@Nahkriinaak, I actually identify with your post, for reasons I won't go into detail about.
But the "saved from despair caused by a lonely, empty life of too much mental stress, and partying too much during youth, by good crpg's like Baldur's Gate" theme kind of fits me, too.
I especially like, "No tears. Only dreams now." Boy, do I ever identify with that.
I will say, there are some great stories in this thread. I loved reading about the way other people found Baldur's Gate.
For me, I was 13 years old and my parents exiled me and my sister to my grandma and grandpa's house for the whole summer. They live on a 400 acre farm in Oklahoma. Little did I know my grandparents had bought a new Gateway computer that came with a DVD drive and Baldur's Gate. I put it in without having a clue about D&D or RPG or anything. Up until that moment, I'd only played things like Nintendo. Mario, Sonic, Contra, etc., where the game runs sideways and you just go forward. This world, where I could go anywhere I wanted, where the possibilities of discovery were so limitless, I was overwhelmed.
It took me 9 days to figure out how to leave Candlekeep. I kept roaming around the outer area, never even knowing I could go inside the inner walls and find Gorion on the steps. I spent between 5 and 10 hours a day playing Baldur's Gate that summer for 3 months. The best part is, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I just roamed. I stumbled through every quest I could find. I got so PISSED when I reached the end of the map and there were no more new areas to explore. When I finally went to the Nashkel mines my timeclock read over 100 days. I never imagined making another character, my guy was an archer because I had the forethought to think it might be safest to kill things from a distance. Thank god. Summer ended with me trapped under candlekeep. I kept coming back to my grandma's house on weekends until I finally reached Sarevok. When I killed him, I felt like I had achieved something incredible. I immediately wanted more, found out there was an expansion, and did it but wasn't satisfied with it. I wanted a new adventure, not another dungeon. New maps to explore, new people to meet. I got hooked on Age of Empires afterward and started gaming that hard, but BGII brought me back. Then I discovered mods and THAT brought me back. Then Enhanced Edition brought me back again. I still play BGII and Age of Empires now at the age of 29.
My dad was really into D&D and such and had the 6-disk pack for the game. I remember he stoped playing and I started to pick it up (I was young like 12) and I had no clue how to play but the characters like mincs and Edwin and jahera made me laugh. I would try making different character and see who i could kill and get away with it. I eventually discovered the expansion high level group that came with the game and just used that to explore the whole (or at least what I though was the whole game :P) game and slowly lerned what skills meant what and what spells did what.
I can remember stacking up on scrolls and potions and all the gear i thought was good and killing everyone at the friendly arm inn until the flaming fist arrived and then the real battle began :P
I remember when I was much younger fiddling around in Candlekeep with various characters I created, never really getting anywhere, and watching family members play through the first game. When I played BG2 for the first time, I made a monk (because at the time my favorite movie that I would watch every week was Iron Monkey) and punched my way pretty far. I got to The Planar Sphere before I stopped playing for a while.
Years later, after beating Icewind Dale and giving BG another try, I played a Kensai/Mage because it seemed like it would work well considering I remember Icewind Dale mages wearing robes not armor--I didn't know it was so common until reading FAQs and forums much later. I had good Strength and Dex, okay Con, terrible Wisdom and Charisma, and a solid int. Used pretty much the first party members you run into: Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo-->Imoen and...I think Jan was the last one?
Basically, my first experiences were touch and go as I never really settled into any video game (except Icewind Dale, which for some reason I beat 4 times and didn't beat the other games, Pokemon Silver and Final Fantasy IX and X). But once I settled down, a played a typical good party play through. I definitely miss the nostalgia of not knowing exactly where every trap/enemy is, so I do enjoy the NPC side quests and hope for further unknown adventures with future BG games (if they are made).
The first experience... that is a loooooooooong time ago......It was around 15 years ago when a mutual friend of my parents bought them a big box and saying to them that this was the game they used to play (they didn't play PnP D&D though, they played the Dark Eye) and they should try it. However, since my Mother only plays Spider Solitaire on the PC and my father only plays Mahjong or uses Flight Simulator to travel our yearly vacation route with an aircraft they didn't do antything with it. And so it fell into the clutches of me and my brother (me being 11 years old and my brother 14). My parents friend had bought the Tales of the Sword Coast Edition (included) and I still remember how overwhelmed I was when we first opened the box.... 6 Friggin' CD's! This had to be 1 hell of a game I thought. It got installed and that as to be the first time I played a real RPG (I was interested in Warhammer Tabletop as a kid and also played a bit of Zelda and Heroes of M&M). Althought we live in the Netherlands, due to previous listed reasons I did understand enough of English to know what the game was about or at least follow the story. But I didn't understand how it worked so in the beginning I just watched my brother play the game. I still know that the first thing my brother did was to download a trainer program and used it to hack the game, giving himself ultimate scores and items (flaming sword etc). After travelling to Beregost he went straight to Durlag's Tower, feeling almighty with his sword only to get mauled by the Battle Horrors and Doom Guards since he didn't raise his level He quickly gave up on the game after that. I however, was intrigued by the game. It was the best looking game I have ever saw as far as realism goes and I still am of same opinion today and the open nature of the game, being to travel into a total different world and not being restricted a scripted path was awesome. On the contrary to my brother I refused to use the trainer since I wanted to experience the game and not run over everything just to hack and slash. It took me a while to get around the game and get to know the mechanics but when I did, boy oh boy what was I in love with the game. I think I have at least 2,000 hours in the game, could be more and I actually never finished Baldur's Gate 1 or played 2. The farthest I've ever made it was into Baldur's Gate, but never beyond that. Somehow I play the game fanatic till that point then need a small break from it and when I start again I feel like I want to experience it from the beginning so I start over once more. Not only that, somehow I still feel entangled by the story and how it enfolds and develops itself and I am secretly afraid that once I finish it, I will know the story and that magic will go away. So this way I can just play it over and over again and still feel the same admiration and exploration of a fantastic world!
