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This is Baldur's Gate - Let's Play

Shannow

Waster of Time
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
6,386
Location
Finnegan's Wake
Keldorn said:
But still, the megadoses of loot and combat is overbearing. They could have done well by being remindful of the paradoxical saying, "less is more". Or in BG's case, "more is less".

Phat lewt is one of the complaints I really don't understand. BG was admittedly my first D&D game and I never played the gold box games, etc. But BG was the most restrained game concerning loot compared to all the later D&D games. +2 is the best you can get (unless you kill a certain dual-wielding dark elf) and there aren't that many +2 weapons in the game.
Do you consider this to be so phat because the level cap is relatively low, or what?

You don't get magical items thrown at you that would have to have been made by a god to be so powerful and the game maintains a level of difficulty that stays (relatively) challenging.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
To be honest, BG 1 loot is everything but phat. In P&P you can expect your level ~7-8 characters to be fully decked out with +1 crap and maybe the odd +2 item, or even a minor artifact if you're really lucky and work hard.

Exactly as in BG 1. The add-on? I think it's only fair from the "DM" or rather, the game to reward you with great items when you explore, what, only the BEST DUNGEON EVER MADE. BG is in no way a loot whore as NWN is; absolutely not.

But of course this is the Codex and if you don't hate BG you're a faggot. :roll:
 

Lumpy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
8,525
Chapter the First: Candlekeep
My first stop in the Keep of Candles and Ancient Knowledge is Winthrop's Inn. I am greeted with a sample of Biowarian humour, a kind hard to understand for Obsidianites or Black Islanders.
01.jpg


The Inn is a fine establishment, with rooms for rich and poor travelers alike. While the poor need only pay one measly coin for a cheap room, a nobleman will have to pay a lot more for one night in the Inn.
02.jpg


As Winthrop also sells items, I load up with tools for my journey ahead and then proceed to talk to the other patrons.
03.jpg


Quickly, I discover both a quest, and the fact that someone at Bioware was obviously unclear on the meaning of the word "dialogue".
04.jpg


05.jpg

After leaving the Inn, I decide to pay a visit to my old friend Parda, the priest.
06.jpg

Holy fuck, an assassin? Why would anyone want to kill me? Obviously, Gorion knew something.
Surprisingly, I quickly dispatch him. Very strange, considering that the entrance fee is 5000 gold - you'd think that if they can afford that, they could afford a decent 5th level assassin who I wouldn't stand a chance against. But hey, all the better for me.
This raises more questions however - how did the assassin know I would enter that house? Could Parda be in on this?
If he is, he certainly can hide it:
07.jpg

Above, you can see the vast range of choices that BG provides - you can either talk like a whiny little pussy, or an overprotective son-figure. My character is neither, but I picked the former.
On my way to that house, I had met an absent-minded mage who had lost her book. I think I found it:
08.jpg

A 5000 gold book is just left in the hay? No matter. I quickly grab it and go forth.
I ask a guard for rumours - it seems that there is an iron shortage on the Sword Coast. Luckily, that has nothing to do with me.
09.jpg

The next fun character I meet is someone my father seems to have hired to train me in the ways of weapons.
10.jpg

I gladly accept his help, but then:
11.jpg

Fuck! They fire arrows at me? Isn't that, like, dangerous? Is this another failed assassination attempt? I politely say goodbye and leave.
Another fine resident of Candlekeep asks me to clear out the rats in his warehouse.
12.jpg

I make short work of them, and I am greatly rewarded:
13.jpg

The gate guard gives me another quest - retrieve his longsword from his barracks.
I go and enter it:
14.jpg

Wait, this isn't the barracks, it's the bunkhouse. Wrong door, it seems. Since I have absolutely no business here, having entered by accident, I decide to exist. But suddenly...
15.jpg

Another assassin. Why here, of all places? No matter, he's no match for my bardic swordmastery.
16.jpg

Whiny pussy mode again...
17.jpg

Yet another assassination attempt thinly veiled as combat training. This time, I politely refuse.
When I enter the inner grounds, I run into Imoen, some little bitch I grew up with:
18.jpg

and a bunch of retarded prophets.
19.jpg

I finish running all my errands: I deliver a scroll to a mage, a sword to a gate guard, a potion to a stable boy, some bolts to a guard. With my newly gained coin, I buy a fine bow and arrows, then I go to meet Gorion:
20.jpg

