So, Baldurs Gate

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Well, he's part of the brotherhood who has a Rancebro avatar and also thinks Draq is a tard so there's that. :hivemind:
There's only one question, do you know the secret handshake?

Of course. Just let me get out my

 

[Newfag-er]

Oblivion was shit, and so was this game.

I don't know if the same could be apply to BG1 though, cause it felt as rewarding as playing Oblivion. (Which, to tell the truth, was actually pretty fun to explore for me at first. Though that was the first real rpg I play )

And that ^ proves it.

Not completely, BG1 beginning feel like a bit Oblivion, yes... (save for the companion, I never get those)

It considerably gets better later on though, and it follows though in Dragon Age Origin BG2.

I could never figure out specifically why though, though "exploration", whatever it's intention isn't one of them. (or at least it's not the complete story)

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure you can't hike things in daggerfall either

 

[Glyphwright]

So, let's talk about our parties.

In BG1 I usually play as a paladin or warrior. I initially take Imoen, Xzar+ Montaron, and Khalid+Jaheira, but leave the last four in Nashkel as soon as I get there and find better companions. I get Minsc and Edwin because they are the best companions in their class, and go to Gnoll stronghold where I let Edwin kill Dynaheir while keeping Minsc far away so he doesn't interfere. I don't remember how exactly it all works out, but at the end I get to keep both Minsc and Edwin. I also get Kivan because he's a pretty good archer and has a gruff, manly personality which balances out all the hyperactive faggotry of Imoen, Minsc and Edwin(a). Finally, I get Viconia because she's the best priest, because I like drow, and because she's voiced by Grey DeLisle. So yeah, the party is centered around getting all the best companions, but coincidentally these are also the ones with the most interesting personalities/backgrounds... at least, as far as you can tell without party interaction. Interestingly enough, all these party members (except Kivan) get carried over to BG2, so I keep the same party in BG2 but replace Kivan with that old paladin guy and Imoen with Yoshimo until he betrays me in Spellhold.

Generally, my preferred party set-up is a female mage, one male melee rogue, and two/three variously equipped male warrior bodyguards. The mage stays behind and flings devastating spells while the strong warrior/rogue men handle all the physical combat. But it's rarely possible in games with pre-defined companions.

 

[Glyphwright]

Really? Ten pages of compulsive hair-splitting, and this kills the thread? :/

 

[Abelian]

Ok, I'll bite. I generally played as a fighter/paladin, too. In both games, I liked having two melee fighters, one ranged fighter, one rogue, one cleric, one wizard (basically one of each class in Might & Magic 1-2: fighter, paladin, archer, thief, cleric, sorcerer).

In BG1, I liked Kagain as a tank, Coran as as the archer, Imoen as the thief, Branwen for cleric (higher strength meant she could wear plate armor), Edwin for mage. I generally didn't dual-class Imoen to wizard since I wanted to get her find traps and pick lock skills high, but I'll try it when I pick up the game again.

In BG2, I liked Keldron on the front line (Dispel Magic and Carsomyr winning combo), Mazzy for archer, Yoshimo for the thief slot (then settling for Imoen), Viconia as cleric, Edwin and Imoen as mages.

I don't think I've ever used these same exact parties, since I generally played with a good/netural or netural/evil party.

 

[Tigranes]

The best playthrough of BG I ever had - and I should know, I played through at least fifteen times - is when I treated it as some kind of bastard Roguelike; I treated every death as permanent, and that meant I was actually going through BG1's soulless horde of NPCs at a good clip. And in that context, coming across new joinable members is actually welcome rather than tedious; if Montaron dies on you to a horde of gibberlings (can happen very easily) then you're very glad to find Kagain in Beregost, or even the terribly written berserker lady turned stone at the Nashkel fair.

Otherwise, I always tended to bring Edwin along, because he's cool. Kagain and Kivan are also frequent picks for me, they don't talk very much and they are very good at their specialties.

 

[octavius]

I like to try different characters and parties.

Most boring character I ever played was a Kensai/Mage.
Most frustrating was trying to role play a Druid.

Most fun playthrough was with a main Chaotic Neutral Berserker (or possibly Barbarian), with a mostly Evil party. Especially Monty and Xzar added a lot of fun (and some surprises) to the game, thanks to BG1 NPC Project. Jan, Korgan, Viccy, Keldorn and Edwin(a) was great team in BG2; a perfect mix of lulz and power.

 

[Glyphwright]

All this talk about Baldur's Gate made me horny want to play it. Does the Codex have any valuable advice? Should I play it as is, or merged with Baldur's Gate 2? Are there widescreen mods for BG1? What mods are necessary for comfortable player experience?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Search is too difficult for Georgians. There's only a dozen or twenty threads where people list the recommended mods.

 

[Glyphwright]

Is there any mod that removes fog of war from outdoor areas?

 

[Grunker]

Is there any mod that removes fog of war from outdoor areas?

Yes and no. There are tweaks (in the tweak packs) that reveal all areas. Or you could just fucking cast the spell that reveals an area for you.

 

[Glyphwright]

I can't cast divination spells. I'll just use the CLUAConsole:ExploreArea() cheat then. The one tweak pack I found only reveals city maps, and that's not good enough.

 

[MicoSelva]

I've played through BG1 so many times, I've probably had all the possible NPCs in my party, although some of them only once (like Safana, Ajantis or Eldoth and his chick), since I couldn't stand them.

