This is Baldur's Gate - Let's Play

[LittleJoe]

How do you pronounce words like SZCZESCIE or WSZYSTKIM, for fucks sake?
That is one seriously fucked up language.

 

[cardtrick]

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.

Just saw this.

Anyway, yeah, I got to Sarevok in an "ironman" playthrough and died. A different time I beat him and died sometime in Ch. 3 of SoA, stupidly, to a group of ghouls that I was overconfident with.

I played using TuTu, simply because I need the tab highlighting and higher resolution, but that undoubtedly made my playthroughs somewhat easier. For one thing, I could take kits, which weren't totally balanced for BG1. Also, I believe my movement speed was somewhat higher -- the key early game tactic of running in circles around enemies while shooting them repeatedly seems somewhat easier with TuTu than with vanilla BG.

However, TuTu makes the final fight with Sarevok considerably harder I think. It seems that all of the enemies charge in at once, and I couldn't kill them cheaply from afar with fireballs the way you used to be able to in plain old BG1. Plus, in that playthrough Kivan got "chunked" (permanently killed) early on, which was a serious blow.

The character that got to Sarevok was a gnome thief/illusionist, and the character that beat him was a ranger/cleric multi.

Of course, BG is hardest at the very beginning. Most of my attempts died before reaching the first town, since before level 2 you can die with pretty much a single hit.With each character, I saved the game right after Candlekeep, and allowed myself to reload to there -- this spared me from having to go through character creation and the interminably boring Candlekeep repeatedly. If there had been a Candlekeep-be-gone mod, I would have used that instead.

BG is pretty fun when playing iron man. I will certainly never again play it any other way. You have to go slowly and carefully, thinking tactically at all times. You use all the expendable resources you get, rather than storing up potions and special arrows indefinitely. Ranged weapons are incredibly valuable, as are disabling spells. Edwin and Kivan are godsends. Every character should have a way to cast fireball -- either as a spell, from arrows of detonation, or from one of the two necklaces of missiles. Six fireballs in the first round of combat makes some fights drastically easier. (For example, someone mentioned the Iron Throne -- I started that fight out in the first round with every character who could attempting a disabling spell (I don't remember which ones, possibly all web and entangle), and then in the second round had all six characters do fireball-like damage to the now mostly stationary enemies.

 

[Volourn]

"can readily admit that there were TRUCKLOADS of loot"

Comapred to pnp, yes, too much ph@t loot. Comapred to most CRPGs - espicially D&D ones - BG1 was rather low on the loot scale.

 

[aboyd]

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.

Is the "pause when enemy sighted" option only available if you play BG1 using Tutu? Why aren't you playing with all the pause options enabled -- and if you DO have all the pause options enabled and it still isn't enough, then why play without Tutu? It probably doubles the number of pause options you can enable. You need these to retain some control of the situation.

 

[Andhaira]

Is TuTu good for playing bg1? I want to play bg1 using higher rezolution, and is TuTu the only way? Is it stable? Any reason NOT to TuTu bg1?

 

[aboyd]

Tutu was made for BG1. It's pretty stable for me. YMMV.

 

[cardtrick]

Any reason NOT to TuTu bg1?

Absolutely no reason at all, unless you really love the original interface (TuTu uses the brownish BG2 interface rather than the gray stone BG1 one). TuTu is probably the best and most polished mod (as in modification, not module) I've ever used for any game; the only other contender is Tony K's AI mod for NWN 2. By the way, you should use easyTuTu -- it has a nice simple installer.

 

[Andhaira]

So why didn't Bioware do something like this for BG1, rather than a 3rd party do it?

 

[aboyd]

That question almost doesn't make sense. You could ask that of any company that made video games, ever.

Why didn't Obsidian do something like the AI mod for NWN 2, rather than a 3rd party do it? Why didn't Troika do something like Wesp's unofficial patch for Vampire: Bloodlines, rather than Wesp do it? And so on.

Companies create games, release the games, collect revenue from sales, and move on to other revenue streams.

 

[cardtrick]

That question almost doesn't make sense.

Almost?

 

[Andhaira]

Troike went out of business thats why. And troika are nototrius for buggy products; they probably couldn't patch anything to save their lives.

 

[Texas Red]

Any reason NOT to TuTu bg1?

Absolutely no reason at all, unless you really love the original interface (TuTu uses the brownish BG2 interface rather than the gray stone BG1 one). TuTu is probably the best and most polished mod (as in modification, not module) I've ever used for any game; the only other contender is Tony K's AI mod for NWN 2. By the way, you should use easyTuTu -- it has a nice simple installer.

You can still use BG 1 interface. The only minus is that some models get changed, for example the guards of Candlekeep will all be different after you install tutu.

 

[afewhours]

Is it just me who missed going crazy with ranged combat on the original BG? I used to love decking the entire party out with bows and magical arrows to savage the hell out of anyone who came too close. For a good aligned party I'd have a backline of Khalid/Kivan/Coran/Imoen while the PC would be a Pally with loads of HP and -13 AC to keep everyone at bay.

Obviously, if alignment wasn't a problem, you could sub in Shar-Teel for Khalid, though Khalid makes a better off-tank if things get hairy.

Perhaps I'm just a rubbish BG2 player, but my 'turn all the enemies into pincushions' tactic never seemed to translate, which was a shame.

(Edit: Oooh, and it has to be said. Durlag's Tower rocked. Wasn't it great to have a dungeon that actively punished you for being a tit? It soon taught me how to play the game properly!)

