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

Just realizing I've yet to post in the thread. I'm making my extremely slow way through this game, being surprised by how little it resembles my memories of playing years ago. Just hit Nashkel to assuage the squeaky wheels of my party and my main challenge so far is keeping Neera alive for more than a couple consecutive skirmishes running.

Siege of Dragonspear down. Ended up as level 8 Cleric/8 Ranger. Some random initial thoughts:

- The writing is not as good as that in BG, it falls into seeming like BG fanfic much of the time. The plot is a bit over-wrought. I get this is D&D but it is a bit much.
- I did enjoy the focus the expansion has. You are not randomly wandering around, generally: you have a thing to do and the game marches you forward through it. There are side areas but they are not too big and are interesting enough as little side vignettes. The focused structure is a nice contrast to much of BG.
- Probably because I just sat through it but the ending is not great and way too long. Off hand, I can think of a lot of ways I would have preferred that to have gone, even if they wanted to keep the themes from it.

Overall, I am glad I played through it. Will probably take a break before diving into BG2 (which, based on my history, means I will never get to it).

Finished up the bandit camp last night and headed into the Cloakwood. Bandits were easy, most of them are still there - they didn’t seem to notice or care that there was a pitched battle inside their main tent and the newcomers were the only ones who walked out.

My new favourite spell is .. fear? or horror, makes half of a group of enemies run around in circles while I pick off the rest.

Everyone is closing in on level 4... might be time to “accidentally” stumble across that group of assassins I had so much trouble with earlier.

Late to the party but I rolled up a Cavalier Paladin this afternoon. Hit the reroll button a ton of times while on the phone. I’m trying out the Android version on my 8” tablet for portability as I’ll be traveling soon. I played BGII a ton in college but never played this one. I’d like to go through the whole saga this time.

So I've made it to Naskel, which apparently means I've hit Chapter 2. I still have some side quests pending from Chapter 1. Will I still be able to complete those?

beanman101283 wrote:

So I've made it to Naskel, which apparently means I've hit Chapter 2. I still have some side quests pending from Chapter 1. Will I still be able to complete those?

Yes.

As far as I've seen, the "Chapter" system is just a way to give you the big, main story objective. There may be some small exceptions -- like how apparently you can't get around Baldur's Gate very well, late in the game -- but otherwise finishing one doesn't seem to close off any of the side content.

the only thing you need to be careful of (that i can think of off the top of my head) is making sure you don't get sent back to Candlekeep before you area ready, since as LastSurprise says, that makes doing anything in the city itself a bit of a pain in the backside afterwards.

Thanks everyone. I cleared out Nashkel mines, raced back to Friendly Arm Inn to help a dying man, and successfully turned a talking chicken back into a man. A productive evening, all around.

I like some of the 4th wall breaking humor in this game:
IMAGE(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/793118081601293842/2822ACFD7F095DECA33B1CD3BDC7A2FAC6ED56A8/)

Oh, hello there. Glad to see you all. Oh, what's that? How am I progressing, you ask?

Well, I hacked my way through the first couple levels of Durlag's tower before getting bored with trap disarming and pixel-hunting. I made my way over to the Iron Throne and discovered Sarevok's plan. I can't remember what I am supposed to do next, but I need to consider whether I want to handle the rest of Durlag's tower or not. The lore of the area itself is interesting and the rewards seem good but the pace is just a bit tedious. There are just so many traps and levers and lots of backtracking. As it stands I'm running out of inventory space, and shuffling all those wardstones around is another hassle.

imbiginjapan wrote:

Oh, hello there. Glad to see you all. Oh, what's that? How am I progressing, you ask?

Well, I hacked my way through the first couple levels of Durlag's tower before getting bored with trap disarming and pixel-hunting. I made my way over to the Iron Throne and discovered Sarevok's plan. I can't remember what I am supposed to do next, but I need to consider whether I want to handle the rest of Durlag's tower or not. The lore of the area itself is interesting and the rewards seem good but the pace is just a bit tedious. There are just so many traps and levers and lots of backtracking. As it stands I'm running out of inventory space, and shuffling all those wardstones around is another hassle.

Head back periodically to that merchant who is sitting around the start of the area of Durlag's Tower for some ill-defined reason. Well, that's the reason he is there, for you to schlep all your extra Goodies to, so I guess it is not ill-defined in the game.

Also, no one will fault you for noping out of Durlag's. It is tedious, kind of boring, and plays to all the weaknesses of the game.

So, Minsc lost patience with me right as I got to the Gnoll Stronghold.

Spoiler:

So I had to kill him I didn't have a good save to go back to to try to get there faster.

So now I need a sixth party member, but hopefully I can go back to where I left some of the previous ones. I was surprised when I saw just how many companions in the game there are, but if they're this easy to lose, I guess I can see why.

I apparently also missed picking up some documents from Nashkel Mine, so had to run all the way back there to pick them up so I can get rewarded.

I've been exploring each area pretty thoroughly, but it does get a little draining slowly filling in each map. At the same time, some of the goofier stuff in the game is hidden in those wilderness areas.

i don't think i've ever completed Durlag's Tower. Generally i don't get off the first floor.

That said, remember that things NEVER vanish from containers, so you can always dump your stuff somewhere in a box near the entrance if you're running out of space. (although DO remember where you left it!).

In fact if you use the "quick collect" bar in the EE version then you can just dump stuff on the floor by the exit and it'll conveniently pop up as you walk over it.

I love the quick collect bar. It makes looting after a battle so much less tedious.

How do you all generally manage loot and inventory? With how quickly everyone's inventory fills up, do you constantly return to the nearest town to sells stuff? I leave a lot of stuff uncollected at this point, so I end up not using the quick loot button very often.

