I made lots of mistakes but the misunderstanding which caused me most problems was not getting resurrection: I thought that when a character died that was it. So I'd be going along OK, then Khalid would die and I'd think, "I'm never going to finish with four characters, so I'd restart - not having grasped reloading either. Finally I got to Beregost with a full party alive - and Khalid and Jaheira decide to murder Xzar and Montaron and I'm going, "No, this can't be right. Stop! STOP!" I'm amazed I ever finished. It took me a looong time to work out 'Turn Undead' was useful too.
I thought this game was by far the hardest game I had ever, or would ever play because I didn't really understand how big of a difference high Dex made for practically everyone.
I'm amazed I ever finished. It took me a looong time to work out 'Turn Undead' was useful too.
What did you do to turn undead to make it useful?
Probably played a good aligned cleric. It will be utterly useless for neutral (repell) and evil (turn friendly) because it only delays the kill, but high level good Turn Undead can -relatively reliable - kill undead.
oh and before going to nashkel mines for the first time i was trying gather my party before bla bla bla:) I didn't know i was to far away with my team to go in ^^
Thing I got wrong just now playing the beta patch: Dualclassed Imoen at level 7 thinking she would gain mage and thieving skills instantly. Only to learn that she must reach level 8 mage to unlock her thiefing abililities again.
A friend of mine when first playing IWD thought that higher AC is better. He ran in without any armor and wondered why his group was wiped out so easily.
I'm amazed I ever finished. It took me a looong time to work out 'Turn Undead' was useful too.
What did you do to turn undead to make it useful?
Probably played a good aligned cleric. It will be utterly useless for neutral (repell) and evil (turn friendly) because it only delays the kill, but high level good Turn Undead can -relatively reliable - kill undead.
I simply can't agree with you. Turn Undead is very useful when you're getting overrun by undead. TU not only delays the kill. It saves you from lots of incoming damage and nasty diseases. Especially in early levels. However you have to manually control your priest, as he will constantly try to attack undead which automatically stops TU.
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.
That is not the first time I heard this. Perhaps Overhaul should consider some hints? @Dee For example some "overshadowing" at the lower edge.
I used to consider Sleep a useless sleep good for only running away because - partly due to common sense, partly due to my previous Final Fantasy experience - I assumed creatures wake up when attacked...
I'm amazed I ever finished. It took me a looong time to work out 'Turn Undead' was useful too.
What did you do to turn undead to make it useful?
Probably played a good aligned cleric. It will be utterly useless for neutral (repell) and evil (turn friendly) because it only delays the kill, but high level good Turn Undead can -relatively reliable - kill undead.
I simply can't agree with you. Turn Undead is very useful when you're getting overrun by undead. TU not only delays the kill. It saves you from lots of incoming damage and nasty diseases. Especially in early levels. However you have to manually control your priest, as he will constantly try to attack undead which automatically stops TU.
Sure it may hold back undead for a bit, but if you are about to be overrun, it still means you have to attack them all sooner or later. Good Turn Undead is vastly more useful because it doesn't just protect you, it makes the threat go boom almost instantly. Compared to repell/temp turn friendly, that is way better.
Even at low levels Turn undead is useful: you can drive off big bunches of undead and then kill them off a couple at a time, which is much easier than all at once. You do have to kill them all in the end but you can do it in manageable chunks. The same thing works very well at early levels of BG2 - rather than take on a dozen vampires at once you can scare them off then pick off one or two at a time.
Plus evil clerics can turn Paladins. Ok, maybe not so useful, but very fun in the Order building. When I first played BG2 I got daunted by all the new spells I guess and didn't figure out how to bring down protection spells. Once the cloak of mirroring got nerfed I was in trouble for a while.
ah, vampires, I completely forget to use turn undead on those beasties, being playing for 1.5 decades and not once have I used turn undead against vampire scum buckets O.o
Once I forgot about Minsc and didn't have any prior saves. I had to kick him out, get dynahair, and come back to him, because there wasn't even enough time to get to the stronghold.
Once I forgot about Minsc and didn't have any prior saves. I had to kick him out, get dynahair, and come back to him, because there wasn't even enough time to get to the stronghold.
I thought wearing non-magical jewelry was beneficial in a fashionable way. I assumed wearing expensive jewelry made a better impression on NPCs.
