Is Baldur's Gate I Any Good?

[Dis]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Alinestra, I can't believe it! You're describing my recent experience

I finally start playing, do a round in the keep and solve most quests there and I embark on my adventure. Only to arrive to the first city and be killed on the stairs by some guy

So I try again, load, do all the chores, start travelling only to be killed by a wolf 20 meters into the journey!

I didn't remember to save before going into the wilderness, so it's all over again if I continue.

that guy is very difficult. But it's probably one of the most difficult fights in the game. I don't even think the final battle was that tough. The problem with D&D is low levels really, really suck. Yeah you would expect that at low levels, but there is just no margin for error at lower levels. You have to use sound tactics to get through that battle.

[Dis]

k, now I got in the mood to play BG1

The first battle outside Friendly Farm inn isn't as bad as I remembered it. Just remember to hit him hard and fast. Use everything you got. Better rest so you can use a magic missile. I do recommend getting the 2 evils guys, just drop them when you get Jaheira and Khalid. The mage is a weenie, but that magic missile will come in handy. He's kind of funny though: "stop touching me!"

What I did was install easy tutu which is a mod that allows you to run BG1 with the BG2 engine. This is the easy version which is easy to install, and seems like it would be less likely to have a game stopping bug. I'd hate to get all the way to the end and the game would get stuck somewhere. So far it's been extremely stable. Only had one ctd, and that was when I was doing something weird.

I also installed a mod to do kits on all the npc's. I made both Kivan and Minsc archers (ranger kit). Though that kind of means I can't use them as up front fighters (archers had less melee skills). But 2 seems to be all I need. Myself: a fighter/cleric, and Adjantis. Though I have dropped Minsci/Dynaheir and picked up Xan. Normally a sucky mage, but I turned him into a sorcerer.

Now here's the only weird bug I have with tutu and this kit mod. For some reason Xan is able to cast level 1 spells 12 times. I had a little trouble finding the sorcerer spell progression/spells per day. I think at level 4 (when I got him) he gets 3 level 1 spells and 1 level 2 spell (which is what he started with). But I'm not sure how many casts per day he's supposed to have. I'm not sure if I can fix that with shadowkeeper (I use shadowkeeper since I'm running BG1 with BG2 engine). I did have to "fix" his starting spells. Kind of a cheat, but considering he's not supposed to be a sorcerer in the first place... His starting spells were horrible: friends and another worthless spell. So I gave him magic missile (though as a wizard this would be his opposing school- that's why he normally sucks).

Though Xan is a bit of a downer . I want to smack him up the side of the head. But I've used Dynaheir and Edwin too much and want to use a different mage. I also made the evil mage you find in the first area outside candlekeep a sorcerer. He didn't have the level 1 spells per day problem Xan had.

I do recommend tutu or easy tutu, it really makes BG1 playable. And I'm really enjoying this game. Even more than the first time I played BG1 (I actually played BG2 before Bg1- so I didn't care for Bg1 that much at first). I did forget to install the patch before doing tutut though . I have the expansion, it should be patched up until the expansion, but nothing after the expansion. And I forgot to do the container mod. I'd kill for a scroll bag right now.

But I'm taking a break. I'm stuck on the basilisks right now. They are kicking my ass. I know I don't have to fight them, but I want to. This is a difficult game. But level 1 is probably most difficult. I couldn't even touch the bears, even after getting 6 people in my party. And I'm just now being able to take out Vampiric wolves. But most of it is very easy now. But you do have to be prepared for reloads. Once you get enough money don't be afraid to go the temple and pay for resurrection. I have yet to do it. I just noticed I have over 30,000 gold now!! And I just finished Nashkel mines (and the areas around it).

[Traianvs]

Tutu is a blessing. Some extras really are necessary to enjoy the game. For example unlimited quivers come in handy. That way you don't have to fill your inventory slots with 20 arrows each time.

In BG1 spells are low-level so they're not as powerful, while ranged physical attacks are the best attack by far.

Imo BG1 was much easier than BGII. I never really got the hang of the different powerful spells in BGII because I always got slaughtered by powerful wizards, and my protective spells never sufficed for some reason. But the latter game had more immersion and a wider range of items, locations, skills etc etc.

Best RPG series I ever played!

[Seeker]

Play Wizardry 8, my fave crpg.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Traianvs
Tutu is a blessing. Some extras really are necessary to enjoy the game. For example unlimited quivers come in handy. That way you don't have to fill your inventory slots with 20 arrows each time.

In BG1 spells are low-level so they're not as powerful, while ranged physical attacks are the best attack by far.

