Playing again ?

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Hi everyone.
I was just wondering if it was just me, or once you finished playing for the first time, you don't really wanna play again. I agree the game is great, really great, but when I thought about playing with my party again, or with a new party, already knowing the outcome of the game, I found myself bored as early as when I got to the Vale of Shadows. I started thinking ahead - there are no surprises, and you can't really do anything differently (helping/killing the slaves ? big deal), you can't really affect the story line.Am I the only one who feels this way ? If I am, please give me ideas for a second time -interesting- game. Thanks!

 

Therefor Might and Magic 7 is a great game. There you will after a while choose who you will support: the necromancers of Deyja or the wizards of Bracada. On each side you will find a lot of totally different quests, and this makes the game very entertaining to play at least twice.

This choose between good/evil thing to change the whole story could be an interesting idea for games like BG and IWD too.

 

I found the same for myself in IWD, had no real interest in going back and playing it through a second time. Even with BG I found it very hard to do until I got to the city. That's why I hope BG2 has a lot of city things to do, places to go, people to meet (and I'm sure it will) just to keep me interested. Honestly, by Chapter 6, I just wanted to finish the game and get on with something else. IWD though, was a lot of fun and I enjoyed playing it, but going through it a second time. Yup. Not worth the time investment for me.

Sylvus

 

I'm in agreement here, for the most part. After I had finished IWD, I went on to play Diablo II, but kept telling myself that I'd go back for another run at IWD when my enthusiasm for D2 waned.

Well, that day did eventually come... D2 became boring, and I fired up IWD again for another go. It took me awhile, but I finally decided on a 4-person party, consisting of the following:

2 Dwarf Fighters
Elven Fighter/Thief
Half-Elf Cleric/Mage

It was fun.... for awhile, but halfway through Dragon's Eye, I started to get bored, mainly because I knew what was coming, and even though the fights were still alot of fun, the feeling of adventure just wasn't there.

So you know what I did? I actually fired up Baldur's Gate again, and have started my way through that game, working up a character that I'll enjoy taking to BG2 (Due out on the 26th!!!). But to make the game even more fun, I went out and purchased Tales of the Sword Coast, and THEN downloaded this 3rd party expansion pack, Dark Side of the Coast, which is giving me tons more stuff to play with.

I'm in Chapter 6 in BG, but even after finishing the game, I have all the TotSC and DSotC stuff to explore... which should keep me good and busy until BG2 finally arrives.


-The Wretched

p.s. Those interested in DSotC should check out www.teambg.com for more info.

[This message has been edited by The Wretched (edited September 20, 2000).]

 

i gotta disagree on this one. i am on my 4th time through and i still enjoy IWD. granted its nothing like the 1st time i played. i'm not sitting at work saying 'damn, i gotta bust my ass so i can leave early to get home and play IWD'.

i beat it with 6 characters twice, 4 characters once, and am now using 3. even though i know whats coming its still pretty
hard with only 3 characters. i have actually had characters die.

there are a couple of reasons why IWD is still interesting to me. 1st off, random items. there are plenty of these in the game, and i have found some cool items that i have never found before. 2nd, all the cool spells and spell effects. there are some powerful higher level spells that are fun to use, Finger of Death being one of the many. and how about that XP Cap. i havent hit it yet and am trying to do so with 3 characters. finaly the Severed Hand. that is my favorite area in IWD and was still tough my 4th time through.

that just about does it, but i say try it with 3 or 4 memebers, the game becomes a little more interesting. and dont forget to jack the Difficulty Level all the way to the right.

 

I'm just about to enter Chapter 6 and finish my first time through. I thought I might go through again, but now I'm getting a little tired of the game, so what's the point? I may start up a new game and use the cheats just to try out some weapons and spells I didn't find/use the first time through, like flaming swords and such. But going through it all again? Going through all those conversations again? Exploring all those caves and doing all that walking again? Ugh. I don't know what you would get out of it. I think I'll just move on to BG2. Or maybe try to finish BG1 (got bored with the one-character-only format and abandoned it) or that mind-numbing Planescape. Does anyone know: Will BG2 allow more than one PC under your control? It's a little tiring when the NPCs do nothing but bitch and whine all the time and you're forced to, for example, take on evil NPCs just so you have access to certain classes or spells.

