ROFL! You have no idea how irritating it was seeing that FIND FAMILIAR button every single time I clicked my 'magic' button. It was a constant reminder of gross stupidity throughout a couple hundred hours of gameplay.mbz wrote: I really admire your courage to play thru the game first time with a sorc (and with pretty good picks)
btw, I'm down with the xyz site alright. The biggest problem playing as the sorc, and with no real AD&D knowledge, was getting overwhelmed with the arcane magic options. 15 to 25 spells per level was pretty intimidating so I gave xyz a good read-thru before diving in to BG2. Unfortunately, the xyz site makes a lot of assumptions about one's pre-existing AD&D knowledge. It's not written for complete noobs like I was at the time.
Honestly, I think I've only 'mastered' about 15% of what the sorcy is truly capable of (and quite possibly less) so when I decide to play BG2 again...I'll probably run with the same class with a focus on mastering the remaining 85%.
I never intended a specific party focus but what I ended up with naturally was OH so delightful:
ME (sorc)
Edwin (conj)
Imoen (thief/mage)
Korgan (uber-tank)
Mazzy (tank) [Sarevok immediately in ToB for the same purpose]
Anomen (priest/undead killer/semi-tank)
Running with 4 magic users (including Anomen) allowed me to specialize and simplify the overwhelming range of options. Edwin was in charge of summoning fodder. Imoen's spells were dedicated to breaching/piercing/dispelling magic while my PC was there to zap stuff in a major way. This was incredibly fun but, more importantly, it allowed me to organize relative spell spheres so that I could (a) quickly find what I needed for a given situation in the thick of battle and (b) better understand what my magic was actually doing.
As you're aware, with 4 spell caster's (not to mention the inclusion of foe castings), the screen can get pretty overwhelming with visuals so being able to track the source and effect was necessary in terms of learning as I went.[/quote]
Admittedly, no. Never tried any of those ideas. I especially like the idea of hastening your summons. The closest I got to something like that was applying improved haste to Korgan/Sarevok/Anomen...each of whom already had boots of speed. Throw in those higher level abilities like Whirlwind Attack and it was a mighty slaughter on many occasion.few comments:
Level 1: Try using Malison, Doom from cleric spellbook on enemy before using Cromatic Orb..
Level 3: Did you try using haste on your skellies and Mordy Swords?
Level 5: Did you try triggering Sunfire (alone) in front of drows?
Without a doubt. Many thanks for the links/tips, friend.Check out of the BG forum Crossroad for more tactical tips to spice up the game even more~