Just Discovered IA and TBW! =P Options

[Overlord]

Greetings All,
I have been playing the IE based games for a little under a year now, and have been having a blast since. Now that I have played through most of the basic games, I have started to dive into the BG2 and BGTutu mod communities. Now from what I hear, IA is supposedly the "ULTIMATE" BG Challenge. So, I thought it would be best if I posted here to introduce myself, and find out a little bit about IA, and the TBWL Community.

First off, I have noticed there is a bunch of controversy and back and forth talk between the G3 and TBWL Communities when it comes to their respective mods and fixes to the game. I would like to start out by saying that I don't intend on criticizing anyone according to their work, or their affiliation. I am just here to have fun and make friends, =P.

Now, I have come here to find out where I should start after I have played the original games of BG, and want to spice up the game play. Where should I start? What mods and fix packs/tweak packs should I install first? I would really like to give IA a shot, but I want to make sure that my install is completely compatible and I have all the extras I am going to need to make playing IA the most fun. Any input on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

From what I have seen and heard, It seems that Sikret has some very nice work on this site, and a lot of people have recommended me to try out his mod list, and kits. So far they have been the most recommended. So, if anyone else has any opinions on where I should start. Let me know. Thanks a bunch everyone! Be safe!

[Ryel ril Ers]

Greetings All,
I have been playing the IE based games for a little under a year now, and have been having a blast since. Now that I have played through most of the basic games, I have started to dive into the BG2 and BGTutu mod communities. Now from what I hear, IA is supposedly the "ULTIMATE" BG Challenge. So, I thought it would be best if I posted here to introduce myself, and find out a little bit about IA, and the TBWL Community.

First off, I have noticed there is a bunch of controversy and back and forth talk between the G3 and TBWL Communities when it comes to their respective mods and fixes to the game. I would like to start out by saying that I don't intend on criticizing anyone according to their work, or their affiliation. I am just here to have fun and make friends, =P.

Now, I have come here to find out where I should start after I have played the original games of BG, and want to spice up the game play. Where should I start? What mods and fix packs/tweak packs should I install first? I would really like to give IA a shot, but I want to make sure that my install is completely compatible and I have all the extras I am going to need to make playing IA the most fun. Any input on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

From what I have seen and heard, It seems that Sikret has some very nice work on this site, and a lot of people have recommended me to try out his mod list, and kits. So far they have been the most recommended. So, if anyone else has any opinions on where I should start. Let me know. Thanks a bunch everyone! Be safe!

Everybody suggested not try the IA now. I suggest try it. It is incredible difficult, specially in the beginning, but if you read the hint in this site you can solve it (the first difficult is create the PC and collect the NPC for a balanced party). If you start the IA we help you gladly.
I suggest the IA but only if you search the ultimate TACTICAL contest. If you have questions we answered their.

[Sikret]

Everybody suggested not try the IA now. I suggest try it. It is incredible difficult, specially in the beginning, but if you read the hint in this site you can solve it (the first difficult is create the PC and collect the NPC for a balanced party). If you start the IA we help you gladly.

Thank you, Ryel!

Let me clarify a bit more what I meant in my previous post in this thread:

I didn't write what I did to discourage Overlord; I wrote it as a general warning about the mod's difficulty level. When a player who is relatively new to this game starts to play IA or even when a player who has played BG2 for years but still lacks the required level of tactical skills tries to play this mod, he finds the mod a bit too difficult. That much is natural. The main point is the player's reaction to the situation. There are two possible reactions which I call them respectively "the healthy" and "the unhealthy" approaches.

- The healthy approach is that the player accepts the fact that there are things he still needs to learn. He draws a learning curve for himself and starts to learn and improve his skills through the game. Gradually, he will notice that his skills are improving, the number of reloads are decreasing and he enjoys playing the mod more and more. Improved Anvil functions as a school of gaming skills for such players.

- The second and unhealthy approach is that the player refuses to accept the fact that he is not skilled enough. Instead of trying to learn better methods and tactics, he gets frustrated and blames the mod for his failures. Comments such as "I don't like this mod because I hate reloading so many times" or "Pure mages are useless" are typical comments of unskilled players who have not taken the "learning" approach. (The player doesn't know how to play a mage efficiently, but instead of trying to learn, he decides to blame the mod for blocking the old known cheesy methods.)

To summarize my point, if a player is confident that he will take the first approach in case he finds the mod too difficult at the beginning, then I, too, heartily add my voice to yours and recommend IA even to players who are not tactical giants (yet).