First Playthrough after thoughts.... WTF! (Items)

Alistar2013

So I just barely managed to beat Sarevok with my Dwarf Fighter, Imoen, Khalid + Jaheira and Mincs(and Boo =D) + Dynaheir. My Fighter was the only party member still standing when Sarevok went down with 1/4 HP left.

I got the Plate of the Dark off of Tamoko and realized I couldn't use ring/cloak of protection with the armor and earlier in the playthrough a similar realization with Shadow Armor for Imoen. Why can't I use them together? I understand it would be pretty OP to have both a cloak and ring together but why not the armor and the ring/cloak? So this makes me wonder then if the best armor in the game can't be used with these other items I found what is the point of having it at all? Then I look at the Mage armor and say shouldn't the same rules apply?

Bracers of AC of any strength completely useless! (maybe good for bards so they can still cast mage spells?)

I played the original back in the day and I must say there are way too many copies of certain weapons now, mainly the +1 versions. I hoarded all my loots in Kagains Shop and I think I have at least 10 Longsword +1! Why would I ever need that many!? I don't have many copies of other +1 weapons, why so many longswords!?

Clubs! I am happy they put in some magic clubs, I just wished they would get different icons for them. I almost threw away my Club +1 when I got the Might Oak thinking it was a regular club. I looked at the Might Oak and thought to myself right away this is the most boring +2 weapon in the game. They could change the color or something I dunno I can't think of a way to make it look more badass other than turning it into a morningstar.

Anyways those are just some of my thoughts after playing the Enhanced Edition for the first time. Loved the new content, the containers and companions (even though I didn't really explore them that well).

Alistar2013

Also money was just too easy to come by! Just wanted to throw that out there Ankegs for 500g a piece, HELLS YEAH I'MMA GET MY FARM ON!

Tresset

Alistar2013 said:

I got the Plate of the Dark off of Tamoko and realized I couldn't use ring/cloak of protection with the armor and earlier in the playthrough a similar realization with Shadow Armor for Imoen. Why can't I use them together? I understand it would be pretty OP to have both a cloak and ring together but why not the armor and the ring/cloak? So this makes me wonder then if the best armor in the game can't be used with these other items I found what is the point of having it at all? Then I look at the Mage armor and say shouldn't the same rules apply?

Those are just the rules... It is admittedly a bit odd that you get better value for your protection by using ordinary full plate and a ring of protection over using any magical armor (with ring+armor you get bonus saving throws that you don't get with just magical armor). This factor changes a bit in BG2:EE since you get much better armor while the rings and things of protection stay about the same, more or less.

Alistar2013 said:

Bracers of AC of any strength completely useless! (maybe good for bards so they can still cast mage spells?)

Yup, mainly good for bards and armor restricted classes like shapeshifters and avengers. Other than that they are mostly useless. Again, this changes in BG2:EE with Bracers of AC that are much more powerful and a must have for most mages and they are still good for armor restricted classes.

Alistar2013 said:

Clubs! I am happy they put in some magic clubs, I just wished they would get different icons for them. I almost threw away my Club +1 when I got the Might Oak thinking it was a regular club. I looked at the Might Oak and thought to myself right away this is the most boring +2 weapon in the game. They could change the color or something I dunno I can't think of a way to make it look more badass other than turning it into a morningstar.

I couldn't agree more; especially with the part about how they all look the same. It would be very nice if they made new icons for the new clubs. Unfortunately it isn't a priority right now. But maybe some day they will get around to it...

Alistar2013 said:

Also money was just too easy to come by! Just wanted to throw that out there Ankegs for 500g a piece, HELLS YEAH I'MMA GET MY FARM ON!

Yup. You are swimming in money by the end of BG1 and you have about as much use for it as a dragon would.

dstoltzfus

@Alistar2013, I'm glad that you finished it. I hope that you enjoyed the story. There's much more in the saga ahead. You used the cannon party too .

Alistar2013

@dstoltzfus I played the original on the CDs before so yeah I picked those guys up cause I love Mincs and Boo and well Khalid and Jaheira are so convenient.

Archaos

1) Bracers of Armor are meant to be used on casters, not armored people. They save you from having to memorize/recast Armor or some other armor-giving spell all the time.
And generally casters don't use the glove slot at all.

Mage NPCs in lore always wear Bracers of Armor as it's free armor without needing to wear a full plate or cast Armor all the time.

