Yeah he's actually a big part of the plot in the Umar Hills quest. You need to pray to his altar to get a key or something, and you use his power to restore the forest and kill off all of the shadow creatures.
Well that's aside the point. Good quest, you should do it.
Embarrassing but memorable: The first time I played BG I didn't know that you could hit the space bar to pause the game and give commands. I remember making it to the Friendly Arm Inn thinking "man, this game takes some wicked coordination!"
Embarrassing but memorable: The first time I played BG I didn't know that you could hit the space bar to pause the game and give commands. I remember making it to the Friendly Arm Inn thinking "man, this game takes some wicked coordination!"
My whole first playthrough was like that, don't think I learned about pausing till ToTSC
I remember the first time I played Durlag's Tower.
First of all, I wasn't aware there were quests and story elements which made it wise to visit Ulgoth's Beard before you went to Durlag's, so I ended up wandering blind into just what this place was supposed to be. This actually made it a lot cooler; the whole sad story of Durlag came to me only by hints and clues and suggestions over the course of the dungeon, with no one spelling it out completely.
Second, I was initially disappointed because I didn't notice there was a stairway leading down when I went into Durlag's Tower. I thought it was just three pitiful little floors of not much, and was on the verge of feeling I had suckered into buying a worthless expansion pack with no new content.
Then I discovered the path down. Whoa.
Soon enough, the whole thing turned into a desperate scramble to survive battles that seemed a lot harder than in the normal game and detect traps that were friggin' everywhere. I was determined to play through the whole thing with as few rests as possible, so the whole experience was nerve-wracking in the extreme.
And then the Demonknight! That damn thing, I can't even remember how many times I lost my entire party to that thing.
I can still remember the absolutely tangile feeling of relief I had when I cleared the dungeon and found myself once again on the world map. I felt almost as glad to see the daylight again as my characters theoretically would have.
One of my favourites is the Ust Natha finale in BG2, double-crossing Phaere and Ardulace during their demon-summoning. The first time I played it I was literally sweating in my chair from tension, having an extremely tangible feeling of just how vulnerable my characters would be if anything went wrong. In spite of the entire scene taking place almost only in-dialogue, I found it and the lead-up to it more tense and dramatic than many actual battles.
I ran out of arrows while fighting the hoard at the Knoll stronghold. It was a fight to the bloody finish, leaving all but two party members dead by the time the last knoll was felled. Needless to say, it was tricky carrying the bodies back to town (potions of strength came in handy here).
I remember hearing several rumors (from peasant types) about ulcaster having some sort of portal in it. I went the whole dungeon expecting the portal to show up somewhere - I also blew almost all my money on potions and scrolls that I thought would be helpful against very powerful portaled-in type beings.... Only to find a giant pile of dead bodies and lots and lots of wolves. Not to mention that I walked around in that maze several times thinking that I missed an area exit to aforementioned portal room.
My part was deep within Durlag's tower. We were out of spells, potions, and critically wounded. I decided to attempt to rest, and then gracefully exit the tower. At that moment, Khalid and Jaheria got into yet another argument with Xzar and Montoron; however, this time it was more severe than usual.
Things quickly got out of hand, and all four NPCs became uncontrollable and begin butchering eachother! I sat their stunned and helpless as they tore eachother apart, leaving only a a near death Khalid standing covered in blood before the corpses.
I never knew such a thing was possible in a video game, and I never forgot it.
Khalid is indeed a good character. He might have a low morale but he has good constitution and dexterity. Give him the gloves of strength and he definitely rocks.
Having my sword break in the middle of a fight Followed by my armor Followed by my second sword I pulled from my bag Followed by my moral And then a Bondari reload, thinking, maybe I SHOULD go check out those mines.
My part was deep within Durlag's tower. We were out of spells, potions, and critically wounded. I decided to attempt to rest, and then gracefully exit the tower. At that moment, Khalid and Jaheria got into yet another argument with Xzar and Montoron; however, this time it was more severe than usual.
