New Guy, Lots of Questions

[fable]

Guys--you're swarming him! Let's see what he wants, next.

[Crenshinibon]

I say he should play SoA first, without ToB or any mod, including any of the packs. Just the patch.

I have NEVER modded BG1 or BG2 and I'm still enjoying the games. I play them daily and have been since 1998. Mods aren't required. There's always something to explore, even if you do know the game inside out.

[sonny]

After spending the last several hours reading all the comments from all of you guys, reading the game manual almost cover to cover and going through the threads I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do, but allow me to ask a couple questions first please.

If I leave the game the way it is loaded now. SoA, ToB, 26498 patch, and the BG2 Fix Pack, will I be able to play just SoA and not have to be concerned about wandering into a ToB area? I ask this because I read somewhere (can't remember where) that if you enter any of the Expansion Pack areas, that you can not return to the original game.

Is it two late to load the Bonus disc that came with the game, that gives you the new merchants? Or would even adding these be wandering to far away from the original game.

Thanks guys/girls. Also thanks for being patient with an old guy.lol

[Crenshinibon]

I for one don't even use the Fix Pack, however, if you don't have ToB installed, you can't even access the expansion areas, so you'd have nothing to worry about. If you do have ToB, there's only one expansion area that appears in SoA, from which you can come and go as you please.

After you actually beat SoA and start ToB, you may never return, but that's a very long time from now.

I suggest installing the contents from the bonus CD. It just adds two merchants to the game, two NPC characters. Other than that, there's no big impact. I believe you can still install the CD.

[fable]

I'd still suggest you use the fix pack. It fixes a lot of things left unfinished by Bioware. Or at least, read the readme file on it to see what it does, and judge for yourself. If you do decide to run it, install it before any other mods.

I would still urge you to consider the Tweak Pack, which contains the bonus merchants. The nice thing about it is that if you want to add things later and only put in the merchants now, you can do that. You can always rerun the Tweak Pack, since most changes can be made on-the-fly at later times in gameplay.

The only area where you could run into much higher ToB-level beasties is in the Watcher's Keep, but you can easily avoid that. It's actually a separate place you can travel to on your map, and carefully marked. Note that you can go there and buy one or two nice things without ever going into it that make inventory organization much, much easier. I'll leave it at that.

[a hygh guy]

I for one don't even use the Fix Pack, however, if you don't have ToB installed, you can't even access the expansion areas, so you'd have nothing to worry about. If you do have ToB, there's only one expansion area that appears in SoA, from which you can come and go as you please.

After you actually beat SoA and start ToB, you may never return, but that's a very long time from now.

I suggest installing the contents from the bonus CD. It just adds two merchants to the game, two NPC characters. Other than that, there's no big impact. I believe you can still install the CD.

What 2 NPCs does the bonus disk add?

[Crenshinibon]

By NPCs I mean the merchants.

SPOILER (Highlight to read):

Spoiler

Dierdre, the merchant at Adventurer's Mart, at the Waukeen's Promenade and Joluv, a merchant in the Copper Cornet of the Slums District.

[CFM]

If I leave the game the way it is loaded now. SoA, ToB, 26498 patch, and the BG2 Fix Pack, will I be able to play just SoA and not have to be concerned about wandering into a ToB area?

SoA has a world map, similar to BG1. But unlike TotSC, ToB also has its own separate world map.

The ToB map is NOT accessible until you complete SoA.

When you complete SoA and start ToB, you can NOT return to any area on the SoA map.

Exception: there is an area on both world maps called Watcher's Keep:
- This is the only area accessible from BOTH maps.
- You can enter Watcher's Keep from either SoA or ToB.
- If you are currently playing SoA, then leaving Watcher's Keep will bring up the SoA world map.
- If you are currently playing ToB, then leaving Watcher's Keep will bring up the ToB world map.

(Watcher's Keep is part of the ToB installation, and was designed for high level characters. Even though technically you can tackle it in SoA, I would recommend waiting until you get to ToB.)

Is it two late to load the Bonus disc that came with the game, that gives you the new merchants? Or would even adding these be wandering to far away from the original game.

No and no. The Bonus Disc will simply add two bonus merchants, which I believe your fully-patched SoA/ToB installation already has anyway. But re-installing them via the Bonus disk won't hurt anything.

