Is base game enough?

[Lothemar]

Hey guys, so I got the base game a while back, but never actually played the game, and planning to. Just need to ask this question wheter the basr game is enough or do I need to get the dlcs too. Does the GOTY edition have everything that's ever been released so far? Thank you in advance.

[hilburnashua]

Absolutely, the core game is enough. The expansions add some class archetypes and spells, which is nice, as well as some more things to do. But if you don't have the DLCs I would just play it without and if you decide you want to do another playthrough, then consider buying the DLCs.

Last Sarkosian is probably the only DLC I would suggest buying immediately if you want to get a DLC before starting the game but that is because the triggerpoint for the story happens very early.

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

Absolutely, the core game is enough. The expansions add some class archetypes and spells, which is nice, as well as some more things to do. But if you don't have the DLCs I would just play it without and if you decide you want to do another playthrough, then consider buying the DLCs.

Last Sarkosian is probably the only DLC I would suggest buying immediately if you want to get a DLC before starting the game but that is because the triggerpoint for the story happens very early.

Might as well start playing now then when the sale drops get the rest and hope that I can catch up to everything.

[Razer]

The Last Sarkorians is really good addition. Dance of Masks is also good. Both add a bunch of extra classes and feats as well as story content so you can build your party optimally. Also The Last Sarkorians adds a new companion to boot and a new item which helps tremendously vs the toughest enemies in the game.

The Last Sarkorians starts in Act 1 and has an extra quest in Act 2, but you can also start it in Act 3. You cannot start The Last Sarkorians in Act 2. So if you decide to start already you'll have to wait till Act 3 to start The Last Sarkorians DLC. Which also means you don't have access to the new item I mentioned for one of the toughest areas of the game in Act 2 called Leper's Smile. And maybe when you get there you wish you did have it. Just saying ;)

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Razer:

The Last Sarkorians is really good addition. Dance of Masks is also good. Both add a bunch of extra classes and feats as well as story content so you can build your party optimally. Also The Last Sarkorians adds a new companion to boot and a new item which helps tremendously vs the toughest enemies in the game.

The Last Sarkorians starts in Act 1 and has an extra quest in Act 2, but you can also start it in Act 3. You cannot start The Last Sarkorians in Act 2. So if you decide to start already you'll have to wait till Act 3 to start The Last Sarkorians DLC. Which also means you don't have access to the new item I mentioned for one of the toughest areas of the game in Act 2 called Leper's Smile. And maybe when you get there you wish you did have it. Just saying ;)

Oh something special happens if I get it early on?

[Razer]

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Originally posted by Razer:

The Last Sarkorians is really good addition. Dance of Masks is also good. Both add a bunch of extra classes and feats as well as story content so you can build your party optimally. Also The Last Sarkorians adds a new companion to boot and a new item which helps tremendously vs the toughest enemies in the game.

The Last Sarkorians starts in Act 1 and has an extra quest in Act 2, but you can also start it in Act 3. You cannot start The Last Sarkorians in Act 2. So if you decide to start already you'll have to wait till Act 3 to start The Last Sarkorians DLC. Which also means you don't have access to the new item I mentioned for one of the toughest areas of the game in Act 2 called Leper's Smile. And maybe when you get there you wish you did have it. Just saying ;)

Oh something special happens if I get it early on?

New companion is added in Act 1 with unique equipment and you can do a quest belonging to this companion in Act 2. If you don't get the companion in Act 1 you'll have to wait till Act 3 to get them.

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Razer:

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Oh something special happens if I get it early on?

New companion is added in Act 1 with unique equipment and you can do a quest belonging to this companion in Act 2. If you don't get the companion in Act 1 you'll have to wait till Act 3 to get them.

You can still do all the quests pretaining to that companion in Act 3 or do you miss out on something?

[Razer]

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Originally posted by Razer:

New companion is added in Act 1 with unique equipment and you can do a quest belonging to this companion in Act 2. If you don't get the companion in Act 1 you'll have to wait till Act 3 to get them.

You can still do all the quests pretaining to that companion in Act 3 or do you miss out on something?

You can do them in Act 3 no problem.

There's quests that have an hourglass icon next to their name. They will fail if you continue the story to the next Act. Companion quests from Act 2 can be carried over to Act 3 and you can just do them there. They do not have an hourglass icon. Of course doing them early nets nice exp and items and such. And exp is very valuable early on. Be mindful of the quests with hourglass icon and do them before ending the Act. Every Act has a point of no return and it's very obvious so you don't have to worry about it too much. But doing hourglass quests early is generally a good idea because they are higher priority than any other quests since you will have to complete them prior to the end of the Act you're in.

[Vertigo]

The base game is solid and would be an enjoyable experience. As others have said above, a number of the classes, new items, and spells are additions that come with the DLC.

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Razer:

Originally posted by Lothemar:

You can still do all the quests pretaining to that companion in Act 3 or do you miss out on something?

You can do them in Act 3 no problem.

There's quests that have an hourglass icon next to their name. They will fail if you continue the story to the next Act. Companion quests from Act 2 can be carried over to Act 3 and you can just do them there. They do not have an hourglass icon. Of course doing them early nets nice exp and items and such. And exp is very valuable early on. Be mindful of the quests with hourglass icon and do them before ending the Act. Every Act has a point of no return and it's very obvious so you don't have to worry about it too much. But doing hourglass quests early is generally a good idea because they are higher priority than any other quests since you will have to complete them prior to the end of the Act you're in.

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for the tip!

