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 GrimDork wrote:
You might start out with a fighter, paladin, or some other kind of tough character. Playing a wizard can be rewarding but until you're used to how things work it can be super frustrating too.

Feth that I want to play a ranger. Rangers are my favourite rpg class and archetype.

Not sure whether to go with a human Aragorn style ranger, or an Elf Tauriel Ranger.Can humans make good rangers?

Also, I got stuck on the tutorial and had to look up tutorials on how to complete the tutorial. Was trying to slot a spell into Xan' s quick slot, but I was clicking and clicking but it wouldn't do anything. And Xan, the passive aggressive jerk, kept complaining...

You haven't cast a spell on Belt yet.
You haven't cast a spell on Belt yet.
You haven't cast a spell on Belt yet.
You haven't...



Eventually I figured out that I'd gone into the spell book and messed around with the memorized spells. When you slot a new spell, it seems you need to rest before you memorize it. Which explains why I couldn't use the quick slots - I'd deleted everything from Xans short term memory.






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 Soladrin wrote:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Fallout 1. Got as far as Shady Sands and the Radscorpion cave but now my inventory is full and I can't figure out how to drop stuff so I'm calling it a day for now.

Might go try out Baldur's Gate 1 now, just bought it today.

Click and hold on item, select the downwards facing open hand. That's how you drop.

Tried that, wouldn't work. Can only get the Look icon. Never mind, I'll figure it out next time I play.

Ahh never even tried the tutorial, although its probably a good idea. Spells per day are a thing, not my favorite thing, but a thing. Basically early on wizards can do some impressive things but they peter out fast. Everyone can toss missile weapons though, even if your wizards are throwing out a pitiful 1-4 damage wit their slings, it can add up.

Good news though, rangers are technically 'warriors' which means they're in the same basic department as fighters, paladins, and so on. High hp, decent armor selection, etc.

Humans can be decent rangers, though in 2nd edition (for the most part) you only pick human if your chosen class can't be anything else (or theme/roleplaying).

It goes Human < half elf < elf/dwarf/halfling/gnome > half-orc(conditionally, and they're only an option in the enhanced edition. their ability to get 19 str and 19 con makes them a bit OP... but probably can't be rangers).'

Some classes are human only though, like monk and paladin, and humans can dual class (its similar to the multiclassing of other races but you do one, then the other, and eventually get both, probably not recommended for first time bg1 playthru though).

As for what kind of ranger... there are a few kits you can pick from if you've got enhanced edition (don't think they had them in the first game, or maybe not all of them..) but if you do have the option you could be a ranger, stalker, beast master, or archer. Stalker gets a bit more like a thief they can sneak better and eventually get to backstab, beast master is maybe best left for another run.. I dunno if they're weak but they may be a little more complicated, archer is a freaking god of the bow. Ranged combat is really potent in BG1, allows you to kill stuff without taking damage and so on.. and the archer is the king of it. Potentially a fighter with bow grand mastery could keep up.. but you already said you wanted a ranger

Elves get bonuses to using bows and up to 19 dexterity so.. probably your best bet for archer. You can still do a human though, your call, the game can totally be beaten without 100% maximum optimization.

Some people like to go with their first batch of ability scores, or not reroll very much. The game is a harsh mistress, and especially so in your first run. Depending on how you feel about it, you may want to reroll your ability scores till you get a decently high total (and a good 18/xx for str, maybe /50+ though /90something is ideal). Decently high is probably mid-80's to low 90's.. but it can take a while to get the later. As long as your first three scores are pretty high up there (as a ranger at least), you shouldn't be gimping yourself.

For warrior classes:
strength makes you better at hitting and hurting stuff in melee, warriors are even better at it. Normally str caps at 18 but warriors get a special / after theirs (if they have 18 at all) that can go from 01-00(100). Every 15 points or so is another tier of better strength (+hit, +damage, carry weight) so a warrior with 18/50 has more to hit and damage bonuses than a non-warrior with 18. 18/00 is pretty ridiculous (but also really really hard to roll).

Dexterity helps your ranged attacks and modifies your armor class (going down is better in this game, same with THACO, just get used to it ). I believe starting around 15 each point gives you -1 armor class, so something like -4 at 18. This is going to apply even in heavy armor so don't skimp here! It also gives you bonuses to hit with ranged weapons too.