I generally:

  • Store scrolls in the scroll case that the MC started with;
  • Store gems and rings in the pouch I kept from Neera;
  • Do not collect non-magical weapons and armor at all, unless the armor is better than what I already have. The money value for selling these things is low and you get plenty of coin. But, at the beginning of the game, I kept spare weapons in case of breakage;
  • Collect ammo, even if non-magical, so my ranged attackers don't run out, and store it in my ammo area;
  • Collect all magic items.

This generally helps me not get crazy overloaded, though I do have to shuffle things around from time to time. Potions clog up my inventory more than anything else.

LastSurprise wrote:

I generally:

  • Store scrolls in the scroll case that the MC started with;
  • Store gems and rings in the pouch I kept from Neera;
  • Do not collect non-magical weapons and armor at all, unless the armor is better than what I already have. The money value for selling these things is low and you get plenty of coin. But, at the beginning of the game, I kept spare weapons in case of breakage;
  • Collect ammo, even if non-magical, so my ranged attackers don't run out, and store it in my ammo area;
  • Collect all magic items.

This generally helps me not get crazy overloaded, though I do have to shuffle things around from time to time. Potions clog up my inventory more than anything else.

This was pretty much my system as well. Although I didn't collect all ammo. I'd keep enough to restore a full set of ammo for each missile person (so an extra 240 arrows, for example), which I found to be more than enough. Eventually, I had enough money coming out of my ears to keep/buy +1 or better missiles that I didn't bother with picking up nonenhanced missiles at all.

I didn't realize you could get it until later in my run, but there is also a potion case you can get from the wizard at High Hedge (enhanced edition only).

Going through the mines and bandit camp I picked up a lot of gems and rings that looked valuable but weren’t that valuable when I got around to selling them. Don’t think I’ll bother picking up any more. I could do with a scroll case though, can you pick one up anywhere? (Who or what is the MC who started with one?)

The main character. I think I just had one at the beginning of the game, if I remember correctly. I’m playing Enhanced Edition FWIW.

I think you can get a scroll case by doing Firebeard Elvenhair's side quest in Beregost? He's across the street from Feldepost's Inn in one of the doors hidden by the perspective.

Sadly, there isn't a bag of holding in BG1 but you can always add them with mods or by using the console if you can access it.

oh, also BG2 EE has an 'ammo bag' which is mind-blowingly useful! And you can get a bag of holding pretty quickly...

Spoiler:

Hexxat - the real Hexxat - has one to carry her coffin around in

Definitely didn’t start with a scroll case, maybe you have to be a mage? I’ll try Beregost.

I might have got one from Firebeard, I guess. I did both his initial fetch quest and his later book delivery quest, and did them pretty early. Also, my character is a Fighter / Mage, so it could be that.

Redherring wrote:

Going through the mines and bandit camp I picked up a lot of gems and rings that looked valuable but weren’t that valuable when I got around to selling them. Don’t think I’ll bother picking up any more.

Depends on the gem. Some of them are pretty valuable. Picking up and then dismissing Neera just to get the gem bag is well worth it.

LastSurprise wrote:

I might have got one from Firebeard, I guess. I did both his initial fetch quest and his later book delivery quest, and did them pretty early. Also, my character is a Fighter / Mage, so it could be that.

Book delivery quest for Firebead in Beregost is how you get the scroll case. Only in EE, no class restrictions as far as I know (I got it as a Cleric/Ranger).

Is anyone to attempt a late effort with the console release?

Early October through to December 31st to complete Baldur's Gate? That seems daunting considering I've failed to do so since circa 2001! As the fates would have it, I have some time off around about there. Potential!

And I'm done! I never did make it up to Ulgoth's Beard. I went into the fight with Sarevok sort of expecting to be able to keep going through the content. I might go back to an earlier save prior to the Undercity so I can putz around there.

Either one of my mods affected the final boss fight or I was poorly structured/leveled to deal with it. The wizard enemy was capable of confusing my entire party. I could probably have reverted to an earlier save, found some spell scrolls somewhere in town to counter his BS and made shorter work of it, but I eventually managed to lock the mage down with some spells while my hasted fighters took potions of Cloud Giant strength and battered Sarevok. It was still a close thing.

I've played through end to end three to five times now and it's still a treat.
Of the ones I recall, the first time I managed to miss literally all of Baldur's Gate and gave up on the final battle.

The second time I remember was years later, and I recall the final fight being a breeze. I had a dwarf fighter/cleric that was just deadly. I don't think I had the ToSC content at that time.

This one landed somewhere in between those extremes. I definitely rushed some elements. BG2 is so much better overall that some of BG1 just feels like a chore.

That said the high points are still great.
Getting to the Friendly Arm in for the first time is still a great moment. While the Nashkel mines themselves are mostly just annoying, clearing them out is still a great feeling.
The outdoor areas still feel wonderful and charming, though the walking speed got to me a bit this time. Prior to the EE I usually kicked up the fps to 45 with the config and that sped things up nicely. I didn't see any way of doing that in the EE.

And there is still that part of me thinking, 'maybe this time I'll play a Paladin'. There's not been a point where I have felt like I couldn't go back to this one.

Got my scroll case from Elfbeard or whatever his name was - his quest was a bit of a letdown. “Can you bring me this book, I’ve been searching everywhere for it” Er, did you try the shop across the street?

Anyway got everyone to level 5ish, cleared out the Cloakwood and now finally heading to Baldur’s Gate.

I think his quest solely exists to give you that Book of Exposition.

LastSurprise wrote:

I think his quest solely exists to give you that Book of Exposition.

You also get a protection from Evil spell that barely lasts long enough to get you through the first fight. In fact I think in the original game, that's all you get.