Welcome to Thunderdome

I have often thought of streaming party games to my upstairs TV.

Streaming was being flakey, so I installed on the laptop.

Save games were there.

In level 2 of the first dungeon, under the tavern.

1. I don't like how the sewers wrap around left to right, and up and down. Makes mapping confusing as hell.

2. Magician's magic points are the limiting factor of dungeon crawls. They run out way too fast.

GORDON wrote: Magician's magic points are the limiting factor of dungeon crawls. They run out way too fast.

Yep.

Installed BT4 and Soda Dungeon on my Surface book while bored watching the Titans beat the Cowboys.

I'm happy to report that both had my latest save games available.

Is there a "boss" to the lvl 2 sewers under the tavern? I found the stone spider pretty fast, and have otherwise mapped 90% of it.

The, "it's warm here / Walls are slimey" signs don't seem to have a point.

GORDON wrote: Is there a "boss" to the lvl 2 sewers under the tavern? I found the stone spider pretty fast, and have otherwise mapped 90% of it.

The, "it's warm here / Walls are slimey" signs don't seem to have a point.

My memory (which could be wrong) is that you just need to find some things written on the walls. Thought they were in level 3 of the sewers.

Snap, I guess the stairs down are in the 10% I haven't mapped yet.

It's incredible that they could put 60 hours of gaming on 2 5.25" floppy disks.

GORDON wrote: It's incredible that they could put 60 hours of gaming on 2 5.25" floppy disks.

Right? Probably more than that when I Was a kid cuz I didn't understand gaming so well.

How in the hell did you guys finish BT1 so fast. I'm currently in about hour 20 of exploring the first dungeons under the wine shop. I think I just found the portal down to the last (?) level.

It got repetitive so I quit. That's how.

Troy wrote: It got repetitive so I quit. That's how.

Not quite the finish Gordon was probably referring to, but finished none the less!

I'm going the distance.

But my mages aren't even maxed out on spells yet so I can change classes for the first time. SO, you still got farther than I have, so far.

I'm with you Gordo. I'm nearing the third level in Harken's.

Once you grind your mages, the game gets super easy

Seems to take me about about 4 hours (2-4 sessions) to completely map each level of the sewer dungeon, and as I said, I'm about done mapping level 3. Seems like I've been in them a long time.

TheCatt wrote: Once you grind your mages, the game gets super easy

When I change classes, I assume I gain those early levels fast, again, and I get tons of spell points? Spell points are still my limiting factor. I typically don't leave the dungeon until I'm under 10, each.

GORDON wrote:

TheCatt wrote: Once you grind your mages, the game gets super easy

When I change classes, I assume I gain those early levels fast, again, and I get tons of spell points? Spell points are still my limiting factor. I typically don't leave the dungeon until I'm under 10, each.

You are correct.

Finished 4 tonight, 7 years after it came out.

Has InXile made anything since? Most of my criticism really has to do with them and it's basically the same complaints I had about their other refresh of an old IP, Wasteland 2. Overall, it's a good product that pays enough fan service to obviously be a sequel, but there's something missing. It feels unfinished. Not, that's not right.

Unpolished is closer, but that's not it alone.

These sequels lack heart. Don't get me wrong, there's real effort, but something doesn't click. I won't call them poorly made or anything like that. I think it probably has more to do with how they were funded. Idea to resurrect a dead IP becomes a Kickstarter and that has bullshit timelines to hit. Thus, I feel like they never get the chance to see all creative choices through, to really do QA, to polish and tighten things up, etc. A great example is a chest outside the review board. I beat the game and never got access to it. No idea what's in it. Also, for some reason that mission kept respawning, even when I was just there.

Another perfect example of what I mean is ideas not being fleshed out like the puzzle weapons in this game. Solve 1-3 puzzles on them and then put them in the appropriate shrine and voila, great weapon. Well, I beat the game and never completed a single puzzle weapon. In fact, I almost never used them. Google it and you'll find lots of complaints that they're pointless. Also, there are dwarven chests that you need special keys for which are in end game content. Actually, beyond end game content. WTF? Why do developers do dumb shit like this?

Don't get me wrong, this is a good game. However, it's not a great game.

There are lots of call backs to BT1-3. This time you're another group of adventurers and Mangar is back. You can have up to 6 members in your party with the standard classes, but not all the ones from the original games, which was disappointing. My monk, Amon Ra, from the original trilogy was a bad, bad man.

One of the biggest changes is the lack of a grind. I should say the grind is hidden. It's still there, but now you have to hunt for it. That leads to a huge complaint, which is traveling the fuck out of locations. You will explore them front back and sideways. Multiple times through the same area surprisingly didn't completely suck, but did get old at times.

Another big change for the worse was "strategic battles". Sometimes you need to have specific builds for specific fights unless you were way over leveled. That is just dumb. Nobody should need to respec their characters just to get through certain baddies. What do I mean? Well, imagine facing tons of bad guys and needing mental abilities to wipe them out, but then the main boss is immune to mental attacks and their armor is so high that physical attacks do nothing. It doesn't happen enough to ruin the game, but it absolutely shows itself in the end game, and the bonus areas.

The random loot generator is also a mixed bag. You can, literally, fight impossible monsters then solve 30 minute puzzles to get to a chest and it has rotting food and a dagger that way under your level.

Again, don't get me wrong, this is a good game. However, it's not a great game.

The story is decent enough to push you forward, but also very obviously uncreative. Think of the most uncreative, lazy thing you can do in any sequel and you know the whole story.

In today's world of Baldur's Gate 3, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, etc. I just cannot recommend this game or see it as more than an attempt. Did inXile use nostalgia to earn money to make their own original IP? Who knows. I do know it was cool to see my name in the credits.

Still, this was The Force Awakens to the original BT trilogy.