Your best BG experience - how did you play?

Aleque

Hi

I just completed the game by rushing through the main quest as a paladin. Although I did read all the text associated with the main plot thoroughly. I didn't end up completing any of the TotSC areas and there are lots of the vanilla areas that I didn't explore either. Right now I am stuck - I don't know whether I should go back from the Undercity (pre-Sarevok) and complete all the areas, or start playing a new character.

1) What is the best BG experience you have had?
2) What is the max level I can be in BG:EE?

SirK8

I would say go for a new character, playing through multiple times is all part of the fun unless you don't like repeating content, then just go finish out the areas with your paladin

1 - the first time, since it was all new an unkown
2 - I believe the XP cap is still 161k so you'll want to consult the class charts on specific levels

atcDave

I usually take my time and explore every nook and cranny, although sometimes I'll rush through certain parts out of "order", like to recruit a particular character or get a piece of loot I know about (ahem, Gauntlets of Ogre Power...). There is a particular contrast I love about the game, that is creating a character who is very powerful and capable for one game, while running another who is more "average" and quirky. Then I run both games in parallel. It's fun for me to see the difference in brute force vs more finesse.

My favorite characters are always Paladins and insufferably good aligned parties. But it is often fun to mix it up, and use single class clerics or bards as protagonists. I also really enjoy a variety of multi- or dual- options. I'm not really into mages as much, but I have run them (especially as part of a multi- or dual- character!), and had fun with that too. I'm not particularly into thieves either, but I do love Imoen's relentless enthusiasm and its awesome to have little sister along for the ride (perfect since I rarely make thief characters for myself, but I can always have one in the party!)

Debaser

Fighter / Clerics and Cleric / Ranger seem to be classes I've enjoyed. But I've always loved Sorcerers and mage mult-classes too. I love playing a Blackguard as an Evil Player as well.

Currently I'm playing a Beserker I intend to dual at level 13 to Thief in BG2. And I'm seriously loving him.

There are things I just always do to have a better / more fun game though:

1. I always lowered the game difficulty to easy in order to get max HP for all rolls on level ups on any non solo run through. And for certain spells I will do this as well.
2. I always played on insane otherwise making me be a bit more tactical.
3. I do use Shadow Keeper to give some characters different Weapon Proficiencies and to take the 15 points in Move Silently out of Imoen's thief skills and put them into Detect Traps.
4. I tend to Dual Imoen to Mage at level 6 and to do all of the expansion pack areas, I really enjoy Durlag's tower.
5. I tend to change Jaheria's weapon proficiencies to Sling, two-handed fighting style and staff...I always want to try to go sword and board or dual wielding with her...and then I think about staff of the ram and...it's all over. =/ I almost always take her no matter if I'm good or Evil...but I tend to get Khalid Petrified when I do.
6. If I take Minsc I always change his ++ in two handed swords to Longsword. And his + in mace to cap out Dual Wielding. I really like him, but lately I've been bored with him in my parties. I don't like using him as a two-handed sword fighter. I often change him into a Beserker too. If I keep him I tend to get Dynaheir petrified as well in favor of taking Neera these days, whom I greatly prefer.

Also I'm in the camp that BGEE is a step up from the original and from TuTu...so...I'm having more fun now than ever with it.

jorj82

Well, since you've already tried a Paladin, may I suggest playing evil? Personally, I've tried every class, pure, multi, and dual, and my absolute favorite is a multi-class Fighter Thief. They're not really that big a deal in the beginning, but after putting some points in stealth, and get that backstab multiplier going, you become somewhat ninja-esque. You'll only get the backstab up to 3x in the first game, but if you import this character into Shadows of Amn, and hit level 13 as a thief, it's 5x damage! And at this point, potions of invisibility become more important than having a party.

Personally, there's nothing more satisying than scouting a group of enemies, backstabbing the strongest, nearly killing him with one hit, and then having them all follow your thief back to the party, who cut them down with bows and slings...

This is also the only class I've successfully killed Saravok with.

Necroblivion

Sense I first playerd this game (14 years ago :O) I always went for pure classes. Mostly because multi and dualed seemed so slow progresion wise. Now though, I decided to give dual a try. I still don't like multi characters and I don't think I will ever play one but dualed characters are really nice IMO.

