I want to solo...

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Sat May 09, 2009 8:58 pm

...but my role-playing sense keeps getting the better of me. The moment I get confident, thinking "yeah, I'm gonna solo a Ranger/Cleric!" or whatever, my mind drifts off to how leaving Imoen behind would be a huge loss of storyline.

If I don't get thinking about Immy, I get thinking about how I haven't played this game without a romance before and how I would miss the interaction. It gets me to consider taking Imoen and the romantic interest, but then I'd get thinking about what my party is missing, such as a mage and a thief while Immy is AFK...

A few thoughts later and I'm back up to a 6 person group. It's honestly frustrating me that I can't manage to sort my thoughts out long enough to get through Irenicus' dungeon before I have regrets about sending Minsc packing.

For those of you who have solo'd this game before, did you have any situation like this to cope with? What advice can you give me?

On a side note, does anyone have any suggestions for what to solo this game with? I've read guides about soloing as a Ranger/Cleric and a Sorceror, but I want to hear some of your opinions. I'm interested in hearing about your experiences, especially with less common classes (Beast Master, Assassin, Ranger etc.)

On a side-side note, and right back to the topic of my self mind-games, has anyone else had an addiction to hitting up the CLUAConsole for money whenever you need it? Every time I think about soloing, I keep thinking about how much of a pain it would be to solo quests without superior gear from Ribald and the bonus merchants.

Thanks for any input, guys!

EDIT: Not using any difficulty mods at the moment, but willing to try some. Just using BG2 tweaks, Fixpack, Widescreen, Banter Pack, and Flirt Pack. Not every aspect of the Tweaks and Fixpack is installed either, just ones I thought would be useful.

Rancid Sushi · Post by **Rancid Sushi** » Sat May 09, 2009 11:18 pm

Try running a solo game and non-solo game at the same time. Sate your role play craving for a while, then play the solo game. That's the best I can think of. I'm personally more of a role player myself but I just tune it out whenever I want to play a new kind of game.

You should just disable CLUA by deleting the "Debug Mode= 1" line in your baldur.ini file. Not sure if it will work, but it's simple to try.

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Sat May 09, 2009 11:27 pm

I'm more of a role-player too. The main reason I have Debug Mode set up is just for fixing bugs in the romance plots, or (if I'm in a rush) for forcing LoveTalks.

Deleting that line sounds like a good idea though, and I'll probably do that for the duration of my solo campaign.

Was just reading the Solo Ranger/Cleric guide on GameFAQs, and I definitely think that I can do it with that character, or any other character for that matter. The problem I keep having is that I'm really attached to Imoen, and I just have a hard time picturing the game without her in the party spicing up the story-line.

That gets me thinking about taking (slight spoilers ahead)

Spoiler

Sarevok

once ToB starts for an

Spoiler

all-Bhaalspawn party

. Then of course I get thinking about taking Jaheira and Minsc for a BG1 reunion group.

My mind just keeps racing when I think about it, I probably need a drink or two. >.>

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Mon May 11, 2009 12:09 am

Well, I decided to start playing a Half-Elf vanilla Ranger in a semi-solo game. 2* in Long Bows, 2* in Scimitars, 1* in Two-weapon style, 1* in flails. The point I got at level 9 was placed in Bastard swords because I love them. Currently using Strong Arm +2 for my bow, the Bastard Sword +1, +3 vs. Shapeshifters in my main hand, and a Scimitar +1 in my off-hand.

For my stats, I got an insanely good roll after about 50 tries. The roll didn't come out in this form; I removed some points from Charisma and Intelligence so I could re-distribute them to more important stats.

18/97
18
18
12
18
10

It doesn't get much better than that without cheating.

Anyways, by semi-solo I mean that I'm going to be taking Imoen once I rescue her, and a certain NPC at the start of ToB.

So far I've only done a couple of missions. The first ones I did were the Copper Coronet quests, part one and two. The only part I found challenging was the first room you enter from the sewers, where there are 7 or 8 slavers trying to eat my head. I buffed up with Armor of Faith, Draw Upon Holy Might(from special abilities page) and I popped an Oil of Speed. It was a tough fight, and I needed to drink a few healing potions, but I managed to do it.

The second mission I did was the easy-as-hell circus tent quest. With only 5 enemies to kill and a simple trivia question to answer, this was basically a free 50k XP.

