Merrith
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Played 7th Saga way too much when I was younger. Did a lot of runs as Kamil or the Dwarf with the healer (Vasu?) or the elf caster chick as my secondary. Basically just a good mix either way.
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Rajaah's CRPG Blog
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Played 7th Saga way too much when I was younger. Did a lot of runs as Kamil or the Dwarf with the healer (Vasu?) or the elf caster chick as my secondary. Basically just a good mix either way.
Rajaah
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If the game were shorter and less of a pain, I'd have loved to replay it and try some other characters. Finished the game with the caster chick and the dwarf but no one else. Kamil + the priest would be good. First time I ever played the game I went with Kamil and Lux and got crushed, so trying that again might be fun. Also knew people who swore by Lejes being the best character, and others who said he was terrible. IIRC he's the second-best damage caster behind the chick, and can also fight, more of a Shadowknight type. Then there's Wilme the alien, who seems like he's the Monk of the game, nobody ever really played as him that I've read about anyway.
I wonder if the Japanese version has ever been fan-translated, since it removes a lot of the need for grinding by being properly balanced, and has the enemy apprentices not completely OP. This has to be the only SNES RPG where the US version is substantially harder than the J version instead of the other way around. If that version was available it'd make a replay a lot easier. I don't think it is though.
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Talos
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This is also true for me except with Chrono Trigger. I remember a lot of that even though it's been almost 30 years since I played it. That game was life changing.
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Rajaah
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Yeah same here. I'm probably autistic so I remember every detail about a fair amount of games, movies, and books, while remembering nothing about most others even if I played/saw/read it last month. Actually newer things are especially easy to forget all about.
Chrono Trigger is easily the most memorable game I ever played. Xenogears is probably #2 for me, and then stuff like Super Metroid and LTTP.
Kind of funny that I'm feeling urges to replay stuff like 7th Saga and Paladin's Quest. Can't justify spending the time though, not when there's so many unplayed (and most of them objectively much better than the above) games I have piled up.
Like the CRPGs! Damn, I need to figure out which one to do next and make some time for it. Frontrunners: Icewind, Neverwinter, Fallout 2, Planescape. With all the real-world nuke talk FO2 has entered the chat. Was leaning IWD for a while, then switched to NWN, now back to IWD... Could also do something out of left field like Warcraft 3. Some major choice paralysis after finishing the BGs which seems like months ago now.
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Thought I remembered a lot about BG1/2, then was inspired by Rajaah to replay them on PS5 and realized ....I didn't remember shit. Except boo and Minsc. Was still worth the replay. I am as ready for BG3 tomorrow as I can be. I'm going get up at 8amPST and set my modem on fire!
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Rajaah
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BG3 is today? Damn, I thought it was at the end of the month. And I've got the day off too. Well, doesn't matter, I wanted to do the CRPGs on the list in a somewhat chronological way, especially Divinity before BG3, and I haven't even gotten to PoE yet might less DOS. Maybe I should have just done a "Baldur's Gate Crusade" instead of a "CRPG Crusade" lawl.
Tuco
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If it makes you feel better, I never played DoS1/2 or Pillars of Eternity and probably never will.
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Rajaah
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Questions:
Is there any particular reason to get Arcanum on GOG rather than getting a physical copy? Saw it for $10 complete in a store and got it. In my CRPG list notes I wrote that I need a patch for it that's in this thread somewhere, so I'll make sure to get that, not sure if it's a GOG thing or what.
Is there any real point to level grinding in these games? NWN particularly since it's probably next. Seemed like there wasn't in the Baldur games. I like to stop and do that in RPGs when I'm too tired to progress the story, gives me something to do, but I don't know about the C variety.
Is there any particular reason to get Arcanum on GOG rather than getting a physical copy? Saw it for $10 complete in a store and got it. In my CRPG list notes I wrote that I need a patch for it that's in this thread somewhere, so I'll make sure to get that, not sure if it's a GOG thing or what.
Is there any real point to level grinding in these games? NWN particularly since it's probably next. Seemed like there wasn't in the Baldur games. I like to stop and do that in RPGs when I'm too tired to progress the story, gives me something to do, but I don't know about the C variety.
Tuco
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I kinda like it when games don't even have a way to level-grind, like Baldur's Gate does. It makes exploring the actual content more rewarding when everything is a one-time opportunity to grow your characters, compared to knowing that the quest you just did, while interesting, gave 10% the xp/hour compared to going to Some Dungeon With Respawning Mobs and grinding them for an hour.
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To me a good RPG is story. If the actual 'game' is hard for whatever reason, grinding can help as long as the story is good. With PC's if you are in a hurry trainers/hex/etc can help compensate with grinding. In BG (2 I think) there is an obvious $$ gate where you need 20K that is an easy fix with a cheat if you are in a rush or you it forces you to take side quests.