I now started a game with a zerker 3 dualed to rogue with a staff as the main weapon. She doesn't have a great AC but she backstab like crazy and she is great at melee (unless she is being attacked!).

I am also planing to go Stalker and dual to cleric and also go with a staff (just like that weapon I don't know :P).

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Pantalion

Hm... I'm going to go with the second playthrough. First, I struggled a bit, wasn't familiar with the rules set and was always on the back foot. Chose the wrong spells, the class I picked didn't fit.... The second time was after a long absence and everything was smoother, quicker, easier (mainly because I understood the spells and abilities better) and the class I picked was one I really enjoyed.

Rhyme

My favorite playthrough was the first time I blew off Xzar/Montaron and Khalid/Jaheira, and did a lot of side quests before embarking on the main storyline. The game is much more fun when your party isn't full 20 minutes into the game. I leveled up faster, picked up other characters at higher levels, and was all-around more powerful. That really got me over the hump of, "This is difficult, and not in a fun way."

Zarakinthish

My favorite playthrough so far is my current one for one simple reason: I'm finally clearing the hurdle of the city of Baldur's Gate. While I own the original and TotSC, I never was able to complete the game because I always lost steam once I actually entered Baldur's Gate. The two big reasons for that were the crappy journal/quest log in the original game, and not being able to find my way around. Now that it has the improvements from the second game, I think I'll finally make it all the way to the end this time.

OzzyBotkins

I would try going evil
with a mage
take your time and explore
have fun

ReadingRambo

My favorite walkthrough was one of the most balanced playthroughs I had. Charname was a paladin, I had yeslick, jaheira, kivan, Imoen dualed at level 6, and alora. A bit lacking in the arcane department with only immy, but I liked having one of each race except gnome. I tried using Quayle to have one of each race instead of Imoen but I missed having her around. Kivan hated alora for some reason and would bicker at her, and alora would just play it off haha.

That particular playthrough made me realize how über ranged weapons were. Kivan had a composite bow of some sort ( can't remember exactly which), Imoen used the +2 shortbow, and alora switched btw a sling and Kiel's buckler, and the army scythe crossbow.
I initially picked up alora to cover for Imoen while she recovered her thief levels, but she grew on me. I liked alora and kivan bickering. It made me laugh

mjs

favourite is one where i strayed most from the canonical, trying different NPCs(& overpowering myself)
charname: dual fighter>mage. garrick. xan. branwen. coran and imoen (no matter how much i want to try different NPCs i always gotta keep imoen)

the balance was waaaaaay off, but my PC was immense

Mykra

The best experience I had was going through the original trilogy as a Mage. Going into the first game with limited spells (and not knowing of the hidden ring at the Friendly Arms Inn) was maddening, but it truly felt like my guy grew in power by leaps and bounds as the game progressed and I loved setting up combos with other casters, and mage fencing with enemies in the later games. I just wish they had more clothing/pixel options. You kind of look the same...forever.

Bacca

My best experience was my latest run-through in BGEE.

Although having played BG shortly after initial release and then playing BG2 I don't think I ever finished either of them. I believe that me and a friend played through BG1 up to Sarevok but found ourselves unable to finish him due to poor party make-up and poor knowledge of the game. I re-bought BG2 from GoG the other day and am enjoying playing through it again but really can't remember any of the plot and all I know is that at some point I'll end up in the asylum for Mages, after that I'm doing everything for the first time.

Back to the point. My latest play-through was different as I actually finished the game for a start off. I solo'd until I hit the level cap and then went through Nashkel Mines with just protagonist and Neera. I then went for Jaheira and Khalid but they had disappeared as I had completed the mines. I grabbed Coran and then the crazy druid so I could un-petrify Branwen. Kicked the crazy druid and grabbed Yeslick in the mines then Quayle as I entered BG.

Completely loved that party make-up. Yeslick and Branwen can both hold their own in melee combat without being exactly dangerous. Coran is a legend with a bow in his hand and is extremely deadly. Quayle is more around for comedy comments but does a good job with offensive spells and Neera adds comedy in other, wild magey, type ways. Charname was a Half-Orc Fighter who was a sword and broad brute.

