Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[kwanzabot]

City of Amn

Amn is the nation and Athkatla is the capital city...

I am now certain that Obsidian can do a better job with PoE 2

Good for you. Individual NWN builders have long since surpassed Athkatla and Amn - I'M CERTAIN OBSIDIAN CAN, TOO!

I forgot how underwhelming is the level up systems in IE games. Most of the level up don't give you much choice for the skills. You just press the level up button and that's it (only the thief has points that you can spend in).

Icewind Dale 2?

My question for you is if Throne of Bhaal is a must play in order to see the proper ending or is it just a linear dungeon crawling experience with another ending?

ToB is shit on a stick, even with Ascension.

Thank you for correcting me! I don't remember too much of IWD 2. I remember I gave it a go when I was younger but never got to finish it. But yeah from memory I know that IWD 2 was closer to Neverwinter Nights no? I think it was one of the last Black Isle games along with something called Lionheart. They even changed the HUD.

iwd games were pure dungeon crawlers, 1st wasn't terrible not great imo 2nd was really shit

lionheart was like 90% shitty diablo clone 10% slightly below average fallout clone

nwn games are sort of wannabe story based games that have alot of dungeon crawling, both have stupid plots boring settings and way too much combat which is 10x worse then infinity engine combat, not really like IWD more like dragon age before dragon age

 

[Atlantico]

ToB is shit on a stick, even with Ascension.

:brofist:

Well said.

 

[Jack]

One of few good things about SoD was the original cast making a return. I've re-coded a soundset David Warner made for use with the not-fucked version of BG1 and uploaded it in a handy archive here, simply extract the files into the sounds folder of your BG installation and you should be good to go.

 

[soulburner]

So... I've been playing through BG1EE again with the idea of acquiring Siege of Dragonspear and... I'm not sure what to do now, because some of EEs stuff is pretty cool, but I kind of like the original releases more...

I don't know what to do about SoD yet, but... here it is: what is the current best way to play BG1 in BG2 engine? BGT? Is there a good readme/tutorial on how to do this to get all the tweaks, bugfixes, unfinished businesses and shit intergrated without spending the whole day?

edit - I remember trying to install BGT some time ago and somehow failed after spending a long time with it, so I'm a bit hesitant to try that again

 

[GarfunkeL]

BGT is probably the best way as it has been constantly updated. What you want is the the BIG WORLD SETUP program, that will automatically download and install all the mods that you select for you. It will also notify you of any errors so you can fix them during the installation process. For example, it might be trying to download a mod from site X but cannot find it. The install will pause and tell you this. You google the mod and find that it is now available at site Y so you manually download it, put it in the same directory with BWS and voila, it will know how to install it from there. It even checks for overlapping content between mods, so you don't buttfuck yourself by accident.

The only problem is that people tend to go overboard and install 300+ mods and then have a bloated mess at their hands.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Big World Setup can do it for you. Make sure to only install what you need. Overdoing it can break things and most added content is shit.

edit: Also what GarfunkeL said.

 

[soulburner]

Thank you. I was hoping some utility like this existed but never thought it actually does :D

 

[agris]

Thank you. I was hoping some utility like this existed but never thought it actually does :D

If you care about challenging gameplay, be especially wary of mods adding new items. Modders gonna mod.

edit: or spells

 

[damager]

Imp familiar is incredible OP. I am level 2 and haven't even left Candlekeep, just by slaughtering guards that enter the room in Ogre form when I steal stuff out of chests. Thinking about soloing this until I meet NPC I actual want to recruit.

Speaking of which, what are you recommendations for a neutral evil party?

 

[oldmanpaco]

Imp familiar is incredible OP. I am level 2 and haven't even left Candlekeep, just by slaughtering guards that enter the room in Ogre form when I steal stuff out of chests. Thinking about soloing this until I meet NPC I actual want to recruit.

Speaking of which, what are you recommendations for a neutral evil party?

Imoen - Duel to mage at some point. If you don't she will still be a thief at the start of BG2. Or just skip her and take Montaron or Safana.
Edwin - Any party without Edwin is just lame.
Jaheira - Insect swarm for the win. Khalid needs to have a solo run in with hobgoblins immediately though.
Viconia - Best cleric but needs gauntlets of ogre strength to be an effective fighter.
Shar-teel or Kaigen. Getting minsc to stick around while Edwin is in the party is fun as well.

Keep in mind that Edwin, Jaheira, Minsc, and Imoen will have their bg1 stats transfer over to bg2. Also no matter how many times Khaled dies outside of the Friendly Arms Inn his body always finds its way to Chatou Irenicus.

fake edit: Using the imp in BG1 is basically cheating. Not that it really matters.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Get the crazy druid instead of Jaheira. Especially if you're using BG1NPC Project. Gives you some variety. Get both Kagain and Shar-Teel for melee power, as the former is great at taking damage while the latter is great at dishing it out.

 

[oldmanpaco]

And miss out on the opportunity to kill off Khalid... Why even play the game?

