Hi, I'm new to Baldur's Gate

BasketSnake

I grew up with the NES at my friends and then I owned the SNES, PS1,2 etc etc. I've played a ton of games. I might have seen a demo or something of BG back in 98. I do remember having seen it at one point but I never played it. I actually borrowed BG2 from a co worker and forgot to return it. I believe I still have it. I think it had like six discs but I can't remember. I remember playing NWN co-op with my brother. I've played all the great ones, Super Mario World, Half-life, Goldeneye, OOT, FF7, MGS. I've always known about the BG games but I never played them. No reason, I love RPG's. So then I thought I had to give this a try because it seemed so perfect for the touch screen on the iPad. It works fairly well. I'm hoping and believing the upcoming patch (or later patches) will fix some of the door entering and picking up smaller objects. Anyways I know that BG and NWN and other games use the same ruleset. I've never played D&D and the way this game works is interesting.

I think I'm nearing the end of the first mines. I think the game is hard. I can probably get past some enemies after a third try but after that I get pissed off and put it down. (Playing on normal). I very recently played through Super Metroid for the first time (for funzies - 9hr51min 66%) and I really liked it. I think it's because there's no dialogue in that game. It's pure gameplay. Over the years I've grown a bit tired of dialogue in games unless it's done well.

Then I tried BG. I started my journey and got out of the castle. Up the road I encountered the mage and the other dude (Haven't played in a week so I can't even remember his name). Now I did read a little bit before I started playing about how stats work and how it runs in the background. I went into a town and they were all complaining about getting some rest. I rested. On my way out of town I came across a broken caravan. I went over to a barrel and looted it. Then the gamechanger happened for me. I believe it was Imoen who got mad at me and stated that "from there on we are not on speaking terms". Something like that. I guess I always knew about alignment but I didn't realize it would have a direct impact on the gameplay like that. This makes me truly care about the characters. I usually don't really care about characters in any game. I always like to play games without reloading such as in Skyrim. You do something it doesn't really impact the world. At one point Xzar and Khalid (I think) just straight up KILLED each other. (Can they in NWN? I don't remember.) This is not news to you but for me it blew my mind and I grew up on Super Mario 1 so I've played a lot of games. The only reason I keep reloading this game is because I'm well aware you won't succeed without a good party. Anyways that's my long boring read and I'm eagerly awaiting the patch and I HOPE it'll improve loot pick-up.

I don't mind spoilers as long as they're of the minor type and if anyone got suggestions for me or tips on what I "should" or "could" try to do while playing this game, please reply. This is a really tough game, I get that. It's like FF7's graphics. You had to grow up with it (my favorite game) to appreciate it now. You play it -now- it's the ugliest game you've encountered. To the rest of us it's nostalgia. I totally get how this game is exactly that when it comes to the difficulty level. I so want to get past that "barrier of entry" and keep playing the game. This is like my longest post ever but I had to. Those two party members just out of nowhere started arguing and ended up killing each other...golden moment. This makes me really wonder what can happen if I start rebelling and raiding towns in this game. Tips? Advice for a noob?

ankheg

Play it on core rules. Normal is kinda euphemism for "easy". Try to do as many sidequests as possible to get some xp. Don't try to rush in the main story line. Explore some parts, if you find something too hard, mark it, return later. Have at least one of every main class types. (I mean warrior/wizard/thief/priest). Speak to everyone, go to every house. And be patient. Very patient. If you are really pissed off, read some low-level walkthrough. And yes some characters won't like each other. Alignment might be a good indication though not every time. Reputation is also important. (read the manual about it)
The game isn't really userfriendly like BG2, especially because the xp limit is low, so you can't get really strong, even at max level.

D3V11_

Tips: explore the world (in the game). talk to as many people as possible. Do not skip over conversation without reading it. The bartender at the inn gives you clues as to what is going on when you buy drinks, so do some characters you meet. Role play your heart out, and have loads of fun. But... It looks like your already doing all that, so ya... Lol grate. Awesome post by the way.

EDIT:
One of my experiences playing Baldur's Gate:
I once played an assassin and I walked into a bar in Baldur's gate and a paladin attacked me, ended up slaughtering the whole bar because everyone turned hostile after I killed the paladin, thus ended up with a really bad reputation. I had to travel by the sewers for the rest of the game (my assassin wasn't going to make any good deeds any time soon, nor was he going to donate money to a temple), ended up making a map to tell me where each exit in the sewers would take me, it was awesome.

iKrivetko

NWN and BG use quite different rulesets.

Anyway, games like this are about you playing the way you want to, being immersed in the story, shaping it, seeing what happens next and feeling yourself a part of the universe, with your own name, history, and, ultimately, legacy.

And of course, there is also metagaming and all that, which is somewhat entertaining as well.

As for tips and advice: use ranged weapons. Use them a lot.
Explore. Every corner of the game world might have a pleasant (or, probably, not so much) surprise.

BJMJD

You have good advices above, I will just give you a link to the manual it can help you

http://www.baldursgate.com/manuals.en.html

BaronVH

There are some simple tips to make it easier. The perfect part is one mage, one thief, one cleric, and three fighters. The leader should have high strength with the best armor and melee weapons. All the other characters with ranged weapons. The second fighter should also have a good melee weapon. Fighters in top three spots, thief fourth, cleric fifth, and keep the mage way out of melee range. When you see enemy wizards always kill them first and learn from them. Save often. Drink potions. Summon monsters to get in the way of bad guys. The game gives subtle hints where to go or not go. Follow those hints of where to go. If you get to an area you are not ready for, you will die quickly. You must use all benefits of each class, i.e., thief needs to be trap detection (a mage an cast invisibility on a thief, and the thief can scout the map clearing traps), mage needs to cast crowd control spells (sleep and fireball), cleric needs to buff party, etc. One thing is the game is hard as hell if you are evil. Much easier with a good aligned party.

