My dad bought the game for some reason when it came out, but I don't think he ever got beyond the character selection screen. :-)
I found the D&D system sort of bewildering and more than a little obtuse (what is with all the negative processes? WTF, THAC0). I started with a mage who had 3 hp, and I think I got killed by Carbos. Then I tried a bard and couldn't get past Tarnesh. I don't think at that point I'd even encountered the wolf. I didn't realize you couldn't take your sword and run up to enemies at first level and expect to survive. When I figured out enough to get to the Nashkel mines, I wiped out my own party on the 3rd level bridge with a fireball.
Eventually I figured things out, though. :-) I had a guide to the game that was inexplicably written as an epistolary novel, in which Imoen died. I think Diana Nightflame or something equally silly was the name of the protagonist. It was not a very helpful book!
My first game was also BG1 pre-TOSC. My first character was a ranger, although I switched to a paladin not long after getting out of Candlekeep the first time. The main thing I remember was that I died a lot, and I do mean a lot. I never really got far past the Nashkel mines before moving on to other things, but later I got BG2 and it rekindled my interest big-time. Since then I've played through the entire series several times, and still love it.
Confusing, confusing, oh and more confusing. It took me about a full month to sort out everything properly and understand what I should be doing right and what I was doing wrong.
I remember finally reaching Beregost, after many false starts and restarts and thinking, "aha, I'm beginning to get the hang of this now," only for Khalid and Jaheira to suddenly murder Xzar and Montaron and my being utterly unable to stop them. "This shouldn't be happening! They're on my side. Why are they attacking each other?" It also took me a long time to notice resurrection. I thought death was final, so I'd get so far, lose a good NPC and think, "I'll never beat the game without x, I'll have to restart."Even now I really, really hate to use resurrection so that early misunderstanding has coloured the way I approach the game.
My first playthrough was with a fighter / mage / cleric because I simply thought having all three classes together would be awesome. I had Kivan, Minsc, Dynaheir, Imoen and Branwen in my group as I actually never met Khalid or Jaheira as I went straight south to beregost (I took Garrick as my third NPC, then added Xan, then found Branwen and needed a healer so took her). Garrick and Xan were eventually kicked out.
Also I never actually spoke to Minsc, I went to kill Dynaheir with Edwin in the group, but then when the truth was revealed I sided with Dynaheir and killed Edwin, then took her back to minsc and had them both join.
I went with morningstars for my weapons, but only found a +1 morningstar in my first playthrough along with a shield.
BG1: Ooh! Look! A Wolf! Argghhhhhh! I can kill sentient kobolds by the hundreds, yet this bear is annihilating my party? Oh no! Argghhhh! What do you mean "Weapon Ineffective"? How did you manage to break your weapon on a puddle? Okay, so, I'm trying to find a non-existent camp that I've hunted all over the Sword Coast for... TWICE!
BG2 SoA: Okay... So I have to get to Point A to get a stone to go to Point C and run into some women to send me back to Point A so I can get a sword and acorns and go back to Point C... Tedious... Wait. Why is Imoen a Mage? Ooh! Look! the annoying one survives, to leave the nice frightened one dead... How come this simple clay golem keeps destroying me? I have +3 weapons! Ooh... Mind flayers... ATTTACCK! *Zap* Crunch What is a beholder... Hmmmm... OMGWTFBBQ!?!?!? *Turn to Stone* Okay, so a Lich is supposed to be powerful. Let's see... *Insta kill via Imprisonment* "Well... that was cheesy." What are these women trying to do with their odd music and sorcerous behaviours?
BG2 ToB: Wait, this weakling was one of "The Five?" So, a creature kept immortal by the fact that his heart is removed from his body stores it far away in a random temple where an old woman would guard it, and not in his pocket? I thought I already killed her multiple times...
First day it was released i bought BG, based on a very good and informative review on TV. My first char was a Paladin followed by a human ranger(which seemed natural after i met Kivan). I always seemed to base my party around my rolled char, Imoen, Jaheira, Dynaheir and Kivan. Never seemed amused by either Khalid nor Minsc at that time. Khalid because of his morale failure, and Minsc because he seemed one dimensional.
Not really used to a 6 party RPG Before, i got tired and fast traveled to High Edge, killed Thalantyr exported, rinsed and repeated 'til i reached max level. At that point i just completed the story quests, and killed Drizzt.
SoA was pretty much the same experience, never really got into it until ToB, at which point i exploited a XP glitch and then completed both games, not really doing any sidequests at all.
An hour into my first time playing BG1, I was told to change discs, picked up the little slip thing which held all five CDs which the game came on, and they all fell out and Disc 2 went down between the floorboards. My mom had to rip up the board for me to get to Beregost.
