Mods question..prolly asked before

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So what Mods are out there are a "must?"

I'm trying to not play vanilla because the game seems to get too easy. I see that ascension seems harder. I don't know what others are most recommended...any ideas and where they download?

 

Simply put, Improved Anvil has put every other content/difficulty adding mod to shame. Its all you need.

 

If you're not overly concerned about immersion or the atmosphere of the original game, then Improved Anvil will certainly provide some challenging combat--it's allegedly the hardest tactical mod out there. It is, however, very exclusive in terms of compatibility, and there are a lot of other good content mods out there that you might like to try.

Combat-wise, if you're interested in something more focussed on smart AI and in tune with the original game's style, I'd heartily recommend Sword Coast Strategems II, which will still provide a good challenge. Ascension is good (and something of a classic) content-wise, and the final battle is tough. I've also heard positive things about the Chosen of Cyric encounter in Rogue Rebalancing as far as enemy intelligence goes.

If you're really hardcore, I dare you to try DEF JAM, which decreases the XP gained by the party (you select how much by), potentially making the game extremely tough (you can go as low was 10% of the original game's XP).

 

Um, let's not get carried away here, shall we?

I would agree that IA is a must-have for those players who are looking for the ultimate challenge. If you enjoy multiple (i.e. > 10) reloads before you figure out how to win a battle, don't mind metagaming or less flexibility in deciding the order that you do quests, then IA might be worth a shot. It has some nice features, including new content, an item randomizer, and new items that can be crafted, but because of the way IA is designed, you can't pick-and-choose what components to take; it's all or nothing. It also doesn't get along well with a lot of other mods. But I can't over-emphasize the difficulty factor, which I suspect is appealing to a relatively small segment of the BG2 community. Those who enjoy IA talk about the great feeling of satisfaction when they finally win a battle; for me, it was more a sense of relief - I'm reminded of the old joke about liking to hit yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop. Sikret will tell you to "draw yourself a learning curve", but for me, the rewards just aren't worth the work involved; others might disagree, however, so judge for yourself.

For a less extreme challenge, I recommend Sword Coast Stratagems II at G3, which I am currently playing.

Other mods I like:
Banter Pack
BG2 Tweak Pack at G3
Level One NPC's
Item Upgrade
Unfinished Business
Rogue Rebalancing
iitem
Questpack
Tactics (although, for components where SCS II does the same thing, go with the latter)

I haven't really played many NPC mods, but there are several that I understand are very good.

Edit: Just to be clear - I'm not saying IA is a bad mod (quite the opposite actually). But the difficulty factor makes it a niche mod that is definitely not for everyone.

 

That Chosen of Cyric mod kicked my butt so bad!

 

Heh, I should note that the combat portion of the Chosen of Cyric encounter is completely optional.

Furthermore, while the battle is geared toward expert tactical players on Core Rules (and above), lowering the difficulty level to Normal and Novice will have a significant impact on the opponent's behavior, thus making the combat less challenging.

 

A "must"? Back when I started, it was Banter Pack+Flirt Pack+Unfinished Business+Quest Pack+Tweak Pack - and maybe Kelsey as an additional NPC.

Now, several years later, I'd still recommend these mods, and add Xan, Dungeon Crawl, Romantic Encounters and Assassinations to the list. Also, see the recommendations above - it's all good stuff.