The GWJ CRPG Club - Game 7: Baldur's Gate (In Progress)

Well, I got some good gaming time in tonight, and I feel like I've on a roll. I've explored most of the world map's south-western quadrant! My main character hit mage level 4! I might, finally, the armor off soon and start using his spells. And I picked up Safana for a brief quest to raid some buried treasure, and -- with her help -- obtained a sweet magical cloak and the second of six stat-boosting tomes. I also hit Level 6 with Imoen, and maxed out her Find Traps and Disarm Traps skills. Now, it's mage time.

Safana's quest also helped me chance upon a solution to the age-old problem: what do you do with a character who's just become a level 1 mage? Give her a cloak that lets her transform into a wolf whenever she freaking wants.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/yyZIF3u.jpg?1)

Apparently, the transformation sets Strength at 18 (a major step up for her) and her Dexterity at 17 (a one-point reduction, which makes her AC slightly worse).
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/yH7BqWc.jpg?1)

Nice!

So when a character goes dual class they can't access their first class' skills until they reach the same level with the second class?

Until they reach one level higher in the second class, actually. So, level 7 in my case -- it'll take a while.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Nice!

So when a character goes dual class they can't access their first class' skills until they reach the same level with the second class?

I duel classes Imoen at level 6 thief. I’d do it at 5 to be honest, getting to mage level 7 takes quite a while.

Once you have access to your original class you don’t get to level it again though. You only level your new class.

Wrapped up Cloakwood and will probably explore some remaining side-areas before heading into Baldur's Gate proper.

Replaying this has reminded me of how much I dislike the "vancian" magic system of D&D.

Problem 1:I am exactly the sort of player who hoards-and-then-never-uses consumables, and spells are basically consumables in this magic system. Hence I will always first try to win a combat with only my melee fighters, and it is only with a major defeat and reload that I will bring my spellcasters to bear. Since most encounters have trash enemies (at least here in BG1 where mages are rare) this means my spellcasters are mostly cheerleaders.

Problem 2: It actively discourages using all but the most combat-efficient spells. Eg. there are 15 level 3 wizard spells. How many can you name that aren't "Fireball"?

I tend to share problem 1 but have actively been trying not to hoard stuff, including spells, this playthrough. It is hard.

Dispel Magic, Haste, Hold Person, Lightning Bolt (Lightning Bolt!), uhhh.....

Leading off a combat with a fireball is just sound tactics. - Clausewitz

Question for the group:

I'm in Chapter 4 right now, and I'm probably going to finish over the weekend. I think Chapter 5 will involve finally getting to the big city.

From some of the comments I've read here, once you leave the city, you can't exactly come back -- or can't come back in the same way. So, what should I watch out for as the point of no return? And, just as importantly, what content is closed after that point? Is it just that I should wrap up stuff in the city, but can freely go back to the countryside areas? Or, should I try to finish all the Tales of the Sword Coast stuff before the point of no return?

If anyone wants to spoiler-tag some information: I've finished Baldur's Gate before, so be as specific as you'd like!

Aganazzar's Scorcher is pretty sweet. I like to cast it and strafe clumps of melee enemies with it. Still fire-based tho. It's nice when you're in close quarters where Fireball will do too much collateral damage.

LastSurprise wrote:

Question for the group:

I'm in Chapter 4 right now, and I'm probably going to finish over the weekend. I think Chapter 5 will involve finally getting to the big city.

From some of the comments I've read here, once you leave the city, you can't exactly come back -- or can't come back in the same way. So, what should I watch out for as the point of no return? And, just as importantly, what content is closed after that point? Is it just that I should wrap up stuff in the city, but can freely go back to the countryside areas? Or, should I try to finish all the Tales of the Sword Coast stuff before the point of no return?

If anyone wants to spoiler-tag some information: I've finished Baldur's Gate before, so be as specific as you'd like!

Going off memory, so someone correct me if I botch this, but. . .

Spoiler:

I believe there is a conversation with the guy effectively running the Flaming Fist that sends you directly to Candlekeep. This occurs in the FF headquarters, so as long as you leave that building alone until you've explored the rest of the city and done the things you wanted to do, you're fine. I hadn't even explored several sections of the city when I stumbled into it. When I got back there was at least one questline involving one of the city officials that was closed off. (Extra spoiler: he was now dead.) Other quests seemed to still be resolvable, if a pain since you have to run from the Fist now, so I'm not sure if there is other stuff I missed.