Ages ago, when I still had a growing collection of cassettes to go with my walkman, I inserted the first disc of Baldur´s Gate, with my hands trembling a little, and began the installation process, which by today´s standards alone is an epic experience featuring switching of 5 different cds, as you play through the saga... clearly, I remember rolling a human fighter, which I dual-classed to a cleric, following the idea my friend gave me. It was exciting! Something like that I felt half a decade later, that time I had got Neverwinter Nights - nothing compares to the mood the campaign delivers, all the time being somehow nervous, and concerned about whether the Wailing Death would kill me off, too.
I remember that very good. Not in all the details but the feeling i had while playing came close to my old nerd feelings playing monkey island 2 etc. So it gave me a great experience once again with RPG´s. IT also prepared me for NWN in someway.
My first character I rolled back in 1999 I think, Baldur's Gate 1. I had no knowledge or experience whatsoever regarding DnD or even RPGs (nor tabletop nor computer). I had read the game guide though and it said at bard 'jack of all trades, master of none'. I loved that phrase and as I had absolutely no idea what was going to be expected of my character (fighting, negotiating, making money, needing magic, getting girlfriends etc etc), I rolled a bard. An unkitted one, cause there were no kits in vanilla BG1. I used Garrick's portrait, because he was the one I looked like most. My bard was happily engaged in conversation with Kolssed when one of my friends who was much more knowledgeable with respect to gameplay, rules etc started to make fun of my bard. Told me that bards are one of the weakest classes, and that I wouldn't survive easily with him. I would need fighting power. So I decided to roll a ranger, I remember he had very good stats (without me being aware of it: I thought you always got the same number of stat points and that re-rolling was only for distribution purposes, that you couldn't redistribute stats manually). I used Kivan's portrait (and therefore a bow), and managed to beat Sarevok with my canonical good party (though I think I used Ajantis for Minsc, who had died and who I even then didn't like so much). It was my ranger who got me hooked on stealth, and who might have been the cause of my current predilection for thieves (dexterity, sneaking etc). Till this day I've never rolled a bard again (though I kind of like the Skald).
Your friend was flat-out wrong - roll another Bard, (though I would suggest either Jester or Blade), and thank me later.
Well a pureclass bard in BG1 is a bit difficult to handle maybe for a first-timer. Wands being your most important asset I suppose. Not sure about Blade, I don't doubt the Blade's power but the class seems a bit hackeyed to me. I might look into the Jester though. Could be interesting playing an apparent fool.
Great thread, it's good fun reading these stories.
I used to play pen & paper DnD with my brothers and friends as a kid, but didn't game much at all afters. In college a friend brought over a copy of Fallout 1. He insisted I watch the opening movie. That hooked me and I spent a LOT of time in the wasteland.
For a change of pace, someone recommended Baldur's Gate. I really wasn't all that interested at first. It had the familiar isometric view, and I recognized the elves, dwarves and dragons of the 2nd Ed. system. But it felt clunky after Fallout, where you build your character up very quickly. And there were no plasma rifles. Still, I kept at it, and while playing one night, I realized I heard birds outside & looked up to see the light of dawn come thru the windows. Hooked, to say the least!
I rolled a human fighter my first play through, thinking I didn't know squat about the spell system, and at the very least I could swing a weapon and hit something. It was a blast exploring the woods, coasts & alleys of the Baldur's Gate world. I loved the music & sound & art. I read the books and item descriptions, and was blown away at the detail of the world. And it was scary too.. the dopplegangers really freaked me out (still do, actually). Of course, defeating Sarevok was a chest-pounding, glorious achievement.
Shortly afterwards, BG2 came out and I picked it up soon as I could. It was even better in almost every way (tho after replaying both several times, I prefer BG1 for atmosphere and plain ol' wandering). I buckled down and studied the magic spell systems, and created a mage. I played her all the way through the game. I've since tried blades, thieves, paladins, archers, you name it but that first play through still resonates as an amazing experience. Even so, the replay value of the game is incredible. It's a world you can escape into.
