I am an absolute noob to the BG2 interface although I have some oooold knowledge of AD&D II (used to be pen and paper fanatic a long time ago, in a galaxy blah blah blah).
Before anyone attacks me for stupidity I will take full responsibility for my simple-mindedness.
I have read the manual and done the tutorial and am still confused...
Can somebody pleeeease give me a button by button explanation of how to use the dual weild attack using the standard BGII interface??
I have JUST started the game, am in the first dungeon, have all the NPCs AND have a katana and a longsword in my weapon slots. I'm concerned because when I click on my char portrait I can only select one of these for my attack. I'm obviously missing something simple.
Help!
Noob question - interface mechanics of dual weild attack
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Camshaft23
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You should be able to do it provided you have ranks in the Two Weapon Style proficiency, though I can't remember if you require it or not. Equip two valid one-handed melee weapons, one in your main hand and the other in the first quick item slot - you should have one wepaon in each hand (dragging and dropping both onto your paper doll should work if I recall correctly). From there you will attack with both weapons automatically during combat.
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Camshaft23
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:06 am
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
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Camshaft23
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:06 am
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Placing any one handed weapon that your character can use into his shield slot is all that is required for your character to use both weapons. He will do so automatically without any further input from you. You do not have to highlight any icons or press any buttons. Two or more points in two weapon style is recommended to get the most out of it.
Magic missile and Melf's acid arrow will (as the spell description for MM says IIRC) strike their target unerringly. You do need line of sight, but having a party member in front of the mage does not block the spell in any way. The same goes for missile weapons.
To tell your entire party to attack an enemy, just hold down the left mouse button and drag the green box that appears around all of your characters, or press the select all button on the bottom right of your screen next to "party AI", and command them to attack the enemy. For more complex commands e.g. spellcasting you will have to click on the character and tell him to use the ability, but for melee attacking this is all you need to do. For hostile enemies, you do not even have to highlight the attack button; just left click the red circle under the enemy and your characters will attack.
Hope this helps, and don't be afraid to ask more questions.
Magic missile and Melf's acid arrow will (as the spell description for MM says IIRC) strike their target unerringly. You do need line of sight, but having a party member in front of the mage does not block the spell in any way. The same goes for missile weapons.
To tell your entire party to attack an enemy, just hold down the left mouse button and drag the green box that appears around all of your characters, or press the select all button on the bottom right of your screen next to "party AI", and command them to attack the enemy. For more complex commands e.g. spellcasting you will have to click on the character and tell him to use the ability, but for melee attacking this is all you need to do. For hostile enemies, you do not even have to highlight the attack button; just left click the red circle under the enemy and your characters will attack.
Hope this helps, and don't be afraid to ask more questions.
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Camshaft23
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:06 am
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
A few more tips:
Go into your various party members' character sheets and tweak their AI scripts a bit. The ones that come with the game are okay but sometimes the defaults set aren't ideal, for example if you want someone to be a defensive rather than aggressive caster.
Similarly, be aware that many, many fights can only be completed effectively with manual control over your whole party and liberal use/abuse of pausing the game. This is especially true when fighting other mages, liches and dragons later in the game. I usually keep party AI on for trash encounters, but precise tactics and smart spell use are required to succeed later on.
Check out the auto-pause options available in the options menu. There are a lot of good choices that I use all the time (such as when enemies are sighted) and a few that come in handy during those more difficult fights (like pause every round, when party members are near death, etc.). Sadly real-time with pause is not the best combat setup ever but the auto-pausing can help make it manageable.
Don't worry too much about conserving spells. Resting is basically free provided you are in an area that allows it, time passed has no effect on the game. To that end you might want to use wizards instead of sorcerers (especially if you're making a custom party).
Just like pen and paper rules, clerics and druids are really overpowered, and multi-classing is also prone to a lot of abuse. Haste is also probably the most powerful spell in the game because of both its movement speed increase and the extra attacks it gives; fighters are good without it and become godly with it.
You can use spell triggers and contingencies to manage your buffs once they become available. Much more fun to do all your pre-fight buffs in 1-2 clicks instead of 10.
Save before every room you enter and buff before running into an unknown area, especially in dungeons. It will save you a lot of headaches. If I recall correctly, Q is the default quicksave key.
Once you're done with Baldur's Gate II, and if you enjoy the combat, you may want to try out Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II as well. In my opinion the dungeon crawling and combat are handled much, much better in those games and the 3E rules in IWDII are a lot more fun to play with even if most of the non-combat skills go to waste. Plus, by then you'll have mastered all the interface and mechanics so they'll be much more playable than if you'd tried to just jump in.
Go into your various party members' character sheets and tweak their AI scripts a bit. The ones that come with the game are okay but sometimes the defaults set aren't ideal, for example if you want someone to be a defensive rather than aggressive caster.
Similarly, be aware that many, many fights can only be completed effectively with manual control over your whole party and liberal use/abuse of pausing the game. This is especially true when fighting other mages, liches and dragons later in the game. I usually keep party AI on for trash encounters, but precise tactics and smart spell use are required to succeed later on.
Check out the auto-pause options available in the options menu. There are a lot of good choices that I use all the time (such as when enemies are sighted) and a few that come in handy during those more difficult fights (like pause every round, when party members are near death, etc.). Sadly real-time with pause is not the best combat setup ever but the auto-pausing can help make it manageable.
Don't worry too much about conserving spells. Resting is basically free provided you are in an area that allows it, time passed has no effect on the game. To that end you might want to use wizards instead of sorcerers (especially if you're making a custom party).
Just like pen and paper rules, clerics and druids are really overpowered, and multi-classing is also prone to a lot of abuse. Haste is also probably the most powerful spell in the game because of both its movement speed increase and the extra attacks it gives; fighters are good without it and become godly with it.
You can use spell triggers and contingencies to manage your buffs once they become available. Much more fun to do all your pre-fight buffs in 1-2 clicks instead of 10.
Save before every room you enter and buff before running into an unknown area, especially in dungeons. It will save you a lot of headaches. If I recall correctly, Q is the default quicksave key.
Once you're done with Baldur's Gate II, and if you enjoy the combat, you may want to try out Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale II as well. In my opinion the dungeon crawling and combat are handled much, much better in those games and the 3E rules in IWDII are a lot more fun to play with even if most of the non-combat skills go to waste. Plus, by then you'll have mastered all the interface and mechanics so they'll be much more playable than if you'd tried to just jump in.