BG2 AT style, anyone? *we need to get a night!*

[Fenixgoon]

Next game - *we need to get a night!* - post in the thread what your playtime is

anyone interested in starting a multiplayer group for bg2?

i think it'd be interesting. the bg2 character thread got me thinking.. and thinking... and thinking...

GAME SETTINGS:

currently running: BG2 TOB patch 26498 grab it here

cache size: 600mb

frame rate: 30 fps



get ventrilo: www.ventrilo.com

join the AT vent server:
*NOTE* the address is arsenic.typefrag.com (not vital.typefrag)
http://www.atotchat.com/Welcome.html

the character list so far

we're all about level 9 right now, so if you want to join, make a BG2 game then modify your character to level 9 experience with shadowkeeper grab it here

userman - barbarian

fenixgoon - monk

shadowknight - fighter

aflac - assassin

acynic2 - ranger/fighter

lupi - mage

spartaniner - sorcerer

 

[aCynic2]

Are you talking about discarding the NPCs, making MP groups of any design for bragging rights or S&Gs?

Say, an all paladin group, or all mage.

Perhaps a predominantly thief group.

I might be willing to do all halfings.

 

[Ika]

Oh hell yes. I'd be totally up or down for that.

...even though I still haven't finished my SP game. Oh well.

 

[Fenixgoon]

making an MP group and play who you want - personally, i love the monk. i can also go mage if we need a spellcaster


or if we get 6 people who do want to do some sort of specified grouping, i'd be down for that too.


aflac, you go to upenn? i go to drexel

 

[Shadowknight]

Hey, I'd be interested. I tend to be a dual-class fighter type, my self.

 

[Ika]

How exactly does BG2 MP work, anyway? Do all the players have to be there, or can someone take over another player's character if they're not there? How will files be synchronized (i.e. I have a tweak installed, but you don't)? Cheats? etc etc etc.

I'd probably play as a melee-tank, because I'm generally a bad spellcaster (or maybe that's because I can't multitask). I'm intrigued by mage/cleric though (doom + chromatic orb in sequencers, whoo).

And hi Fenix I live in Hill, which is the closest dorm to your campus (or so I've been led to believe).

 

[aCynic2]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
making an MP group and play who you want - personally, i love the monk. i can also go mage if we need a spellcaster

I tended to go with a contradiction for fun...a swashbuckling monk. I play it in NWN also.


Ah ha ha ha HAAAA...That's it for you...TAKE THAT!

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Aflac
How exactly does BG2 MP work, anyway? Do all the players have to be there, or can someone take over another player's character if they're not there? How will files be synchronized (i.e. I have a tweak installed, but you don't)? Cheats? etc etc etc.

I'd probably play as a melee-tank, because I'm generally a bad spellcaster (or maybe that's because I can't multitask). I'm intrigued by mage/cleric though (doom + chromatic orb in sequencers, whoo).

And hi Fenix I live in Hill, which is the closest dorm to your campus (or so I've been led to believe).

bg2 MP works exactly like SP. any player can control the entire party (so we'd have 6 - 1 for each PC). i have no idea how files are synchronized.

and no cheating :|

i'm actually pretty close to penn due to "off campus" housing

 

[Ika]

Now that I'm thinking more about what I would really love to play as, here's what I've come up with:

Assassin > Cleric/Mage > Ranger/Cleric > Kensai/Mage (probably unnecessary) > Sorcerer > Monk

A melee tank may be a little too boring and easy; control over just one character means a little more liberty as far as strats go. So far I'm probably the least experienced player of the group, so I'll give you guys higher priority when choosing a class...

And Fenix, about MP player control - there'll probably be six of us at game start, but I doubt that all the players can come together at the same time for every gaming "session". Do all 6 original people (the ones who created the game) have to be present if anyone wants to play, or can you delegate control of someone's character (when they're absent) to another player?

 

[aCynic2]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
bg2 MP works exactly like SP. any player can control the entire party (so we'd have 6 - 1 for each PC). i have no idea how files are synchronized.

and no cheating :|

i'm actually pretty close to penn due to "off campus" housing

I'm cornfused...