I'm probably going to try and do the Trademeet quests next for my two scimitars. Then I'll head to D'Arnise Keep for the Flail of Ages and the Elven Court Bow so I can wear a different belt.

Once that's taken care of, I'll be heading off to Umar Hills to do the large quest leading to my stronghold and armor.

If anyone has any strategies they'd like to share, I'd love to hear 'em.

jouke1988 · Post by **jouke1988** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:11 pm

I never played a solo game because I think that when you roleplay, not one hero wouldn't accept help. You don't need to take all the help you can get but refusing everything wouldn't fit in your hero character.

Berethor · Post by **Berethor** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:18 pm

I agree with you 100%. That is the way I like to play the game too.

The dilemma I've been having is that the game has become too easy for me. I walk into that room with the dragon, cast a few preparation spells, and blow him to pieces within seconds.

When you're soloing, you have to plan your game a lot more. You have to make sure that your saving throws are as good as they can be, because one stun or confusion can end your game if you get hit with it.

It adds a lot more challenge to the game, and since I don't like using difficulty enhancing mods such as Ascension, it seems like the best option for me.

FrozenWasteland · Post by **FrozenWasteland** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:13 am

Playing with a group is easy.

Soloing is easy.

A lot of people think that soloing offers more of a challenge, but it dosn't. You have to watch out for certain things like Charm, Flesh to stone etc. As it will be instant game over, But the amount of experience you get when you solo is very high. It's the reason why the game is easiest to solo with a mage of some kind, or sorcerer. By the time you get to firekraag you can have level 7-8 spells. Not to mention that you will have more money than you can possible use, As you're going to be selling a lot of equipment you won't be using.

So i wouldn't say soloing is hard, It's harder than playing with a group, but it's still easy. Only way to make a solo experience hard, is to put restrictions on yourself. Like - No use of cloudkill spell. So that you can't 'Cheese' Hard encounters.

Now for soloing, And to keep it roleplay. When i solo, I tend to not even think that i'm a Bhaal spawn, Or rather that i'm not THE bhaalspawn. My character dosn't even have to have a history from Baldur's gate 1, and if he does then it can be something else. So perhaps try that? Go out of the picture, Forget about Imoen, Minsc and such. Be something else. This is much easier and fun to do in Baldur's gate 1, And is the reason i like it more than it's sequal.

-FrozenWasteland.

Rancid Sushi · Post by **Rancid Sushi** » Sun May 31, 2009 12:39 pm

Try Tactics and/or Ascension. Soloing will cease to be 'easy.'

FrozenWasteland · Post by **FrozenWasteland** » Sun May 31, 2009 1:19 pm

It's as easy as anything else, especially if mage. Just need to learn which spells to use when, And how to get immune to different things. With all the items that they feed you in the game, It's really not that hard.

Thrar · Post by **Thrar** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:39 am

I've never been through a significant part of the game with a solo character, for reasons similar to the OP. I used to get annoyed by the traps and locks while I felt the game just turned into a large XP hunt, given no interaction and few useful item rewards after the initial couple of quests.

However, I have played at least one dual game that was a lot of fun and tend to play with smaller parties to get a better feel for what each member can do.

For running a dual, you can still cover the four basic types with multi classes. The game I remember here was as an F/T with Aerie, which had all the usual skillsets plus NPC interaction (even romance). I'd recommend trying something like this if you want a more intense focus on few characters yet don't feel like soloing.
I have played several games with 3 or 4 characters, it can be a lot of fun, especially if you choose to pick NPCs you haven't used much before your that you consider weak, because you will learn how to use them well.
My most memorable game was one of these: PC Archer with Anomen (romance) and Yoshi/Imoen.

Try one of these and you'll find that there's a whole world between a solo and a 6-person party!

Jordoo · Post by **Jordoo** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:34 am

I love to play semi solo games. I'll keep Imoen when I get her back but along the way pick up other NPC's for their quests and then drop them off when I'm done. Soloing is very chanlenging at first but once you've exhausted all the different strategies of one particular character it can become boaring. Lately I've enjoyed parties of 2 or 3 characters while bouncing the other NPC's in and out. I did a Fighter/Theif Multiclass character with Arie and then kept Imoen after spellhold, and it was alot of fun. So many badies were sucked in by a buffed up Airie only to get cut down from behind.