Good luck!

ubrakto wrote:
LastSurprise wrote:

If anyone wants to spoiler-tag some information: I've finished Baldur's Gate before, so be as specific as you'd like!

Going off memory, so someone correct me if I botch this, but. . .

Spoiler:

I believe there is a conversation with the guy effectively running the Flaming Fist that sends you directly to Candlekeep. This occurs in the FF headquarters, so as long as you leave that building alone until you've explored the rest of the city and done the things you wanted to do, you're fine. I hadn't even explored several sections of the city when I stumbled into it. When I got back there was at least one questline involving one of the city officials that was closed off. (Extra spoiler: he was now dead.) Other quests seemed to still be resolvable, if a pain since you have to run from the Fist now, so I'm not sure if there is other stuff I missed.

Good luck!

Spoiler:

You said we could get specific Basically, the doppels take over, kill Scar and frame you for the death of the Iron Throne leaders at Candlekeep (whether you actually killed them or not). So now Baldur's Gate is against you and the Flaming Fist will try to apprehend you on sight. You can resist (the Flaming Fist is no match for your party) but killing FF causes you to lose Reputation big-time. Which can cause good party members to leave the party. You can stick to the sewers to avoid a lot of this but you do have to pop out to go visit buildings and you may be accosted by FF when you do. Which means either going to prison and breaking out or killing FF. Kind of makes it hard to traverse the city.

To avoid this, there will be a big fight at Iron Throne HQ. After the fight someone tells you to go see Duke Eltan(sp?) to finish the quest. Instead of doing that right away, just go do other stuff you want to do. The turn won't happen until Duke Whatshisname sends you to Candlekeep.

well, so much for doing side stuff! I was so near the final battle I just pushed through and finished the main quest in BG2, which jumps you straight into Throne of Bhaal, so that's where I'm currently at

Well, another one bites the dust - Saverok is no more. Took a while to remember how to play the end game and I'm fairly sure EE makes quite a few changes to make it a lot harder. It also moves very fast once you go back to Candlekeep. I'm not sure I remember it being quite that quick.

Easily the most I've enjoyed one of these nostalgia trips, but my word am I ready to play something a little different now.

Congrats, Pyxistyx and Sorbicol!

@Sorbicol: No Siege of Dragonspear for you?

Thanks ubrakto and tboon! That was super helpful.

Yes, Congrats Sorbicol and Pyxistyx!

I tore myself away from my Planetfall obsession to get back Baldur's Gate tonight. I really want to focus on moving forward with this game now.

I had just finished up the main combat in the bandit's camp when I last played. Tonight, I cleaned up the remaining scattered bandits, looted everything, and then headed back to Beregost to reorganize and sell stuff. That actually took some time. I've got a few more things to sell off then I'm going to wander about some and see if I can clean up some of the remaining quests I've got from Chapter 2 and 3, before heading off on Chapter 4 in earnest.

And by the way, those special skills are super helpful. I can't believe I played so long without realizing they were even there.

ubrakto wrote:

Congrats, Pyxistyx and Sorbicol!

@Sorbicol: No Siege of Dragonspear for you?

Not for now. I think doing Arcanum and this back to back was a little daft! Maybe some point in the future.

Baldur’s Gate 2 that I’ve never actually finished is now firmly on my ‘to do’ list as well. I’ve no idea why I’ve never played that to completion, i just know that I get as far as the rescue and never any further.

The underdark is a bit of a poorly lit slog, that might be why.

I played for another hour this evening and cleared out a couple of maps, finishing off a quest or two in the process. At the moment I'm pretty much just wandering about and exploring. Fun.

I seem to be in a good zone with combat now, as I didn't have much trouble with enemies tonight. I think it helps that I'm finding better stuff now, we've got more hit points, and I'm using the special skills more.

progressing through Throne of Bhaal slowly. It's not the best BG content - very much falls in the "waves of super-tough bad guys" category, on small linear maps.

And If I never encounter another mage that casts Timestop it'll be too soon....every time a mage shows up I end up twiddling my thumbs periodically for half a minute while they go through the motions

I made it into the second Cloakwood area today. And I haven't totally cleared it yet, but that map in particular is taking forever. I hate web traps, and they all seem to be set up right near encounters, so I died over and over and over again. I didn't have much luck spotting them unless I had Coran sneak around and get right up on them.

While this part has been a slog, I'm hoping that the next area(s) will be a little more fun and that I'll get to finish Chapter 4 soon. I'd really like to get it done this weekend.

