u/BaldursGate2Best

Hello everyone. I first played through BG1 and 2 some 4 to 6 years ago, and I liked them a lot and started considering them as some of my favourites. Indeed, BG2 is a strong candidate for my favourite game.

I have recently finished Shadows of Amn for the second time ever. I will probably take a couple of weeks of break before I finish Throne of Bhaal. However, I do think that, having finished Shadows of Amn, I have re-experienced enough of the game to make this post.

I think this game is absolutely amazing and does hold up. If we got a game like BG2 every year, but with modern graphics, QoL features and maybe a higher amount of voice acting, I would be overjoyed. BUT, I would like to offer some constructive criticism on what I think might be slight shortcomings. I am doing this knowing it's likely I get downvoted.

First of all, there are some systems in the game that are... relatively shallow? A good example is Alignment. There are barely any consequences for acting either against or in line with your alignment. My character is a True Neutral Elven F/M, but I sort of ended up playing him as a Good character because that's the most agreeable way to approach the game and fits my nature. There were no consequences for that. I am playing a game called Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous and I think it does it much better. Certain dialogue choices move your alignment one way or the other, meaning it can shift over time.

Second of all, it feels like the game may have been rushed. There is a lot of content that seems to have been cut. For example, Jan Jansen has a quest regarding the saving of his ex-girlfriend's daughter. That is a pretty cool quest because it also reveals that there are mindflayer hiding amongst ordinary people. The quest ends on a depressing note, with his ex girlfriend leaving to rejoin her abusive husband. Jan asks you to help him if the need ever arises. But... there is literally no follow-up? Like, you might assume there is going to be something happening in the future, but there is not.

Certain characters are extremely well done and full of content, Jaheira I think being the standout. She has a very good plotline that ends with her getting an incredibly good item called the Harper Pin as a reward. Although I do wish the last part of the plotline held more of a climax than just a random fight in the wilderness. On the other hand, some characters have comparatively less content, like Minsc.

Thirdly, and I realize this is controversial, but I kinda feel like the game is light on choice and consequence compared to more modern titles. For example, I have never taken the side of Bodhi, but I don't believe doing that changes too much. Taking the ship gives you access to slightly more content, but taking the portal has no equivalent content added; so the ship is objectively better unless you want to finish the game quickly. Most quest resolutions are also contained within the quest itself and do not really affect anything else. That kinda feels sad to me, since it would have been so awesome to see choice and consequence in this game.

So to summarise, I really, really like this game, but I do think it has these slight shortcomings and I wanted to talk about it. I hope I have not said anything stupid and that my post lays out my points sufficiently.

What do you think about this? Do you disagree?

I am curious, these two games are amongst the "biggest" cRPG's of the last decade that are not Baldur's Gate 3, but it seems like DOS2 is much more popular. It sold like 7 million copies, and WotR only sold a million. Neither had a massive brand recognition, both had predecessors that were crowdfunded.

Why do you think that's the case? Why is DOS2 more popular?

cRPG's are my favourite genre. I also like playing games with a controller on my TV. However, surprisingly few games have historically supported it, so these two things I like don't often come together. I am a PC gamer.

In the past, many games that WERE ported over to console DID NOT have controller support on PC. For example, Dragon Age Origins or Pillars of Eternity don't have controller support on PC even though they were released on console. Baldur's Gate 3 has good support but I don't like that game.

I am playing WotR right now on Daring difficulty, which admittedly is considered to be easy mode by most players, so maybe this is not saying much. I am level 6 or 7 and in Act 2. I legitimately think this game has very good controller support. I have played through the whole game so far using only my PS5 controller and I have been having a blast. Like, you would think that such a game would not work well with a controller, and you would be wrong! This is amazing!

Just wanted to share my thoughts. Anyone else using a controller?

Hello. I am not sure this is the right subreddit, but I can't ask that on the rpcs3 discord without getting banned, and I don't know where else to look.

I have a PS3 Super Slim from 2012. I believe that that model has no support for custom firmware, so I am just running official firmware.

Unfortunately, my controllers have sort of started acting up. I would like to transfer my saves to my PC in order to finish my playthroughs.

Copying the saves onto a USB and uploading them onto Google Drive was easy enough. But I am struggling with getting these saves to run on my PC? They don't show up in-game after pasting them into the saves folder. I have decrypted them using the program Apollo that was recommended to me online but they still don't show up.

Unfortunately, I am on Linux, so coming up with good solutions may be more difficult, but I would like to hear about your experiences and whether you eventually managed that? "That" being continuing a PS3 playthrough on your PC. If your solutions were found on a Windows PC I would still like to hear them because I might be able to apply them using a family member's laptop.

