Posted on: May 18, 2022

kibbitz2000
Verified ownerGames: Reviews: 7
OK trip to the past
Beat EotB3 in the 90s, remember nothing. Never beat EotB2, never played EotB1. I did a run with full party import. EotB1: Started at Lv3, won at Lv7-9. Casters are nice, increase in power from new spells is very noticeable. Melee is mediocre, you miss a lot even with +4/5 weapons and exceptional STR, and get hit too often even with -4 AC. Can't tell if attack cooldowns are faster at higher levels (for multiple attacks). Suspect math's skewed to encourage avoiding enemy attacks, especially when some enemies have instant death, paralysis and poison. There's no reach weapons, so IMO you're better having casters as your 5th and 6th characters. Good exploration, some nice secrets, great equipment upgrades. EotB2: Ended at Lv9-11, unsatisfying as you don't gain anything notable from leveling up. EotB1 weapons outclass everything in EotB2, you only have a few armour upgrades and spell scrolls to look forward to. Dungeon design flows better, though there's one puzzle here I really hate. EotB3: Perfect EotB mechanically. Expanded spell lists grant more options, ALL ATTACK allows easier melee and missile attacks, reach weapons allow fighters to support from the middle row without missile weapons. There's auto-loading of ammunition for throwing weapons now too. Equipment upgrades are great, befitting the finale. Unfortunately, game is too easy, I got too much spamming ALL ATTACK while Hasted. Dungeon and enemy designs are very unremarkable, so game feels like a chore, not an adventure. There's annoying sound issues but turning off sound means losing feedback on potentially important things like being hit. Other issues with the game IMO are due to either AD&D1e or the dungeon crawler genre. Series is okay, it's mostly a interesting view into gaming history, wouldn't personally return to this, I'd play Lands of Lore instead. PS: For people having control problems with EotB2/3, try turning off NumLock, that fixed my problems.
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