LastSurprise wrote:

I made it into the second Cloakwood area today. And I haven't totally cleared it yet, but that map in particular is taking forever. I hate web traps, and they all seem to be set up right near encounters, so I died over and over and over again. I didn't have much luck spotting them unless I had Coran sneak around and get right up on them.

While this part has been a slog, I'm hoping that the next area(s) will be a little more fun and that I'll get to finish Chapter 4 soon. I'd really like to get it done this weekend.

Potions of freedom are very, very useful for that map. As is a ranger with spiders as a racial enemy!

I had one potion of freedom, which helped. But I didn't like it that I had to use it before getting webbed up. To me, a webbed character should still at least be able to get at their quick items, or at least open their inventory and set quick items.

I have the same problem as some other people here with being too stingy with consumables. I'm trying to get better. But I often don't have the things I really need set in the quick item bar.

aaand that's me done. Throne of Bhaal finished.

In the end, I stuck it in storymode and just powered my way through to the end. While the "story" wrapup is good, the actual gameplay of ToB is so much more tedious than i remembered it (i suspect this is why I only ever finished it the once before). It's got more in common with Icewind Dale - long stretches of combat with the occasional linear conversation thrown in. Disappointing, but I'm glad I finally played it through to the end for closure.

(also goddamn I must have been far more patient about things in the past - the final fight with [spoiler] is hilariously difficult! no chance I would have the patience for it these days unless if there wasn't the story mode option in EE. Also, disappointing that it lacks the "talk your way out of trouble ending" that the likes of Fallout had, but then the series was never really set up for that sort of thing, really).

Spoiler:

For the record, this time, I chose to keep the throne rather than destroy it!

Anyway! I guess that's me refreshed with all relevant references for moving into BG3 when it's done! (crossing my fingers that Viconia is still about!)

Congrats, Pyxi. I'm totally envious. Adventuring through BG1, and BG2, with all the trimmings no less. Outstanding. This is similarly on my to-do list before BG3 arrives. Just waiting out the impending console release so to wake up fresh faced at Candlekeep. I aim to roll the credits this go around, at long, long last.

Congrats! I've really enjoyed reading about your path through BG2 and Throne of Bhaal. It's funny, for as much as I loved BG and BG2, what I remember most about the story is the "last one standing" Throne of Bhaal plot. I can see where it would not have aged as well as my memory of it, though.

I'm working my way through the Cloakwood. It's weird: each area is only unveiled one at a time, so I need to go through each part of the Cloakwood to get to the next, but I don't need to go through much of each part. As soon as I can get to one of the sides of a map -- even if it's near where I entered, and even if it is not in the direction that actually faces the next part of the Cloakwood, the next part will open up for me.

I also picked up Faldorn the Shadow Druid (and ditched Kivan). May not keep her for long, but I will for now, just to see how she plays. I took a roundabout path through Cloakwood Part 3 and found her before finding her druid buddies. All of whom have very weird dialogue if you recruit her, like "Hey, intruders, we're going to murder you for trespassing in our --- oh, is that Faldorn? I guess you're cool, then. Carry on."

LastSurprise wrote:

I also picked up Faldorn the Shadow Druid (and ditched Kivan). May not keep her for long, but I will for now, just to see how she plays. I took a roundabout path through Cloakwood Part 3 and found her before finding her druid buddies. All of whom have very weird dialogue if you recruit her, like "Hey, intruders, we're going to murder you for trespassing in our --- oh, is that Faldorn? I guess you're cool, then. Carry on."

I had just about exactly the same experience/reaction (I subbed out Branwen, which wasn't worth it).

Some unanticipated difficulties finishing off the Crusade are testing my patience. I also don't have patience for try-die-fix-try-die-fix-and so on gameplay anymore, if I ever did.

Complaints aside, the siege is no longer a siege but a pursuit. I do really like how they made the large battles feel large, even though I know there are only 30-40 NPCs on the screen. I was hoping to finish today but may not if I have to re-do all the time.

First entry dedicated to gameplay https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysi...

He's using a dialogue between two "gamers" as the framing device, and it works pretty well.

Math wrote:

First entry dedicated to gameplay https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysi...

He's using a dialogue between two "gamers" as the framing device, and it works pretty well.

The Grognard: All is not lost. You have healing potions. So does Imoen.

Achilles: Are you new to RPGs or something? Potions aren’t for drinking. They’re for saving for the next fight, all the way until the end of the game.

Hahaha.

These healing potions are 71 GP a piece & I only have 36,000 GP! Do you want me to go broke for Chrissakes?