The few distinct memories of playing that first time are meeting Imoen for the first time and being annoyed by her, dying several times over to the two assassins in the brothel beneath Baldur's Gate before deciding to just throw a Cloudkill in there and kill everyone including them, completing the Nashkal Mines for the first time after many days of trying to get through the kobolds (I was young and sucked at video games), and for some bizarre reason resting loads of times in the Candlekeep Crypts in order to farm dopplegangers and raise my XP. I also remember the chess battle of Durlag's Tower being awesome.
My first introduction to Baldur's Gate was Shadows of Amn... Just barely understanding the story because there's only so much english an about 11 or 12 year old kid who's primary language isn't english can understand... But I did slowly get the hang of combat and found the game fun.
I didn't get to even try Baldur's Gate 1 till a few years after beating SoA... It kind of kicked my ass because I was not expecting level 1 characters to be quite so weak.
It was magical. I played BG1 first but never finished it. I got up to the city and thats it, but I remember it so fondly. For one, I found the beginning incredibly *hard*. I was like 12 years old and I kept trying to take on the skeletons you find in the wild with throwing daggers. Imoen died so often. It really felt like low-level D&D (never played a PnP RPG till years later though). I remember how satisfying it was to beat Mulahey. Also, I remember thinking the characters were so cool. I loved Minsc, Edwin and Montaron's voice actors. Also thought Ajantis was cool, and Khalid was funny if not frustrating. And Xan.... I remember thinking that I wish you got to know the characters better and they had better reasons to stay with you all the way through. Little did I know that Shadows of Amn would exceed my wildest dreams Ahhhhh good times
My first playthrough I spent endless hours figuring out a narrative that made sense. I had pretty much loaded up on Walkthrough FAQs so I knew about the early NPCs that can be easily recruited [Good party]: Khalid/Jaheira, Minsc/Dynaheir, Imoen, Ajantis, Kivan, Edwin, Viconia, Kagain, Garrick. [playing BG1-ToSC vanilla].
Why was Charname doing anything at all except trying to find safety?? How much did Khalid/Jaheira know through their Harper connections. Who was Firebead Elvenhair? What about Ajantis; as the NPC with the highest Stat total it seemed reasonable to assume a certain broader knowledge of current events.
I wasn't about to 'accidentally' kill-off either Khalid or Dynaheir but I did want to have Jaheira and Minsc in the party so I figured out a really rich side-story in which both Khalid and Imoen were dispatched [disbanded temporarily] to pursue undercover investigations while Charname and party disappeared for awhile [Gnoll Fortress, etc].
Why was Dynaheir's situation in the Gnoll Fortress so important as to serve as the fixation for 2 such important NPCs as Edwin and Minsc?? etc., etc. What about letting either Ajantis or Minsc die in glorious battle after the Nashkel Mines so I could recruit Branwen for the Bandit Camp in Chap. 3.
Loved it!! But never got to Chap. 4 till a long time after.
I started with BG1:EE. Before it, I used to play Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance on the PS2, that was the only Baldur's Gate related game I've ever played back then. Before the enhanced editions were released, I was familiar with the legendary fame that BG1 and BG2 have as RPGs, and I've considered playing them someday, so when BG1:EE came out, I had to jump at the opportunity.
Playing the game was like walking through uncharted territory to me. I knew nothing about the 2nd edition rules of D&D, or any edition rules, for that matter, so it was a huge "trial and error" learning pattern for me.
hmmm... my previous comment may have been written while wearing rose colored glasses. Looking back, I remember dying. A lot. Like all the time.
An Ankheg killed me in one shot my very first time. Imoen got killed by throwing daggers from skeletons at least a dozen times. It was hard. The learning curve in this game is ridiculous.
I was playing age of wonders since I was big in to strategy games my cousin said I should try RPGs I resisted for a long time finally he gave me the abridged version of Baldur's gate 1, I was a ranger, I had Imoen, Kaloied, Jahera, Garek, and Minsk in my party. You could not go to the gnoll fortress in the abridged version. and it ended right after Mullihay was killed.
Comments
2) Hey, that wolf by the temple is a funny colo- arrrrggghhhh
3) Sweet! Lightning Bolt! Then about a minute later wandering through the woods after cast -arrrrgggghhhh
I found the D&D system sort of bewildering and more than a little obtuse (what is with all the negative processes? WTF, THAC0). I started with a mage who had 3 hp, and I think I got killed by Carbos. Then I tried a bard and couldn't get past Tarnesh. I don't think at that point I'd even encountered the wolf. I didn't realize you couldn't take your sword and run up to enemies at first level and expect to survive. When I figured out enough to get to the Nashkel mines, I wiped out my own party on the 3rd level bridge with a fireball.
Eventually I figured things out, though. :-) I had a guide to the game that was inexplicably written as an epistolary novel, in which Imoen died. I think Diana Nightflame or something equally silly was the name of the protagonist. It was not a very helpful book!
