Best way to enjoy BGEE in a casual way?

Epyon

I realized after I bought BGEE on the iPad is that the game is not very casual friendly. I got it on iPad because I thought I could play on the couch and watch TV with my wife or play a bit on my lunch break. But combat is kicking my ass. I'm still very early into the game, and I have to be very focused on what every character is doing or characters start dying. Part of challenge is that the game is older and doesn't have modern streamlining (e.g. handholding). And I'm sure part of it is that my characters are all still level one. And I'm definitely still getting used to playing the game.

What I want to do is enjoy the story and experience the combat in a non-intense way. I'm definitely not looking for a strong challenge. What can I do to make the game play a little more casual? Does the game let up a little in difficulty?

Is there an easy mode? Or is there some modding that could make my characters have a little more health? (I realize that the iPad is closed, but if saves are cross-platform, could I modify my stats on a PC for a HP bump and transfer the save back?)

Any help would be really appreciated.

mattinm

You can adjust the difficult in the Gameplay settings all the way to the left. Monsters will do half damage, all HP rolls will be maximum, all spells are learned, and nobody permanently dies (so you can resurrect them in a temple). Also, it's a really good idea to focus on Ranged attacks, especially early in the game. Have a couple archers and a couple tanks with the best armour you can find.

Grab a mage and get him to learn Sleep... use that spell on any groups of weakish monsters that can do damage, especially ranged (like the Hobgoblins). Get your cleric to learn Command instead of healing spells and use that on single-targets that will hit extra hard (such as mages, ogres, etc). Focus on healing potions to keep your front-liners alive instead, at least early on. Command and Sleep are just insanely powerful early on. Note that I don't think Jaheira can learn Command as she's a Druid, not a Cleric, so that's something to keep in mind.

You can also grab several "easter egg" items early in the game to help out. I won't put them in here, but they're readily searchable, and can definitely go a little ways to helping stay alive and fund your adventure.

Epyon

Awesome. Thanks for the helpful (and quick!) repy!

atcDave

Another huge thing is set auto-pause on for most circumstances (also in the "gameplay" section). Doing this will cause the game to pause any time something big happens. That way if you're watching TV or talking to someone you don't have to worry about the game running away from you while you were distracted.

And for all that, after over 20 completed play throughs and many more false starts (I can't even count how many times I've done Candle Keep!), I still just won't play if there is too much going on around me. If I really care about that football game I'll probably just play solitaire, save BG for when you can offer MOST of your attention.

Epyon

Thanks, Dave. I'll go back over my auto-pause settings.

One other question, if y'all don't mind. My main is a fighter. I took two ranks in two weapon fighting, but I have no idea how to equip two weapons at the same time. I searched through the BGEE combat manual and I didn't see it mentioned. Any help there?

atcDave

Just put the second weapon in your shield slot. This does make switching to missile weapons a little tricky, I normally do just one or the other, dual wielding fighters do not use missile weapons and vice versa. Just because it is a pain to have to switch to your equipment screen and remove the off hand weapon so you can equip a bow or something. Some players are more patient than I, just be advised, an extra step is involved for a dual wielder to use a missile.

mattinm

Place the other weapon in the Shield slot on the Inventory screen. The off-hand weapon only swings once, no matter how many attacks per round you have, and is subject to a negative modifier (-4 with 2 points, I believe and -2 with 3 points), so you're best off using you're second-best weapon in that slot, or a weapon that provides a nice bonus, such as an increased ability score, increased AC, special ability, etc.