Oh, the amount of times I got raped right at the start by crows and phoons (are they phoons? those plant things) in wizardry 7. That is, without my import from wiz 6 (muramasa blade/zatoichi bo/menead lance and those free rod of sprites you can import 2 of for or your faerie ninja!) -sorry got distracted, might go play 8 again soon :)

I remember playing Dungeon Master on the Amiga and being afraid to keep playing because I thought I'd just die again. So many many deaths.

I'm happy with both ways of party groups, but I actually like BG2/PST better because the main character is absolutely customizable and can be your main focus, whilst the NPCs are still mostly customizable - you can dual Imoen to mage etc - and strongly story driven also.They're not that strongly predefined as in, say NWN or ToEE, and more customizable than KotOR or newer games like DAO also I would say, especially given not only the range of standard NPCs but the number of high quality mod NPCs also (for BG2 at least, PST doesn't need them :P )

Yeah, in Fallout 1, the first band of thugs you face.. if you actually try to fight them, they can kill you. they will if you don't think about it tactically. If you're a charismatic char, you can usually talk your way out of that fight.

Usually what would kill me in that fight, would be getting caught with a few too many bursts from SMGs. Easily happens if you charge in like all 'raaaargh I kill you all!', and can sometimes happen because of bad luck when you take a tactical approach. (I know it happened once when I had a few too many misses in a row, leading up to there being more thugs than I wanted in range.)

Which thughs? You mean Chans? I've killed them all, but Ian didn't survive :P

>.> I consider the fight a loss and reload if any of my minions bite it.

And if you don't have Ian, that fight is really bad (but winnable)

I don't reload unless my character dies. It's all about role playing, baby!

Ian died pretty quickly, because he did a Rambo run.

And I've stolen two-barreled shotgun from someone (yeah, stealing is the best) and killed them all! ;)

It's not as hard as it seems. Not many of them are armed, mostly spears and knives...

Oh, I've also beaten that fight with ease before. I was mostly commenting about the cases where it could be hard. :)

I'll give the same answer as I did to "unpauses while in inventory": Start a multiplayer game even if you play solo.

I prefer predefined characters with their bio, character, emitions...

Aerie ♥ ♥ ♥

I hear that a lot. it's quite a toss up, really.

Predefined characters integrate in to the story better, and can make the story much mor in depth (look at Planescape, even the main character is predefined), while wholly custom characters allow for much more synergy and tactical planning.

We need to create a game that does both! >.>

Yeah. If you create all characters by yourself, the story gets really shallowed...

Not really, it just means the entire party has to tie in the way the 'main character' does, thus creating instead of 'a main character' a 'cast of main characters'. Essentially making it so that the only NPCs are the ones not involved in the combat, but driving the story in other ways.

Which is how a real D&D game runs, except of course there just being 1 person controlling all of them.

For someone like me, an avid roleplayer and a writer who creates characters constantly and gets all manner of scenes and conversations in his head.. I find that the game is more immersive if I've created all the characters in the party, because I decide what their relationships are, how they get along, etc.

But I'll admit, I am really weird in that regard ;)

I don't really like it. Characters driven by someone else, or pre-defined can be unpredictable, for me, its more immersive to have characters I need to KNOW better, instead of knowing them the best, because i've created them.

Even the main character, if is predefined, it may be more interesting. But it's more likely in adventure games, like in Overclocked: history of violence, where main character was hiding his dark, not pleasant history)

It all depends of narration, I think.

And if whole party is created by you, you subconsciously drive them the way you want, even if you try to be objective.

Ah, I see. Well, the whole concept of D&D elides lots of messy, nasty realities and complexities - the mere use of an 'alignment' is fraught with controversy because it pigeon-holes people while the reality is much more complex (rarely you get a Hitler or Ted Bundy, but most people are not TOTALLY evil nor are they TOTALLY altruistic). Additionally, D&D also leaves out the mundane, but necessary, demands of exhaustion, eating, disease, waste elimination, and the multitude of minor miseries (as former military, trekking for hours, every day for days on end, is NO fun and you are NOT 'well rested' after sleeping rough, but I digress). Computer programs can, yes, account for innumerable variables ranging from nuanced and minor to epic and grand that human brains have a hard time grappling with on a logical, analytical level
Therefore, to most people, a game that has innumerable variables....well, I can't put it any nicer than "sucks" - who the hell wants to pretend to be in a world that mimics in minute detail the realities of THIS world? I can just imagine a wizard casting Magic Missile and using a slide rule, wind gauge, and sextant to judge the coriolis effect of long-distance shots :P

Well, by the same token, in BG if you have a Fighter build and wander into the wrong barracks, the unarmored assassin with a dagger isn't too hard (one hit, I think).


I think the devs were looking to replicate a story of being an orphan on the run, looking for allies anywhere he/she can find them. If you want to control the entire party, you can always play multiplayer - just sayin' - in order to reach that synergy. Otherwise, you're essentially playing the protagonist in a story who finds allies as they come, not as they would be optimally if they were staring off together and assigned different roles in the party.

And don't take my replies as critiques on you personally, there is no hate here - if you don't like the game, that's totally cool with me and I have no objection to you panning it. It's just not your cup of tea. I totally get it. I'm just trying to put everyone's point of view into context and open discussion beyond the original intent of the thread.

I will admit that so far in my new play through, with a better understanding of D&D mechanics (even if 2E is mostly alien to me ;) ) I am finding things slightly less "rargh we murder you!" Though the assassin at the Friendly Arms pisses me off.
I have 18 fucking charisma. I should be able to bluff my way out of that fight!
(I kinda kept rolling until I got stats that were good enough to give me a fighting chance. Pally, running with like 14/14/18/12/15/18, yes I spent a good 5-10 minutes rerolling for that.) Unfortunately for the reason for my current playing, multiplayer run isn't an option. I've started a game review blog (reviewing older games you can get on the cheap), so I kinda have to play it 'vanilla' for a while.. the way the game was 'meant to be played'.

That being said, it's good to know that a multiplayer game lets me create and synergize my party. I may have to do that when I get BG2 and do the 'big world' mod.

Awesome that you're going to such extremes for your blog - very admirable. I agree, I wish there was a way through the assassin via luff or diplomacy. I played a bard and I should have been able to trick him, at least. I like to put Xan and his buddy (the evil duo you can meet on the road) in his way - but then again, I'm a Bard and not a Paladin :)

And 2nd ed is really quirky and weird (different XP requirements for each class, for instance) , just so you know. Hopefully D&D won't ruin your experience in BG.

Good luck and know there are LOTS of people to commiserate with you over the first few levels :)