My most fun playthrough was my first one as a bard with some really badly allocated stats (S17, D17, C15, I17, W13, C15 - such a great roll wasted, but hey I was new to DnD then). He was to weak a melee fighter for the endgame and ran out of crossbow bolts right before the last battle, so he spent it playing his bard songs, while Minsc and Khalid tried to stall Sarevok long enough for Coran and Imoen to kill him with a barrage of arrows of piercing, while Dynaheir was standing mostly useless. Good times.

I've also had a lot of fun with a midget team, only composed of dwarves, halflings and gnomes (my dwarven fighter, Montaron, Kagain, Yeslick, Quayle and one other).

Solo playthroughs are also cool, although You have to play as some kind of a arcane spellcaster to actually beat the game, because if you don't have the means to spam summon monster, Sarevok will butcher You in a few rounds.

 

[Grunker]

I've also had a lot of fun with a midget team, only composed of dwarves, halflings and gnomes (my dwarven fighter, Montaron, Kagain, Yeslick, Quayle and one other).

i have to do this now

 

[Abelian]

I've also had a lot of fun with a midget team, only composed of dwarves, halflings and gnomes (my dwarven fighter, Montaron, Kagain, Yeslick, Quayle and one other).

Reminds me of an IE ironman challenge where Makagor played as snow white and five dwarves in IWD1 and IWD2.

It's also possible to make an elven party that's surprisingly balanced (if somewhat lacking in thief skills): CHARNAME, Khalid, Jaheira, Kivan, Coran, Xan. Also, Tiax is the other gnome.

Edit: forgot about Vicky. I guess she could replace Khalid or Jaheira since they're half elves.

 

[GarfunkeL]

PC as a fighter-cleric dwarf, Kagain, Montaron, Yeslick, the halfling thief-chick and Quayle. With BG1NPC-Project, it was hilarious. Though you need the tweak-thing that prevents party-members from fighting, as otherwise Yeslick and Kagain will kill each other.

Was surprising effective as well, had far fewer problems than I had with my "harem-party" (PC mage/cleric (should have been fighter instead), Imoen, Viconia, Dynaheir, that crazy Druid bitch, Safana), which had some serious problems in late-game thanks to SCS.

 

[Abelian]

Was surprising effective as well, had far fewer problems than I had with my "harem-party" (PC mage/cleric (should have been fighter instead), Imoen, Viconia, Dynaheir, that crazy Druid bitch, Safana), which had some serious problems in late-game thanks to SCS.

Personally, I would have chosen Branwen instead of Faldorn (better in melee) and Shar Teel instead of Safana. Although Shar Teel would object to the party being called a harem... Reminds me of a funny thing I read: Shar Teel can't join an all-female party, since there is no male to challenge her to a duel; she compliments the party instead.

 

[J_C]

Talking about NPCs, the thing I didn't like is that if I play a good guy, the evil NPCs like Montaron will leave me/attack me after a time. Can you work aroun this someway (with mods or with other means)?

 

[MicoSelva]

Talking about NPCs, the thing I didn't like is that if I play a good guy, the evil NPCs like Montaron will leave me/attack me after a time. Can you work aroun this someway (with mods or with other means)?

You can randomly kill innocent people when Your reputation goes too high. It's very effective, just don't get caught or everyone will go hostile.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Mods exist which prevent party-members from leaving or attacking you/each other while still keeping their comments/dialogue about it. At least BGTweaks and BG1NPC-Project have it. Probably many more.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Was surprising effective as well, had far fewer problems than I had with my "harem-party" (PC mage/cleric (should have been fighter instead), Imoen, Viconia, Dynaheir, that crazy Druid bitch, Safana), which had some serious problems in late-game thanks to SCS.

Personally, I would have chosen Branwen instead of Faldorn (better in melee) and Shar Teel instead of Safana. Although Shar Teel would object to the party being called a harem... Reminds me of a funny thing I read: Shar Teel can't join an all-female party, since there is no male to challenge her to a duel; she compliments the party instead.

Bah, my stupid head. I had Shar-Teel! Safana replaced Imoen and Faldorn replaced Branwen since I've never had either one, whereas Imoen and Branwen have been in my party far too often. So PC, Viconia, Dynaheir, Faldorn, Safana and Shar-Teel. Faldorn and Shar-Teel and Viconice were melee/casters while Safana was ranged and PC and Dynaheir slinger/casters. Not too bad early-to-mid game but late game BG and all of TotSC were a pain, since SCS beefed up the encounters and my melee prowess was so shitty. Viconia and Shar-Teel have really crap CON, so not enough precious hitpoints.

 

[octavius]

Safana is useless for anything but being a bed roll warmer.

 

[Minttunator]

I'm tempted to install BG now! Hadn't really thought about it for a while and I've always preferred BG2 so when I get the itch I usually just play that - I don't believe I've played BG for a good 10 years. I should start an evil party (which I never played back in the day) with Edwin, Viconia, Shar-Teel and maybe Tiax as well (he rules, after all).

 

[Abelian]

I'm tempted to install BG now! Hadn't really thought about it for a while and I've always preferred BG2 so when I get the itch I usually just play that - I don't believe I've played BG for a good 10 years. I should start an evil party (which I never played back in the day) with Edwin, Viconia, Shar-Teel and maybe Tiax as well (he rules, after all).

Don't forget Kagain to bring up the party count to six. Plus, he will complement Shar Teel's low hitpoints with his illegally high constitution.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Then you give him the CON+1 tome, so he gets the first level of regeneration. It's not much, but every now and then, it can be a life-saver. Plus, you don't need to heal him, as he heals while walking around!