2) Not being able to wear different items that give similar effects is not a rule limitation but a game one, I think.
In (A)DnD items of the same kind don't stack (some specific ones do). But you can still wear them together, you just won't get both bonuses.

3) Just because you get multiple +1 weapons, doesn't mean that you will need them all.
Just like you don't need every piece of leather armor and short swords you find as well as jewelry. They are loot to be sold.

Alistar2013

@Archaos Yes but the robe of the Archmagi makes those bracers completely useless AC 5 vs the AC 6 bracers for a Mage/Specialist/Sorcerer I'm pretty sure the Mage characters all have less than AC 6 when wearing the robes of their alignment. So from a functionality for the game mechanics makes them somewhat useless except on Bards, whereas most other items can be used by a wide variety of classes.

Let's be honest about selling magic weapons.... there really is no need to sell them. I have 50K gold at the end of the game and nothing to buy with it and I didn't even really get too much into looting Baldur's Gate or Durlags so I could probably have A LOT more.

As for The Plate of the Dark it should not exist in the game if it is not truly the best armor in the game period. They may as well just have Tamoko drop another Full Plate and a ring/cloak of protection +1/+2. Lore in the game is fine no issues there but what function does an item have if I can get the ACTUAL best armor in the game pretty much 30 mins into playing it? (Full Plate from Taerom) The supposed best armor in the game also loses usefulness when it's at the end of the game. Maybe they should rethink where you obtain it from so it becomes a more viable option.

Gallowglass

I reckon the Plate of the Dark is in the game, and where it is, as a teaser for noobs who don't realise that it's not (usually) useful. Sometimes it's useful, though - if you're running a warrior-heavy party and haven't found enough instances of mundane Full Plate to go around, or if you've got a character who wants to use all of his/her ring/amulet/cloak slots for something else instead of the protection items (which is reasonably credible for, say, a Cleric).

DreadKhan

Rule of Cool clearly explains the Plate of the Dark. In vanilla remember, people would have got the plate and then attempted TotSC with it.

But mainly it looks really cool.

atcDave

I have no problem with certain +1 items being almost "common", and superfluous by the end of the game. Like long swords, short swords, plate mail.
But as others have mentioned, party composition makes a big difference. A warrior heavy party may be snarfing up any decent armor until quite late in the game. And try a party that heavily relies on one weapon type; I had a warrior dual wielding short swords a while back, plus Imoen. So we "needed" three good short swords. It took quite a while before even a +1 short sword was surplus to our needs.

Archaos

@Alistair Just because you find something better, it doesn't mean that the previous one was useless.
That's like saying that +1 weapons are useless because you get +2 and +5s.

Alistar2013

I never said that +1 weapons are useless just said there seems to be an excessive amount of them (mainly longswords). I was mainly commenting on how Plate of the Dark is somewhat useless in regards to the fact that if you have a party with even 4 that can wear full plate it only becomes useful for a very very short period of time, which is kinda pointless maybe not before in the original, but now it is cause you can do everything before finishing up the game. +1 Weapons are very useful I try to rush for them now so I don't end up having to punch things to death when my weapon breaks.

For me I don't really see the point to a Bard other than their song that protects against fear, which is highly situational. Even with their other skills I would rather take a decent mage and/or thief. Their lore is somewhat irrelevant if you have identify other than saving you the hassle of having to switch a few spells out to identify a few magic items then switching them back.

DreadKhan

My first completion of BG and totsc was with a warrior party, Khalid, Ajantis, Yeslick, Kivan, Coran (who wore heavy armour too when not thieving), and my Fighter pc. I was pretty stocked to get the Plate of the Dark, and still used the gold armour.

Suffice to say, this was my least subtle playthrough.

In vanilla BG, I could have used more vsriety of weapons, so finding my 15th +1 longsword was a bit of a kick to the teeth in that sense. Clubs anyone?

Corvino

Longswords are pretty common weapons though. It makes sense that there would be quite a lot of enchanted ones.

As for having loads of cash - you will. However it does let you get loads of potions, enchanted arrows, wands and scrolls. Once you've loaded up on this stuff you're nigh on unstoppable. Chugging strength and heroism potions for any mildly challenging combat, firing six simultaneous Potions of Explosions, Wands of Paralyzation for all tough foes etc can make the game a cakewalk. This sort of thing changes a it from "Sarevok killed all the rest of my party!" to "Sarevok mildly scuffed my armor!". And it's not even that cheesy.