Cant't help but always have a CHARNAME being an Elf.
Never make a Dwarf, Gnome, or Halfling PC, even though i love the NPC's of said races... weird.
Always hunt down Stat Tomes, never ever play a game with out getting them all.
Refuse to sleep knowing that those wounds gonna take a day or two to fully heal, so heal at Temples. The game IMO has a certain Urgency about it, that just chilling in camp licking your wounds doesn't sound Heroic enough for me.
Never play a Cleric coz Swords, I would prob play a Dwarf, if I could Fighter/Cleric and rock dual Axes.
But here's something that's always been huge for me which I don't know if anyone else has brought up. In BG1 in the eastern sector of the city, I think, there is a house that you can enter where a butler immediately confronts you. Once you kill the butler and then go upstairs, a man screams at you about entering his house unasked, killing his butler, and attacking him as well for no reason. The reason players enter this house and kill these two individuals is for some really nice magical goodies you can loot from them, of course, but I've always felt it is the height of evilness to do this. So I've never gotten to use that awesome helm you can claim from this guy's corpse.
Are those two NPC's Drow? Specially the Butler because i'm sure he kept 'Magic Resistance' ing my spells?
I really abhor slaughtering the Xvart village. These days I just put most of them to sleep and block those coming from the Bear cave direction with Grease.
Interesting you bring up this. I also never slaughter the xvart village. There are so many situations in the original game that are completely irrational or illogical or just plain don't make any sense. Given the reaction of the xvart chieftain to the PC slaughtering his village, one would expect there should exist a way to peaceably pass through the village. But of course not. I wish Beamdog would have fixed these kinds of situations in both original games as part of enhancing them.
I really abhor slaughtering the Xvart village. These days I just put most of them to sleep and block those coming from the Bear cave direction with Grease.
Interesting you bring up this. I also never slaughter the xvart village. There are so many situations in the original game that are completely irrational or illogical or just plain don't make any sense. Given the reaction of the xvart chieftain to the PC slaughtering his village, one would expect there should exist a way to peaceably pass through the village. But of course not. I wish Beamdog would have fixed these kinds of situations in both original games as part of enhancing them.
What? You let the little blue bastards live? Think of the cows! Won't someone please think of the cows??
I did think of the cows, but when one of them went "Ouch, I mean... Moo..." when I right clicked on it, I became convinced they were all doppelgangers.
When a character enters my party, their colors get changed to variations of neutral tones. I have even gone so far as to skip certain magical robes/armors because my OCD can't stand the way they make the sprites look. Ankheg plate? NOPE.
A most strange habit I developed throughout the years is that I never ever skip a dialogue... Even when I reload, I re-read the pre-battle speech word by word... sometimes out loud... Help...
I don't ever enter the Friendly Arm Inn without first killing the Belt Ogre, so that I can get more XP before picking up Jaheira and Khalid by turning in the belt quest before talking to them.
A most strange habit I developed throughout the years is that I never ever skip a dialogue... Even when I reload, I re-read the pre-battle speech word by word... sometimes out loud... Help...
That's a peculiar habit. When you read them outloud, do you do with tailormade voices as well? Sounds like you would make a good letsplayer on youtube
I do the opposite. I have so few gaming hours nowadays I can't waste a single minute on readíng stuff I've read ten times alreayd or waiting on my chars walking around on a map etc.
If Imoen is in my party, she stakes Bodhi. No exception. It's her soul after all!
In maybe 100 playthroughs I have never attacked the Slaver Stockade in the Slums from the front. I always attack from the sewers.
In BG, if there is Fog-of-war left on a map, then I'm not finished with that map. In BG2 I don't care as much. It's not like I need the XP for seeking out and killing a pack of Goblins when I'm dressed in a suit of armor made from the scales of a dragon I killed myself.
It doesn't matter if I'll ever need an item - if Cromwell or Cespenar can make it, they make it. I have made an exception for Crom Faeyr once or twice because I'd rather have two strength-enhancing items and nobody in the party could use hammers.
If Charname is evil, he/she is the party leader. I may make an exception for weak Charnames (after all, placing a sorcerer in front is sub-optimal!)
I think I have only ever used three party leaders in BG: Charname, Jaheira and Ajantis. Replace Ajantis with Keldorn for BG2.
I never, ever dual class. Extremely rare that I multi, and I have to have a REALLY good character concept for it. However, I adore making goofy builds and going all the way with them. A halfling barbarian dual-weilding daggers (ended up being pretty OP, actually, and also my only ever dual wielding character), a quarterstaff kensai (who ended up being kind of OP, maybe I'm seeing a trend), shapeshifters, etc...
I always have a weakness. I have no interest in a min/maxed toon going through for the 50th time. Gimp dex or something, make it interesting.
