How do you play Baldur's Gate?

Tavi · Post by **Tavi** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 9:49 pm

This thread is to help me enjoy the game, which I find mostly irritating so far! Do you feel forced to explore every black (unexplored) portion of an area out of fear of missing something that might be useful/important? On a similar note, do you feel forced to talk to every NPC (commoners too) for the same reason? Do you follow the main goal or stray for some side quests, which btw I find them to be fecking annoying; "fetch this for me kind traveller" ... **** you, unless you're on your death bed or have amputed legs, go take it yourself **** head. Closing the detour. How do you pick your party members? For example, I met a midget and a clown (Xzar?) just outside Candlekeep, but I hesitated...

brb, my mouse pointer is moving in every direction (hacker?)

Maphestow · Post by **Maphestow** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:25 pm

maybe i can help get you started

first, go ahead and let that "clown" and "midget" go with you. you're right, they stink, but you need people to join your party. now go north towards the Friendly Arm Inn. in there you will find two much better companions for your trip. they will help direct you from there on. once you have them (Jaheira and Khalid), lose the midget and clown (Xzar)

Hope that helps. Enjoy the game!

Tavi · Post by **Tavi** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 10:35 pm

Thanks for taking part of this weird thread.

What about my other questions? How do you play?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:28 am

Exploring the areas is part of the game. Still, examining every inch of every map isn't much fun, so don't. The story will take you to the places you need to go. Sometimes I would end up in areas that seemed nice or strange or interesting and I would explore further.
The same goes for speaking to people. If it's important to the storyline, people will often come to you. Also, people that are just called 'commoner' rarely have something important to tell you. If they have names, there's probably a reason to talk to them. But you can still choose not to. As you said, the number of fetch-me-this-item-quests is quite high. A lot of these quests have nice and interesting elements to them, though. Talk to a dwarf in Ulgoths Beard, agree to find his family dagger and you'll be on the edge of your seat for lot of gamehours.
As for picking partymembers: pick whoever you like. If you don't like the midget, drop him. You can finish the game with just about any party. Still, it would be smart to have at least one or two people who can throw a punch (fighters, rangers, paladins), a thief, a mage and a healer (cleric or druid).

What you think of as a disadvantage is one of the main reasons I'm so attracted to this game: it's big! It took me three times to play this game and after that there were still some quests I didn't do or finish. The replayability factor of Baldur's Gate is quite high.

Luis Antonio · Post by **Luis Antonio** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:18 am

You need a little more time on the game to go deep into the history line. You'll soon be wanting to play with other classes, find other items, and really, you wont thing your money has been spent without a good reason.

If you are worried about the fog of the map, you may cheat, by adding the cheats=1 option into the baldur.ini file and using the apropriate CLUA Console command line.

I wont post the command here, because I really want you to explore, I'm just showing the possibility for you. The game is outstanding, I bet you will agree.

Good luck!

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:59 am

I like to experience every little detail that a game like Baldur's Gate has to offer; but as you suggest, it takes too much time to examine every item and talk to every character. After playing the game several times and reading walkthroughs to make sure that I didn't miss anything, I can assure you that none of the little things has any consequences. In other words, every conversation is isolated (what you say to one NPC won't affect how other NPCs treat you in the next chapter), and if you miss an item in one place, you can find other items in other places. You might compare playing the game to reading a newspaper: you can read every word if you want to, or you can read the articles that catch your eye and have a good time.

Normally, if you pay attention to the dialogue, you can tell where you're supposed to go. This applies to sidequests as well as the main quest. For example, some of the townspeople in Beregost will tell you about the Ulcaster School, the Firewine Ruins, and the criminal known as Bassilus. The first two are major sidequests, and the quest for Bassilus carries a substantial reward. Quests involving people who ask you to "fetch" something for them are less significant and sometimes not worth the trouble, but if you keep track of what people have asked you to do, you can collect the experience points the next time you pass through the area and talk to those people again. For example, a lady at the Friendly Arm Inn will ask you to kill some spiders in Beregost and bring her old boots to her. If you find the house she's talking about, you don't have to return her boots to her immediately; you can talk to her the next time you visit the Friendly Arm Inn, no matter how long it takes you to return.

As a general rule, if someone wants to join my party, I'll let him or her join just so I can take a good look at him or her. But I only keep the ones who fit my party and my playing style. For example, if I want to play a Good-aligned group, I don't let Evil characters stay in my party. Or if I already have a Thief in my party, I don't let a second Thief join my party unless they have some skills my party doesn't already have. For example, I don't see any reason to have both Imoen and Safana in your party, since they have essentially the same skills.

