I played BG 2 religiously about 2 1/2 years ago...finished it as a good PC and then got really caught up in life and haven't played computer games a lot since. Now I find myself with some time for PC games again and I find I have this uncontrollable desire to play this great game through again [img]smile.gif[/img] . So I have two questions: 1. Is anyone else still reading and posting on this board that was playing the game back in 2002?
2. Can anyone direct me to a good general FAQ for these two games as I've forgotten just about everything I knew about them [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img]
Okay...one more question, can anyone recomend any good mods that have come out since "the good old days" that are worth getting?

I haven't posted to Ironworks for a long time either...ahhh it's nice to be back.

1) Probably yes. A lot of members have been here since that time, but there are also a lot of new faces around.

2) There's heaps of decent mods out there. Tactics, for instance, makes Baldur's Gate 2 a lot harder by enhancing enemy scripts, placing new enemies in Amn etc. Ease of Use does what the name implies: it makes part of the game easier (taking away certain restrictions). Another mod is the Item Upgrade mod, which allows Cromwell to forge even more items for you. Check the forum FAQ for links.

Welcome back!

I joined the forum recently, but I got bg2 when it came out, and bg1 about 4 months after it came out (though I never finished bg1 until now--Diablo was more addicting and I was only like 10). I've beaten BG2 many a time, and it is very enjoyable until the game gets too easy. Thats where the revolutionary weidu mods come in.

www.weidu.org holds the new mod installation tool which backs up your old files, allowing mods to be installed and uninstalled separately, and almost all of them are compatible with eachother. Usually full conversions are not all that compatible, however. weidu.org holds Ascension and tactics mods. Ascension makes the boss battles of TOB much more challenging, and adds a different, and quasi impossible final battle. Tactics adds improvements to enemies' AI, as well as munchkin items and opponents who cheat. Of course, most of this is justified because the PC is a person, and AI is not. A major problem with tactics is that it is too hard, especially on insane. Improved faldorn is, as far as I know, impossible without cheese, even on easy play. The best part about weidu is that if you don't want improved ilyich or faldorn, just don't install them.
www.baldurdash.org has the ever famous baldurdash fixpack, a veritable necessity to counteract the bugs in bg2. Just install the whole thing, it's not even worth checking what it fixes.

And remember to install weidu mods LAST! Fixpacks go on first, after official patches.

[ 04-07-2005, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: whathuh ]

Here's a good general FAQ site, by one of our most knowledgable members... and I've been around since 2002.

http://www.geocities.com/sixospades/bg/bgguide.htm

I would get Unfinished Business. Adds quite a lot of cut out stuff to the game. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Just out of curiosity, can someone list some of the NPC mods they like/recomend. I am already thinking about my next game [img]smile.gif[/img] and it will be fully modded. I would like to have as many custom NPC's as possible. Which ones have the best dialog/subplots and are worth playing through with?

Personally my favorite NPC mod is Solaufein because of the introspective and brooding aspects of his storyline, and also if you're into challenges, his quest specific battles.

Some may find the special item and abilities he gains later to be somewhat overpowered which is true in a regular, standard BG2 install, however, with Tactics installed in combination with his quest challenges set at hard to insane difficulty they even things out. Not to mention the player has control of how he/she chooses to utilize his abilities anyway.

Keto is another NPC mod that i've heard good things about.

Here is a very good review of a bunch of NPC mods out there. The ones reviewed range from the really crappy the excellent, so it's worth a read-through.

Keto is best.

I disagree about Tactics being too hard. The hardest part really is the beginning. Slogging your way through the dungeon being awakened every morning by two very magic resistance duergers, battling through packs of duergers consisting of two mages casting confusion(which you don't have chaotic commands yet to defend against), stoneskin and two melee gets annoying very quickly. The battle with Ilyich is very tough requiring a lot of reloads. It's possible people are turned off at this point and that's a shame because all the other improvements are done very well. I did Ilyich once it but removed that portion for my other parties.

I love the improved Torgal, Maevar, Bodhi, Beholder Dungeon(nasty!) and Twisted Rune. Twisted Rune was so poorly done originally with Layene gating in a daemon and then casting meteor shower and not even using the SotM to its abilities. Now it's a total riot. Layene continously goes invis with the SotM, Shangy pops off a continegncy of remove magic and double horrid wilting, Shyrissa ignores anyone with a MoD. I have more fun replaying that than any other battle. Beholder Dungeon was a surprisingly difficult improvement. It took me forever to clear and I only did so because of the Staff of Command. The Cloak of Cheese doesn't work here [img]smile.gif[/img]

Bodhi in chapter six is tough depending on the level of your party. Frankly I don't know how it can be done with a low level party if you decide to rush things. However if you take the time to do questing before/after Spellhold/Underdark then you have the necessary levels to make this very winnable. You need PME to counter the Touch of Death. You need cold resists to counter her damage shield. You need cleric regen to counter her damage, lots of potions and complete heals and mostly you need massive DPS to kill her fast.

Right now I'm getting my assed kicked in the final battle but man I'm loving it. So much more fun compared to that sad letdown of a cakewalk in the original.

My advice is to remove the Improved Ilyich and keep everything else enabled.