Yet another bleeding BG thread *sigh*

[Jamski]

Then your party won't get much better, sorry.

-Jam

[duke o' york]

But you can still pick up lots of better stuff.
Their abilities won't change, but they will hit harder and do more damage with fancy pieces of kit.

[Dis]

although I may be reaching a limit on the equipment I find.

I doubt I will be finding any +5 drow plate mail

I'm still using ankheg armour on 2 of my guys. The smithy would only make one pair. But you can "find" another pair. I use the word find very loosely.

[Jamski]

Its very good armour, light, and lets you wear a RoP at the same time.

That gives you a better AC than Full Plate +1

-Jam

[Dis]

you sure about that?

I cannot wear a ring of protection at the same time.

although maybe I should check to make sure I'm not mistaken. But I gave Viconia one, because her weak ass cannot wear full plate mail very well. She wouldn't be able to carry much else.

just checked. It will not let me equip the ring of protection with the ankheg armour.

[duke o' york]

Is this yet another item that was "found" by going through the code?
I am planning to grab me a suit of ankheg armour. Although Jaheira is kitted out in full plate at the moment, I think that ankheg would be nice for my tank. At least until I come across some +whatever plate.

[Jamski]

It will not let me equip the ring of protection with the ankheg armour.

I checked too. You're right. Best to use Full Plate + RoP then.

-Jam

[Sparrowhawk]

Okay, now in addition to having "Baldur's Gate II - The Collection" I now have "Baldur's Gate" and the expansion "Baldur's Gate - Tales of the Sword Coast".

Hopefully I can find the patches, Tutu and whatever else and actually get the game loaded on this LONG weekend. (Maybe then I can start understanding what you are all talking about).

/me

[Jamski]

I suggest you don't use TuTu for a first playthrough.

Install BG1
Then install TotSC
Then install latest patch for TotSC
Then install the BG1 "Ease of Use Mod"
Then play BG1.

Then install BG2
Then install Throne of Bhaal
Then install the latest ToB patch
Then install the "Baldurdash fixpack"
Then install the BG2 "Ease of Use Mod"
Then play BG2

You don't have to do it that way, but it will save a lot of tears.

-Jam

[Sparrowhawk]

DoY and others seem to think you are the person to ask about BG and BGII, so I will happily follow your advice and try it out that way, will report back with updates on how it goes.

One question occurs to me while I read these threads though: If a party maxxes out in BGI, and doesn't start gaining again until BGII, does it max out in XP or in Levels? (Cause if it is Levels, it seems like the best bet would be to create a Multiclassed character, and though that character advances quite slowly, wouldn't this make sense?.....if it is XP on the other hand, forget Multiclass I guess??)

/me

[Jamski]

It maxes out in XP. The EoU pack will remove the cap though, so its possible to max out in levels with a multiclassed character.

-Jam

[Sparrowhawk]

Hmm, just finished saying I would follow your advice and already I am questioning......but here goes ...

This what I found under the "Ease of Use" readme file:

Ease-of-use pack for BG1 (v. beta1)
Created by Tioma (Igor Potemine, Ipotemine@aol.com, http://pageperso.aol.fr/Ipotemine)

This pack contains :

1. Higher (500 items) stacks for gems/missiles/potions/scrolls.

2. Bag of holding (available at Erdane Store) and improved Erdane store (Durlag's Tower area)

- The Bag of Holding (BoH) is quite tricky (portable item containers
are not foreseen in Baldur's Gate 1) and it is, in fact, a conjurable
low-price store. Put it in your cloak/robe slot and activate it
clicking "backpack" (special item abilities) icon on the main screen.
The Bag of Holding has 9999 charges. REP and CHA are instantly modified
so using BoH is free of charge in the majority of cases. Although it
could not work for some items having special abilities or if you buy
items immediately after selling them. You couldn't put items having
no values in BoH. You can buy BoH from Erdane immediately after
enterring Durlag's Tower area (accessible in the very beggining of the game).

- Improved Erdane Store contains now all previously available items +
all basic weapons, as well as scrolls available in the beginning from
Thalantyr + Knock scroll + BoH. You can also identify items and buy cures
there. I created it for my "Starting from scratch in Durlag's Tower
imprisonment" campaign.

3. Higher stacks for normal missiles in stores

- Stacks of 100 normal arrows/bolts/bullets/darts
- Stacks of 25 throwing daggers
- Stacks of 10 throwing axes.

4. Maximum of hit points per level.

- Thanx to Peterond Silverbow and Killahead for pointing out an error here.

5. Improved spell learning for bards and mages.

Bards and mages with INT>=15 have now 100% chance to learn a spell from a
scroll. They'll be able to learn all spells at each level.

6. Happy mode (no annoyed or angry NPC)

7. Happy dual-classing

- In order to dual-class you only need to satisfy minimal requirements for
a new class, no other requirements. Example: in order to dual-class to a fighter
you need only STR>=9. Other example: Safana can now dual-class to fighter,
clerc, mage, enchanter, illusionist or transmuter.

8. 500,000 xp, 1 million xp and 2 million xp level caps and xp level cap remover.

All of these sound like they modify the game in ways the developers wouldn't have intended...but do they improve or take away from the realism of the game? (Carrying multiple stacks of 500 arrows seems a little absurd to me, I have an image of quasimodo doing so, but not sure stand up straight afterwards )

[Dis]

Originally posted by Jamski


I checked too. You're right. Best to use Full Plate + RoP then.

-Jam

yep, that's what I noticed.

The only disadvantage is the weight. 50.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk
Hmm, just finished saying I would follow your advice and already I am questioning......but here goes ...

This what I found under the "Ease of Use" readme file:


All of these sound like they modify the game in ways the developers wouldn't have intended...but do they improve or take away from the realism of the game? (Carrying multiple stacks of 500 arrows seems a little absurd to me, I have an image of quasimodo doing so, but not sure stand up straight afterwards )

the cool thing about the ease of use pack I just found out recently, is you have the option of installing each component individually. I chose not to install some of the cheesier components.

My main reason for doing it was the arrows. Yes it is unrealistic, and I orginally didn't want to do it. But when I had a fighter with 4 points in bows, I was going through arrows like crazy. I was tired of going back to buy arrows all the time. I had little room to pick up items, because I put arrows on all my other characters as well.

I also did the max hp on level up and the writing scroll to spellbook always works. I know these are cheesy as well, but it just saves me having to reload when I get 1 Hitpoint on level up as I always seem to do Random number generator my ass

I did not do the bag of holding. I didn't feel like figuring out how to work the damn thing, and with the arrow stacking, I have plent of room anyways. So I really don't need a bag of holding.

I did not do happy mode either. As that didn't seem to be in the spirit of the game.

I don't think I did the dual classing thing as well.

I can't remember if I did the XP cap or not. we'll find out when I hit that.

[Jamski]

Yeah, I mainly use it for the arrow stacking. Its hardly "fun" having to shop for arrows and muck about in the backpacks every 5 minutes. Its a pain in the bloody arse actually.

The max HP on level up is again a timesaver. As is auto write for scrolls. Its just a pain pressing quicksave/quickload over and over. Some spells there are only one copy of, and if you get unlucky the spell is gone. Puff!

-Jam