Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear - Gameplay and Mechanics Thread (NO political crap!)

[Metal Hurlant]

With the cap of 500,000xp, you can have a dual classed level 8 Fighter (125,000xp) and level 11 Mage (375,000) in this game. Level 8 Fighter was the highest in the original game and level 11 is the highest you can go for a Mage in SoD. So if you want a Mage, better off dual classing it.

 

[ArchAngel]

It is almost impossible to hit that without using a console.
Also not getting a fighter to lvl 9 to get a grand mastery in some weapon is a waste.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

I'm talking about playing a Mage, not a Fighter. If I'm going to play a Mage, I would dual class from a Fighter first.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by using the Console. It doesn't matter if you go over 125,000xp (eg, you may complete a quest and go over and end up having 126,984xp) because when you dual class, your xp is dropped back to 125,000xp.

And it's a matter of getting the rest of the xp with completing as many quests as possible and you should hit the xp cap. Even if you don't, you'll be at least a level 10 Mage with all your Fighter abilities and hit points which should be double than if you were just a normal Mage.

 

[Lilura]

Siege of Dragonspear Walkthrough - Part V

 

[ArchAngel]

I'm talking about playing a Mage, not a Fighter. If I'm going to play a Mage, I would dual class from a Fighter first.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by using the Console. It doesn't matter if you go over 125,000xp (eg, you may complete a quest and go over and end up having 126,984xp) because when you dual class, your xp is dropped back to 125,000xp.

And it's a matter of getting the rest of the xp with completing as many quests as possible and you should hit the xp cap. Even if you don't, you'll be at least a level 10 Mage with all your Fighter abilities and hit points which should be double than if you were just a normal Mage.

Maybe your XP is dropped but maybe game remembers you went over 125 000. People on beamdog forums were talking about this like you have to hit it exactly.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

Sounds like it's bugged then. Good to know.

 

[Lilura]

The Coast Way Forest is one of the most boring maps I've seen in IE RPGs...

Spoiler

One basic quest that is solved in a binary manner, one sub-AR (a tiny tomb), one companion just standing there doing nothing (Rasaad) and one static encounter with... orcs. That said, the evil solution to the quest caps off in the next Chapter (C&C!) and the Crusader Tract found near the raided caravan was a good read.

 

[Rivmusique]

But you forgot the cutscene involving everyone's favourite rich kid recruit!

Spoiler

I liked that vampire quest, and it needed to be away from that main map for the chapter as it was cramped as hell. Probably should have moved that Baeloth over there as well, as having his weird arena nonsense so near the army without anyone noticing was strange.

 

[Lilura]

Ok, and one fairly amusing dialogue with Skie! (I like her character)

Itemization is interesting enough thus far. Here it is up to the end of Chapter Eight. They needed to have decent itemization to counter the lack of power progression inherent in a 1-2 level gain.

 

[agris]

The Coast Way Forest is one of the most boring maps I've seen in IE RPGs...

Spoiler

One basic quest that is solved in a binary manner, one sub-AR (a tiny tomb), one companion just standing there doing nothing (Rasaad) and one static encounter with... orcs. That said, the evil solution to the quest caps off in the next Chapter (C&C!) and the Crusader Tract found near the raided caravan was a good read.

I like how the "You have been waylaid" random encounter mechanic is used in SoD to also deliver fallout-esque unique random encounter maps.

Spoiler

you encounter a large group of goblins 'defending' this hole, while they issue combat barks about protecting the loot. afterwards, and only upon close inspection does the ? icon change to stairs. Note that this rewards a more active investigation, not just passively clicking it because "hey, the stair icon!". When you go into the hole you find a small mycoid lair with a dead mage sent from Suldanessar. The lair has some loot, but the mage's body has a note saying he was sent from Suldanessar to hunt the exiled or something. Nice tie-in to BG2 without beating you over the head with it. Irenicus's name isn't even mentioned in the note.

outside the hole there was also a human body with a bolt of polymorph into squirrel on it. A single bolt. I looked for a squirrel hoping for a secret encounter if I dispelled magic on it, but it either didn't exist or died in the melee. aVENGER did I miss a secret here?

 

[Lilura]

Just starting to see waylay zones now, one of them had a sub-AR (troll cave). Pretty cool.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

It is almost impossible to hit that without using a console.
Also not getting a fighter to lvl 9 to get a grand mastery in some weapon is a waste.

I hit that cap with my all members of my four player party loooong before the end of the game.

 

[ArchAngel]

It is almost impossible to hit that without using a console.
Also not getting a fighter to lvl 9 to get a grand mastery in some weapon is a waste.

I hit that cap with my all members of my four player party loooong before the end of the game.

You misunderstood what I was talking about. Those two classes XP when added comes to 500 000 xp exactly which is the SoD cap. And I was talking about how I read people on Beamdog forums saying that if you miss your 125 000 xp for first class by even 1 xp you will miss that 1 xp for your second class and hit the total cap before getting a level up.

 

[Gauldur's Bait]

You misunderstood what I was talking about. Those two classes XP when added comes to 500 000 xp exactly which is the SoD cap. And I was talking about how I read people on Beamdog forums saying that if you miss your 125 000 xp for first class by even 1 xp you will miss that 1 xp for your second class and hit the total cap before getting a level up.

True - hasty reply on my part.