He seems in a real hurry, but is all mysterious about it. We go to the gates, he casts a spell on me, then we brave the world beyond Candlekeep:
21.jpg

It is a safe travel for a while, but suddenly, an Armored Figure approaches us. He is apparently after me, but I quickly slip away while Gorion distracts him.
22.jpg

Even though my foster father kills all the evil guy's minions, he is no match for the boss himself. Gorion falls dead to the ground while I watch from my safe hiding place far away. I feel slightly guilty, but then I quickly fall asleep.
 

Cthulhugoat

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
1,214
Location
Land of big butts
Talk about immersion. And in KotOR it was even worse: the references to GUI had voice-overs.

What a waste of disk space. Also, if I were you, I'd do the
mystical magical Drizzt encounter
ASAP. Good job. I'm really immersed.
 

Oarfish

Prophet
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Messages
2,511
Get yourself a wand of gnoll spamming first. It's the secret to BG1 win.
 

LittleJoe

Arbiter
Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
1,780
For all it's faults, there are very few games that can rival the sheer atmosphere of BG.
As for Lumpy, someone said he hated the game. I can't believe that anyone would expend this much effort on a game they truly hate. Would he do this for Oblivion or Lionheart for examlple?
 

Keldorn

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
867
Shannow said:
Keldorn said:
But still, the megadoses of loot and combat is overbearing. They could have done well by being remindful of the paradoxical saying, "less is more". Or in BG's case, "more is less".

Phat lewt is one of the complaints I really don't understand. BG was admittedly my first D&D game and I never played the gold box games, etc. But BG was the most restrained game concerning loot compared to all the later D&D games. +2 is the best you can get (unless you kill a certain dual-wielding dark elf) and there aren't that many +2 weapons in the game.
Do you consider this to be so phat because the level cap is relatively low, or what?

You don't get magical items thrown at you that would have to have been made by a god to be so powerful and the game maintains a level of difficulty that stays (relatively) challenging.

By 'Loot' I mean everything. Non-magic items (arrows, armour), gold, gems, everything. I had 500,000 gold pieces by the time I entered the city of BG.

BG1 AND 2 had megadoses of loot and combat. If you don't agree, then play 'em again, like I just did.

If you STILL don't agree, then you are WRONG.

To repeat, BG1 & BG2 had megadoses of loot & combat.
 

Keldorn

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
867
Jasede said:
To be honest, BG 1 loot is everything but phat. In P&P you can expect your level ~7-8 characters to be fully decked out with +1 crap and maybe the odd +2 item, or even a minor artifact if you're really lucky and work hard.

Exactly as in BG 1. The add-on? I think it's only fair from the "DM" or rather, the game to reward you with great items when you explore, what, only the BEST DUNGEON EVER MADE. BG is in no way a loot whore as NWN is; absolutely not.

But of course this is the Codex and if you don't hate BG you're a faggot. :roll:

I'm speaking solely of the unmodified BG1&2 playthrough.

It's my favorite RPG experience of ALL time, yet even I, Keldorn, the pompous and *pristine* paladin, can readily admit that there were TRUCKLOADS of loot and MEGADOSES of combat in BG1 & BG2 !

(and I thought I'd be the defender of all things BG in this thread, lol... some are in denial or a tad cloudy in the memory department...)

ZORKIT.
 

Elwro

Arcane
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
11,749
Location
Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
BTW, on the ITS forums cardtrick claimed he got to Sarevok in the Iron-Man mode.

Which seems strange to me, since if I got to Sarevok I'd just spam wands of summoning and use Kivan to take the guy out. I don't think it can fail. On the other hand, how he managed NOT to die in the early game (one unhappy die roll - kthxbye l0l) is beyond me. Anyway, kudos to him.
 

