Favourite section of the BG saga?

vangoat

With a lot of people suffering from restartitis, it got me wondering if there is a particular time of BG they enjoy the most.

Is it fresh out of Candlekeep, when a lone wolf is enough to send a shiver down your spine? Is it late ToB, when even creatures mysterious and magical fall to your muscle and skill? Somewhere in between?

vangoat

For me it's definitely early BG2. You've got so much freedom to create any type of character you want, and within an hour or two of play you can gain a few levels and start equipping yourself with decent equipment. You get a ton of freedom to pursue quests and there's plenty of challenge if you want it.

atcDave

I really like the broad scope of it all. Especially mid to upper level; say level 4-12. I don't really care for the HLAs so much, but otherwise I love growing from a first level rookie, to being pretty powerful. I even like having to re-equip and re- organize at the start of Bg2.

Coutelier

Early BG2. BG2 doesn't have the vast wilderness of BG1, but at the start there's still plenty to explore, quests to do, meeting NPC's who have banters and actual character development that goes on.

ChildofBhaal599

you are basically level 1 again when you compare yourself to the epic level enemies, but you are not level 1. you are like 7-10 based on class, so you have some abilities and health to start with. everything is available for you to go to, but you are a rookie that will be killed by all sorts of things. lastly, it is BG2 compared to BG1.

TheElf

Just in terms of what the combat is like, I'd say the late BG1 to early BG2 period. Earlier you miss all the time and a lot of fights are basically luck, later, and the same go to strategies will pretty much carry any fight.

element

it really depends on how you judge late bg1 for ease im going by chapter as im actually still low level by this point

I like the point were u get into baldurs gate as it allows me to pick up Alora and explore the big city its also the time I do the side quests and explore the world prior to this I pretty much just go through the story so I can do all the extras with my fav characters, especially important to me as I don't get half of them in bg2.

while its technically late bg1 based on chapters for me its really the major chunk of any play through

jackjack

My favorite level is 5. That 5 is my lucky number likely skews this, but this is honestly my favorite portion of the saga nonetheless.
I am just beginning to realize my potential, my party is typically set, (oh how I wish I could bring them into SoA and ToB!), and I've finally found a target in the Bandit camp.
5-7 is also my favorite starting level range for AD&D 2E campaigns too, so there's that.

Sylph

Early BG2, cause I love all the stuff to do, and people to meet, and the character development to explore.

JuliusBorisov

During all the playthroughs I so often start to increasingly lose an interest after the Cloakwood, Davaeorn and coming to Baldur's Gate. That's because I like to plan the development of my character, the party combination, their proficiencies, abilities, when to take them, in what order to visit areas, how to roleplay the particular alignment and class and so on. Maybe I even spend more time on planning and considering than actually on playing. This is why my favourite part of both games is early levels in BG1 when everything is open to you and you can choose what to do.

And I like the adrenaline of the early levels, when a fight with a pack of kobolds can severely damage your characters and even be lethal. These starting levels just breathe with the "exploring" feeling - the most pleasant part for me.

In terms of levels it depends on your character class (druids and thieves level up much faster than fighters), your party composition (if it's a 6-men party, which I like the most, than you get levels slower than if you travel with 3 companions), your way through the game areas (whether you explore every single one of the wilderness areas or you just follow the main plot and compolete some side quests on the particular locations - it leads to a big difference in the number of XP you get). So it's hard to tell the certain level. Moreover I like both the earliest encounters and some mid-game fights equally.

For me, this leads to the new and new characters with their different approaches to the game, different party compositions and different experience. And I like it so much. This part of the game is definitely the most favourite of mine. And planning that I do on these levels often far exceeds the first game, coming even into the SoA party compositions and ToB items distribution...

vangoat

I think in particular for late BG2 and ToB, you can get a sense of sameness for each game. By then, your characters will more than likely have the same weapons/spells every time.

The difference between a Good/Evil playthrough at this stage is just something like: Imoen casting time stop instead of Edwin, or Anomen using the FoA instead of Viconia. Whereas early on in the game a good party might go around holy smiting undead and an evil party backstabs cowled wizards for Mae'Var or something.

