First time playing, struggling in all aspects.
I tried playing through the tutorial for BGEE, as I've never played BG before, but I felt I wasn't understanding the instructions very well. I stumbled around the menus and eventually got my way through it but I'm feeling more confused then I did before I started. Spellcasters, how do they work?
I wanted to make a spellcaster for my first playthrough, but they seem complicated. All this stuff about memorization and meditating or resting before being able to use spells, and then I could only use that spell once before needing to rest for 8 hours. It seemed like a big headache so I tried out a Fighter instead. It's been alright but I find it a little boring? At the moment I'm bleeding my way through the Nashkel mines with little to no idea of anything that's going on. I just know Xzar and Khalid and his wife want to be here, and since Gorion told me to find Khalid I figured I'd just follow him. I've no idea who I'm supposed to be or who Gorion is or why I'm doing anything at all. I'm under the assunption I'm just supposed to learn as I go, so I've been trying to just bear through it in hopes everything will be made a bit clearer as I go. Next thing I know Xzar and Khalid start freaking out at each other and now Xzar is dead and his minion friend left us to die in the mines. I loved how that can happen though in the game, how the companions interact with one another like that, and it's got me excited to keep playing.
Maybe it's just the game, not the class, no offense to anyone out there. I've heard this is an amazing game and I enjoy reading about it a lot, but it's very complicated and maybe I'm not enjoying it because I simply don't know what's going on. I just find it a little underwhelming since all I'm doing is pausing the game and then assigning targets to my characters. I can barely tell what it is I'm attacking, or what class the humanoids I'm attacking are, or anything really. I realize that the darkening of a character's portrait signifies their health but other than that, I feel very, very lost, and am struggling to enjoy the game.
I wanted to make a spellcaster for my first playthrough, but they seem complicated. All this stuff about memorization and meditating or resting before being able to use spells, and then I could only use that spell once before needing to rest for 8 hours. It seemed like a big headache so I tried out a Fighter instead. It's been alright but I find it a little boring? At the moment I'm bleeding my way through the Nashkel mines with little to no idea of anything that's going on. I just know Xzar and Khalid and his wife want to be here, and since Gorion told me to find Khalid I figured I'd just follow him. I've no idea who I'm supposed to be or who Gorion is or why I'm doing anything at all. I'm under the assunption I'm just supposed to learn as I go, so I've been trying to just bear through it in hopes everything will be made a bit clearer as I go. Next thing I know Xzar and Khalid start freaking out at each other and now Xzar is dead and his minion friend left us to die in the mines. I loved how that can happen though in the game, how the companions interact with one another like that, and it's got me excited to keep playing.
Maybe it's just the game, not the class, no offense to anyone out there. I've heard this is an amazing game and I enjoy reading about it a lot, but it's very complicated and maybe I'm not enjoying it because I simply don't know what's going on. I just find it a little underwhelming since all I'm doing is pausing the game and then assigning targets to my characters. I can barely tell what it is I'm attacking, or what class the humanoids I'm attacking are, or anything really. I realize that the darkening of a character's portrait signifies their health but other than that, I feel very, very lost, and am struggling to enjoy the game.
0
Comments
Baldur's Gate is essentially a turn-based tactics fantasy game with roleplaying elements, based on a rule set from the Dungeons & Dragons game system (which it seems you are unfamiliar with). Honestly, the game is designed to be hard even if you are familiar with this type of game system.
My suggestions:
Take it slower. Learn by experimentation. Keep in mind this game is primarily about tactics, so try to learn which tactics work. Try lowering your difficulty setting until you learn better how to play.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/1992/basic-game-tips-for-new-players/p1
Some good basics.
You'll get some experience under your belt, which will make the plot more enjoyable because you're not stressing about actually being able to complete it without losing half your party.
And if you run into something in the wilderness you can't defeat, don't despair. Just go around it and come back later! That's luxury you don't have with the plot.
A warrior type is the easiest for learning; especially Cavalier or Undead Hunter, they have some useful abilities but not too much to keep track of.
Always use weapons you are specialized in (two proficiency slots or "pips").
Wear the best armor you can find (lowest armor class).
Try to keep characters of similar alignment in your party, especially in the good/evil axis; big differences will argue, and cause other problems, as you already saw.
The best party is balanced among the character classes.
Your spellcasters will get better as they go up levels. Low level mages are particularly weak.
Be patient with yourself and the game. Read descriptions of things. The story is engaging and well written, but you do have to pay attention.
You really can win with any type of character, its all about learning how to get the most out of them. And THAT, requires patience.
Be aware also that this is a long game, the Nashkel mine is still very early in the story. Since you don't yet know all about where to go and what to do, it might well take you months to finish it (although many areas and quests are optional) ... but long before then, you'll have got the hang of the game mechanics and the story will be shaping up, so you'll be much less mystified.
It's worth persisting. When the original version first came out, 15 years ago, this was the best game that had ever been made, no contest. Even today, it's still standing up pretty well, now that it's had this Enhanced Edition facelift.
If you pick a Dwarf, you'll also get very good saving throws, allowing you to avoid a lot of nasty effects enemies throw at you.
Your most important stats for this character is a high Strength, Constitution and Wisdom.
Strength means you hit more often and deal more damage in meele, and lets you wear heavy armor/shields and carry lots of loot.