Constitution starts giving bonuses at 15, and 16. At 16 non warriors have gotten as much out of it as they will(though gnome/halfling/dwarf can benefit from up to 18 as they get bonus saves from it) with +2 hp a level. Warriors though can benefit from 17 and 18 going up to +4 hp/level. If you ever manage to raise constitution to 20, you get regeneration (there's an item, would be possible for dwarfs or half orcs but maybe not your ranger).

Int modifies lore, chance to learn spells for mages, and maybe some other stuff, keep it over 9 to use wands (that aren't mage specific) and so you aren't illiterate

Wisdom also modifies lore, and can grant bonus spells for divine spell casters (rangers get some spells eventually, like those of the druid). I think the game is going to make you put a minimum score here anyway so I don't think you can mess it up.

Cha isn't really super important in the game. As long as you have one character on your party with 15 or better, you'll do alright. Make sure to have that character do the talking to quest givers and the shop. Aside from roleplaying aspects, this is probably a relatively safe dump stat for you as a ranger.

As far as tips for playing, if you've ever played an MMO think of this similar to raiding... you dont' want to just barge in on things, pulling one or two monsters at a time is much much safer. Even if you can engage an entire group of enemies... often this will just result in more damage and having to rest more often. You're going to want at least one rogue who can handle traps and locks, being able to sneak and backstab is great, but those first things are paramount.. some of the traps are ridiculously deadly, and some of the locks guard the best loot. Gonna need at least one druid/cleric and one mage, the rest is up to you. A less balanced party may excel in some fights and struggle in others.

Save a lot. I could say some other things but saving a lot lets you mitigate them while still encountering the surprise for yourself


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Oh, if you get to be having problems with batches of monsters that you can't just pull a couple of... get your whole party armed with ranged weapons and have a druid (or your ranger eventually) cast entangle between you and them. Most will get stuck and you can pick them off. Wizard spell web does a similar thing. A ranger that's good with a bow can also do some pretty nasty hit and fade attacks by stealthing, moving to where you can just see one enemy of a batch, firing an arrow and immediately leaving sight of them before it even hits. Often you can restealth and if successful, the monsters won't know where to find you

Finished Ultimate Doom, now to conquer Doom 2! Super shotgun here I come.

Made a Half Elf Chaotic Good Archer-Ranger named Nyssa (because there was a fething awesome portrait of a woman with blue Celtic style war paint, feathers in her hair and fur clothing). The games default biography says that I'm an orphan adopted and raised by a scribe in candlelight keep or something, but I'm anxious to get out and explore the world. So in my imagination, my characters motivation is to travel the wilderness and reconnect with her Elven heritage or something.

I'm a little confused by the Ranger subclasses though. I want a Ranger-Druid hybrid with archery skills and spells. But if I choose the archer subclass, do I lose the Ranger abilities? (Druid spells at lvl 8 or so).

I rolled 93 for my stats. Took me 10 min though.

No, I think all of the ranger kits get the spells at the same level. Two of them get extra spells. I'm not sure ranger/druid is going to work out too well for you in the BG series. Druids can only really multiclass with fighter, and ranger/cleric multi can't have bows as it's restricted by cleric.

Rangers do get some spells though, and they're akin to the druid list, but you won't likely be bombing things like a standard/avenger druid. You won't miss it, the archer has some fantastic bonuses when it comes to shooting that bow...

Yes, by Archer-Druid hybrid I mean, can I pick the Archer kit but still get access to Druid spells at lvl 8?

Yes. You can.

Just snatched this from a wiki, but I think it should be accurate:

Lvl 1 spells.

Cure Light Wounds
Entangle
Remove Fear
Bless
Shillelagh

Lvl 2 spells.

Slow Poison
Barkskin

Lvl 3 spells.

Cure Disease
Cure Medium Wounds
Summon Insects

However, if you only play baldur's gate 1, the level cap is going to allow you to *maybe* hit level 8 to get the one spell before the end of the game. If you do most/all sidequests. Moving into BG2, however (and it's an awesome game if you like the first one), you'd get to use all of the spells for sure.

This is especially true if you get BG2's expansion.

I have the Enhanced Editions.

