The combat in this game

superluccix

Ok, so Im still playing on the hardest difficulty and I just beat Mulahey in the Nashkel mines.

However, I had a question about the nature of the combat in this game. So far up until Mulahey, combat for me went like this.

1. Spot enemy. Auto pause on encounter.
2. Click all party members.
3. Click on 1 enemy.
4. Unpause and all of my party members surround it in melee combat and attack.
5. Enemy dies and click on next enemy, or decide to not click on anything and let my party kill w/e they want.
6. Rinse and repeat.

I have yet to do anything different here. The only tactical part that I have done was put Dorn and my main character in the 1 and 2 positions on the right side of the screen, in the formation of the 2 columns and 3 rows position (3 rows of 2 dots) and then sometimes send Dorn a little farther up ahead then the rest of my group in order to make sure they all aggro to him first.

And so far, its been the biggest cakewalk ever. The only time this strategy has failed was when I encountered a giant group of enemies and during the times in the Nashkel mines in the 3rd or 4th level (where the lava is) and my tank would get owned from the first round of ranged attacks from those Kobold Commandos or w/e

And then I got to Mulahey himself. I was pleasantly surprised to finally have an encounter where it seemed like I needed to think a bit before challenging him. Because I got raped the first couple times. Wasnt sure what the formula was.

What I did was focus down the boss with all of my characters, while having Dorn and me and Khalid on the left side of the boss, and Jaheira/Neera/Imone on the right. This was in order to make sure the adds would auto aggro one of the 3 on the left and keep the other 3 unaggroed. However this still wasnt enough, until I finally found use for Jaheiras ensnare (or w/e its called,) ability. Which snared like 60% of the enemy adds, which allowed me to buy the time necessary to down the boss, and then focus on the adds. (I really liked this fight, since it was the first time I felt like I had to think, instead of just click once and watch.)

So basically my question is this. Does the combat get less boring after awhile? I mean it would be nice for me to actually plan on using certain spells more often, other than just having all party members, including my casters, just melee.


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And on a completely unrelated note, I had a question about Dual Class/Multi Class or w/e

I didnt read in too much for those things, but from what I gathered, doing a dual class or multi class means that I can be more of a jack of all trades type character, but the trade off being I dont particularly excel in any 1 class.

Now I thought I would really like to do the Dual Class/Multi Class thing, mainly because I have encountered so many joinable characters, who I assume to be very diverse, yet I can use even half of them, because I already got 6 people. So I thought that maybe if a Dual Class/Multi Class, it could alleviate this problem for me since I could feel like I would be playing a part of the style of those new characters anyway.

So just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Did you Dual Class/Mutli Class? Or did you just focus on 1 type?

DrHappyAngry

That's a viable strategy for a lot of fights, but you'll have a lot of trouble when dealing with multiple casters, or as you've noticed, large mobs, especially when they're all tough. It'll take more strategy as you go on especially when you have to deal with more casters. There are plenty of fights where if you try to just focus on one enemy at a time like you're doing, there'll be two other guys that are getting off really nasty spells that'll take down your whole party. I'm not going to deny, that does work for a lot of fights all the way through the series, but there are quite a few fights where just focusing on one guy at a time will get you wiped out.

I'm just going to point you to here for all your multi/dual class needs, since it can get really complicated.
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php/Baldur's_Gate:_Dual_and_Multiclassing

I'm not sure what you're getting at, but it sounds like you want to dual/multi class NPCs? Non-humans are the only ones that can multi-class, and they have to start multi-classed. Humans can dual class, but it requires pretty high stats, and there aren't that many NPCs in the game that have the stats to pull off a dual class. Read up on it from play it hardcore.

JuliusBorisov

superluccix said:

Ok, so Im still playing on the hardest difficulty and I just beat Mulahey in the Nashkel mines.

However, I had a question about the nature of the combat in this game. So far up until Mulahey, combat for me went like this.

1. Spot enemy. Auto pause on encounter.
2. Click all party members.
3. Click on 1 enemy.
4. Unpause and all of my party members surround it in melee combat and attack.
5. Enemy dies and click on next enemy, or decide to not click on anything and let my party kill w/e they want.
6. Rinse and repeat.

I have yet to do anything different here.
Does the combat get less boring after awhile? I mean it would be nice for me to actually plan on using certain spells more often, other than just having all party members, including my casters, just melee.

On later stages of BG1 and in BG2 there will be lots of spellcasters against you and lots of interesting creatures with nasty abilities.

So, it would be much funnier for you and will make you think about encounters.

atcDave

I would say the gang tackle is always a sound tactic. Since everyone attacks at full strength until they drop you are usually best off ganging up on one opponent at a time until they go down.
But be aware of exceptions, and you will see more exceptions as the game goes. The biggest is spellcasters. Since spellcasting can be disrupted by any hit during the period when the spell is being cast, you may want your archers to attack enemy spellcasters, especially if no one else can get at them right away.
And also be aware that many opponents (mainly the various high powered monster types) may have special attacks that make them VERY dangerous. Things like a Basilisk's petrification gaze, a Ghast's paralysis, a Siren's charm. These special beasties may demand immediate attention even if something nearby seems to be more powerful.

Also regards the recruit-able characters, there are simply far more of them than you will ever need. Your best bet is always to build a team fairly quickly, so they can grow along with your party. You can assign the skills and learn the spells you want them to.
If you are really eager to try out more characters I would recommend multiple play throughs. That's part of why some of us still enjoy this game so much after more than 15 years! There are so many alternatives and variations. It just never gets old.
Multi or dual classing absolutely adds another twist to your own character creation. Some such characters can be very powerful; arguably the most powerful characters in the game. But managing all the details can get pretty involved. I think the most conventional wisdom is to play through the game once with a capable single class character (Paladin/Cavalier or a Dwarven Fighter may be the hardiest choices).
If you chose a multi or dual it is hard to characterize strengths; it is pretty completely dependent on the exact combination involved. But the game is winnable and a ton of fun whether you go for a very powerful character, or something more quirky and odd.

SymphonyofSwords

In later game, you will be able to fool around with more spells.

HOWEVER, the game will never be really hard. Cast Improved Haste on your melee fighters, breach on the enemy mages and the occasional buffs (negative plane protection vs. vampires, remove fear vs. dragons, etc.) and your six steps to success will still be viable by then.