Baldurs gate - how should I start.

[centrifuge]

I've only played morrowind briefly, the little bit I played was 1st person, and it seems that you have to "learn" about your character, kind of like in BG.

[centrifuge]

Oh, and the little I played ran smooth on my machine, but its a 3.0ghz p4c with 1 meg ram, and 128meg radeon 9700

[DarkCloud]

I assume that you can do ulgoth's beard anytime you want (assuming that you've gotten far enough to find it on the map of course.) I've got BG-the original saga (which comes w/ the x-pack), and that is the case.

Yep. But I wouldn't recommend it until at least after you get to Baldur's Gate

[Jamski]

Oh, and the little I played ran smooth on my machine,

but its a 3.0ghz p4c with 1 meg ram, and 128meg radeon 9700

ROTFLMAO

-Jam

[centrifuge]

Glad I could amuse you Jamski, btw that is supposed to say 1 gig of RAM, oops

[Jamski]

That's what I thought, but I still laughed so hard.

Not laughing @ you, but @ the idea of a computer with a 3.0ghz processor and 1meg RAM kills me.

I'm off again

-Jam

[centrifuge]

yeah, that would be quite the bottleneck

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Jamski
Morrowwind is complicated, LONG, dull, pretty graphics that run slow even on super machines and lacking in story-drive. Sure its more "freeform" than the BG games, but it does this at the cost of storyline.

Oh, and its all 3D first person crap too.

-Jam

why is first person bad? I mean I assume its easier to see stuff than in say, Myst. My impression is that first person is associated with hack and slash like Diablo, am I wrong? But thats not supposed to be the case with Morrowind?

[centrifuge]

I think it's just a matter of perspective. In an RPG, I personally prefer the "God-Like" view and control that games like BG provide.

[Bonaparte]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
why is first person bad? I mean I assume its easier to see stuff than in say, Myst. My impression is that first person is associated with hack and slash like Diablo, am I wrong? But thats not supposed to be the case with Morrowind?

Actually the 1st person view in Morrowind doesn't make it easy to see stuff, especially if you get attacked by something small like a rat...a top down view like in BG is much better.

You're right Morrowind isn't hack'n'slash it's more like "walk around and get bored" so eventually I'll end up killing the first thing I see just to get some action in the game.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Bonaparte


Actually the 1st person view in Morrowind doesn't make it easy to see stuff, especially if you get attacked by something small like a rat...a top down view like in BG is much better.

.

I didnt mean that 1st person would make it easier to see - i meant that the only 1st person game ive played was Myst, where it was incredibly awkward to look for anything, but that was cause it was a slideshow, I guess, and i assume Morrowind is at least better than that. So youre saying that its still much worse than top down like BG, and not worth any gain in immersion?

[Bonaparte]

I'd say you'd feel more immersed, which is cool when in a town walking around talking to people or when in a store and are buying things, but when it comes to combat it isn't very good. When walking around in the wilderness the immersion isn't necessary because at that point you just want to get from point A to B and the pretty view just slows you down as it's more difficult to see where it is that you are going. In a nut shell...No...it isn't worth any gain in immersion.

[Jamski]

Exactly.

Not to mention I like to see my character in action.

-Jam

[NeOmega]

Off the current topic.....

I am bored of Icewind Dale. It's storyline is just not doing any kind of job of grabbing me.

Also, Icewind dale seems to have had alot less TLC put into it than BG did. I mean, the characters names always will say "townsperson" until you talk to them, the "movies" are simply animations of a book's pages being turned underneath candlelight while a narrator reads a story, and there is no real character based storylines.... or quests. Only one city so far..... I guess later there is a small gnome city underground.

That's my 2 cents on Icewind Dale.

[DarkCloud]

Icewind Dale I experienced severe backlash for "being too short"... so, to engender greater customer support- black Isle put an expansion on the internet for free "Trials of the Luremaster"- and released an expansion pack for money.

IWD II is much better than IWD I

[Jamski]

IWD II is much better than IWD I

True. IWD2 has the best game engine of the IE games too.

I am bored of Icewind Dale. It's storyline is just not doing any kind of job of grabbing me.

Its not about the story - its just hack'n'slash. IWD was the response to complaints that BG1 was too freeform, only let you make once character and didn't have enough combat.

-Jam

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Jamski

didn't have enough combat.

-Jam

Do most RPG's have more combat than BG?

[Jamski]

No.

-Jam

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Jamski
No.

-Jam

OK are there some RPG's with LESS combat then BG? Or is an Adventure game the better option for interactive fiction with minimal combat?

[Jamski]

I think most RPGs have a certain combat element... *thinks* yeah, if you never want to draw a sword, then an adventure game is probably better.

-Jam

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Jamski
I think most RPGs have a certain combat element... *thinks* yeah, if you never want to draw a sword, then an adventure game is probably better.

-Jam

Not necessarily never, but say not every as much as in BG. In BG i have to draw a sword numerous times in every wilderness area, against hostile NPC's, against monsters, and against whoever appears when i try to rest. Plus dungeons, where i seem to fighting several times a level.

I understand that the existence of non-violent quests is frustrating enough for some to want a MORE combat focused game, but it would seem possible to have one that still has combat, but where combat is infrequent, coming up at key points in the plot, etc, rather than being say, 70% of the game, as it is in BG1. I mean I see the need to have to fight would be assasins, kill bandits, fight mulvahey, etc to advance the plot. But theres alot more combat in BG1 than that.

[Jon Miller]

try out planescape torment

Jon Miller

[Jamski]

My next module has hardly any combat. Its nice for a change, but after a while you really want to just go and whomp the villagers.

-Jam

[centrifuge]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
try out planescape torment

Jon Miller

Planescape: Torment is an excellent game. Probably the best story of the RPG's I've played... and I haven't even finished it yet (so many games... so little time) There is plenty of combat but it doesn't seem as prevalent.

[Jamski]

That is one game I'd love to play - but 60 euros on ebay is a bit mad.

-Jam

[lord of the mark]

PS:T sounds like the game id buy, if i bought another RPG soon. But i take it that its out of print despite popularity, like SMAX?

[centrifuge]

Another one that I've just started to give a try is Soulbringer. ...so far story over combat is about 70:30 (so there you go LOTM) ...and I have to admit that I stayed up rather late last night because i became engrossed by the story The game got mixed reviews I think maybe because people were expecting a BG clone and it doesn't use the AD&D system.

Ohh and by the way I got it for $10 dollars in the bargain bin in dual package with Planescape: Torment

[Jamski]

Where? What shop? When?

/me salivates at the prospect of PS:T *

-Jam

[centrifuge]

Oh I guess it was about 4 months ago at "Hastings" in Boise, Idaho.

[centrifuge]

Yikes, I just did a search and this game is hard to come by, I guess that I got lucky by grabbing it when I did. The only place I could find PS:T was Ebay. My only advice is to scour the bargain bins and keep your fingers crossed