Once you get to late SoA or ToB there's very little RPing to be done other than choosing different dialogue options that have the same result anyway.

Blackraven

Everything till late SOA.
Charname's growth from Candelkeep till Suldanessalar in terms of both life XP and 'power XP' is a wonderful aspect of the game. Late SOA, early TOB it becomes a bit too epic for me, plus the game kind of turns into the "great archmages show" (reason for me to try and compete with all these uberpowers as a non-arcanist, even though I really dig magic).

KidCarnival

Early BG2 - it's the best of all worlds. You won't die from a wolf, you have all the choices for party, quests and gear.

SCARY_WIZARD

I like levels 4 ~ 9. You're somebody, but you're not somebody.

TethorilofLathander

Visiting Baldur's Gate just blew my mind. I play Oblivion now and even the city of Baldur's Gate still confuses me xD

Blucher

I think levels 9-12 are AD&D's sweet spot for all sorts of reasons. Also, I esp. love the pre-underdark portion of BG2 for the choices you have in where to go and what to do.

powurz

I picked early BG2, because I ultimately like BG2 a bit more than BG1, but I also really enjoy the first 5 or 6 levels in the first game. I very much agree with bengoshi in that the creating the party and choosing when to do what is fun, but once the game starts to get really linear I have a harder time maintaining interest. In BG1, this translates to Cloakwood and parts of what comes after (including Durlag's Tower, I feel like that place takes more time to complete than I have interest), and in BG2 it largely includes Chapters 3,4,5 as I am taken out of an area where I get to choose what's going on. In this most recent playthrough, I did more or less every sidequest prior to finishing SoA because I wanted to get the fun out of the way.

And the worst part is that now that I'm in ToB, I've basically set aside my desire to finish the file for now, although I will because I want to see the new DLC stuff in ToB.

GKL206

I'm really torn between early and mid BG1. I love it when the world is dangerous and you can be killed by a crit from a Xvart, so really everything up until you cross that huge bridge and enter the massive city of Baldur's Gate - which even now manages to have an epic scale. I find it gets less and less interesting as it goes on and by ToB I'm bored. I just don't enjoy huge mage fights. I tend to disagree with people who advise new players to think about late game in character builds because by the time you get Time Stop and Greater Whirlwind Attack I want to start over with a new character.

Rewolf

For me it is the part between the Naskhel mines and Baldur's Gate. At this point the group is growing increasingly stronger but you still have enough encounters to fear since you're not OP. It is in this phase of the game that I start feeling powerful, being able to equip my first magic items and get this amazing feeling when I first discover the items and are able to use them. Besides that, I usually explore the wilderness areas and do the sidequests in this stage of the game, so that also creates more immersion for me in this game, which I like.

Drugar

jackjack said:

My favorite level is 5. That 5 is my lucky number likely skews this, but this is honestly my favorite portion of the saga nonetheless.
I am just beginning to realize my potential, my party is typically set, (oh how I wish I could bring them into SoA and ToB!), and I've finally found a target in the Bandit camp.
5-7 is also my favorite starting level range for AD&D 2E campaigns too, so there's that.

Agreed. I've started more D&D games at level 5 than at level 1.
You're finally starting to become competent. Wizards get fireball, fighters can take a hit, spellcasters in general are no longer useless after one battle. The creatures that inspired fear in the beginning can no longer touch you while there's still a bunch of actual threats out there.
At this level I'm usually getting done with wandering about the wilderness, decked out in +1 armour and weapons and heading to the bandit camp to clear out some scumbags. It's a good time!

NWN_babaYaga

Playing the first levels was difficult and sometimes frustrating but it had it charme no doubt. But I usually prefer levels from 6 to 9 with just a basic configuration. No fancy class mix that doesnt makes sense background wise. Epic levels are absolutely not my style but in BG2 it was a great experience anyway!