Lego Batman and Medal of Honour: Allied Assault Warchest from GoG in their recent sale. £2.49 for Batman, £1.69 for MoH.

Unfortunately looked this morning and the prices are back up to £9.79 and £6.59 respectively.

Close Combat: Gateway to Caen on the PC when the Mrs lets me back on it.

Couldn't get on it last night so I have started to attempt to complete xBox 360 games I have but haven't completed yet, so Fallout: New Vagas last week and Portal 2 last night!

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Fallout 1. Got as far as Shady Sands and the Radscorpion cave but now my inventory is full and I can't figure out how to drop stuff so I'm calling it a day for now.

Might go try out Baldur's Gate 1 now, just bought it today.

Make major use of pause time.

I.E. Press space. Vent frustration. Come back. Plan carefully. Fail and die. Repeat process.

So far I've spent more time generating a character and trying to roll 90+ for my stats than I have actually playing the game... Done most of the initial quests in Candle Keep, about to go talk to Gorion - whats-shis-name.

Yep, milk the candle keep quests, things will start attempting to brutallize you right outside the gate.

Playing IWD myself, really enjoying the IWD/avenger expanded druid spell list. Kind of missing having s dedicated mage, but skald is doing her best and the avenger can lightning bolt all the things (even my own party!). Enjoying the new enemies in dragon's eye, I haven't rough lizardmen in a long time.

Dishonored. I went back and replayed that game seeing as it had a trailer at E3. It holds up quite well and was a decent romp. Points? Ah, it wears its inspiration from Thief openly. The American accents are really jarring seeing as its trying to be industrialisation London (instead of say New York). There's still too many runes and cash in that game to actually use, which ruins the economics of upgrading. Stealth becomes rather moot once you have freeze time / blink - I could spend all day waiting for you to move guard, or just blink behind you or freeze time and hold the sprint key (though freezing time's great come to think of it).

I did like the story overall, but felt like your choice about whether to be lethal or not lethal to your target should have had more impact. I made it through the game not killing anyone, bar the game thinking some red on red combat was apparently my fault. Now yes the chaos system is good, but I'd have liked it if previous missions carried on to the next more. They do it to an extent I noticed, but well heh, I guess I just always want more. Replaying it always meant that I could pick up on sequel drops and references to other things going on too.

Now onto Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, which I picked up in the Steam sale there. Thoughts? Its definitely not on the second game's level. The story arcs feel kind of rushed, whereas I'd like it if you'd spend a bit more time trudging about one place more then being shown something new (for instance you make it to the starting town way too soon). Overall though its interesting to see a different setting for the series and find out more about the universe at large (for instance the corporations and just how they managed to succeed any form of government). 6-7/10 for that one. =P

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
So far I've spent more time generating a character and trying to roll 90+ for my stats than I have actually playing the game... Done most of the initial quests in Candle Keep, about to go talk to Gorion - whats-shis-name.

You really should go for 85+. That's the bare minimum to get any decent character.

Also, get Charisma 16. Regardless on your character. It helps all dialogue options, if memory serves.

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Now onto Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, which I picked up in the Steam sale there. Thoughts? Its definitely not on the second game's level. The story arcs feel kind of rushed, whereas I'd like it if you'd spend a bit more time trudging about one place more then being shown something new (for instance you make it to the starting town way too soon). Overall though its interesting to see a different setting for the series and find out more about the universe at large (for instance the corporations and just how they managed to succeed any form of government). 6-7/10 for that one. =P

I also picked it up.

Is it bad that I can't beat the first boss, that jumpy guy with the Australian accent and all that elemental damage?

 BrookM wrote:

 Wyrmalla wrote:
Now onto Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, which I picked up in the Steam sale there. Thoughts? Its definitely not on the second game's level. The story arcs feel kind of rushed, whereas I'd like it if you'd spend a bit more time trudging about one place more then being shown something new (for instance you make it to the starting town way too soon). Overall though its interesting to see a different setting for the series and find out more about the universe at large (for instance the corporations and just how they managed to succeed any form of government). 6-7/10 for that one. =P

I also picked it up.

Is it bad that I can't beat the first boss, that jumpy guy with the Australian accent and all that elemental damage?