In case anyone's wondering about the connection to this subreddit, the games on my PS3 are 100% legit, purchased by me, while the digital game images on my PC are pirated. I don't have a Blu-Ray drive nor a jailbreakable PS3 to dump them.

I have sometimes experienced this with cRPG's that I may go like "What... who the fuck is this person? Am I supposed to remember them?". I may also recollect some events in the sense that they happened, but having forgotten the details.

This happens especially upon returning after a long time.

I was curious if that is also the case for you?

I first bought this game back in 2020, but I was not too experienced with the genre at the time, plus I lost a LOT of progress due to a bad cloud saves sync. Because of that, I never finished it. I am playing it again, currently at level 5.

I do think it is a good game; like, it's an Infinity-Engine like title. The exploration, character progression, party management etc. are all just like in the IE games.

And yet... This game feels SO... "rough"?

Here are a couple of things:

1. The game is filled with "trash fights" that don't really enhance the story. You could say that Baldur's Gate had the same... But, in those games, killing enemies actually gave you experience points. In Pillars, once you have completed the Bestiary entry, you get nothing. In Baldur's Gate, most of the trash fights were pretty easy once you got a great party, whilst the PoE fights can be tough while giving you no XP.

2. The animations kind of feel repetitive. You spend a lot of time walking, yet every character has identical animations. This may have also been the case in Baldur's Gate, but that was an older game made in 2D.

3. The world feels... quiet? Like, Baldur's Gate had ambiance and chatter in the background that made it feel inhabited. You could hear "Hey, sexy, do you want to look at me tiddies?" in a brothel, or "nothing like some time ashore... All I need is a good grog and a lass on me lap" in a tavern. This game feels muted.

4. I normally prefer RTWP, but the RTWP in this game is pure chaos. Like, absolute mayhem where nobody knows what is going on. Turn-based does kind of remedy that. Now I can sorta understand what's going on.

5. Some gameplay decisions seems a little bit over the top, like separating Hit Points into Health and Endurance, which are two related but separate bars. I am not sure it makes that much sense.

So, I think it's a good game and I would like to finish it, the artstyle is probably the second best in the genre after Disco Elysium... but it feels "rough" to me?

I was wondering, are my observations wrong? Do you disagree with them? What do you think about my points?

Hello everyone. I do not know as much about Shakespeare as most of you. I did read Macbet in translation, but I have only read Hamlet in the original language. The English used in his works is very convoluted and I haven't had the time to read more of his works while doing my law degree. I am not a native English speaker. I come from Poland. I do hope that I will be able to make up for my shameful ignorance later! I might start reading Julius Ceasar in the original language today.

Anyway, I started reading the Illiad recently. Amazing book. And it got me thinking... Would someone like Shakespeare have been even remotely aware of Homer? Like, if you were to ask him, would he nod and say, "yes of course I know him", or would he be confused?

Would his knowledge have extended that far or not?

I have a question for you, would you be interested in reading the Illiad and the Odyssey in Ancient Greek?

For example, I started reading the Illiad last week. I decided to do so after seeing a movie that came out recently. I am Polish, and I unfortunately I picked up an early 19th century translation that translated Zeus to Jupiter, Athena to Minerva, Odysseus to Ulisses and so forth, while using archaic wording.

And this got me thinking, why are we not reading them in Ancient Greek? Why am I not reading them in Ancient Greek?

I was just curious about your thoughts on the topic. Would you like to read these books in Ancient Greek? Like, is that something you would be interested in?

I know this may be controversial, but I am a PC gamer and I like using controllers when playing cRPG's. First of all, that makes it easier to play them on my 4K 120hz OLED TV – if I had to use a mouse, I would have to limit myself to my 1440p 165hz VA monitor. Secondly, I find that it feels better and is more relaxing.

For example, I am playing Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous and enjoying it a lot with my Dualsense.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a pattern where many games on PC have no native controller support despite having console ports! For example, Pillars of Eternity. There is absolutely no reason why that game should not have controller support. It shouldn't be that difficult to add, should it? I would have expected them to do it when they rolled the patch for turn-based combat.

I was curious as to what you think? Would you also like for games to support controllers?

Hello everyone. I have seen many people on this sub claim that a cRPG is bad if it's got little choice and consequence. And I do agree that is not a good design nowadays.

However, one of my favourite games, Baldur's Gate 2, is admittedly pretty light on choice and consequence. The story is mostly linear. However, I do think it is still a good game. I mean, it has amazing writing, companions, character progression and great items, plus the sidequests are very interesting even if somewhat linear too.