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Vertigo:

The base game is solid and would be an enjoyable experience. As others have said above, a number of the classes, new items, and spells are additions that come with the DLC.

That's good then. Though it would've been nice if this game was on sale, because others are right now.

[Realm Walker]

To get the most out of the game, I recommend you to play the core game and than Inevitable-Excess (completing it gives you something in the main campaign (for example for a second playthrough), even though it is a sequel to it).

Than you could play Through-the-Ashes and it's sequel The-Lord-of-Nothing (completing it gives you something in the main campaign). These two are quite short in comparison and require you to play a different character from your main character. I'd not recommend to play this before you completed act 2 in the main campaign due to (minor) spoilers.

The other DLCs integrate themselfes into the main campaign, adding even more story to it. Here, Treasure-of-the-Midnight-Isles stands out, because you could play it stand alone (or integrate it into your main campaign) without spoilers of the main campaign, as far as I know. It is mostly dungeoncrawling. This DLC is perfect to test some builds in advance of playing the main campaign.

In my personal opinion, I think it is actually best to play the main campaign without DLCs and than take a look on them (especially because learning how to effectivly do combat and character leveling may be hard at first and because you may make some decisions that you may regret later on, so that you may want to start again at some point.)

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Realm Walker:

To get the most out of the game, I recommend you to play the core game and than Inevitable-Excess (completing it gives you something in the main campaign (for example for a second playthrough), even though it is a sequel to it).

Than you could play Through-the-Ashes and it's sequel The-Lord-of-Nothing (completing it gives you something in the main campaign). These two are quite short in comparison and require you to play a different character from your main character. I'd not recommend to play this before you completed act 2 in the main campaign due to (minor) spoilers.

The other DLCs integrate themselfes into the main campaign, adding even more story to it. Here, Treasure-of-the-Midnight-Isles stands out, because you could play it stand alone (or integrate it into your main campaign) without spoilers of the main campaign, as far as I know. It is mostly dungeoncrawling. This DLC is perfect to test some builds in advance of playing the main campaign.

In my personal opinion, I think it is actually best to play the main campaign without DLCs and than take a look on them (especially because learning how to effectivly do combat and character leveling may be hard at first and because you may make some decisions that you may regret later on, so that you may want to start again at some point.)

Good advice and something I'm probably going to go with. Play the base game as is and then get the rest for second playthrough, since the game definitely offers a lot of replayability value it would seem.

[Yannir]

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Originally posted by Realm Walker:

To get the most out of the game, I recommend you to play the core game and than Inevitable-Excess (completing it gives you something in the main campaign (for example for a second playthrough), even though it is a sequel to it).

Than you could play Through-the-Ashes and it's sequel The-Lord-of-Nothing (completing it gives you something in the main campaign). These two are quite short in comparison and require you to play a different character from your main character. I'd not recommend to play this before you completed act 2 in the main campaign due to (minor) spoilers.

The other DLCs integrate themselfes into the main campaign, adding even more story to it. Here, Treasure-of-the-Midnight-Isles stands out, because you could play it stand alone (or integrate it into your main campaign) without spoilers of the main campaign, as far as I know. It is mostly dungeoncrawling. This DLC is perfect to test some builds in advance of playing the main campaign.

In my personal opinion, I think it is actually best to play the main campaign without DLCs and than take a look on them (especially because learning how to effectivly do combat and character leveling may be hard at first and because you may make some decisions that you may regret later on, so that you may want to start again at some point.)

Good advice and something I'm probably going to go with. Play the base game as is and then get the rest for second playthrough, since the game definitely offers a lot of replayability value it would seem.

A lot of replay value yes but the game is also a lot. And a lot of fun. I have almost 850h in the game and I've only finished it twice (on Core difficulty). Each of those PT's was like 200h and the rest is rerollitis, generic faffing around and midway-dropped playthroughts. That 200h is probably like 160h on a normal gamer but I like to look at things thoroughly.

[Lothemar]

Originally posted by Yannir:

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Good advice and something I'm probably going to go with. Play the base game as is and then get the rest for second playthrough, since the game definitely offers a lot of replayability value it would seem.

A lot of replay value yes but the game is also a lot. And a lot of fun. I have almost 850h in the game and I've only finished it twice (on Core difficulty). Each of those PT's was like 200h and the rest is rerollitis, generic faffing around and midway-dropped playthroughts. That 200h is probably like 160h on a normal gamer but I like to look at things thoroughly.

Damn, hooks you in and doesn't let go. I'm coming from Baldur's Gate 3 so we'll see. Probably going to start with normal difficulty on this one.

[Razer]

Originally posted by Lothemar:

Originally posted by Yannir:

A lot of replay value yes but the game is also a lot. And a lot of fun. I have almost 850h in the game and I've only finished it twice (on Core difficulty). Each of those PT's was like 200h and the rest is rerollitis, generic faffing around and midway-dropped playthroughts. That 200h is probably like 160h on a normal gamer but I like to look at things thoroughly.

Damn, hooks you in and doesn't let go. I'm coming from Baldur's Gate 3 so we'll see. Probably going to start with normal difficulty on this one.

Game is pretty punishing for new players. You'll get encounters thrown at you of double your level pretty early on. It's meant to test your game knowledge. I would definitely not start higher than normal mode if you value your sanity. Build complexity is through the roof. Combat isn't very complicated, but knowing how to build your characters is paramount. Luckily you can respec your characters on normal mode. (Or with Toybox mod on higher difficulties)