What's your favourite...

[Victorian]

A bit OT, but welcome to Victorian, nice to see new players still pop in. And to see the occasional girl play it. In fact I personally know more girls than guys playing the game, but not many of them socialise online.

Welcome, may The Banshee grant you a good time here and reply to all your questions.

I suspect you play Vanilla from your two comments, you should try some of the excellent mods out there.

Have fun.

Um, I am *not* female, sorry. This was the avatar that was assigned after I tried to get a custom picture to load and could not. I will endeavor to pick a more masculine avatar when I get familiar with the site, it was not intentional, I thought I had picked "no avatar"?! Im from the state of Victoria, in Australia if that was the confusion?, not named Victoria N. I think maybe the reason both genders find appeal in BG is simply the story is breath taking, even I think "turnip-haters are scum" after playing with Jan Janssen, and most people that I know that enjoyed the PC or console game thought that the romance and tomes you find throughout the game were such a complex and well thought out narrative device. I just really like the quests, and challenges, with rescuing Imoen, and then tracking down Irenicus, it was a very engaging story. (I mostly play "no rest until Brynnlaw", that is how much concern I have for Imeon and the other NPCs)

Yeah, I have only ever played SOA vanilla with XP cap up until now, I do not even have Joluv the Bonus Merchant installed yet, but I am looking to get some custom scripts working for my Ranger>Cleric; Though I have seen the more popular mods Solafien; and Chloe; and am eager to try them out when I am more comfortable with using and installing mods, as I need to make another BG folder as I own a legal download copy and do not want to mess up (I am computer incompetent). I have never once used the CLUA command, and and only downloaded Shadow Keeper recently. But the search function here has lead to a few helpful starts, and the walk through though it contains a few errors was an awesome find when I played the game a few years ago on my own PC, though I had seen the game when it came out.

Thank you very much Edar Macilrille for the welcome, it is much appreciated.

(Sorry for the rant, I do not know how to enable a spoiler box?)

On Topic:

#6
Best Armor: Shield of Harmony +2; Harmony Shield just avoids all those problematic spells when you are solo or tanking in the game, especially for the classes lacking access to those spell immunity.

Honorable Mention: I really like the Shield of Reflection +1; for damage immunity, and you get it strait out of the gate, also the graphic that usually annoys most people I like, it helps me differentiate between my NPCs. Cloak of the Sewers; this just has so many functions and forms, it is one of the most powerful effects in the early game with the various immunity that the Shape Change gives.

#7
Best Item: Kitt'hirix Black Spider Figurine; so easy to get and is the most faithful of companions to the early solo protagonist. ~50 damage an attack kills so many things!

HM: Boo! (I mentioned him before though..) Book of Infinite Spells; I play a lot of Paladin class characters within small parties, so access to some high level spells (L4-L7) is nice. Bag of Holding; the cheese of item reuse excepted, this allowing a solo character to carry more than quest items and Potions just helps lessen the effect of resource management, as I often have to pass on unique items otherwise for lack of inventory space.

#8
Best Enemy: Firkraag; All the dragons have great voicing and plots, though none more than Big Red, he is devilish and dramatic, with the greatest of quest rewards, after a long and exhausting roller coaster of encounters.

HM: Irenicus and sister Bodhi; Irenicus has a great voice, and truly villainous story. He epitomizes the nemesis of any over arching D&D campaign, and is so cold and calculating, the first chapter still feels so torturous that I have to leave the room to get a drink during the opening cut scene. Bodhi is just plain malevolent, I often play her team just to get the extra interaction with her, only that her kind has an aversion to green scrolls makes her a little less challenging.

[mrdeluxe]

Location
Irenicus Château. I've played this section dozens of times, closing in on hundreds, and never for a second I thought about skipping it. I still remember the feeling of starting a game trapped in a cage, of being released by Imoen and finding Minsc and Jaheira, my travel companions. I'll probably never forget: "Ah, the child of Bhaal has awoken..."

Weapon
Flail of Ages. While I'm usually a sword guy, the FoA always seemed special, somehow. de'Arnise Keep was one of the first locations I went, and assembling this powerful weapon was a memorable moment. And for every play through of the game, I always consider "who will wield the Flail of Ages in this game?".

Spell
Sleep. Not in BG2, I gotta say, but for BG1. The first time I casted sleep on a bunch of bandits and all of them went down, I fell in love with this spell. In BG2 it's probably Insect Plague, tied with Conjure Fire Elemental. This ties in with my choice for…

NPC
Jaheira. Not a popular choice, I know, but IMO it's the most compelling character with the best storyline. The romance with Jaheira is, for me, as interesting as the main plot of the game.
A close second has to be Minsc, if nothing else for this quote alone:"Evil, meet my sword! SWORD! MEET! EVIL!"