 

[Elwro]

Is the "pause when enemy sighted" option only available if you play BG1 using Tutu?

Because I suck? I simply forgot about setting it and the first combat killed me. (If it didn't, I'd notice it wasn't set and would set it.)

 

[Andhaira]

What about durlag's tower?Was that the dungeon inthe Sword coast expansion? And honestly in the Bg series its better to play a non-evil alignment. I played evil in both games orginally, abut the evil dialogue choices are stupid, and it doesn't matter all that much anyway. (also the evil npc's suck, with the exception of Xar and Viconia)


Oh and is there a way to play PST in higher resolution?

 

[Texas Red]

Oh and is there a way to play PST in higher resolution?

I beg you, please not this again. Don't derail the thread with technical discussion about PS:T.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Oh and is there a way to play PST in higher resolution?

*Evil Cackle*

Did you not see the thread i posted a couple of weeks ago?

http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/

As far as i'm aware that's the only way.

I wanna see how fat boy is getting along with PST on his new LCD as well.

 

[Risine]

Companies create games, release the games, collect revenue from sales, and ...

die while publishers continue getting revenue streams.

 

[Keldorn]

Is it just me who missed going crazy with ranged combat on the original BG? I used to love decking the entire party out with bows and magical arrows to savage the hell out of anyone who came too close.

No doubt.

I'd have 2 slingers, 2 bowers and 2 bolters, all hasted and with defensive harmony.

It'd be a total slaughterfest.


Sometimes I'd summon 5 monsters (Aerial Servants, Devas, Elementals) mass haste all 11, and send the bait ahead while the ranged weapons followed up.

The enemies would fall, megadociously.

 

[Texas Red]

Though usually the aerial servant or elemental would kill everyone in sight since many enemies can't deal damage to them .

 

[aboyd]

And honestly in the Bg series its better to play a non-evil alignment. I played evil in both games orginally, abut the evil dialogue choices are stupid, and it doesn't matter all that much anyway. (also the evil npc's suck, with the exception of Xar and Viconia)

Isn't Edwin the best spellcaster in the game?

 

[afewhours]

Isn't Edwin the best spellcaster in the game?

In terms of sheer spell-slinging ability he's unmatched. His amulet of Thay gives him loads of extra spells and he gets INT 18 on the side. The only thing is, that's *all* he's good at. If you can live without the extra firepower, then there are better choices. My usual strategy was to dual-class Imoen at level 6. She may not have the same number of memorisation slots, but she has better stats, can wield a bow, can take more punishment, and detect traps.

You can get a seriously nice evil party in BG. If you're evil, you can take the most punishing melee fighter (Shar-Teel) the best tank (Kagain) a decent fighter-thief (Montaron), and then Edwin and Vicky to handle the spell casting.

All of them bar Edwin make decent ranged fighters as well. Kagain and Shar-Teel get fighter specialisation and Shar-Teel gets DEX 17. Vicky gets DEX 19, and Monty gets DEX 17. You've got a lot of versatility there if you need it.

 

[Andhaira]

Yah I didn't meant combat ability. I meant pesonality; Xar was a great fun npc (though somwhat annoying). Edwin only came into his own in bg2.

I was so pissed when they killed off xar in bg2...really, it owul dhave been the coolest for him to also have been a secret bhaalspawn (he does meet you right outside candlekeep).

 

[afewhours]

I was so pissed when they killed off xar in bg2...

Same here. Xzar was awesome, wasn't he? He would have made a great recurring character.

I quite liked Monty as well. I just loved his 'And the rivers run RED!' battle cry.

But yeah, apart from Vicky, the rest I could take or leave.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

In terms of sheer spell-slinging ability he's unmatched. His amulet of Thay gives him loads of extra spells and he gets INT 18 on the side. The only thing is, that's *all* he's good at.

He is insane if you have TuTu installed. If you don't however, he's awful. Why exactly? Because in Baldur's Gate 1, it follows the AD&D specialist mage opposition schools a bit more closely. In Baldur's Gate 1, Conjurers can't cast Evocation magic, pretty much cutting them off from the most important spells in the game. However, Baldur's Gate 2 changed that, and gave them some not so potent opposition school of magic, for some unknown reason, perhaps to spice Edwin up a bit. And seeing as TuTu uses the BG2 engine, he reaps the benefits of it in BG1. Kind of goofy, but whatever.

 

[Andhaira]

Yes, remember that xzar and monty meet you rite outside candlekeep. They are the first npc's you meet after Imoen.

Imagine if Xzar was also a Bhaalspawn, one who reveals himself at the very end of Bg2/Throne of Bhaal.

imagine, you have Xzar in your party since bg1, you have killed off all opponents, you've killed Irenicus, sarevok, the other spawn frmo ther expansion, and now its only you and imoen with your partymembers.

The player gets ready for the endgame/credits to roll when suddenly...


A cutscene in which Xzar KILLS Imoen!! Revels he is also a Bhaalspawn, and that it was him who led Sarevok to Candlekeep in BG1, and ity was he who followed the pc around and helped destroy the other bhaalspawn. Now he will destroy the pc and be the final; bhaalspawn left!

And then a final battle ensues between the bhaalspawn and Xzar!


(if you don't have Xzar in your party nothing happens!)

btw monty sucked. Shitty stats Imo and he was a halfling. i hate 'em.