I will explain in details the purpose of this mod and many informations of its content.
Introduction
When I discovered Baldur's Gate, I found this game really difficult. Not only I was new to the game, but I didn't know anything about D&D.
Hopefully, a friend of mine was a game master in D&D, so I asked him many things about D&D rules, and finally, I bought a rules book. Even with that, I had hard time with the game, but I managed to finish it after 2 months. And it was before the expansion!
Because I had nightmares with Durlag's Tower, and I can't forget whole nights trying to figure how to get through the second floor (with all closed doors).
Well, just to explain that I had some real troubles to beat that game, as many others people I guess.
I replayed it many times, maybe 30 times. Sometimes with a solo or duo party, others with a full party.
After mastering the rules and knowning the game, it was a walk in a park. I was actually "cheating" by preparing combats a screen away from the fight.
Then, I become a true player, and didn't do this anymore (except some places when you are supposed to know there will be a fight).
Even then, the game was easy, and I managed to finish it 4 or 5 times without a single death of my PC (no reloads, no cheats, nothing bad)
Then, I forgot BG to focus on BG2. But some years after, Tutu arose! And it was good to play it again. But I was disapointed by many aspects, and so I decided to correct these.
Playing Baldur's Gate under BG2 engine
Many improvements made in BG2 are not effective in BG.
Now the question is : do we want an exact copy of BG or a better game ?
I want a better game, no doubt for me
Things that need to change:
- Kits : they are a great improvement and add a medium-big power to some classes. Unfortunaly, it affects only the player party. My berserker fighter was nearly a god in BG because he couldn't be stopped. My sorcerer was even better... I would like to fight powerful enemies that would have access to all kits!
- Spells : many BG1 spells are limited in power level, and many others have bugs or missing features. Then, BG2 introduced many new spells that would find a great use in BG1, both for enemies and player's party. The idea is to replace all BG1 spells by BG2's version, and to build a new spellbook for all spellcasters, giving them a better selection. Each caster would have a kit (sorcerer included) and a spellbook related to kit.
- Creatures : many enemies have wrong thac0, hp, saving throws, proef., ... sometimes it makes them weaker, sometimes stronger. I want them to be legal, and use an appropriate equipment. When I see level 7+ enemies wearing things I had when I was level 1, I'm shocked!
- Experience table : I never understood how they built it. I would like to see a consistent table.
- Monsters : most of them are a joke in this game. Some can be hard for lower party. But past level 7, I go through them like a knife in butter. The problem come from their conception. They miss many abilities and many of their stats are inaccurate.
- Overpowered items : Some really are and totaly imbalanced the game. Instead of not using them, I prefer to see tweak version of these items. Some examples: arrow of fireball, arrow of dispelling....
- Scripts : AI scripts are a total mess. This makes all NPC so easy to kill. Spellcasters cast their spells in a script order, doing nothing between cast, and target the nearest target. A tremendious work is needed here.
Enhanced Creatures, what need to be done
(to be continued)