BasketSnake

I'd like to see properties of spells in-game. It does suck that you have to learn it from the manual but whatever. I'll scout with an invisible thief. Unless there's an easy way to get rid of the XP cap I think I'll move over to PC though. They should make it an option.

ankheg

BasketSnake said:

I'd like to see properties of spells in-game. It does suck that you have to learn it from the manual but whatever. I'll scout with an invisible thief. Unless there's an easy way to get rid of the XP cap I think I'll move over to PC though. They should make it an option.

There are reasons for XP limit. The game would became too easy, and most of the really high level spells/rules/skills etc. aren't working as they should. About spells: read them in the manual, or print the manual, first there is a lot of spells of course, but ultimately you will use less than 1/4 of them based on your style.

D3V11_

Lets not turn this thread about XP cap limit, there is a thread already out there about that, pleas go there for that topic (forget the actual title of the thread but it is there). I really liked how this thread began, about the BG experience and helpful (no spoiler) tips, lets keep it that way pleas, thank you.

ankheg

D3V11_ said:

Lets not turn this thread about XP cap limit, there is a thread already out there about that, pleas go there for that topic (forget the actual title of the thread but it is there). I really liked how this thread began, about the BG experience and helpful (no spoiler) tips, lets keep it that way pleas, thank you.

Agreed, however I tried most of the higher level things, so I gave this advice from my experience. There is no benefit from xp, if most of the spells aren't working.

BasketSnake

I like to steal everything I see. Controlling the entire party around town and especially inside houses is a bit tricky at times. How about just using the thief and picking up the most valuable stuff?

BaronVH

Be careful not to be seen, as you can get arrested, or worse. Not an issue if you have an evil party. That was a good way to do it even on the PC version.

BasketSnake

My reputation says disliked (6) on every character.

SirK8

@BasketSnake - if you like to steal but don't want to get caught, you can knock civilians out by using unarmed combat (except on a monk). Knock them unconscious and then loot their stuff and get away with it. You only need to do this if the civilian would see you stealing and call the guards.

D3V11_

Note: you can increase your reputation to a point by donating to a temple, just talk to a priest and there should be a donate option, see the manual for how much you need to give to increase reputation, it's usually 100 gold but could be up to 500 I think, it's different for whatever reputation level you have when donating.

ankheg

The gold you need is based on the current reputation. Look for manual. You cannot buy reputation over 18. All the characters in your party have the same however some evil characters will decrease it. You can also use invisibility/stealth to avoid guards. And sometimes the fact that pepole can see you is matters. (but not everytime)

SirK8

Someone posted this on another thread, I believe it's accurate but have not tested it:

Reputation Maintenance Donation Info

17 reputation points - 500 gold for one more
16 - 400
15 - 300
14 - 300
13 - 200
12 - 200
11 - 100
10 - 100
9 - 100
8 - 100
7 - 100
6 - 200
5 - 200
4 - 200
3 - 300
2 - 400
1 - 500

So whatever your current reputation is, you'll need to pay the specified amount of gold to raise it one point

ankheg

SirK8 said:

Someone posted this on another thread, I believe it's accurate but have not tested it:

Reputation Maintenance Donation Info

17 reputation points - 500 gold for one more
16 - 400
15 - 300
14 - 300
13 - 200
12 - 200
11 - 100
10 - 100
9 - 100
8 - 100
7 - 100
6 - 200
5 - 200
4 - 200
3 - 300
2 - 400
1 - 500

So whatever your current reputation is, you'll need to pay the specified amount of gold to raise it one point

It is not. Or it shouldn't be. You can find the list in the manual (p17) there is a mistake however rep 13/14 should be 1200 and 1500.

D3V11_

ok, those are correct for the old BG, but the manual for BGEE gives different prices (way higher). Now Im not sure if this is a bug or if the manual is just wrong? and Im not sure for what platform I saw the following happen (or if it is both, but i only did it on one), but I believe I have fallen to reputation 1 (or somewhere close to one), at one point when I was just testing stuff out, and I remember using the donation values from the old BG and my reputation increased accordingly. I will start a new discussion thread for this...

BJMJD

I heard from many thread, the manual is wrong and the right value are the old one which are given by ankheg

BasketSnake

Can you give a general description of what you would encounter if you play it straight up evil? Robbing and killing... I expect you won't even survive the guards.

ankheg

BasketSnake said:

Can you give a general description of what you would encounter if you play it straight up evil? Robbing and killing... I expect you won't even survive the guards.

You can kill them without too much efforts, however the prices in the shops we be quite... disturbing. Some quests have evil solutions, so you don't have to kill everybody.

Eudaemonium

I just play the game in a really mercenary way when I'm playing evil. I will help powerful officials, etc, because it may lead to beneficial favours down the road. With most ordinary quests the first question my PC asks is 'How much will I get paid for this?' and if it isn't enough, then no can do. Sometimes I will quest for less, particularly if there seems to be the promise of powerful treasure. Also sometimes I'm just feeling magnanimous. It varies. If you are homicidal, however, then yes the game screws you over.

D3V11_

Eudaemonium said:

If you are homicidal, however, then yes the game screws you over.

Well, if you did what I did, which is using sewers, hide in shadows when on the streets in the city, avoid guards, etc... You can do it, just makes the game harder (but makes it really interesting as well). Note: my reputation dropped that low later on in the game when most of the magic items I wanted from the storers I already had, and I also sold magic items and stole them back. If my reputation dropped that low at the beginning I'm not sure if I would have managed.