State of mods

[Dundee Slaytern]

Ah yes, the Acid Kensai. I have yet to encounter him due to my loathing of CFury( I sell CFury [img]tongue.gif[/img] ), so no comments about him.

I have not tried Tashia, so no comments about her either.

Ascension is indeed another well done mod. Bringing ToB closer to what the game developers had in mind( mainly because it was made by one of the game developers).

I never found the need to install the Improved Thief Stronghold because as it is, I think the current Thief Stronghold is interesting already, and one of the best Strongholds in the game.

andrewas, any Mage/Sorcerer/Bard will laugh with glee in the II Mod, but for other solos, it will not be a walk in the park.

Granted, it is still possible, but do not expect to steamroll over them like you did with your solo Sorcerer.

[Rataxes]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: The Improved Bandits is another balanced mod. True... their frequency is kinda unrealistically high, but unless your party is half-dead, naked and have no spells, you should be able to handle them at any time.

Have to disagree about that, the high-level Bandit encounters are pure nightmares on Insane. Far from easy even if you're very high-level and prepared for them, they can easily kill your party, or at least create some major chaos if you're caught by surprise. Arrows of Dispelling, sequenced Flame Arrows, friggin' Maze traps!
They're still immense fun though [img]smile.gif[/img]

Red Badge Encounter: Tough, but doable. A tad unfair in some aspects, but not toooo much. With a few little tweaks though, this mod might become widely acceptable.

My only problem with this mod is the Counter-attack Project Force. It's as cheesy as cheese gets, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, far worse than Bodhi's undispellable fire shields (at least you can resist those).

[Rataxes]

Originally posted by andrewas: Am I the only person who likes Improved Illych? Solo sorceror on insane, it was tough but it wasnt one of those fights that seems completely impossible. Although its definately not one for the casual gamer. The reward is nice as well, for the summon-heavy player. Although I didnt notice it until shortly before I had to give it back.

My favourite mod. Always has been, always will be

I think it was a lot harder (thus more fun) before they were given that patrolling script though, now it's even possible to beat them completely without using cheese yourself

[ 05-26-2003, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[Raistlin Majere]

Originally posted by andrewas: Am I the only person who likes Improved Illych? Solo sorceror on insane, it was tough but it wasnt one of those fights that seems completely impossible. Although its definately not one for the casual gamer. The reward is nice as well, for the summon-heavy player. Although I didnt notice it until shortly before I had to give it back.

no, you most definately are not

[Lemmy]

Dundee:
The Improved Bandits is another balanced mod.

Not entirely. Unless my version is broken, or out of date, I strongly disagree with their AI.

Case in point: Solo char, hidden in shadows, walks through a bandit spawn point. Bandits pop up; I don't alert them. I walk over to Am Si (Tirdir's "Man in Red") and begin hassling him. The usual dialogue ensues and I fight with his two accomplaces outside. The bandits show up in short order.

It's not a stretch to say they could've heard the commotion and come to investigate. So, from a RPing point of view, I can buy that. But when I run away, activate my Ring of Air Control, and they STILL follow me without dispelling my invisibility... THEN I have a problem with them. That's asanine. (Note they don't attack while I'm invisible. They just hang around waiting for my invis to wear off.)


-Lem

[dragon_lord]

See we have plenty of tough battle mods for 'hardcore' (people who are basically experts, know practically everything) players, but where are the mods for 'casual' (people who have been through the game a couple of times and know a fair bit about the game) players? I dont mind playing the odd mod with tough battles, but that seems to be all there is. Im this |--| close to seriously learning how to script and making my own mods, but i dont have the time (year 12-> exams)

[jcompton]

Originally posted by dragon_lord: See we have plenty of tough battle mods for 'hardcore' (people who are basically experts, know practically everything) players, but where are the mods for 'casual' (people who have been through the game a couple of times and know a fair bit about the game) players?

...

Dungeon-Be-Gone is the ultimate casual-player mod because it gets you into the meat of the game quicker.

Although sorcerers are powerful and Kelsey is no exception, I would not consider Kelsey "powergamey." And he doesn't come with mandatory nightmarish tactical encounters or anything.

NPC Flirt Packs add don't cause a single hit point to be lost.

Tashia has a superpowerful summon and the infamous "amulet of power" fight, but she has a romance a lot of people like. While Solaufein has Moon(blade|ray) and a couple of notoriously difficult fights, he actually has more banter than almost any other NPC available in-game, mod or stock.

