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[Catastrophic lolcats]

Just started playing and made a critical mistake in making my character. Wanted to make a ranged fighter class which was focused on offence which could switch to melee when things got into a bind, I figured the ranger wasn't a good fit for for this. Little did I know before hitting level 3 is that pretty much all fighter abilities are based around melee.

Note sure I like the character archetypes being so rigid. I would love to reroll a Goldpact Paladin based around crossbows but it doesn't seem as viable as going generic board and sword.

[Baijiu]

According to Steam, I've played like 28 hours so far. So yes, it might be fair to say I've been enjoying this game.

I -really- want to start over though. I originally rolled a wizard and it's fun (but AoE spells are annoying as hell to target!) but I want to reroll as a Cipher as it seems they get a lot of special dialogue. I'll probably keep trudging through though as I'm in Twin Elms now and getting close to the end of the game it seems.

[Retropunch]

This is a fantastic game. Whilst there are a lot of new games which are trying to emulate being the next in a beloved series, this one actually succeeds in being the next Baldur's Gate.
It's also had enough mechanical improvements to make it seem as if 15 years (yikes!) have actually passed.

I have to say, I read loads of reviews about people spending 'hours' on character creation, and whilst it was interesting, it only took me 10 minutes to go through and is pretty standard. It's interesting enough, and how they've made the stats work for all classes is very interesting. I started off a bit disappointed thinking that it'd go down the 'kill 10 rats' route with the beginning section, but it got really, really interesting fast. Even after only 5 hours in, I can put my hand on my heart and say this is the best traditional CRPG I've played since IWD2, and it'll probably surpass that in the end.
As others have mentioned, it doesn't do enemy level scaling or close off areas that are dangerous. Whilst that's very much appreciated, I do feel it's sometimes a bit too steep - I don't remember Baldur's Gate or the like having insta-death areas just off the main paths.

TL;DR: Well, well worth the purchase. Buy it right now.

EDIT FOR NEWCOMERS!: I felt I should say that it's definitely a good idea to go Cipher unless you have a serious preference for another class. They're a sort of battlemage so you get to do some fighting and magic with them, but as the entire game is based around souls - and the Cipher is sort of the Soul-person - it opens up a heck of a lot. I also think it's worth keeping it at Normal difficulty unless you're into some serious pain. There seems to be little difference (no extra loot or xp or anything) and the combat becomes very difficult (even for an experienced IWD'er) with constant deaths to even basic enemies. It may be worth changing it later on when it's less about getting one shotted - but don't keep it on hard and get frustrated with it.

[GrizzlyAdamz]

Hmm, so here're the characters I was considering:
-Coastal aumaua monk from the living lands
-Pale elf cipher from the wends
-Priest of the dead god Eothas
-Or: an int-barb, gun-rogue, or standard wizard (the grimoire mechanic looks neat as hell)
I'd been planning to roll with high resolve/perception/int in any case for the dialogue options.

So, the Cipher would be best lore-wise? Better than the priest?
I heard Cipher had rather lackluster skills..

[Urist Arrhenius]

Hmm, so here're the characters I was considering:
-Coastal aumaua monk from the living lands
-Pale elf cipher from the wends
-Priest of the dead god Eothas
-Or: an int-barb, gun-rogue, or standard wizard (the grimoire mechanic looks neat as hell)
I'd been planning to roll with high resolve/perception/int in any case for the dialogue options.

So, the Cipher would be best lore-wise? Better than the priest?
I heard Cipher had rather lackluster skills..

I think the amount of lore stuff depends on where you are, but yeah, cipher gets a lot of love.

[umiman]

Right then, restarting the game as a cipher.

[gimli]

I am playing with a coastal aumaua barbarian who wields a big f'cken 2hander. It's tons of fun. 

[etgfrog]

I've been playing a ranger with a focus on using an arbalest, early game it was hilarious since hunter's mark + shot from it usually instantly killed what it hit.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I am playing through as a cipher and no regrets at all: it is sooo much better than wizard. Somehow here is how the two work respectively:

Cipher: I spam three abilities: one that paralyzes an enemy and stops enemies near from moving, one that hurts everything near a friend a little, and one that hurts one thing near a friend a lot.

None of these abilities are friendly fire, none of them require weird angling, two of them require a friend engaged in melee with the targets, which fortunately is 90% of the time in battle.

All my abilities seem to have long range, wherever I target, my character goes into a casting animation.

Wizard:  every damaging spell hurts my friends. Except magic missile, so I spam that. There is no way to tell (unless I am missing a cursor), where an AoE spell is going to hit, and since INT expands the area, no way to memorize it like in BG2 or 1 (frankly, I can't see why a cursor indicating where a spell is going to hit is so impossible to accomplish, Dark Sun: Shattered lands which BG1 ripped off in many ways already had such a cursor at it released in 1993!)
I found the cursor: expert mode, thanks etgfrog!


Now, you say, wizards are controllers not damagers! Well the best control spells I've seen (bedazzle and variants) also breeds weirdness, as in the confused enemies are not enemies while confused, breaking engagements and leaving you unable to attack.

Worse, none of the key spells seem to have good range, so when you want to confuse a group of enemies, you find your wizard running through the front ranks to cast it.

