144 replies to this topic

[Sergio]

Thalantyr item upgrade --> really undecided about this mod.

First of all, even if the mod is named “item upgrade”, the mod adds all the containers of BG2 to Thalantyr.

Second, the mod adds a dialogue with a double space, the following: Can you  make magic items or alter them? (The _ points to the unnecessary double space)

Third, the mod adds, as you can imagine, the possibility to upgrade items you find during your journey. This is a concept that I like really much, but personally, I find the execution very lacking, because improving these items most of the time feels unearned, due to the recipe being extremely easy to satisfy while getting unmatched power from these items.

I will offer some examples. Obviously, there will be spoilers.

Spoiler

 The mod gives you the possibility to improve the dagger of Venom. The dagger of venom is probably one of the best, if not the best ORIGINAL weapon.

I say original because I always install the mod that removes EE content, so I don’t know if EE introduces new weapons worth using. For sure, I haven’t gone back since seeing the weapon “stupifier” providing a 25% chance of stunning the target for 1d4 rounds with no save (read now on the wiki that it was nerfed).

The "improved" dagger of venom has the following stats:
Becomes a +3 weapon
Has a +1 additional attack per round
Has a new effect: Each hit slows down a victim for 15 seconds (saving throw vs death)

This is insane. I don’t even disagree conceptually with the effects, what I disagree with is the fact that there is no real tradeoff to get such a weapon. You don’t sacrifice anything of value to get it. In fact the recipe is the following:
Dagger of Venom
Dagger +2
Oil of Speed(white)
strange Antidote
4000 gold

Do you think such a recipe is so hard to make? Why aren’t the enemies using these weapons then? For what you will be getting, the recipe is not expensive at all.

I will post another example: you can ask Thalantyr to make a belt named Girdle of Bravery. These are the stats:

Girdle of Bravery
Strength: +1 bonus
Wearer regenerates 1 hit point every 6 seconds.
Armor Class: +3 bonus

Requires:
Golden Girdle
Girdle of Bluntness
Girdle of Piercing
Potion of Frost Giant Strength
Potion of Cloud Giant Strength
Potion of Regeneration
5000 gold

I think that the recipe makes absolutely no sense for what you are going to get - the perk of the new belt are being justified by the presence of three ee not expensive and not rare potions that are giving you respectively a +1 STR and regeneration.

I will make a comparison; for ToB there is a mod named “Item upgrade mod”, author Weimer. You can find the readme here: https://weidu.org/c2...temUpgrades.txt . Luckily, it offers a recipe using the three girdles. That’s the recipe:

Golden Girdle
Girdle of Bluntness
Girdle of Piercing
3 Bloodstones (rings, amulets, or gems, but no mix-and-match)
10,000 Gold

You get: Girdle of Glory +3 AC

Now I have to ask you: which one of these would you be using in ToB, the one made by Thalantyr or the one made by Cespenar? I know which one I would use. The fact is, I don’t dislike items being this powerful. I dislike when you get a recipe that is so easy to satisfy that it feels unearned. I would use the dagger of venom, if it was hard to get (hard as, you have to sacrifice this or that good dagger; you have to spend a lot of money; you have to find the X item). I would still be a bit wary of using the Girdle too, but if the recipe was hard to obtain, why not?

On the other hand, there is also a recipe for the balduran’s cloak. By using it, you sacrifice a +2 cloak to gain a meager +1 saving throw. The cloak of Balduran is already the best cloak for <charname>, but if you want to make it better, you have to pay the price of sacrificing a cloak +2 (and to this day, I’ve found only one in Catacombs under candlekeep). This is one of the few recipes I find interesting.

I will add that I would have liked some other items too, like the possibility to merge the Helm of Glory and Helm of defense, but they aren’t available in the items.

So, after all of this, why am I undecided? Because I feel that the only recipe I would be using is probably the one for the Balduran's cloak. All the rest have an impact on the balance that takes me out of the game.