I've never actually played AT style, but I know BG2 is not an online game, so does that mean we communicate moves back and forth?

And FWIW, it's possible to save the game, archive it, mail it and perhaps run it on someone elses game.

I've archived games because I had a beautiful ranger I didn't want to lose, ever. He was historical, beyond epic ability stats to start. Hell, his scores cannot be duplicated in NWN even going to 40th level.

If I were to do this...

I've started playing more a mage/thief in NWN/2. I'm kind of liking it, even though I don't hit as often, they get the sneak attack. But, we would need a cleric...

Let me think.

I know there is a HUGE exploit in the game. You start a ranger, take him/her to whatever level you please, cut over to cleric, when you finally get your ranger levels back, you're a ranger/cleric/druid.

I don't know if this works for a multi-classer, but for a human dual-classing, you get the full spell list of a cleric and druid, plus the turning ability of a cleric. I think weapons adhere to the cleric ethos, so you're limited to blunts. I want to dual wield Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages!!!

I'll do that...ranger, dualed to cleric.

 

[lupi]

I haven't even gotten around to insÞalling II yet but I'd be interested depending on when the playing is done.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: aCynic2

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
bg2 MP works exactly like SP. any player can control the entire party (so we'd have 6 - 1 for each PC). i have no idea how files are synchronized.

and no cheating :|

i'm actually pretty close to penn due to "off campus" housing

I'm cornfused...

I've never actually played AT style, but I know BG2 is not an online game, so does that mean we communicate moves back and forth?

And FWIW, it's possible to save the game, archive it, mail it and perhaps run it on someone elses game.

I've archived games because I had a beautiful ranger I didn't want to lose, ever. He was historical, beyond epic ability stats to start. Hell, his scores cannot be duplicated in NWN even going to 40th level.

If I were to do this...

I've started playing more a mage/thief in NWN/2. I'm kind of liking it, even though I don't hit as often, they get the sneak attack. But, we would need a cleric...

Let me think.

I know there is a HUGE exploit in the game. You start a ranger, take him/her to whatever level you please, cut over to cleric, when you finally get your ranger levels back, you're a ranger/cleric/druid.

I don't know if this works for a multi-classer, but for a human dual-classing, you get the full spell list of a cleric and druid, plus the turning ability of a cleric. I think weapons adhere to the cleric ethos, so you're limited to blunts. I want to dual wield Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages!!!

I'll do that...ranger, dualed to cleric.

rossman has a ventrilo server - so we could all use that to communicate. otherwise, coordinating would be pretty messy.

im not sure if you can dual class as a human ranger--->cleric. i'll check though

i just called it "BG2 AT Style" for fun . Normally it *is* an SP game (and was designed as such). I've never tried BG2 multiplayer.

Originally posted by: lupi
I haven't even gotten around to insÞalling II yet but I'd be interested depending on when the playing is done.

sometime when we can all play - most likely weekends i guess.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: aCynic2

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
bg2 MP works exactly like SP. any player can control the entire party (so we'd have 6 - 1 for each PC). i have no idea how files are synchronized.

and no cheating :|

i'm actually pretty close to penn due to "off campus" housing

I'm cornfused...

I've never actually played AT style, but I know BG2 is not an online game, so does that mean we communicate moves back and forth?

And FWIW, it's possible to save the game, archive it, mail it and perhaps run it on someone elses game.

I've archived games because I had a beautiful ranger I didn't want to lose, ever. He was historical, beyond epic ability stats to start. Hell, his scores cannot be duplicated in NWN even going to 40th level.

If I were to do this...

I've started playing more a mage/thief in NWN/2. I'm kind of liking it, even though I don't hit as often, they get the sneak attack. But, we would need a cleric...

Let me think.

I know there is a HUGE exploit in the game. You start a ranger, take him/her to whatever level you please, cut over to cleric, when you finally get your ranger levels back, you're a ranger/cleric/druid.

I don't know if this works for a multi-classer, but for a human dual-classing, you get the full spell list of a cleric and druid, plus the turning ability of a cleric. I think weapons adhere to the cleric ethos, so you're limited to blunts. I want to dual wield Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages!!!

