Random thoughts after first complete play through of BG1

rickcr

I picked up BG1 late in life, about a year ago. Real-life kept me from playing it sooner, and real-life kept me from playing it non-stop once I got it:) Absolutely loved the RPG / D&D aspect of BG. Of course, like so many, once I started, I had to keep trying out different classes.

I just completed the game last night on core rules with a Sorceror. Not sure it would be my favorite class from a RP perspective.. I still think I like my Inquisitor or half-orc F/T a bit more. (more on that in a bit.)

One thing I found a bit odd about the game is the way a lot of the fights scaled. At least on core rules, there didn't seemed to be a lot of "medium" difficulty battles. The trash fights were overly simple, but then there were some hard fights where someone in my party died quickly since I wasn't prepared for the fight and didn't have the meta knowledge of what I was in for (not buffed, spells low, etc.) (note, I'd reload if someone in my party died... just the way I wanted to play.) Overall, at least on core roles, I felt the game seemed to be missing a lot of moderate difficulty fights... stuff in between the hard fights and the super easy ones. There were some, but few and far between.

Not really a spoiler but just to be safe

It's funny the most difficult fight I ran into seemed to be that one in Baldur's Gate where the invisible stalkers and horrors attack and that fight and the one on that ice island and the durlag demonknight I remember being quite tough. The Cloakwood fight was hard the first time as well (but I had gone through that fight several times with different toons so I got to know what to expect.)

Because of the way the battles went this created a bit of an issue for what class to play. I think I enjoyed my melee (and archer) character(s) more since they were at least involved in every fight - even the trash fights. Whatever ranged spell caster(s) I brought along just seemed there mostly for the 'important' fights. Yes, I'm sure this would change on hard and insane, but I think even on core, it could have balanced more towards 'needing' the benefit of the spell casters during more general battles.

The other issue is because you need to sleep to regain your spells, I didn't even want to 'waste' my spells on the smaller fights. The only reason I stuck it out with my sorceror over my F/T and Paly is because I wanted to see how much it changed later on with more spells and I also was thinking ahead to BG2 and figured once in BG2 I'd have plenty of spells to use even in the trash fights. (Is my understanding correct there in regard to how it will play out in BG2?) I'll probably definitely go back and finish off BG1 with my F/T or Inquisitor at some point. (I'm still debating what class to start BG2 with, I think I might start a Barbarian, Blade, or Swashie.)

The Inquisitor was fun, mostly from a RP perspective, but it was mostly point and click for him
(other than the useful dispel at times.) Still, I have to admit, I enjoy a bad-ass goody-two-shoes in armor and big sword or axe, so he's still on my radar for one to use in BG2 (yea I know there is Keldorn in BG2 I could use. ) I tihnk one of my favorites overall will be my F/T combo though. He only made it to the chapter after cloakwood and the start of entering BG city, but it was really fun backstabbing but also being a capable melee fighter. (I actually ended up not using backstab as much as I thought I would though... granted I'd use it more now knowing what I know towards the latter part of the game.) In regard to other thief abilities, I was a bit disappointed you get so few traps. Even at the end of the game Iomen only had a few (I left her as a pure thief throughout.) Obviously you'll have more in BG2, but in BG1 it seems a shame you have so few. (Sure you could abuse sleep but that's tedious.)

Back to my spell casters... In my complete playthrough I had me as a sorcerer and took Neera along as well. It was fun using some web CC stuff and then throwing out stinking cloud or using some wand fire balls, or going invisible and throwing some skull traps. That's another thing, the wands. That wand of monster summoning is almost too OP. Makes tanking stuff so much easier. I think I'll have to refrain from using it in my other playthroughs. I tried not to abuse fear and sleep wands as well and mostly used them from spells. The other thing is outside of the scrolls of protection from petrification (and the one time remove petrification), I never used a single scroll! Never used many potions either, other than heals/antidotes, and some strength ones sometimes for Yeslick, or sometimes I'd have him tank with protection from fire potion, and I'd then nuke with some fire attacks. Obviously on a no-reload or a higher difficulty setting this would all change.

