Initial comments Options

[mikel123]

Overall this has been a lot of fun so far. Albeit quite a GRIND. Tons of running back and forth from challenge to challenge... every time I get a new item or spell or level, to give another shot at the previously impossible challenges.

While some of the shop prices seem silly (Nymph's Cloak for example), I do like the emphasis on money. I'm maybe halfway through Chapter 2/3 and have 75k gold and don't want to spend any of it!

As far as comments/suggestions, here is my .02.

I think the Paladin kit nerf for Inquisitor makes sense. Cavalier, not so much. Fear is one of the easiest immunities to acquire, thanks to the level 2 spell. And the entire nerf of paladins (the "Turn Paladin" ability) seems unwarranted. When the grandmastery "fix" is recommended, that's your Paladin nerf right there. There's an extraordinary benefit to having a fighter class, which IMO outweighs the benefits of any Paladin.

Thieves aren't of much use here, which is well known. I've mentioned in another thread I think, that I'd suggest removing the ability entirely. It's only useful against enemies you don't want to use it against anyways. I think the HLA abilities of Evasion or Avoid Death might be a flavorful replacement.

I also think you could make thieves more useful again with some edits to the traps in the game. I don't know how feasible this is, but if a trap was randomized... that is, you didn't know if it would be a petrify trap, a fireball trap, a level drain trap, etc... you wouldn't be able to just buff one character with the appropriate defense (since we know all the existing vanilla trap effects) and open it. Additionally, adding some higher level traps (i.e. casting Comet, or Creeping Doom or something) would be cool too. That would also let thieves have some usefulness.

Bounty Hunter, Beastmaster, and Monk could use some beefing up. The kits provided in this mod are cool, but extremely powerful. It would be nice for the mod to allow more diverse parties on initial playthroughs. For example, the monk could be shifted a little towards a Riskbreaker, ability-wise, to allow it to be more used in the game.

For areas like the Trademeet Crypt, which seems like some kind of no-magic zone, it would be nice to put the status icon on characters like they do in the Watcher's Keep level 3 no-magic zones.

One other thing I'd suggest is more complete documentation around the special quests and items. Especially since many of them appear to be protagonist class dependent, it would be nice to be able to pick your class based on some of this.

As I said above, all in all this is a very enthralling mod and I've enjoyed the challenge thus far. Looking forward to continuing to explore.

[mikel123]

Yeah, I thought it was odd that the Cavalier got nerfed, but not the undead hunter. Immunity to Level Drain is a valuable and hard to attain ability in this mod, it seems. So that seemed like it would be the second one to get nerfed (after the inquisitor dispel).

It's not about whether or not it can be avoided... it's about the purpose of it. I just don't see it. I'd rather play a Berserker than a paladin in the vanilla game. That gap gets even wider with "fixed" grandmastery. Why make the gap even wider by adding one other disadvantage to paladins?

IMO, the single biggest issue with this mod is that it is so heavy-handed with class and kit choices. That makes it easier to develop the mod and attain the desired tactical difficulty, but it doesn't make for the best user experience. The only reason I'm still playing Baldur's Gate 2 for the 20th or 30th time is for the variety in classes and kits. Cutting some out, or encouraging some over others, lessens the ability to do that IMO.

[Vuki]

IMO, the single biggest issue with this mod is that it is so heavy-handed with class and kit choices. That makes it easier to develop the mod and attain the desired tactical difficulty, but it doesn't make for the best user experience. The only reason I'm still playing Baldur's Gate 2 for the 20th or 30th time is for the variety in classes and kits. Cutting some out, or encouraging some over others, lessens the ability to do that IMO.

Nicoper, I think it is time to move your journals to the public section. I mean especially your weird and other special walkthrougs.

This post has been edited by Vuki: May 6 2013, 06:32 PM