 

Golly gee...what a fun thread!

Yeah, IWD is funny that way. The first time through I thought it was amazing. But after that, it just felt so limiting. And I think the whole "random items" thing is a miss. Picking up a few different objects just isn't enought to make it interesting.

...and this is why BGII will be soooooooo much better in this regard. From what I'm hearing, certain quests and subplots will only be accessible to various alignments and classes. So, even if you think you've played the whole thing in and out with your Chaotic Good Wizard Slayer, play it again with a Lawful Evil Monk and you'll find different quests and threads (maybe even areas...I'm not sure on that) that didn't even exist the first time.

In fact, the first time I go through BGII, I'm planning on concentrating on the main quest. That way, when I play it again (and again? and again?), there'll be new stuff that I didn't know about before.

IWD was brilliantly designed, but it only allows one way to get from point A to point B. So I don't think it has so much replayability.

 

Neverworlder, you said that you got bored with BG, because you can only control one of the characters. Well, BGII is going to be the exact same way... however, that's not a bad thing!

If you want to be able to create multiple characters, instead of just the one (and having to rely on NPCs otherwise), simply start a multi-player game, and create 2 (or 3, or even all 6!) characters. Then, play the game solo (put yourself in control of all the characters you create).

In BGII, I'm going to use this method to get the best of both worlds... I'll start a multi-player game, import my BG character in as the primary, then create a secondary character to allow me to play with all the new rules and stuff.

And for the re-playability of BGII, it almost seems assured, as they are advertising unique quests depending on your alignment and character class, so there should be alot of good stuff hidden in there. And just think about it... with all the different character classes, just putting different combinations together should make for some very interesting experimentation!

-The Wretched

 

Good idea, Wretched, about the multiplayer trick. I've never successfully initiated multiplayer on any game (actually, did try once with Diablo, but my machine was too slow to really play), but I may give it a shot if BG2 starts to make me restless to create my own party. (The instruction manuals seem to assume that everyone is a multiplayer veteran and leaves multinewbies like me totally confused.) NPCs generally piss me off. NPCs and Republicans.

 

I'd have to agree that IWD is pretty linear. I really enjoyed it the first time through but everytime I've tried to play it since I've found myself going "If I do this, I'll get this". Shows you exactly how random it is when you pretty much know exactly what you'll get from the monsters you kill or the chests you open. I still enjoy it but I find it's starting to lose it's appeal.

I never heard the part about having different quests for different alignment/class in BGII but it sounds cool. It will definately keep it new. As for NPC's..... I like them, I just wish they'd have a bigger vocabulary so you don't have to keep hearing the same irritating crap coming out of some of their mouths.... over and over with BG I kept dreaming "My h-h-heart's not really in t-t-this" Or "Yes, oh ominpresent authority figure" Ugh.

 

Well Mythril, I think your wish is about to come true... at least according to what Interplay is saying. Basically, they've bragged that every NPC who can join your party in BGII has as much dialogue as all the NPCs who could join your party in BG *COMBINED*.

I seriously need to buy this game.

 

It's just too much of a wait is it not? The thought of everything we'll be able to do and go. Sweet.

But back to IWD, I think it's the type of game, for me anyhow, that takes your breath away the first time you play it. The background sound when you first arrive in Kuldahar. The flickering flames and long shadows in The Severed Hand are my favorite locations in IWD when I played it through and it's not something you can capture again and again like the first time.

I'm looking forward to BG2, I'm looking forward to helping everyone and vice versa, but most of all...I'm looking forward to having my breath taken away in Athkatla.

Soon. Very soon.

Syl

 

I did it again, a fun type game. All halflings, all part fighters, and all specialized in really big weapons. I have my halfling halberdier, spearman, composite long bowman, 2h swordman, 2h axeman, and a slingman (required!) Sure, the sling isn't big, blah blah blah. I didn't have any mages, and I did fine without one too (All I ever used mages for was Identify, Haste, and Earth Elementals)

Om

 

People keep mentioning how BG2 will be better, (I believe it, I'm not arguing), but if you really want a spoiler view, I bought a PC magazine, that had a 660 Mg demo of BG2.

I don't remember which magazine it was, though.

 

I played trough twice. once with a four-character party and second with only a single character. It was kind of hard the second time but i sure gained those levels fast