Myth Drannor is....

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LOL. Sounds like me a couple of months ago. I got Morrowind Game of the Year Edition, too, so I should be set for a few years....

I took a break from BG to do RoMD. BG was just going too slowly for me. Don't know why but it seems tedious and boring compared to POR. Maybe with smaller party it would be more fun. Could be that the old AD&D rules are a bit out-of-date. I guess I'm not a roleplayer at heart....

I got Gothic and Gothic 2 on my wishlist. Why do you like it so much? If you liked ToEE and RoMD like me, then maybe I should get the gothic series.

How about Planescape, Divine Divinity, and Beyond Divinity? I bought those along with Fallout. What's a life?

Thrasher

 

Go strait for Gothic II and give it a good 5 hours of effort to learn the system. The game is hugely wide open and incredibly rewarding. I finished it - it took almost 70 hours but I killed EVERYTHING LOL.

I really loved Gothic II.

I tried the Divinity Demo's but had trouble with the pacing and odd world. Maybe I should give that another whirl.

 

To elaborate, Yes KotB is the "expansion" I was referring to earlier. They are going to use the same engine and all the other "good" stuff from ToEE.

Thrasher--BG was moving SLOWER than RoMD??!!

Man I was thinking about playing that after ToEE, but now... I mean RoMD is great, but it is slow...

 

OK, just let me clarify for maalri, then I'll stop about other games. BTW, what forum should we use to compare more than one game?

The pace in RoMD sems to move faster than BG, especially inside the city of BG. BG is more quest oriented, and RoMD has a lot more action. At the end of BG with the TotSC expansion you reach level 9 max, with RoMD you can reach 32. That's a huge difference in the number of baddies!

The gameplay (speed of battles, movement, etc) on BG is faster, unless you've installed the PoR Speed Utility, which makes RoMD MUCH faster than BG!

Thrasher

 

I love BG and IWD but I just can't really compare those to either POR2 or ToEE. ToEE is the only benchmark for POR2.

The BG engine games are very watered down in terms of the combat interface even when you activate turn based. Come on, real D&D simply is NOT real time in any shape or form.

 

But just imaging the POR forum having a lively debate LOL

 

That's exactly why I like this game. Because it is turn-based and therefore more true to PnP D&D!

Some argue that turn-based doesn't translate to multi-player, and I say that is a bunch of BS. That would be like saying PnP shouldn't be multi-player? If someone doesn't take his turn within a min time, have the system force a default action instead (like skip - do nothing, or move with the rest of the party). Build the servers to manage multiple independent timelines for adventuring parties (instances) or PvP combat that join back to a common server-wide timeline afterwards. It shouldn't be that hard ....

There's a lot of uninspired lazy copycat thinking out there in the RPG development world.

Thrasher

 

I was thinking about creating my own POR/ToEE esque turned based game in Java yesterday - I've got the skills (I think) but not the time.

What I'd really like would be a ToEE developers kit - or the BG Infinity engine to play with. I think the C08 has the ToEE engine since they are making Keep of the Borderlands.

Anyway - just thinking aloud.

 

I think the main problem with the game is the battle system, is that it's just boring. If they had made it real time, the game would've moved at a lot swifter pace making it more fun. I think that's what killed the game for many people. I don't think it's simply because it was turn based, it just needed some serious reworking.

I think this game did have some strong points, like the music. I honestly think the soundtrack was better than the infinity engine games. Music doesn't make a game good however, but it helps create a really good atmosphere. Because of that I think the music as well as the subdued but creepy graphics gave the game personality. So while the combat did "borinate" the game, the atmosphere really kept me going to the end.

I also think it had some strong characters in the game that were, unfortunately not used as well as they could have been. That's what I think another problem people had is that it was very low on rping factor, when it could've been alot more.

*****spoiler alert*****
There were some parts that were really well done. In the Drow catacombs you come across these ghosts of the Elves who died in a battle protecting Myth Drannor, and that just sent a chill up my spine.
*****end spoiler alert*****

In the end, the combat really did kill the game, as I wouldn't rate it high nor would I suggest to anyone but the most hardcore D&Der. If anyone asks I'd suggest reading the book instead as it is much much better.

 

While I don't agree with your comments about the combat - I do agree there are issues with atmosphere. One thing I really liked about ToEE was the variation of the art and architecture from hall to hall and floor to floor. It didnt feel like a template system. It gave the Temple a mood that the dreary monolythic POR2 ruins lack. They could have easily added more architectural features to the dungeon to keep exploration interesting. Also some variation on the monsters would have been nice - but now late in the game the Drow and Cultists are keeping things lively since they move very quickly and provide more challenge. And the Narga with their death poison - yikes!

 

Well, I like the combat system.

I have the speed turned all the way down so it is turn-based. I find the dumbed down realtime diablo-esqe combat systems boring. Sure they're fast, but they are basic, repetitive, mindless click-fests.

Also, the lack of control and feedback in realtime combat systems like BG I find frustrating. NWN does a better job by showing you messages about spell failure and other combat results as well as providing an editable action queue, but neither NWN or BG shows you the area of effect for spells which is one reason I like the RoMD and ToEE combat systems better than BG or NWN.

ToEE and RomD are a lot less sloppy. Precision is the name of the game for me.

To each his own....

Thrasher

 

I think you might have misread, as I thought the atmosphere was good. As with everything, it could've used improvement, but that's what kept me going through the game.

But I don't see how anyone could like the combat as it just felt like they threw it together without thinking about it much. I like turn based games just fine, but PoR just moved way too slow. Plus it was way too easy, even palandralaar and mordrayn didn't put up much of a fight.(Killed them the first time I saw them, and I was weak from the battles with the cultists.)

 

OK. I should say that I installed the speed utility, and that makes a WORLD of difference. Without the speed utility it was too slow.

Also, I've made it more of challenge by just doing it with a 2 person party without NPCs. The first few levels were plenty challenging. But now with 500 HPs and high powered characters it's a breeze. But I do find the combat enjoyable even still and the hugeness of it all.

Thrasher