The two bonus merchants are nothing more than regular merchants that sell exotic items. Not uber-powerful, just exotic. Interestingly, the items they sell are inspired from the BG sister games, "Planescape:Torment" and "Icewind Dale". See Cren's previous post if you want specifics on who or where these bonus merchants are.

On a side note: traverse this forum with care. This forum has a lot more traffic than the BG1 forum, so the risk of spoilers here is much greater. Be specific with your threads being spoiler-free. This game has some great plot twists and surprises, which would totally suck being spoiled.

Bottom Line: if you've decided how you want to import (or not import) your main dude, then you're ready to rock and roll. Playing BG2 for the first time unspoiled is a beautiful thing. Have a great time!

[anarchistica]

The two bonus merchants are nothing more than regular merchants that sell exotic items. Not uber-powerful, just exotic. Interestingly, the items they sell are inspired from the BG sister games, "Planescape:Torment" and "Icewind Dale".

Actually, CFM is joking here, the bonus merchants sell some of the most powerful items you can get, some bordering on game-ruining (slight spoilers ahoy):

Spoiler

- Items the increase Charisma, thus making everything cheaper.

- An item that gives a huge boost to thieving skills.

- An item that makes a slightly weaker copy of the user (with all the same weapons and abilities).

- A +5 missile weapon that requires no ammunition.

- An item that can make you nearly invulnerable to melee attacks (in conjunction with certain other things).

- An item that allows you to cast so fast that in conjunction with other things makes you cast spells almost instantly.

- And finally, an item that makes you immune to one of the nastiest monsters out there. These last two items are so good/game-ruining there are mods to make them appear much later in the game.

[sonny]

Well Made my decision. I know you are all giving a big sigh of relief and saying "It's about time"

Let me start by thanking fable for being patient and not closing the forum, I know I've taken up a lot of time on this.

Also no words can express how grateful I am for all the help and advice everyone has given me. I know it's probably silly for a grown man to make such an issue about a game, and the only excuse I can give other then being new at this, is I just don't want to screw up and then have to come back later and have you guys fix it.

For anyone that offered advice and I didn't take it, please don't let that stop you from helping me in the future. I just could not do what everyone said I should do. All that said, here's what I've decided to do, after several hours of reading. If it's a bad choice, I'll start over a new way.

1. I plan to play SoA through twice before doing ToB. At the end of BG1, I still was not comfortable with combat. Several times I did not have Dynaheir in the right position and had her cast a spell and it would do bad damage to 1/2 the party. So I want to hone my combat skills in SoA

2. I am going to leave everything loaded as is. SoA, ToB, 26498 patch, and the Fix Pack. I've decided to do this because I read the Fix Pack Readme and there are some things it fixes that I know would annoy me while playing. If I understand fable right, I can use the Tweak Pack anytime, so for right now I'm only going to use it, or the Bonus disc to get the 2 new merchants. I've decided not to use all the other things in the Tweak Pack on the 1st play through of SoA because I think it changes the original game to much. Will probably use some more of it on the 2nd play through.

3. Have decided to start with a new character in lieu of importing. Will still be a LG or NG Fighter Class. Have not made up my mind yet about dual classing. I decide to do this or a couple reasons. 1. I don't feel comfortable yet fooling with the ini or any other files. I played through BG1 without using the console or any walkthroughs so I would like to try this with SoA. If I don't like what I've created, I can start over and import my character from BG1.
2. I would like to see if I can build a better character based on what I learned from the 1st game.

Well that's about it. I know a lot of you are not going to agree with the decision and you may be right, it may be a very dumb thing to do.

Would like to ask this before I go. Do I understand it right. I can load the Bonus disc that came with the game even though I've already loaded the patch and the Fix Pack and it won't screw anything up. Or would it be safer to load it from the Tweak Pack

Again I want to thank everyone so very, very much. I'll be back. The guys from the BG1 forum can attest to that. When I get stuck, I'll be posting.

PS. Is there somewhere to get a color hard copy map for SoA?

[CFM]

3. Have decided to start with a new character in lieu of importing. Will still be a LG or NG Fighter Class. Have not made up my mind yet about dual classing. I decide to do this or a couple reasons. 1. I don't feel comfortable yet fooling with the ini or any other files. I played through BG1 without using the console or any walkthroughs so I would like to try this with SoA. If I don't like what I've created, I can start over and import my character from BG1.
2. I would like to see if I can build a better character based on what I learned from the 1st game.