I'll do that...ranger, dualed to cleric.

rossman has a ventrilo server - so we could all use that to communicate. otherwise, coordinating would be pretty messy.

im not sure if you can dual class as a human ranger--->cleric. i'll check though

i just called it "BG2 AT Style" for fun . Normally it *is* an SP game (and was designed as such). I've never tried BG2 multiplayer.

Originally posted by: lupi
I haven't even gotten around to insÞalling II yet but I'd be interested depending on when the playing is done.

sometime when we can all play - most likely weekends i guess.

Yeah, ranger -> cleric works; it's a great combo since you get all possible cleric spells. You can either multi or dual, I'm not sure which (maybe both?).

I've always wondered about BGII multiplayer too. I assumed it was something like everyone just controls a character and does there own stuff, but that might get a little messy. My belief was that to save and continue a game, all players present at the game start had to be there, but now that I think about it, that's a bit constraining.

EDIT: A peek at the player permissions options makes it look like everyone's free to control their own character (if full permissions are given, anyway). I'm still reading about a bunch of stuff, though - I found a MP Gameplay thread in the BioWare forums. Seems like they're pretty long.

MP thread 1 thread 2 thread 3 thread 4

Happy reading... I'll probably spend a good bit of my afternoon browsing through these.

 

[chocobaR]

I'd play if you're short on one guy and the playing schedules allow me to. I'd probably play a Paladin, Inquisitor.

 

[lupi]

I'm out saturday during the day, but other than that I'm good to go. Normally play a magic user type as my main char in these types of games.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i have bg2 installed if anyone wants to test the multiplayer w/ me

 

[RandomFool]

I don't have my install discs with me or I'd be tempted.

 

[Fenixgoon]

aflac and i have it working!

 

[Ika]

Yey! From what we've discovered in our test session, here are some guidelines and such. No particular order.

1) At first we couldn't get the session to work; then I patched up my game (using the link in the OP) and Fenixgoon opened some ports and it worked. Not sure if all of us have to do this, because I didn't, but the host probably will. And having everyone patched up is probably essential too.

2) My guess on player control - from what I've read in the BioWare MP threads, it seems like people can just pop in whenever they want. This means we can technically have as many people as we want playing the game. There might be a few discrepancies in levels and party balance, but it shouldn't really matter... the more people in on the fun, the better!

3) Character importing - there are several options when importing a character. 1. Stats, 2. Stats and experience, 3. Stats, experience and items. For the sake of balance, we should probably just do stats, but since Insane is such a hard difficulty level, I'm thinking we could standardize the experience level using cheats (gasp!). Maybe we could start out at level 10 or 100k experience or whatever seems alright.

4) Playing times - since it seems like anyone can drop in on the game, it would be great if someone could make a schedule with everyone's playing times. It'd also be a good idea to have a message board for when people can't make a session (i.e. studying for midterms, going out, watching a movie, etc etc).

5) Ventrilo - Ventrilo/AIM makes coordinating things SOOO much easier. AIM Chat rooms will also make coordinating a session easier too (since I don't expect everyone to have Vent). here's the link for RossMAN's Ventrilo server and setup instructions.

EDIT: seems like that Vent link doesn't connect you to the right place. You'll be wanting arsenic.typefrag.com, port 23193.

That's all for now. More might be added later when I have more time to think about this; right now I have an essay to write...

 

[Ika]

Some more fooling around with characters and I've decided that I'll be a pure assassin
Proficiencies in Short Sword, Short Bow, Katana, Single Weapon Style
Thief skills: focusing in finding traps and moving silently/staying hidden (Assassins don't get many thief points).

I'm a halfling, but I used Shadowkeeper to change my appearance to Thief Male Human. Hope no one minds


As for team balance, Fenixgoon seems to like his Monk a lot Since we're all probably going to dump all our Charisma points, we're gonna need either a Bard or a Sorcerer for high Charisma as Team Leader (I'm assuming we can do that even if Fenix is hosting). Orrr we could just wait it out until the Ring of Human Influence.


