![]() My complaint in the last issue isn’t that the game is too hard-even these bullshit moves are unable to make most maps difficult-but that it feels like the designers gave up on tuning encounters with the basic mechanics of their battle system, the one that allows for emergent complexity and tactical depth. (“Oh, you thought your positioning was good? How do you like it now?”) Arguably even the omnipresent, teleporting insectoid enemies count. E.g., the hated two maps where you can’t damage any enemies until you smash five crystals, or the others with infinitely respawning waves. Possibly as a consequence of the above, it seems like the designers realized that the combat mechanics of their modified system no longer really allowed the game to challenge the player, so they added some uncounterable bullshit mechanics. It also eliminated the mechanic of unlocking skill teachers as questline rewards, which is an issue in a game that’s overall lacking in reward mechanics. BG1 was reasonably challenging through Chapter 2, even on my second playthrough the reason for this is that until Chapter 3, the options for character development are sufficiently constrained that tuning the encounters to be solvable by nonoptimal builds didn't make them cakewalks with optimal builds. Unrestricted character development (in terms of skills) speeds up the rate at which a tactically adept player can break the game. Most major encounters give you something you can at least imagine being useful. + Loot acquisition is generally improved. + There are some genuinely nice encounters. Two-handed bashing weapons are no longer the clear kings of all melee weapons. + Melee weapon talents are no longer overpowered. + Money and AP are better rationed while non-mages do run out of things to spend them on, they do so only after completing a higher percentage of the available content than in BG1. ![]() ![]() She has some great lines, too I especially liked: The alternation between stuff like creating false omens and mercilessly showing up at locations and murdering everyone there, versus the despair she feels over one of her soldiers killing a dog or the tenderness she feels for her “sister,” worked pretty well. She's obsessive, ruthless, and vulnerable I imagine she could come off as incoherent, but she seemed plausibly complex to me. + Cassia is by far the best character in the series, meaning she's an actually good one. I played this and have some thoughts about it, mostly vis-a-vis BG1.
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