I got to Chapter 2 on core rules difficulty with max hp on level up. Things suddenly got more challenging.

That's Dragon's eye, isn't it?

That's right.

I reached Chapter 3.

end of report

The fun really starts in chapter 4 in BG! Most of those games tend to have a pretty fair increase in difficulty. What a shame those owl cats did not realize that truth. Giving that monstrous end of chapter battle with the invisible dude, LVL 7 archer standing on a height, owl bear and w/e

Another chapter. And a cursed weapon. >.>

I finished Icewind Dale EE (not HoW). Which happened kind of unexpectedly I'd say.



[some spoilers ahead]



The final battle went badly. Only my archer survived it, barely. And given severity of his wound, he was unlikely to escape the following collapse of the ice tower. Bards will sing about Everard's and adventurers' ultimate sacrifice, but the untold truth is those adventurers did not expect their story would finish at that point.



I don't know what to write about the game. On the one hand I finished it, which is rare, so something must have clicked there for me. On the other hand I feel rather unenthusiastic about the whole affair.

I liked it's combat focused. I disliked I had to google so much to create characters. It needs more stores, going back and forth was inconvenient. The Wyrm's Tooth was a really cool looking location. There were some things to finish at the Severed Hand but I didn't have a chance to do them because of an unexpected end.

That was awfully fast! Especially considering how put off and, well, at a loss you seemed at first.
Congrats!

Thanks!

It took me nearly a week plus a lot of time to create characters. So I'm not sure it was awfully fast. ;)

The combat was rather straightforward and IWD is all about combat, so I didn't have much problem there. Although maybe core rules difficulty with max hp on level up isn't particularly challenging, I don't know. I didn't learn much about DnD combat. I didn't really have to counter magic with whatever you counter it, I just focused casters. I still don't really know what kind of weapons are good against which opponents.



I put a portion of my cleric/thief skill points into Detect Illusion. It was useful. Once. Thief's trap detection and opening locks were helpful, although I've stepped into many traps before they were detected anyway. As for cleric... healing in combat was something I didn't do much, it was somewhat inconvenient. Maybe it's just me, but their healing was simply weak. And he wasn't at all more useful at dealing with undead than other party members.

The sorceress did a lot of AoE damage and crowd control, and was pretty good with a sling, with a good survivability. As for picking spells on level up... that frequently resulted to googling suggestions, just like during character creation.



In general:
Paladin was tanking and doing damage, as expected. Kensai was a bit squishy. The same for cleric/thief (because of thief armor limitations I suppose). Archer was doing their pincushion things all right with occasional melee action. Sorcerer's good with fiery-expody things, highly recommended. Bard was mostly standing behind and singing, thanks to high lore they were useful at identifying gear.

Congrats!! Updated the OP accordingly :)

Thanks!

Horrible class combo IMO, since a C/T can't use most backstabbing weapons.

Yeah, it didn't feel particularly good. And I played it badly. :P

That was the year the greatest video game of all time released.

Baldur's Gate 2

Looks like we missed Homeworld: Cataclysm (now Homeworld: Emergence), it was also released in 2000.