Baldurs gate - how should I start. - Page 8

centrifuge · December 11, 2003, 11:42

Quote:

Originally posted by lord of the mark

Well, i must say it took me so long to do the mines, both in game time and real time, Im kind of anxious to move the plot along. I guess two or three side quests wont be too much though. I'll think about it.

That's the thing about these games, (and the reason that my wife hate when I play them) they are definite time killers. I do think that the side quests are an important part of this game, however. I always try to do as many as I can. Sometimes you will stumble over the solution to one while trying to finish another (the wolf pelt for example).

Traianvs · December 11, 2003, 14:18

yeah RPGs, adventures and TBS games waste time like crazy!
before you know it, it's 6 o clock in the morning

Dis · December 12, 2003, 03:27

I don't think Imoen can use the bow again until she gets her thief skills back.

Jamski · December 12, 2003, 05:35

I really reccommend you cover EVERY area south of Beregost before taking on the bandits. After the bandits the plot moves on northwards, and you won't have a reason to head south again. I like to do everything there is to do. Get the XP and the loot

-Jam

lord of the mark · December 12, 2003, 15:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski
I really reccommend you cover EVERY area south of Beregost before taking on the bandits. After the bandits the plot moves on northwards, and you won't have a reason to head south again. I like to do everything there is to do. Get the XP and the loot

-Jam

Unless someone thinks im gonna need ALL the XP and loot possible when i move north, Im not gonna do that. Im getting a fair amount just in making my way the locations for the main subquests (IE the half ogres, Bassileus, and this chicken man ive heard about) I might then go ahead and use the save from petrification scroll on the basilisks, and after that i'm heading towards the bandits again (ive already gone into larswood - BTW i forgot to pick up any scroll when i killed the local bandit leader, does that mean i wont be able to find the bandit camp?)

lord of the mark · December 12, 2003, 15:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Dissident
I don't think Imoen can use the bow again until she gets her thief skills back.

Ive got her almost up to class two mage - i dualled her at 4, so I need to get her up to class 4 mage to get thief skills back, right?

To followup on Jamski - how much running around killing monsters am i going to have to do to get her up to 4 before next hitting a dungeon? Beyond what ive already mentioned in the above post?

Jamski · December 12, 2003, 16:43

Class 5 mage, sorry. So you have to kill quite a LOT of monsters. But there's plenty of XP in this game to be had. Next dungeon is quite a long while though, not till 3 areas AFTER you've done the bandits.

-Jam

Dis · December 13, 2003, 04:21

have you done those mines to the West end of the map? I recommend those before doing the bandits. And then go do the bandits, finish the basilisks, and you should be a fairly decent level.

Jamski · December 13, 2003, 07:32

And clear the coastal tiles too. Those sirens are 3000 EXP EACH !

Are any of you BG fans interested in the Apolyton Dungeon? Click on the link in my sig. for D&D related 'poly fun.

-Jam

centrifuge · December 13, 2003, 13:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski

Are any of you BG fans interested in the Apolyton Dungeon? Click on the link in my sig. for D&D related 'poly fun.

-Jam

I certainly am, but I still have to get NWN

Jamski · December 13, 2003, 14:42

Just don't judge NWN on the campaign that comes with it. The real strenth of NWN is the way you can be a DM so easily and make your own modules (if you can script a small bit) Many people said "NWN sucks compared to BG!" based on the rather average quest that comes with the game.

-Jam

Dis · December 14, 2003, 03:47

yep, playing multiplayer is fun as well. And multiplayer with a DM is a double bonus.

Jamski · December 14, 2003, 11:29

Multiplayer with multiple DM's is the way to go. As long as the DM's have a clue what they're doing.

-Jam

centrifuge · December 14, 2003, 13:04

Do the single player modules tend to be good? SP will be the way that I'll have to play, since my schedule tends to be pretty wacky. The thing that has been attracting me to NWN is the fact that modules can be created for it, replayability is huge in my game choices.

Jamski · December 14, 2003, 14:05

The SP Apolyton Dungeon will be good!

There's loads of SP modules to download, most of which are better than the OC. Some are real dogs though. Just go for ones that got good reviews.

Anyway... back to Baldur's Gate, eh?

-Jam

Dis · December 14, 2003, 16:06

I heard good things about Dreamcatcher. Penultima and Penultima rerolled is fairly good. I still haven't played dreamcatcher, I'll get to it.

Traianvs · December 14, 2003, 16:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamski
Just don't judge NWN on the campaign that comes with it. The real strenth of NWN is the way you can be a DM so easily and make your own modules (if you can script a small bit) Many people said "NWN sucks compared to BG!" based on the rather average quest that comes with the game.

-Jam

You may be right there, but you have to play the main quest in order to know how the game plays, and for me the game feels uneasy, not quite my kind of game actually... I gave up playing it when I got out of that Castle/Cathedral or whatever it was...

Quote:

Unless someone thinks im gonna need ALL the XP and loot possible when i move north, Im not gonna do that. Im getting a fair amount just in making my way the locations for the main subquests (IE the half ogres, Bassileus, and this chicken man ive heard about) I might then go ahead and use the save from petrification scroll on the basilisks, and after that i'm heading towards the bandits again (ive already gone into larswood - BTW i forgot to pick up any scroll when i killed the local bandit leader, does that mean i wont be able to find the bandit camp?)