If a companion dies, they die. I do what I can, but don't reload. It makes for an interesting surprise, and shakes up my mental plan of how the game will go. Takes away some rote boredom. In real epics, companions sometimes die.
I role-play my party. If I'm playing a cavalier, Imeon doesn't sneak in and loot every house in Beregost, I tithe heavily to clerics, etc... If I'm a thief, I steal everyflippingthing.
I keep cheese to an absolute minimum, and try hard not to meta. If my party doesn't know that there's a basilisk or a dragon just around the corner, they go in blind, get surprised, and deal with it best they can.
Party depends on my whim, but I almost never dismiss them once I've accepted them in.
Yeah, I feel this is the way to go too. I even have a reason for her to dual-class into a mage on this playthrough besides trying to keep it in-line with the second game. My character's a sorcerer, so she sees all this magic I'm using and the kind of spells I have trouble with (read, cannot cast in any way, shape, or form,) and took it on her self like the good kid sister she is to study magic during our adventure and picked up enough to handle those spells.
@catsarekacamp , Your halfling barbarian dual-wielding daggers sounds like Belkar from "Order of the Stick". He is indeed one of the more powerful party members.
Forgot to say: I don't think I have ever finished a conversation with Saladrex in any other way that, "Is it true that dragon meat tastes like chicken? Never mind, I'll find out for myself."
If Charname is evil, he/she is the party leader. I may make an exception for weak Charnames (after all, placing a sorcerer in front is sub-optimal!)
I think I have only ever used three party leaders in BG: Charname, Jaheira and Ajantis. Replace Ajantis with Keldorn for BG2.
That's why I love the formations that don't have CHARNAME in the actual front. Like right now, I use one of the triangle formations and I'm in the back, while still being the leader and the one who walks around to talk to people and do the shopping.
Forgot to say: I don't think I have ever finished a conversation with Saladrex in any other way that, "Is it true that dragon meat tastes like chicken? Never mind, I'll find out for myself."
Now I'm curious if each particular "brand" of dragon comes with their own unique flavoring. Like would a Red, Gold or Brass dragon come off as a bit spicier due to their innate fire abilities, or maybe a White or Silver have a bit of a cool minty flavor due to their cold abilities.
I don't ever enter the Friendly Arm Inn without first killing the Belt Ogre, so that I can get more XP before picking up Jaheira and Khalid by turning in the belt quest before talking to them.
I'd take that tack...but I've never felt that XP was worth giving up the Girdle of Piercing, so I don't bother returning it.
@catsarekacamp , Your halfling barbarian dual-wielding daggers sounds like Belkar from "Order of the Stick". He is indeed one of the more powerful party members.
I roll until my eyes bleed. Seriously. Bloody eyballs, people.
I plan my charname's class and role based on what npcs I want to bring through the game. Then I rush to get those npcs and freak out if they die...reload!!
My restartitus is so bad that my brain hurts frequently.
I write excessively long biographies in IWD.
Charname is always the party leader, as in, in the first slot...if not, then I feel out of balance and dizzy...and then I get lost and faint. Or die.
Charname prefers soda, not pop. Get it right, Winthrop, you toady.
I always...ALWAYS...feel guilty about killing drizzt, even if my charname is evil. Drizzt is, after all, the hero of some of my favorite books...but despite my guilt, I kill him anyways, cause I love that gear. I guess greed is the one weakness al of my charnames share.
I never use wands or power up potions, but I hoard them like a packrat, saving them for that "one fight" where I will definitely need them...then I restart. Curse you, resartitus!!! Curse you!!!!
I gather all companions which I don't use in one place and petrify them with cursed items (BG1) or with flesh to stone (BG2). Advantage: They do not age and can't run away.
When a character enters my party, their colors get changed to variations of neutral tones. I have even gone so far as to skip certain magical robes/armors because my OCD can't stand the way they make the sprites look. Ankheg plate? NOPE.
I also change the colors of my NPCs. Makes the game feel much more my own personal thing. Imoen, for one, looks a whole lot better on the screen in Teal.
In general I think Bioware fell WAAAAAAY short on the Vanilla game in its portraits and color choices for appearance. Not at all up to the extraordinary standard of most of the content. On the other hand that may have just been one of their ways of getting the ball rolling with the Mod-community.
I really love the Mustard Jelly battle in the map one enters through the back door of Nashkel Mines. Such a hoot!!
And one other thing that is perhaps the most unique thing about my BG1 experience. I always feel a strong personal connection to the skeletons that come with Animate Dead, particularly at night when their eyes show up. They seem very much my kind of folks..... . . A] Show up!! . . B] Get it done . . C] No comment . . D] And when it is over, just disappear. [I can hardly abide prolonged Goodbye scenes. Perhaps because I generally feel like the people involved are just acting out various scripts without a clue about who I really am.....???]
