Trying to cure my chronic restartitis
Kneller
Member Posts: 438
I've yet to finish this game. I've started far more games than I can remember, but I can never bring myself to finish. In the beginning, I just wasn't sure what class I wanted to be. Now, I have narrowed it down to just a few classes I actually enjoy playing. The class problem isn't as significant as the party problem, though. I keep bouncing back and forth between canon and sibling party (i.e. just Imoen and Sarevok) only using NPCs for their quests (so I take Yoshi all the way to Spellhold).
With Canon vs. Siblings, I mostly take the canon party for the interaction in BG2. I have a sentimental attachment to Minsc and always feel a little bad if I break him out of the dungeon and just ditch him. However, I'm finding that I don't often need my party with a lot of the characters I play (usually Paladin or some kind of Warrior/Cleric). So, they just hang back and are sometimes even a liability. So then, might as well just do siblings, right? With that party, I often get kind of bored not having pals around. Not that the pals are terribly needed, but they're just nice to have around. In a way, they keep me immersed in the game more than if it was just Imoen and Charname. I suppose I could take a romance NPC with me, however, I tend to go with female Charnames and I can't stand Anomen. It probably wouldn't be much of an issue if I switched to a male charname and grabbed Aerie (annoying, but useful), mostly likely playing a Cav in this case? Having a romance does add a person and keeps with the family theme, though. I dunno. It also seems like it would just add another restart option into the mix.
With class, I often bounce between a Cavalier and Cleric/Ranger. I like the concept better with a single-classed Paladin. I've never been a fan of multi-classing in terms of immersion. However, gameplay-wise, the Cleric/Ranger has more creative options. Though, one conceptional problem I have with the C/R is that I have trouble envisioning the character from an RP perspective. The churchy cleric side with a woodsy ranger side?
Anyway, I find myself frequently bouncing in between the Cav with the canon party and the C/R with just Imoen. I can't seem to stick to one long enough to finish the game. And yeah, I've tried just running with both, switching between games when I get bored, but I don't enjoy constantly replaying the same parts of the game back to back just with different characters.
Has anyone broken free of their restarteritis. If so, how did you do it?
With Canon vs. Siblings, I mostly take the canon party for the interaction in BG2. I have a sentimental attachment to Minsc and always feel a little bad if I break him out of the dungeon and just ditch him. However, I'm finding that I don't often need my party with a lot of the characters I play (usually Paladin or some kind of Warrior/Cleric). So, they just hang back and are sometimes even a liability. So then, might as well just do siblings, right? With that party, I often get kind of bored not having pals around. Not that the pals are terribly needed, but they're just nice to have around. In a way, they keep me immersed in the game more than if it was just Imoen and Charname. I suppose I could take a romance NPC with me, however, I tend to go with female Charnames and I can't stand Anomen. It probably wouldn't be much of an issue if I switched to a male charname and grabbed Aerie (annoying, but useful), mostly likely playing a Cav in this case? Having a romance does add a person and keeps with the family theme, though. I dunno. It also seems like it would just add another restart option into the mix.
With class, I often bounce between a Cavalier and Cleric/Ranger. I like the concept better with a single-classed Paladin. I've never been a fan of multi-classing in terms of immersion. However, gameplay-wise, the Cleric/Ranger has more creative options. Though, one conceptional problem I have with the C/R is that I have trouble envisioning the character from an RP perspective. The churchy cleric side with a woodsy ranger side?
Anyway, I find myself frequently bouncing in between the Cav with the canon party and the C/R with just Imoen. I can't seem to stick to one long enough to finish the game. And yeah, I've tried just running with both, switching between games when I get bored, but I don't enjoy constantly replaying the same parts of the game back to back just with different characters.
Has anyone broken free of their restarteritis. If so, how did you do it?
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Comments
My advice is to get really fond of a PC. My Melinda is a fighter who specialize in fighting undead. Kind of a Undead Hunter. This backstory was entirely inspired by Geralts profession in Witcher 3, though it would be more fitting (for me) to specialize in undead killing, as they are such a disease and threat to mankind. A Cleric fighter is the ideal undead slayer, having access to Both spells and heavy damage output. You can make yourself almost immune to all of them. You got spells specifically for fighting undead. And not to mention My ever growing hate for undead! I feel like I am a professional at what I'm doing, which is also a good thing to add.