If you don't do as much quests as you can, then why play the game... You have more fun if you do everything. I would be too curious to just leave those areas untouched!

Jamski · December 14, 2003, 17:09

Quote:

If you don't do as much quests as you can, then why play the game... You have more fun if you do everything. I would be too curious to just leave those areas untouched!

And its not just the XP you miss out on, but there's also some good items lying around... you just need to know where to look.

-Jam

lord of the mark · December 15, 2003, 14:28

i guess i thought the main reason to have all those different sidequests, extra areas to explore, etc was replayability - something to make the game interesting once ive gone through the story. And try out a different strategy - one time focus on the Sirens, say, another time on Firewine bridge, etc. Not to do EVERYTHING in one game! I mean i try to do that, i wont have finished this game when Civ V comes out

Jamski · December 15, 2003, 19:14

And that's a good thing, right?

Actually the first time through I just played the game, and then I read a walkthrough and tryed to see everything there was to see when I played it a second time. Then I played through with a solo character...

-Jam

Drogue · December 15, 2003, 20:26

Solo character is fun. It's relatively easy as a mage, until the last fight. It's also not to bad as a theif. The first bit is quite easy, but get's hard in places. However being solo, and in less need of experience, you can just hide, run and steal a lot.

I've played it through many times. As good characters, bad characters, solo, a pair (was a lot of fun actually), but my favourite time was was roleplaying as myself. I started as a neutral good cleric (I wanted to be true neutral, as balance would be my most important feature, but I always get my rep high, due to doing the good quests, and can't bear killing innocent people, so neutral good it is. I can still steal, since it is for the good of the land that I be given the money to fight

). Finished BGI, doing most of the quests (if not all), and hit the XP cap pretty early, almost as soon as I got to Baldur's Gate. Started going through BGII with it, but stopped playing for a while, so haven't even gone to Spellhold yet. Did kill Kangaxx though

Roleplaying as myself made choices a lot easier. I didn't think what was good for my character, just what i would do. Would be nice to try a new game like that, but would be quite hard.

Jamski · December 15, 2003, 21:12

Heh, over on the Interplay forums we had a "nerfed" solo challenge, to get to the end of BG2 with a character who had MINIMUM stats for their class (in no case was higher than 52 points total allowed), and was allowed NO ITEMS that boosted stats permanantly (i.e. Girdles of X Giant Str) That added a bit of replay...

-JAm

Dis · December 16, 2003, 03:50

too masochistic for me

Jamski · December 16, 2003, 04:06

You REALLY have to think, when your character is too weak to CARRY the meteors created by the 3rd level spell Melf Minute Meteors. You can't move until you fire them ALL... and you can't drop them either.

-Jam

Drogue · December 16, 2003, 21:32

That seems evil. Anybody manage it?

Jamski · December 17, 2003, 05:17

I managed it with a sorceror. Some people had success with thiefs and wizards. Most fighter classes had real problems, drinking potions of strength before every fight etc... With a spell-caster it was nessessary to buff like a mad thing and then cast like crazy

It was quite good fun actually, especially the thread that went with it, full of people whining about thier crappy characters. Once my sorc reached level 19-20 ish then it became actually really easy though. Time stop, improved aleracity, horrid wilting x 3...

-Jam

lord of the mark · December 17, 2003, 10:27

Back to BG1

1. Going to firewine bridge with an essentially level 4 party didnt work out so well.

2. Going there underground from Gullykin without a thief (Imoen still a level 3 illusionist) was particularly poor planning.

3. Going to firewine a better idea if you have more than one bowman in the party.

4. Gullykin itself is boring, or am i missing something?

5. I am at rep 19 and Jaheira is complaining - i know she wont leave, but id rather lower my rep - im roleplaying neutral good, and prefer making J happy to having near perfect rep. I tried stealing some stuff, but my rep doesnt go down. Dont want to kill innocents (both for RP and cause i dont want rep to go down THAT much) what are the circumstances were stealing will lower rep?

6. Ended up losing J and Dynaheir at Firewine, went bask to Beregost to revive them - net loss of gp. and didnt end up with many fire arrows. Did help on XP. Now making up for loss of Gold by more thoroughly cleaning areas south and southwest of Ber. and gradually working west toward Sirenes (?)

Rufus T. Firefly · December 17, 2003, 11:12

Yep, Firewine's a real pain, and I've never found it to be worth the effort.

There's not much to do in Gullykin except the Firewine quest that one halfling gives you. But there's a good fight on the map, outside the village itself, and one of the fighters has some very nice chainmail (which is great if you have a bard, but even if you don't it's well worth selling).

Getting caught while stealing will lower your reputation by one point, which will shiut Jahiera up. Easiest way to do it is to go into a house in Beregost, open a locked trunk or drawer in front of whoever lives there, and wait for the flaminf fist to show up and call you a thief. Then, run like hell (don't fight the Fist; winning will bring down your rep in a major way).

Traianvs · December 17, 2003, 12:29

You can cast 'hold' or sleep on the flaming fist, or charm them so they are not killed and thus don't lose the the 6 rep points or something

you can also knock them unconscious with your bare fists, but the flaming fist aren't pussies but that's not easy

Jamski · December 17, 2003, 13:05

Jaheira will complain, but will never actually leave. Evil characters will, but she's neutral. Don't worry about her and your reputation.

-Jam