Imoen is a fine Thief, but she can be dual-classed to a Mage. If you dual-class her, she temporarily loses her thieving skills. Until she regains them, it doesn't hurt to add another Thief to the group. Once Imoen regains her thieving skills, you still might decide to keep the other Thief. For example, Montaron (whom you met with his friend Xzar) isn't just a Thief; he's also a vicious Fighter, and he can fight a lot better than Imoen.

On the other hand, you can never have too many Fighters in your group, especially if you like to equip your entire party with ranged weapons. Melee battles can be very difficult, so an easy strategy is to shoot everything with arrows and bullets before it ever reaches your party. Any of the Fighters, Fighter/Thieves, or Rangers can wield a bow effectively (although some are better than others).

Your group will do fine if you follow the main storyline and recruit characters who have the basic skill set that an adventuring party requires: melee warriors, a thief, a healer, and a mage. Gorion told you to meet Khalid and Jaheria at the Friendly Arm Inn, so why not go meet them? Imoen has probably already joined your party, so why not take advantage of her skills? If you add another warrior and a Mage to your party, you'll have a party that go anywhere and do anything. If you don't like any of them, you can replace them when you meet someone better. For me, the hardest part is deciding who NOT to keep.

There are 25 NPCs in the game. Yu can always find someone who will suit your playing style.

Tavi · Post by **Tavi** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 8:26 am

Thanks again for taking part in this well known thread. I'm not going to take much more of your time, especially VonDondu's, who thought my n00bish questions are good material to write a book - thanks

I wish you a happy new year

Curry · Post by **Curry** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:41 am

Yeah and once you've finished the game you might want to try to beat the game with just one char (solo). Or try to beat the game without loading (of course when you close the game you save and load when you decide to continue). If your PC dies you'll just have to create a new char and start from the beginning

Brynn · Post by **Brynn** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 9:03 am

Heh, I know how you feel

It can be very frustrating to crawl along some abandoned roads just to find out that there's nothing important hidden... This game requires a lot of patience. But when you find Drizzt himself in a totally insignificant area, you feel rewarded

I like to explore everyting, especially that I'm soloing so I really need as much xp as possible.

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:22 pm

I frequently explore all of the areas, even though I have played the game often enough to know where everything is. It just seems ignoble to target the good spots and leave. But I gave up talking to commoners half-way through my first game. I learned pretty quickly that the only people worth talking to are the ones with names.

TheAmazingOopah · Post by **TheAmazingOopah** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 4:38 am

Weapon Specialisation

I'm having Kivan in my team, and he already has two skill points on the bow and the spear (the computer did that) and one on the axe (that was me). Now I am to ad a sixth point (level 6), and I don't know if I will specialise him on the axe or give a point to the large sword. The thing is, that there are many great swords in the game and only a few good spears and good axes, so now I'm regretting a bit that I gave him the point for the axe.
So now I'm asking: will the ranger achieve even a seventh point? Because then, I would start specialising him with the large sword.
I also have in my team: Imoen (thief), Coran (fighter/thief), Ajantis (paladin), Yeslick (fighter/cleric) and me (mage). How often will I be able to give these guys another weapon point?

spooky2 · Post by **spooky2** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 6:58 am

[QUOTE=TheAmazingOopah]I'm having Kivan in my team, and he already has two skill points on the bow and the spear (the computer did that) and one on the axe (that was me). Now I am to ad a sixth point (level 6), and I don't know if I will specialise him on the axe or give a point to the large sword. The thing is, that there are many great swords in the game and only a few good spears and good axes, so now I'm regretting a bit that I gave him the point for the axe.
So now I'm asking: will the ranger achieve even a seventh point? Because then, I would start specialising him with the large sword.
I also have in my team: Imoen (thief), Coran (fighter/thief), Ajantis (paladin), Yeslick (fighter/cleric) and me (mage). How often will I be able to give these guys another weapon point?[/QUOTE]

Actualy Kivan , beacouse he is Elf has +1 with large swords and bow as racial modifiers.

good day.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:51 am

You can also use Gatekeeper to edit his skills.

Erenor · Post by **Erenor** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 6:59 pm

I always try to explore every map, because it's a great way to gain xp. Random encounters and then the special ones designated to different maps all yield a little xp and allow you to slowly level up your party. For a first time through at least, I'd suggest looking everywhere. When you know what's around and what you want to do on a second or third run through, you can skip the little stuff. Does anybody else go crazy when you can't clear an entire map without cheating or a spell?