You're just not looking very hard, and moaning rather dramatically about it.

Challenging tactics mods are, in my opinion and observation, easier to create than satisfying role-playing mods. But the fact that Weimer Tactics has 3,000 components doesn't mean there aren't roleplaying mods for BG2.

[ 05-26-2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: jcompton ]

[Pirengle]

Originally posted by dragon_lord: See we have plenty of tough battle mods for 'hardcore' (people who are basically experts, know practically everything) players, but where are the mods for 'casual' (people who have been through the game a couple of times and know a fair bit about the game) players?

It's hard to make a "roleplaying" mod because most of the roleplaying in BG2 is done by the player behind the character, and not the game.

You make it sound like you like being a casual gamer and not one for Tactics Insane Do-Not-Reload Anything games. Instead of seeking variety where battles are concerned, go for character.

Every great adventure starts with something odd.

• A party consisting of the Great Forgotten NPCs: PC, Haer'Dalis, Valygar, Nalia, Korgan, untried romantic interest.
• A ranger wakes up in Chateau Irenicus with grandmastery in dual-wielding daggers.
• Dwarven monks take up residence in Athkatla to solve the town's troubles.
• Play with Shadowkeeper and make yourself a wyrmling (baby dragon) PC.

The possibilities are out there. You don't have to rely on the talents of Jason, Wesley, and Kevin to make your dreams come true.

[ 05-26-2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: Pirengle ]

[Assassin]

I don't know. It seems to me that the romances are sort of roleplaying too. I mean, if you have a gift for calming down elves that have lost their wings, then by all means, romance Aerie.

The mods are pretty much to add more content to the game. Quests, IMO, are harder to make than you might imagine. You have to plan for pretty much everything, make an interesting plot, and also include some roleplaying opportunity. It's hard. Just look at the Return to Windspear Mod- I don't know when it's going to come out, but it's been in development for some time. Granted, I really want to use that mod if or when it finally comes out.

Adding individual fights are quite a bit easier. Find an area previously unused, stick in X number of enemies in it, put them in some spots, equip them, then put in the AI. It's not exactly simple... but it's a hell of a lot easier than doing a quest.

Now, the Ritual is more of hack 'n slash type 'quest' than a roleplaying one. You really don't have much choice here. You either kill the Countess, or you stop her. There's only two ways out of here.

NPC's... Oh boy. Theoretically, it's easy to put in a boring NPC. Now, try putting in a NPC with decent, yet not powergaming stats, an interesting story behind it, interesting banter with everyone, voicing, romance (optional, but it really adds to a character), as well as some goodies sprinkled here and there. As in, you might have a couple of events that happen when you have the character in your party, and that you can resolve using numerous ways. Now, that is quite a bit trickier. Also, there are bugs...

[dragon_lord]

Originally posted by jcompton: You're just not looking very hard, and moaning rather dramatically about it. Challenging tactics mods are, in my opinion and observation, easier to create than satisfying role-playing mods. But the fact that Weimer Tactics has 3,000 components doesn't mean there aren't roleplaying mods for BG2.

I have played the tashia and solaufein mods. Solaufein may have alot of dialogue but personally i didnt like him as an NPC. Call me picky, but he just didnt do it for me - his philosophical attitude towards everything (is black really black i think one of them was? I mean it just didnt feel like a romance. He does stuff like that all the time aswell) is what gets me. I quite liked tashia's dialogue, but fit in with the game setting it did not. I have tried out the NPC Flirt pack. Yes it does add a bit more depth to romances, but it only goes skin deep. I have played your mod also, skipping that boring dungeon is great for any one who has played through the game a few times. But wouldnt an RPGing mod add a bit of spice. You know add some good side quests, maybe a new NPC, change a few monsters that make sense (so new tactics needed and not llyich level hardness) to make the dungeon interesting so you wouldnt want to skip it? If a modder cant come up with some new ideas, why not just post on a forum such as this? Im sure plenty of people have ideas on quests etc. And they should be open to suggestions and improvements on existing mods, im ALWAYS after feed back on my site so it can be improved. Moaning dramatically? I try my best, got to keep my moaning at least half entertaining you know . I realise making the kind of mod im after isnt easy, but then again is anything worth doing easy i ask you?