And one more note - is it possible to turn off dialogue if someone isn't participating in it? For instance, when me and Fenixgoon were testing, I would see his dialogues with the NPCs but I couldn't select anything or do anything else. I may recall an option regarding dialogue in MP but I'm not sure.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Aflac
Some more fooling around with characters and I've decided that I'll be a pure assassin
Proficiencies in Short Sword, Short Bow, Katana, Single Weapon Style
Thief skills: focusing in finding traps and moving silently/staying hidden (Assassins don't get many thief points).

I'm a halfling, but I used Shadowkeeper to change my appearance to Thief Male Human. Hope no one minds


As for team balance, Fenixgoon seems to like his Monk a lot Since we're all probably going to dump all our Charisma points, we're gonna need either a Bard or a Sorcerer for high Charisma as Team Leader (I'm assuming we can do that even if Fenix is hosting). Orrr we could just wait it out until the Ring of Human Influence.


And one more note - is it possible to turn off dialogue if someone isn't participating in it? For instance, when me and Fenixgoon were testing, I would see his dialogues with the NPCs but I couldn't select anything or do anything else. I may recall an option regarding dialogue in MP but I'm not sure.

we can also change the party order so if someone is a paladin for example, they could take the lead. of course, the ring of human influence fixes all set CHA to 18

you may also want dagger proficiency on your assmanD) since there are several nice daggers in the game. backstabbing still works with short swords i think. all up to you, of course long range support is always welcome w/ the shortbow. we'll have to get the short bow of gesen for ya


my current playtimes

wednesday night - 8pm +
friday night - 6pm+
saturday - any time
sunday - usually hw day

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

How about you guys just skip the computers and do it all on pen and paper. We can do it in my parents' basement. I'll be sure to have plenty of Dr Pepper and Pringles.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Aflac
Some more fooling around with characters and I've decided that I'll be a pure assassin
Proficiencies in Short Sword, Short Bow, Katana, Single Weapon Style
Thief skills: focusing in finding traps and moving silently/staying hidden (Assassins don't get many thief points).

I'm a halfling, but I used Shadowkeeper to change my appearance to Thief Male Human. Hope no one minds


As for team balance, Fenixgoon seems to like his Monk a lot Since we're all probably going to dump all our Charisma points, we're gonna need either a Bard or a Sorcerer for high Charisma as Team Leader (I'm assuming we can do that even if Fenix is hosting). Orrr we could just wait it out until the Ring of Human Influence.


And one more note - is it possible to turn off dialogue if someone isn't participating in it? For instance, when me and Fenixgoon were testing, I would see his dialogues with the NPCs but I couldn't select anything or do anything else. I may recall an option regarding dialogue in MP but I'm not sure.

we can also change the party order so if someone is a paladin for example, they could take the lead. of course, the ring of human influence fixes all set CHA to 18

you may also want dagger proficiency on your assmanD) since there are several nice daggers in the game. backstabbing still works with short swords i think. all up to you, of course long range support is always welcome w/ the shortbow. we'll have to get the short bow of gesen for ya


my current playtimes

wednesday night - 8pm +
friday night - 6pm+
saturday - any time
sunday - usually hw day

I'm not a fan of daggers; never was. Thieves can backstab with Katanas, so I would love to have the Celestial Fury... The Fury plus something like Arbane's Sword so I don't get held down would be good for the inventory. Plus the boots of speed so I don't get mashed as I'm running away from a backstab. Short bows is there if we don't have many long-rangers; primarily I'll be backstabbing people because it's fun

My possible schedule:
Monday - 4pm to 2am (though I may be cramming for a test)
Tuesday - 4pm to 2am (though I may be cramming an essay)
Wednesday - 7pm to 1am
Thursday/Friday - 4pm to 10pm
Saturday - 2pm to 10pm
Sunday - 2pm-2am, but usually HW day as well

 

[chocobaR]

Anyways gonna install the game and play an Inquisitor solo. Let me know if you're missing someone.

EDIT: Will you guys start at the beginning or use trainers and stuff to level a bit? Cheats aren't really cool IMO =/

 

[aCynic2]

My schedule is, in general, off time: Wed 7am - Sunday 4pm, all day, all night.

Any other time I'm unavailable.