Baldurs Gate

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2007-09-19 07:51pm

Well, Im feeling nostalgic, so I rebought BG, TotSC, BG2, and SoA. Once they arrive, I am beginning my quest to become Bhaal's Heir.

Anyone have any good stories re BG?

Joviwan · Post by **Joviwan** » 2007-09-19 08:17pm

I have on detailing my former anger management issues? Does that count?

Years ago, near when the game was first released, I was so addicted to it I think it might have physically harmed me. I was playing on a day off from school, once, and had an amazing run during those seven hours, where for seemingly three hours straight, I hit plot point after plot point, the party gained two levels on average (Minsc got three!), and I had managed to explore a huge chunk of the map simply through the sidequests I had been curtailed onto. Then, in a place I forgot the name of, I found a random ass elf woman in the middle of the forest. We chat for a moment, and I agree to help her or something, and she decided she wants to kiss me as a way of saying thanks. I'm all "Uh.. Sure!" So, she kisses me, and.. I die. Death cinematic, would you like to reload, blah blah. Last save? Four hours ago.

I flipped out like a monkey on crack, started screaming, had myself a downright temper fury. I jumped up, kicked my chair into the wall, stormed off into the bathroom to rage, slammed the door, and, because I had obviously not had enough physical violence, threw my 12 year old, 180 pound frame against the thing as hard as I could. three times. Funnily enough, that cracked the doorframe, pushed the hinges into no-man's land, and shoved the latch onto the other side of it's catch. So, with no one home, because dad was out at a fancy dinner, I was stuck in the bathroom for three hours with nothing but a toilet and a handheld blackjack game.

needless to say, dad was righteously pissed when he got home, grounded me for three months, and made me work off the money it would cost to fix the door. I've since learned to reel in the anger.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2007-09-19 09:19pm

Lol, I remember that. Its the nymph chick on the west coast that kisses you and you die. She serves an ogre mage you can off.

You didnt have autosave turned on?

Joviwan · Post by **Joviwan** » 2007-09-20 12:17pm

That would have been smart, yeah, but I had grown tired of the extra 'loading' screen on autosaves and disabled it, without developing the habit of quicksaving every goddamned time I moved. I can barely pick up equipment in HL2 now, without hitting f6.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-20 04:07pm

The first dragon you kill in BGII, that red one? I had Viconia cast some sort of holy protection spell that makes you invisible to really evil nasty shit from the pits of hell. Then I had her cast Gate. I was disappointed to find that the Dragon died without giving me any experience, that the Pit Fiend died without giving me any experience, and that the Pit Fiend keeled over without much of a fight (after the protection spell had worn-off) despite taking-on a fucking dragon and emerging victorious with barely a couple of cuts and scratches. Aparently Dragon > Party, and Pit Fiend >> Dragon, but Party >>> Pit Fiend.

Steel · Post by **Steel** » 2007-09-21 06:22am

Adrian Laguna wrote:The first dragon you kill in BGII, that red one? I had Viconia cast some sort of holy protection spell that makes you invisible to really evil nasty shit from the pits of hell. Then I had her cast Gate. I was disappointed to find that the Dragon died without giving me any experience, that the Pit Fiend died without giving me any experience, and that the Pit Fiend keeled over without much of a fight (after the protection spell had worn-off) despite taking-on a fucking dragon and emerging victorious with barely a couple of cuts and scratches. Aparently Dragon > Party, and Pit Fiend >> Dragon, but Party >>> Pit Fiend.

Hah! I killed that dragon by having yoshimo, over the period of several (ingame) months, lay hundreds of his traps next to it, then go and rest up stairs. When i finally initiated combat with it the game engine froze for about a minute before having all the traps explode and kill him. Hilarious

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2007-09-21 10:04am

Bah, Lower Resist and then magic missile spam from all my mages...while Minsc tries to headbut it...in fact, that was how I killed all the dragons

Post by **Vympel** » 2007-09-21 10:54am

I got BG, ToTSC, BGII and ToB as well - not in the curiously useless recent DVD release (what's the point of releasing it on DVD if they're still all on seperate discs and don't run as one game with the BG2 engine? Bah!) and last played it again I believe back in 2004. I got the most awesome roll ever when I started BG - so awesome, in fact, that the game reduced my hit points when I loaded the character into BG2.