All-in-all a good party with plenty of healing and defensive spells with a good amount of damage to boot. Equip Coran with Arrows of Dispelling and Arrows of Piercing and he will basically win the last battle for you single-handedly. I even went back to my pre-Sarevok save and upped the difficulty level to give myself more of a test, such was the ease at which I finished off the final fight.

DinsdalePiranha

Monty, Xzar, Safana, Coran, and Edwin, with a ranger/cleric main.

somewhat messed up party composition (3 thiefs, 1 cleric), but damn, the banter alone is worth it.

Aleque

DinsdalePiranha said:

Monty, Xzar, Safana, Coran, and Edwin, with a ranger/cleric main.

somewhat messed up party composition (3 thiefs, 1 cleric), but damn, the banter alone is worth it.

Banter? Are they actually talking to each other throughout the game?

DinsdalePiranha

@Aleque: yup. they are basically the chattiest, most well-polished NPCs in terms of interactions - Monty and Xzar have quite the number of lines (mostly batshit insane), and they have a few unique interactions with outside NPCs (chapter 7, a guy near iron throne, or the other mages in sorcerous sundries).

also, if placed in a party with Jaheira and Khalid, they'll dispose of the meddling harper fools.

Coran and Safana also banter a lot, mostly Coran hitting on Safana (okay, he hits on everyone, but these banters are unique to them) and getting shot down. he also has his very own quest in Baldur's Gate.

Edwin... he mostly stays silent and sometimes gets insulted by Safana, though those are not unique banters.

surprising, there is actually a lot of chit-chat in BG1 too, you just have to pair the right people together to get some unique dialogues. off the top of my head:
- Xan makes fun of Ajantis (good boy)
- Alora tries to cheer up Edwin (and does!)
- Eldoth has half the world rotating around him: Shar-Teel despises and insults, Skie adores, and Garrick wants to steal his girlfriend off him, not sure if all unique or just some of their banters
- Yeslick and Kagain despise each other
- ...and of course the two harper fools chat amongst themselves, iirc Jaheira also hates Faldorn

there may be more, but the Xzar-Monty and Coran-Safana pairs definitely produce the most interesting ones.

leddyhs

Ft druid protagonist, sharteel dualed to thief, dorn and xan as the group mage!

vekkth

My best playthrough is the one i am doing. Because, after getting into Cloakwood mines with my solo kensai and realizing that the Katana +1 i was hunting for is in a freaking locked chest, i've finally found out that i can pry chests open by clicking attack on it. And doors. Amazing. It took me 13 years (tho i didnt play BG/IWD much after 2003) to figure it out, just because i've had a thief in every party i played before this one (this kensai is destined to become a thief in BG2 too).

Rann

I feel so... pedestrian... reading the other comments. :-) I tend to slide towards the possibly more boring "canonical" NPCs (at least as far as BG2 is concerned) -- Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, Dynaheir, and Imoen. My favorite playthroughs (which used all of those NPCs) would be the first time I played BG all those years ago (I was in general just floored with the difference between it and the EotB- and GoldBox-type games, so it didn't matter if I did all the quests or not, so happy was I) and the most recent one (where I'm pretty sure I did everything possible a paladin can do in the game).

Monty and Xzar came along in the first game with my ranger (until killed by Khalid and Jaheira), but my paladin didn't like the looks of them this last time.

In my second-most-recent playthrough, I tried hard to go with the non-traditional NPCs (Quayle, Alora, Branwen, etc), and while it was fun, it wasn't *as* fun for whatever reason. Alas, I cannot play evil (I've tried, and I always give up after a day or two -- it just doesn't work for me), so I miss out on some of the better banter, I'm guessing. (I have taken a couple of evil folks into the party, but only so I could convince them to change their alignment... :-)). I'm up to 7 playthroughs and I *think* I've had all of the non-evil NPCs in my party (Coran, Kivan, Ajantis, Yeslick, etc), , but somehow I'm more comfortable with the ones that I mentioned above -- don't know why. (In fact, when I played BG2 first, I simply assumed that the game had intelligently started with the NPCs I'd ended the last game with -- little did I know!)