When I found out the Baldur's Gate series was getting updated and re-released, I never questioned that I would buy them (again). Thank you Beamdog!
Christmas 1999. I was in middle school, 14 years old. Me and a close friend, went out to sing the carols together, and earn us some pocket money. We went to many houses, back then we did not have euro, people were living in abundance and tipped always well... We earned quite the sum, so we went to buy pc games afterwards! I picked Warcraft 2 with Beyond the Dark Portal, and Baldur's Gate 1 with Tales of the Sword Coast, in the same box... He did the same.
I tried to play the game, but having been unfamiliar with the rules, i quickly gave up. It was also difficult. I always preferred Diablo 2, it was easier and more enjoyable, for a teen gamer, after all. My first player had been a dwarf fighter, skilled in axes and warhammers, and i tried to create him similar to Gillius Thunderhead, the dwarf from Golden Axe...
After some years, i saw for 10 euros the entire series in one DVD. I also bought that. But ended up giving it as a gift to another friend of mine. Later, it was also given out for free from a PC magazine exclusive to my country. And finally, i saw it in GoG.
I HAD to buy it. DRM free, and all digital, extra, free stuff, was more than enough to persuade me. After a long burnout, i finally managed to finish both. And then replay with different characters, finishing the game like 4-5 times, but just... recently! I am not very experienced still, but at least now, i am somewhat familiar with its rules/setting, and now that i am mature, i definately appreciate it 10 times more than diablo...
I am not very experienced still, but at least now, i am somewhat familiar with its rules/setting, and now that i am mature, i definately appreciate it 10 times more than diablo...
Such a true statement. Simplicity sells for children, but greatness can only be appreciated with maturity.
My father bought Baldur's Gate when it just got in the stores, I was around the age of 12 and it amazed me how much story dept there was ingame. I played my first game with a diviner (later I learned that this wasn't the easiest of choices, but I had great fun with that character each day after school I was cycling home with great enthousiasm because I wanted to explore the maps more thoroughly, I got hooked and became a fan for life!
I believe I played my first game of Baldur's Gate when I was 6. I kid you not. It was a game my sister had.
Surprisingly, I actually figured out enough to progress through a good deal of the game. But because I didn't have the best grasp of the English language (I'm Chinese) at the time there were some funny quirks when I played. To name a few:
1. Picking dialogue options at random, not knowing what they meant (pissed off Aerie once by thinking "Hold!" meant "hold the sword" XD) then wondering why people went hostile on me.
2. Mages and Clerics... Yeah this one's embarrassing. I would give them one of each spell. Every spell they had. Even useless ones like Infravision.
3. Shove all the good stuff on my PC, even if it was something stupid like Pale Green Ioun Stone on a Mage. The boss deserves everything.
On the bright side English class was a breeze for the next several years.
I think I have at least 2,000 hours in the game, could be more and I actually never finished Baldur's Gate 1 or played 2. The farthest I've ever made it was into Baldur's Gate, but never beyond that. Somehow I play the game fanatic till that point then need a small break from it and when I start again I feel like I want to experience it from the beginning so I start over once more. Not only that, somehow I still feel entangled by the story and how it enfolds and develops itself and I am secretly afraid that once I finish it, I will know the story and that magic will go away. So this way I can just play it over and over again and still feel the same admiration and exploration of a fantastic world!
Funny cuz that's almost like how I played. My very first was a bard after reading the manual cuz I thought they could do everything. Then I couldn't figure out how to get out of candlekeep and I quit the game for a couple yrs lol. When I returned to it in 7/8th grade I was equipped with a strategy guide and rolled a Paladin (best noob class!). And like you, I NEVER finished the game. I must have rerolled over 10 chars, each played to various levels of completion. But I always wanted to make a "better" character. Having a char I really really like was more important to me than completing the game lol. My closest attempt was actually right outside of Sarevok's temple in that underground place. I even went in and started the fight a few times, but I never cared about beating him. I just wanted to stay in the Baldur's Gate world. Ah..kinda sad, what a bored teenage boy would waste time doing
I only came across Baldur's Gate two years ago (so there's no rose tinted glasses when I say it's one of the greatest games I've ever played). My first playthrough was with a vanilla fighter. Even though I find them boring, they're very useful for getting the hang of a new system.
The complexity and depth of the game really surprised me. I had played a few older RPGs and few had put any effort into making an engaging story or believable NPCs. Baldur's Gate was a particular delight. You were already given this huge sprawling countryside to explore and now had a city which dwarfed most modern RPG locations.
Unfortunately, I must admit that I cheated at the end. I had gotten lost in the Thieves maze, was tired of being attacked, but refused to take a breather. When I came upon Rhavin and his team I was defeated again and again. No matter how I changed my tactics, I couldn't seem to best him. I lost it and cntrl yed the bunch of them.
