[PS2] BG: Dark Alliance II stinks, Norrath better?

[ShaidarHaran]

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, but I was wondering if I could get an answer to a question or two.

My g/f and I just started playing CoN and we have both BDGA games. We were going to play the BGDA games first (in order, of course) but the disks were not in their boxes at the time (left them at her place) so we jumped to CoN instead. We're enjoying it so far, but the disparity in character leveling is starting to get pretty bad, even on our first play-through on the first difficulty setting. I'm already 3 full levels beyond her Cleric, having just reached 17 with my Barb. Looting and leveling are the best aspects of the game, as battle is rather simplistic, especially for my Barb (still fun though!).

Questions:
Is it wise to play the BGDA games after already getting used to CoN, or will we just be disappointed? Should we get RTA and just skip the BGDA series?

Also a huge Diablo 2 fan (still playing it after all these years) but wanted something simpler that we could both just sit down and play from the couch and CoN fits the bill nicely. Hope this is enough info to answer my questions.

Thanks!

 

[Arwin]

I'm not sure if I'm remembering this right ... if I played the first BGDA then I think I recommend using a dwarf and a sorceress, as they complement each other very well. Yes, this is the game that starts with killing rats, right? I thought it was worth it though CoN was a step up, I felt - but maybe for two player coop BGDA is equally good, I think I actually nearly finished it, contrary to CoN. The latter game though, your probably better off using a different combination of characters, though Shifty may be able to tell you which ones.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Thanks Arwin, I'll wait for Shifty (or others) to make a (re)appearance in the thread.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I am summoned!

*Quaffs Recall potion*

Snowblind Studios continue to say nothing about their new ventures and we're left guessing, but ShaidarHaran at least gets to enjoy the fun of their coop hack-n-slash-n-spell fests!

The experience split is 70:30 for the killing blow in CON coop (or 70% for the killing player, and the rest spread between the other players). Due to character imbalance it's easy for the Barb or Ranger to level up well ahead of the other classes. I'd recommend starting a new game with different classes. Leave off the Barb or Ranger and whatever you're left with will be fairly balanced. If you found the first playthrough easy, I seriously recommend starting a harder level with level 1 chars (start a beginner game with two chars, save the game, start a new harder level game and important those two characters). You level much faster so you come out the end about the same as multiple playthroughs, but it's much harder and requires a lot more thinking, especially when the loot you pick up can't be used until you hit level 17!

I'd also say play DGBA1. It was a fabulous game and the classes worked well. I'd pick Sorcerer and Ranger meself, as I thought the dwarf very dull. He has less skills than the others with less exciting, active feats, and he tops out earlier on. BGDA2 is fairly bland, so you might end up skipping it. The characters are reasonably interesting, the necro a great variation on the usual Ranger+Barb+Mage+Cleric fare, and the item levelling is pretty good, but the whole feel of the game is a tad lukewarm, with boring monsters in boring environments. As a HnS fix it was worth the money, but it isn't any CON, which looks the bee's knees. Pay attention to all the shadow casting dynamic lights, and then scratch your head over why with all our new hardware developers of this genre fail to match even PS2's abilities!

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Thanks Shifty!

We'll take your advice about CoN and start a new game with new characters on the harder difficulty level once we're done with this playthrough. Just started Act IV so that will probably be this weekend.

I guess we'll go back to BGDA next and then give BGDA2 a try but it sounds like we may end up giving up on that one and skipping on to CoN:RTA.

 

[ban25]

Don't bother with BGDA2. I was rushed through development by Interplay in the midst of their decline. It's not nearly as polished as BGDA1 or CoN. Also check out Justice League Heroes and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for more co-op hack & slash fun.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

JLH was Snowblind's last foray last-gen. It's a very competant coop game, but with a couple of unfortunate design flaws, not least is the forced character selection for many levels that pracitcally killed replayability. It's worth seeing as graphical showpiece for PS2 though, adding cloth dynamics to SB's engine!

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Don't bother with BGDA2. I was rushed through development by Interplay in the midst of their decline. It's not nearly as polished as BGDA1 or CoN. Also check out Justice League Heroes and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for more co-op hack & slash fun.

I'd forgotten about Marvel UA, thanks for the recommendation! Definitely have to play that one.

Hulk smash!

 

[obonicus]

I'd forgotten about Marvel UA, thanks for the recommendation! Definitely have to play that one.

Hulk smash!

Unfortunately, playing Hulk in that game is a huge disappointment. Especially the bits where you're like, actually wrestling the shield off a puny little man.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Unfortunately, playing Hulk in that game is a huge disappointment. Especially the bits where you're like, actually wrestling the shield off a puny little man.

How bout Wolverine, how does he play? Is Iron Man in there?

 

[ban25]

How bout Wolverine, how does he play? Is Iron Man in there?

Wolverine is one of the most powerful characters in the game. Iron Man is there as well. One of the nice things is how it handles leveling characters while they are outside your party. MUA really encourages players to switch characters frequently.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Wolverine is one of the most powerful characters in the game. Iron Man is there as well. One of the nice things is how it handles leveling characters while they are outside your party. MUA really encourages players to switch characters frequently.

Great news. Thanks for the info! Can't wait to play it now.

As for CoN, we're on our 2nd playthrough now on the next difficulty level, decided we'd take these characters all the way to the top before trying another set. Things seem a little more balanced now that we've learned the strengths and weaknesses of our character classes and are playing accordingly. At level 25 my Barbarian is dual-wielding a sword and an axe for well over 200 damage each, plus my critical hit aura is pulling off 600-700 points easy with over a 50% success rate. Plus the aura is big enough to cover my g/f wherever she moves and she can crit for over 700 with the hammer she's carrying.

My only real complaints about the game now are that we're actually getting items that are *too* good for our characters. We've each got several items that are in the 40's or even 50. This problem contributes to our other problem, which is not being able to carry all the items we want. I wish they had some sort of stash system like oh say every other game of this genre

All told it's a pretty fun hack and slash with way more upside than down. I'll definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a game to just pick up, play, kill, level, and loot, especially if they're looking for good co-op play.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Jewellery of Strength and enchanted armour lets you carry stupid amounts. Oh, and ignore armour ratings. The armour was gimped in CON, basically having no effect, so if you enchant your armour don't worry about it becoming obsolete.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Jewellery of Strength and enchanted armour lets you carry stupid amounts. Oh, and ignore armour ratings. The armour was gimped in CON, basically having no effect, so if you enchant your armour don't worry about it becoming obsolete.

Yeah, we just started swapping our jewelry out for more strength, made an immediate impact. I can carry over 300 lbs now which is enough to carry everything I use, and quite a few high level items that I'm waiting to be able to use, and still have room to pick up stupid amounts of loot.

I didn't know about the armor, but it makes sense now that you say it. I keep seeing my armor rating going up but it seems to make no difference in how much damage I can take. I guess stamina and resistance are the way to go.

Thanks again, Shifty.