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Things we got wrong

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  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited October 2013
    I started playing the game when I was probably like 10 or so. Anyways, for the longest time I couldn't beat Sarevok. My brothers could but I never watched them actually do it. How do you beat this guy? I wondered. I'd fight him in melee and lose horribly. I'd cast magic missile at him (keep in mind this was the pre-TOTSC Baldur's Gate so it was before he was nerfed and he had like 90-100% magic resistance) and they did nothing!

    Anyways, I'm not sure when I first beat him but it would have been a glorious feeling I'm sure :D
    JuliusBorisov
  • ArcalianArcalian Member Posts: 359

    pixie359 said:

    I didn't realise for ages that you could scroll down the thief skills when leveling up, so my top for skills all had 200 plus, while the rest had none.

    What?!

    There are more than four skills? :O

    I genuinely did not know this. I need to go check this for myself RIGHT NOW.
    It did take me....several years of playing the game to figure that out, too.


  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    edited October 2013
    I admit, I made the common noob mistake of using direct damage and healing spells. They aren't useless mind, but sometimes another spell of that level can do the job INFINITELY better...or you could just load up on wands for all your DD needs and use slots on spells you don't have wands for.

    Thankfully, you couldn't erase spells in BG1 or BG2:SoA, so I learned early on that casting the spells from scrolls is MUCH more useful then erase/re-scribe cheese, and NOT to learn spells unless you're sure you'll actually use it. It's a tempting option, to be sure, but it burned me often enough I decided it wasn't worth it in the long run, vs having another cast of a spell available.

    That's part of why my rest restrictions aren't really a big deal. I keep several cases of scrolls on hand (taken from enemies or bought from stores), on the odd chance an enemy saves against a spell I was depending on, or something else goes array.
  • ArcalianArcalian Member Posts: 359
    Malicron said:

    Oh gods, the list is endless (the joys of playing a game meant for adults when your age is still in single digits) but what really stands out from my first attempt at Baldur's Gate

    1. I treated everyone like a fighter. I'd equip my entire party with melee weapons and tell them to jump into the frey. The results were... memorable, if predictable.

    GameplayJenny made that mistake too. Difference is she TRIED to learn how to cast spells...and sepite the tutorial telling her how to, point blank, she still couldn't figure it out.
    Malicron
  • ArcalianArcalian Member Posts: 359
    It took me until EE to figure out that Horror is a great spell to use.
    enqenqRnRClown
  • mylegbigmylegbig Member Posts: 292
    The only D&D experience I had before BG2 was Planescape: Torment, so when I first created my character I did so with the assumption that I'd get 1 stat point per level up. Once I found that that I wrong, I had to start over because my stats were horrible.
  • MessiMessi Member Posts: 738
    I always thought the Gnolls were yelling "Die Shikar!" for some reason. Always wondered what Shikar meant...
    JuliusBorisov
  • NeurologicalNeurological Member Posts: 48
    edited October 2013
    I made many mistakes, I was 15 at the time and had no idea of ad&d rules, just learnt while playing, always wondered what the hell was the thaco, also at first I thougth that the armor class needed to be high instead of lower, you can imagine the result. Of course it looked strange to be stronger without armor, lol.
    alnairenqenqsarevok57
  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    I made the typical mistake of treating everyone like a Fighter. I had a Fighter/Mage who was the first character I took through the whole trilogy, and basically played her as a gimped Fighter. She even spent most of the time in full armour (the Fire Dragon scale, because how could she not wear that?). I think I even had Edwin spending most of his time throwing daggers, and Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages went to Viconia, because she was a Cleric. Of course, since she was a cleric she was a heal-bot who occasionally whacked things.

    Also , the only spells worth casting are direct damage. I was MMing my way to Victory as late as Abazigal.

    I actually have no idea how I managed to finish the game.
    enqenqsarevok57CrevsDaak
  • SamuelVargSamuelVarg Member Posts: 598
    The first thing I couldn't find out was why the game crashed on me all the time.

    The second thing I didn't know was how to detect and / or disarm traps so I ran through the Nashkel mines with my warriars at the front, taking the damage - then I slept.
    Took me perhaps two in-game days to clear the mines.
    MalicronCrevsDaak
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579
    I played BG2 for a long time (years, at least) before I found out what the "tab" button did. Heaven knows how many hours I wasted or items I missed because of that.
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579
    enqenq said:

    I figured my cavalier would work just fine with 3 int, which he did until he had a blind date with an illithid.

    I used to always min my paladin's int. in BG1, until I realized it prevented you from using scrolls and wands.

    I also used to max my characters' wisdom, thinking the "magic defense adjustment" was in effect (as listed in the handbook), plus I thought it benefited paladins in some way. It wasn't until I read the readme file for the first time and browsed around the internet that I found out neither was true.


    One of my most memorable mistakes was the first time I rolled a "18/00" and said, "'00'? That must be the lowest 18 score!," and then re-rolled. D'oh!
    elminsterCrevsDaakSyntia13enqenq
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579
    edited October 2013
    KolonKu said:



    I didn't know how to quicksave, ...

