It's still pretty great for me. I also think it's largely in keeping with BG on the whole. Main reason to do it this way, is just so it's possible for more people to play a D&D game in this setting without necessarily needing to understand all the D&D systems at once to still play ball. But done in such a way that it doesn't totally shirk the basis, like say some sorta dark alliance. Or I guess basically just to introduce the systems in a way that it still feels manageable and rewarding for a first out, if you stick with it. Some chaos on the fly sure, but doing it piecemeal so I eventually get to the core systems just from fumbling so many times. Various work arounds available, cause there's always like a dozen different approaches to the problem, even if some are much stronger than others. It's a good feeling whenever I finally put something together that works.
If it's a BG game, I'll assume that there's like always going to be some boots of speed or way to edgepan a fireball just so hehe. I remember feeling very satisfied playing BG1, when I finally started to go under the hood with a bit more understanding of all the various mechanics that the game had to offer.
To me the Tax Collector would be analogous maybe to fighting that dude with the Basilisks in the garden in BG1. Like first time out, I blew past the super obvious hints that we should have remembered from Branwen at the carnival, and totally get everyone turned into stone. Second time we fair somewhat better and it only happens to half the crew. Third time we realize that there's a way to use that super pricy potion they were selling at the temple and put it to a really good use in that area. Fourth time we figure out we can do the same with a prepared spell so we didn't have to spend that gold. 5th time we realize, holy shit, Korax good dog! Why didn't we catch that dude needed to be protected from the Flinds so he could help us handle the Basilisks!?
Finally on the Sixth go around, we realize that the good dog can pretty much solo the entire garden and hit level 5 for the party without having to do anything other than that. So then as like the literal first thing you can do after leaving Candlekeep, you have a shortcut to the midgame that's super fast. If you just ignore all the things pulling you other directions and head straight to the garden with Imoen right off the bat.
There are a ton of set piece puzzlers in this new one that reminded me of that experience. Like back when I didn't know about the basilisk gaze and anything much. Just taking the game as it presented and teasing it out over the course of several tries. Usually what made me want to even do all that to begin with had little to do with the puzzles or the battles per se, and more to do with environmental music holding me in some kind of mesmer, and custom portraits and things like that, but also just that appeal of trying to figure the thing inside out and upside down.
I'm pretty sure once we get to like Owlbear off the top ropes or stuff like proper hammer time with Grym, keeping it way too legit to quit, that it's bound to start coming a bit loose at the seams. For that they need like the Sword Coast Strats versions, and just mods to whiddle it down or blow it out to make the actual encounters harder with the exact sorts of checks and balances that become fun and entertaining at that point. Like hopefully it gets there, but they probably need that steam workshop and such, and like trying to get the same sort of stuff to the consoles, which I guess makes the idea of definitive final pass pretty attractive.
All puzzles are kinda the same way right. The game is more Labyrinth than maze. Like once you got the thread laid out, or know how to get to the center. To get to the center, you always just keep one hand on the wall and never take it off. Keep pressing forward. Works every time heheh
But yeah, I don't know, I get it too. That same feeling. Like I kinda want the game to reward me more for going deeper into the rules minutia and general systems knowledge and push me there even more than like tricks of the trade with runepowder, but then once I have a couple tricks I kinda delight in those too. I wouldn't know what to have them remove. I think they could handle quite a lot just from raising the prices on a few things in the consumables and maybe to do the level/respec/raise to tighten it up there. Even for the stuff I thought I knew how to handle I was still sweating in all the honours, so I feel like they must have done something right there, but I don't think I got it inside out quite yet. And that's pretty crazy, like how many hours could this thing possibly keep me entertained? Quite a few it seems, but I gotta imagine much of that is down to some of the puzzlers. The ones that I still just haven't cracked yet
Last edited by Black_Elk; 14/01/24 03:57 AM.