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yeah as usual I 'think' more that I spit out. What I was trying (poorly) to say was sometimes if the story is good enough I'll get a game that I don't necessarily like the gameplay for and cheat my way through it to enjoy the story. Sometimes that gameplay is bad design , or just bugs. ToEE was a bug ridden shitfest the first time I played it and I had to do that to even get it to work. I remember one game review saying the crash screen should be on the front boxart.
Burns
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Does the GoG copy say that they have done anything for Win11 compatibility or adding more resolutions? Outside of that, GoG doesn't mess with the games much. Any of the popular old games should have free mods to make the CD version work and add wide screen report.
As an aside, I have all those games sitting in a box somewhere, but I didn't even bother to put a CD drive in my computer on the last build. So it would be nice to have stuff digitally if I want to replay it.
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Rajaah
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Yeah I think the disc version is probably fine. I asked cause I have "GOG" in the notes for Arcanum (as well as System Shock 2, which the disc version of didn't work on my computer so that's probably why)
Re: Baldur's Gate not really having any level grinding and it making your exp-gaining actions matter more... it's easy to level grind if you just mash Rest while in the right areas. I did this at the antlion dens in one of the games, I think BG2, and grinded out like 5 levels for everyone before continuing. Took like an hour or so and was very much like a normal RPG grind. Found a dead end where only one would spawn at a time and went in on 'em, resting offset the damage from one well enough. Totally not necessary to finish the game but it's an option.
reavor
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due to max level, you very rarely even need to use exp grinding. you'll still hit max level way before the end if you focus on doing the side quests.
I see it as a way to add to the challenge to rest as little as possible in games like BG, like max 1 rest per dungeon/map. It also feels weird to overuse resting because of the story (so the party spent 2 months fighting ankhegs at some farm, while the villain waited with his plans)
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Rajaah
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Tried out Arcanum, game is really cool. Surprised at the steampunk? aesthetic and the setting. No idea WTF to do so I roamed around the crash site for a while beating up wolves. Game reminded me of how much I love airships/zeppelins.
Both this and TOEE have super-good music, I've noticed.
Game seems like my computer is barely hanging on. I can't tab out and look at something else without totally borking it and making it take over the screen and go all crazy. Also it refuses to close if I hit "exit game". So basically it's a crazy girlfriend. Either way it doesn't agree with the computer and I'm surprised it works. Basically have to play it very carefully, no tabbing out, no screenshots, no nothing, save frequently.
Any advice on builds / what stats to go for in Arcanum? I might bump this one up the list and do it sooner than later because I like it.
Both this and TOEE have super-good music, I've noticed.
Game seems like my computer is barely hanging on. I can't tab out and look at something else without totally borking it and making it take over the screen and go all crazy. Also it refuses to close if I hit "exit game". So basically it's a crazy girlfriend. Either way it doesn't agree with the computer and I'm surprised it works. Basically have to play it very carefully, no tabbing out, no screenshots, no nothing, save frequently.
Any advice on builds / what stats to go for in Arcanum? I might bump this one up the list and do it sooner than later because I like it.
Burns
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There are various tiers of power when looking at the various abilities in Arcanum, but due to the reactivity of the game, it might be best to just go in fresh and build like you want. Whether you go tech, magic, or mixed effects how the world treats you, I think?
I don't remember what skills are great and what are bad, but maybe someone can chime in on what skills are trash tier that you might want to avoid.
If it's running poorly, you may want to look up fixes. Maybe using compatibility modes for WinXP would help, or running it in full screen with a secondary program that turns it into a borderless window. I used to use a program called borderless gaming, but I don't remember what functionality it had. DxWnd looks to get a lot of recommendations for turning full screen games into windowed mode, so maybe that would help.
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Did you get the GOG version of Arcanum? They usually do Dosbox (IIRC) set for compatibility mode. If you went pure disc, like Burns said you need to research some compatibility modes. Honestly that game engine was barely holding on when it was new and shiny. Also have fun and don't give up, that game is awesome.
...
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I beat Arcanum with a half orc brute. All brawn and speed. A quirk of Arcanum is thst the cap of a stat is wildly better than any previous power jump. Speed cap is game breaking.
At higher speed. You have to play turn based or animations can't keep up
I recall using buff....items? Potions? Gear? To craft the best tech despite being middle intellectual.
Magic and tech compete on your sheet. If you go magic go whole hog and avoid tech. Some what vice versa, but tech is mostly about making gear to then use like normal combat gear.
The story has some incredibly memorable moments but offers almost no direction. You have to just follow every lead until you accidentally find the story. Almost like daggerfall heh.
I think my party was me, virgil(I think?) And a dog heh.
At higher speed. You have to play turn based or animations can't keep up
I recall using buff....items? Potions? Gear? To craft the best tech despite being middle intellectual.
Magic and tech compete on your sheet. If you go magic go whole hog and avoid tech. Some what vice versa, but tech is mostly about making gear to then use like normal combat gear.
The story has some incredibly memorable moments but offers almost no direction. You have to just follow every lead until you accidentally find the story. Almost like daggerfall heh.
I think my party was me, virgil(I think?) And a dog heh.
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