Help me pretending I have never played the series before

doggy

So have been playing since 1999 and the series still amazes me. I have purchased the bg ee on DVD. I am that old-fashioned. And have now preordered bg ee 2 DVD (for the Europeans it's available for preorder at amazon.de for delivery approximately 5th to 8th of May and for me it's a must have). I have decided to play through the series as if I don't know the story, the canon NPC's, where to get quests, questline info and so on. But knowing the game by heart it's more difficult that I thought.

At the moment I have finished with the canon party and is on the second playthrough with no canon NPC. Where I for gaming reasons have chosen to not even talk to the canon NPC's. That means some new and some non-recruitables for BG ee 2 at the moment. Next to come are an evil party. I just need as many and as varied charnames to export for the sequel.

But how to do it with all the meta knowledge I have? Any ideas are welcome to make charname no 1000 feel like the first one.

JuliusBorisov

I advice you to get a look on @BelgarathMTH 's and other people's views about meta-gaming here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/40667/reflections-on-metagaming-in-bg-in-light-of-poe#latest

Also, @Lemernis 's approach in http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16860/let-the-fates-decide-game-journal-there-will-be-major-spoilers#latest can help to completely restict any meta-gaming.

I think the Item Randomiser http://www.gibberlings3.net/item_rand/ mod can help greatly.

GreenWarlock

I think the key is to get into the role-play, and play a character with an outlook you have never played before. The addition of the new NPCs in the EE versions open up even more possibilities here too.

E.g., for my next play through, I am thinking of playing a self-sufficient party that use no weapons. This is basically looking ahead to BG2, where I can play with Cernd (a werewolf), Rasaad (new NPC monk), and an easter-egg character who is a bear! I am thinking of playing a Dragon Disciple as my own PC, taking the dragon side quite seriously (the dragon who would become a god, talk about power gaming!) this all brings a very new perspective (to me) to the game. With this in mind, play slowly, really read all the text and descriptions again, and react as this character would, rather than as the optimal stats would indicate. You will find you often engage with the game in a different way than you have before, and shed new light and meaning on old material.

So my advice is to take a step back, pick a theme or idea that you have not tried before, but sounds like a fun way to play the game (as it is a long way to the throne of Bhaal, and you don't want to be playing a group that bores you) and then design a character and personality around that. Take them where the game leads you, regardless of meta-game knowledge.

This is often easier said than done, but can be most rewarding when done well.

st_live418

I agree with @GreenWarlock and @bengoshi wholeheartedly!

To simply add more possibilities, you could look into a more mod'ed game. There are plenty of mods that alter the rules of the game such as BG2tweaks and aTweaks. Mods that can drastically expand the options you have for class/kit options, and those same mods can give existing NPCs new kits which will change how you form your party and use them throughout. I'm currently using the NPC Project mod, which has been a fun way to keep getting surprised by what comes out of my companions mouths. While this would mean modding BG2 when the time comes, the EE games being made in the same engine makes comparability less of a concern than it used to be.

Or if you're looking for something to challenge you more, I hear SCS is a godsend!

doggy

Great ideas. I'm thinking that my current charname will be rather taken aback by the fact that Minsc and Jaheira seems to know her. As in we have never met. And therefore she doesn't trust either seeing I wake up in a dungeon not knowing what happened. Immy I know from Candleceep of course but long time no see...

Modding will wait until a couple of playthrougs. I like unfinished business a lot. Might install the skip chateau Irenicus though.

And thanks for the links. Now reading later playing.

elminster

I can sell you some black lotus that will do the trick. Though you may end up camped out in some obscure carnival tent instead.

doggy

Seeing my rep is 20 I expect a nice discount

dunbar

Try building a character as someone you know well in RL and make all the in-game decisions based on what you know/think that person would do (even though in your head you'll be screaming over their metaphorical shoulder: "NOOOO!!!!!!!").

hispls

Read a couple of the narrative style no reload write-ups on this board and try to write your own as you go. If you're telling us the story you'll be forced to role play it interestingly and believably.

doggy

Unfortunately I am not a Nobel prize in writing just waiting to happen. So I will spare you the horrors of my writing.

That said I have started rolling charnames en masse, being irl people. And for fun I will roll a chaotic crazy and paranoid PC that must make the most stupid choices through the game.

I believe they all will be a blast and hopefully all ready when my most anticipated DVD arrives. The moment I am allowed to play BG EE 2 again with a new look on the game.

Your ideas are both great and welcome. And I always appreciate the answers to get at this forum.

GreenWarlock

Paranoia can be a lot of fun on a game like this Just work out how to let the NPCs into your party past the paranoia, even if only to put them where you can keep an eye on them...

doggy

Can't make them leave after they have joined. They know too much...