Oh well, great fun, now onto BG2. I think I might play on hard so I'm forced to use some of the scrolls and potions I collect more. Now to just figure out what class I want to play in BG2:)

lunar

Bg2 is very very different than bg1, more magic oriented and epic.
A sorcerer can be the most powerful character in bg2 if you know the spells to pick. Inquisitors are a godsend against many many high lvl mages the game throws at you. Davaeorn and Semaj are kindergarden children when compared against a lich in bg2, for example
All in all I love the grander feeling of bg2, but some prefer the simpleness and free spirit of bg1
Go ahead and try, and tell us what you think about bg2 too!

SirBatince

yeah BG1 is alot more "get beaten up" centered since every single enemy mage either only has hold person or confusion to cast.

BG2 is more of "get status-effected and THEN beaten up". I almost can't recall any fair melee fight outside of maybe the Coronet.

sarevok57

I just recently finished a play through of bg1 with a half-orc fighter/thief as well, but I instead used a two handed sword and was wearing full plate mail, and I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it, having 100 in detect illusion and trap setting was awesome, detect illusion was dispelling mirror images and invisibility and trap setting, place a couple of traps on the ground, lure some baddies in, then after the traps weaken them a bit, go to town with a big sword

UnderstandMouseMagic

I think it's a better idea to consider BG1 AND 2 as the same game.
The fights you are describing as "hard" are really the first medium difficulty fights you have and "hard" fights don't occur until BG2.
Looked at like that, the progression makes more sense.

I think every player hits a sweet spot where you are progressing nicely, with the odd surprise. But then tends to tip over to breezing through without a care in the world feeling invincible.

It's not that there hasn't been any sort of fight difficulty on the way, just that the player has got good for quite a while, so anything that shakes that up feels like a big jump in difficulty.

Skatan

I agree, there are few "medium" difficulty fights and I also agree that for almost every trash mob fight I never use spells at all, nor potions nor scrolls. It's just not worth it since the fight ends in three rounds. Sometimes I throw out a sleep just for the hell of it, since it's so funny vs critters with low saves, but it's not really needed. But there are a couple of fights which could be considered "medium" though, depending on your characters levels and gear:
* Nashkel mines: fighting Mulahey. Easy when you know what to do, but still harder than regular trash mobs.
* Valley of the tombs: fighting Lamalha and the crew just after exiting the mines can be difficult if you emptied your spell books and used up abilitites etc.
* Fighting basilisks can be difficult if you're not properly prepared.
* Some enemies on the ice island.
etc etc..

The issue is probably that your CHARNAME and NPC's power-curve is exponential and it's even further amplified with metaknowledge so that the medium fights become fairly easy when you know what to expect. But if you walk into an encounter such as this unprepared then it can still provide fatal and you can lose an NPC or two and have to reload.

atcDave

The thing that has impressed me on multiple play throughs is that different fights can be much easier or tougher based on party composition. And not always in predictable ways. Like I played the whole "Werewolf Island" adventure three or four times before I realized a certain fight might actually be difficult in some circumstances. And there are many fights like this, easy for some parties, hard for others.
There is also a luck element, Iike a fight that is usually pretty quickly decided might get really ugly with a single failed save.

To me, that's the fun of the game. It can surprise you or bite in the rear.

Onestep

Another factor is that BG1 is much more RNG based.

Everyone's numbers and statistics are lower, meaning there's more room for whims of the D20 to take control. In BG2, if you know what you're doing then you can almost always win, barring extreme bad luck. In BG1, you can do everything right and still get gibbed by a single critical attack.

jjstraka34

There are a few things to take from this. But mostly, unless you are doing a hardcore, no re-load run, knowledge is power. Once you know what spells do, and once you know what you're in for, as long as you prepare, you'll probably come out on top, especially in the first game. I can only think of 3 or 4 fights that are very challenging if you put everything into them (spells, buffs, wands, potions). But that's why Baldur's Gate (and Infinity Engine games in general) are so replayable. There are countless ways to construct your party, dozens of kits for your player character. You can have a party of anywhere from solo to 6 players. You can play a OP Kensai/Mage or you can try your hand as a Beast Master.