Review Baldur's Gate in GameSpy's Hall of Fame

[FrankHorrigan]

Torment sports the worst combat model out of all the Infinity Engine games, so it may not be surprising that you dislike it.

Agreed, i just picked that out because its what im playing at the moment, but all the IE games are on the wrong side of tracks when it comes to combat. I couldnt even bring myself to finish IWD 2. Combat was never their strong point and when you take away the interesting world/plot/characters ala IWD2, i dont even wanna play the game.. where as TOEE which has no plot/characters of any quality, i still find myself happly playing away at it.

 

[Volourn]

Wgip: Hmm.. I'm surprised you didn't know this. Afterall, it's mentioned in the various IE manuals IIRC, and in the NWN manual as well.. I figured by now everyone would know that.

"Why bother calling it real time b t w?"

Because, unlike a tb combats system, enemies will not wait for you to choose your next move hence "real time". You go away from 10 minutes you'll come back to see your chaarcters dead (unless youa re 10th level fighting kobolds).

VD:

"So, what would be the best of TB then?"

Tatics. Having pretty much as much time as you want to choose your next action which the puase allows you to do. Character skillz matter. You cna have the "perfect' strategy and still be outmatched. Though, of course, like in tb combat, a smart player can make a difference.

"six-second rule."

I dunno why people dislike this. 6 seconds isn't that long a wait; but enough to make a choice without feeling rushed.. at least for me.

 

[Jed]

Because, unlike a tb combats system, enemies will not wait for you to choose your next move hence "real time". You go away from 10 minutes you'll come back to see your chaarcters dead (unless youa re 10th level fighting kobolds).

My HotU character beat the Valsharess without me due to a weird glitch with NWN and my screensaver.

 

[Spazmo]

Welll... I tend to blame that on D&D's epic level rules, which are horrid and munchkin-a-riffic. Knowing BioWare, they amplified that quality of the rules and gave you all kinds of ph4t l3wt, making for a ridiculously overpowered PC. Of course, the Bio designer could also have underpowered the boss, but I'd rather blame the Epic Level Rules because they are really horrific.

 

[The Situationist]

And, although the overall plot was fairly linear with a structured climax, no two players would have to play the game the same way. Most of the challenges could be solved in multiple ways based on your character's approach. You hand-picked the NPCs you would adventure with, and since each of them had their own subplots and quests, these choices would significantly impact how the story unfolded.

Eh. I liked BG1 well enough but I'm not sure about these statements, particularly the one about the NPCs. The only example I can think of where having an NPC changed the story was where Shar-Teel could get you out of jail instead of having to talk to Neb and escape.

I don't recall much diversity in solving the 'challenges' either, and I played through the game a few times. I just remember lots and lots of combat.

 

[Volourn]

"My HotU character beat the Valsharess without me due to a weird glitch with NWN and my screensaver."

Eh? Please explain.


Anyways, the Valsharess *was* a pussy. At least for me she was. A wussy wuss if there was ever one..

 

[Vault Dweller]

VD:

"So, what would be the best of TB then?"

Tatics. Having pretty much as much time as you want to choose your next action which the puase allows you to do. Character skillz matter. You cna have the "perfect' strategy and still be outmatched. Though, of course, like in tb combat, a smart player can make a difference.

Choose tactics - yes, execute - no, unless of course your strategy was to start randomly hitting anything that moves. ToEE and SS are tactical games not because you have a pause to think of some tactics, but because TB gameplay supports and encourages them.

 

[Volourn]

"no, unless of course your strategy was to start randomly hitting anything that moves."

Eh? Please explain. there was nothing "random' on who I chose to attack...

 

[Transcendent One]

IE games had the followind strategy:
Spellcasting/special moves
Having weaker characters run around in circles because enemies are chasing them

Luckily the first was pulled off nicely in some games.

 

[Stark]

In ToB every battle boils down to how soon you strip off the protective spells of your enermy. In the mean time the melee fighters are just hammering uselessly at the dude with no effect.

It got confusing and chaotic. I never get the satisfaction that it was I that won the battle since I'm never sure what exactly i did that did that dude/dragon/lich in.

but at least there're plenty to colourful spell effects.

 

[tilting_msh]

It got confusing and chaotic. I never get the satisfaction that it was I that won the battle since I'm never sure what exactly i did that did that dude/dragon/lich in.

I kind of liked the hectic nature of the BG/IWD battles. Yeah it could get pretty chaotic, but I still felt like I had control, thanks to the pause feature. *shrugs*

 

[DemonKing]

IE games had the followind strategy:
Spellcasting/special moves
Having weaker characters run around in circles because enemies are chasing them

You forgot about the 3rd option - running your most useless melee character into the middle of the battle and casting Outiluke's Freezing Sphere on them and sitting back and fireballing the monsters as they hammer on his invulnerable shell en masse!

Seriously though I found that the pause button plus the effective use of chokepoints and area effect spells can make some of the IE engine battles quite fun - although PST combat was noticeably terrible, as others have pointed out. Perhaps due to the lack of missile weapons/decent ranged combat options.

 

[suibhne]

"six-second rule."

I dunno why people dislike this. 6 seconds isn't that long a wait; but enough to make a choice without feeling rushed.. at least for me.

Yeah, I'm with you as far as that goes. I think the reason people didn't like it, though, is because it was frequently difficult to discern exactly when your characters would actually respond to your input - whether that animation was an essential one which they'd finish before queueing up your command, whether there was 1 second or 5 seconds left to wait before their response, etc. The whole system introduced a latency which, while generally not causing major problems, was nevertheless damn irritating. (I have exactly the same issue with KotOR's combat, fwiw, but at least BG's combat was somewhat redeemed by its greater tactical depth.)

 

[Volourn]

"because it was frequently difficult to discern exactly when your characters would actually respond to your input"

That much is true. i got used to it, and just them do their thing which they did on schedule..

 

[littleboy]

What about Arcaum that combat was pretty terible too.