I continued my reign of fury with Saverok (whom I found very easy to defeat on the second run) and rather enjoy what was supposed to be an epic battle, cheated my way to a very hollow victory.
I was 14, just had bought my very first PC (my parents didn't see the use in owning one, so i had to buy one myself, to have one in the house) and i only had played some older DSA-cRPG's at a friends house (and dabbled into the PnP DSA with some neighbour kids, but never really got into that sadly), who had his own PC (DSA = Das Schwarze Auge - i think it's called 'The Black Eye' for you non-germans out there?! ) and since i got hooked on them so hard even though my friend and me didn't quite understand what was going on we loved it) So in any case, now owning a PC i was very intrigued about which game to buy (i didn't get any allowance, so i always thought very hard on what to spend the money i earned from my paper-route) and by accident i saw an article in the Gamestar, that reviewed BG1 - they said is was a breathtaking adventure, so i decided to trust them and bought the 5 Disc BG 1 Vanilla a few days after it came out. Due to me not being able to understand english and the german localisation being horrid back then i never made it very far (i was one of those people who never realised that you could go into the inner part of Candlekeep to meet up with Gorion) but i still played the candlekeep section with different chars for like two weeks, until i got my paycheck so i could buy my very own strategy guide, so i could progress putside of CK. And oh well, it's been 17 years now, i bought BG 1 three times (due to discs getting scratched and whatnot) The ToSC BG1 two times and BG 2 Vanilla 3 times and TOB 2 times until i got my fingers on the digital EE versions, and till this day i'm still replaing it like at least twice a year and even though it doesn't quite get close to the feelings i had a as a young teenager, it is the one game series, where i never regrettet spending my money on it. Oh , and also besides it being a chore and a half the fact it got so many CD's always made me feel like this has to be the greates game ever =D (still think that way, but i'm happy i don't have to rebuy the game every few years just so i can keep playing ><' ) I just wish i still had that Strategy guide, just to browse through it and compare what has changed in the EE's. Anyways, thanks for creating this topic, you guys just saved my morning with the shared nostalgia
Traumatizing. I was seven. I loved everything about the game, character creation, playing the game, dying hilariously (well, I thought it was funny). Good times, indeed.
My first experience was watching my dad play it while I was still young. I distinctly recall him playing Icewind Dale and getting schooled by Yuan-Ti, but I do have a distinctive image of him equipping characters in his party.
Other than that, I remember starting up for the first time, creating a human mage with Quayle's portrait, and giving him terrible scores (oh, the irony), not knowing what dexterity meant and how intelligence and wisdom are difference. And here I am today, knowing what I'm talking about enough to DM. I played it for 5 years without finishing to finally completing a run-through last year, a lukewarm experience I plan on re-experiencing.
I like to think it was fantastic since I played the original BG1. No TOTSC either, so Sarevok was actually a much greater challenge. So much so that it took a long time for me to beat him (though to be honest I do not recall the first time I beat him). I do remember though that I played a bard pretty frequently. Back then the bard seemed like they were super awesome since you could get a level 3 spell (Haste) as well as a ton of wands by end game. I never thought about dual classing or non-human characters much I don't think.
Thanks to all of you for the read. Here's my story (sorry in advance for any bad english) It was 1997
I was playing the Diablo demo wayyyyy too much. So I bought the original 5 cd BG as soon as it hit the stores, played all the way through, it took me a month or something like that. I have played this game many , many times, but still get surprised now and then... Then I got my hands on IWD. Much rejoyce. And when HoW came out, and I could play in 1024, with my friend, that's all I did ...
Years later I tried BG2, which I didn't enjoy so much. I played it through anyway. I then found the TUTU version of BG. It worked alright, but I got stuck in Durlags Tower because of some bug. So my BG adventure ended here, for many years. I played IWD and IWD2, until NWN came out. I remember waiting and waiting. And the disappointment : o
I played alot of NWN even though we all missed the IE, and also tried DAO when it came out, but it wasn't the same as the good old relaxing isometric click and play games...
So of course recently, I found myself overjoyed, when I saw the news of an EE version, (and first thing I did, was to ask about IWD in the forums )
I loved the game play of Baldursgate and it was an incredible experience. I sometimes come back to the game when get free time. I currently acheter witcher 3 online.
Sadly, I was into other games when BG 1 & 2 were released, I was a teenager at the time and games such as the Tribes series and Unreal Tournament '99 held my attention as well as EverQuest for my RPG intake. I'm 30 now and have the attention span for a proper RPG and bought BG 1 & 2 EE from GOG for a great price and I'm in my third playthrough of the first game, actually decided to try my hand at a Let's Play, having a blast with it.