Constitution means you can take more damage before dying, and if you are a Dwarf/Halfling/Gnome, high Constitution will give you better saving throws.
Wisdom gives you bonus spells as a Cleric.
If you're set on playing as an arcane caster (Mage or Sorcerer), resign yourself to the fact that you'll suck for the first 3 levels, and die very easily. Stay in the back, use what few spells you get per day only in tough fights, and pelt stuff with a sling. Once you get a few levels under your belt, you get access to more options. Spells like Web, Invisibility, Horror and Agannazar's Scorcher are all nice when you get them. Magic Missile becomes more powerful as you level, Sleep is good for about 1/2 the game, and Blindness can completely take a single powerful enemy out of a fight.
Then, at level 5, you get access to stuff like Fireball, Haste and Slow, and the world is essentially your oyster from there on out.
Some disjointed stuff up there I guess... the point being, at the start you will be pretty weak, almost regardless of what class you pick. It's once you get rolling and gain a few levels that you get more tactical options, and that's when the fun really start.
The one who had the least trouble was the thief - it's a versatile class and it's not boring because there is a lot to do; scouting, locks, trap searching, and - once you get the hang of it - stealth and backstabs. (He plans on an assassin or shadowdancer, but started with a vanilla thief to "work up to it".)
One problem is always: too much information at once. If you ask someone for advice with class X and quest Y, you'll get a total overload of information, what you need to pay attention to, how to compose your party, what abilities/weapons/spells to use... And it will be confusing.
(I'm training my handpicked group of recruits to be evil masterminds, so I probably made it harder for them by giving advise how to play evil... "Do NOT kill everything that moves in Candlekeep, the guards will stomp your level 1 charname into the frozen ground!" being an important lesson for my bloodthirsty misfit crew...)
Anyway, I'd say to get the hang of it:
1. Play a good aligned character.
2. Play a class that has a clearly defined role: thief, healer/cleric or a specialized fighter (i.e. paladin)
3. Use the first map - Candlekeep - to learn the mechanics. If you make your way around the village and talk to NPCs, you will get training quests; one includes a full party so you can learn to coordinate fights and see what your allies can do. You can repeat this training as many times as you like with no risk - just select the NPCs you get, click all buttons they have and see what they do.
4. When you meet NPCs after leaving Candlekeep, look at their profiles. You'll see what class and alignment they are, and in the (maybe overwhelmingly long) list, you also see what weapons they use. Just scroll through the stuff you don't understand; it's not that important how the NPC's saving throws vs. breath weapon are at the moment. You just need to know what weapon to give them - give mages and thieves a ranged weapon, fighters a melee weapon.
5. What will utterly frustrate you are AI Scripts. You will wonder why the hell your mage runs into melee even if you gave him a ranged weapon. The answer is: because his AI script is stupid. Disable group AI, or pull up the profile, go to "customize" --> "script" (only option you can click on NPCs) and set it to "none" (first option). Now, the NPC will only do what you order them to do and not run off into melee. (It's not so bad if fighters do that, though.)
6. Try to keep your party the same alignment. Good and evil NPCs will not get along. (Some do, but that list goes into "long list of confusing information" territory). Neutral NPCs will get along with anyone. You will meet enough NPCs to have a full party - but as you already noticed, some of them don't get along. You can drop the NPCs you don't want at any time and take others that fit better.
TMI: There are 3 NPCs in Beregost (1 evil, 2 neutral) and 3 in Nashkel (1 evil, 2 good).
7. If an NPC tells you they have a task to do, do it as soon as you can. If you take too long, the NPC leaves your party and this can be at the most incovenient time. The main story/quest won't go anywhere, so if you want to keep an NPC, his or her quest is your priority.
8. Talk to everyone with a name. Open doors to houses and look if there is a named NPC in them. There are many small quests that will give you rewards; gold, loot, XP, and help you level and gear up before doing the tougher quests.
9. Lower is better. Armor Class is better if it's low; THAC0 is better if it's low.
10. If you have a Tab key - use it. It highlights usable items and reveals easter eggs (i.e. hidden stashes).
i think the secret to playing a rpg is to do a lot of side quest early on. Normally you want to go on with the story but you lag the experience to actually advance.
I play right now 280 hours (some like that) and i am just arrived in Baldurs Gate.
My main character is an elf fighter which is mainly my sniper. And yes, tactics is everything.
I did play baldurs gate when it came out but stopped for some reason. Now i re-bought it and play ever since.
In the end it doesn't matter what your character is but how you utilize him or her with your party. I actually have a very strange party but even though most of them weak, they got better equipment and leveled up a lot.
What I did was read, read, and read. As this is a roleplaying game, you really need to understand all the aspects of the rules to truly enjoy it, but you can't learn everything at once, so - patience is key. I'd suggest Reading the manual and whenever you run into something you don't understand, look it up - it's what I did. There's likely going to be things you don't understand regardless, and in that case, ask.
You just have to enter Nashkel. After that you can leave right away without speaking to anyone. Basically the game just check the chapter. Entering Nashkel will start chapter 2 and that's enough.
It's intentional because the scripts and dialogues of Jaheira, Khalid, Xzar and Montaron they all check the chapter number (and more than once also), but I agree with you that from a RP perspective it would make more sense to have to talk to the mayor.