Some players opinions: 
1) Inkal: https://www.gibberli...#comment-327108
2) Connelly: https://www.gibberli...#comment-327111
3) Mickabouile: https://www.gibberli...#comment-327114

[Sergio]

Ayden’s project (finished 27/06/2023)

Hello, I’ve played Ayden Project. I will share my thoughts in bullet points.

1) I’m taking a look at two components:

Wands for Thieves: Enable the use of wands for all thief kits (including warlock). (Any)

Thief Proficiencies: Enable mace and spear proficiency for all thief kits. (Any)

Why haven’t you put the warlock class under the bard kit for Ayden, so Ayden can use wand?

And for the thief proficiency, wouldn’t it be easier if you just put these two points from the start on Ayden, rather than touching the kits? Or alternatively, add a weapon that can morph into a mace or a spear that can be used just by Ayden and that becomes stronger with him.

Having a npc mod actually changing the way a class works leaves me a bit conflicted. I could install them safely because I don’t use mods that touch classes or kits (for now).

 

Spoilers incoming, so I would avoid reading them if you wish to try the npc.

 

Spoiler

2) It would be cool to have a dialogue option for <charname> that allows you to threaten the gnome to give the gem.

3) The gnome is a fraud, selling fraud items and you cannot tell him to give you back the money or part of the money after you find him in Gullykin?

4) If you don’t let Ayden join, he goes away calling you “Godchild”. I don’t think this is appropriate, considering that you are probably freeing him at the beginning of the game. He should just ask your name and pronounce your name.

5) If you let Ayden join, a banter will pop up out of the blue, that I don’t think it’s supposed to be here: https://content.invi...0b6623cff46.jpg
 

6) Ayden starts with the following stats:
13/16/8/13/12/17 (79 total, not exceptional at all).
I fed him some cursed items and he was able to get the following stats:
15/19/10/17/16/21 (98 total, a very bad results)

I think these stats are insane, if you consider that I didn’t feed him all the cursed items. I’ve missed many, such as the Big-Fisted Belt (If I fed this to ayden, he would have gained +3 STR). By giving these items to Ayden he becomes a powerhouse out of the blue; I realize he is a warlock and mental stats are not that important (apart from charisma because your Warlock is based on charisma), but hey, food for thoughts.

7) The shadow walking is a cool feature, but I feel it’s risky in Baldur’s gate. I wouldn’t reinstall it.

8 ) After feeding Ayden a lot of cursed items, he proposed me to buy a forge for him. I never accessed the “refuge” (he never even spoke about it) and as such, I was never able to use the forge.

9) Ayden speaks a lot compared to other BG1 npc. He seems to be equivalent to bg2 npc; I think this should be made clearer in the readme. I particularly noticed that, given that this time I have played without BG1npc project and really, the npcs without it are mostly silent - I would go as far as saying they don’t speak at all.

 

10) Ayden has really a lot of work put into it. If you expanded Ayden, you could make it a stable inside every baldur’s gate 1 install. I will be more specific on how.

I’ve taken a look at the features offered by Ayden and the crafting part left me really surprised.

When you speak to Ayden for the first time, you can choose to let him join or not.
Some people may choose to not let him join and that could open a second path with Ayden.
After leaving Ulcaster, he could talk with charname out of the blue when charname leaves Thunderhammer smithy. And he could propose charname a deal: work for him, by bringing him cursed items.

Then he would propose to get the forge/get the forge himself, and then started selling the items proposed by the crafting. This should be reworked and rebalanced too (and I could say you how if you are interested – but if you aren’t, writing would be probably useless). You could even step in and make Ayden available as an Item upgrade mod, hopefully a balanced one compared to Thalantyr item upgrade.

 

Thanks for the mod!


Author's answer: https://www.gibberli...#comment-327289

Considering that there is also a follow up that ends with feedback I just left today (today as 02/12/2023): https://www.gibberli...#comment-330802

Edited by Sergio, 02 December 2023 - 04:06 AM.

[Sergio]

Argent77 mods. --> I will review them all together

I have to make a statement before expressing my ideas about Argent77’s mods. Most of them are amazing and always in my install. Thanks Argent77!!

 

Convenient Enhanced Edition NPCs for BG:EE, SoD and BG2:EE --> will install always. This is a great mod. I use the no-equipment-from EE.