My first experience with the game was wandering around CandleKeep for a while, taking in how well the game's aged despite being from the late 90s originally. I rolled a pure Cleric for my first CHARNAME and boy, the stats weren't the best. Still had fun with the play through, my party was at the end:
CHARNAME Cleric (I didn't know about kits at the time) Rasaad (He actually gets pretty strong later into BG1) Viconia Edwin Imoen Dorn (Had space for him when the scripted scene started, thought he was a cool character until the 'I'm more important than CHARNAME' quests began) , by this time I invested a bunch into him and decided to stick with him.
The most tough battles for me were the amazons and the Greater Wolfwere due to what my party was at the time, I was trying Safana and got shipwrecked. She couldn't hit anything even with the +4 to Lycanthropes Dagger, had to cheese a bit with stun wands and just hasted the crap out of Dorn and stockpiled potions on and basically had him solo the beast.
I was quite young at the time. Went to uncle's house for Christmas time. Managed to stumble my way on baldur.exe (by chance the CD1 was already in!). Did a fighter with the Abdel portait (wow he got a cool armor). Accidently went on by myself solo because I had no idea about PCs. Accidently somehow ended up in nashkel mines despite having not a single clue what was even remotely going on. Never got past level 1.
The rest are blury memories of ouchie arrows and the goodbye-hand. The end.
But hey, at least even my little clueless self already loved war hammers and flaming fist helms back then, so it wasn't entirely useless.
I'm happy to see this thread back with new posters. I'd love to read a lot more stories.
I started out as a tabletop pnp D&D player in high school and college. My first computer roleplaying experience was actually on a Sega CD console, and it was a strategy RPG game called Dark Wizard. I was already out of college and working, with no time or friends to play D&D with, which I missed, so I started searching for a computerized alternative.
After Dark Wizard, I went to Heroes of Might and Magic, still strategy RPG, close to D&D, but not quite. Then Might and Magic VI came out, and I was hooked. After that, it was Heroes of Might and Magic II.
Then Baldur's Gate came out. I was 32. Again, I was hooked. It was the closest I'd come in adulthood to all the joy I'd had as a kid playing tabletop D&D. The npc's were almost like real friends to me.
I remember how terrible I was the first time. I kept using Imoen in front line combat with a short sword, and I think I heard "Oh, I'm so cold..." about a hundred times. I don't think I ever figured out why she was dying so much.
Somehow I reloaded my way to the end of the game. I remember I had to give up on the final battle with Sarevok in vanilla BG. I never did beat him in that version, until many years later, when I did a vanilla BG run for old times' sake.
(Although, on second thought, I think I had TotSC, so he was nerfed from the original version, which was pretty much immune to magic. If you've never played the original BG, it's definitely worth doing at least once, for the challenge of it. You can't stack more than 20 artillery in a slot, and you can't pause combat on the inventory screen. You *can* abuse monster summoning, though, with no limit. That's the best way to beat original Sarevok, I believe.)
I didn't start playing BG again after that first run, until TotSC came out, and then BG2:SoA, and again when ToB came out. Somewhere during my first run of SoA, things started to click for me about game mechanics like armor class, Thac0, and spell use. After that, I never felt all that challenged again by any cRPG, because I saw similarities in how the mechanics, tactics, RNG, and especially the AI, work for the whole genre. I had "seen the man behind the curtain." That didn't stop me from loving them and spending most of my free time playing them, though. The fun is in the journey for me, not the destination.
(BG Dragons, Sarevok, the Reaver, and Melissan are still very challenging for me, though, because I haven't practiced those enough. They don't make boss fights like those any more.)
What a happy feeling of nostalgia to think back on those early play experiences! Those were some of the best times of my life.
Comments
But the "saved from despair caused by a lonely, empty life of too much mental stress, and partying too much during youth, by good crpg's like Baldur's Gate" theme kind of fits me, too.
I especially like, "No tears. Only dreams now." Boy, do I ever identify with that.
For me, I was 13 years old and my parents exiled me and my sister to my grandma and grandpa's house for the whole summer. They live on a 400 acre farm in Oklahoma. Little did I know my grandparents had bought a new Gateway computer that came with a DVD drive and Baldur's Gate. I put it in without having a clue about D&D or RPG or anything. Up until that moment, I'd only played things like Nintendo. Mario, Sonic, Contra, etc., where the game runs sideways and you just go forward. This world, where I could go anywhere I wanted, where the possibilities of discovery were so limitless, I was overwhelmed.
It took me 9 days to figure out how to leave Candlekeep. I kept roaming around the outer area, never even knowing I could go inside the inner walls and find Gorion on the steps. I spent between 5 and 10 hours a day playing Baldur's Gate that summer for 3 months. The best part is, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I just roamed. I stumbled through every quest I could find. I got so PISSED when I reached the end of the map and there were no more new areas to explore. When I finally went to the Nashkel mines my timeclock read over 100 days. I never imagined making another character, my guy was an archer because I had the forethought to think it might be safest to kill things from a distance. Thank god. Summer ended with me trapped under candlekeep. I kept coming back to my grandma's house on weekends until I finally reached Sarevok. When I killed him, I felt like I had achieved something incredible. I immediately wanted more, found out there was an expansion, and did it but wasn't satisfied with it. I wanted a new adventure, not another dungeon. New maps to explore, new people to meet. I got hooked on Age of Empires afterward and started gaming that hard, but BGII brought me back. Then I discovered mods and THAT brought me back. Then Enhanced Edition brought me back again. I still play BGII and Age of Empires now at the age of 29.
