I had recently come across some free time for various work-lacking related reasons and decided to re-install my (old) copy of BG2 and ToB. I decided to give myself a 'challenge' and tried various solo chars, except i quickly found i was unsatisfied by this. So i went hunting for mods and came across this one, the oddly (i must admit) named 'Improved Anvil' (v5). Loaded it up etc...

Now i must say what a great experience it has been. Going from playing the vanilla game, where i knew what i was doing and could finish with little problem, to IA. BG2 basically became a new game with this mod. Which is precisely what i was after. With the changes in the encounters (i didnt read the tactical doc. until later, as was recommended), i suddenly became a newbie again. The game became scary and nerve wracking (at least as much as BG could be...).

Ive just recently reached the EDE with my third party (Vagrant prot, Kensai, Blade, Sorc, Zerk-Cleric, Anomen. Its funny how much easier things become when you know what youre doing...) and whilst i havent done it yet (beyond a single simple testing without buffs or pre-preparation. Which all i can say to is, 'ouch...'), i just wanted to say thanks for the mod . Its a wonderful creation and i am greatly appreciative of the time, energy, creativity and work that has been put into it. Its breathed new life into an already great (but for me, rinsed out) game and, made the game challenging and satisfying.

I especially like the 'chess' matches; forcing me to think tactically and thoroughly. My skills are much improved after this mod. Which, i suspect, will mean, other, less tactical, mods will now become unsatisfying... which i suppose is the idea .

Parts/Aspects of the mod that stood out:

The general difficulty. Much improved over the vanilla. The enemies became much smarter and required varied tactics to win. No longer can you just TS/Imp.Alacrity/DB til everything is dead. The use of resistances is great. Studying your enemy is now the number one thing needed. Which makes a lot of sense to me...

I enjoyed the new forgings/items. The weapons were imaginative and gave some real abilities that meant pre-planning was a must.

Little things in various fights - being 'locked' into a room or area, dispel all pre-buffs before a fight, only having a certain amount of time before a fight starts before the enemy is upon you. The last two combined i especially enjoy, makes prioritising buffs key to success.

If im honest most of the fights i enjoyed. Specifically;

Yaga-Shura (boy was that a difficult fight... The mod has really made the warning the game gives as you walk over the bridge some power. 'Yaga-shura's army pours towards you. You must take down Yaga-shura quickly before you are over whelmed'. In the vanilla that just aint true...),

Dracolich and his maze... great idea. Both the maze, him at the end AND the creature itself.

The enemy's use of Chain contingencys. Just as i think the fights going well... im quickly corrected.

Dispelling and all things related; Enemies using dispel magic effectively. Liches being unable to be breached. That made me learn the art of defence; Learning to wait out your opponent and stay alive (as running no longer was an option).

I really liked the encrypted riddle in the Shimmering Light quest. Nice idea

Few final thoughts:

Some of the writing on the added quests could have been better. Dont know but if any help is wanted spell checking etc...

A new kit. A fighter-mage style kit:

The character cannot use any weapons. But instead has personal 'spirit' weapons that grow and learn as the character grows and learns. These weapons will increase in power as the character increases in power and will gain various attributes and abilities as the character increases in level.

The spirit weapons will also be able to be 'fed' items that will change their properties. E.g. feeding it a diamond will make it have 'blunt' damage etc... Feeding it a certain number of one-type of scroll will give it a version of the scrolls ability (fireball will give it fireball 10% chance on strike etc..., with the percentage change increasing with more scroll feeding or simple level growth).

Basically the idea is the the kit will focus around the character's spirit weapons and will be attachments of him/her and will learn and adapt to the experiences the character has (like the character does). Hence the increase in power as the character levels and the ability to 'feed' it items.

Perhaps at the start of the character creation whether the character wants to dual-wield, single-wield or two-hand will be asked giving the option of the character having two different weapons each with different properties

Maybe: He/She will have limited access to mage spells but will use them in the same way a sorcerer uses them (certain no. of casts a day etc...)

Im not sure whether this is possible so i dont want to go into more detail.

I also wonder if its possible to give a weapon TWO types of damage output. I mean i always wonder why a flail (with spikes) cant also be piercing as well as blunt? (basically the FoDaW already kindda thinks like this). Perhaps this can be done with the spirit weapons? Again not sure if it would make it too imbalanced or even if its possible...


Anyway, thanks for a great mod Sikret et al. Looking forward to v6

If im repeating something already said in the forum i apologise... i havent read everything in here

Thank you very much for the kind words, Daerd!



Well, it wasn't exactly the idea to compete other tactical mods and to deliberately make them unsatisfying for the players, but yes, I can imagine and understand that once a player becomes an IA-expert, other tactical mods will change to a walk in the park for him.

Thanks for mentioning this important point, Daerd! I'm aware that some mods tweak Breach spell to let it affect liches (and Rakshasa) as well. As you have noted, that's a bad idea which misses the entire point of Art of Lich Killing.

Fortunately, even the vanilla game was designed correctly in this respect (Breach didn't affect liches in the vanilla game as well), but in the vanilla game, the battles with liches were generally too easy. In IA, on the other hand, with the general improvements to enemy scripts, liches fight smartly and effectively and the fact that you can't simply breach and butcher them, means you need to develop a tactical method to confront liches.



Glad to hear that you liked it.



Yes, many improvements to dialogue lines are already implemented in v6. You should also feel free to report to me any typos you find in the dialogue lines as well as any suggestions you may have to improve the dialogues.

Also, thanks for the idea of the new kit. It's certainly a complex idea. I will review and consider it for future versions of the mod.

I'll use this thread to give my thanks as well!

I'm barely in the beginning stages (just finished the first stages of the Copper Coronet slaver quests),
but I already realize how well done this mod is.

It is really appreciated.