Aye I do feel at times that the difficulty is a tad unfare. In that well you can run into a fight with full health and shields and then immediately go down to almost dead. That happened a lot with that first boss, though I wound up doing hit and run attacks on him - running up, shooting him a few times, then backing off to recharge the shields and take an enemy down to low life so that when I did die I could respawn. I don't remember dying so much in the other games, though maybe its just that I'm out of touch.

Snipers are bent as hell BTW. If you can keep the enemy away from you then you're fine to sit all day popping easy head shots. Bonus points that if you don't kill an enemy this way they wind up suffocating (or apparently they do, the damage they take from that barely ever kills them. That perhaps explains why there's an achievement for spending five minutes with zero air and surviving...).

Edit: And they all have Australian accents. ...All of them!

Maybe I picked the wrong character to play with, I play as the hanging judge, can't remember her name, but if I can play a gunfighter, that's my standard choice.

In Borderlands 2 I played the Mechromancer because I am bad at the shooters and getting the powerup and winning the game.

I went for the Gladiator, i.e. the tank. Previously in the second game I chose Axton who had his turret power. With the turret I'd throw it down whenever it recharged and didn't have to care much about what it did. With the Gladiator her power is a bit more personal and at this point in the game it hasn't been buffed enough to seem to have a point. I forget that it exists a lot of the time actually. That and its really annoying as whenever you pull it out you have to stop firing for a few seconds and you can't aim with it.

Hmn, perhaps I should have gone with the sniper, but the issue is that I think they'd be even spongier than the supposed tank. A lot of the combat can start out at long range, but mostly it takes place at close quarters, so snipers are great whenever you can use them, though you'll need to be better at close quarters.

At least however each character has their own dialogue. For instance the gunslinger won't have the mechanic come onto them, whilst the gladiator eventually starts a romantic relationship with her. I can see myself going back and playing through it all again with a different character if the game's good, though I went for the gladiator first time as she's the narrator.

Just finished replaying Bioshock 2 - first played it years ago when childless, now played it when I have a baby daughter.

Hit me right in the feels, this time

I'm debating picking up System Shock 2, and actually finishing it!

But otherwise, I'm playing BG2:EE. And I've hit a brick wall due to not saving every 5 minutes! As well as rerunning IWD1.

I find the trick is to save every few seconds or scout extensively. And to also make an extra save before doing anything *remotely* big. Games like to foil your plans, hard.

It's amusing how nasty some encounters are if you just blunder into them.

Started Bloodborne three nights ago. Still have not fought the first boss ...

... I love this game!

 Wyrmalla wrote:
At least however each character has their own dialogue. For instance the gunslinger won't have the mechanic come onto them, whilst the gladiator eventually starts a romantic relationship with her. I can see myself going back and playing through it all again with a different character if the game's good, though I went for the gladiator first time as she's the narrator.

Well, Nisha is going to be besties with Jack sooner or later, so I've got that to look forward to.

And yeah, Athena and the mechanic are together as of Tales from the Borderlands.

'Nuff said, really.

Bedlam, a game on Early Access on Steam. I've played about three hours and am on the last level. What can I say about it? Well it definitely feels like an Early Access game. The levels are fairly open and a lot of time you're only given vague instructions on where to go. Repeatedly quick loading breaks levels at times (you'll quick load a lot). I don't know how the devs expect people to play their game, but running through levels sprinting past all the enemies seems like the way to go. Eugh, and don't even start me on that last level. The first time I loaded it up it crashed. Now its working, but on a laptop that could run the game at a fairly decent framerate with everything cranked up, now I'm barely managing 10 FPS with everything way down. Chalk that up to that level being huge and the devs thinking that spawning a crap ton of NPCs (who I don't think despawn) was a good idea.

