That isn't my experience. I find that Naskal Mines traps are dangerous enough. And considering you are 2nd-ish level, every single hit point counts.
Also:
Generally I've found that you can get by without for most of the game if not all of it. The early traps do so little damage that most can be ignored. Also, half of the time they're so close to a monster pack that unless you're really managing your group, one will just stray off and walk over it before the thief can disarm it.
By the end of the game, you can stack so much resistance and with a tank like Kagain, you can just walk through rooms and rooms of them without getting remotely low.
But I don't generally only use the thief for trap detection and lock picking. I also use them as scouts. Quite a lot of the time, if you just blunder into the combat, you are lost from the beginning. If you send a thief out to spy the area, you can be a lot more prepared. Also it makes it easier to snipe/draw single opponents without aggro-ing the entire encounter. In that, Thieves are paramount in the game. Plus, it makes sneaking around once you get to Baldur's Gate proper. And even more so in BG2 when, if you can get that surprise sneak attack off against the enemy caster, that can turn the tide of battle.
Has anyone found any good portrait packs for the enhanced edition? I tried using some of the portraits from Icewind Dale but the size was screwed up. It's annoying that about half of the default portraits are of npc's.
I have to say I'm not that impressed with this effort. There's still quite a few bugs, the portrait "pack" is a joke, the new UI is barely changed and has minimal improvements, and the graphical options are right out of monty python. An entire screen for one option. Really?
I never played the first Baldur's Gate before so I'm enjoying it but I'm not sure it would be worth it for someone who already has the game up and running with the various mods. I haven't encountered that many bugs but I wish they would've fixed some of the annoying things found in the original game such as pathfinding. I remember that problem from BG2 where characters would bump into each other and start taking the long root around. Rather than focusing on graphics/new characters I wish they would have put some effort into that.
Another annoying thing is that when you kick an npc out they stay where you kicked them out. Two of the new characters go back to the friendly arm inn. I really wish they would have programmed it so kicked out npc's would go to a fixed locations. Bioware fixed this in BG2 so I don't know why it wasn't fixed in the EE. In my game this lead to the situation whereI left poor Yeslick to drown.
I don't know about tablet versions, but in the original you could go into the setting and up the pathfinding node count (especially on newer systems) to an extraordinarily high number and pathfinding would be much better.
Anyone attempting a Thoroughly Evil party, encountering any issues in that regard?
My current party is:
Gorbin - 1/2 Orc Cleric/Fighter - C/E
Kaigan
Viconia
Xar
Montoron
I had Imoen, but she left, abruptly...
You're character is thoroughly evil so he should kill Xar while he's still in your party and then remove him from your party. That way you get to keep Montoron and can now pick up a much better mage in Edwin. Also, you might want to pick up Dorn-il-khan.
I've finished playing through the main storyline, but haven't tackled the the TotSC content yet, but I honestly don't think my opinion will change much based on that.
In short, the iPad version is still the same Baldur's Gate that everyone knows and loves. The biggest difference from the original game is the use of the BG2 engine, which provides an improved UI and additional character options. However, that's been possible for the original game with mods for ages now and may not be anything new those who're familiar with the series. While I'm on the subject of mods, I'm not sure if there are any plans (or if it's even possible) for the use of third party mods with the iPad version. I haven't done any further investigations to determine if there are other methods of getting third party content into the game, but I suspect that unless your willing to jailbreak, you're likely to be stuck with what's been provided.
The controls work well enough, although they're not quite as precise as using a mouse. When attempting to tap on a small target (for example the cache in the tree outside of the Friendly Arm Inn) it can take several attempts before you manage to get it to register properly. On a smaller tablet such as the iPad mini, it might be even more difficult, if not outright impossible.
Another major issue is that the game tends to get bogged down when displaying certain spell effects or during large battles. The biggest offenders are persistant spell animations such as entangle. While they're on screen, the frame rate can drop to the point where the game isn't playable. The easiest way to fix the problem is to just pan the view to a side until it runs out.
During large battles, there's a tendency for the game to ignore touches or otherwise misbehave, leading to some hilarious results, such as blowing up your own party with spells or sending a vulnerable character into the fray. This isn't always an issue, and seems to be more related to certain large battles than large battles in general, which might suggest its a different kind of problem.