Lumpy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
8,525
LittleJoe said:
For all it's faults, there are very few games that can rival the sheer atmosphere of BG.
As for Lumpy, someone said he hated the game. I can't believe that anyone would expend this much effort on a game they truly hate. Would he do this for Oblivion or Lionheart for examlple?
Actually, I kinda like Oblivion. :)
 

aboyd

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
843
Location
USA
I always play in near-ironman mode, simply because my brain cannot accept re-tries. (I say "near" because if there is some obviously stupid thing, I might reload once during the entire course of a game. This would be things such as a critical click that didn't register, or pathfinding going haywire at a life & death moment.) I rarely lose party members. It's very possible to get through the Iron Throne in ironman mode. I've even put some of my saved games online -- they are all ironman mode or very close to it.

I am not a very good player. My only strategy is to go slow, keep a thief scouting, and retreat a lot. It's very easy to beat just about anything if you're willing to retreat & return after healing. So I think anyone can beat it in ironman mode... if you're willing to be cautious, much like real life.

I play with Tutu installed (ToB) and I play on what I think is called "hard core" -- basically, by the rules, but not extra hard. I'm not sure if that difficulty setting is actually called "hard core" -- I'm going by memory.
 

Cthulhugoat

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
1,214
Location
Land of big butts
LittleJoe said:
For all it's faults, there are very few games that can rival the sheer atmosphere of BG.

Few? Lemme see. Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, Gothic, Planescape. And I only mentioned CRPGs.

Of course, there was some atmosphere in BG. Like the homonimous city, and weapons suddenly decaying in the middle of the battle.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
Keldorn, can you please list examples of that "massive loot" in BG 1? I only remember numerous +1 weapons, as it would be in D&D, the odd and rare +2 weapon, as it would be in D&D, and some really rare and hard to earn +3 things or better in the expansion or from killing Drizzt.
 

Deleted member 7219

Guest
I don't use Tutu, I use Baldur's Gate Trilogy. Has all the BG games in one game, with the BG2 resolution, special effects and interface tweaks. Works quite well.
 

roshan

Arcane
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
2,450
Keldorn said:
Shannow said:
Keldorn said:
But still, the megadoses of loot and combat is overbearing. They could have done well by being remindful of the paradoxical saying, "less is more". Or in BG's case, "more is less".

Phat lewt is one of the complaints I really don't understand. BG was admittedly my first D&D game and I never played the gold box games, etc. But BG was the most restrained game concerning loot compared to all the later D&D games. +2 is the best you can get (unless you kill a certain dual-wielding dark elf) and there aren't that many +2 weapons in the game.
Do you consider this to be so phat because the level cap is relatively low, or what?

You don't get magical items thrown at you that would have to have been made by a god to be so powerful and the game maintains a level of difficulty that stays (relatively) challenging.

By 'Loot' I mean everything. Non-magic items (arrows, armour), gold, gems, everything. I had 500,000 gold pieces by the time I entered the city of BG.

BG1 AND 2 had megadoses of loot and combat. If you don't agree, then play 'em again, like I just did.

If you STILL don't agree, then you are WRONG.

To repeat, BG1 & BG2 had megadoses of loot & combat.

BG1 didnt have lots of loot, it had lots of junk.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
Well, that I can agree with. But it was moody and realistic junk and the 500000 gold figure is grossly overexaggerated.
 

Elwro

Arcane
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
11,749
Location
Krakow, Poland
Divinity: Original Sin Wasteland 2
OK, I'm done. It was fun while it lasted... no, sorry it wasn't. Meh. Also, the game had about 50% chance of making a screenshot after I pressed Prtscr, so most of the, uh, story got cut.

OK, this is how I always wanted to look like:
Baldr000.jpg


I wanted to play an ugly gnomish illusionist called Goldilocks. So Charisma goes to 3. Points gained through this (I accepted the first roll) went to the physical attributes. And of course Int should be 19, so it is.
Baldr001.jpg


I put on my robe and wizard hat... wait.
Baldr002.jpg


So, I go around Candlekeep but don't enter any buildings no one told me to enter. I don't give a shit about rats or group combat, too. I tell Imoen to fuck off. Then we go out with Gorion and someone kills him. I meet Imoen, again tell her to fuck off, but she just says "I'm going with you!". Because kenders know no fear, I let Imoen be the leader of the party as we return to loot the bodies.
Baldr004.jpg


Then we go straight through the forest, avoiding the roads - it's safer this way, isn't it? Um, and then a random encounter with lots of gibberlings and wolves kills my 4 hp character before I can hit spacebar.

Wow, that was fun. Uninstalling.
 

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