 

[Morblot]

Am I the only one who actually likes Khalid? The panicking is annoying but otherwise he's a sympathetic kinda guy.

In other news, I finished SoA yesterday (for the second time in my life) and boy do I miss it already now that I'm in ToB. The linearity is off-putting and that annoying cunt Melissan has nothing on Irenicus. Her voice acting is also obnoxious.

OTOH bashing orcs with my bro Sarevok is p. entertaining. I didn't use him the last time I played and I think I've had my fill of GO FOR THE EYES, BOO! GO FOR THE EYES! YAAARR! after listening to it constantly ever since I stumbled to Nashkel as a rookie adventurer so many levels ago...

 

[damager]

Thinking of Kagain, Shar-Teel, Safara, Viconia and me at the Moment. Edwin is great and all but I don't really want 2 mages. I would like some ranged support, but it seems like all the bowman are on the good side of the spectrum.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Any party without Edwin is a party I don't want to be part of.

 

[Hegel]

I haven't played in years. Anyway, dual-class Shar-Teel to thief or equip montaron with a sling. You could even load Edwin with a copy or two of the small meteors spell (as long as it is a BG1+BG2 modded game). Alternatively, you could increase eldoth's dexterity.

 

[octavius]

If you use BG1 NPC Project I recommend using Monty and Xzar.

 

[kwanzabot]

Am I the only one who actually likes Khalid? The panicking is annoying but otherwise he's a sympathetic kinda guy.

yes

jaheira is annoying and trash aswell



tob is super trash

 

[Excidium II]

Not even Jaheira likes Khalid that much. Some weeks after he's killed and she's already trying to get your dick.

 

[damager]

I equipped Jaheira with the Girdle of Gender before I dropped them out

 

[damager]

I rerolled as a sorc, so I have a reason to bring Edwin and because of the Imp exploit. I didn't realize it is a BG2 spell.

Party is complete now with Kargain, Shar-Teel, Vic, Edwin and Monty. Maybe I will drop Monty for Koran once we met. But I realized he is one of the better thief options. He has good str/dex/con and he has the warrior dual class, allowing hin to start with 2 Short Sword and 2 Sling proficiency. Can make a good backstabber / sling ranger. Solid choice.

 

[Lilura]

Sub Coran in for Monty because he's the better ranged unit and has the thief skills to get you through Durlag's Tower (100-rated locks/traps). Coran should wield composite longbow +1, not Deadshot: he doesn't need +THAC0 (Deadshot/bracers of archery should go to second-rate archers).

Xzar can be problematic without access to illusions like Mirror Image (necro opposition school). He's better dual-classed to Cleric (vanilla OC only).

Edwin's opposition school is Divination, which means no Identify. No biggie if you have a second mage or bard, though.

Kagain needs the gauntlets of dexterity in the early stages; otherwise he's not much of a tank. Once he gets a set of full plate and an AC of around -7 (maxes around -10), give him the gauntlets of ogre strength.

Viccy is a good healbot and magic-tanker (65% innate MR).

 

[kwanzabot]

Sub Coran in for Monty because he's the better ranged unit and has the thief skills to get you through Durlag's Tower (100-rated locks/traps). Coran should wield composite longbow +1, not Deadshot: he doesn't need +THAC0 (Deadshot/bracers of archery should go to second-rate archers).

Xzar can be problematic without access to illusions like Mirror Image (necro opposition school). He's better dual-classed to Cleric (vanilla OC only).

Edwin's opposition school is Divination, which means no Identify. No biggie if you have a second mage or bard, though.

Kagain needs the gauntlets of dexterity in the early stages; otherwise he's not much of a tank. Once he gets a set of full plate and an AC of around -7 (maxes around -10), give him the gauntlets of ogre strength.

Viccy is a good healbot and magic-tanker (65% innate MR).

you try way too hard

 

[bloodlover]

So I made it to the end of chapter 2 with my holy/saintly party and I have to join Bodhi or the Thief Guild. While the choice in this case is obvious (I assume Keldron might even leave the party if I join Bodhi), are the Shadow Thieves any better? I mean they basically rule the docks and since guards don't care about this, I assume they are infiltrated in politics too. They also have a torture chamber in the basement if I remember so I'd say they are just the lesser of two evils.

Since gear and xp is almost the same regardless of who you choose, is there a reason to pick Bodhi in the first place, besides the party alignment or I don't know... roleplaying?

I remember in Nwn 2 where there was a similar mission in Neverwinter and you had to pick between thieves and The Watch but at least there it was clear who was who and there were no pseudo moral questions to be had. I love gray areas in RPGs but the choice between the lesser of two evil combined with party alignments (especially if they are good) don't go well.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Its funny but for all the times I've played BG2 I've never sided with Bodhi.

Also you don't get the Mace of Disruption when you work for Bodhi and since that weapon is pretty good...

Unless you can get it in chapter 6. No idea.

Nevermind.