I refuse to boot any party members naked. I'll always try to equip them with at least basic gear before they leave, and if I'm swimming in gold I'll even give them minor enchanted equipment that I don't use. If I'm out in the middle of nowhere I'll wait until I return to a safe place and buy them equipment before kicking them out even if they steal experience in the process.
I still close doors after leaving a building. My new thing is to disarm and de-armor CHARNAME whenever stopping at an inn to rest. I also line up my party around the bar like a bunch of rummies, as it feels silly to drink at a tavern in combat formation.
Comments
Never make a Dwarf, Gnome, or Halfling PC, even though i love the NPC's of said races... weird.
Always hunt down Stat Tomes, never ever play a game with out getting them all.
Refuse to sleep knowing that those wounds gonna take a day or two to fully heal, so heal at Temples. The game IMO has a certain Urgency about it, that just chilling in camp licking your wounds doesn't sound Heroic enough for me.
Never play a Cleric coz Swords, I would prob play a Dwarf, if I could Fighter/Cleric and rock dual Axes.
Think of the cows! Won't someone please think of the cows??
Plus, I always role-play Imoen as always having a severe pathological problem resulting in robbing people blind...
It's liberating unlawfully restrained items from their bonds of servitude!
I do the opposite. I have so few gaming hours nowadays I can't waste a single minute on readíng stuff I've read ten times alreayd or waiting on my chars walking around on a map etc.
In maybe 100 playthroughs I have never attacked the Slaver Stockade in the Slums from the front. I always attack from the sewers.
In BG, if there is Fog-of-war left on a map, then I'm not finished with that map. In BG2 I don't care as much. It's not like I need the XP for seeking out and killing a pack of Goblins when I'm dressed in a suit of armor made from the scales of a dragon I killed myself.
It doesn't matter if I'll ever need an item - if Cromwell or Cespenar can make it, they make it. I have made an exception for Crom Faeyr once or twice because I'd rather have two strength-enhancing items and nobody in the party could use hammers.
If Charname is evil, he/she is the party leader. I may make an exception for weak Charnames (after all, placing a sorcerer in front is sub-optimal!)
I think I have only ever used three party leaders in BG: Charname, Jaheira and Ajantis. Replace Ajantis with Keldorn for BG2.
I always have a weakness. I have no interest in a min/maxed toon going through for the 50th time. Gimp dex or something, make it interesting.
If a companion dies, they die. I do what I can, but don't reload. It makes for an interesting surprise, and shakes up my mental plan of how the game will go. Takes away some rote boredom. In real epics, companions sometimes die.
I role-play my party. If I'm playing a cavalier, Imeon doesn't sneak in and loot every house in Beregost, I tithe heavily to clerics, etc... If I'm a thief, I steal everyflippingthing.
I keep cheese to an absolute minimum, and try hard not to meta. If my party doesn't know that there's a basilisk or a dragon just around the corner, they go in blind, get surprised, and deal with it best they can.
Party depends on my whim, but I almost never dismiss them once I've accepted them in.
And I always, ALWAYS have Imoen. Period.
HEY 'YA!!! for life.
I plan my charname's class and role based on what npcs I want to bring through the game. Then I rush to get those npcs and freak out if they die...reload!!
My restartitus is so bad that my brain hurts frequently.
I write excessively long biographies in IWD.
Charname is always the party leader, as in, in the first slot...if not, then I feel out of balance and dizzy...and then I get lost and faint. Or die.
Charname prefers soda, not pop. Get it right, Winthrop, you toady.
I always...ALWAYS...feel guilty about killing drizzt, even if my charname is evil. Drizzt is, after all, the hero of some of my favorite books...but despite my guilt, I kill him anyways, cause I love that gear. I guess greed is the one weakness al of my charnames share.
I never use wands or power up potions, but I hoard them like a packrat, saving them for that "one fight" where I will definitely need them...then I restart. Curse you, resartitus!!! Curse you!!!!
In general I think Bioware fell WAAAAAAY short on the Vanilla game in its portraits and color choices for appearance. Not at all up to the extraordinary standard of most of the content. On the other hand that may have just been one of their ways of getting the ball rolling with the Mod-community.
I really love the Mustard Jelly battle in the map one enters through the back door of Nashkel Mines. Such a hoot!!
And one other thing that is perhaps the most unique thing about my BG1 experience. I always feel a strong personal connection to the skeletons that come with Animate Dead, particularly at night when their eyes show up. They seem very much my kind of folks.....
. . A] Show up!!
. . B] Get it done
. . C] No comment
. . D] And when it is over, just disappear. [I can hardly abide prolonged Goodbye scenes. Perhaps because I generally feel like the people involved are just acting out various scripts without a clue about who I really am.....???]