There are a few other occasional hiccups as well. Occasionally an NPC's script will fail to trigger, leaving the game in a bizarre limbo state where it's impossible to interact with them or anything else. This doesn't happen all that often (probably only three different times during the entire course of the game) but the only way to fix the problem is to load an earlier save.
However, this isn't too much of a problem as by the time you run into that particular bug, you'll have already learned to save and save often. Far more frequently, usually at least every two hours, the game will crash when transitioning between areas.
As I've mentioned before, playing the game on a non-retina screen or a smaller display might bring another set of problems. The text size used by the game is rather small, and the front may not be the easiest to read on a display with a lower PPI. Similarly, with a physically smaller screen, being able to precisely target touches may be problematic. I'll have to pick up the Android version when its released to try it out.
Outside of a few nagging bugs, the game is really solid and plays well. Hopefully an update will be released soon that will contain some much needed tablet optimizations, which I suspect should fix the most annoying problems (graphical slowdowns and random crashes). If you're a fan of the original and haven't yet picked it up for the PC or if you're an iPad owner looking for a game with more depth than the usual fare, it's definitely worth the $10 asking price.
I definitely need to check into adding some third party mods and how easily that can be done. I suspect that doing so on Android will be much easier, but for those who are used to spicing up the game with mods, you may want to stick with the PC version of the game.
Thank you for the excellent write up. I've been holding off on buying the iPad version mainly because of the annoyances you've listed. Waiting for a couple of patches before I pick it up. I don't recall the game having secret tunnels and such, but I hear people complaining that sometimes they don't know what to click on because there is no in game way of highlighting clickable hot spots. What is your opinion on it?
While you won't get stuck in the story, you might miss a quest or two. And it is annoying, also for entering visible doors or picking up loot (even with max zoom).
Some class kits are broken, just like in BG2. Some even more than originally. Game crashes for me every now and then.
But apart from that it's awesome. If you love BG, you won't care If you want to enjoy the game and not get annoyed, just wait for a few patches before buying. There are some major bugs still... sometimes game breaking and you need to reload earlier saves. Or your quick and auto save games getting corrupted at the same time and you loosing your character...
While you won't get stuck in the story, you might miss a quest or two. And it is annoying, also for entering visible doors or picking up loot (even with max zoom).
Some class kits are broken, just like in BG2. Some even more than originally. Game crashes for me every now and then.
But apart from that it's awesome. If you love BG, you won't care If you want to enjoy the game and not get annoyed, just wait for a few patches before buying. There are some major bugs still... sometimes game breaking and you need to reload earlier saves. Or your quick and auto save games getting corrupted at the same time and you loosing your character...
Just FYI, the more people you recommend holding off till the first few patches, the less a chance that there will BE those patches. The amount of after market work done is directly related to the profit margin already realized and not necessarily on the "Potential" market sales.
I was concerned about crashes ,bugs etc.... before I purchased this game,however I have now done many hours of gaming in BG :EE , my group is now in BG city,not had one lockup or crash so far on Win8 x64 and this is with overclocked CPU and video card.
The guy was asking about the iPad version. PC version got a patch or two already afaik The iPad one is still the first one released
Also, to be honest, I don't see the point of BGEE on PC. You can get Bg1&2 on GoG and use BGT... A much better value imo And it has been available for years already. Add BG NPC Project from G3 and BG1 is MUCH more enjoyable, because of all the banters. Neera in BGEE has been ranging from OK to annoying so far...
I already have original BG and BG2 with expansions,as to iPad no offence but this is the PC gaming forum or am I in the wrong place?
As to Neera I got her to be quiet,not spoken to me now for ages .
Thank you for the excellent write up. I've been holding off on buying the iPad version mainly because of the annoyances you've listed. Waiting for a couple of patches before I pick it up. I don't recall the game having secret tunnels and such, but I hear people complaining that sometimes they don't know what to click on because there is no in game way of highlighting clickable hot spots. What is your opinion on it?
On the other hand people shouldn't spend money on unpolished turds You buy things to enjoy them now, not to hope you'll have a better experience in a few weeks or months...
The game was already delayed twice before it was released. I'm not saying it's easy to do what Beamdog did, but I won't recommend things just to be nice to developers... They have to earn their $10.
I guess it's all a matter of what kind of extras the BG2EE will have. To be fair though, there are enough community mods at this point, that if you haven't played with them before, it's a lot of extra content. Here's a thread from the GOG forums that lists some good mods (including a widescreen mod) and installation order/instructions and where to get them.