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Skipping Candlekeep (the first time)

the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
edited September 2014 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Every single time I play the game, I always find myself happily traipsing around Candlekeep at the beginning of my quest, saving cows and delivering weapons to various people who forgot theirs. I make the full circuit (sometimes twice) and try and milk every single coin and XP out of the experience. But it occurs to me that the actual NET gain in either gold or XP (with two notable exceptions) is really rather small in the scheme of things. So I put this down to my inner OCD on the topic. But it got me to wondering what others did? So, do you:
  1. Skipping Candlekeep (the first time)96 votes
    1. Go around solving every single side quest in Candlekeep?
      81.25%
    2. Make a B-line for Gorion and get out in the world as fast as possible.
        8.33%
    3. Somewhere in the middle, doing some and leaving others?
        6.25%
    4. Just show me the results.
        4.17%
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Comments

  • InvictusCobraInvictusCobra Member Posts: 108
    If I even start BG1 anymore, I do everything since I want the max gold out of it. And I figure it can act as a final goodbye RPwise.
  • WigglesWiggles Member Posts: 571
    I keep the scroll of identify, grab the potion of healing, snag the antidote, hand in the bolts, give Hull his sword, and that's it. I take the southern path along Candlekeep to get all of those and then enter the inner walls by Imoen to talk to Gorion.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Yea I always do them all :)
  • dunbardunbar Member Posts: 1,603
    These days I'm more interested in creating idiosyncratic characters and putting together interesting parties (I'm currently running a CN, F/M character with Dorn, Shar-Teel, Viconia and Safana) so I usually skip the Candlekeep bits unless my character is spectacularly squishy.
  • AlexDeLargeAlexDeLarge Member Posts: 273
    The time you spent making this poll would have been time finishing Candlekeep.
  • AlexDeLargeAlexDeLarge Member Posts: 273
    I complete it, but only for RP reasons, i find no pleasure in doing the same mundane quests over and over. At least Irenicus Dungeon has some legitimate challenge, especially with SCS installed.
  • rufus_hobartrufus_hobart Member Posts: 490
    Usually I tend to do all the quests as I'm a completionist at heart, so that's the option I chose...but really, it depends on my character. My evil-doers don't give a damn about sick cows, and that antidote is far more useful to me. And Hull's sword is worth a nice little profit from Winthrop. My scholarly characters can't bear to see the mistreatment of precious books, so keep it for themselves. I'm playing a mage? Then no way in hell is Firebead getting his scroll back. 18 Charisma? Well of course Fuller can have his bolts, after all he'd promised me something nice in return...
  • GKL206GKL206 Member Posts: 75
    I always skip the rats: everything but the rats. It's so annoying if you break a weapon on the rats, and it's only 5gp.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    I stay in Candlekeep longer now that I made it so that I can enter the keep itself and browse the bookshelves for scrolls to scribe (easy xp for mages) or sell (decent money for non-mages). Thieves, especially halflings with high dexterity (does anyone *ever* make a halfling thief with a dexterity less than 17?) can also find one or two other goodies in there.

    Leaving Candlekeep as a 2nd-level mage? This is worth the time I spend.

    Leaving Candlekeep with plate mail (I gave Winthrop one suit) and a katana? This, also, is worth the time I spend.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    @Mathsorcerer - that's pretty AWESOME. I agree that the ability to get to second level as a wizard would be a huge bonus. Is that something you can share with the community?
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    Let's see....one .2da file, 7 area files, script files for those areas (mostly to deactivate characters who show up in chapter 6), one .sto file, and maybe a couple of others....no changes to dialog.tlk....I suppose I could zip them into an archive that drops into override but didn't someone else already do something like this? Most of the ideas I get and work out I find out later that someone else already worked on.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    LOL. Absolutely I didn't mean to put you on the spot or expect anything in the way of un-paid for work. I was merely expressing my enthusiasm for your inventive solution. Kudos.
  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    So it's like expanded candlekeep. I like it!

    Has someone ever made an candlekeep be gone?
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    edited September 2014
    artificial_sunlight said:

    So it's like expanded candlekeep. I like it!

    Has someone ever made an candlekeep be gone?

    Yes. @DavidW did. It's in SCS.

    http://www.gibberlings3.net/scs/gameplay.php
    Skip the Candlekeep tutorial sections (TUTU,BGT,BGEE)

    The Prologue to BG is a perfectly good tutorial in the Infinity Engine for complete beginners. By the time you return to it for the Nth time, it's unutterably tedious - but you more-or-less have to do it, because even the small amount of gold and XP it gives you is pretty vital for later. It doesn't really even add colour, because realism is always being spoiled by these damn monks telling you which button to press.

    This component gives you two ways around this problem.

    The first option (which leaves the tedium unchanged but restores the verisimilitude) just removes the green-robed monks. The less-than-serious alternative choice, inspired by PPG's Dungeon-Be-Gone, lets you skip the whole thing: at the start of the adventure, a guard will come up to you and give you the chance to collect all the cash and XP from him. He'll give you a decent interval to shop, and then teleport you direct to Gorion ready for the start-of-game ambush.

    Be warned that the dialogue with the guard is unrealistic and written for laughs. Realism is restored once you start talking to Imoen and Gorion.
  • MathsorcererMathsorcerer Member Posts: 3,037
    Well, if the protagonist grew up in Candlekeep as the child of Gorion, a respected sage, then the idea that the keep would be locked or forbidden at the beginning of the adventure makes no sense. In fact, your father's room is on the fifth floor--it is highly likely that your room is there, as well, even though it is never specifically mentioned.

    I would never charge any money for anything, of course. Anything I ever make which I wind up sharing is always shared freely. Speaking of things I am making, I simply must put the finishing touches on the Armor of the Wild Hunt, Barmaiden's Kiss (sometimes also called Tavern Wench's Slap), Jaguar's Prowl, and Meilikki's Balance, all items I am creating at my wife's request for her beloved cleric/ranger. Well, the Kiss is not--someone else wanted a returning throwing dagger (I forget who asked) and I particularly enjoy it, given that it took me a while to come up with a fascinating side-effect.
  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    Share those mods!
    Share those mods!
    Share those mods!
    Share those mods!

    (there are people who can make them weidu for you)
  • QueenQuinzelQueenQuinzel Member Posts: 44
    I'm inclined to do all the quests. The XP, gold, and items may be measly, but the tasks you do to obtain them are as well, so it evens out to being a matter of getting a headstart. Besides, I have completionistic tendencies, so that's more reason to do them.

    @rufus_hobart‌ made a good case for the fun in doing the tasks for the sake of roleplaying, but I have yet to create a character who I'm sufficiently attached to to care about fostering an RP personality for.
  • KloroxKlorox Member Posts: 894
    I do them all. I find it quickest to talk to firebead, get the scroll on the way to the combat testing area, gulp the potion of speed there, run back to the Candlekeep Inn and go around counter clockwise. JMO.
  • OneAngryMushroomOneAngryMushroom Member Posts: 564
    I do all the quests but I do them as fast as possible. My current record is 7 minutes 44 seconds. A speedrunner I ain't
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    One time it thought I'd just kill everybody. Hahahe...now I just do the errands.
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