Would you consider a game like Baldur's Gate 2 to be bad because there is relatively little choice and consequence? Can other things not redeem a game?

I was wondering about this. I personally would be greatly interested in a high-budget (say, 100-300 million dollars), 3-4 hours long film based on Homer or any other Greek myth/work of writing/historical figure, made completely in Greek. Like, wouldn't that be amazing? I would totally pay to see that movie.

And I would imagine that film as being representative of Ancient Greek culture. Say, gods pretending to be humans to convey their wishes, or depictions of animal sacrifice (without harming actual animals). I would also wish for historically accurate costumes. For example, with the Illiad, professional historians could be hired as consultants to create accurate Late Bronze Age armour and weapons.

I wonder, could such a movie not be made? Would audience in English-speaking countries not be interested in it?

I am not from an English speaking country, and I would be greatly interested in something like that! And it makes me wonder, why do we not see such projects?

Same thing goes for other languages. I am Polish, if a 200 million dollar film based on the history of my country was made, would you not be interested?

To be clear, this is NOT an attempt to diss the recent film. This is not an "anti-woke" post! Just clearing this up in case some people try to kill me. Although the film did inspire this thought in me. Like, surely we could get a movie based on Homer fully in Greek?

I was wondering about this. I personally would be greatly interested in a high-budget (say, 100-300 million dollars), 3-4 hours long film based on Homer or any other Greek myth/work of writing/historical figure, made completely in Greek. Like, wouldn't that be amazing? I would totally pay to see that movie.

And I would imagine that film as being representative of Ancient Greek culture. Say, gods pretending to be humans to convey their wishes, or depictions of animal sacrifice (without harming actual animals). I would also wish for historically accurate costumes. For example, with the Illiad, professional historians could be hired as consultants to create accurate Late Bronze Age armour and weapons.

I wonder, could such a movie not be made? Would audience in English-speaking countries not be interested in it?

I am not from an English speaking country, and I would be greatly interested in something like that! And it makes me wonder, why do we not see such projects?

Same thing goes for other languages. I am Polish, if a 200 million dollar film based on the history of my country was made, would you not be interested?

To be clear, this is NOT an attempt to diss the recent film. This is not an "anti-woke" post! Just clearing this up in case some people try to kill me. Although the film did inspire this thought in me. Like, surely we could get a movie based on Homer fully in Greek?

I am on that part where ATREUS and THOR visit Nilfheim to get the final part of the mask. Is there a lot left? Is it realistic to do it all in one sitting?

He is so funny... He speaks in a British accent, uses phrases like "Master Kratos" or "Madame Nihogg" and he is constantly quarreling with his apparitions.

Like I find him hilarious, does anyone else feel that way?

Like bro you are a fucking animal and you are acting like Alfred Pennyworth 😂

Hello guys. I own a PC that has an RTX 3070, Ryzen 5 5600x and 16gb of RAM (3200mhz), as well as an 850W PSU. The RAM has stayed the same since it was built in 2020, but I have upgraded from a 2060, an R5 2600 and a 650W PSU.

I am currently NOT looking to buy a new GPU or build a new computer. I mostly play older games that have been surpassed by modern GPU's (even a 1050ti) many times over. But, hypothetically, is there any GPU that would actually offer a crazy, freakish difference in games like RDR2 or Ragnarok? Or is that not yet the case?

Do you think there are any GPU's like this?

Additionally, just out of curiosity, with a setup like mine, would you personally ever consider upgrading the GPU or just build a new PC? Given I am on AM4?

Hello guys. I own a PC that has an RTX 3070, Ryzen 5 5600x and 16gb of RAM (3200mhz), as well as an 850W PSU. The RAM has stayed the same since it was built in 2020, but I have upgraded from a 2060, an R5 2600 and a 650W PSU.

I am currently NOT looking to buy a new GPU or build a new computer. I mostly play older games that have been surpassed by modern GPU's (even a 1050ti) many times over. But, hypothetically, is there any GPU that would actually offer a crazy, freakish difference in games like RDR2 or Ragnarok? Or is that not yet the case?

Do you think there are any GPU's like this?

Additionally, just out of curiosity, with a setup like mine, would you personally ever consider upgrading the GPU or just build a new PC? Given I am on AM4?

I have just passed the part where Atreus shoots an arrow into the sky and a wolf follows it, taking the Sun with it. I have gotten past the double dreki encounter in Vanaheim.

How far am I into the game? Is there still a lot to go?