Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Kajiimagi · Apr 1, 2023

Rajaah said:
PS4 version with a 65" 4K OLED. The fonts and everything on the default settings are just right.

View attachment 466925
Here's another shot, Vishimtar down.

I didn't even think about playing them on the PS. Hmm seems like they are $50 for the pair. I'll keep looking into mods first. Looks like Beamdog forums are down and every google search I can find links to a beamdog forum post that is giving error 503. In the meantime I decided to do another Last of Us pt 1 run on the PS5 since I already own it (from PS3/4). I'm staying away from the abortion that is the PC version.

Rajaah · Apr 1, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
I didn't even think about playing them on the PS. Hmm seems like they are $50 for the pair. I'll keep looking into mods first. Looks like Beamdog forums are down and every google search I can find links to a beamdog forum post that is giving error 503. In the meantime I decided to do another Last of Us pt 1 run on the PS5 since I already own it (from PS3/4). I'm staying away from the abortion that is the PC version.

Shouldn't be that much. I paid like $20 for the BG1+2 EE set two years ago brand new. Think I saw it on PSN for like $12 recently and if you want a physical copy I'm sure it's on Ebay for less than 50.

Szeth · Apr 1, 2023

Rajaah said:
View attachment 466950
Does this guy show up in any of these games? This is the "Out of the Abyss" module. Would be rad to fight him in a game (or go into the Abyss at all). I think someone said Pathfinder 2 has some Abyss?

Not sure about in games… but he is brought into Faerun (and Menzoberranzan more specifically) at one point in the Drizzt novels. Actually burned through the entire “series” of Drizzt books recently on audiobook and really enjoyed the entire history which spans many many generations of characters.

Rajaah · Apr 1, 2023

Szeth said:
Not sure about in games… but he is brought into Faerun (and Menzoberranzan more specifically) at one point in the Drizzt novels. Actually burned through the entire “series” of Drizzt books recently on audiobook and really enjoyed the entire history which spans many many generations of characters.

Drizzt in any of these CRPGs? I'd think maybe Icewind Dale?

Only time I've ever gotten to play as him was in that very subpar D&D game we got recently. Dark Alliance or something.

Szeth · Apr 1, 2023

I could swear he’s in bg2… I think you can actually kill him and take his scimitars.

Urlithani · Apr 1, 2023

Rajaah said:
View attachment 466950
Does this guy show up in any of these games? This is the "Out of the Abyss" module. Would be rad to fight him in a game (or go into the Abyss at all). I think someone said Pathfinder 2 has some Abyss?

In watcher's keep in Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal, you will get to fight a demon lord at the end of the dungeon.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous does have you go to the Abyss but there are different demon lords than the D&D games. Well there's a couple that are shared but they aren't featured in the games.

If you like reading adventures, the last 12 issues of Dungeon magazine by Paizo (which was at the end of 3rd edition, issues 139-150) was the Savage Tide adventure path, where you meet several demon lords before finally facing off with Demogorgon in the final battle.

Burns · Apr 2, 2023

Rajaah said:
Drizzt in any of these CRPGs? I'd think maybe Icewind Dale?

Only time I've ever gotten to play as him was in that very subpar D&D game we got recently. Dark Alliance or something.

He is in both. In BG1 you have to go looking for him. I wont spoil anything for BG2, but you should see him, even if you are speed running things (which is a silly way to play these games!).

Rajaah · Apr 2, 2023

Urlithani said:
In watcher's keep in Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal, you will get to fight a demon lord at the end of the dungeon.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous does have you go to the Abyss but there are different demon lords than the D&D games. Well there's a couple that are shared but they aren't featured in the games.

If you like reading adventures, the last 12 issues of Dungeon magazine by Paizo (which was at the end of 3rd edition, issues 139-150) was the Savage Tide adventure path, where you meet several demon lords before finally facing off with Demogorgon in the final battle.

Niiiice. I used to collect both Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazine, think I preferred Dragon.

Always thought Asmodeus was like the "final boss" of AD&D but now I guess Demogorgon is. Asmodeus is more like a deity/manipulator who lurks in Nessus, while Demogorgon will actually show up and wreck things.

Is Pathfinder actually part of the D&Dverse? Was reading a Pathfinder book earlier and didn't see any D&D logos or mentions, then realized for all I know it's just a similar competing world.

Burns said:
He is in both. In BG1 you have to go looking for him. I wont spoil anything for BG2, but you should see him, even if you are speed running things (which is a silly way to play these games!).

Yeah, speedrunning these is pretty silly. I just do stuff fast cause I got so much to get through. Around the halfway point of BG2 I felt like I'd done way too much sidequesting and wanted to make some power-progress on the main quest so I speedran a couple chapters just to get it to actually move again. For a couple weeks I'd help everybody every time I played and realized I wasn't really moving the story forward at all. Every time I turn around some hobo monk or something is going "Help me Forrest help me!"

Gavinmad · Apr 2, 2023

I always thought the Scales of War adventure path looked pretty fucking sweet, albeit a bit disorganized at the beginning, but I never got a chance to even try 4th before they moved on to something the players bitched about less.

