Starting "Throne of Bhaal"

fetito666

Does all my equipment also get exported if I start with "Throne of Bhaal"?

Therefore I wonder if I should do Watcher's Keep in the maingame or in the expansion.

ThacoBell

Throne of Bhaal should automatically start up after clearing the final battle of SOA. Everything will carry over without having to export.

bleusteel

Also, Watcher's Keep is the only spot reachable from both SOA and TOB. This makes it a handy place to store things you want to bring to TOB but don't have room for some reason.

Watcher's Keep was originally only available in TOB, but the EEs made it reachable from SOA, too.

fetito666

Thank you!

Tresset

What?! Already?! That was fast... Seems like just yesterday you were looking for your first +2 weapon.

fetito666

:P I was on vacations and was able to play a lot of BG2.

RelSundan

HAHA, this is good progress. Just make sure you don't miss any other side quests, those are fun to do.

gorgonzola

bleusteel said:

Watcher's Keep was originally only available in TOB, but the EEs made it reachable from SOA, too.

Not true.
WK was introduced with the ToB expansion, so was not available in the original SoA only game.
But it was reachable from SoA from the very moment that ToB was created, EE has no part in that, also in the original you can go there in SoA.

bleusteel

gorgonzola said:

bleusteel said:

Watcher's Keep was originally only available in TOB, but the EEs made it reachable from SOA, too.

Not true.
WK was introduced with the ToB expansion, so was not available in the original SoA only game.
But it was reachable from SoA from the very moment that ToB was created, EE has no part in that, also in the original you can go there in SoA.

Haha! I never actually played SoA again after ToB came out...until the EEs released. Good to know!

unavailable

bleusteel said:

gorgonzola said:

bleusteel said:

Watcher's Keep was originally only available in TOB, but the EEs made it reachable from SOA, too.

Not true.
WK was introduced with the ToB expansion, so was not available in the original SoA only game.
But it was reachable from SoA from the very moment that ToB was created, EE has no part in that, also in the original you can go there in SoA.

Haha! I never actually played SoA again after ToB came out...until the EEs released. Good to know!

but... that is kind of like buying jam donuts to eat only the dough and not the jam. why would you skip SoA? Chapter 2 is like a good 1/3 of BG2, and it's most of the best content imo.

bleusteel

unavailable said:

bleusteel said:

gorgonzola said:

bleusteel said:

Watcher's Keep was originally only available in TOB, but the EEs made it reachable from SOA, too.

Not true.
WK was introduced with the ToB expansion, so was not available in the original SoA only game.
But it was reachable from SoA from the very moment that ToB was created, EE has no part in that, also in the original you can go there in SoA.

Haha! I never actually played SoA again after ToB came out...until the EEs released. Good to know!

but... that is kind of like buying jam donuts to eat only the dough and not the jam. why would you skip SoA? Chapter 2 is like a good 1/3 of BG2, and it's most of the best content imo.

Oh, I didn't skip SoA. I played BG and SoA for years and had dozens of CHARNAME that defeated Irenicus.

I didn't buy ToB on release because I didn't know about it. Once I discovered ToB, it was in the bargain bin. I finished ToB with many of my old characters, got all the epilogues and put the whole series on the shelf. Until the EEs came out.

raelcari

Hm, in my current playthrough I did the approach where I went to WK and helped myself to some of the loot on the first level (and visited the shop ofc). It's a nice way to score some early, powerful weapons. But burning through the whole thing in (pre-Spellhold) SoA can't be done, I think?

gorgonzola

I did it, or better I almost always do it, solo and with party.

Gallowglass

raelcari said:

But burning through the whole thing in (pre-Spellhold) SoA can't be done, I think?

It's possible to do all of WK in Chapter 2 (although not easily), but I strongly recommend not doing it. It leaves you ridiculously over-levelled for the rest of SoA, making it too easy to be any fun. (Yes, the game does scale somewhat according to your level ... but only up to a point.)

I do tend to visit (but not usually complete) the first level of WK before going to Spellhold, simply in order to grab the potion case and ammo belt for ease of inventory management during the rest of SoA. However, I then don't usually go back to WK at all until I'm in ToB, because ToB is where it's designed to fit into the sequence.

Francois

I think SCS has an option to do WK after the end of BG2 but before beginning ToB. That seems like the best fit both in term of level and role-playing considerations. Normally I either do it after the underdark or as soon as possible in ToB. If you want to keep Imoen in the party, definitely do it after you rescue her.

Tenrecc

raelcari said:

But burning through the whole thing in (pre-Spellhold) SoA can't be done, I think?

Most veteran players can do that without breaking a sweat. As an example, I did it as a solo thief/mage during my last playthrough. Granted the 3rd and 5th level weren't that easy, but that was before I had 8th level spells and you can reach exp cap in chapter 2 as a solo character.

In fact, you can pick up a lot of levels and a lot of the best gear in game already at level 2, including Carsomyr, SotM, Ring of Gaxx etc. I'm sure even newer players could beat it fairly easily if they cleared out all the other content first.