So take your time, make a good name. Find a good portrait. Write a backstory of them in the record section. Go deep, relate with the character! Have you ever played a game where the protagonist is a champion to you? For me, john from red dead redemption is a legend. He has inspired me a lot. You want to make a character you can bond with and look up to. Give them a personality, make them "alive" you know?
Try to play with new difficulty settings, maybe attempt a minimal-reload. (Reload when you absolutely have to)
SCS also helped me. Since without it the game becomes a cakewalk for me. It seems like you would need this mod too. I need to use the full extent of my arsenal of spells and weapons to deal with enemies that would not even kill you even if were under every single negative effect with 10hp left. No one will ever be AFK again.
For me, I like to make every play-through feel "different"
For example in BG1 you have 19 NPCs - that's a lot of possible combinations of NPCs to make your party and see what happens.
BG2 with EE now has an equivalent number of NPCs - so you've got PLENTY of possible combinations to mix people together and see what happens.
I also enjoy playing my little "system" of minimal/no-reload - that we used when I would play P&P as a teen lol. Basically the PC has 3 "tokens" those are reloads. Once I've burnt all 3 tokens, the 4th reload = death restart the game with a new character. That keeps me playing fairly carefully instead of bypassing some of the more tedious portions of the game. It also prevents me from reloading when an NPC dies so I have to get creative with certain situations and maybe pick up folks I wasn't planning on taking because of an unfortunate death, not to mention using items that you may save for other situations having to be smoked earlier in the name of survival. I used to try no-reload, but I found there are just so many situations where you can die through no real fault of your own that I didn't want to put myself through that lol.
I also like to do my stats as - what the 3.5 PHB called- "Oragnic Roll" so I just hit the stats screen, and whatever those stats are, are what I have to play with, though you may flip any 2 scores in the name of not being completely miserable (for example a mage with 18 STR and minimal intelligence). Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you end up with a *deeply* flawed character. The super flawed characters are really fun to play with because you end really having to stretch your resources to make up for those flaws.
I also don't pre-prep encounters unless it's patently obviously that you should - it keeps fights feeling different, since you never *really* know what's going to happen - whereas if you roll up in the spot with 50x buffs on your party of course it'll be a walk-over and after doing the same walk-over a bunch of times it gets boring for me
I kinda want to shrink the party. I don't like 6 and would feel better with 3-4. That's what's I'm thinking of restarting and doing the family run (again). However, I started this before with a Cleric/ranger and ending up restarting because I missed having the extra people hanging around. I haven't considered adding a romance, which will give me an extra character while still keeping the party small. That would give me my Cav, Yoshi/Imoen, Aerie, and whatever NPC I'm keeping around for their quest (Sarevok will eventually have this slot. It's only one tank (usually) before Sarevok, though, and the main at that, so death really can't be an option.
* Legal note: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.
Another possbility for better immersion is to create a custom party. You could play with the siblings and then add a few custom companions. But then that might induce you to restart more when you think up more interesting characters.
Another idea is to do no-reload challenges. If you're going to restart anyway, this can be a way to try keep your interest to go as far as you can. It might also induce you to include more party members for better support.
I really don't like parties of 6, but a party of four seems to be my sweet spot. I'm trying to figure out a fourth until I get Sarevok. It's just going to be Yoshi/Imoen, Aerie, and my Cav (which I'm strongly leaning towards only using 2h weapons with the entire game). However, I can't "rationalize" taking on anyone else with the family only thing. The only character that comes to mind is keeping Minsc and Dynaheir for BG1, having him for BG2. That he takes Aerie on as a witch is somewhat of a link. It's very weak for the concept (and doesn't jive with BG1), but it gives me a second tank (and a twf fighter at that). Then, with Sarevok, I'd have three strong tanks and a decent back line of 1.5 mages and 0.5 clerics. I dunno, I'm not really sold on it.
Crap, I just realized I can't even take on Sarevok. He's Chaotic Evil, and I keep my rep at 20. That blows that plan.
I just want to finish the series once. Only once, then I can shelf it and move on.
Side note, I read something to the effect that Sarevok will stay with your party even with a rep of 20, and there's a way to "redeem" him. Is that true?
And yes, if you choose the right options in dialogue with Sarevok, then eventually he'll change his alignment to Chaotic Good.