Burns · Apr 2, 2023

Rajaah said:
Niiiice. I used to collect both Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazine, think I preferred Dragon.

Always thought Asmodeus was like the "final boss" of AD&D but now I guess Demogorgon is. Asmodeus is more like a deity/manipulator who lurks in Nessus, while Demogorgon will actually show up and wreck things.

Is Pathfinder actually part of the D&Dverse? Was reading a Pathfinder book earlier and didn't see any D&D logos or mentions, then realized for all I know it's just a similar competing world.

Yeah, speedrunning these is pretty silly. I just do stuff fast cause I got so much to get through. Around the halfway point of BG2 I felt like I'd done way too much sidequesting and wanted to make some power-progress on the main quest so I speedran a couple chapters just to get it to actually move again. For a couple weeks I'd help everybody every time I played and realized I wasn't really moving the story forward at all. Every time I turn around some hobo monk or something is going "Help me Forrest help me!"

I think the game is designed in a way that you need the XP from those quests if you want to get all the fun shit in Throne of Bhaal. It's better to fully play BG2/PST/FO2 and skip games like Icewind Dale, NWN1, POE, System Shock (...well, all the rest), than to try to get through them all by skipping a third of the game.

TJT · Apr 2, 2023

Rajaah said:
Drizzt in any of these CRPGs? I'd think maybe Icewind Dale?

Only time I've ever gotten to play as him was in that very subpar D&D game we got recently. Dark Alliance or something.

You should have encountered him already in Baldur's Gate I. He claims he is on his way to Icewind Dale lol.

TJT · Apr 2, 2023

Szeth said:
I could swear he’s in bg2… I think you can actually kill him and take his scimitars.

If you do this in BG1 then encounter him again in BG2 while using them he attacks you lol.

TJT · Apr 2, 2023

Urlithani said:
I've had Big World Project installed before with the option "Total Happiness Plus" which is all the mods that work well in the pack, plus some mods that mostly work.

I'm pretty chill if I have a hundred mods and come across a few that don't work correctly because of conflicts. If some npc or side quest doesn't start, I've got a lot of other content to experience. I don't really install anything that interferes with the main story or major side quests (I only downloaded the Nalia romance mod because it seemed to get a lot of praise).

I used the logs linked in this video and patched the load order together based on how those were set up:
If you don't edit the Weidu log and add command lines before you add it to project Infinity, it will tell you which mods are missing in the log and the mod won't install. The problem I'm having is finding more logs with the command lines to make them work. I thought the command lines would be in the Readme or something, but they aren't from what I can tell. I'm probably missing something very simple.

I'm sure one of the major sites has a whole list of weidu logs to copy lines out of, but I'm settling for what I have now before trying to figure it out more.

Are these all BG1 or BG2 mods?

Tuco · Apr 2, 2023

Drizzt is so broken OP in BG1. My favorite tactic for killing him is to surround him with my party members, remove them from the group and then swing at him with a halbred or whatever with super long reach.

Szeth · Apr 2, 2023

I was trying to find out what his “power level” would be in dnd. It seems that he’s almost assuredly level 20 in current canon.

reavor · Apr 2, 2023

Rajaah said:
Drizzt in any of these CRPGs? I'd think maybe Icewind Dale?

Only time I've ever gotten to play as him was in that very subpar D&D game we got recently. Dark Alliance or something.

Drizzt you should already have met in BG1, but he's also in BG2, you'll meet him in a later chapter.

Demogorgon is in watchers keep.

Finished NWN, it was a PITA, the graphics and 3D pathing/modeling have just not aged well at all. Coupled with a very lackluster storyline, and very repetetive chapters (hub town with 3-4 exits that you go through to find 3-4 pieces of something to bring to the central hub

TJT · Apr 2, 2023

NWN has not aged nearly as well as BG that is for sure.

Urlithani · Apr 2, 2023

TJT said:
Are these all BG1 or BG2 mods?

These are all EET mods, which is the Enhanced Edition Trilogy. You need to own the enhanced editions of BG1, BG2, and SoD.

EET patches all 3 games together to try and make a seamless experience. It does change a couple of the rules for bg1 since it's running in BG2's engine (they changed weapon proficiencies, favored enemies, etc.).

Mod Compatibility List for EET

MOD COMPATIBILITY LIST FOR EET -- LINK TO THE LIST -- This compatibility list will be frequently updated. It is highly recommended that you follow what is said in the linked list if you are planning to make EET installation with mods. EET project aims to be a mod friendly platform and tries to ge...

www.gibberlings3.net

Note that there are 2 categories in the list: mods that are compatible before you install EET, and mods that are compatible after you install EET. The list for before is short so I just do EET and pick from the after list.

Easiest way I did this was install EET, then download Project Infinity (you have to allow the app and process in Windows security: it thinks it's a Trojan). Inside Project Infinity are links to download the mods directly from the main websites.

The most time consuming part is putting together the WEIDU log with the mods in order. I had to look at several weidu logs and copy lines and put them before or after other mods based on how others set up their load orders.

Once I got past that part the game loaded up with no problems.