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Hidden gameplay options --> This is a cool mod that I always install, but I dislike the order of the components proposed when you install it. I install only the following three components, that I think can be used by any player (and they are thus the more popular), while the others are more “technical”:
Enable debug mode
Limit ranger/cleric spells
Improved cheat menu
If these three components were to be put first, the mod would be perfect.

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Golem construction for spellcasters  --> this is a cool mod, but I don’t like the way it’s executed. As such, I’m undecided if I will be reinstalling it again. These are my impressions on BG:EE:

1) It would be cooler if it was the player agency that activates the mod, rather than the mod being activated from minute 0. What I mean is that you wouldn’t be finding bones or body parts, until you do a certain thing (wouldn’t finding the manual be a good moment?). Having bodies cluttered with different items is not as elegant as it should be, especially when I’m playing with a CG ranger. Why is my charname so fixated on these?

2) I would add that rather than finding all these items, especially when they are so “common”, an item that just siphons these parts without player input would be way cooler than having the player loot so much stuff and having to click so many buttons.

3) Not only that: knowing that I installed the mod, having all these body parts available and not taking them (I leave these items on the ground) makes regret starts sinking in, because I have never played the mod before, and as such, I don’t know how many of these items I need (and I would like to avoid taking a look at the spoiler manual).
 

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Magic store of vergadain --> cool mod, try it. I will always toss a coin if I have to reinstall it.

 This is a cool mod, but:

- I dislike the limited amount of times you can use it daily (3). You should be able to tweak that.

- it can unbalance the game really fast, because you have temples’ services in the wilderness.
Rather than considering it a limit of the mod (https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/32357-magic-store-of-vergadain-visit-any-store-anywhere-and-anytime/page/2/#comment-323645) I think a good idea would be an optional component that makes building of the artifact and the single parts way more expensive. I would gladly pay 15k to build the “whole” artifact, due to the services that it offers.

 

 

Author's answer: https://www.gibberli...#comment-327231

[Sergio]

Extra expanded enhanced encounters -> not a bad mod. Try it. Doubt I will reinstall.

You can find the mod here: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/73749/extra-expanded-enhanced-encounters-module-download/p1

This mod add new encounters. Some are well written, but of course, it’s all subjective.

I will just write about what I didn’t enjoy.

- The gnoll fortress component is cool, but after facing so many gnolls, it is sad not to find a stash or something valuable. Sadly enough, I doubt that gnoll would stash gold coins or jewels inside their own fortress. So I doubt this can be “fixed”.

- The Undercity Magma Bulwark Encounter kinda took me out of the game, because they are skeletons and they all have “human” names. That way, they feel more of an ester-egg added by a mod.

[Sergio]

The dreadful tales – try it. I won’t reinstall it. (19/11/2023)

This is the mod I like the most by Lava.

On my eyes, it shows the growth of him as a mod author: areas are cool and interlinked without feeling “overabundant”, the dialogue is not bad, the story is not bad either.

But even with these good qualities, the mod shows what I think it’s the limit in every Lava’s mod – talking, moving around, is just a way to experience the content without having an impact. If you are going to play the mod 2 times, the content will always be the same, because the mod is pretty linear and the choices available for you do not have any meaningful impact.

Every mod I’ve played ends always on you killing the bad guy that is too desperate to be reasoned with or too keen in his evil way – I wouldn’t mind, if there were some real options available for the player.

In this case, there is a way to end the affliction of the land, but what if I didn’t want to end it and actually make it worse? What if I wanted to study what the girl did or have my Charname acquire something more useful than the simple thought of having done a good action?  

Also, the re-use of some ideas feel redundant (for example, the kids following you and getting a useless power reminds me of the dream npc in another mod that can’t be enslaved) or the blacksmith not remembering his past and you having to talk with him).

I mean, I enjoyed the mod, but it’s not like I would say “reinstall it”. It’s Lava’s best mod, but it’s still not something I would reinstall in my every playthrough, because it simply shows the limit I always find hard to bear when I wish to replay something.

Thanks for the mod.