What was your first time playing Baldur's Gate like?
lundgrnn
Member Posts: 27
Did you start from BG1 or was SoA or ToB your first exposure to the bhaalspawn saga? What class did you play? Who was in your first party? What do you remember about your initial impressions? Were you a D&D noob, or did you come from other forgotten realm computer games and/or PnP?
My first experience with the game was when I was in 7th grade shortly after Shadows of Amn was released in 2001. My friend's older brother blew through the game as he had played the first game and was eager for the second. My friend and I sat in the closet that his family computer was kept in and spent hours creating characters, playing through Irenicus' dungeon, and exploring Amn. I remember the quest arc through the slums district blowing me away the most. I was pretty much instantly sold and bought it at Wal-Mart for myself shortly after. I had had no prior experience with D&D and very little experience with computer games. In fact I think it was the first one I ever bought for myself.
My first character was a fighter/mage/thief because I had no idea what was powerful and figured that 3 classes is better than one. I absolutely loved pick pocketing everyone so most of my thief skills went to that. I didn't have any mind for tactics so all of my mage spells went to strait up damage spells, and most of the time I just ended up meleeing everything anyway. My first party was the first 5 good/neutral people I ran into so: Minsc, Jaheria, Arie, Anoman and Yoshimo. I remember getting pissed in Spellhold when Yoshimo betrayed me and getting Imoen back, severely underleveled. I ditched her as soon as possible and picked up Jan, who was still underleveled but a hilarious character to have around where as Imoen just seemed whiny. I didn't really get into the game play and mechanics until my second and third playthough, but I found the story and fights so engrossing and epic that it kept me going. I learned about cheat codes not far into my first playthough, (editing the .ini file made me feel kind of like a hacker) so I abused the hell out of them. I ctrl+J'd around all of the maps and spammed ctrl+R on my party though most fights (and still was not able to kill any of the dragons). Despite all of this noobishness I rushed home from school every day to play and have come back to the game and played BG1 - ToB+Ascension at least 6 times since then. I hope I never get tired of this series.
My friend and I found Suldanessellar hilarious because we pronounced it "Sold-in-a-cellar," and to this day we are still able to recite the opening lines of the torture scene and shadow thieves invasion in the beginning. " 'MORE. INTRUDERS. HAVE ENTERED. THE COMPLEX. MASTER.' 'They ACT sooner than we had anticipated...No matter, they will only prove a slight delay...' "
Also the manual for this game was amazing. I still read over it occasionally, mostly for nostalgia's sake.
My first experience with the game was when I was in 7th grade shortly after Shadows of Amn was released in 2001. My friend's older brother blew through the game as he had played the first game and was eager for the second. My friend and I sat in the closet that his family computer was kept in and spent hours creating characters, playing through Irenicus' dungeon, and exploring Amn. I remember the quest arc through the slums district blowing me away the most. I was pretty much instantly sold and bought it at Wal-Mart for myself shortly after. I had had no prior experience with D&D and very little experience with computer games. In fact I think it was the first one I ever bought for myself.
My first character was a fighter/mage/thief because I had no idea what was powerful and figured that 3 classes is better than one. I absolutely loved pick pocketing everyone so most of my thief skills went to that. I didn't have any mind for tactics so all of my mage spells went to strait up damage spells, and most of the time I just ended up meleeing everything anyway. My first party was the first 5 good/neutral people I ran into so: Minsc, Jaheria, Arie, Anoman and Yoshimo. I remember getting pissed in Spellhold when Yoshimo betrayed me and getting Imoen back, severely underleveled. I ditched her as soon as possible and picked up Jan, who was still underleveled but a hilarious character to have around where as Imoen just seemed whiny. I didn't really get into the game play and mechanics until my second and third playthough, but I found the story and fights so engrossing and epic that it kept me going. I learned about cheat codes not far into my first playthough, (editing the .ini file made me feel kind of like a hacker) so I abused the hell out of them. I ctrl+J'd around all of the maps and spammed ctrl+R on my party though most fights (and still was not able to kill any of the dragons). Despite all of this noobishness I rushed home from school every day to play and have come back to the game and played BG1 - ToB+Ascension at least 6 times since then. I hope I never get tired of this series.
My friend and I found Suldanessellar hilarious because we pronounced it "Sold-in-a-cellar," and to this day we are still able to recite the opening lines of the torture scene and shadow thieves invasion in the beginning. " 'MORE. INTRUDERS. HAVE ENTERED. THE COMPLEX. MASTER.' 'They ACT sooner than we had anticipated...No matter, they will only prove a slight delay...' "
Also the manual for this game was amazing. I still read over it occasionally, mostly for nostalgia's sake.