Things quickly got out of hand, and all four NPCs became uncontrollable and begin butchering eachother! I sat their stunned and helpless as they tore eachother apart, leaving only a a near death Khalid standing covered in blood before the corpses.
I never knew such a thing was possible in a video game, and I never forgot it.
Wow, I just found a random Youtube video with a comment from you talking exactly about this. What are the odds?!
The most memorable experience from BG1 was when I first played it. I really liked killing the hobgoblins around FAI and equipping my characters with the items that dropped from them.
Um. When I returned to Nashkel on my second playthrough ever, and everyone was at like half health, and Nimbul showed up, I was all like, oh man I forgot about him, I am so screwed. So I paused the game and gave everyone orders. But I forgot to turn the AI off, and I had only given orders to half my party. So a magic missile and an arrow went flying at him from my charname and Imoen, respectively, but they only did like two or three damage combined, and then he started to cast. Then suddenly Xan, who had all of two HP left at the time, went charging at Nimbul with his Moonblade drawn, and I was like oh shit wtf he's going to get himself killed. But no. He rolled a crit like a BOSS and took Nimbul down in a single swing. I can never look at Xan as a whiny little wimp ever again. As far as I am concerned he has earned the right to be called a total badass.
Durlag's tower, I hated that trap laden hole in the ground. I'd send my thief ahead to scout for traps, find some, but a monster encounter would start, and my party would run to engage and set off the traps I'd just found but hadn't disarmed yet. Then there was the 3 greater basilisk on the upper levels that I had to be real careful to keep my main character back from so I didn't get stoned and had to re-load. All that trouble made it feel so good to beat that tower.
Athkatla, for some reason that city just seemed to have much more depth and liveliness than Baldur's Gate (might be because it was the sequel). I spent hours, hell probably days wandering that city exploring. There was enough gold to be made there, and enough good equipment to be found, that it took the sting out of loosing all of my good gear from Baldur's gate 1.
Comments
...Just a shame the payoff of the ruins is like, what, a few portions and a silly wand?
Well that's aside the point. Good quest, you should do it.
First of all, I wasn't aware there were quests and story elements which made it wise to visit Ulgoth's Beard before you went to Durlag's, so I ended up wandering blind into just what this place was supposed to be. This actually made it a lot cooler; the whole sad story of Durlag came to me only by hints and clues and suggestions over the course of the dungeon, with no one spelling it out completely.
Second, I was initially disappointed because I didn't notice there was a stairway leading down when I went into Durlag's Tower. I thought it was just three pitiful little floors of not much, and was on the verge of feeling I had suckered into buying a worthless expansion pack with no new content.
Then I discovered the path down. Whoa.
Soon enough, the whole thing turned into a desperate scramble to survive battles that seemed a lot harder than in the normal game and detect traps that were friggin' everywhere. I was determined to play through the whole thing with as few rests as possible, so the whole experience was nerve-wracking in the extreme.
And then the Demonknight! That damn thing, I can't even remember how many times I lost my entire party to that thing.
I can still remember the absolutely tangile feeling of relief I had when I cleared the dungeon and found myself once again on the world map. I felt almost as glad to see the daylight again as my characters theoretically would have.
Things quickly got out of hand, and all four NPCs became uncontrollable and begin butchering eachother! I sat their stunned and helpless as they tore eachother apart, leaving only a a near death Khalid standing covered in blood before the corpses.
I never knew such a thing was possible in a video game, and I never forgot it.
Followed by my armor
Followed by my second sword I pulled from my bag
Followed by my moral
And then a Bondari reload, thinking, maybe I SHOULD go check out those mines.
There was also the mad cleric and his family of undead!
Most of all, there was Melincamp, the talking chicken!
Athkatla, for some reason that city just seemed to have much more depth and liveliness than Baldur's Gate (might be because it was the sequel). I spent hours, hell probably days wandering that city exploring. There was enough gold to be made there, and enough good equipment to be found, that it took the sting out of loosing all of my good gear from Baldur's gate 1.