I can remember stacking up on scrolls and potions and all the gear i thought was good and killing everyone at the friendly arm inn until the flaming fist arrived and then the real battle began :P
When I played BG2 for the first time, I made a monk (because at the time my favorite movie that I would watch every week was Iron Monkey) and punched my way pretty far. I got to The Planar Sphere before I stopped playing for a while.
Years later, after beating Icewind Dale and giving BG another try, I played a Kensai/Mage because it seemed like it would work well considering I remember Icewind Dale mages wearing robes not armor--I didn't know it was so common until reading FAQs and forums much later. I had good Strength and Dex, okay Con, terrible Wisdom and Charisma, and a solid int. Used pretty much the first party members you run into: Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo-->Imoen and...I think Jan was the last one?
Basically, my first experiences were touch and go as I never really settled into any video game (except Icewind Dale, which for some reason I beat 4 times and didn't beat the other games, Pokemon Silver and Final Fantasy IX and X). But once I settled down, a played a typical good party play through. I definitely miss the nostalgia of not knowing exactly where every trap/enemy is, so I do enjoy the NPC side quests and hope for further unknown adventures with future BG games (if they are made).
And so it fell into the clutches of me and my brother (me being 11 years old and my brother 14). My parents friend had bought the Tales of the Sword Coast Edition (included) and I still remember how overwhelmed I was when we first opened the box.... 6 Friggin' CD's! This had to be 1 hell of a game I thought. It got installed and that as to be the first time I played a real RPG (I was interested in Warhammer Tabletop as a kid and also played a bit of Zelda and Heroes of M&M). Althought we live in the Netherlands, due to previous listed reasons I did understand enough of English to know what the game was about or at least follow the story. But I didn't understand how it worked so in the beginning I just watched my brother play the game. I still know that the first thing my brother did was to download a trainer program and used it to hack the game, giving himself ultimate scores and items (flaming sword etc). After travelling to Beregost he went straight to Durlag's Tower, feeling almighty with his sword only to get mauled by the Battle Horrors and Doom Guards since he didn't raise his level
I however, was intrigued by the game. It was the best looking game I have ever saw as far as realism goes and I still am of same opinion today and the open nature of the game, being to travel into a total different world and not being restricted a scripted path was awesome. On the contrary to my brother I refused to use the trainer since I wanted to experience the game and not run over everything just to hack and slash. It took me a while to get around the game and get to know the mechanics but when I did, boy oh boy what was I in love with the game.
I think I have at least 2,000 hours in the game, could be more and I actually never finished Baldur's Gate 1 or played 2. The farthest I've ever made it was into Baldur's Gate, but never beyond that. Somehow I play the game fanatic till that point then need a small break from it and when I start again I feel like I want to experience it from the beginning so I start over once more. Not only that, somehow I still feel entangled by the story and how it enfolds and develops itself and I am secretly afraid that once I finish it, I will know the story and that magic will go away. So this way I can just play it over and over again and still feel the same admiration and exploration of a fantastic world!
So I decided to roll a ranger, I remember he had very good stats (without me being aware of it: I thought you always got the same number of stat points and that re-rolling was only for distribution purposes, that you couldn't redistribute stats manually). I used Kivan's portrait (and therefore a bow), and managed to beat Sarevok with my canonical good party (though I think I used Ajantis for Minsc, who had died and who I even then didn't like so much). It was my ranger who got me hooked on stealth, and who might have been the cause of my current predilection for thieves (dexterity, sneaking etc).
Till this day I've never rolled a bard again (though I kind of like the Skald).
Not sure about Blade, I don't doubt the Blade's power but the class seems a bit hackeyed to me. I might look into the Jester though. Could be interesting playing an apparent fool.
I used to play pen & paper DnD with my brothers and friends as a kid, but didn't game much at all afters. In college a friend brought over a copy of Fallout 1. He insisted I watch the opening movie. That hooked me and I spent a LOT of time in the wasteland.
For a change of pace, someone recommended Baldur's Gate. I really wasn't all that interested at first. It had the familiar isometric view, and I recognized the elves, dwarves and dragons of the 2nd Ed. system. But it felt clunky after Fallout, where you build your character up very quickly. And there were no plasma rifles. Still, I kept at it, and while playing one night, I realized I heard birds outside & looked up to see the light of dawn come thru the windows. Hooked, to say the least!