Imo BG1 was much easier than BGII. I never really got the hang of the different powerful spells in BGII because I always got slaughtered by powerful wizards, and my protective spells never sufficed for some reason. But the latter game had more immersion and a wider range of items, locations, skills etc etc.

Best RPG series I ever played!

yeah it's hard to get a hold of all the protection removing spells in BG2. Breach is the easy one of course. But the 2 8th level spells always confused me. Wheldings Whip and Ruby Ray of Reversal. If one doesn't work, I just try the other .

One problem is that red dragon fight, I use protection removing spells, but sometimes it doesn't seem to work, or maybe he puts his protections back up. That dragon is so hard to beat.

[SmartFart]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Come on, you didn't really kill your laptop because of that?

It is really worth playing.

[Dis]

just killed Saravek, but loaded up a save just before I killed him so I could do the expansion areas. With easy tutu the credits rolled and I had no option of starting the expansion. So I have to do that before I killed Saravek. Which meant backtracking through that long maze

That battle can be hard, I exploited the game a little. but I figure it's a legitimate tactic. Hit and run tactics. Only works because of brain dead ai . I lured one out (hey pulling is a legit tactic in mmo's why not this game ), and lured him outside the building killed him. Did the same with a couple others. couldn't get the last guy, but he was a mage who went down easy. Now the hard part is Saravek, he hits really hard. Luckily Adjantis was able to get aggro so my PC fighter/cleric can move away and cast a heal spell on himself. Then he went back to finish him off. My PC has 100 hit points, so Saravek can easily dishout close to 100 points of damage.

[SmartFart]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia



Note that this is not necessarily indicative of my skill or reasonability as a player. I enjoyed BG2 greatly and finished it and Throne of Bhaal as well...

With 'Insane' lvl of play?

I have 30 or so diferent Bg2 games played and finished. Would you like to multiplay one?

Regards .

SF

[Traianvs]

You need to meet Jamski

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Well, as long as this thread is going, I'll ask:

I never got around to playing BG2, which I noticed last week I can pick up cheaply in town (bundled w/BG1, along with all the expansions for both). So I'm thinking of having at it.

I played BG1 all the way through twice, with two different characters (a CG Dwarf fighter/cleric and a NG Half-Elf Bard). Question, is it worth playing BG1 through again in order to bring one of those characters into BG2 (as well as for the 3-pantaloon Easter Egg)? Or is it fine (or even better) to play BG2 from scratch? Just wondering.

BTW, the game I finished with my Bard, I had a great, if unusual, party: the Band of Quarreling Midgets, consisting of dwarves Korgan and Yeslick, gnomes Quayle and Tiax, and halfling Alora. Korgan and Yeslick are programmed to hate each other, as are Quayle and Tiax, while Alora's programmed to annoy everybody. Plus, Tiax is insane. They were incredibly amusing.

[Proteus_MST]

I haven´t played BG 1 and 2 for a long time, but if I remember correctly it was more worth to create a new char for BG2. AFAIK there were enough differences in the creation process (with another version of D&D being used for BG2 than for BG1).
But as said, this is only out of memory and I may be mistaken, as I played a lot of D&D PC-RPGs during the last years (I´m not even sure if the feature of using your old char even was in the game or if it was skipped for one reason por the other [at least I didn´t consider of using my BG1 char for BG2])

[Nugog]

Sort of on topic - I have just been given Ice Wind Dale I, plus the XP, and ICE Wind Dale II - are they any good?

[Dinner]

I might go back and replay the series. My half elven fighter/mage/thief was the bomb.

[Dis]

icewind dale games are a bit hack and slashish, but good for playing through once. They just don't have any replay value.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
I haven´t played BG 1 and 2 for a long time, but if I remember correctly it was more worth to create a new char for BG2. AFAIK there were enough differences in the creation process (with another version of D&D being used for BG2 than for BG1).
But as said, this is only out of memory and I may be mistaken, as I played a lot of D&D PC-RPGs during the last years (I´m not even sure if the feature of using your old char even was in the game or if it was skipped for one reason por the other [at least I didn´t consider of using my BG1 char for BG2])

same version. you may be thinking of Icewind dale 1 and icewind dale 2 which did use different systems.

no reason not to transfer. Though I'm not sure about transferring my current dwarven fighter/cleric. His intelligence is only 4 . not good when fighting mind flayers, but I could always send someone else to do that. I started at 3, but did find a book to raise it.

That is one advantage to using BG1 chars. The books you find to raise your attributes will help get better attributes than you can "roll" in BG2. The disadvantage is you can't use the kits BG2 has. And there are some very nice kits. But not an issue if you multiclass.