For *if* you decide to dual your fighter later, keep this in mind:
- Your base Strength must be 15 or higher.
- To dual to a thief, your base Dexterity must be 17 or higher.
- To dual to a mage, your base Intelligence must be 17 or higher.
- To dual to a cleric, your base Wisdom must be 17 or higher.
- To dual at all, you need to be human.

Well that's about it. I know a lot of you are not going to agree with the decision and you may be right, it may be a very dumb thing to do.

The beauty of this discussion is that there are no wrong decisions. Get the facts. Accumulate the opinions. Then do what *you* want to do.

Would like to ask this before I go. Do I understand it right. I can load the Bonus disc that came with the game even though I've already loaded the patch and the Fix Pack and it won't screw anything up. Or would it be safer to load it from the Tweak Pack

I would think the Bonus Disc would be safer, since it's official Bioware software. (I think the 26498 patch gives you both merchants anyways.) Either way should be cool.

PS. Is there somewhere to get a color hard copy map for SoA?

A cloth map of SoA came with the Collector's Edition of the SoA game. To my knowledge, this is the only actual map that came in any of the SoA or ToB boxes.

These maps could be considered spoilers, since most areas will only be displayed as you progress thru the game.

But if you'd like a map from a jpg file off the internet, then check this link out:
Sorcerer's Place - Baldur's Gate 2 Maps

There are a couple links in the middle of this webpage, one for the SoA world map, and one for the ToB world map.

When the map is pulled up in your web browser:
Right-click it
Selecte "Save Picture As..."
Select Desktop
This will put the .jpg maps on your Desktop, to view or print as needed.

[a hygh guy]

By NPCs I mean the merchants.

O ok. After reading what y'all said about the bonus disk I decided to install mine, but I can only find one of the merchants. I swear my game is cursed nothing works

[VonDondu]

It looks like you've got a great game ahead of you. You're very lucky that you can play BG2 for the first time, unspoiled.

Most of my advice can be summed up as, "Keep it simple." I know it probably didn't seem that way, but I have a tendency to be verbose. Just play Shadows of Amn in its original form for now and don't worry about modding it or tweaking it.

1. I plan to play SoA through twice before doing ToB...

I have the impression that most players restart several times before they ever finish a game. If you feel like doing that at any point in the game, just do it and don't worry about it. I'm sure that everyone here has done it.

2. I am going to leave everything loaded as is. SoA, ToB, 26498 patch, and the Fix Pack... If I understand fable right, I can use the Tweak Pack anytime, so for right now I'm only going to use it, or the Bonus disc to get the 2 new merchants. I've decided not to use all the other things in the Tweak Pack on the 1st play through of SoA because I think it changes the original game to much. Will probably use some more of it on the 2nd play through.

The G3 Tweak Pack seems fairly "safe" in the sense that it doesn't totally rewrite the game files. Item replacements are a good example--all it does is place new items files in the OVERRIDE directory (which anyone can do -- or un-do -- manually). This includes all of the items that can be made to "stack", such as arrows, gems, etc. However, some features cannot be implemented without starting a new game, due to the way that saved game files work. For example, you cannot make Bags of Holding "bottomless" in the middle of your game.

3. Have decided to start with a new character in lieu of importing. Will still be a LG or NG Fighter Class...

If you want to dual to a Thief, your character cannot be Lawful Good. Any other alignment will work.

Do I understand it right. I can load the Bonus disc that came with the game even though I've already loaded the patch and the Fix Pack and it won't screw anything up. Or would it be safer to load it from the Tweak Pack

I'm wary of running any program to add new files to the OVERRIDE directory, so I just do it manually. If you know to use Windows Explorer, you shouldn't have any problem finding that directory or copying files to it. Do you know how to unzip .ZIP files? If so, I will upload the Bonus Merchant files for you.

[Dummy]

I have the impression that most players restart several times before they ever finish a game. If you feel like doing that at any point in the game, just do it and don't worry about it. I'm sure that everyone here has done it.

Yes thats definetly true for me, i atleast startet the game 3 times until i finished it

i startet up as a fighter, than mage and finally finished as a sorc :mischief:


sonny i wish you the best of luck and very much fun with this fabulos game,
IMHO it is the BEST computer ( singleplayer ) game there is !!! BY FAR

[Darth Bane88]

I know the best thing to help me thru the game was my 1st edition PnP rulebooks, and it still took me 5 different character classes just to finish SOA as a sorcerer!