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Originally Posted by ScrotieMcB
Difficulty scaling. It's very clear that the first part of the game has been much more heavily playtested than later parts. During the first major battle, as the orcs land on the beach, difficulty is clearly very well-tuned, making for an challenge appropriate to each of the game's three difficulty levels. It's unfortunate that things start off so strong and then unravel over time. In Luculla, there are multiple opportunities to battle isolated enemies rather than engage the entire group at once, leading to extremely one-sided, and thus boring, engagements, even on Hard; the only interesting battles are the big, messy ones. By the time you get to the Phantom Forest your party is such a well-oiled machine that the enemies don't pose an interesting challenge even in groups. It seems that whoever was supposed to balance the encounters for appropriate difficulty essentially neglected the last half of the game; getting them to finish their work and make appropriate tweaks to the later encounters would be a welcome improvement.
[...]
This, combined with an early several hours of genuinely well-balanced content, easily justifies the purchase price, especially for students of computer game design who want to see how well a particular aspect of gamecraft can be done. However, some stumbling blocks past the initial portion of the game stop it from being a satisfying play experience through to the end, and those who buy the game expecting to play it through to completion are likely to end up frustrated or bored at some point.


I generally agree with the feedback, but especially with the quoted part !

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@ScrotieMcB

I'm not exactly sure how you're using the term 'options'. I think you're saying that some OP mechanics are not options because there's no reason not to take them. In other words, it's a no-brainer choice.

I guess I would still see that as an option for players, because a choice to take that Talent or invest in those resists is being made. Nobody (ie a competative metagame) is forcing you to click on and use OP mechanics. For those wanting a more challenging experience, they can simply discipline themselves not to use those mechanics. And yet those mechanics remain in place for people struggling in the game, or who prefer to be god-like in game.

All that being said, I love me some tough choices, and I'm very much a fan of drawbacks (like Courageous and Know It All). Especially for powerful stuff. So really there's an internal struggle within me to change the OP stuff to have major drawbacks, but I think leaving them as is creates more accessibility for players.



Regarding the tediousness and boredom potential mid to late game: I've experienced some of that, but I think a big part of that has to do with animation speeds. At this point in the campaign, we've learned the mechanics and generally what is happening... but to watch 2-3+ archers fire 2-3 shots each with that unforgivably slow animation really starts to take its toll.

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Originally Posted by Armakoir
Regarding the tediousness and boredom potential mid to late game: I've experienced some of that, but I think a big part of that has to do with animation speeds. At this point in the campaign, we've learned the mechanics and generally what is happening... but to watch 2-3+ archers fire 2-3 shots each with that unforgivably slow animation really starts to take its toll.


But if the game would be balanced in the mid to late game such fights would be still challenging and i think that this is the reason why some people are complaining about the game balance.

Last edited by Wizard1200; 04/08/14 08:25 PM.
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Originally Posted by Wizard1200
Originally Posted by Armakoir
Regarding the tediousness and boredom potential mid to late game: I've experienced some of that, but I think a big part of that has to do with animation speeds. At this point in the campaign, we've learned the mechanics and generally what is happening... but to watch 2-3+ archers fire 2-3 shots each with that unforgivably slow animation really starts to take its toll.


But if the game would be balanced in the mid to late game such fights would be still challenging and i think that this is the reason why some people are complaining about the game balance.

I tend to understand things and problem solve in very obscure ways. Perhaps I'm wrong in saying its a "big part", but I definitely think it plays into things.

I think developing a perfect difficulty level has its own very difficult setting, so why not put difficulty in the player's hands through self imposed party compositions? If combat animations are sped up, players will make it through the campaign (with their successful party) quicker. This allows them to build a new party composition and try again... a party composition that might not react to mid-late game encounters with such ease, which effectively increases the difficulty level.

I'm not a programmer, so this might not be the case, but I expect that combat animation settings are somewhat centrally located in terms of code. From a development standpoint, adjusting those settings leads to what I mentioned above with minimal time invested, whereas adjusting 2/3rds of the game's total encounters is much more time intensive, since I expect that would require adjusting each individual encounter. Reducing combat animations to allow more runthroughs is a more efficient way to allow for a more challenging game, or at least a higher probability of it.

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I think a slider that increased or decreased animation speed, in the Options > Game menu, would be a fantastic addition to the game. This would make it so newer players aren't rushed, while those who are very familiar with the mechanics could get back around to their own turns quicker.

Last edited by ScrotieMcB; 04/08/14 11:34 PM.
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No need to massively change spells.
For some reason most statuseffects (like burning) allow a roll each turn. Blind/Knockdown? Nope.
If they do, it would become far less likely to keep entire groups of enemies perma-stunned...

Small tweak, great effects. Probably the best way to go around rather than fully change the system and no idea what happens throughout the game then...

IMO.

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Its counter productive if you keep rerolling and then say you beat the game on hard.

What you should do is play on hard on your first play through and try beat the game. This way you don't feel cheating on yourself by restarting over and over again to make thing right.

On my first playthrough, I mistakenly made a mage that use a bow but I enjoy it so far. The urge to restart was strong but I just keep playing.

Defeat my first boss with that dex-mage at level 7 on normal and I nearly die.. 19 health left xD

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h269/condor-1/level7firstbosslevel8_zpsdb929a1d.jpg~original

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I agree with original poster except the soundtrack.
I like all the music that play in the tavers but combat music is horrible for me.

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good, level headed,feedback Scrotie.


I just beat it on hard myself, I did everything. More than everything. I think I'm at over 200 hours.

Loved the quality of the sound tracks! Graphics great, animations are awesome!


And I've read a lot about how challenging the game is for people, how hard the final boss is--etc. And for the LIFE of me, I can't figure out how it is hard. I am pretty sure I can beat it on hard with 1 character. (except the 2 character puzzles required).

Progressively, the fights got easier--at about 30% of the way in, my team was just destruction. Nothing, not a single fight, was challenging after that. They were fun, and engaging, but never did I think "I'm not going to win this". It was more "Will it take me more than 1 turn to win?"--my characters were gods long before they realized it themselves.

Glass Cannon too powerful: for sure.

Traits: Some are insanely useful, while others are entirely not useful. Could use some balance.

My single biggest Gripe: Inventory management. And that, in only 1 spot in the entire game, did I find a forge, a grinding stone, and anvil, in immediate proximity. *shakes fist in air*

amazing game and experience smile



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Woha i actually agree with a review for once. Balance and tenebrium skill are realy the only things that bother me to a boiling point, the other ones i can live with i guess.

Im holding out on another playthrough on hard until larian makes some tweaks in late game balance, the combat did decline a lot after the middle of 2nd map. Also agree glass cannon and invisibility break the game makes it almoust a cheat code feeling...

Last edited by KnightPT; 13/08/14 01:47 AM.
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The game was supposed to be easy to complete on any given level.

Its the job of a player to find the right formula.

This is why nobody able to beat the game on hard for their first playthrough because none of them found their own perfect formula aka build yet.

This game even hand out powerful books and gears later on the level to help you accomplish that goal.

Now, imagine if the AI hit hard like in Dark Soul and focus fire 100% of the time on your glass cannons, it would be a different story. And when I say "hard" I'm actually mean a single hit will reduce your total health to halve and completely ignored your defense.

Boss hurt even more and they'll hit on you more frequent =P


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