I ostensibly refused to sell gems because I liked those pretty stones and thought they would eventually be useful later as magical crafting components or something like that.
I was grabbing all the chunks of iron ore from the Nashkel Mine carts, thinking they would be useful in some way.
I thought wearing non-magical jewelry was beneficial in a fashionable way. I assumed wearing expensive jewelry made a better impression on NPCs.
I ostensibly refused to sell gems because I liked those pretty stones and thought they would eventually be useful later as magical crafting components or something like that.
I was grabbing all the chunks of iron ore from the Nashkel Mine carts, thinking they would be useful in some way.
Inventory management sure was hell.
sounds like something I did back in the day, I think I used to do that with the iron ore as well, use it as evidence for the mayor, but it seemed that he wasn't too much into it
Tragically, it hasn't been mentioned yet, so I fear I may be the only one who did it, but...
Neglecting to read (or believe, I can't remember which) the words of warning Lothander gave to me about the poison Marek administered to my group in Baldur's Gate, it came as a great surprise to me that ten in game days later my main character seemed to inexplicably die. Additionally, my auto-save and perma-save (I only had one permanent save slot, whoops!) were timed right before my character dropped dead. Needless to say, I did not finish BG on my first run through, totally demoralised by what I believed to be a mechanic implemented that made it so that by not completing the game in a certain amount of time, your Bhaal essence killed you or something. Only on my second playthrough when I encountered Lothander and actually paid attention, did I realise what I had done.
On my first run through BG1 I grabbed every book from every shelf, and stored them in crates. Then I got to Baldur's gate, and decided to move my library there. This took several trips, but I was certain they would somehow be useful. Where did I choose to store them all? Obviously with the place being knee-deep in thieves as it was, the safest place must be the basement of the flaming fist. D'oh.
trying to think of other things i got wrong....after gorion dies in my particular cutscene (they were slightly different) and ogre remained alive, i spend 2 real life days searching every nook and cranny during the day and night looking for said ogre trying to get revenge.... i was a mage and a wolf ate my face, the goofing continues
I never have found Turn Undead to be needed in Baldur's Gate, but in Icewind Dale, it's a lifesaver. If you want to know what it feels like to be overrun with undead, and to be *very* thankful you have a cleric using Turn Undead, play Kresselack's Tomb in IWD.
I just remembered another one, when I first started, I didn't know which thief skills were the most important so every level up I put 5 points into each one ( I always had imoen) and best part is, never pick pocketed and barely if ever used stealth never mind backstab, it wasn't until years later did I start putting them in open locks/ find traps first, and then even a couple of more years before I even tried out pick pocketing, and even 1.5 decades later I still virtually never use backstab, ah goooooood times
Comments
I'm amazed I ever finished. It took me a looong time to work out 'Turn Undead' was useful too.
There is always more to learn in this game.
Perhaps Overhaul should consider some hints? @Dee
For example some "overshadowing" at the lower edge.
When I first played BG2 I got daunted by all the new spells I guess and didn't figure out how to bring down protection spells. Once the cloak of mirroring got nerfed I was in trouble for a while.
I ostensibly refused to sell gems because I liked those pretty stones and thought they would eventually be useful later as magical crafting components or something like that.
I was grabbing all the chunks of iron ore from the Nashkel Mine carts, thinking they would be useful in some way.
Inventory management sure was hell.
Neglecting to read (or believe, I can't remember which) the words of warning Lothander gave to me about the poison Marek administered to my group in Baldur's Gate, it came as a great surprise to me that ten in game days later my main character seemed to inexplicably die. Additionally, my auto-save and perma-save (I only had one permanent save slot, whoops!) were timed right before my character dropped dead. Needless to say, I did not finish BG on my first run through, totally demoralised by what I believed to be a mechanic implemented that made it so that by not completing the game in a certain amount of time, your Bhaal essence killed you or something. Only on my second playthrough when I encountered Lothander and actually paid attention, did I realise what I had done.
Mistakes were made, I shan't deny it!
in short, you done goofed
trying to think of other things i got wrong....after gorion dies in my particular cutscene (they were slightly different) and ogre remained alive, i spend 2 real life days searching every nook and cranny during the day and night looking for said ogre trying to get revenge.... i was a mage and a wolf ate my face, the goofing continues