It also took me a long time to notice resurrection. I thought death was final, so I'd get so far, lose a good NPC and think, "I'll never beat the game without x, I'll have to restart."Even now I really, really hate to use resurrection so that early misunderstanding has coloured the way I approach the game.
Also I never actually spoke to Minsc, I went to kill Dynaheir with Edwin in the group, but then when the truth was revealed I sided with Dynaheir and killed Edwin, then took her back to minsc and had them both join.
I went with morningstars for my weapons, but only found a +1 morningstar in my first playthrough along with a shield.
Ooh! Look! A Wolf! Argghhhhhh!
I can kill sentient kobolds by the hundreds, yet this bear is annihilating my party? Oh no! Argghhhh!
What do you mean "Weapon Ineffective"?
How did you manage to break your weapon on a puddle?
Okay, so, I'm trying to find a non-existent camp that I've hunted all over the Sword Coast for... TWICE!
BG2 SoA:
Okay... So I have to get to Point A to get a stone to go to Point C and run into some women to send me back to Point A so I can get a sword and acorns and go back to Point C... Tedious... Wait. Why is Imoen a Mage?
Ooh! Look! the annoying one survives, to leave the nice frightened one dead...
How come this simple clay golem keeps destroying me? I have +3 weapons!
Ooh... Mind flayers... ATTTACCK! *Zap* Crunch
What is a beholder... Hmmmm... OMGWTFBBQ!?!?!? *Turn to Stone*
Okay, so a Lich is supposed to be powerful. Let's see... *Insta kill via Imprisonment* "Well... that was cheesy."
What are these women trying to do with their odd music and sorcerous behaviours?
BG2 ToB:
Wait, this weakling was one of "The Five?"
So, a creature kept immortal by the fact that his heart is removed from his body stores it far away in a random temple where an old woman would guard it, and not in his pocket?
I thought I already killed her multiple times...
Not really used to a 6 party RPG Before, i got tired and fast traveled to High Edge, killed Thalantyr exported, rinsed and repeated 'til i reached max level. At that point i just completed the story quests, and killed Drizzt.
SoA was pretty much the same experience, never really got into it until ToB, at which point i exploited a XP glitch and then completed both games, not really doing any sidequests at all.
The few distinct memories of playing that first time are meeting Imoen for the first time and being annoyed by her, dying several times over to the two assassins in the brothel beneath Baldur's Gate before deciding to just throw a Cloudkill in there and kill everyone including them, completing the Nashkal Mines for the first time after many days of trying to get through the kobolds (I was young and sucked at video games), and for some bizarre reason resting loads of times in the Candlekeep Crypts in order to farm dopplegangers and raise my XP. I also remember the chess battle of Durlag's Tower being awesome.
I didn't get to even try Baldur's Gate 1 till a few years after beating SoA... It kind of kicked my ass because I was not expecting level 1 characters to be quite so weak.
For one, I found the beginning incredibly *hard*. I was like 12 years old and I kept trying to take on the skeletons you find in the wild with throwing daggers. Imoen died so often. It really felt like low-level D&D (never played a PnP RPG till years later though). I remember how satisfying it was to beat Mulahey.
Also, I remember thinking the characters were so cool. I loved Minsc, Edwin and Montaron's voice actors. Also thought Ajantis was cool, and Khalid was funny if not frustrating. And Xan....
I remember thinking that I wish you got to know the characters better and they had better reasons to stay with you all the way through. Little did I know that Shadows of Amn would exceed my wildest dreams
Ahhhhh good times
Why was Charname doing anything at all except trying to find safety?? How much did Khalid/Jaheira know through their Harper connections. Who was Firebead Elvenhair? What about Ajantis; as the NPC with the highest Stat total it seemed reasonable to assume a certain broader knowledge of current events.
I wasn't about to 'accidentally' kill-off either Khalid or Dynaheir but I did want to have Jaheira and Minsc in the party so I figured out a really rich side-story in which both Khalid and Imoen were dispatched [disbanded temporarily] to pursue undercover investigations while Charname and party disappeared for awhile [Gnoll Fortress, etc].
Why was Dynaheir's situation in the Gnoll Fortress so important as to serve as the fixation for 2 such important NPCs as Edwin and Minsc?? etc., etc. What about letting either Ajantis or Minsc die in glorious battle after the Nashkel Mines so I could recruit Branwen for the Bandit Camp in Chap. 3.
Loved it!! But never got to Chap. 4 till a long time after.
Playing the game was like walking through uncharted territory to me. I knew nothing about the 2nd edition rules of D&D, or any edition rules, for that matter, so it was a huge "trial and error" learning pattern for me.
An Ankheg killed me in one shot my very first time. Imoen got killed by throwing daggers from skeletons at least a dozen times. It was hard. The learning curve in this game is ridiculous.