[Frostguard]

Location:
I can't really tell. There were so many places I liked. Athkathla, just as a whole. But if I must say a single one, I say the De'Arnise Keep. My reason will be weird, but I'd bet that once I saw snow falling that area. But I also liked Watcher's Keep. However, I can easily tell what place I hated the most: Underdark, especially Ust Natha. All I felt when being there was "I want to go away, and I want it NOW!". I simply hated those drow, too.

Spell:
There are many candidates. I can hardly tell. Mostly, these together make up the perfect combo, so I'll list all four.
- Time Stop: I'm surprised that I didn't see it mentioned. An amazing spell. Fabulous. Essentially, the mage casts three (well, sometimes only two and a half) spells instantly.
- Dragon Breath: I think it needs no comments. 20d10 damage, knockback. Saved me quite a few times, when being overwhelmed.
- Comet: Almost the same as Dragon Breath, albeit it is better against stronger creatures who would survive (for the stun effect).
- Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting: Just terrible damage.
With these four, I could take down a Dragon in one round (another character threw another Comet in, though, in the same round).
Other notable mentions: Tenser's Transformation, Cloudkill, Stinking Cloud, Breach.

Weapon:
Again, there are two candidates. I can't choose.
- Crom Faeyr: No question. Raises Strength to 25, which means (if I recall correctly) +15 damage. No matter if it's just a +3 weapon.
- Axe of the Unyielding +5: Not only the amazing damage, this weapon is capable of more than what I initially thought. Beheading (thus instantly killing) liches and Melissan is enough to move this weapon to the top.
Note: My main character wielded these two with five-five proficiency points in Axe and War Hammer, and three in Dual Wielding. He was pretty much unstoppable.
Other notable mentions are Angurvadal +5 (That and Tenser's Transformation made Imoen a real tank), Flail of Ages +5 (just some amazing damage, slow and Free Action), Lilarcor +3 (just for his lines).

NPCs:
If power is the point:
- Anomen: The one who is master at everything he does - and other than thieving, he does everything. Casts spells like nobody else, fights like a champion, and has the second most hit points in the party.
- Minsc: An utterly devastating melee tank. No more words are required.
- Imoen: Powerful caster with sufficient skill to remove most traps.
If personality is the point:
- Minsc: Just the best in this category, with Boo of course ("Go for the eyes", "Sword! Meet the evil!").
- Anomen: Not definitely amusing, but it was good watching him become a better man.

[Blomdor]

For location, I'm tempted to say the Underdark, just because I hate, hate, HATE Brynnlaw and Spellhold and often abandon my games just before I finish them. It's not so much that I like it more than the rest of the game, but just reaching the Underdark anymore gives me a buzz because I'm finally done with that stupid, drawn-out, dimly-lit, kobold-filled, riddle-spewing piece of crap dungeon.

Spell: Fireball. When mages suddenly become destructive. Even in IWD2 where Snowball Swarm can substitute as an early FB, this spell really marks the point where an arcane caster starts to be a major offensive presence IMO. Later on it becomes rather weak as AOE attack spells go, but it almost always gets a place in someone's spellbook even towards the end of SOA.

Weapon: Carsomyr. Dispel on hit is a godsend against BG2's remarkably annoying and persistent arcane casters, and paladins are always a favorite class of mine so I have used it in almost all of my games.

NPC: BG2 is not exactly my favorite RPG for NPC interaction, but I like Keldorn. I usually don't take him, however, because it seems wrong to drag him away from his family. Most of my favorite NPCs from BG1 are forgotten or brutally killed off in the sequel.

[toughchan]

Location; tough choice but i will go with the first dungeon where you start the game lol. In my very first game, it took me like 2 days to get through it (never knew what D&D was at that time)...moreover, later on my second game i discovered the hidden location that has the Sword of Chaos).

Spell; i used to love Fireball until i went over level 10 lol, later when i focus on playing solo, i prefer level 4 stoneskin and Improved Haste (level 6). Offensive spell? Definitely Skulltrap or debuffing spell like Sell Thrust, Piece magic.

Weapon; Flail of Age when one-handed...if dual then it's Celestial Fury + Belm.

NPC; Aerie, her story is ok-ish only but i really love the romance theme song. Hell, who can dislike this:
Baldur's Gate 2: Aerie's Romance Theme - YouTube
Honorable mention to Misc (and Boo), god how I love "don't teach my hamster to suck eggs!"