    I didn't know how to quicksave for a long time either. I did know enough to save often, but I saved every save as an individual saved game. Consequently, I would quickly amass about 100 or so saved games in just a few days of playing.
    sarevok57BasillicumArcalian
  • NeurologicalNeurological Member Posts: 48
    sarevok57 said:



    scrolls and letters, i thought every scroll and letter that had anything to do with the story i had to keep for whatever reason ( gorion's scroll, bounty notices, letters from boss baddies) infact i remember the first time i ever reached sarevok i still had gorion's scroll on me, right arm

    You know, I still do this, at least with the Gorion letter. Wish we had the scroll case back then too :).

    [Deleted User]Effiny
  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    ...Started a new game with a Monk in BG Tutu.
    Seriously, I always thought that he would get better but he was still weak in the final battle with the best gear I could get him.
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579
    sarevok57 said:


    i remember there was this one Halfling in the ulcaster area i believe saying that i could buy this mystical gem or some sort for 1000 gold and it would give me sweet powers, so it took me AGES to get that money ( thank you temples, making them nice and rich) and then i could finally buy to find that it was a turquoise gem worth 2 gp, good times, i was very naïve when i first played, i always took what npcs said for granted and fell for their tom-foolery

    In the same vein, I used to buy those cursed potions of healing (the ones where the description would say, "the color looks strange somehow") and use them in the heat of battle, not realizing that I may be healing my party member but also cutting one of their ability scores in half. I probably used them multiple times before I finally discovered that they were also having adverse effects of my party members.
    sarevok57
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    I started to play BG1 7 years after it came out, by that time I was 7, and I didn't know a crap about english, but my earlier experience with Diablo ll wasn't so bad, so I installed to 2 disc OS version, I thought Druid were guys that mix things in cauldrons, that Paladins where Holy Fighters (they are but...) that only had pros, also the Bard were barbarians-like and, I realized THAC0 was better when lower the while in Baldur's Gate in my first run of BG:EE (In BG1, I deduced that AC was better when lower, because if it looks better, it gives better protection, so that was right...). The first time I played BG:EE, I selected "Find Familiar" and "Identify" as lvl1 spells, and I thought Multi and Dual-class where the same, I equipped EVERY SINGLE CURSED ITEM, because I didn't knew a crap (hehe, just that word got stuck!) about them and I was equiping unidentified items all the time. The only class that I got right was the Ranger, because of Majesty's Ranger Camp (yes, I played Majesty before, while and after the I played original BG)
  • CoryNewbCoryNewb Member Posts: 1,330
    Using entangle and web as my only non-direct damage spells. Yikes.
  • BattlehamsterBattlehamster Member Posts: 298
    I never killed noober.
  • SedSed Member Posts: 790
    Oh the experience of my first Fireball in BG1!
    My party burned...

    I'm still surprised I actually managed to finish my first playthrough with Charname (fighter), Imoen, Jaheira & Khalid and Xzar & Montaron without an all out fight!
    sarevok57CrevsDaak
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    @Sed in bgee I had an instance where as soon as I got Khalid and jaheira, all 4 of them started the all out scrap, and I thought, wow, that was a little short lived, good job on your part making it all the way
  • zarffynzarffyn Member Posts: 175
    Semi-related to the main topic, but mostly, I still laugh at myself for this:

    After years of playing Baldur's Gate, I started up Dragon Age: Origins. Every time someone went down during a fight in DAO, I reloaded my game--didn't wait for combat to finish. Took me forever to realize THEY GET RIGHT BACK UP AFTER COMBAT IS OVER. >.<
    MalicronelminsterCrevsDaakRnRClown
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    zarffyn said:

    Semi-related to the main topic, but mostly, I still laugh at myself for this:

    After years of playing Baldur's Gate, I started up Dragon Age: Origins. Every time someone went down during a fight in DAO, I reloaded my game--didn't wait for combat to finish. Took me forever to realize THEY GET RIGHT BACK UP AFTER COMBAT IS OVER. >.<</p>

    Might be best to do that anyways to avoid the injury. :)
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    zarffyn said:

    Semi-related to the main topic, but mostly, I still laugh at myself for this:

    After years of playing Baldur's Gate, I started up Dragon Age: Origins. Every time someone went down during a fight in DAO, I reloaded my game--didn't wait for combat to finish. Took me forever to realize THEY GET RIGHT BACK UP AFTER COMBAT IS OVER. >.<</p>

    Like in KotOR, those games are very, very easy when you compare them to BG or PST.


    Also, when I started playing BG:EE, after READING THE WHOLE MANUAL MONTHS BEGORE ITS RELEASE, I engaged in melee all the time, a thing I found funny is that the only similar thing between your first and your ninth run is that you engage ALL THE ENEMIES IN MELEE, in the first one, because you don't know a crap, and the ninth one, you are so OP you engage difficult enemies in melee because you have -10AC+3APR, and to avoid wasting MM to kill glibberings, but in BG2, when you see a low level enemy you use PW:Kill so you can focus on dealing 200 points of damage to the 75-damage-each-hit-boss before he gets near your party.
    Drugar
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155

    sarevok57 said:



    scrolls and letters, i thought every scroll and letter that had anything to do with the story i had to keep for whatever reason ( gorion's scroll, bounty notices, letters from boss baddies) infact i remember the first time i ever reached sarevok i still had gorion's scroll on me, right arm

    You know, I still do this, at least with the Gorion letter. Wish we had the scroll case back then too :).

    There's only one scroll I manage to surely have in the final battle: Protection from Magic Scroll, give it to somebody like Dorn and see wonders.
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