CrevsDaak

As I try to complete all the quests but Watcher's Keep last 3 levels, it's usual to gain HLAs before going to the Underdark (and if I'm playing solo, it takes nothing, you might reach 3 millions XP in Chapter Two if you don't focus on paying Gaelan/Bodhi), mainly I like SoA entirely, ToB isn't as good as SoA, so I prefer to start another run instead of gong through ToB (and when Ascension is out, ToB is going to be muuuuuch better, no more final bosses that attack instead of casting Stoneskin even if they are able to when they have ~20% HP)
Also, one of my favorite moments is mid game BG1, when you have a few +1, you are around level 5/6/7 and are like a common adventurer (like BG2 early game).

vangoat

Interesting no one seems to like ToB, yet people often plan their characters around optimising them for the late game!

mumumomo

Defintely early bg2 for me.
Early bg1 is crappy : either you skip it (abuqing wand of sleep or getting free xp) or you reload each time you fzce a wolf
End of bg1 would be nice if there was no xp cap and no item removing at the beginning of bg2. As it is it always feel a waste and i hate when my character is not progressing
Early bg2 is the best : plenty of possibilities, fast levelling and equipment phase.
Mid bg2 - end soa : as i play solo, i get hla and the game loses interest. It is then just a matter of finishing as soon as possible
Tob : a little bit more difficult than soa but not really realistic and no character progression

BelgarathMTH

I picked mid-BG1, but not for the reason you say. I like that part of the game because it's where you get to explore the wilderness in the Cloudpeaks southwest, and the eastern portions of the map. There's a very exciting sense of freedom, potential and possibility.

Late BG1 and all of BG2 feel kind of railroaded.

I enjoy low-level play the most. I like feeling like a new adventurer, excited to fight kobolds, xvarts, and man-eating wolves. I think D&D is at its best in that phase.

And I really hate hell-dimensions, underdarks, and bizarre extraterrestrial planes of existence that I can't get out of. The weirder the environment and monsters, the less I enjoy the game.

God

For obvious reasons, I find it much easier to affiliate with the endgame Charname than with a Ward-of-Gorion-Unknowing-Bhaalson wimp. Even though D&D deities and godlike beings just don't cut the mustard, I would enjoy ToB throughout if it was neatly written. However, Melissan.

Nonnahswriter

I picked Mid-BG2 because that's when the plot starts thickening.

And by then, you've probably gotten laid by your romance.

the_spyder

I'm a big fan of that whole chapter 2 of BG2 where you can go everywhere and do all of this really interesting side quests. I love hitting and completing as many of them as i can. I clear out the slavers then go help Nalia and then Trademeet and then usually back to the Planar sphere... etc... I love all of that stuff.

Lemernis

I concur with @bengoshi and @BelgarathMTH.

I think for me it's actually the most exciting just starting out, with the world wide open and full of possibility. That fun continues until around the time I hit the Cloakwood mines. Then the game starts to become increasingly constricted and linear. I still enjoy it then, but not as much.

I love the dragons in BG2, though! And the dark, brooding, exotic ambience of Amn is engaging. Irenicus is a superb villain. The more powerful spells of SoA/ToB are fun. HLAs are kind of fun too, I guess.

But I don't like how the game increasingly funnels me through it--and what a long slog it starts to feel like. The planar content and god-like levels isn't my cup of tea at all. And the metaphysics of the Bhaal essence isn't really well articulated or engaging to me. (I kind of don't care about it, it feels like a contrivance or device.)

I think I like the BG1 NPCs better by far. Now that I think about it, that's not even close for me, actually... (Not that I don't like the BG2 companions, but comparatively with BG1 I mean.)

And I'm not a fan of the romances in BG2 in all honesty. I'd much rather see some sort of relationship track develop with the NPCs that doesn't have to be romantic.

Oh--and the surfeit of high level magic gear that practically rains from the sky in BG2 is over the top for my taste. I love the feeling of a low level magical item because it means so much then.

Necomancer

Mid game is almost always the best. You're not struggling like early game and you're not so powerful that everything is a cake walk like late game. Since I like BG2 better then BG1 I voted this.

Anduin

I am slightly conflicted as I enjoy BG1s openness to the straight jacket of BG2.

However, the fights are more interesting at this stage of the game. You will need to use your skill and knowledge to win.

Then I'll spam mislead or time-stop or whatever my overpowered special ability of choice I like to use at the time through ToB and the battles get a bit samie...