Incidentally, make sure you hog all the stat increasing books in BG for yourself. You're the Child of Bhaal, dammit.

What's that mod for running BG/ToTSC in the BG2 version of the engine?

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-09-21 10:56am

I was actually just playing that encounter last night at work. I stuck Yoshi, Minsc and Mazzy behind Firkraag, put Jaheera and Aerie off to the sides, and then being typical paladin I am, charged in and started slapping him. It cost me everyone but myself and Mazzy; but I did manage to down him on one try with no one above level 9.

I was feeling pretty froggy too because about an hour or so before I had just downed the shade-lord's dragon.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2007-09-21 12:52pm

Keevan_Colton wrote:Bah, Lower Resist and then magic missile spam from all my mages...while Minsc tries to headbut it...in fact, that was how I killed all the dragons

Magic missile spam? So unsophisticated. I casted Greater Maliason and followed it up with a Finger of Death after I'd destroyed the Dragon's defences. Works against other big nasties, too.

The Jester · Post by **The Jester** » 2007-09-21 01:07pm

Adrian Laguna wrote:Magic missile spam? So unsophisticated. I casted Greater Maliason and followed it up with a Finger of Death after I'd destroyed the Dragon's defences. Works against other big nasties, too.

I always referred to this as giving the dragon The Finger.

Joviwan · Post by **Joviwan** » 2007-09-21 04:17pm

Vympel wrote:What's that mod for running BG/ToTSC in the BG2 version of the engine?

I believe it's called Baldur's Gate Trilogy, hosted at Spellhold Studios.

This appears to be ze link

From what I remember, it requires EVERYTHING to be installed fully, and then goes through a lengthly conversion process and asks you a bunch of customization questions.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-09-21 04:37pm

There's another mod to do the same thing, BG1tutu. I don't know, these days, which does the job better.

There was also a mod that dumped BG2 into the IWD2 engine, upconverting everything to the new ruleset, but I don't know how far that got.

Joviwan · Post by **Joviwan** » 2007-09-21 05:39pm

BGTutu is, I think, actually partially incorporated into BG trilogy, but I'm probably talking out of my ass. The difference between Tutu and Trilogy, though, is that tutu only converts BG1 to the BG2 engine. Trilogy converts it, and then seamlessly links all the games together so you can play from candlekeep to whatever the hell place it is in Throne of Bhall (I've never played ToB yet, I'm still waiting on Imoen Romance to finish).

EDIT: I can spell, I swear.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-09-21 06:04pm

I remember playing BGTrilogy back in Ye Olde Days when it first came out. (back then you had to hack your way around a crash with one of the Bhaalspawn, because there was an NPC in BG1 with the same name, and all her instance events were called the same, so it got confused)

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2007-09-21 06:17pm

Adrian Laguna wrote:
Keevan_Colton wrote:Bah, Lower Resist and then magic missile spam from all my mages...while Minsc tries to headbut it...in fact, that was how I killed all the dragons
Magic missile spam? So unsophisticated. I casted Greater Maliason and followed it up with a Finger of Death after I'd destroyed the Dragon's defences. Works against other big nasties, too.

Ah, but surely there must be something said for slaying dragons with level 1 spells

It's either that or having some real fun with level 9 spells and a wildmage...

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2007-09-21 08:18pm

Pure Wizard Slayer action. By Throne of Bhaal, I didn't need to bother to keep a thief in my party, because I could just run over the trap.

Oh no! Trap triggered? It's casting Disintigrate! Aaaaaah!
Spell Resisted

Always something fun about playing a fighter that is immune to magic (by the end of the game, I had a magic resistance of about 115+). An interesting tidbit I found was that the Amulet of the Seldarine apparently doesn't count as a magical item, because a Wizard Slayer can wear it. The extra magic resistance isn't really needed, but it's not like you'd be able to wear any other amulets.

Another fun Wizard Slayer trick is to dual-class into a Thief almost right off the bat in Shadows of Amn. Gives you the magic resistance of a few levels of Wizard Slayer, plus gives you access to the high-level thief ability "Use Any Item". Sorry, Keldorn. You don't get the Holy Avenger. It goes to the Thief.