I like the grimoire mechanic, but that is really all. I really don't like not being able to repick useless cipher spells. Each level has one spell that I picked badly and find useless: charm isn't that great, lasts no time at all and rarely comes into play since your allies helpfully kill the target while you take a really long time to cast, or they kill its' friends, so the charm is meaningless. Second level I picked the spell that flanks everyone for synergy with a rogue for constant sneak attack.  However, now I have a full cast of official npcs, so of course, no rogue.

Also are those stories that the golden kickstarter backer characters standing around the world reveal to you, also written by the kicstarter backers?  Because they are A. kinda bad B. Kinda offensive, it seems like every other one is a weird torture fantasy with elves plunging fingers into the wounds of bleeding women during home invasions, assassins plunging daggers into people while they are being pleasured by courtesans in excessive detail and home invasions with threats of child torture. If these are backer written or backer inspired: this is why we can't have nice things!

I stopped reading them after like the fourth weird sex torture fantasy.

Great game, nevertheless

[Kanil]

Wizard:  every damaging spell hurts my friends. Except magic missile, so I spam that. There is no way to tell (unless I am missing a cursor), where an AoE spell is going to hit, and since INT expands the area, no way to memorize it like in BG2 or 1 (frankly, I can't see why a cursor indicating where a spell is going to hit is so impossible to accomplish, Dark Sun: Shattered lands which BG1 ripped off in many ways already had such a cursor at it released in 1993!)

Sounds like you're playing on expert mode? Turning that off gives you a pretty clear indication of what AoE spells do (although your meatshields still tend to wander into the flame during your cast time...)

I really don't like the attribute system. It's weird that barbarians are as intelligent as wizards, and dexterity doesn't help you avoid a mace to the face, but perception does ('cause you see it coming?) I kinda wish there were more companions as well, I'm not super thrilled with the ones I've met thus far.

I like how the game over screen notes whether you're playing solo or not, that's a nice little detail.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Wizard:  every damaging spell hurts my friends. Except magic missile, so I spam that. There is no way to tell (unless I am missing a cursor), where an AoE spell is going to hit, and since INT expands the area, no way to memorize it like in BG2 or 1 (frankly, I can't see why a cursor indicating where a spell is going to hit is so impossible to accomplish, Dark Sun: Shattered lands which BG1 ripped off in many ways already had such a cursor at it released in 1993!)

Sounds like you're playing on expert mode? Turning that off gives you a pretty clear indication of what AoE spells do (although your meatshields still tend to wander into the flame during your cast time...)

I really don't like the attribute system. It's weird that barbarians are as intelligent as wizards, and dexterity doesn't help you avoid a mace to the face, but perception does ('cause you see it coming?) I kinda wish there were more companions as well, I'm not super thrilled with the ones I've met thus far.

I like how the game over screen notes whether you're playing solo or not, that's a nice little detail.

I am: shit, glad I can switch that off then. I turned it on because I had the sound glitch bug with the help menus popping up.

I see where you are coming from on your criticism of the system: they wanted to get rid of the need to have characters with multiple high attributes to be viable. I don't think they realized what they really did was make Str and Int into the god-attributes and everything else, into secondary and support. Barbarians should be smart and strong, but so should wizards. Every character in your party can have the same 18 18 in the two and be effective, because who *doesn't* want more damage and a bigger area of effect/duration, STR affects healing too and int will boost the duration, so priest should also be intelligent and strong.  I can't think of a build that could drop STR and INT is only useless to rogues, I guess, since they focus on single target damage anyway and don't get AoEs. I guess they would still benefit from the duration boost though.

The companions get better: I love the dwarf ranger with her snow fox, and the druid is neat, if irritating (not as irritating as the dwarf: he is officially stronghold keeper for me)

[Sergarr]

I'd say they really need to offload the main combat effectiveness factors from attributes to feats (this game does have feats, right?). Skill should matter much more than just pure physical/mental power.

[Baijiu]

Hmm, so here're the characters I was considering:
-Coastal aumaua monk from the living lands
-Pale elf cipher from the wends
-Priest of the dead god Eothas
-Or: an int-barb, gun-rogue, or standard wizard (the grimoire mechanic looks neat as hell)
I'd been planning to roll with high resolve/perception/int in any case for the dialogue options.

So, the Cipher would be best lore-wise? Better than the priest?
I heard Cipher had rather lackluster skills..

I think the amount of lore stuff depends on where you are, but yeah, cipher gets a lot of love.

On top of that, I'd say don't roll a wizard because you get one as an NPC right near the beginning of the game and I didn't notice any special dialogue options (and I just finished the game) whereas priests and ciphers get tons.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I'd say they really need to offload the main combat effectiveness factors from attributes to feats (this game does have feats, right?). Skill should matter much more than just pure physical/mental power.

No feats, more of feat-likes that you choose one of when you level up: e.g. better rage or a 3/per encounter movement buff with immunity to disengage for barbarians. or for cyphers: boost to focus drain on hits or increase in damage.

[Baijiu]

The companions get better: I love the dwarf ranger with her snow fox, and the druid is neat, if irritating (not as irritating as the dwarf: he is officially stronghold keeper for me)

Male dwarf? You only get one dwarf which is the female one, Sagani.

Don't be hasty with your judgement. I hated Durance at first, but by the end of the game he was probably my favourite character, weird because I still didn't like his personality. Also, I found out at the end of the game that not interacting enough with certain companions guarantees you get a bad ending with them