If you want to run someone else's modpack, you can download and use their weidu log, then download all the mods they're using and it should work fine. These two youtive links have weidu logs of their whole install order. I like the second one but you'll have to find the Made in Heaven (cant remember whats in it but i wish i got it) mod and I think Enhanced Extended Encounters (more bounty hunters after you in BG1 plus a few surprise encounters) which are on the PI list.

If you need any more help let me know. The instructions and process is pretty frustrating to decipher, and it took me a Saturday thinking about it and trial and error.

TJT · Apr 2, 2023

Urlithani said:
These are all EET mods, which is the Enhanced Edition Trilogy. You need to own the enhanced editions of BG1, BG2, and SoD.

EET patches all 3 games together to try and make a seamless experience. It does change a couple of the rules for bg1 since it's running in BG2's engine (they changed weapon proficiencies, favored enemies, etc.).

Mod Compatibility List for EET

MOD COMPATIBILITY LIST FOR EET -- LINK TO THE LIST -- This compatibility list will be frequently updated. It is highly recommended that you follow what is said in the linked list if you are planning to make EET installation with mods. EET project aims to be a mod friendly platform and tries to ge...

www.gibberlings3.net

Note that there are 2 categories in the list: mods that are compatible before you install EET, and mods that are compatible after you install EET. The list for before is short so I just do EET and pick from the after list.

Easiest way I did this was install EET, then download Project Infinity (you have to allow the app and process in Windows security: it thinks it's a Trojan). Inside Project Infinity are links to download the mods directly from the main websites.

The most time consuming part is putting together the WEIDU log with the mods in order. I had to look at several weidu logs and copy lines and put them before or after other mods based on how others set up their load orders.

Once I got past that part the game loaded up with no problems.

If you want to run someone else's modpack, you can download and use their weidu log, then download all the mods they're using and it should work fine. These two youtive links have weidu logs of their whole install order. I like the second one but you'll have to find the Made in Heaven (cant remember whats in it but i wish i got it) mod and I think Enhanced Extended Encounters (more bounty hunters after you in BG1 plus a few surprise encounters) which are on the PI list.

If you need any more help let me know. The instructions and process is pretty frustrating to decipher, and it took me a Saturday thinking about it and trial and error.

I'll be going through BG1/2 this time around (been 6 years since I have) so I definitely want all the content mods that I can stand and the good Swordcoast Strategy one for the autistic exerpience.

Never rolled gnome before but illusionist fighter sounds fun its either that or Kensai Thief.

Urlithani · Apr 2, 2023

Rajaah said:
Niiiice. I used to collect both Dungeon magazine and Dragon magazine, think I preferred Dragon.

Always thought Asmodeus was like the "final boss" of AD&D but now I guess Demogorgon is. Asmodeus is more like a deity/manipulator who lurks in Nessus, while Demogorgon will actually show up and wreck things.

It's a big multiverse out there.

Rajaah said:
Is Pathfinder actually part of the D&Dverse? Was reading a Pathfinder book earlier and didn't see any D&D logos or mentions, then realized for all I know it's just a similar competing world.

So WoTC wasn't getting as much money out of 3rd edition D&D because of the OGL, so they were going to release 4th edition with a more restrictive game license. They kind of ghosted 3rd party publishers and didn't give them advance release of the ruleset to make adventures.

Since Paizo's main job was publishing Dungeon and Dragon magazine, they had no choice but to make Pathfinder (modified 3.5, aka 3.75) and continue publishing rules under 3rd edition/Pathfinder.

Pathfinder's default world Golarion, is nothing special. It's a very generic campaign setting with countries and regions for any kind of adventure you want to run (Arabian Nights, pirates, fallen empires, etc.). However, one of the reasons Pathfinder caught on is because they have a large amount of writing talent and you can sign up for monthly adventures shipped to you (I think they only do PF2E and Starfinder atm). Most of their writing contributors were long time authors of D&D adventures: James Jacobs, Erik Mona, Greg Vaughn, etc.

I'm probably biased but the quality of content from WoTC has slowly gone down as many of their writers have drifted off to make their own stuff or work for another 3rd party company. By today's standards a lot of the 2e Forgotten Realms source books are filled with irrelevant fluff (e.g. a paragraph of how houses in northern cities like Silverymoon have steep sloped roofs, with dull upward curving blades of metal to break up large chunks of ice sliding off the roof so as not to seriously injure someone, or how the villages of Northern Cormyr each put a bounty on one male wyvern in spring, in order to hang their poison glands in the square so the scent wards off other males that are in a mating frenzy).

Rajaah said:
Yeah, speedrunning these is pretty silly. I just do stuff fast cause I got so much to get through. Around the halfway point of BG2 I felt like I'd done way too much sidequesting and wanted to make some power-progress on the main quest so I speedran a couple chapters just to get it to actually move again. For a couple weeks I'd help everybody every time I played and realized I wasn't really moving the story forward at all. Every time I turn around some hobo monk or something is going "Help me Forrest help me!"

I think it's worth doing most of the quests and side quests in BG2. It's well written enough and the characters have enough charm to them. I wouldn't do the same for other RPG's.

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