I rolled a human fighter my first play through, thinking I didn't know squat about the spell system, and at the very least I could swing a weapon and hit something. It was a blast exploring the woods, coasts & alleys of the Baldur's Gate world. I loved the music & sound & art. I read the books and item descriptions, and was blown away at the detail of the world. And it was scary too.. the dopplegangers really freaked me out (still do, actually). Of course, defeating Sarevok was a chest-pounding, glorious achievement.
Shortly afterwards, BG2 came out and I picked it up soon as I could. It was even better in almost every way (tho after replaying both several times, I prefer BG1 for atmosphere and plain ol' wandering). I buckled down and studied the magic spell systems, and created a mage. I played her all the way through the game. I've since tried blades, thieves, paladins, archers, you name it but that first play through still resonates as an amazing experience. Even so, the replay value of the game is incredible. It's a world you can escape into.
When I found out the Baldur's Gate series was getting updated and re-released, I never questioned that I would buy them (again). Thank you Beamdog!
I tried to play the game, but having been unfamiliar with the rules, i quickly gave up. It was also difficult. I always preferred Diablo 2, it was easier and more enjoyable, for a teen gamer, after all. My first player had been a dwarf fighter, skilled in axes and warhammers, and i tried to create him similar to Gillius Thunderhead, the dwarf from Golden Axe...
After some years, i saw for 10 euros the entire series in one DVD. I also bought that. But ended up giving it as a gift to another friend of mine. Later, it was also given out for free from a PC magazine exclusive to my country. And finally, i saw it in GoG.
I HAD to buy it. DRM free, and all digital, extra, free stuff, was more than enough to persuade me. After a long burnout, i finally managed to finish both. And then replay with different characters, finishing the game like 4-5 times, but just... recently! I am not very experienced still, but at least now, i am somewhat familiar with its rules/setting, and now that i am mature, i definately appreciate it 10 times more than diablo...
Surprisingly, I actually figured out enough to progress through a good deal of the game. But because I didn't have the best grasp of the English language (I'm Chinese) at the time there were some funny quirks when I played. To name a few:
1. Picking dialogue options at random, not knowing what they meant (pissed off Aerie once by thinking "Hold!" meant "hold the sword" XD) then wondering why people went hostile on me.
2. Mages and Clerics... Yeah this one's embarrassing. I would give them one of each spell. Every spell they had. Even useless ones like Infravision.
3. Shove all the good stuff on my PC, even if it was something stupid like Pale Green Ioun Stone on a Mage. The boss deserves everything.
On the bright side English class was a breeze for the next several years.
And yeah I'm... still pretty young lol. :P
The complexity and depth of the game really surprised me. I had played a few older RPGs and few had put any effort into making an engaging story or believable NPCs. Baldur's Gate was a particular delight. You were already given this huge sprawling countryside to explore and now had a city which dwarfed most modern RPG locations.
Unfortunately, I must admit that I cheated at the end. I had gotten lost in the Thieves maze, was tired of being attacked, but refused to take a breather. When I came upon Rhavin and his team I was defeated again and again. No matter how I changed my tactics, I couldn't seem to best him. I lost it and cntrl yed the bunch of them.
I continued my reign of fury with Saverok (whom I found very easy to defeat on the second run) and rather enjoy what was supposed to be an epic battle, cheated my way to a very hollow victory.
I was 14, just had bought my very first PC (my parents didn't see the use in owning one, so i had to buy one myself, to have one in the house) and i only had played some older DSA-cRPG's at a friends house (and dabbled into the PnP DSA with some neighbour kids, but never really got into that sadly), who had his own PC (DSA = Das Schwarze Auge - i think it's called 'The Black Eye' for you non-germans out there?! ) and since i got hooked on them so hard even though my friend and me didn't quite understand what was going on we loved it) So in any case, now owning a PC i was very intrigued about which game to buy (i didn't get any allowance, so i always thought very hard on what to spend the money i earned from my paper-route) and by accident i saw an article in the Gamestar, that reviewed BG1 - they said is was a breathtaking adventure, so i decided to trust them and bought the 5 Disc BG 1 Vanilla a few days after it came out. Due to me not being able to understand english and the german localisation being horrid back then i never made it very far (i was one of those people who never realised that you could go into the inner part of Candlekeep to meet up with Gorion) but i still played the candlekeep section with different chars for like two weeks, until i got my paycheck so i could buy my very own strategy guide, so i could progress putside of CK. And oh well, it's been 17 years now, i bought BG 1 three times (due to discs getting scratched and whatnot) The ToSC BG1 two times and BG 2 Vanilla 3 times and TOB 2 times until i got my fingers on the digital EE versions, and till this day i'm still replaing it like at least twice a year and even though it doesn't quite get close to the feelings i had a as a young teenager, it is the one game series, where i never regrettet spending my money on it. Oh , and also besides it being a chore and a half the fact it got so many CD's always made me feel like this has to be the greates game ever =D (still think that way, but i'm happy i don't have to rebuy the game every few years just so i can keep playing ><' ) I just wish i still had that Strategy guide, just to browse through it and compare what has changed in the EE's. Anyways, thanks for creating this topic, you guys just saved my morning with the shared nostalgia
Traumatizing in a good way.
