16th October 2010, 8:00 PM
BG2 isn't easier than BG1. It's more linear, but not easier. (Assuming you play on Core Rules and not Normal difficulty in BG2, BG2 Core Rules = BG1 Normal, they made the default difficulty easier in the second game)
But anyway, yeah, as far as difficulty goes, really BG2's main difference is that it doesn't let you wander around, so you can't just go off and accidentally find yourself in a high-level area early in the game, like you can do in BG1. Instead you follow the mostly-linear quest path (Chapter 2 is deceptively open, most of the rest of the game is much more linear than that one, where you have three main paths to play through at once). I missed the openesss of BG1 areas in BG2, it's an amazing game but it rails you a bit too much, I liked BG1's greater exploration a lot.
Because of all the other things BG2 does better like interface, map (notes!), party member interaction, quests, length, etc, BG2 is the better game overall, but BG1's close behind it.
I would still argue that that's not BG's problem, that's low-level D&D's design. You really overstate BG1's difficulty there, though. It's hard, but not nearly as hard as you say... indeed overall BG2 is probably harder, particularly if we include ToB, which has some really hard boss fights in it. It is hard to decide when both are difficult games, but BGII+ToB is probably harder than BG+ToSC.
Other than that though, I would agree that the rest of those games you rank above BG1 are easier than it, yes. Well, apart from IWD, which I haven't played yet. I've heard it has some hard fights, but we'll see. I've also heard it's pretty short.
What, you don't like mapping games yourself on graph paper? You won't like '80s PC RPGs much then. :)
I have a little bit of tolerance for it, which is why I got as far as I did into Wizardry VI, but not enough to actually play whole games of that kind of thing. It gets very frustrating... but still, I wouldn't say that it automatically makes them bad games. Many of those games are pretty good, they're just very dated and hard to play today.
But anyway, yeah, as far as difficulty goes, really BG2's main difference is that it doesn't let you wander around, so you can't just go off and accidentally find yourself in a high-level area early in the game, like you can do in BG1. Instead you follow the mostly-linear quest path (Chapter 2 is deceptively open, most of the rest of the game is much more linear than that one, where you have three main paths to play through at once). I missed the openesss of BG1 areas in BG2, it's an amazing game but it rails you a bit too much, I liked BG1's greater exploration a lot.
Because of all the other things BG2 does better like interface, map (notes!), party member interaction, quests, length, etc, BG2 is the better game overall, but BG1's close behind it.
Quote:It didn't feel like I was constantly being punished for playing it. All of my characters are level 1 retards which means they constantly die fighting ANYTHING so I have to save all the time and load all the time, I don't have enough money for healing items, I can barely even make it through the newbie dungeon, resting heals like 1 HP for every 8 hours, and the enemies I actually CAN beat give me 1 experience point when I need over a 1000 to get to the next level.
I would still argue that that's not BG's problem, that's low-level D&D's design. You really overstate BG1's difficulty there, though. It's hard, but not nearly as hard as you say... indeed overall BG2 is probably harder, particularly if we include ToB, which has some really hard boss fights in it. It is hard to decide when both are difficult games, but BGII+ToB is probably harder than BG+ToSC.
Other than that though, I would agree that the rest of those games you rank above BG1 are easier than it, yes. Well, apart from IWD, which I haven't played yet. I've heard it has some hard fights, but we'll see. I've also heard it's pretty short.
Quote:So, the difference between one and the other is that in one you actually knew where you were going and in the other you felt like your always constantly lost? Fun! But Wizardry 7 stays.
What, you don't like mapping games yourself on graph paper? You won't like '80s PC RPGs much then. :)
I have a little bit of tolerance for it, which is why I got as far as I did into Wizardry VI, but not enough to actually play whole games of that kind of thing. It gets very frustrating... but still, I wouldn't say that it automatically makes them bad games. Many of those games are pretty good, they're just very dated and hard to play today.
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