Hi everyone!
After near 10 years, I am back here to express my sincere gratitude and say "thank you" to all those good people who keep Improved Anvil alive and progressive. This includes (but is not limited to): Baronius, Critto, nicoper, SparrowJacek and everyone else.
You guys make me proud. Keep up the good work.

Well, gotta say, this is unexpected.

Hello, Sikret, and thanks for the kind words. Hope that life has treated you well during these past years.

Thanks, Critto!

It's nice to talk to you again.

Yeah, real life is a bitch, ain't it?

Last time, it was in 2013 (after the release of v6) that I started a new game with a vagrant protagonist, but never managed to play it much as real life intervened.

I hope some day I can install the game and play it again.

Thank you for maintaining and developing the mod.

heya! Time to dust off the disk and play with the new changes in place.

Nice to see the Tactician here!

The Black Wyrm Lair founders and community are (and will be) eternally grateful for all what you have done for us - and for everyone, the community, and the entire Infinity Engine modding scene. Thank you, Sikret!

Many thanks to those as well who help keeping Sikret's work alive.

Indeed.

Ironically, I don't believe I've managed to play it from start to finish either during all this time, despite the fact that we've been pushing the mod forward a bit.

Nice to see you Sikret! Thank you for creating a mod so inspiring that we still want to work on and play it, even 10 years later

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Jul 11 2023, 06:19 PM

Hi Sikret (and everyone!)

Well, I've already said this in the journals but thank you for this.

BG2 is my favorite game of all time and this is easily and by far the best iteration of the game. I've had much, much fun playing though this. As of writing this, I'm again in the middle of a run-through, though no journal this time as I don't think I have that much to add to the previous ones.

Thank you very much for the kind words, Baronius!

I am also very pleased and proud to meet and know you here, SparrowJacek and Pekkae (even if belated).

Who still remembers my voice in the mod? What dialogue sentence was it and in which quest?

Better late than never.

Which parts did you do? I always wondered who did the voices i.e. for the demon prince, was that you?

Demon prince was smr49 as mentioned in the mod's "Readme" file.

BG2 is still my favorite game of all time and it's because of Improved Anvil. Thank YOU Sikret and everyone that keeps working on it!

Your kind words mean a lot to me. Thank you very much.

What makes IA so great?

Here's how I feel.

1. The abilities

BG2 is an extraordinary game. It's huge, there's numerous different techniques and tactics around. There's oodles of spells, protections, mechanics, techniques and tactics. The vanilla version sort of botches this as it let's the player to develop a few different techniques which then work for (almost) all encounters in the game (hello releasing 2xspell triggers with 6xSkull Traps or so). There is no need for the player to take an in-depth look at the game mechanics, explore the possible spells & protections or utilize the extremely wide variety of different tactics / mechanics available. Even when playing on more advanced difficulty levels.

IA changes this. IA forces you to understand the game mechanics and pretty much all of the different spells / abilities available (for clarity something like "war cry" could be omitted, as I don't think there is any use for that single ability (haven't tried so might be wrong ofc.)). It's 'oh'so'nice that the player has to develop a variety of strategies and utilize almost all spells available (outcounting infravision or so) together with different abilities in the crew.


2. The weapons & crew development

The vanilla version has numerous completely overpowered items, that change the flow of the game. The most shining examples being cloak of reflection, celestial fury and Robe of Vecna. While IA has even more powerful weapons available, they are not game/mod-breaking. And as the vanilla version gives you weapons and abilities and you develop your crew forward, it does almost nothing to provide you with appropriate challenges with those weapons and abilities. Once you are on high enough level, the game is a complete breeze-through. It quickly becomes uninteresting and boring.

IA changes this completely. You become strong, super strong and in the end you are with 6-demi godlike characters but still every encounter provides challenge / challenges. It's amazing!


3. The balance

As in point #2, the balance is superb in IA. There's new improved enemies all the way notching up the difficulty. The enemies keep on improving and they develop more advanced abilities and techniques all the way. Also there's a clear structure with quests to follow, which might be superbly annoying when you are on your first run, as taking in a too challenging encounter is just not possible (well, perhaps 1/100 odds with a perfect strategy). Outcounting that, the structure / balance is great for balancing purposes. With new abilities a plethora of new quests then become possible. Most notably reaching level 6 arcane spells gives you access to numerous new encounters.

Godo job dear sirs!

I am speechless. Thank you very much for those kind words and well-written assessment of IA.

During the first few years of IA, everyone and their mothers were attacking IA on different forums, most of whom had not even played the mod once. It took years until I saw praising messages like yours and now I feel proud of my legacy.

Thanks for making this moment for me, Pekkae!

Well, my pleasure. As mentioned, I've had so much fun with this. I thought I was completely finished with BG2 and then I found this.

I've read some of those early assesments, as there seems to be a few online still in various forums. It's a little bit silly those, I think they are mostly by people who don't understand the game mechanics in depth nor do they have understanding of wide variety of different tactics possible.

And for sure, the start was quite horrible for me as well . It was the most frustrating and I didn't have fun at all. But it then changes quite quickly, for cleanly winning the slaver stockade for the first time was completely exhilarating for example. Ditto for the next fights. And most definitely worth it.

Now I enjoy picking up new stuffs and making up completely overblownly effective crews, that can blow through the game even on insane.

This post has been edited by pekkae: Jul 16 2023, 08:19 PM

Maybe something from The Old One quest then?

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Jul 16 2023, 11:59 PM

Yes!

The Grave Lich's opening line: "So, here is the arrogant leader of the Old Ones at last."

It's great to see you return, Sikret. I've been playing IA since version 4, and it's probably my favourite mod of any game I've played. The challenge curve is super tight, and it keeps gameplay engaging all the way through to the end of TOB.