Other than that, I remember starting up for the first time, creating a human mage with Quayle's portrait, and giving him terrible scores (oh, the irony), not knowing what dexterity meant and how intelligence and wisdom are difference. And here I am today, knowing what I'm talking about enough to DM. I played it for 5 years without finishing to finally completing a run-through last year, a lukewarm experience I plan on re-experiencing.
Thanks to all of you for the read. Here's my story (sorry in advance for any bad english)
It was 1997
I was playing the Diablo demo wayyyyy too much. So I bought the original 5 cd BG as soon as it hit the stores, played all the way through, it took me a month or something like that. I have played this game many , many times, but still get surprised now and then...
Then I got my hands on IWD. Much rejoyce. And when HoW came out, and I could play in 1024, with my friend, that's all I did ...
Years later I tried BG2, which I didn't enjoy so much. I played it through anyway. I then found the TUTU version of BG. It worked alright, but I got stuck in Durlags Tower because of some bug. So my BG adventure ended here, for many years. I played IWD and IWD2, until NWN came out. I remember waiting and waiting. And the disappointment : o
I played alot of NWN even though we all missed the IE, and also tried DAO when it came out, but it wasn't the same as the good old relaxing isometric click and play games...
So of course recently, I found myself overjoyed, when I saw the news of an EE version, (and first thing I did, was to ask about IWD in the forums
My first experience with the game was wandering around CandleKeep for a while, taking in how well the game's aged despite being from the late 90s originally. I rolled a pure Cleric for my first CHARNAME and boy, the stats weren't the best. Still had fun with the play through, my party was at the end:
CHARNAME Cleric (I didn't know about kits at the time)
Rasaad (He actually gets pretty strong later into BG1)
Viconia
Edwin
Imoen
Dorn (Had space for him when the scripted scene started, thought he was a cool character until the 'I'm more important than CHARNAME' quests began) , by this time I invested a bunch into him and decided to stick with him.
The most tough battles for me were the amazons and the Greater Wolfwere due to what my party was at the time, I was trying Safana and got shipwrecked. She couldn't hit anything even with the +4 to Lycanthropes Dagger, had to cheese a bit with stun wands and just hasted the crap out of Dorn and stockpiled potions on and basically had him solo the beast.
Love the series and looking forward to SoD.
The rest are blury memories of ouchie arrows and the goodbye-hand. The end.
But hey, at least even my little clueless self already loved war hammers and flaming fist helms back then, so it wasn't entirely useless.
I started out as a tabletop pnp D&D player in high school and college. My first computer roleplaying experience was actually on a Sega CD console, and it was a strategy RPG game called Dark Wizard. I was already out of college and working, with no time or friends to play D&D with, which I missed, so I started searching for a computerized alternative.
After Dark Wizard, I went to Heroes of Might and Magic, still strategy RPG, close to D&D, but not quite. Then Might and Magic VI came out, and I was hooked. After that, it was Heroes of Might and Magic II.
Then Baldur's Gate came out. I was 32. Again, I was hooked. It was the closest I'd come in adulthood to all the joy I'd had as a kid playing tabletop D&D. The npc's were almost like real friends to me.
I remember how terrible I was the first time. I kept using Imoen in front line combat with a short sword, and I think I heard "Oh, I'm so cold..." about a hundred times. I don't think I ever figured out why she was dying so much.
Somehow I reloaded my way to the end of the game. I remember I had to give up on the final battle with Sarevok in vanilla BG. I never did beat him in that version, until many years later, when I did a vanilla BG run for old times' sake.
(Although, on second thought, I think I had TotSC, so he was nerfed from the original version, which was pretty much immune to magic. If you've never played the original BG, it's definitely worth doing at least once, for the challenge of it. You can't stack more than 20 artillery in a slot, and you can't pause combat on the inventory screen. You *can* abuse monster summoning, though, with no limit. That's the best way to beat original Sarevok, I believe.)
I didn't start playing BG again after that first run, until TotSC came out, and then BG2:SoA, and again when ToB came out. Somewhere during my first run of SoA, things started to click for me about game mechanics like armor class, Thac0, and spell use. After that, I never felt all that challenged again by any cRPG, because I saw similarities in how the mechanics, tactics, RNG, and especially the AI, work for the whole genre. I had "seen the man behind the curtain." That didn't stop me from loving them and spending most of my free time playing them, though. The fun is in the journey for me, not the destination.
(BG Dragons, Sarevok, the Reaver, and Melissan are still very challenging for me, though, because I haven't practiced those enough. They don't make boss fights like those any more.)
What a happy feeling of nostalgia to think back on those early play experiences! Those were some of the best times of my life.