Stop thinking. Start playing.
Anyway, I'm back to the canon party anyway. I figure that's how I should end this game.
I kinda beelined through Cloakwood. Right now, I'm doing the above ground levels of DT because Imoen is at 32kxp and it's one more trap heavy thing I can crank out before I have to dual her over. I'll need another 90kxp to get her levels back. With a full party, that's 540kxp. Even if I clear every outdoor area completely and get a start on BG city, I doubt I'll catch up by the time I need another trapmonkey...
Then the rest of the map is free of outdoor traps (so far as I recall!), so you can safely go clear the lot after Imoen's dual, and complete numerous quests.
I agree that there won't be enough xp in those areas and quests to get your Thief levels back, but I do think you should be able to get most of the way there. If you're falling too short to finish the job with by doing just a couple of BG City quests, then maybe you'll need to grind out a little more ... for which purpose I suggest that if you make a habit of collecting the minor loot from clearing the intermediate areas in Cloakwood, then you'll "accidentally" run into transition ambushes numerous times as you cart it all back for sale, and those Cloakwood ambushes yield quite a lot of xp.
My next run will be:
*Male half-orc fighter/thief. 2-handed swords (for Carsomyr), firetooth crossbow
*Aerie. FoA/SoE +shield. Mother of my child.
*Imoen. Shortbow, staff otM.
*Sarevok. Dualwielding longswords and maybe hammers.
This way you also have all 4 iconic classes in only 2 chars for a long time until you rescue Imoen.
Doing this with Edwin and the Xan f/m mod at the time. Used SK to redestribute big S's weapon proffs. I like party banter, but it feels like you are a bigger group while the main char is wielding Lilarcor
As I said, make you a character you like, imagine him/her in a movie scene. Work on your character, bound and relate with him/her.
OR
Try going full solo! I would recommend a F/M/T. See if you like that, and when you are done, go back.
Best way is to challenge yourself with new restrictions in a way that makes this playthrough unigue!
Part of my drive for running with the canon party here is that I feel I kinda owe it to them for all the times I didn't finish the game with them.
But now I'm tempted to drop them for my Imoen-only party. I'm still in BG1 and dragging them all around is a pain.
"Growing up among the devoted monks of Candlekeep, the beliefs and rituals of religion had always shaped the backdrop to [protagonist]'s life. The visiting Clerics who preached the beliefs and taught the rituals had always inspired [him/her] by their sure-footed interpretation of the complex mysteries of the world beyond the high walls, and s/he could see how the familiarity and certainties of faith had held together the community of Candlekeep through [his/her] formative years in the confusing aftermath of the Time of Troubles. Thus admiring the Clerics as s/he grew up, [protagonist] had long studied whatever she could to become one of them. There was much in the Library that s/he couldn't yet understand, but s/he found enough basic material that s/he feels ready to set forth as a novice Cleric, eager for the chance to learn more.
"More problematic for [protagonist]'s childhood had been Candlekeep's insular society. Looking out from the walls at the forests which s/he had rarely been allowed to visit, [protagonist] had felt confined. S/he longed to run free in the forests, but knew that the wild places held many dangers for the uninitiated. [His/her] Clerical studies told her little about such matters, but Candlekeep's great library also included many tales of travellers and woodsmen, and fortunately one of the more approachable monks had specialised in the study of the forest's plants and wild animals. From books and the friendly monk, [protagonist] learned many fascinating nuggets of forest lore, and at last these fragments started to form a more complete picture in [his/her] mind. Having also kept [himself/herself] fit by taking some weapons training with one of the Watchers, [protagonist] now dares to venture out cautiously as a novice Ranger, knowing that some risk is a necessary price for real experience."
Isn't that a credible concept for how the protagonist might end up as a Cleric/Ranger?
With the Cleric/Ranger, first I'd have to rationalize how these two classes come together in a place like Candlekeep. Then, I would have to find a way to tie it into charname's backstory. Otherwise, I don't feel connected to the character and what's going on. I get bored of playing, and I restart.
I'm really going to try and muddle through with the canon party and my Cav, though. However, I'm in a situation that I beelined to get through Cloakwood, have dualed Imoen, and don't think all the pre-BG material will get her even close to getting her thief levels back. If this was a party of 2, I'd be maxed out by now.