5
Comments
On weekends, I would play pretty much around the clock, only stopping briefly to get something to eat or catch a few hours of sleep.
I played a half-elf cleric-mage, because that's what I always played in my tabletop group from high school and college. I was amazed at how the game was just like our old tabletop games, and that now I could play by myself.
I used Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir, and Imoen. I didn't know anything about "canon party", but rather, those were the people I ran into, and it felt like a good party. I was never even tempted to do any switch outs, and it struck me as odd when I would meet new potential party members very, very late in the game.
I had joined up with Monty and Xzar out of Candlekeep, but I threw them out as soon as I saw the "chaotic evil" on their character sheets. Plus, Xzar's portrait gave me the creeps.
So, Imoen and I faced Tarnesh alone. I was amazed, frustrated, and excited all at the same time. I remember thinking "But, but... this is supposed to a safe place! Gorion told me come here! Why is the game punishing me for doing what it told me to do?" Lol. I think I reloaded a dozen times, until I finally got lucky dice rolls. It would have been funny to watch me playing that encounter for the first time - Mirror Image, Horror, yellow circles for Imoen and me, Magic Missile, Magic Missile, dead, reload. Again. Again. Again.
I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to do differently other than to just try to melee him. I didn't know about archery, so Imoen was trying to stab him with a short sword. I had a Sleep spell memorized, which didn't work, so I wound up just whacking at him with my staff.
By some miracle I made it through the game over a few weeks and wound up at Sarevok. After a couple of dozen reloads, I had to just give up. So, I never finished the final battle that first time. I played other things for a while, then played BG again when TotSC came out. And again when SoA came out, and again when ToB was released. I still struggled terribly with the encounters, and I didn't start to become skilled with combat tactics until years of practice went by.
Good times, good memories.
After that I got myself the BG series; BG1 I played through once, then I started BG2 and never looked back. Since I had the IWD experience, I didn't find BG too hard, but the whole banter/romance/character development of BG2 just opened a whole new world.
Well that all meant I had a lot of unexpected time off at home to play ToB. I remember spending all day on 9/11 installing the game and playing around with it, with the news on in the background. Next day my computer died; I swear I was the only person out shopping on 9/12! But then it was a week of playing, with the news on in the back the whole time.
VERY strong memory!
It was also my most frustrating initial experience *ever*.
I think I quit/uninstalled the game like 7 times before I could survive the initial dungeon.
It was crazy... I mean, I just made it out of this little cage just to get killed by these 2 bat-like critters?
I made a Sword Saint, a freaking sword super-master, and the dude can't hit a wall!!!
He just keeps swinging and swinging and -maybe after 27 swings- he *might* hit something but then his damage is laughable. Nope. I need a mageling. A freaking sorcerer and *then* they'll see!!!
So I restart the game after re-rolling a sorc, just to get killed again by the same freaking bats that just turned my kensai into puree. My powerful spells dont do shait and they take... a full day to reload?
Stoopid game!!!
Moving on, I discovered every single trap in the place by the simple procedure of stepping on it and dying.
I finally made it through the initial rooms (still inside Irenicus dungeon-prison) just to have my sister, my beloved sis Imoen tell me that she had decided to continue alone. That it was safer for her to go alone in a hostile critter-infested dungeon and not under my brotherly protection. She walked away right after a minor incident with a lightning wand I just fired... I mean, who knew that bolt would bounce back and forth like 14 times??? Not me, for sure. Ungrateful b*tch...
etc, etc. etc.
The rest of my "initial Excperience" was pretty much like the description above: Lost and clueless.
I finally got the hang of the game and I have played it more times than any other game I can think of -including several 'solo sorc' games playing at 'Insane' difficulty level.
After that i went back to playing mage again, but i got 3 fighter levels before dual classing.
BG1 -> TotSC -> IWD 1 -> BG 2 -> Torment -> IWD2. In that order.
I gave up. Started playing Icewind Dale a year or two later. Figured out what the heck I was doing wrong and then went back to BG. Steamrolled through it until I met Davaeron (mage fights are no bueno) Had a lot of fun whooping doppleganger a$$ in that merchant compound. Got my a$$ whooped right back when I went to the Iron Throne.
When I finally met Sarevok and his friends he handed my a$$ to me so many times I started to feel like one of Dr. Mephesto's twisted experiments. Finally killed him (after using so many monster summoning wands that my computer starting lagging.)
For some reason I don't recall as much frustration in SoA and ToB. I think it may have been a combination of me being older, the higher levels providing stronger abilities, and the story (especially the interactions among the NPCs) made me focus less on combat and more on the epic of my protagonist (pretty sure I romanced Aerie and she made me a baby.)
