good a friend and loyal to the end. Regarding the "areas" issue - in BG1 there were many areas, maybe too many areas without much of the meaning - no quest in them, and gibberlings/xvarts/kobolds get old pretty fast. So seems that Bioware wanted to fix this, but they overdid it and the result were the little amount of areas in BG2, from which most of the game time you can spend in the big city itself. Bad solution as such, I did like the travelling in BG1 and finding out new places. As for INT and LVL drain, then that's just stupid - fine, let it occur but heck, not like this! It can occur, but not that often and without any save rolls. Regarding the main char point above - the game "boasts" how the party members have a "mind of their own" and will act accordingly. Well, why then the game is OVER when the main char is, say, Imprisoned/killed, and the rest of the party is still ALIVE!? I don't care about the weird excuses, the fact is that as long as I have even ONE party member alive, the game should not be over. That one char could res all (with the spell or wand), free them with the spell or hire some NPC mage to do so and so on.

The stats rolling - dang, how much more.. I have played practically every class, every type and have made some nice rolls. And yet I have to do it again. So right now, when I am not importing the char, I simply max the stats and then reduce them to the level I have rolled up at some time in the past. I am NOT going to sit there again for 3+ hours and keep rollin'.

OK, enough for now. To me it's still just a game, entertainment thingie. I don't "live" with that world and my thoughts are on it only when I am playing it, at other times I simply don't care. It's a good game, but it's a game, not to mention I play many other games as such, and mainly the online games (like DAoC, EQ etc), which I take more seriously as they are more serious. Interaction with real people in real-time and all that.

Things I like about BGII:

Everything but Aerie

Things I absolutely despise about BGII:

Aerie.

Korgan being Chaotic Evil. He is at most Neutral Evil. Some of his dialogues about how killing children and having them as slaves is wrong does not fit a CE character.

[img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Jonni Voodoo ]</p>

Oooh, I love Minsc and Boo. And I'm annoyed by the fact that I can't have a romance with Minsc. Or can I? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

About the "game ends when main character dies", I think I figured out why. You know what happens to Bhaalspawn when they die? Correct, they fall into dust (at least you do and Sarevok does in BG1). So, you cannot resurrect a pile of dust and since you are the main character, with you permanently dead, the games end. Does this make sense or am I on the wrong track?

Things I like:
Too many to tell them!
One of them is Holy Avenger (the Paladins should know why)

Things I hate:
Vampires (although I love to kill them!) and Mind Flayers!