Aye, so it could be a lot more polished in those regards. Too much dying from not knowing what the hell I was supposed to be doing at points. Eugh, even worse that the game removes the ability to save at certain sections making you repeat the whole level at times. ¬¬

What's good about it? Well for all that its unpolished I'd say that its still a fair game. OK, the biggest positive thing I can say? Woah, actual Scottish people doing the voice acting in a game (and who aren't playing the generic Glaswegian thug character). A lot of this game's going to be lost on people who aren't from here. Like say how Trainspotting was dubbed when shown abroad I mean (on that note it does have the same tone as that novel oddly enough, guess its a thing writers do here). Heh, they could stick this game in tourism centers for showing off how (over the top) Glaswegians sound. What else? The variety in levels is cool, though after a while they tend to wear on a tad. From Quake to Pacman, Space Invaders, Call of Duty, Space Invaders, and damn plenty of others, though I doubt many people made it past the Quake section so they probably think that was the whole game. A lot of those play the same as each other (i.e. running through at 100 mph - because you start as a Quake character and you have that character's early 90s attributes), but the older arcade style games are quite interesting in how they're emulated.

Were it not for the dialogue I'd say that its nothing special. With it I feel like I can deal with the crappy gameplay at points. However saying that were there an audiobook of the original novel then I'd probably be satisfied with that (I do feel like the game's probably missing a ton from the book, though by and large it must be covering a lot, even if only roughly). So aye, an interesting game if you're into meta crap (the player wakes up one day trapped inside of a game *anyone who's seen a certain Christmas episode of the Twilight Zone will know where this goes...*) or just want to hear a Scottish woman swear a lot for a couple of hours.

Edit: I've discovered the particular issue with framerate dropping in that game's last level. I looked up... The devs, and I don't overstate this, have literally pasted in as many assets they could find into this sprawling multi tiered platform puzzle level. Picture hundreds of platforms laden with random assets (*spoiler* as by that point the game worlds are merging *) and NPCs. Each tier of platforms are on the size of one of the smaller levels. There's many, many tiers... Its like the devs had to hit so many plot points from the book so they felt the need to spread the level out more. Splitting it apart with loading screens would break the flow I suppose, but what we're left with is a place so heavy with assets that I'm playing the thing like a slideshow. ...At least its running so poorly that the AI isn't even kicking in. Nah I can run through the thing as they stand their dumbly in T-shapes. =P

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****

On Borderlands. I played it some more there. With a few more hours my thoughts on that games solidified a bit more. I'd still say that its not as good as Borderlands 2. Rather it feels like an expandalone. Not a bad one at that though.

Issues that I have with it? It may just be me, but this new dev team design some really unintuitive levels. They're just difficult to move around in and I find that I have to pause at times and backtrack to find the right way to go. Which brings me to my next point, at times the game flat out just doesn't tell you what it wants you to do. "Go to this place". Ah, Ok, there's a door in the way, now what? Borderlands 2 would have said "press this tiny button that you obviously can't see unless we highlight it" or "kill 30 enemies in the area". Nah this just acts like the door isn't there and tells you there's treasure on the other side or something. ...It does this all the time. There's a general lack polish at times too. Like bugs in the UI that weren't there in the other games (repeatedly the inventory bugs out so you can't scroll through your items), or an odd thing where vehicles default to their standard weaponry every time you spawn a new one.

Is it a good game? I wouldn't play it unless you'd played the other titles in the series (thus why its now bundled with 2). I can power through it because I like the games and want to know more about the world and all, but had this been a separate title then I wouldn't rate it. Fair enough that it was made by a different developer with less experience and a short time to create the game obviously. Its not a bad game, but I can't see it holding anyone's interest unless their a real fan as there's just so much stuff that doesn't match up to 2 in terms of quality.

Bonus points though for all the Australian accents. ...Even if they're really hammed up, but put that down to the setting. I must be half way through the game at least with 10 hours in (though I've hit a stumbling block where enemies suddenly started spawning 6 levels above me randomly), and its given me a hankering to play Tales from the Borderlands. Pity I didn't pick it up during the Steam sale, and that, ah, I've never completed any of Telltales' series (luckily then it'll be years before they release all the episodes).

Whoa. That's the context for that? That? Well, that makes him much, much less of a douche, then! I'd be pretty pissed if people kept hassling me about what I call my stuff, too.

Playing Baldurs Gate.

"Heeeeeya! I'm Imoen!"

Ugh. Is she always this annoying?

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Playing Baldurs Gate.

"Heeeeeya! I'm Imoen!"

Ugh. Is she always this annoying?

Nope, in Throne Of Baal she is actualy quite reflected and somewhat gloomier. If it makes any sense, she is rather heavily plauged by what happend in the Shadow Of Amn(read John Irrenceus)