good playthrough challenge
Heya, I've played through Baldurs gate 1 and 2 a few times and am looking for a challenge for my run through to make encounters harder but a bit more planning orientated. I originally bumped up the difficulty, but this just meant I was resting more so I could spam healing spells. any suggestions on resting and saving limits as a guideline to make the game more interesting?
0
Comments
Well I am playing blind in my first BG 2 playthrough, but obviously you cannot erase your memory of the game. So some principles I try to stick to (not always possible) for RP purposes.
1) Don't use godly characters with what I'd consider cheesy stats. My simple rule is a warrior should either be fast and accurate (High Dex), or strong and tough (High Str and Con). He should never be both, and he should only have one stat at the maximum of what is allowed for his race/class. A non-warrior does not need good physical attributes, so he/she shouldn't have them. Essentially I want my characters to be about the same level as the ingame NPCs, and not a godly superhuman who just carries a bunch of NPCs for banters, romance and utility roles.
2) Only apply long term protections and buffs before a battle. E.g. Protection from Evil and Stoneskin, but not Mirror Image, Chant and Defensive Harmony.
3) Try to do each area in one go without rest. Don't just rest because you've just used the only Time-Spot in your party and you want to open every battle with Time-stop. This isn't always possible in particularly tough/large areas, but I do my best.
The way I see it, there is two ways to make the game more difficult. You can artificially jack up the difficulty by setting it to Insane, and use SCS and other mods, or you can set personal challenges for yourself by abstaining from metagamey and cheesy strategy and tactics. I prefer the latter, and usually try to set objectives that I am reasonably confident is possible, but not 100% sure. The uncertainty adds a level of excitement and danger to a game which I know I can definitely beat if I resorted to cheese and checking a walkthrough to discover all the tricks and op strategies and builds.
The party doesn't know where all the most powerful items are found. And would they really compulsively "sweep" every square inch of a map area looking for encounters with hostile creatures? It depends on CHARNAME's personality and what motivations the protagonist has, I guess. But if you want to make the game more challenging and interesting, play a character who wouldn't.
Imho, this is mainly what "roleplaying" amounts to for a game like the BG series: limiting decisions, actions, and strategy to only what characters would or could know, or reasonably surmise (versus what the player knows). I've developed a form of this basic approach where I turn playing cards (red suit = yes, black suit = no) or use a digital die roller to determine various things by chance; and to also roleplay independent reactions, decisions, actions, relationships, etc., of all the various characters as well. This can lead to some very surprising developments. (That said, I'm sure I'll continue to play some games in the future where I just metagame/cheese away. That's a blast too in it's own way.)
But anyway, the things mentioned already by @Heindrich1988, @Brude, and @Wanderon are good ways of self-limiting to increase difficulty. I guess I would just add to it by emphasizing that the gear that you gather can be based on a non-metagame RP approach, and that too will add to the challenge. You use what is dropped or looted from encounter areas, and what you can buy in stores (or burgle or pickpocket if a rogue is involved). I also roleplay (i.e., use imagination) or use a card flip to decide whether a NPC that might leave the party takes certain items, either as a reward for their service or because they feel entitled to keep it.
When it comes to how often to rest... because resting is required to renew spells, and spells are so vital to survival in that incredibly hostile environment, from a roleplaying standpoint it would actually make the most logical sense to risk rest often. So as a pretty hardcore RPer, I do rest a lot.
1) I would definitely recommend to keep the party level low. You can keep your level low by doing following things: Get straight to Chapter 3 when you have 15.000 gp ready to save Imoen. Only do one or two necessary sub-quests. By doing this you are low-leveled and automatically encounter harder opponents who are not easy to beat.
2) Do not collect the best weapons and items used in the game that are balance breaking. Examples are: Cloak of Mirror, Holy Revenger and Githiyanki Sword. Also Seven-miles-boots should be banned from your list. They are strong motivators - but without them it can be quite motivating for Baldur's Gate 2 Veterans.
3) Only play with less than 5 party members
In my Let's play Video (german), I tried to follow those rules and had close fights like in the druid quest
Edit: link changed
A non-Powergamey LP?! Man I wish u did it in English!
...cos, despite my username, I don't understand a word of German.
That is really sad. Next time i will try to do it in English.
I underline Wanderon's recommendation to set a number of maximum death which is also very challenging. For example 10 lifes for Shadow of Amn only. It makes you think twice whether you want to battle dragons or better save the life for better purposes
You also seem to have a really good casting voice, at least in german its kind of melodic, you should give it a try in english...
Also like it because I recently stopped being a powergamer and started enjoying limiting myself during my playthroughs.
But if I want to play for the shear Baldur's Gate experience, I'll roll an actual character who feels like he represents who I would be and what I would say/do in that situation. It completely changes the feel and experience of the game, usually in the most ballbusting, soulcrushing ways imaginable lol