 

[Malpercio]

Finished.

Overal I'm pretty satished, it feels like a more "all your favorites from D&D", more than anything, but at this point it was hard to create anything fresh with this setting.

Some random thoughts of the story.

Spoiler

-As someone mentioned, taking a demon lord or what the shit in his own plane. YEAH, RIGHT. The only way it would have made sense if other demons aided you or some shit, like there is a war in hell or some shit

- It really creates more problems with the continuity more than anything. The sword coast is stuck in the middle ages, so they don't have TVs and shit and the average peasant from Amn probably won't give too much of a fuck about what about at Dragonspear, but you would think that news of a child of a GOD saving Baldur's Gate and the whole Sword Coast from the Seven Hells only to be put into trial later would create some more ruckus even in Amn. I mean, not that BG what that much into continuity to begin with, but it's pretty jarring.

- The whole deal with Skie dagger felt like a loose end. At this point it would have been cool if BG2 EE had not been released, so they could have tied the games better (And I speak as someone who is not a fan of their original stuff for the EE) It would have been cool to have companions like Glint and the Goblin available in BG2 for variety sake too, Cleric/Thief and Shaman are two interesting classes.

I'm actually aching for more D&D stuff right now. perhaps I should bother finishing IWD1 (I never finished 1, lost my save and meh)

 

[roshan]

Hi guys! How is Dragonspear? Has a patch already been released to sort out the bugs? Wondering if it's time to purchase this game.

Also - does SOD affect the BG1EE campaign in any way? Have the engine improvements already been ported to vanilla BG1:EE? Because I'm wondering if I should start with BG1:EE first while waiting for patches and a better price for SOD.

 

[Infinitron]

Hi guys! How is Dragonspear? Has a patch already been released to sort out the bugs? Wondering if it's time to purchase this game.

Also - does SOD affect the BG1EE campaign in any way? Have the engine improvements already been ported to vanilla BG1:EE? Because I'm wondering if I should start with BG1:EE first while waiting for patches and a better price for SOD.

The engine improvements have been in BG1:EE and BG2:EE since day 1. Actually they were released slightly before SoD was released.

 

[ArchAngel]

Hi guys! How is Dragonspear? Has a patch already been released to sort out the bugs? Wondering if it's time to purchase this game.

Also - does SOD affect the BG1EE campaign in any way? Have the engine improvements already been ported to vanilla BG1:EE? Because I'm wondering if I should start with BG1:EE first while waiting for patches and a better price for SOD.

SoD had a few patches already. I think it is in good enough state now to be fully playable.

 

[roshan]

Hi guys! How is Dragonspear? Has a patch already been released to sort out the bugs? Wondering if it's time to purchase this game.

Also - does SOD affect the BG1EE campaign in any way? Have the engine improvements already been ported to vanilla BG1:EE? Because I'm wondering if I should start with BG1:EE first while waiting for patches and a better price for SOD.

SoD had a few patches already. I think it is in good enough state now to be fully playable.

OK. But if I play through BG1 EE first without SOD, I don't miss out?

 

[ArchAngel]

Hi guys! How is Dragonspear? Has a patch already been released to sort out the bugs? Wondering if it's time to purchase this game.

Also - does SOD affect the BG1EE campaign in any way? Have the engine improvements already been ported to vanilla BG1:EE? Because I'm wondering if I should start with BG1:EE first while waiting for patches and a better price for SOD.

SoD had a few patches already. I think it is in good enough state now to be fully playable.

OK. But if I play through BG1 EE first without SOD, I don't miss out?

Miss out on what? SoD happens after Bg1EE chronologically.

EDIT: If you are taking about UI and mechanics of the game, you don't need SoD to get all that in BG1 or BG2. They patch each version separately. SoD only adds new story and areas to explore separate from BG1 and Bg2

 

[roshan]

Holy shit this is pretty damn cool!!! Just fiddling around with BG1EE. Lots of options in the menu, you can turn off the new look for sprites (I kinda like them though), you can toggle whether to use classic selection circles or the new ones, you can toggle the colors on and off, lots of new options for character color customization, you can turn off fake attacks without need for a tweak pack. All in all, some pretty cool new features and a nice facelift for the classic game.

 

[roshan]

Goddamnit. Already an annoying bug. In the old games, when you picked up an item from your inventory, it increased in size, that was an important bit of visual feedback, which no longer happens with most items. I wonder if I need to restart to fix this.

 

[Unbeliever]

Beat BG EE yesterday. Playing SoD now, everything is OK except one funny bug. Can't pull out gems from gem bag. Actually, I can pull out them, bud then I get duplicated gems, in and out of bag.

 

[agris]

Goddamnit. Already an annoying bug. In the old games, when you picked up an item from your inventory, it increased in size, that was an important bit of visual feedback, which no longer happens with most items. I wonder if I need to restart to fix this.

Unfortunately no, it won't. That's an "improvement", IIRC. It was done because not every item had a different or larger icon when clicked on. The feature is a neat little example of Beamdog's attention and energy going towards things that players never asked for.

 

[Metal Hurlant]

I like how the "You have been waylaid" random encounter mechanic is used in SoD to also deliver fallout-esque unique random encounter maps.

They're not really random encounters as they always happen on every play through and in the same order. But I have to agree that they are better than the waylaid encounters in the base game.