Dungeon-Be-Gone (BG2)

[Amy]

By: NaeVa
Dungeon-Be-Gone for Baldur's Gate 2
Version: V.1.4
Review first posted on: 4/21/04
Review updated: N/A
Mod download location: http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/ind...d=98&Itemid=79


Dungeon-Be-Gone Mod Review
By NaeVa` (AKA Va)

--Introduction**
When I first heard of this mod through an SP friend of mine, my first thought was: â??Awesome! No more boring goblin encounters and crappy first level weapons!â? And so, I downloaded Dungeon-Be-Gone for Baldurâ??s Gate II, thinking it to be at the least, a small improvement to the game. In actuality, it turned out better than I expected.

--Installation--
The WeiDU installer package was very easy to use. However, the mod does have a small chance of conflicting with any custom files you may have made.

--Animation--
In the beginning of Irenicusâ??s dungeon, right after you have the initial talk with him, Jasper St. Baird, the DBG Non-joinable NPC, appears by way of a Dimension Door. His sprite is not of any significance, as it is a default BGII sprite.

--Voicing and Dialogue--
Although a lot of people think the voice acting is annoying, I find it quite hilarious. The line â??â?¦Haerâ??Dalis jackassâ? will remain with me for quite a while.

--Functionality--
Ahhâ?¦hereâ??s the meat of this review, the actual explanations of what the mod does, and how good it does it. For starters, this mod is for one dungeon only, the beginning dungeon of the game. One. Thatâ??s all. Upon talking to the DBG NPC, the protagonist is confronted with several choices, and even has the option of picking up Yoshimo from the second floor. Once thatâ??s good and done, the party is transported to the tunnel leading to the exit of the dungeon. Jasper St. Baird then gives the party the option of holding on to some silver acorns for some â??very appreciative dryad chicks.â? After this, boom. Utter pandemonium. St. Baird gives you a bunch of equipment, flooding your screen with text and voices of â??I canâ??t hold any more.â? It would have been much better if the loot were spread out between characters. Oh well. I suppose itâ??s for the best. One other thing. Many of you may be wondering "Why do I want to skip the first dungeon?" Well, if you're a veteran player, you may find playing through the same areas overly tedious. This mod removes the need to do that.

--Flaws and Overlooked Stuff--
There is no option to free Minsc and Jaheira from their cells if you went straight to Jasper St. Baird, rather than freeing them first. Admittedly, itâ??s easy to do, but it would be nice if it were included.

--Conclusion--
Overall, the mod is excellent. I found it to be a decent addition to my gaming experience. Without the flaws and other minor bad things above, this would be a perfect mod.

Source

[Solaufein]

# Mod Version: v1.4
Review:
The mod does do precisely what it says it does. The seamless WeiDU installation causes no compatibility problems with other mods (except those that alter Irenicus's dungeon). The mod even makes a good attempt to give you all of the experience and items that you would have gotten had you run the dungeon yourself.

That said, you may want to think before using the mod. If you are playing with either Chloe or Improved Illych installed, you will not get to experience those mods at all. The mod does allow you to choose whether or not you wish to teleport out of the dungeon or not, which does somewhat alleviate that problem.

In addition, the voicing seems somewhat out of place. While it cannot be expected for the voicing in a mod to blend seamlessly with that present in the original game, for some reason Jasper St. Baird's voice was grating on me.

The mod does make an interesting way to get a lot of extra experience. It is possible to do the entire dungeon itself (or any portion of it), then return to Jasper and get duplicates of all the items as well as an additional chunk of experience. Personally, I think that the designers should address this in a new release.

The readme claimed that the amounts of experience and loot that you got through the mod is average. In my own experience, I nearly always got more experience and less money if I actually ran the dungeon the full way through.

All in all, this mod is strongly recommended for people that do not want to play through Irenicus's dungeon every time they start a new game. I found it quite useful if I was testing a mod and wanted to get to that as quickly as possible.
Reviewer: Rastor
Reviewer Verification: IP Logged
Review Date: June 14, 2004