Haven't played a game since that challenges and frustrates me to that kind of level. I'm not sure I ever want to =p
Next thing I know I'm farming Firebead Elvenhair.
I played a mage so.....short
But I never beat it until EE.
BG1 jaheira + rooting every enemy + slings was my best strategy and i died a lot
like a LOT ; D
but after that i think i figuerd out that on multiplayer you can make your own party and with many trials i made pretty good one
5fighter/8conjurer long sword
5cleric/8conjurer long sword
10thief halfling short sword/crossbow
6fighter/8cleric melee
8ranger 2handed/bow
something like that and my strategy turned to drop fireballs everywhere unless it was sarevok and i would summon many monsters
The second playthrough I knew where I was going, went pure fighter and stomped, farmed and exploited everything I could.
Since then I hope I've gained enough understanding and perspective to mellow a little.
I still nearly **** myself when "The Armored Figure" showed up right after we left Candlekeep. With Gorion dead I was like, ****, what do I do now?!" As a Gold Box vet, it bothered me at first that I didn't have a team of six all at once.
Oh, I was an half-elven mage, my default "good" character (my avatar is a version of him that a friend on dA kindly did for me). I wound up with the "canon" party (I still hate Jaheira, and have used her as little as possible ever since).
Tarnesh was tough, but what was really impossible was finding Dynaheir. Not the Gnoll Stronghold itself, but the hole she was in. First time I ever went online to look for help with a game. (I'm a spoilers-required kind of guy; I also check the back of a book first to make sure the good guy wins.)
Greywolf was kinda tough; I kept wondering how BIG the Cloakwood was. That Sirene on the coast insta-killed me a few times until I figured it out. But the real trouble was the Doppelgangers in the Ducal Palace. Had to look that one up online, too.
Once TOTSC came out, I avoided Durlag's Tower like the plague, and Werewolf Island was VERY VERY HARD.
Then came the day when I tried playing evil for the first time. The first evil aligned Bhaalspawn dream shocked me, and when Edwin joined my party, I almost fell out of my chair; I thought he was just a quest giver! Playing evil made it a whole new game for me, and much more fun! I still like stories where the good guys win, but if I'm playing a game, I LOVE being the antihero/badass/Renegade.
Sorry BG2 fans, but SOA isn't really a proper sequel to BG1. Oh, it's not bad; there's fun stuff in it, especially if you take Bodhi's side in the guild war. But it's Irenicus' story, not ours. BG1 and TOB are the story of the Bhaalspawn. SOA is just the Irenicus Interlude. TOB is the real sequel.
Upon loading into Candlekeep (not understanding that was only one location among many), I used the hand drawn city map of Baldur's Gate itself that came with the game to find where I was. I couldn't for the life of me find where the Candlekeep Inn was among the other inns and shops and estates of Baldur's Gate. After a few minutes of frustration I tossed the map aside, which flipped over revealing the map of the Sword Coast. When I found Candlekeep on it, and saw the numerous other locations like Beregost and, of course, Baldur's Gate, I suddenly discovered the scope of the game I had just installed... The rest is history.
bought BG1, made it through Candlekeep, watched Gorion get snuffed, & was myself snuffed by a Gibberling
Later he gave me copies of all five discs. I was shocked and thrilled to see how much gameplay there was. My favorite moments were mostly in cloak wood. When I got to the gates of the city my burned CD didn't work! I was furious enough to buy the full game at the store (my whole paycheck from burger king). All in all, it was the biggest gaming experience I've ever had.
Incidentally, I made up for my software pirating by buying the BG games several times over.
I have two 5 disk versions of BG (both unplayable now); one unusable TotSc disk, a worn out set of IWD and expansion, 3 sets of BG2 and two TOB, plus I rebought them all on GOG, and now from Beamdog. I feel like one of those Zelda fanboys who have copies of the same game for every release. Kinda pathetic, but cost saving in the end since BG takes up time I would spend on more expensive systems.
Led to a love affair with BG and all of its offspring; NWN 1+2, KOTOR 1+2, IWD 1+2, DAO, (ignored DA2) and, to a lesser extent, the Mass Effect Trilogy.
BTW, the Doctors leaving Bioware was kinda like a symbol of my youth dieing.
Started, picked a fighter (could not read english very good). Clicked the sword icon moved to a guy with yellow robes. Click..... Best game-over movie ever!
Few years later I have 264 FR books several copies of the game and disliked every other game because they are not as good a BG1-2
And I also remember being unable to finish the fight with Sarevok. Had to give up for a few months; he was just too hard!
Incidentally, my grades were wonderful at the time. You see, I'd rush home, do my homework, and then play Baldur's Gate all night long...